188: The Ice Abyss Upheaval and the Demon Ancestor Breaking Through the Boundary

Xiao Ji Palace Forbidden Ground, Profound Ice Cave.

Liu Shuier had just finished tidying her somewhat disheveled clothes, the flush on her face brought about by the treatment not yet fully faded. She looked at the man with his back to her, a complex look in her eyes.

The deal was struck. From this moment on, this man who called himself "Li Feiyu" was the only saving grace for her and Xiao Ji Palace.

"Fellow Daoist Li..."

Liu Shuier was just about to ask about the next step of the plan.

"Shh."

Zhou Wannian (Han Li) suddenly raised a finger to his lips. His originally calm expression instantly became incredibly grave, his starry eyes staring fixedly at the ten-thousand-year-old ice ceiling as if he could see through the thick layers of rock to the sky outside.

"It's coming."

"What's coming?" An ominous premonition rose in Liu Shuier's heart.

Before her voice had even faded.

"Rumble————————————!!!"

A world-shaking explosion rang out, as if the heavens themselves were collapsing.

The giant ice mountain where Xiao Ji Palace was located trembled violently in that instant. The ice walls within the Profound Ice Cave cracked immediately, and countless massive icicles fell like rain.

Following that, a terrifying devil pressure that made one's Soul tremble descended directly upon everyone's hearts, completely ignoring the sect-protecting array that Xiao Ji Palace was so proud of.

"Ah—!!!"

Countless terrified screams of Disciples echoed from outside.

"Li Feiyu!!! You wench Long Meng!!!"

"Get out here for this Palace Master!!!"

It was a female voice filled with venom, madness, and endless devilish might. The voice penetrated layers of Restrictions and exploded directly within the Profound Ice Cave, causing Liu Shuier's blood and qi to churn so much that she nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Yuancha Holy Ancestor?!"

Liu Shuier's face was as pale as paper. "That's... the aura of the Late Stage Soul Transformation?! How did she find this place?!"

"That old hag has a nose like a dog's; it's incredibly sharp."

Zhou Wannian grabbed Liu Shuier by the wrist, and the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder within him instantly covered his body, helping her resist the piercing devilish sound.

"No time to explain! Your array won't last three breaths against her!"

"Quick! Take me to the 'node' entrance!"

"The node?" Liu Shuier was stunned for a moment before reacting. "You mean the entrance to Xu Ling Hall? That's at the very bottom of the Ice Abyss!"

"Lead the way! Now!"

...Meanwhile, outside Xiao Ji Palace.

The originally pure and white ice plains Holy Land had now been dyed pitch-black by the overwhelming Devilish Qi.

In the sky, a thousand-zhang-long black wolf avatar with two heads—one devil and one beast—was wantonly trampling over the mountain gates of Xiao Ji Palace.

"What... what monster is that?!"

Grand Elder Human Venerable Han Li rushed out of the main hall with several Nascent Soul Elders, his eyes filled with despair as he looked at the sky-blotting devil wolf.

"Ants."

From within the black wolf avatar, the black Devil Head let out a cold snort.

It simply lifted a claw and lightly pressed down toward the Nine Palaces Profound Ice Array below.

"Crack."

The sect-protecting array that had stood for ten thousand years and was known as the number one defensive line of the Far North shattered instantly like a fragile soap bubble.

"Puff!"

Human Venerable Han Li, who was presiding over the array, sprayed a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string.

"Leave no one alive."

Yuancha Holy Ancestor issued the order for slaughter.

She could sense that the "Silver Moon Wolf Soul" was right inside the belly of this mountain and was moving rapidly.

"Trying to run? Let's see where you crawl to this time!"

Boom!

The devil wolf avatar transformed into a black tornado, smashing through the mountain body and drilling crazily toward the depths of the earth... Underground, in the Ice Abyss passage.

"Faster! Even faster!"

The wind thunder wings on Zhou Wannian's back flapped to their limit, turning him and Liu Shuier into a streak of lightning within the narrow ice passage.

Behind them, the rumbling sound of destruction drew closer and closer, like the footsteps of the Grim Reaper.

"It's right ahead!"

Liu Shuier pointed toward a massive abyss ahead that was emitting a faint blue glow.

The abyss was bottomless, but at its mouth hovered an ancient stone gate. The stone gate was covered in ancient demon script and was emitting startling spatial fluctuations.

The Gate of Void Spirits.

The entrance to the Spirit Realm node—Xu Ling Hall.

"How do we open it?!" Zhou Wannian roared.

"Use my blood!"

Liu Shuier didn't hesitate; she bit her fingertip and flicked a drop of silver essence blood emitting extreme cold—the Ice Phoenix True Blood—toward the stone gate.

At the same time, her hands formed seals as she chanted, and the Star Bead at her heart resonated with it.

"Buzz—"

The stone gate trembled and slowly opened a crack.

But it was too slow!

"It's too late!"

Zhou Wannian suddenly turned his head.

He saw that the ice passage behind them had completely collapsed, and a massive black wolf claw, carrying Devilish Qi that could destroy everything, had already reached out toward him!

"Go to your death!!!"

Yuancha Holy Ancestor's roar was right in his ears.

"Damn it! Let's risk it!"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Zhou Wannian's eyes.

"void heaven cauldron! Azure Blue Ice Flame! Full release!"

He sacrificed the void heaven cauldron, the lid flying off as that mass of Azure Blue Ice Flame he had nurtured for so long transformed into a blue ice dragon, roaring as it charged toward the devil claw.

But that wasn't enough.

"black wind flag! Spatial Storm!"

Zhou Wannian's other hand waved the heaven-reaching spirit treasure that he hadn't yet fully refined.

Whoosh—!!!

A storm of black spatial cracks intertwined with the blue extreme cold ice flame, forming an annihilating defensive wall.

"Boom!!!"

The devil claw slammed violently into the ice flame storm.

Zhou Wannian felt as if his chest had been struck by a mountain. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and using the force of the counter-shock, he flew backward like a cannonball toward the stone gate crack that had just opened.

"Get in!!!"

He held Liu Shuier tightly and, in that split second, forced his way into the crack of the stone gate.

"No!!!"

Yuancha Holy Ancestor's devil claw crushed the ice flame and tore through the Black Wind, yet it only managed to catch a piece of Zhou Wannian's sleeve.

"Thud!"

The moment Zhou Wannian entered, the stone gate slammed shut as if sensing the intrusion of Devilish Qi from outside.

A layer of blinding silver Restriction light rose up, blocking Yuancha Holy Ancestor outside.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

Yuancha Holy Ancestor was driven mad with rage, her claws frantically scratching at the stone gate and the surrounding spatial barriers.

"Xu Ling Hall... this is actually the entrance to Xu Ling Hall?!"

"Good! Very good!"

"You can run, but you can't hide!"

"This Palace Master will go and break the spatial barrier right now. Even if I have to destroy this node, I will drag you out!"

...Behind the gate.

This was a strange space.

There was no sky and no earth, only the endless void and several massive floating islands drifting within it.

"Bang!"

Zhou Wannian and Liu Shuier slammed heavily onto the edge of a floating island.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Zhou Wannian felt as if every bone in his body was falling apart. Although he had blocked that strike, the residual power of a Late Stage Soul Transformation demon ancestor had still injured his internal organs.

"Are you alright?"

Liu Shuier scrambled up from the ground, her face pale. She had been shielded in Zhou Wannian's embrace just now, so her injuries were lighter.

"I won't die."

Zhou Wannian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and glanced at the tightly shut stone gate, letting out a sigh of relief.

"That old hag can't get in for the time being."

"Is this... Xu Ling Hall?"

Zhou Wannian surveyed his surroundings.

This floating island was barely ten miles wide, and in its center stood a dilapidated palace. The Spiritual Qi in the air was so dense it was frightening, several times higher than even Kunwu Mountain in the Great Jin.

More importantly... there was a large amount of reverse spirit qi drifting here.

"Yes, this is the intersection point between the Spirit Realm and the Human Realm."

Liu Shuier looked at the palace with a complex expression.

"Inside that hall is a transport Formation left behind by Ancestral Master Ice Soul, which can lead to the Spirit Realm."

"But..."

"But what?" Zhou Wannian asked.

"But that transport Formation is one-way, and it requires a Late Stage Soul Transformation cultivation to activate. Otherwise, one would be torn to shreds upon entering the spatial passage."

Liu Shuier gave a bitter smile.

"We are... trapped here to death."

"Spatial barriers ahead, and Yuancha Holy Ancestor behind."

"This is a dead end."

"A dead end?"

Zhou Wannian slowly stood up, feeling the dense reverse spirit qi around him. The yuan ci divine peak and the reverse star nascent soul within his body were letting out joyful hums.

He smiled.

It was a smile that was somewhat arrogant, yet also somewhat relieved.

"For others, this might be a dead end."

"But for me..."

Zhou Wannian took a deep breath, and that pale gold reverse spirit qi surged into his body like a great whale sucking in water.

"This is the best... place for seclusion."

"Palace Master Liu."

Zhou Wannian turned around and looked at this beautiful woman, the fire of ambition burning in his eyes.

"It will take that old hag Yuan Sha at least twenty years to break through the barriers and get in."

"Twenty years..."

"Is enough for me to charge into the Late Stage Nascent Soul, and even... reach Major Achievement in Yuan Ci Divine Light."

"Lend me your Ice Phoenix True Blood."

"We will stay here and..."

"Dual Cultivate."

(Note: Dual Cultivation here refers to the complementary nature of Yin and Yang in Cultivation Techniques for mutual progress, not mere Cauldron harvesting.)

Looking at the man before her who was confident to the extreme, the despair in Liu Shuier's heart actually dissipated for some unknown reason.

She bit her lip, her cheeks slightly red, yet she nodded firmly.

"Alright."

"As long as we can get out alive..."

"I will do as you say."