77: Chapter 77 Ice and Snow Cave, Murals Reappear

The world spun around him.

Li Taiping felt his body being pulled and twisted by an irresistible force.

The scene before his eyes fluctuated violently, finally dissolving into pure darkness.

This sensation did not last long.

When his feet touched solid ground again, the darkness receded like a tide.

He realized he was no longer on that frozen altar.

This was a cave.

A cave made entirely of ice crystals.

Thick layers of ice crystals, emitting a faint blue glow, clung to the surrounding stone walls, illuminating the entire space like a dreamlike crystal palace.

The air was filled with a bone-chilling cold, but for Li Taiping, who had already reached the mid-stage of the Excellent Grade, this temperature was nothing.

"Is this... the inside of that secret realm?"

Li Taiping was stunned for a moment before quickly checking his status.

His body had suffered no damage, his strength was abundant, and everything in his backpack was still there.

He raised his wrist, and the Survival Manual interface automatically appeared.

[Dungeon Exit Countdown: 11:59:58]

Twelve hours.

It seems this is the duration of this so-called "Deep Secret Realm."

Once time is up, he will be automatically teleported out.

Li Taiping looked around.

His current location was like a sealed air chamber; apart from the space rift behind him that had already vanished, there was only a deep, dark tunnel leading to who knows where.

There was no other choice.

Li Taiping did not hesitate any longer, gripped his telescopic greatsword, and stepped into the only tunnel.

It was initially very narrow, barely wide enough for a person to pass through.

The blue ice crystals on the walls flickered, casting his long, stretched shadow onto the uneven ice surface.

After walking a few dozen steps, the path suddenly opened up.

A circular ice cavern, several times larger than the previous air chamber, appeared before him.

Li Taiping's gaze was immediately drawn to something on the wall the moment he entered the cavern.

Murals.

Murals again.

They were very similar in style to the murals he had seen in the underground stone chamber before—all carvings with rough lines and a primitive style.

There were four of them in total.

Li Taiping frowned, feeling vaguely that these murals might hide important information about this dungeon, or even this world.

He walked up to the first mural and examined it carefully.

The scene carved was a peaceful and tranquil ice and snow world.

Towering snow-capped mountains, coniferous forests covered in pure white snow, and a frozen river.

In the center of the image, there seemed to be a small village with curling smoke, a scene of a paradise away from the world.

The entire image exuded a sense of peace, free from worldly strife.

Li Taiping rubbed his chin; this art style was actually quite similar to the ice field dungeon he had just experienced.

He then looked at the second mural.

The imagery of this painting began to become blurry and oppressive.

The once peaceful ice and snow paradise was submerged by a jet-black tide.

Within that tide, one could vaguely see countless twisted shadows and scarlet eyes, filled with an aura of ominousness and destruction.

"black tide..."

Li Taiping's eyes narrowed.

This thing again.

It seems the story of this dungeon is also inseparable from the black tide.

He continued to look at the third mural.

On the image, a woman's figure appeared.

The woman's face was blurry, but one could tell her figure was extremely tall and elegant.

She stood on the land eroded by the black tide, and her body was changing bit by bit.

Her flesh and blood gradually turned into crystal-clear ice crystals.

In the end, she transformed entirely into a giant ice crystal tree emitting a blue glow.

This tree seemed to use its own power to temporarily hold back the terrifying black tide.

Seeing this, Li Taiping couldn't help but feel a trace of respect.

This was a great being who sacrificed herself to protect her homeland.

He moved his gaze to the last one, the fourth mural.

On the image, the ice crystal tree that the woman had turned into stood quietly in the frozen world.

Under the tree, a small, fluffy, snow-white puppy was lying there, seemingly guarding the tree.

And on the branches of the tree, a small, exquisite canary was perched.

The whole picture exuded an unspeakable sadness and loneliness.

The murals ended here.

Li Taiping looked at these four paintings and fell into deep thought.

This should be the background story of this dungeon.

An ice and snow world destroyed by the black tide, a woman who sacrificed herself to become an ice crystal tree to protect the last pure land, and two lonely guardians.

Wait...

Just as Li Taiping was about to move his gaze away, his eyes, by some strange coincidence, fell upon an inconspicuous corner of the fourth mural.

There, there seemed to be some even more subtle carvings.

He leaned in to examine them carefully.

The next second, his pupils shrank violently.

That symbol!

That symbol composed of countless twisted lines and circles, filled with an eerie and chaotic feeling!

It was exactly the same as the one he saw in the stone chamber of the first dungeon!

As soon as this symbol appeared, it seemed to have a life of its own, twisting on his retina, and then, like a hallucination, it fleetingly vanished without a trace.

But this time, the image of that symbol was branded even more clearly into the depths of Li Taiping's mind than the last time.

"This thing again..."

Li Taiping frowned.

The last time he saw this symbol, he only felt his head splitting with pain, filled with ominousness.

But this time, that feeling had faded a lot.

Replacing it was a strange urge to figure it out.

He vaguely felt that this symbol was very important.

He even had a strange feeling of wanting to "collect" them all.

"What on earth is this thing?"

Li Taiping shook his head and temporarily pushed this doubt aside.

He looked back at the four murals again.

A world destroyed by the black tide...

How many such worlds are there in this survival world?

What exactly is that so-called black tide?

He remembered the "poison circle" in the outside survival world that was constantly advancing at a speed of 5 knots.

Although to him, that speed was as slow as a snail crawling and posed almost no threat.

However, the black tide shown in the murals possessed the terrifying power to devour everything.

"Perhaps... when I become strong enough, I can try to... turn the tables and devour that so-called black tide?"

A bold thought sprouted in Li Taiping's heart.

He quickly suppressed this unrealistic thought; thinking about these things now was too far off.

The most pressing matter was to explore this dungeon, get the rewards, and improve his strength.

He stopped dwelling on the content of the murals and turned to continue walking deeper into the cave.

Passing through this circular ice cavern, there was another tunnel ahead.

When he walked out from the other end of the tunnel, the scene before him made him stop in his tracks instantly, his breathing hitching.

This was an even larger, more spacious ice crystal cavern.

And in the center of the cavern, a jelly-like, semi-transparent, Slime-like monster, massive as a small hill, was lying there quietly.

[Slime (Excellent Grade peak)]

Excellent Grade peak!

Li Taiping's heart skipped a beat.

This guardian's level was actually two small stages higher than his own!

That was not the most critical part.

The most critical part was that behind that giant Slime, in the deepest part of the cavern, four brilliant light orbs were scattered!

Three dazzling blue lights!

One... deep purple light!

Three Excellent Grade items!

One epic grade item!

Li Taiping's eyes turned red instantly.

Epic grade item!

He didn't even have a single piece of epic grade equipment on him right now!

However, looking at that hill-like, Excellent Grade peak guardian emitting a terrifying aura before him, Li Taiping felt his scalp tingling.

This thing was too hard to deal with!

He was only at the mid-stage of the Excellent Grade!

And his strength was a cliff-like lead over other Survivor!

Is this really a dungeon that an average Survivor can clear?

These nested dungeons were just too high in difficulty!

Without a second thought, Li Taiping immediately retreated to the corner, hiding his body behind the wall.

Fortunately, that giant Slime didn't seem to have discovered him; it was still lying there lazily, motionless, as if it were asleep.

Its eyesight didn't seem very good.