61: Chapter 61 Glacial Rift Valley

The dim blue cold light reflected by the ice layer was the only light source in the rift, stretching her shadow into a twisted, elongated monster and projecting it onto the towering ice walls on both sides.

With every step she took, the seemingly solid permafrost beneath her feet would emit a crisp "crack" sound, the thin ice shattering to reveal a deeper, dark abyss below that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

The cold was no longer just air; it had become tangible needles, piercing through her already tattered clothes, stabbing viciously into her skin and seeping into her bone marrow.

The breath she exhaled quickly condensed into a thick white mist before her, only to be scattered by the knife-like cold wind swirling from the depths of the rift.

The weight on her back was beyond imagination.

It was not just the physical weight of the ice sculpture itself; the almost solid, several-inch-thick profound ice perfectly encased every inch of Shen Xiao's silhouette, biting and cold to the bone.

Even heavier was the dire state of Shen Xiao's body, transmitted faintly through the "Telepathic Symbiosis Technique," which felt like a quagmire:

The burning and freezing cold of the Blood Poison eroded his body in turns, his Meridians were as withered as parched land, and his vitality was as faint as a candle in the wind, yet it was held fast by some tenacious will, refusing to be extinguished.

This "connection" was like an invisible shackle tightened around her heart, pulling a dull ache with every step.

She carefully extracted the last trace of pure Ice Spiritual Power from her already parched Dantian, injecting it continuously into the ice sculpture on her back like a trickling stream.

The moment the spiritual power left her body, she was so cold that her teeth chattered and her lips turned a bruised purple.

But only in this way could she barely maintain this ultimate "Ice Sealing Life-Extension Technique," allowing Shen Xiao's physical state to infinitely approach a "stasis" under absolute zero.

Beads of sweat had just seeped from her temples, and before they could slide down, they froze into tiny ice crystals on her skin.

Clenching her teeth, she stumbled, every step feeling like treading on knife points, consuming far more energy than usual.

After traveling for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the rift seemed endless, with nothing but light-swallowing darkness ahead.

Suddenly, Xia Lengbai felt the weight on her back sink abruptly!

It was no illusion.

Her heart tightened, and she hurriedly turned her head to look.

Her pupils contracted sharply.

Through the crystalline ice, she could clearly see the location of the hideous wound on Shen Xiao's left leg, where the broken bone and charred flesh had originally been completely sealed by the profound ice.

Inside the ice layer, spiderweb-like black filaments were spreading slowly but with unwavering determination!

Those filaments were like living things, carrying a heart-palpitating filth and omen; they were the Blood Poison that had not yet been completely frozen!

The Ice Sealing technique was failing!

No, to be more precise, the corrosiveness and tenacity of the Blood Poison were resisting her Ice Spiritual Power.

The temperature of the ice sculpture was rising at a speed she could perceive, and the surface, originally smooth as a mirror, began to exude fine, turbid water droplets that slid down the contours of the sculpture, leaving wet, cold traces on her shoulders.

"Damn it!"

Xia Lengbai cursed under her breath, her voice sounding exceptionally clear in the deathly silent rift.

She dared not advance rashly; for every extra bit of energy consumed, the Seal would weaken by a fraction, and the Blood Poison's erosion would accelerate by a fraction.

She carefully leaned the heavy ice sculpture against the base of a giant ice stalagmite that slanted upwards and was thick enough for three people to wrap their arms around.

The contact between the ice sculpture and the ice stalagmite made a dull friction sound.

There was no time to hesitate.

She turned quickly to face the ice sculpture and formed a complex Seal with her hands in front of her chest.

Her fingertips trembled, and the veins beneath her skin were clearly visible due to the extreme cold.

She took a deep breath, the icy air stinging her lungs, and then sank all her focus into her Dantian.

"Freeze!"

A clear shout, carrying a desperate resolution.

A faint, yet purely extreme white light lit up at her fingertips.

That was not light, but "Cold" condensed to the extreme.

The white light left her fingertips and drifted toward the ice sculpture, landing precisely on the ice layer where those black filaments were spreading.

"Crack... crack, crack, crack..."

A more violent sound of ice crystals forming rang out.

Centered on that point of white light, new and even more bone-chilling frost quickly covered the area, attempting to refreeze those "rebellious" black Blood Poison filaments and press them back into the depths.

The water droplets on the surface of the ice sculpture instantly solidified into a thicker shell of ice, and the temperature plummeted, to the point where the air in the small surrounding area seemed about to crack from the cold.

Xia Lengbai's face was as pale as paper, her body swaying slightly, yet fine cold sweat seeped from her forehead—a sign of the dual exhaustion of her spiritual power and mental focus.

She stared fixedly at those black filaments, watching them reluctantly curl up and fade under the suppression of the new frost, yet they did not disappear completely, like dormant vipers.

Just as she was fully focused on maintaining the Seal, with her mind and spiritual power highly concentrated on the ice sculpture!

"Awoooo!!"

"Woo..."

From the depths of the rift, wolf howls erupted one after another without warning!

The sounds were ethereal and cold, with immense penetrating power, echoing and overlapping between the ice walls, as if surging from all directions at once, instantly tearing apart the mask of the rift's deathly silence!

Xia Lengbai's heart shrank violently, and she looked up abruptly.

She saw that in front and on both sides, behind the shadows of jagged ice pillars and hanging icicles, pairs of eyes emerged silently.

Blood-red, cold, and emotionless, like bloodthirsty lanterns lit in the dark blue ice prison.

One, two, seven... a full eight giant wolves, completely translucent as if carved from the purest ice, slowly paced out.

Their fur refracted a dim light, their joints were covered in natural ice crystal armor, and the tips of their fangs and claws glinted with a metallic, icy sheen.

They formed a loose fan shape and closed in silently, their target clear: the ice sculpture leaning against the ice stalagmite and Xia Lengbai standing in front of it.

It was the aura escaping from Shen Xiao's wound, a mix of the Burning Heaven Pill Fire's strange power and pure Blood Poison, which acted like a lighthouse in the dark night, attracting these top predators of the deep rift: Ice Soul Wolves.

The air froze instantly, leaving only the hissing sound of the pack's heavy breathing turning into white mist, and the drum-like beating of Xia Lengbai's own heart.

She slowly stood up straight, shielding the ice sculpture more tightly behind her.

Her tattered white clothes were stained with blood, and the wound on her left shoulder was still faintly oozing blood, but her gaze grew colder bit by bit, settling into a glacial resolution.

She slowly raised her right hand and made a hollow grasping motion with her five fingers.

The stray cold air in the surroundings, the freezing power contained in the ice layer beneath her feet, and even the chill emanating from her own body were all drawn and gathered by an invisible force.

A long sword with a primitive design, a slender blade, and formed entirely from translucent ice, gradually took shape in her palm.

Fine frost patterns naturally formed along the edge of the blade, with cold air overflowing from it.

On her cold, clear face, the last trace of weakness belonging to a "human" was completely wiped away, leaving only an almost paranoid coldness for the sake of protecting something.

Her red lips parted slightly, and the words she uttered were as light as a sigh, yet as heavy as an oath:

"If you want to touch him..."

The ice crystal sword pointed diagonally at the ground, its tip tracing across the ice surface and leaving a white mark,

"You must first step over my corpse."

"Roar!"

Responding to her was a low growl from the alpha wolf.

That Ice Soul Wolf, more robust than the others and with a lightning-shaped ice mark on its forehead, kicked off the ground with its hind legs, its massive body turning into a dark blue afterimage, carrying a bone-chilling, fishy wind as it pounced directly at Xia Lengbai's face!

Its sharp claws tore through the air, emitting a piercing whistling sound.

With the rapidly enlarging wolf head reflected in her pupils, Xia Lengbai did not retreat but advanced instead. The ice beneath her feet cracked with a "snap," and she tilted her body slightly to the left, narrowly avoiding the wolf claw—which was capable of splitting metal and breaking stone—as it grazed her chest, the strong wind scraping her cheeks painfully.

At the same time, the ice sword in her hand, like a viper flicking its tongue, utilized the rotational force of her sidestep to strike viciously from bottom to top, aiming for the alpha wolf's relatively soft abdomen!

"Clang!"

A teeth-grinding sound of metal clashing exploded!

The ice sword struck the alpha wolf's abdomen, actually sparking a dazzling trail of fire!

That seemingly translucent ice crystal fur was as tough as refined steel!

The massive recoil made the web of Xia Lengbai's thumb numb, and the ice sword nearly slipped from her hand.

The alpha wolf, feeling pain, went even more berserk. Upon landing, its thick, icy tail lashed out horizontally like a steel whip.

Xia Lengbai retreated rapidly, but another cunning gray-blue Ice Soul Wolf had already pounced silently from her blind spot!

A fishy wind attacked from the left!

Her old strength was exhausted, and her new strength had yet to form; the ice sword was still extended, and it was too late to return to defense!

"Rip!"

The dull sound of claws tearing through flesh.

Three deep, bone-visible bloody gashes opened on her left shoulder, stacking with her previous wounds, and blood instantly stained a large patch of her white clothes red.

Severe pain surged through her body like high-voltage electricity. Xia Lengbai let out a muffled groan, her vision swimming with black spots, and the ice sword in her hand dimmed, nearly dissipating.

But her eyes suddenly turned fierce. Ignoring the excruciating pain in her left shoulder, her empty left hand shot out like lightning. In her palm, she had condensed a mass of extremely compressed, pale white cold mist, which she slammed viciously onto the forehead of the attacking Ice Soul Wolf!

"Crack!"

The Ice Soul Wolf's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. The pale white cold mist instantly spread, temporarily freezing most of its head and neck into a lump of solid ice, leaving it frozen in place with a clawing, snarling posture, with only those blood-red eyes still spinning frantically behind the ice layer.

A chaotic battle erupted completely.

Xia Lengbai gritted her teeth, fighting and retreating, attempting to lure the wolf pack away from the ice sculpture.

But the alpha wolf's intelligence was far beyond expectations. It constantly issued short, commanding howls, and there were always one or two wolves that would insidiously bypass the frontal battle and roam the periphery, their scarlet eyes locked tightly onto the crystalline human-shaped ice sculpture, searching for an opportunity to destroy it.

Xia Lengbai was forced into perilous situations.

Her clothes were torn open by wolf claws in more places, and the bloody wounds were shocking to behold.

Her Ice Spiritual Power was being consumed violently, and her Dantian felt a series of wrenching, empty pains. With every sword block, her arm felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

Her exhaled breath became whiter and more rapid.

Just at the moment when her spiritual power was about to be completely exhausted and her movements lagged for a beat!

A slightly smaller but exceptionally agile Ice Soul Wolf finally seized the gap while she was entangled with the alpha wolf, turning into a blue streak of lightning, bypassing her defense, and opening its bloodthirsty maw to bite viciously at the head of the ice sculpture!

"No!"

Xia Lengbai's eyes were splitting with rage; she wanted to turn back to save it, but she was held fast by the alpha wolf. The ice sword collided with the wolf's claws, the shock causing her blood and Qi to surge tumultuously.

It was over.

This thought had just arisen.

"Hum!"

An extremely faint, yet strangely penetrating vibration emanated from within the ice sculpture.

The Ice Soul Wolf that was about to bite the ice sculpture, its fangs only an inch from the ice layer, suddenly acted as if it had been burned by an invisible branding iron. It let out a shrill whimper and retracted its head like lightning, with a wisp of charred white steam even rising from the corner of its mouth.

Xia Lengbai and the wolf pack were stunned for a moment.

On the surface of the ice sculpture, without warning, a ring of faint, almost invisible, crimson-gold scorching energy burst forth.

The aura vanished in a flash, but it carried the residual power to burn everything, scalding the approaching Ice Soul Wolf and melting a small patch of water on the surface of the ice sculpture's head.

Within the ice Seal, under Shen Xiao's tightly closed eyelids, his eyeballs seemed to move violently.

Was it the residual Burning Heaven Pill Fire Origin within his body, unconsciously protecting its host when faced with a fatal threat?

Or was it some mutation produced by the conflict between the Blood Poison and the ice Seal?

No one knew.

But this fleeting turn of events gave Xia Lengbai her only chance!

A sharp light flashed in her eyes. Ignoring the alpha wolf's claws grabbing at her again, she poured the last of her strength, along with that desperate resolution, entirely into the ice sword in her right hand.

"Hit!"

The ice sword left her hand; it was no longer a thrust, but thrown with all her might!

It transformed into a bleak white rainbow, tearing through the air and piercing with absolute precision through the joint gap of the alpha wolf's front limb, which it had just raised to swipe at her!

"Puchi!"

The sounds of shattering ice crystals and flesh being pierced rang out simultaneously.

"Awooo!!"

The alpha wolf let out an earth-shattering howl of pain, its front limb pinned firmly to the ice by the ice sword, blood gushing out and staining the dark blue ice red.

The wolf pack's offensive stalled. The other Ice Soul Wolves, seemingly intimidated by the alpha wolf's severe injury and that eerie scorching aura, showed a moment of hesitation and agitation.

Now was the time!

Xia Lengbai didn't even have time to catch her breath, nor could she care about her right shoulder, which had been nearly shattered by the wolf's claws. She turned and lunged to the side of the ice sculpture, using her last bit of strength to heave the ice sculpture, which had begun to show fine cracks, back onto her shoulders.

The sharp edges of the ice sculpture pressed painfully into her, and the wound on her left shoulder was compressed, causing blood to flow even more rapidly.

She stumbled as she turned, her gaze locked onto the side wall of the rift, where a narrow, deep ice fissure—formed after two huge ice rocks collapsed—barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through, appeared like a scar on the earth.

There was no choice; that was the only path to survival.

Bearing the heavy ice sculpture on her back, she rushed toward that dark fissure.

Behind her were the angry howls of the wolf pack and the sounds of the alpha wolf struggling.