Chapter 997: Chapter One Thousand and Five: Ice God Lotus

The cave dwelling's stone door was tightly shut, its surface covered with mottled traces of time, yet the array patterns upon it were remarkably intact, radiating a fearsome power—clearly, the guardian formation here had not faded with the passage of time, but still retained its strength.

"Young Lady Qing, this formation is perfectly preserved; I'm afraid even a marquis-level expert would struggle to force their way in." The man named Mu Yao stared at the strange array patterns on the stone door and said with a frown.

Some of the accompanying personnel from the Golden Dragon Treasure House nodded in agreement.

Young Lady Qing's thin veil shifted slightly, as if she had smiled, and said, "It's fine. Since we've come here, we are naturally prepared."

She extended her right hand, revealing a slender palm clad in a spotless ice-silk glove; she slowly drew off the glove, exposing a flawless jade hand to the air.

That slender jade hand seemed to carry a natural chill; merely held in the air, it caused a faint cold mist to drift out.

Gazing at that near-perfect pair of jade hands, not to mention the men, even some of the girls in the group could not help but have a look of admiration rise in their eyes.

Those hands were simply too beautiful—truly like works of art.

In the palm of Bai Xi's hand, a deep-blue complex ice pattern now appeared, seemingly containing an extremely terrifying power.

She placed her palm against the stone door, and in the next instant, deep-blue frost suddenly spread out from her palm, covering the stone door in just a few breaths.

And as the frost spread, those strange array patterns, as if sealed in ice, gradually dimmed.

As the array patterns were sealed in ice, the heavy stone door before them slowly opened.

"Let's go. The array patterns will only fail for a short time, so we cannot delay." Young Lady Qing stepped into the cave dwelling first.

Inside the cave dwelling was a massive karst cavern, with countless sharp icicles hanging from above and a biting cold permeating the space.

This cave dwelling was like a Han Bing Shi Zhong Jie.

The group looked around curiously.

But at this moment, some of the surrounding ice pillars seemed to emit strange sounds; accompanied by cracking noises, those ice pillars condensed into ice puppets.

These ice puppets were likely a kind of guardian mechanism—sensing an intrusion, they were naturally activated.

Boom!

The moment the ice puppets took shape, they spewed billowing cold air and, like spirit apes, began attacking the group.

"Brother Mu Yao, please help block them." Young Lady Qing spoke up.

"Young Lady Qing, rest assured—go ahead and complete your task; leave these things to us!" Mu Yao agreed at once, then erupted with surging phase power and led the group to meet the charging ice puppets.

The two sides collided, and violent energy ripples swept across the massive ice cavern.

Young Lady Qing, under the protection of guards like Jin Zhong Jie, pressed forward rapidly; they navigated through complex passages, bypassing Layer upon Layer of checkpoints, and after spending quite some time, finally arrived at an underground region filled with countless ice crystals.

This region was permeated with cold air; among the ice crystals, countless ice flowers bloomed in deep blue, exhaling cold light.

And at the very center stood a tall ice platform, its steps condensed from ice—crystal clear while radiating endless cold.

Young Lady Qing's Binghu-like eyes gazed at the top of the platform, where a snow-white lotus quietly grew, drawing in the cold of heaven and earth, like an ice sculpture.

The lotus petals were covered in obscure, ancient light patterns, making the snow-white lotus appear extraordinarily mystical.

Most special of all, at the center of the lotus was a transparent flower bud, and within the bud there seemed to be a blurry human figure no bigger than a palm, curled up as if asleep.

Young Lady Qing gazed at the snow-white ice lotus on the platform, ripples stirring in her eyes, and she murmured softly, "It really is the 'Ice God Lotus.'"

The so-called "Ice God Lotus" was an extremely rare treasure of heaven and earth; for those possessing an ice phase, it was the ultimate treasure. Most importantly, when the Ice God Lotus reached its peak, an ice spirit would be born within it.

And Young Lady Qing's purpose in coming here was for it.

Once she obtained this item, her ice phase would undergo a complete metamorphosis, and at the same time, her compatibility with the clan's "Sacred Ice Seed" would reach its highest degree.

Young Lady Qing took light, lotus-like steps, walking step by step toward the tall ice platform.

The woman named Jin Zhong Jie followed step by step, her gaze alertly scanning the surroundings—but just then, her expression suddenly changed.

She suddenly reached out, grabbing Young Lady Qing's wrist, and at the same time opened her crimson lips, shooting out a sharp golden light toward the right side in an attack.

Clang!

The golden light collided directly with a sharp sword tip; mighty phase power erupted, instantly blasting the sword tip to pieces.

But at the very instant Jin Zhong Jie struck, among the guards who had been walking with them, several figures flashed with murderous intent in their eyes and immediately launched attacks against Young Lady Qing, who stood at the center.

"Lu San, what are you doing?!" This sudden attack from a companion left even Jin Zhong Jie stunned, and she roared in fury.

But those guards who had launched the attack paid no heed, their strikes viciously aiming at vital points around Young Lady Qing.

Young Lady Qing's willow brows knit slightly; she formed a seal with one hand, and a string of deep-blue beads appeared on her slender jade wrist—a bracelet inscribed with ice-light patterns.

She flicked her fingers, and the deep-blue beads shot out, transforming into shields of ice-crystal light that hovered around her, blocking all those attacks.

Clang clang!

As ice shards sprayed, those extremely vicious attacks all failed, and those several figures also flashed back.

Jin Zhong Jie hurriedly stepped in front of Young Lady Qing, glared at those figures, and shouted again, "Lu San, have you lost your minds? How dare you ambush the Young Lady? Aren't you afraid the clan head will settle the score with you when we return?!"

These people had all been selected into Young Lady Qing's guard detail, originally all trustworthy individuals—but now they had suddenly turned traitor, which was truly hard for Jin Zhong Jie to believe.

Facing Jin Zhong Jie's furious rebuke, those figures merely remained silent, offering no reply.

"Jin Zhong Jie, don't be angry. The fact that they've moved now means their purpose from the start was never to guard me, but to stop me."

"Being able to plant people into this guard detail is probably not something they could do on their own." At this moment, Young Lady Qing spoke calmly.

Jin Zhong Jie's heart turned cold at those words. The Young Lady's guards had originally been personally selected by the clan head, yet even so, saboteurs had been mixed in—one could see how deep the waters ran behind this.

It seemed that within Golden Dragon Mountain, there were those who did not wish to see the Young Lady obtain the "Ice God Lotus."

Young Lady Qing stared at those people and said again, "I think, besides you, there should be others, right? But they probably aren't in the guard detail anymore, so the most likely possibility is... the Golden Dragon Treasure House here in Outer Shenzhou?"

And shortly after Young Lady Qing's voice fell, a burst of laughter came from the passage behind them.

"Young Lady Qing is truly clever; it seems you've long been somewhat on guard against us." As the voice came, Mu Yao was seen leading over a dozen figures, walking slowly forward.

As Mu Yao approached, he directly unleashed all of his phase power; the oppressive might of his powerful phase power spread through this icy region.

This level of strength had suddenly reached the Xiao Tian Xiang Jing realm!

His strength was in no way inferior to Zhao Yan's after his breakthrough aided by the Hua Xiang Pill!

Jin Zhong Jie felt that pressure, and her expression could not help but darken. Previously, on that golden terrace, this Mu Yao had only been half a step into Xiao Tian Xiang Jing, but now it was clear he had been holding back.

And Jin Zhong Jie herself was only at half-step Tian Xiang Jing; previously she and Mu Yao had been evenly matched, but now it seemed she was even a fraction weaker than him.

Moreover, behind Mu Yao stood numerous helpers, while on their side, the guard squad had suffered a rebellion, causing their strength to wane.

"Young Lady, go take the treasure first; afterward, I will escort you away!" Sister Jin whispered to Young Lady Qing.

Young Lady Qing shook her head slightly, saying, "You are no match for him."

At this moment, Mu Yao also revealed a gentle smile, saying, "Young Lady Qing, we do not wish to harm you, but this 'Ice God Lotus' truly cannot fall into your hands. If you are willing to give it up, we can escort you away."

Young Lady Qing stepped forward; her thin veil fluttered slightly, as if she smiled: "Very well."

Hearing her so decisive, Mu Yao was instead stunned. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Young Lady Qing raise her jade hand; deep blue ice patterns appeared within her palm.

Boom!

In the next instant, a deep blue halo suddenly swept outward. The halo seemed to contain an extreme chill; wherever it passed, everything froze into ice.

Including the crowd nearby.

Mu Yao's face changed drastically. He attempted to counter with his own Tian Xiang Jing phase power, but that deep blue halo was overwhelmingly domineering beyond imagination; as it swept over his body, it directly began to freeze his phase power.

Thus, Mu Yao discovered his body gradually losing control, beginning to turn into an ice sculpture.

"Young Lady Qing, your body is also freezing!" Mu Yao said in a deep voice.

Indeed, just as he said, Young Lady Qing's attack seemed indiscriminate, so even she herself was now gradually losing control, with frost spreading along her delicate body.

"Young Lady!" Sister Jin cried out in alarm.

But Young Lady Qing simply slapped her hand; an ice talisman appeared on Sister Jin's wrist. She said calmly, "Sister Jin, leave quickly and find Li Luo. Tell him an old friend is in trouble and ask for his help."

Sister Jin was stunned. This was a conflict within the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall; although Li Luo was the Dragon Head of the Li Li Tianwang lineage in this generation, would he really intervene?

But by then, the ice had already spread toward her. Sister Jin had no time to think further; she could only shoot outward violently. Using the ice talisman to slightly hinder the spread of that extreme ice frost, her figure flickered as she directly burst through the passage.

When she looked back again, the entire passage was completely frozen over; that chill made even her unable to help but shiver.

Sister Jin hesitated for a moment, then finally gritted her teeth, turned around, and sped toward the outside of the cave dwelling.