Chapter 948

The cold wind was like a knife, howling as it swept across the vast snowy plain.

Yan Buji stood on a dilapidated ice vessel, his whole body shrouded in a faint blue light that kept the bone‑chilling cold at bay. This ice craft was provided by the Dawn‑Dusk Palace as transport; though its appearance was battered, the hull was etched with anti‑freeze runes, barely allowing it to navigate the extreme cold of the Bei Chuan ice fields.

"There are still three days until we reach the branch hall......"

He gazed ahead at the blank white expanse, his brow slightly furrowed. The spiritual energy in the Bei Chuan ice fields was terrifyingly thin; the free‑floating spirit power in the air was almost frozen, making it extraordinarily difficult for cultivators here to even recover their mana.

Moreover, this ice field Existence a certain strange power, the range of divine sense probing is suppressed to less than thirty percent of normal.

Beneath the ice vessel, huge black shadows occasionally glided past. These were the 'Xuanming Whales' living beneath the ice, over a hundred zhang long, capable of swallowing an entire pavilion in one gulp. Fortunately, these beasts are gentle; as long as they are not provoked, they generally do not attack passing cultivators.

Crack!

Suddenly, a tremendous roar of breaking ice came from afar. Yan Buji looked up and saw, on the ice plain a hundred li away, an iceberg slowly collapsing.

Amidst a haze of ice crystals like dust, several dozen figures could be vaguely seen locked in fierce combat.

"The Heavenly Cold Palace's enforcement squad......"

Yan Buji narrowed his eyes. Those people wore snow‑white robes with ice‑crystal emblems embroidered on their chests—exactly the insignia of the Bei Chuan overlord, the Heavenly Cold Palace.

Their target was a disheveled man wielding a giant axe that burned with black flame; each swing could shatter the incoming ice spears.

"Mid‑Void Refinement......" Yan Buji gauged both sides' strength. The man was clearly spent, while the Heavenly Cold Palace side was led by a female cultivator at early Void Refinement, coordinating with twelve Divine Transformation disciples in the "Heaven‑Seal Spirit Lock Formation" to firmly hold the advantage.

Just as he was about to detour, a sudden change occurred!

The man suddenly produced a blood‑red jade talisman, crushed it, and surging black flames erupted from his body.

The previously clear sky instantly clouded over, and a gigantic blood‑red eye appeared within the clouds!

"Blood Sacrifice Secret Art?!" Yan Buji's expression shifted slightly. This is an extremely vicious technique of the Blood Path, burning essence and blood to summon heavenly demons for aid.

Although Yan Buji didn't know why the Blood Path could summon heavenly demons, it seems that since ancient times there have been various ways to summon these demons.

The Heavenly Cold Palace cultivators obviously recognized this evil art, and their formation immediately switched to a defensive stance.

The female cultivator gave a sharp shout and threw out a small ice‑crystal mirror; wherever its light fell, even the air condensed into frost flowers.

Boom!

The blood‑red eye shot down a beam of light; at the instant it collided with the mirror's light, the entire ice plain collapsed with a roar!

The shockwave even reached the ice vessel where Yan Buji stood, causing its runes to flicker erratically, nearly breaking apart.

When the ice dust settled, only that female cultivator remained standing on the battlefield.

Her ice mirror was covered in cracks, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and the man who had performed the blood sacrifice had turned into a desiccated corpse.

"Could that be... the Profound Yin Seal?" Yan Buji stared at the shattered ice mirror, lost in thought.

It seems what Yu Xinghai mentioned about the Profound Yin Seal truly exists!

The female cultivator seemed to sense something; she suddenly turned her head toward Yan Buji's direction. He immediately restrained his aura, and the ice vessel silently slipped beneath the ice.

Three days later, a black palace encircled by glaciers came into view.

The Bei Chuan branch of the Dawn‑Dusk Palace was less a palace and more a war fortress.

"What a grand undertaking, actually bringing a war fortress here!"

Towering walls of black iron bristled with spikes, their surfaces coated in thick frost. Most strangely, the entire structure leaned slightly, as if struck by some tremendous force.

Yan Buji took out the token given by Yu Xinghai, infused it with mana. The token shot a gray light onto the city gate.

Creak...... creak creak......

The heavy gate slowly opened, emitting a grating sound that made the teeth ache.

From the crack in the gate surged a piercing white mist; faintly, one could hear a tinkling within the mist, like ice crystals colliding.

Yan Buji did not rush in; instead, he released a bronze bee. The insect flew into the mist, and the visual feedback transmitted via his divine sense made his pupils contract.

Inside the gate lay a straight corridor, its side walls hung with ice sculptures. No, those were not ice sculptures but frozen cultivators! They retained the poses of running, brandishing swords, forming hand seals, their faces frozen in terror.

At the very front stood an old man in black robes, holding aloft precisely the branch hall's token, as if he had been trying to activate the grand defensive formation before his death.

"As expected, the entire force has been wiped out......"

Yan Buji gave a cold chuckle, the Abni Sword silently unsheathed three inches. Just as he was about to step inside, a sudden tearing sound came from behind.

"Fellow Daoist, wait!"

Turning his head, he saw a crystal‑clear ice‑craft flying through the clouds. Three people stood on it; leading was a white‑bearded elder wearing the robes of a Heavenly Cold Palace Elder, his cultivation astonishingly at the early stage of Union.

The old man clasped his hands from afar: "I am Han Shuang, Outer Gate Elder of the Heavenly Cold Palace; may I ask why you wish to enter this perilous place?"

Yan Buji narrowed his eyes. The other party seemed courteous, but their qi had already locked onto him. That ice‑craft was no simple vessel either; the eight‑turn demon crystals inlaid on its prow indicated that the person was an important figure of the Heavenly Cold Palace.

"I, a humble Daoist, have been entrusted by the Dawn‑Dusk Palace to investigate the loss of contact with the branch hall."

"He deliberately flashed the token," Elder Han, what advice do you have?

Han Shuang heard this, the wrinkles on his face smoothing: "Indeed. To be frank, three months ago this place erupted in a 'Xuanming Yin Tide'; our palace also sent people to investigate, but......" He pointed at the ice corpses inside the gate:

"All who enter meet with misfortune."

"A Yin Tide?" Yan Buji's heart stirred.

The Bei Chuan ice fields indeed have a heavenly disaster called the Xuanming Yin Tide, a cold current formed by the eruption of subterranean netherworldly qi; wherever it passes, all things freeze.

But an ordinary Yin Tide could never prevent the cultivators of an entire branch hall from even having time to flee.

Han Shuang seemed to see his doubt and sighed: "That Yin Tide was no ordinary affair; it is said that someone saw...... in the tide......"

He suddenly lowered his voice: "There are living things."

Yan Buji's heart jumped. Thinking of Yu Xinghai's mention of the 'living corpse,' could the two be related?

"Thank you for the reminder, Elder Han." He clasped his hands with feigned gratitude: "But since I have accepted this mission, I must go in and have a look."

Han Shuang shook his head: "Fellow Daoist, if you insist, I will not stop you. But if you discover any abnormality, please inform my palace promptly." Saying this, he handed over an ice‑crystal talisman: "This talisman can resist the yin cold; perhaps it will be of help."

At the moment he received the talisman, a gray mist flickered across Yan Buji's fingertips.

Having examined the talisman's internal structure, he found that besides its anti‑freeze function, it indeed concealed a tracking mark!

"Heavenly Cold Palace...... what exactly are they hiding?"

Watching the flying vessel depart, the respect on Yan Buji's face gradually turned into a cold smile.

He casually crushed the talisman, turned and stepped into the city gate. White mist instantly swallowed his figure, leaving only the gate slowly closing.