Chapter 205: Main Text Chapter 207: Gate of Disaster

Main text Chapter 207: Gate of Disaster

The "Glacial Crystal Corpse," worshipped as an evil god by the Demon Kingdom, had a transparent mouth flashing silver cold light, emitting a buzzing like ladybug wings; from that icy flicker, it was clear beyond doubt that a horde of Dap was about to emerge, carrying the "Naiqiong Shen Bing" ice capable of freezing souls.

Fatty was closest to the crystal corpse, quick-eyed and quick-handed, he pulled a black donkey hoof from his pack and, before the Dap appeared, shoved it into the corpse's mouth, then hastily pulled his hand back; the corpse's inner cold light flickered faintly and then fell still.

Ming Shu, watching nearby, was terrified, tightly embracing Axian, and asked me: "Lao Hu brother... why isn't the copper seal working? Did we use the wrong method?"

I sat down on the ground, helplessly shaking my head: "This is still all your fault—you messed up the strategic direction, misled us, nearly got us killed by you; that day, the official copper seal was specifically meant to suppress corpse transformations, effective against any corpse demon or corpse sprite without exception, but this glacial crystal corpse isn't even a corpse—slapping the seal on your forehead wouldn't help, let alone on your butt."

I shifted all blame onto myself, preparing to catch my breath and let my emotions settle after the rollercoaster; at this moment I wanted to move but couldn't, thanks to Fatty's daring use of the black donkey hoof tactic, which blocked the ghost insects back—but for now, it seems safe. Still, this "glacial crystal corpse" might be made to resemble a real person, with seven orifices; though nothing comes out of the mouth, it might crawl out from the anus or elsewhere. The safest method would be to wrap the body tightly with tape, layer upon layer, like an Egyptian mummy, turning it into a proper zongzi. I made up my mind, took two deep breaths, and went to search for tape—the backpack with tape had fallen between the White-Haired Wolf King and the "glacial crystal corpse." I gritted my teeth and walked over to drag the backpack away from these two demons before searching, but before my hand even touched the strap, Shirley Yang and Fatty shouted in unison: "Lao Hu, dodge!"

I sensed danger—at that moment I was facing the Wolf King's corpse, which showed no change, so the issue must be behind me with the "glacial crystal corpse." I tried to leap sideways, but my foot slipped on some sticky liquid. My balance failed, I fell face-down, my face scraping against a foul-smelling, nauseating slime.

I absentmindedly wiped my face, then twisted my torso with effort, only to see the entire "glacial crystal corpse" shatter apart, dark red translucent organs spilling out. A swarm of ice insects, glowing with cold light like a silver blizzard of ice shards, erupted from the corpse and flew straight at me on the ground.

I stared wide-eyed at the incoming ice insects, too late to dodge or block—indeed, even if I had time, there was nothing to use as defense; this time, I was truly doomed. I never expected to die here. Farewell, comrades… but just then, the ice insects halted midair, not as cleanly dispatched as when they took down Peter Huang; I faintly sensed something was wrong. Yet in that instant, the distance between life and death was finer than a hair, my mind completely blank, unable to process what had happened—could these ice insects carrying the "Naiqiong Shen Bing"...? Shirley Yang's mind raced at the tower's base, seeing me frozen in place, she urgently warned: "Lao Hu, it's the Wolf King's blood—you've got Wolf King's blood on your forehead!"

Her words struck like lightning through storm clouds—I instantly realized: earlier, I'd slipped on the Wolf King's blood on the ground, gotten it on my face, hadn't had time to think what that bloody slime was, absentmindedly wiped my face, and unknowingly smeared Wolf King's blood onto my forehead.

Before his death, Yi Yi once said something I still hear echoing: in Tibetan legend, when humans and beasts die, their souls do not leave the blood and flesh within one day and night; among all things, only human souls reside in the forehead; if covered with fresh wolf blood, one can conceal their presence—and this Wolf King, freshly slain by Yi Yi, had silver-white fur, marking it as descendant of the Crystal Free Mountain, ancestor of the Kunlun wolf pack, its veins flowing with ancient king's blood; Crystal Free Mountain and Naiqiong Shen Bing are both guardians of this demon tower, so the ice insects must have mistaken me for a white wolf, hence ceasing attack.

Of course, these thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant—no time to sort them—then that icy, glittering swirl began to circle, clearly about to shift target toward Ming Shu and Axian; I instantly pulled out several black donkey hooves from my pack, rubbed them in Wolf King's blood on the ground, and tossed them to Ming Shu, Fatty, Shirley Yang, etc.; I don't know why I didn't grab anything else—only the black donkey hoofs—perhaps because they felt heavy, and throwing them would be faster.

At this critical moment, even the usually carefree Fatty, who never took anything seriously, didn't bother speaking—he used both hands to repeatedly smear Wolf King's blood across his forehead.

The Dap ghost insects—whether "Infinite Karma Fire" or "Naiqiong Shen Bing"—always circle in the air a few times before selecting a target to fly toward; that brief pause gave us a chance to survive; when the swarm began circling and found no target, they scattered back onto the shattered crystal corpse, their silver glow gradually dimming, yet still crawling over the fragments.

A large area at the tower's base was overrun by them; we five pressed tightly against the tower wall, no one daring to move. I knew the blue fire insects feared water, so by analogy, fire should burn these ice insects—but some mysterious force seems to control them, allowing them to shift between ice and fire extremes as needed, making them nearly invincible; if we can't find the source of this power, we remain trapped.

From the start, I felt something was off in the tower's base, but the change or sign was so subtle it was nearly imperceptible—even if noticed, it could be overlooked—now we were at an impasse, unable to act, and this Wolf King's blood couldn't hold out forever; if we delay, we'll freeze into ice pops by tomorrow, and judging by the situation, even postponing death till tomorrow seems impossible—the ghost insects' semi-transparent bodies again flickered with cold light; they seemed to have detected the damage to the "glacial crystal corpse" and were preparing to scatter, which would create the worst possible scenario.

I scanned the area, searching for that subtle clue, finally fixing my gaze on Ming Shu beside me, pressed against the tower wall, his face turned green with fear; behind him, two crystal balls had fallen—I remembered seeing them initially, flashing faint blue and white light; now one was dark and lifeless, while the other's white cold light had grown much brighter.

Shirley Yang had also noticed this; she locked eyes with me, no words needed—we reached consensus instantly; she drew her pistol and fired at the crystal ball, shattering it—a risky move; perhaps it would work, but no one could guarantee that smashing this crystal ball would leave all Dap ghost insects in the tower stuck in "Naiqiong Shen Bing" form—but the restless ice insects had already left us no time to overthink.

As Shirley Yang shattered the crystal ball, I shouted at Fatty: "Commander Wang, fire the flamethrower now!"

Fatty heard me, quickly pulled the "propane spray bottle" from his pack behind him, aimed at the swarming ice insects on the ground, and sprayed—since this sealed space had little air to begin with, he didn't dare spray much; the flame shot out and stopped instantly; the ice insects hadn't even had time to flee from the fragments of the glacial crystal corpse before they were all burned to ash.

Seeing it finally worked, the knot in my throat eased; but after that burst of flame burned through the air, the tower's base air grew thinner, everyone felt chest tightness, no time to reflect—we immediately got to work, prying open the black wood at the tower's base; earlier, on the eighth level of the demon tower, I'd seen the "Snow Maitreya" climb up from a sloping fissure on the tower's outer side, connected to the largest ice abyss; the snow piled up from the dragon peak's collapse would soon be frozen by the incoming cold snap; with our gear and manpower, digging out from above would be harder than climbing to heaven—so we had to seek a way out downward.

From memory, I located the spot and began prying up the tower's base floorboards—then made a startling discovery: this black wood wasn't original, but had been removed and reinstalled; the outer layer wasn't tamped earth, but ordinary backfilled frozen soil—essentially a repaired looter's tunnel, though the traces showed it wasn't modern.

With this ancient secret passage, digging outward became much easier, and soon we reached the slope—its artificial origins now unmistakable. Yet, judging by the technique, it couldn't have been dug by tomb raiders. The frozen earth of the slope showed distinct layers of soil steps, and the lowest level might connect to the depths of the Ice Abyss. Clearly, this wasn't hastily constructed—certainly not the work of someone like "Snow Maitreya." But then… what *is* it? For a moment, I was utterly baffled.

Axian was terrified by the tactic I'd taught Fatty—"attack the heart first, undermine the enemy spiritually"—she couldn't bear to hear more, quickly grabbed Shirley Yang's hand, and tightly followed her up the outer slope.

I waved at Fatty, the two of us lifted Ming Shu, and followed behind, crawling in the dark to a slightly flatter spot to rest; Shirley Yang said to me: "Based on your experience, where might this deep ancient glacier lead?"

I said: since this used to be a high-altitude lake, perhaps there's a deep water system below—unknown, but this slope beneath the glacier definitely has significance; I just thought: the only possibility is that the Reincarnation Sect dug it—but they've built many patriarch tombs in this glacier, done massive earthwork, tunneling up from below to reach the demon tower, and looking at it, this project seems far larger than that—could the Reincarnation Sect be trying to dig up something important from beneath the glacier?

Shirley Yang said: "The Iron Staff Lama told me many verses from the Long Poem of the Treasure Pearl King, especially the chapters about the Demon Kingdom; combining that with what we've seen here, I have a bold guess: this deep glacier passage leads to the Demon Kingdom's capital—E Luo Hai City—the Gate of Disaster; the Reincarnation Sect is trying to dig open this mysterious gate."