62: Chapter 62 The Gravedigger's Legacy

The hair-raising wolf howls and the explosive cracking of ice behind her acted like the most efficient whip, lashing against Xia Lengbai's nearly exhausted nerves.

She took one last look back. In the ghostly blue light, the alpha wolf was tearing at the ice sword pinning its forelimb with its fangs, while the other ice wolves, intimidated by the sudden scorching aura and the alpha's fury, hesitated and circled, their blood-red eyes locked onto the "deserter" heading toward the fissure.

There was no time to lose.

Xia Lengbai gritted her teeth, pouring every last ounce of her remaining strength, along with her survival instinct, into her trembling legs.

She turned sideways, using her shoulder to press firmly against the sharp edge of the ice statue on her back, wedging it tighter into the entrance of the narrow ice fissure.

"Ugh..."

The ice fissure was narrower than it looked.

The jagged ice walls protruded like the ribs of a monster, pressing in mercilessly.

The rough ice ridges scraped against the surface of the ice statue, emitting a teeth-gritting "creak," and also grazed her arms and waist, bringing a searing, stinging pain.

The cold air was compressed further, mixing with the frigid aura sealed away for eons, drilling into her mouth and nose; every breath felt like swallowing shards of ice.

She practically "shoved" herself and the ice statue inside.

Her vision went dark instantly, relying only on the ghostly light that filtered in from the rift behind, which had become extremely faint after being repeatedly refracted by the ice walls, and... ahead.

There was light ahead.

It was not the cold, ghostly blue of the rift, but a softer, more stable, milky-white glimmer faintly emanating from the depths of the ice fissure.

There was hope!

Xia Lengbai's spirits lifted slightly. No longer caring about the friction between her body and the ice walls, she used both hands and feet to scramble and squeeze forward through the crevice that could barely accommodate one person.

Ice shavings fell with a rustle, slipping into her collar and melting to bring a bone-chilling cold.

The ice statue on her back would occasionally get stuck, forcing her to expend precious mental energy to channel a trace of weak spiritual power to clear the obstacle.

After crawling for about ten zhang, the ice fissure suddenly widened.

The view before her suddenly opened up.

Xia Lengbai panted heavily, stumbling into this unexpected space. The ice statue on her back made her stagger, nearly causing her to fall to her knees.

She barely managed to steady herself and looked up, her breath instantly stolen by the scene before her.

This was a naturally formed domed Ice Cave, not very large, roughly the size of an ordinary hall.

Unlike the bone-piercing cold outside, the air was filled with a strange warmth; although still cold, it lacked the bitter chill that could freeze the Soul.

The light source came from the four walls, not moonstones, but a rarer "warm jade marrow" embedded in the crystalline ice, emitting a constant and soft milky-white halo that illuminated the entire Ice Cave like a dream.

In the center of the Ice Cave, the most eye-catching feature was a spring, barely a zhang in radius.

The spring water was not crystal clear but appeared a strange milky white, its surface wreathed in thick, almost impenetrable steam that bubbled up but did not flow out, as if constrained within the spring by an invisible force.

The rising steam mingled with the cold air above the Ice Cave, forming a hazy mist that softened the glow of the warm jade marrow.

This steam was the source that dispelled some of the cold.

However, what made Xia Lengbai's heart tighten suddenly was the scene surrounding the hot spring.

Seven ice statues.

Lifelike humanoid ice statues stood around the hot spring in the Formation of the Big Dipper.

They were not like the crude sealing ice layer on Shen Xiao, but true "works of art," each maintaining a complete posture, some standing, some sitting, and one even smiling while holding a flower.

Their clothing was ancient with complex patterns, definitely not of the current era's style.

There were both men and women, their faces clear, with even the strands of hair and the folds of their robes rendered in exquisite detail, as if they had been frozen by the absolute power of time in a single moment.

Most unsettling of all was a faint, cinnabar-like mark on the center of each ice statue's forehead, resembling dried blood.

Dead silence.

A silence deeper than the cold of the rift, a silence accumulated over long ages.

Xia Lengbai forced herself to look away from this eerie, tranquil scene; now was not the time for investigation.

She carefully unloaded the heavy ice statue from her back, letting it lean against a relatively flat ice platform at the edge of the hot spring.

The ice statue made a dull "thud" as it touched the ice platform.

She immediately knelt down, fingertips gathering a faint glow of spiritual power as she carefully checked Shen Xiao's condition.

The situation was worse than she had expected.

The cracks from the Ice Sealing Technique, like cracked dry land, had already spread from the wound on his left leg to above his knee, and more dense, black, spiderweb-like patterns had grown around the main cracks.

Those black veins seemed to have a life of their own, slowly wriggling beneath the ice layer; wherever they passed, the ice layer indented slightly, tinged with a murky gray.

The erosion of the Blood Poison was clearly not completely suppressed by this special Ice Cave environment; instead, it was stubbornly fighting against the sealing power of the ice.

Through the cracks, one could even vaguely see the wound on Shen Xiao's left leg inside, where charred black and ghastly white intertwined, and black blood threads like vines wrapped around the broken bone, a shocking sight.

"Trouble..."

Xia Lengbai cursed under her breath, cold sweat seeping from her forehead.

Her Dantian was empty, and her Meridians throbbed with pain from overexertion; even maintaining the most basic spiritual power for investigation felt difficult.

Seeing the cracks still slowly expanding and the black threads spreading, she was anxious to the point of burning.

Her gaze involuntarily turned toward the hot spring that was bubbling with steam.

This spring water... was somewhat strange.

Steam was rising, but only when she got close could she feel that the steam seemed to contain some kind of... cold essence?

It was not the scorching heat of fire, but a deep "cold" that faintly resonated with her own Ice Spiritual Power.

It was just masked by the form of the spring water and the steam on its surface.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Xia Lengbai moved to the edge of the hot spring, extended her hand—which was frozen red and covered in small wounds—and after a moment of hesitation, plunged it into the milky-white spring water.

The sensation was strange.

Her fingertips did not feel scalding heat, but a warm, smooth sensation, like the finest warm jade.

However, the moment the spring water covered her wrist, an extremely pure yet bone-chillingly cold spiritual power, like a cunning fish, dove into her Meridians along the skin of her fingertips!

"Hiss!"

Xia Lengbai gasped, instinctively wanting to pull her hand back.

But after this foreign spiritual power entered her body, it did not rampage; instead, it quickly resonated with the exhausted Ice Spiritual Power in her body, and even... nourished it?

It was pure and cold, originating from the same source as her power, yet more ancient and mellow; it was like sweet rain after a long drought, causing even her parched Dantian to feel a faint tremor.

Not ordinary water!

It was a spiritual spring containing the cold spiritual power of the earth's veins!

Xia Lengbai's eyes lit up.

She carefully scooped up a handful of spring water; the milky-white liquid rippled slightly in her palm, containing cold energy within.

She no longer hesitated, turning back to Shen Xiao's ice statue, and extremely gently and evenly poured the water in her palm onto the cracked area of the ice statue's left leg where the black threads were spreading.

"Sss..."

An extremely faint sound, like a red-hot iron block quenched in cold water.

The moment the spring water touched the ice layer, those slowly wriggling black Blood Poison threads shrank violently as if burned!

The trend of the cracks spreading slowed down visibly to the naked eye.

Not only that, but on the surface of the ice layer, new, denser frost began to slowly grow, repairing inward along the edges of the cracks; although the speed was extremely slow, it was indeed closing up!

It worked!

Xia Lengbai let out a long sigh of relief, her long-taut nerves finally relaxing slightly.

She slumped beside the ice statue, her back against the cold ice platform, as exhaustion washed over her like a tide.

Only then did she have the energy to truly examine this life-saving Ice Cave.

Her gaze fell once again on the seven ancient ice statues with varied postures and cinnabar marks on their foreheads.

A backup plan of the White Lotus? Or something else?

She propped up her sore body and walked slowly along the edge of the hot spring, observing carefully.

When she walked to the feet of the female ice statue closest to the hot spring, which was smiling while holding a flower, her gaze froze.

Beside the bare feet of the ice statue, on the flat ice surface, there was something sealed in thin ice: a white Jade Slip with a warm luster, neither gold nor jade.

Beside the Jade Slip, there were a few lines of small characters carved directly into the ten-thousand-year profound ice with fingertips.

The handwriting was graceful and elegant, yet it revealed a bone-deep exhaustion, as well as... determination.

Xia Lengbai brushed away the ice shavings from the surface and deciphered the words:

"Latecomer, if you too are one hunted by the Heavenly Dao, this place is the 'Seven Absolutes Spirit Sealing Formation' built with my lifelong spiritual power; it can temporarily evade the prying eyes of the Heavenly Dao. The spring eye connects to the subterranean Yin Pool and can suppress evil toxins. The Formation eye... is within me."

She looked up abruptly, gazing at the face of the female ice sculpture.

Under the halo of the warm jade marrow, the ice sculpture's facial features were soft, with willow-leaf eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes; even frozen, one could discern the gentle and graceful temperament she possessed in life.

Upon closer inspection, the brows and eyes... were actually five or six parts similar to Bai Lian!

Was she Bai Lian's ancestor?

Or perhaps a fellow sect member of the Gravekeeper lineage?

Was this "Seven Absolutes Spirit Sealing Formation" actually constructed at the cost of the lives and total spiritual power of these seven Seniors?

The Formation eye being within her meant that this ice sculpture was not just a decoration, but the core hub of the Formation, suppressing the energy of this place and isolating it from the perception of the Heavenly Dao.

Xia Lengbai felt a chill in her heart, and for this Senior she had never met, a sense of respect and sorrow arose.

The Gravekeeper lineage, as expected, bore a heavy destiny for generations.

She gently picked up the ice-sealed Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip felt cool to the touch, not bone-chilling.

After a moment of hesitation, she slowly probed it with her last remaining sliver of weak spiritual power.

"Boom!"

A vast amount of complex information, like a bursting flood, rushed violently into her Sea of Consciousness!

It was not the cold infusion of a System, but rather something closer to a Legacy of memories—shattered knowledge and intense fragments of emotion intertwined together.

She "saw" a blurry scene: beneath the vast starry sky, a tiny yet ferocious "crack" spanned the Void Realm, emitting an ominous aura.

She saw generations of Gravekeepers, dressed in ancient attire, silently surrounding the crack, burning their lives to reinforce the Seal; she saw the invisible threads of the Heavenly Dao's rules descending, coiling, eroding, and manipulating...

She "read" text: about several extremely obscure, even arguably evil, sealing techniques—how to use one's own essence blood as a guide, connecting to the subterranean Yin Qi to construct a "Spirit-Severing" place; about how to fight poison with poison, utilizing extreme cold to suppress certain tyrannical fire toxins or Blood Poison, though the process was perilous, and a slight carelessness would mean perishing together; and, more fragmented, were bits and pieces about the "heavenly dao chessboard."

That was not a metaphor, but the manifestation of the supreme rules that truly existed and enshrouded the entire Nine Heavens Continent.

The "Scar of the Heavenly Dao" guarded by the Gravekeepers was a "loophole," a "weakness" where the power of the heavenly dao chessboard projected into this realm.

Therefore, the Gravekeeper Family had been feared and marked by the Heavenly Dao for generations; they would either degenerate into Puppets without any self-awareness, like Bai Lian, or become fodder to be sacrificed to the "Child of Destiny" at critical moments.

At the end of the information stream was a message written in blood, filled with unwillingness and resolute will; the handwriting was sharp, piercing straight to the core of the Jade Slip:

"Shen Xiao, if you see this slip, I have already perished. The evidence within the soul sound bell may be able to shake the Foundation of the Heavenly Dao.

Remember, do not trust any 'Destiny,' including your own 'System.' Its source... is also on the heavenly dao chessboard."

The last few words seemed to have exhausted all the writer's strength; the blood color was dim, yet shocking to the eye.

Xia Lengbai abruptly withdrew her spiritual power and staggered backward, her spine hitting the cold ice wall, and she almost lost her grip on the Jade Slip.

Her breathing became rapid, her chest heaving violently; all color drained from her pale face, and only in those cold, clear eyes did stormy waves rise.

Bai Lian's warning was more direct and more fatal than the recording in the soul sound bell!

Do not trust any "Destiny," including the System? The source of the System... is also on the heavenly dao chessboard?

Then what was Shen Xiao? A Transmigration traveler who thought he had obtained a Golden Finger and was resisting fate?

Was his entire journey of counter-attacking and seizing destiny also proceeding according to some more hidden, more massive "script"?

Was what he was resisting really the Heavenly Dao?

Or was he, in and of himself, another way for the Heavenly Dao to cultivate "fruit," a more intense form of "catalysis"?

A chill, a chill even worse than the glaciers outside, slowly crept up along Xia Lengbai's spine.

She slowly turned her head to look at the ice sculpture quietly leaning against the ice platform.

The light of the warm jade marrow shone through the ice layer, reflecting the blurry silhouette of the figure inside, whose expression could not be seen clearly.

Shen Xiao... you detestable bastard who always uses others as tools... do you know?

Your reliance, your trump card, might have been a joke, a trap from the very beginning.

Xia Lengbai suddenly laughed softly, the laughter echoing in the empty Ice Cave, carrying a trace of madness, a trace of sorrow, and a trace of... twisted excitement.

She walked back to the ice sculpture step by step, extended her cold fingers, and gently stroked the position of the ice sculpture Shen Xiao's face.

The ice surface under her fingertips was smooth, and the cold was bone-chilling.

She leaned down, pressing her lips close to the ice layer, as if whispering to the person sleeping inside, her voice as soft as a lover's murmur:

"Look, Shen Xiao... even your System might be fake, all arranged on the chessboard. In this world, who else can you trust?"

She paused, feeling the faint yet tenacious pulse of life transmitted through the "Telepathic Symbiosis Technique," and her gaze was gradually replaced by a more paranoid light.

Her voice lowered even further, carrying an unquestionable determination:

"Only me."

"So, get well soon, my dear... 'Destiny Plunderer'."

"Our game hasn't ended yet. The chessboard must be overturned, the truth must be investigated, and you..."

She pressed her fingertips hard, almost embedding them into the ice layer, "...must live, live until the moment you see everything clearly. Even if it's just to not let 'it' be smug."

After speaking, she straightened up and took a deep breath; the air in the Ice Cave, carrying the humidity of the hot spring and Yin cold spiritual power, surged into her lungs, refreshing her spirit.

She turned around, facing the gurgling milky-white hot spring, her eyes becoming incredibly focused.

In the information from the Jade Slip, that obscure technique named "Yin and Yang Reverse Thrust" clearly emerged in her mind.

This method was exceptionally perilous; it required drawing the power of the subterranean Yin cold spiritual spring, using oneself as a bridge to reverse-thrust into the body, forcibly impacting and cleansing the poisoned person's Meridians to force out the deeply embedded evil toxins.

The process was far more painful than usual and was a huge burden on the practitioner; if there was the slightest mistake, both could have their Meridians destroyed, or even be backlashed by the Yin cold spiritual power and turned into ice sculptures.

But at the moment, this was the only way to quickly curb the Blood Poison and repair the cracks in the ice Seal.

Shen Xiao could not wait, and she could not afford to waste time.

Xia Lengbai sat cross-legged by the hot spring; her torn white clothes were stained with blood and ice shavings, appearing disheveled, but her straight spine revealed a rock-like determination.

She formed an ancient and complex hand Seal in front of her chest, and the sliver of Ice Spiritual Power within her Dantian, which had just been nourished by the spring water and recovered a little, began to rotate slowly.

She closed her eyes, sank her consciousness, and cautiously drew upon the pure and majestic Yin cold spiritual power in the hot spring.

One strand, two strands... the milky-white water vapor seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, beginning to slowly rotate around her body, gradually forming a tiny vortex of Qi.

The temperature in the Ice Cave, with her as the center, began to drop slowly and steadily, and even the light of the warm jade marrow seemed to stagnate slightly.

And just as Xia Lengbai was fully focused, preparing to begin this dangerous healing...

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness of Shen Xiao, which was as silent as stagnant water, amidst the ice Seal.

In the absolute darkness where there was no light and no sound.

An illusory, semi-transparent azure interface, like a stele sunk into the deep sea, floated silently.

On the interface, the originally clear text, icons, and mission descriptions were now shrouded in a layer of gray, seemingly isolating fog, devoid of any vitality.

Suddenly. Extremely abruptly.

At the very bottom of the interface, a line of characters that had never appeared before, composed of countless tiny garbled codes, flickered extremely weakly, like the spasms of a dying person.

The garbled code was twisted and broken, completely impossible to decipher, and it lasted for less than a tenth of an instant before it completely annihilated and disappeared without a trace.

As if it had never appeared.

Only absolute silence once again enshrouded this abyss of consciousness.