17: Chapter 17 True Water Appears, Life or Death Hangs in the Balance

A pitch-black color slowly bled into the center of the deep blue Ice Eye pool, like ink dropped into clear water.

It was not an ordinary black, but a deep, heavy, "mystic black" that seemed capable of absorbing all light.

As it rose, the temperature of the entire ice cave plummeted sharply, as if the very air were about to freeze and solidify!

mystic yin true water! Even just a trace amount of its dissipation or projection carried an extreme cold that made the Soul tremble, along with... a certain heavy feeling of the underworld.

The vibration of the ancient ring on his left hand reached its peak, a complex emotion mixed with extreme desire (perhaps for high-quality "metal" or "yin" attribute energy?) and instinctive vigilance.

Lin Ye's heart nearly jumped out of his throat, but he forced himself to maintain absolute calm.

The calm genes from facing major crises in his past life fused with the tempering of surviving near-death experiences in this life at this very moment.

To move was to die!

He instantly cut off his connection with the external Spiritual Qi, completely halted the operation of the Ice Soul Sword Art, and even forcibly suppressed the active icy Spiritual Qi within his Dantian into the deepest silence.

He pushed the Qi Concealment Technique to an unprecedented extreme!

He not only concealed his aura, but also attempted to lower his vital signs and thought fluctuations to the freezing point, completely merging with the ten-thousand-year mystic ice behind him.

He even slightly adjusted his posture to make his body silhouette closer to the shadow of the ice wall, leaving only a tiny slit for his eyes to observe the pool with the help of the ice surface's reflection.

Inside the ice cave, it was terrifyingly deathly silent.

Only that touch of mystic black water slowly rose and spread in the deep blue pool water.

One foot, two feet...

Finally, it fully emerged from the water surface—not a mass of water, but a single drop!

Just one drop, about the size of a Dragon's eye, entirely mystic black, yet flowing with a deep, dark blue luster, as if countless tiny ice crystals were being born and dying within it.

It hovered an inch above the pool surface, rotating slowly, radiating an extreme cold and oppressive feeling that was heart-stopping.

[mystic yin true water (trace dissipated form)]: Information flashed across his field of vision.

And beneath this drop of true water, a small, slowly rotating whirlpool appeared on the originally mirror-like pool surface.

Deep in the whirlpool, it was pitch black, and a faint, whimpering sound of water currents could be heard, as if leading to some extremely deep place.

It was the entrance to the secret waterway leading to the main pool! Had it been briefly "forced open" by this dissipated drop of true water?!

Lin Ye understood instantly: this Ice Eye was indeed connected to the main pool, and periodically, trace amounts of true water would seep over along the waterway.

And at this moment, it was the brief window period when the waterway was "pried open" by the true water!

An opportunity! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

But the danger had also been magnified to the extreme!

Not to mention the terror of the true water itself; if he got too close, his Soul would likely be frozen to death in an instant.

More importantly, this disturbance...

Hiss—hiss—

As if to confirm his worries, the three sleeping Ice Crystal Snakes beneath the ice layer on the shore reacted almost simultaneously!

The closest one, the ice layer covering it cracked with a "click," splitting into several fissures!

A triangular snake head, covered with fine ice crystals, slowly poked out from the ice crack!

Its scarlet snake tongue flickered, and its cold vertical pupils immediately locked onto the drop of mystic yin true water hovering in the center of the pool!

Immediately after, the other two Ice Crystal Snakes also broke through the ice!

The three Middle Stage Qi Refining Yao Beasts formed a triangular formation, vaguely surrounding the pool (along with the drop of true water and the direction of the ice wall where Lin Ye was hiding).

They seemed familiar with this scene; in their eyes, besides instinctive desire (for the true water), there was more vigilance and... a trace of fear?

They dared not get too close to the true water, only circling and hissing.

Lin Ye hid in the ice recess, his blood nearly freezing.

He was currently less than five zhang away from the nearest Ice Crystal Snake!

Any tiny movement, or even a slightly heavy breath, could be detected.

What to do?

The window period might only last a few dozen breaths, or even shorter.

Once the true water dripped down, or was dealt with in some way by the Ice Crystal Snakes (were they waiting for something?), the waterway entrance might close.

And he would be trapped in this ice cave, facing three Ice Crystal Snakes that had been alerted and might be even more irritable due to the appearance of the true water!

Time ticked away second by second.

The true water hovered, rotating slowly, spinning round and round, and the coldness it emitted caused the surface of the nearest pool water to begin to form thin ice.

The three Ice Crystal Snakes swam around anxiously, their scarlet tongues capturing every change in the air.

One of them seemed to sense something, and its cold vertical pupils slowly swept across the direction of the ice wall where Lin Ye was hiding!

Lin Ye's muscles tensed up, and even his thoughts seemed to freeze.

Just at the moment the snake's pupils were about to lock onto his area—

Gurgle...

The whirlpool in the center of the pool suddenly accelerated its rotation, emitting a low, sucking sound!

That drop of mystic yin true water, as if pulled strongly by the waterway below, shuddered violently, and then "whoosh," it was sucked back into the center of the whirlpool and disappeared!

The moment the true water disappeared, the extreme cold and oppression enveloping the ice cave suddenly weakened.

And the three Ice Crystal Snakes, as if having completed some task of "guarding" or "observing," visibly relaxed.

But they did not immediately return beneath the ice to sleep; instead, they began to swim slowly around the edge of the pool, as if to confirm it was safe.

The whirlpool at the waterway entrance was rapidly shrinking and fading!

The window period was about to end!

Countless thoughts flashed through Lin Ye's mind in an instant.

Rush over? Jump into a closing, dangerous waterway that led to who knows where, right under the noses of three Middle Stage Qi Refining Yao Beasts? That was suicide!

But if he didn't rush, once the Ice Crystal Snakes completely calmed down and returned to sleep, trying to find another chance to investigate the waterway would be harder than ascending to heaven.

Besides, who could guarantee when the true water would dissipate and the waterway would open again?

He had to make a choice, right now!

His gaze was locked onto the rapidly fading whirlpool, and he glanced at the three swimming Ice Crystal Snakes.

Suddenly, he noticed a detail: the swimming trajectories of the three snakes seemed to deliberately avoid a certain spot by the pool—there was an abnormally thick icicle hanging from the top of the ice cave, almost touching the water surface!

The shadow of the icicle happened to cover a small area at the edge of the whirlpool.

An extremely risky, almost whimsical plan formed in his mind in an instant.

He hesitated no more!

Taking advantage of the moment when the Ice Crystal Snakes' attention had just withdrawn from where the true water disappeared and they had not yet fully recovered their vigilance—

Lin Ye moved!

He didn't rush toward the pool; instead, using all his strength, he threw a fist-sized, sharp-edged piece of mystic ice he had been holding in his left hand—prepared long ago—using a hidden weapon technique, violently toward the other end of the ice cave, a corner far away from the pool and the ice soul orchid!

The broken ice tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound (amplified in the silent ice cave), smashed against the distant ice wall with a bang, shattered, and emitted a crisp explosion!

Hiss?!

The three Ice Crystal Snakes were instantly alerted!

Their cold vertical pupils turned toward the source of the sound simultaneously, their bodies arched, entering an attack state!

This was it!

Lin Ye, like a streak of ice shadow shooting across the ground, erupted from the ice recess where he was hiding!

He did not run directly toward the pool, but first rushed toward that thick icicle!

His target was a protruding, strangely shaped ice shoot at the base of the icicle where it connected to the ice surface!

He had noticed during his earlier observation that the shadow position of this ice shoot happened to be one of the blind spots in the swimming trajectory of the three Ice Crystal Snakes!

Step!

His foot stepped precisely onto that ice shoot, and he pushed off with force!

His body borrowed the momentum, like an arrow off a bowstring, shooting obliquely toward the pool, aiming directly—at that dark whirlpool that was rapidly fading and only the size of a washbasin left!

And at this moment, the three Ice Crystal Snakes had just confirmed the distant sound was only broken ice, their vigilance slightly relaxed, and they were about to turn back—

In their cold pupils, a blurred shadow was reflected, skimming across the ice surface, crashing toward the soon-to-disappear waterway entrance with a resolute posture!

Hiss—!!!

Angry hissing instantly resounded through the ice cave!

The three Ice Crystal Snakes erupted simultaneously, turning into three ice-blue afterimages, pouncing straight at Lin Ye!

Too late!

Splash!

Lin Ye's figure, at the very last moment before the ice snakes' sharp teeth could reach him, precisely submerged into that dark whirlpool!

The whirlpool shuddered violently, instantly contracting and disappearing.

Inside the ice cave, only the three Ice Crystal Snakes remained, hissing crazily after missing their target, whipping their tails against the ice surface, yet helpless against the already closed waterway.

And the deathly, deep blue calm of the Ice Eye pool that had been restored once again.