The entrance of Grand Essence Ruins remained open at all times. Moreover, with no array formations or restrictions obstructing the entrance, anyone could enter.
Cultivators entering the Grand Essence Ruins usually formed a four-person team or at the very least a three-person group. Therefore, Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue’s team of two was an exceedingly rare one.
Besides, Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue were new cultivators. Therefore, if they didn’t take the initiative to find teammates to team up with for the tasks, very few people would actively come to find them.
Moreover, neither of them knew the rules and regulations of the Grand Essence Ruins very well. But since Ning Cheng wanted to go to the Grand Essence Seven Bridges, he didn’t want to team up with others. Therefore, after purchasing the Grand Essence Ruins’ latest map, he took Nalan Ruxue and followed the rest of the cultivators into the Grand Essence Ruins on an airship.
The airship flew inwards for a day before considerably slowing down. Ning Cheng, however, understood why. The various laws in the Grand Essence Ruins were in disarray, which meant that ordinary airships couldn’t fly through it at a fast pace. Ning Cheng didn’t want to expose the Starry Sky Wheel, so he could only use his celestial essence to hurry along with the other cultivators.
One had to marvel that even after tens of thousands of years, this place hadn’t withered yet.
After flying around for a few more days, Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue’s spiritual consciousness could no longer spot a single person around them. From this, they also understood the vastness of the Grand Essence Realm. No matter how many cultivators came in, thrown into the Grand Essence Realm, it was just like a drop of water in an ocean.
Reaching this place, they also started to discover the worthless and broken weapon fragments and the ruined buildings. From what they saw, this place most likely was a lively starry sky city countless years ago. Ning Cheng’s spiritual consciousness scanned the ruins but didn’t find anything of value. The first comers had long since cleaned up and turned over every inch of this place a long time ago.
Continuing to follow the directions on the map for another two days, the two eventually stopped at the sloping ice valley entrance. Standing there, the two could hear the whimpers coming from the ice valley below them. Some of the overflowing icy aura made Nalan Ruxue shiver subconsciously. Simultaneously, near the edge of the inclined entrance, the two also saw a huge ice sculpture lying on the ground. The ice sculpture had numerous cracks covering its surface, and only had one leg and one arm remaining.
“The aura from the Defying Ice Mound is too cold.” Although Nalan Ruxue didn’t walk the path of body-forging, she was still a Heaven Seated cultivator. Yet, she felt chills even before entering the Defying Ice Mound.
Ning Cheng hesitated before speaking, “If you can’t bear it, you can enter my True Spirit World.”
Nalan Ruxue refused without hesitation, “No. When I reached the starry sky from Heaven’s Way alone and started wandering around, I realised something. I realised that sometimes training out in the open is much more useful than hiding in the sect for secluded cultivation.”
In fact, after entering the starry skies, Nalan Ruxue no longer was the pampered disciple from Thoughtless Academy. Instead, she had become an ordinary starry sky rogue cultivator, a starry sky wanderer. But what she had gained during those years while wandering the starry skies were countless times more precious than what she had experienced at the Thoughtless Academy. More importantly, she had grown more determined than before. Even she never thought that something like this would happen to her.
Before Ning Cheng had the time to say ‘let’s go inside’, several figures landed not far from them. It was a group of four cultivators, two men and two women.
All four of them had Eternal cultivations. One of them, a grey-robed woman, was already at the full-circle of the Eternal Realm. One of the male cultivators had a star on his forehead and was at the late-stage Eternal Realm. In comparison, the other male and female cultivators were at the early-stage Eternal Realm.
“Are you also going into the Defying Ice Mound?” The grey-robed female cultivator asked in surprise after seeing Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue.
“Yes, we’re heading to the Defying Ice Mound.” Ning Cheng replied with a nod.
This grey-robed female cultivator dressed in old-fashioned attire and even wore a grey-coloured outfit. But even if she didn’t want to put up an appearance, her beauty didn’t lose out to Nalan Ruxue.
She shook her head and said, “I would advise you not to go inside. This Junior Apprentice Sister’s cultivation is only at the early-stage Heaven Seated Realm, and it’s not even stable. Entering the Defying Ice Mound with such cultivation would only result in her death. Although there are a lot of good things in Defying Ice Mound, if you can’t even keep your life, then it’s no use going after them.”
Ning Cheng didn’t respond to her words. He understood that although this grey-robed female cultivator spoke some harsh words, she did have kind intentions.
Nalan Ruxue quickly bowed and said, “Many thanks, Senior Apprentice Sister, for the kind reminder.”
After the grey-robed female cultivator finished speaking, she no longer cared about Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue and rushed into the Defying Ice Mound with her companions.
“Senior Apprentice Brother Ning…..” Nalan Ruxue looked at Ning Cheng with a little embarrassment. She wasn’t afraid of death but also didn’t want to hold Ning Cheng back.
Ning Cheng showed an indifferent smile, “Let’s go. Just because someone said something, why wouldn’t we go in?”
As the grey-robed female cultivator’s spiritual consciousness swept around, she immediately noticed Ning Cheng and Nalan Ruxue entering the Defying Ice Mound despite her warning. She just shook her head and continued forward; she wasn’t in the mood to care for them. She had already shown enough kindness by giving them that warning. If people didn’t want to accept her kindness, what else could she say?
“Sister Ning, they don’t appreciate your kindness. There’s no need for you to worry about such people.” Next to the grey-robed female cultivator, the early-stage Eternal woman noticed her shaking her head and took the initiative to speak up.
The grey-robed female cultivator smiled, “It’s not too much to worry about them, but it’s also not easy to cultivate to Heaven Seated Realm. It’s especially not worth it if you’re just going to leave your life here. As far as I know, all tasks for entering the Defying Ice Mound are high-grade quests. For a Heaven Seated cultivator to take up any of them, is just suicide. Forget it. We’re about to enter the ice mound, so pay attention and take out your defensive weapons.”
The other three had already brought out their defensive weapons even without the reminder from the grey-robed female cultivator. They became even more cautious with their actions.
“Wu-Wu….” Waves of ice knife lights swept over with a whimpering sound before hitting the defences of the four people. Even with fully activating the defensive weapons, they still involuntarily shuddered while facing these icy knife lights.
“These icy knife lights are a bit too much.” The early-stage Eternal male cultivator walking behind them spoke up in surprise.
The grey-robed female cultivator spoke with a cautious tone, “The icy knife lights of the Defying Ice Mound contain ice-attributed laws. Even if you go to other icy regions, you won’t find such strong ice blades containing law dao charm. It’s what makes this place an ideal environment to understand ice-attributed laws. At the same time, it’s also easy to get caught up in law-related epiphanies here, so be careful.”
As soon as the grey-robed female cultivator finished speaking, a horrifying roar sounded out, and deathly repression suddenly surged over the four.
“Not good, it’s the Defying Ice Storm, run ….” The grey-robed female cultivator quickly rushed out after speaking.
Even without the grey-robed female cultivator’s warning, the others also knew that the Defying Ice Mound’s Defying Ice Storm was the most violent thing in this region. Moreover, the Defying Ice Storm contained chaotic law attributes; combined with its large size; it produced an extremely damaging impact. Moreover, there was no way to resist it directly. If ordinary Eternal cultivators got caught up in this Defying Ice Storm, they would have no choice but to wait for death.
“Boom-Boom-Boom…..” The Defying Ice Storm’s chaotic ice laws swept through the four like an avalanche.
After an incense stick’s worth of time, the most violent part of the Defying Ice Storm passed away. However, the Defying Ice Knife Lights behind it still swept over them like an endless barrage. Fortunately, the Defying Ice Storm travelled in a straight line, and the grey-robed female cultivator’s group of four managed to escape by a hair’s breadth. They then huddled together in a small rocky opening at the side. However, the Defying Ice Knife Lights had no directions. Therefore, the four had to team up and bring out their best defensive weapons to block the Defying Ice Knife Lights’ endless barrage.
“I’m afraid we might lose our lives today.” The grey-robed female cultivator watched the endless ice-law blades hitting the defensive weapons and spoke with a solemn tone.
The others didn’t speak. They knew about the Defying Ice Storm before they came to the Defying Ice Mound. It’s just that they never expected that they would have such bad luck to encounter the Defying Ice Storm the moment they entered. Even after the Defying Ice Storm passed, the ice-law blades would continue to rage for several days or even months from what they knew. Now, the four had no choice but to hide in this corner. If they could support the consumption for a few days, it wouldn’t be much of a problem. But if they had to block these ice-law blades for a few months, they simply wouldn’t be able to keep up.
“If these Defying Ice Knife Lights didn’t dissipate in three days, we would have no choice but to rush out together.” The late-stage Eternal male cultivator with a star on his forehead spoke with a solemn tone.
Hiding in a corner among ice and rocks to resist these Defying Ice Knife Light was a much easier option than rushing out. But it was a question of if they could sustain it.
……
As the sound of the roar swept over, Ning Cheng felt the ice-laws within the knife lights for the first time.
Nalan Ruxue shivered. The ice-law blades hadn’t swept over yet, but she already couldn’t bear the cold.
“That….” Nalan Ruxue then saw the horrifying Defying Ice Storm rushing towards them. She only had time to say one word before the law aura contained within it sealed her and she could no longer speak.
“Boom-Boom-Boom……” The Defying Ice Storm rolled up endless ice-law blades as it passed by them. Submerged within these ice-law blades, Nalan Ruxue couldn’t even stand straight, let alone put up some resistance.
“I’m okay?” Nalan Ruxue then quickly noticed a huge thunder fort shielding her and Ning Cheng. As the Defying Ice Storm blasted over the thunder fort, it triggered a cascade of debris and lightning arcs that looked like a goddess showering resplendent flower petals from the sky.
Ning Cheng didn’t enjoy the same luck as the grey-robed female cultivator and couldn’t find a place to hide in time. Moreover, he also had no idea about the power within the Defying Ice Storm. At least, he had no idea about it before using the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort to block it.
When the Defying Ice Storm’s violent ice laws blasted onto the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort, Ning Cheng almost lost control.
The violent ice laws within the storm even blasted open a gap within the blue thunder fort’s defences, and several ice-law knife lights rushed inside through it. Fortunately, Ning Cheng stood in front of Nalan Ruxue. Therefore, these violent ice-law knife lights could only open a few bloody gashes on Ning Cheng’s body.
If Nalan Ruxue had stood in the front, just a single strike would have caused the collapse of her corporeal body. This law-related attack wasn’t something that Nalan Ruxue, an early-stage Heaven Seated cultivator, could bear.
As Ning Cheng stabilised the fort, the Defying Ice Storm, which seemed like the Milky Way from his viewpoint, finally got blocked out by the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort. If the grey-robed female cultivator had seen this, she probably might have fainted from the shock.
Facing such terrifying Defying Ice Storm, apart from dodging to the side, even Dao Sculpting experts wouldn’t dare to block it with defensive weapons. An Eternal cultivator using a weapon to defend against the Defying Ice Storm was not only a crazy idea but also a useless one.
Ning Cheng wasn’t a crazy person, but he truly did defend against it. Apart from the Everlasting Blue Thunder Fort’s power, his celestial essence and Sea of Consciousness had long surpassed the Eternal Realm’s bounds.
As the most violent part of the Defying Ice Storm passed by quickly, the endless Defying Ice Blades that came behind it couldn’t threaten Ning Cheng at all. Ning Cheng could easily defend against these Defying Ice Blades for several months without doing anything.
