236: Chapter 236 Heading to the Old City

The Elder of Frostbone Fortress arranged a temporary guest room for them.

It was located below the side of the Central Tower and was one of the few warm areas in the entire fortress.

The room was large.

The walls were built from bone frameworks and grey rock, with a row of Warm Stones embedded in the surface.

The Warm Stones emitted a faint white light, barely dispelling the lingering chill of the Cold Attack.

The rescued team members sat on animal hide rugs, holding bowls of medicinal soup in their hands.

Su Wan leaned against the window, quietly watching the snowstorm outside.

Li Chenzhou stood at the doorway, as if guarding everyone.

Snow Spirit lay by the table, curling its tail into a ball, eyes fixed on a plate of dried meat.

Lu Cheng took a piece for it.

Snow Spirit clutched the meat with its small paws and took a satisfied bite.

"Ying."

Lu Cheng sat by the table and raised his hand to tap on the tabletop.

Everyone immediately looked over.

"I will be heading to the Old City next."

"The danger of that route is unknown, and the map provided by Frostbone Fortress may not be complete."

"Your Source Power is too severely depleted; continuing to follow will only slow me down."

Li Chenzhou frowned.

"I can continue."

Lu Cheng glanced at him, shook his head, and continued:

"Once the Cold Attack completely stops, take these people and return to Snow Rock Fortress first to recover."

"I came here to save you in the first place. If something happens to you while I'm finding the way, wouldn't all my efforts be in vain...?"

"With your strength, ordinary Snowplain Tribe forces cannot threaten you."

A few team members looked a bit awkward, and Li Chenzhou did not refute him.

Su Wan spoke up at this moment:

"I will go with you."

Li Chenzhou also looked at her.

"You are the same as us; your condition hasn't fully recovered..."

Su Wan shook her head.

"The environment here is very suitable for me, and I wasn't captured for extraction..."

She raised her hand, and a tiny ice crystal condensed at her fingertips.

The ice crystal formed very quickly, more smoothly than when she was in the outside world.

"Even if I do nothing but meditate here, my Cultivation speed will be much faster than outside."

Lu Cheng did not speak immediately.

Su Wan's gaze fell on the Frost Moon Tower Key Seal on the table.

It was a white bone fragment, with cold blue crystal powder embedded along the edges and a crescent Frost Moon carved in the center.

She had her own purpose for entering this rift.

In her past life, many good things had appeared in this rift, one of which was very important to her... the Snowplain Tribe Totem.

That totem could once again purify the Bloodline Power of the Abyssal Ice Nightmare within her.

And it could create a pseudo-Domain, greatly enhancing her combat power. By then, she would have a chance to fight Lu Cheng...

Su Wan continued:

"I can provide you with plenty of help at critical moments."

Lu Cheng leaned back in his chair, thoughtful.

Under normal circumstances, Lu Cheng might not have felt at ease letting her follow him to the deepest part.

But Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck actually gave a positive feedback at this moment.

Bringing Su Wan along was a good thing.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Cheng nodded.

"Fine, you come with me."

Su Wan put away the ice crystal.

"Okay."

Snow Spirit raised its head, looked at Su Wan, then at Lu Cheng.

"Snow Spirit is going too."

Lu Cheng patted its head.

"Of course you are going."

Snow Spirit happily squinted its eyes.

Li Chenzhou, who was to the side, said in a deep voice:

"Then I will take the people back to Snow Rock Fortress... you both... take care on the way."

...

The Cold Attack began to weaken at noon the next day.

After the wind died down, the tightly shut gates of Frostbone Fortress finally opened an inner door.

Between the heavy gates, the cold air was still intense, but it was no longer able to freeze blood and Qi directly like last night.

The Council of Elders of Frostbone sent someone to deliver supplies.

Dried meat, blue crystals, Snow Field medicinal powder, two maps, and the Frost Moon Tower Key Seal.

Elder Moer did not appear in person.

He was temporarily detained deep within the Council of Elders, awaiting further disposal.

The remaining Elders of Frostbone Fortress looked exhausted, and their attitude was much lower than last night.

This time, no one dared to play any tricks.

Lu Cheng stood in front of the fortress gate and took out a small mechanical Puppet from his System storage.

This Puppet was much smaller than the heavy models used earlier to repair the city walls; it was only as tall as an adult, with more compact body lines, and a small energy shield could be folded out from its back.

Li Chenzhou's eyes flickered when he saw this thing.

Lu Cheng raised his hand and pressed on the core on the Puppet's chest.

"Come here."

Li Chenzhou walked forward.

The mechanical Puppet's eyes lit up with a grey-blue scanning light, scanning Li Chenzhou's face, iris, Source Power fluctuations, and Military District identification tag.

A few seconds later, the Puppet emitted a low-pitched prompt.

"Temporary authorization registration complete."

"Authorized subject: Li Chenzhou."

Lu Cheng withdrew his hand.

"This thing has Warrior-level capabilities."

"It can last for an hour when fully charged."

"If you encounter danger, press here to activate it."

He pointed to the button on the side of the Puppet's chest.

"It can save your life."

Li Chenzhou looked at the mechanical Puppet, his expression becoming serious.

"Thank you, Brother Lu!"

Lu Cheng waved his hand.

"Don't be in such a hurry to thank me; I'm going to charge you."

Li Chenzhou was stunned for a moment.

Lu Cheng continued:

"I'll settle the bill with you after I've finished scouting the path."

"Don't break it."

Li Chenzhou looked down at the Puppet's heavy alloy armor; it didn't look like something he could break just because he wanted to.

"I will take good care of it."

Lu Cheng nodded.

Before parting, Su Wan left a few ice crystal marks for the team members.

These marks could help them resist the cold air for a short time and also allow Su Wan to roughly judge if they were in danger.

Yi Ning did not go to the Old City with Lu Cheng.

She was needed to coordinate between Snow Rock and Frostbone.

She had become the Chief Elder of Snow Rock Fortress, and there were still many things to handle after the Cold Attack.

She stood outside the gate of Frostbone Fortress and bowed to Lu Cheng.

"The ancient road to the Old City is very dangerous."

"Legend has it that there is a fog there that Consumes memories, as well as ancient Shadow Spirits guarding the ruins of the Royal Court."

"Mr. Lu Cheng, please be careful."

Lu Cheng took the last bag of blue crystals she handed over.

"You take care too."

Yi Ning nodded gently.

"Rest assured, leave the matters here to me; I will handle the problems left behind by the Council of Elders."

The team split up.

Li Chenzhou took the surviving team members and, escorted by two hunters sent by Frostbone Fortress, headed back towards Snow Rock Fortress.

Lu Cheng, Su Wan, and Snow Spirit entered the secret passage from the underground gate on the west side of Frostbone Fortress.

...

The entrance to the secret passage was very narrow.

At first, it could only accommodate two people walking side by side.

The walls were built from grey-white stones, and there was frozen blue crystal powder in the crevices.

Every few dozen steps, there was a faint white crystal lamp on the wall.

The map provided by the Frostbone Elder stated that this secret passage was once an ancient escape route between the fortresses.

Later, when the Old City fell, the passage collapsed in many places, and Frostbone Fortress only retained the first half.

If one followed the path, the exit was still over a hundred kilometers away from the Northern Territory Old City.

Lu Cheng walked in front.

Su Wan followed behind him.

When they reached the end of the secret passage, a half-collapsed stone door appeared ahead.

The stone door was engraved with the Frost Moon mark.

Su Wan took out the Key Seal and embedded it into the central groove.

"Click."

The stone door vibrated, and white runes lit up one by one.

After a dull sound, the stone door opened to both sides.

Snow and wind blew in from outside.

Lu Cheng raised his hand and released the Eternal Calamity Flame, suppressing the cold air.

They walked out of the secret passage.

Outside was a vast snowfield.

Lu Cheng stood in front of the secret passage exit and looked up into the distance.

According to the map handed over by Frostbone Fortress, the secret passage exit was still over a hundred kilometers away from the Northern Territory Old City.

From here onwards, there was an ancient road buried in snow.

On both sides of the ancient road, one could occasionally see half-sections of black stone road markers, engraved with Frost Moon patterns, some of which had been worn blurry by the wind and snow.

Su Wan walked to a road marker and gently brushed her fingertips over the runes on it.

"The direction is correct."

Lu Cheng nodded.

"Then let's go."

Snow Spirit crouched on Lu Cheng's shoulder, its little nose sniffing in the wind.

"Daddy, there is the smell of monsters ahead."

Lu Cheng flexed his wrists.

"That's perfect, traveling is boring anyway."

Heading north all the way, the snowfield gradually became rugged.

The ground was sometimes flat, and sometimes deep, bottomless ice cracks appeared.

Some cracks were covered by thin snow, and only when stepped on would they make a slight cracking sound.

Lu Cheng's Yueyao Pulse was always active, and combined with Snow Spirit's sense of smell, they basically didn't step into any traps.

After they had walked over twenty kilometers, the first batch of monsters appeared.

It was a pack of Ice-Shelled Wolves.

Their bodies were a size larger than ordinary wolves, with grey-white ice armor growing under their fur, and their eyes glowing with a murky blue light.

They were lying on the back of a snow slope, and only when Lu Cheng and Su Wan approached did they suddenly pounce out.

Lu Cheng raised his hand and struck down with a punch.

The Ice-Shelled Wolf rushing at the front didn't even have time to howl before its chest core exploded directly.

Su Wan pointed with her fingertip, and over a dozen ice crystals pierced through the wind and snow, precisely nailing into the foreheads of the remaining Ice-Shelled Wolves.

The battle ended very quickly.

Continuing forward, they encountered Cold-Bone Bats, Under-Snow Devourers, and a few corrupted ancient patrol Puppets.

The aura of these things was at most at the Meridian Opening Realm level.

Judging by the level of these monsters, the low-danger assessment was quite accurate.

Su Wan put away the ice crystals.

Truly dangerous things were often hidden deep in the ruins.

In her past life, the intelligence about this world was not complete; she only knew that Commander Li had lost his son.

After the rift stabilized in later years, when powerful figures went in to explore, they found a King-level ice-attribute totem... that was why she came here.

Su Wan's Source Power circulation speed kept increasing, and the ice mark on her forehead was also brighter than usual.

Lu Cheng glanced at her.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Su Wan shook her head.

"The cold air here is very suitable for me."

Lu Cheng did not continue to ask.

After walking for over two more hours, the wind and snow in the distance suddenly became thinner.

Under the grey-white daylight, the outline of a huge city appeared at the end of the horizon.

That city was far larger than Snow Rock Fortress and Frostbone Fortress.

The city walls were towering and intact, the outer layer seemingly built of white stone and silver metal, with many blue crystal lamps hanging on the city towers.

Lu Cheng stood on the snow slope, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Is this the Old City?"

"It doesn't look broken at all."

He looked at Su Wan.

"Why doesn't the Snowplain Tribe use this as their base?"

Su Wan did not answer immediately.

She was also looking at that city.

The chill in the city was intense, but there was not a hint of the atmosphere that a normal settlement should have.

Snow Spirit suddenly arched its back, and its tail stood up.

"Daddy."

"Something is watching us."

Lu Cheng's eyes flickered.

He felt it too.

From the moment they stepped into this area, it seemed like a gaze had fallen upon them.

He walked down along the snow slope until he reached the city wall.

Looking at it from close range, this city wall was even more intact.

The white stone texture was clear, the metal trim had no rust, and even the snow accumulated under the wall was excessively clean.

Lu Cheng raised his hand and pressed it against the city wall.

The moment his fingertips touched it, the perception fed back by the Yueyao Pulse became misaligned.

Before his eyes was an intact city wall.

In his perception, it was a dilapidated ruin.

The walls were cracked.

The city gate had collapsed.

The ground was buried with bones and rubble.

Lu Cheng slowly withdrew his hand.

"Interesting."

Su Wan walked to his side.

"An illusion?"

Lu Cheng nodded.

"The entire city has been imbued with an illusion."

An illusion of this scale is rare.

Moreover, it doesn't just obscure vision; it also interferes with perception, making people actively believe in the prosperity before them.

Lu Cheng turned his head to look at Snow Spirit.

"Specialization is key."

"Snow Spirit, go."

Snow Spirit immediately raised its head.

"Ying!"

It jumped off Lu Cheng's shoulder and landed in the snow.

The pale gold star mark on its forehead lit up, and both its tails raised simultaneously.

Silver-blue fox fire emerged from behind it, spreading bit by bit towards the city wall.

The fox fire did not burn the stone wall, but just brushed gently over the wall surface.

The next moment, the prosperous city wall before them suddenly vibrated.

It was like a thin veil covering reality was lifted at one corner.

The intact white stone turned into shattered black rock.

The silver metal turned into rusted fragments.

The blue crystal lamps on the city towers went out for the most part, with only a few hanging crookedly on the wall side.

The city gate also disappeared, and what truly appeared before them was a broken and collapsed giant gate.

The streets behind the gate were full of cracks, buildings had collapsed, and a tall tower in the distance was broken into two sections.

This was the true appearance of the Northern Territory Old City.

Dilapidated, desolate, dead silent.

But this scene only lasted for a moment.

Soon, the illusionary light on the city wall gathered again.

The ruins were covered by prosperity.

The collapsed giant gate turned back into an intact city gate.

Snow Spirit shook its head, and the light on its tails dimmed a bit.

"It's covered again..."

Lu Cheng squatted down and patted its head.

"That's enough."