When Chen Ping and his two companions finally arrived at the depression surrounded by three ten-thousand-zhang ice peaks, night had already quietly fallen over the Eternal Ice Plain.
There were no stars in the sky, only the aurora flowing like a colourful river, silently dancing across the pitch-black firmament, casting a bizarre and fantastical light over the entire ice plain.
At the centre of the depression, the Blood Soul Chill Pool, no more than ten zhang in diameter, gleamed with an eerie dark red lustre under the aurora. The surface of the pool was calm and waveless, yet it emitted a chilling aura and bloody scent that made the soul tremble.
Beside the pool, the thousand-year Ice Soul Blood Lotus swayed gently in the cold wind. Its nine lotus leaves were crystalline like rubies, while the central bud was deep red as blood, seeming ready to bloom at any moment.
However, the forbidden guardian grand array that enveloped the entire depression stood like an insurmountable chasm before them.
On the ice-blue light curtain flowed ancient and intricate divine runes. From within the curtain hung ice-blue chains, at the ends of which ferocious ice beast phantoms flickered in and out, radiating a heart-palpitating pressure.
What weighed even heavier on their hearts was what lay beyond the array. Deeper among the three ice peaks, a magnificent cluster of ice crystal palaces, indescribable in words, stood silently amid the night and the aurora.
The Northern Darkness Palace.
It was not a single palace, but an undulating complex of ice crystal structures.
The main hall rose a thousand zhang high, carved entirely from ten-thousand-year profound ice and earth-core chill jade. It was crystal clear, refracting the gorgeous colours of the aurora, yet it retained an icy, solemn, and sacred majesty.
Countless smaller palaces, towers, and covered bridges surrounded the main hall like stars around the moon, connected by ice crystal stairways and suspended corridors, forming a breathtakingly beautiful yet peril-filled city of ice crystals.
Within the city, faint ice-blue lights flickered, and powerful auras appeared and vanished.
The entire palace complex exuded an aura of eternal solitude, lofty inviolability, as if it were a slumbering deity of ice and snow.
“We have finally arrived…”
Scarlet Cloud Demon Lord gazed at the blood lotus so close at hand, his eyes filled with both longing and anxiety.
With the guardian array ahead and the Northern Darkness Palace behind, the path to obtaining the herb remained arduous.
Ling Shuang gripped her longsword tightly and whispered, “Senior, that array…”
“We must first find a way to break it.”
Chen Ping’s gaze passed over the chill pool and the array, fixing on the distant Northern Darkness Palace. “And the method to break it must be inside the palace.”
The three rested briefly, then set off towards the Northern Darkness Palace.
The closer they got, the more they felt the grandeur and oppressive might of this city of ice crystals.
There were no city walls around the palace outskirts. Instead, circles of hundred-zhang-high, razor-sharp ice crystal barriers stood in their place, inscribed with defensive divine runes that radiated cold rejection.
The only entrance was a fifty-zhang-high ice crystal archway.
On either side of the archway stood a ten-zhang-tall ice-carved divine statue, each holding an ice halberd and gazing forward. Though lifeless, they gave the illusion they might come alive at any moment.
When Chen Ping and his companions were still a hundred zhang from the archway, two figures slowly walked out from within.
One was tall, the other short; one burly, the other thin. Yet both exuded a suffocating, terrifying aura.
The man on the left stood nine chi tall, with a bear-like back and waist, a rugged face carved as if from rock, a full beard, and bronze-bell eyes that gleamed sharply.
He was bare-chested, revealing bronze, scar-covered, solid muscle. He wore only an ice-blue battle skirt below, and in his hand he carried a door-sized ice crystal great axe.
Merely standing there, he gave the sensation of a mountain bearing down.
His aura had clearly reached the peak of the eighth grade of Heavenly Immortal realm, the same as the third divine general, Chill Prison!
The man on the right was tall and slender, with a sinister face, appearing about thirty years old. His complexion was pale as paper, his thin lips pressed tight, and his narrow eyes were as cold as a venomous snake.
He wore an ornate ice-blue long robe with wide sleeves, his hands hidden within. He appeared scholarly and weak, but the chill emanating from him was more condensed and more deadly than that of the giant.
His aura was likewise at the peak of the eighth grade of Heavenly Immortal realm, yet the sense of danger he posed was even greater!
“First Divine General of the Northern Darkness Palace, Man Shan.” The giant spoke, his voice like a great bell, causing the surrounding ice crystals to rattle.
“Second Divine General of the Northern Darkness Palace, Xuan Ming.” The sinister man’s voice was sharp and thin, like ice needles scraping glass.
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the archway entrance. Behind them, within the archway, dozens of elite divine clan warriors could faintly be seen, standing in tight formation.
“To kill your way here and even fell Chill Prison shows you have some ability.”
Xuan Ming’s narrow eyes swept over the three, lingering on Chen Ping for a moment with a trace of surprise. “First grade of Heavenly Immortal realm? Interesting… It seems you harbour quite a few secrets.”
Man Shan impatiently swung his great axe, stirring a cold gust. “Enough talk! Trespassing in the forbidden grounds of the Northern Darkness Palace and killing our clansmen warrants death ten thousand times over! Boy, state your name. This grandfather’s axe does not cleave the nameless!”
Chen Ping took a deep breath, stepped forward half a pace, and cupped his hands. “This junior is Chen Ping. I come with no ill intent, only to take the thousand-year Ice Soul Blood Lotus from the Blood Soul Chill Pool to save a life.”
“This item is of great use to me. I am willing to exchange it for treasures of equal value. I beseech the two divine generals to grant this convenience.”
“Grant convenience?”
Man Shan burst into loud laughter as if he had heard the greatest joke, his laughter cracking the ice surface. “Boy, has the cold frozen your brain? The Blood Soul Chill Pool is the sacred pool of our Northern Darkness Palace. Every blade of grass and every plant within belongs to the divine clan!”
“You killed so many of our people and still expect us to grant you convenience?”
Xuan Ming interjected coldly. “Hand over the sword on your body, along with the cultivation methods and secret arts you practise, then cripple your own cultivation. Perhaps we might spare your corpse intact.”
“As for the two behind you… the man will have his soul extracted and refined, the woman will serve as a slave. This is the fate of those who trespass upon the divine clan!”
The arrogance and malice in their words were undisguised.
Chen Ping’s expression darkened.
He knew negotiation was no longer possible, yet the opponents were two peak eighth-grade Heavenly Immortals, their strength far beyond any enemies encountered before.
He was confident, but not arrogant.
