However, it had already been too long since Old Man Great Sorrow had passed away. While the spirit formation had been in a quiet, concealed state for many years, its spiritual qi had also been flowing unceasingly.
The loss of spiritual qi and the corrosion of time had caused the spirit formation to be damaged, its power no longer as it had been in the past.
However, wanting to break the formation with brute force, one would need to be a Martial Grandmaster at the very least.
The cold fog corroded bones. While it seemed inconspicuous, as time passed, it would formlessly corrode one's body unceasingly.
Even Martial Scholars would gradually weaken if they were placed within the ice fog for a long period of time.
When their aura-qi to ward off the cold was completely exhausted and they were still unable to walk out of the bewildering cold fog, they would be frozen to death within, becoming a part of the ice and snow.
Moreover, even as they resisted the bitter cold, they would also have to face the attacks of the Ice Crystal Guards which would revive unceasingly, causing the martial practitioner's expenditure to be even greater.
However, none of this could stump Yan Zhaoge.
Unceasingly deducing the changes in the spiritual qi network of the formation, Yan Zhaoge gradually found the key to breaking the formation, his speed increasing.
While the area before him was still filled with ice fog, Yan Zhaoge's spiritual sense was growing more and more acute as he was gradually able to discern the direction of his path.
Very quickly, a platform appeared before Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu. The platform was completely formed of ice, numerous spirit patterns circulating on it.
Standing on the platform, Yan Zhaoge squatted down, extending his palm and pressing it onto the surface of the ice.
A chill emanated; the ice was solid and thick.
Even with Yan Zhaoge's current cultivation base, he still felt that it was hard to destroy.
The ice was affecting Yan Zhaoge's aura-qi. He could feel a strange flow of qi within the ice, forming a system of its own. Yan Zhaoge wanted to infuse his aura-qi within, but it was not so easy as it was rejected by the spiritual qi within the ice.
Yan Zhaoge smiled, not hurried or impatient as he first ensured the stable circulation of his aura-qi before slowly grasping the balance of the spiritual qi flow beneath the ice.
Ah Hu reached out with both hands, directly grabbing the heads of two Ice Crystal Guards before lifting them up and slamming them together!
The heads of the two Ice Crystal Guards collided, instantly shattering into pieces.
Without turning, Ah Hu asked, "Young Master?"
Yan Zhaoge said, "It's fine. This is a part of the spirit formation, an existence similar to a 'door', whilst also a 'passageway'."
"The Spiritual Qi in the ice surface forms a stable balance. Try to fuse your Stellar Energy into this balance and become one with it. That way, you can pass through the ice surface and proceed to the next level."
Saying thus, the aura-qi within Yan Zhaoge's body shook, the ice beneath his palm suddenly lighting up with radiance. The next moment, Yan Zhaoge's figure vanished within the air.
With a backhand palm, Ah Hu shattered yet another Ice Crystal Guard, following Yan Zhaoge's example, light flickered on the icy surface of the platform as Ah Hu's figure also disappeared.
Passing through the ice surface, Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu came to a massive ice room.
The cold mist disappeared, and the ice room was empty. There was only a huge ice crystal coffin in the center of the room.
Ah Hu looked at the coffin curiously. "Is this Old Man Great Sorrow's tomb chamber?"
Yan Zhaoge shook his head, "The fake tomb is also a part of the mechanisms and spirit formations. The coffin itself should contain dangerous mechanisms."
Closing his eyes, Yan Zhaoge carefully felt for a moment before he instead leapt upwards, his body hanging upside down as he stood firmly on the ceiling of the ice room.
As though he was standing upside down on the ceiling of the ice room, Yan Zhaoge walked a few steps left and right, his footsteps following a strange rhythm.
After a while, he suddenly halted, just happening to have arrived directly above the ice crystal coffin.
On the ceiling of the ice room, beneath Yan Zhaoge's feet, the ice surface lit up with radiance once more.
Ah Hu grinned widely, flying up, also leaping onto the ceiling of the ice room. Then, the two disappeared within the ice room together.
Passing through the mechanisms of the spirit formation once more, the scene before Yan Zhaoge's eyes suddenly changed, going from a snow-white world of ice to a crimson world of blazing fire!
A vast river of flames appeared before the two, its dry, hot aura virtually suffocating.
Beneath the pure white snow-covered East Strangling Snow Mountains was, shockingly, a massive zone of lava.
Amidst the all-encompassing flowing fire, gazing into the distance, Yan Zhaoge could vaguely see that in the centre of the river of lava, there was a massive rock that resembled a lone island.
As the blazing hot lava flowed, striking that massive rock, terrifying sparks flew unceasingly.
Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu leapt over the river of lava together, arriving on the massive rock that resembled a lone island within the river.
At the centre of the massive rock, there shockingly was still a stone coffin.
On the surface of the stone coffin floated words written in flames, "Regretful! Regretful! "
This was the true burial ground of Old Man Great Sorrow.
While the situation was as he had predicted, Yan Zhaoge was unable to feel happy, while Ah Hu had a puzzled expression on his face, "I can't feel the existence of the Sacred Artifact fragment ah."
He shook his big head, "Young Master, could it be that Old Man Great Sorrow placed the Sacred Artifact fragment somewhere else, and it wasn't here all along?"
Yan Zhaoge did not answer, coming before the stone coffin and first bowing. Coming to his senses, Ah Hu also hurriedly did the same.
Then, Yan Zhaoge closed his eyes, carefully feeling his surroundings for a while before opening them again, "The Sacred Artifact fragment was indeed here before, but someone beat us to it."
Ah Hu's expression was a little ugly, "Young Master, we haven't been here for long. If it was that Lin Zhou who beat us to it and took away the Sacred Artifact fragment, by the time we arrived here, he would already have disappeared without a trace. Wouldn't the speed at which he entered be a little too fast?"
"I still thought that he was still trapped within the Ice Fog Bewildering Formation, having been overtaken by us."
"Although I heard that Lin Zhou's cultivation base had advanced rapidly after entering, leaving Yan Shan who had always been on par with him in the dust, he couldn't have become a Martial Grandmaster so quickly, right?"
"Even if it was a Martial Grandmaster, unless his cultivation base was very strong, it would also be impossible for him to break the Ice Fog Bewildering Formation above so quickly."
"Even though Old Man Great Sorrow died, the spirit formation he left behind is not so easy to break ah," Ah Hu hesitated slightly for a moment, "This is even faster than Young Master's speed in breaking the formation …"
Ah Hu scratched the back of his head, "It's practically like he already knew where to go before entering, and didn't have to fumble around to break the bewildering formation at the last minute. Or perhaps there was another shortcut here, and he directly took it over."
Ever since Yan Zhaoge had come to this world, this was still one of the few times that he had lagged behind others.
Rubbing his temples, Yan Zhaoge surveyed the surrounding world of flames, "Is it that there are always people better than you in terms of ability, heavens beyond heavens, or is it to say that he really already knew this place like the back of his hand before entering?"
His gaze finally rested on Old Man Great Sorrow's stone coffin, focusing on those characters of flame that remained in mid-air, not dissipating for a long time.
The two words' extremely regretful ', having experienced the long passage of time, seemed to be able to allow one to traverse time and space, to feel the regret and unwillingness of Old Man Great Sorrow before his death.
As he pondered, the world of flames that the two were in suddenly shook intensely.
The long river of lava surrounding the huge rock began roiling mightily, the rocks above shattering and falling unceasingly!
This underground lava region seemed like it was about to transform into a sea of flames, the heavens collapsing and the earth caving in!
At the core of the spirit formation, within the space where ice and fire intermingled, the Thunder Rumbling Young Master Lin Zhou looked calmly at the two trapped within the violent world of lava.
"Breaking the formation step by step, the level of your technique is not something I can compare to." Lin Zhou's gaze was a little strange, "However, since you don't know where the secret passageway is, that means that you and I are not the same kind of person."
"Although I don't know what it was that caused such a great change in the trajectory of your destiny, even causing many things to change."
"However, you have really muddied the waters of this pond, causing my originally clear memories to also become specious, with things that I originally was certain of no longer being certain of."
"If you completely disappear within this underground lava, perhaps everything in the 'past' can return to the right track?"
Lin Zhou murmured to himself, "This way, I would have more bargaining chips in my hands. Anyway, you were originally a thorn in my Heavenly Thunder Hall's side."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
