Chapter 199

Dong dong dong

"Ouch!" The two people and two demons fell one after another onto the hard ice layer; a sudden cold wind made people shiver involuntarily.

Bi Luo discovered he had become fifth rank again, and couldn't help scolding Jiang Yu: "You're really stupid."

"Listening to what the ancestor says won't cost a piece of meat; after we leave the cave heaven, we'll still be able to dissolve the contract ourselves." While scolding, it burrowed into the little monk's sleeve.

"Dream on, anything you can think of, your family's ancestor can also think of."

"Whether you believe it or not, when signing the contract with it, it will add several more restrictions." Jiang Tu immediately retorted; it also returned to ninth rank, and discovered the dragon pearl was sealed again.

Good grief, does the Great Luo Cave Heaven have a grudge against my dragon pearl space?

Seeing Jiang Yu put on thick fur robes, it hurriedly darted into the warm robe; this damned place is freezing cold.

Jiang Yu then took out another set of fur robes and boots: "Say a few less words to keep your body heat."

Guo Jue, if you don't have thick gear, I still have new ones here." By rights, Foundation Establishment cultivators should be immune to cold and heat.

But the temperature of this icy snowy plain is truly colder than the Eastern Continent's great snow mountain she once fell into.

"I brought some, but not as thick as yours; I'll give you spirit stones later." Guo Jue accepted it without hesitation and put it on.

The two each cast a barrier; just after putting on the thick fur boots, they felt the ice layer beneath their feet vibrate with a crackling sound from the distant running.

They quickly released their flying magical devices, but unexpectedly the devices couldn't fly at all, and moreover the ice layer cracked open at extreme speed.

Had the two not reacted quickly and moved swiftly, they might have fallen into a crack about a chi wide.

"What deep ice, my divine sense can't even probe its bottom." Since entering the Great Luo Cave Heaven, Jiang Tu's divine sense changes whenever he changes location.

This time, its divine sense could only extend a hundred zhang before it became utterly mysterious.

"Jiang Yu, my divine sense has been compressed to a hundred zhang."

"Me too, how about you?" Jiang Yu tried to run side by side with Guo Jue; in this unfamiliar territory there seemed to be a beast herd, and having a familiar teammate along made things safer.

Fortunately, the icy plain had not suppressed her cultivation back to the Qi Refining stage; facing unknown dangers, she could have more confidence.

"Same." Bi Luo and Guo Jue, also while running, gave the same answer.

But a hundred zhang is the range within which divine sense can perceive even the tiniest ice particle's changes.

Not far behind them, relying solely on the naked eye, Jiang Yu and company could also see the silhouettes of a large horde of demons running inside and outside.

Moreover, the demon horde's target appears to be them.

"About thirty or more ice bears—shall we meet them in battle?" Guo Jue had already unleashed his natal black‑gold bowl.

"Avoid its sharpness; I suspect we've fallen back to the second layer." If unnecessary, Jiang Yu doesn't want to fight the demon horde to the death—afterward, besides gaining some demon bones and skins, the expended talismans and devices might even be bought back for double their value in the market.

"Bi Luo, do you know what place this is?" Jiang Yu held a spirit stone in one hand and a thunderbolt child in the other, guarding against any other demons appearing.

Bi Luo sighed: "It's probably the Snow‑Breaking Mountain between the second and third layers; usually no cultivator wishes to go from here to the Tai Ji Dian."

This mountain is practically a dead zone; occasionally it cuts off spiritual energy.

Before its words even finished, Guo Jue's sprinting figure abruptly halted: "Oh no! I can't use my spiritual power."

"Change direction." Jiang Yu here promptly halted her stance; she and Guo Jue were only a step apart.

But their footing differed—one was still on the thick ice layer, the other had stepped into knee‑deep snow.

"I can't even retreat from the snow." Seeing the demon horde approaching from the left, Guo Jue lifted his leg to step back, but an unknown huge force pushed him deeper into the snow.

The person also unconsciously fell into the snow, unable to climb up for a while.

"It's over; without spiritual power I won't be able to hold out." As a demon snake, Bi Luo also has the nature to hibernate; the colder the place, the less she can control herself, and now she just wants to curl up into a ball and sleep.

Jiang Yu here again cast the Great Spirit Net, trying to scoop him up from above, but came up empty.

She simply retracted the spirit net, then leapt into the snow; the Seven Stars Step perfectly turned into lightness, and a few flying leaps brought her to Guo Jue's side.

"Are you hurt?" Jiang Yu pulled him up, seeing not only blood at the corner of Guo Jue's mouth but also that he wouldn't wake up.

Meanwhile, the pursuing ice bears stood on the ice layer, howling as they moved, none willing to set foot on the snow.

This eased Jiang Yu's pressure greatly; she quickly fed Guo Jue a pill, hoisted him onto her back, and flew forward.

Fortunately she wasn't a pure spellcaster; her body, constantly cleansed by spiritual power plus martial training, could carry a person without problem.

"Jiang Tu, the demons behind aren't daring to chase, are they?"

"None, how strange—where's the little snake Bi Luo?"

Guo Jue is a personal transmission of the Nascent Soul, having at least tempered his body—why would he fall and not wake up?" Jiang Tu discovered the blind spot, and moreover the snow's dead zone caused his spiritual power and divine sense to shrink completely inside his body, rendering them useless.

"Jiang Yu, I can't be your second pair of eyes anymore." How annoying.

"No problem, my hearing's fine." Jiang Yu had already noticed that the little snake Bi Luo was also unconscious in Guo Jue's sleeve, and she didn't know which of them had dragged the other along.

At this moment, she also couldn't linger long in the snow draining energy; as soon as she broke free of the ice bears' line of sight behind her, she could pick a spot to examine Guo Jue.

But just as she had flown only two or three li, she suddenly heard a faint panting sound nearby.

Jiang Yu didn't dare be careless; Jiang Tu also became alert, asking, "Are they wolves? They move through the deep snow, giving them an advantage over ice bears."

"Not really."

"Over there."

Jiang Yu slowed her speed a moment; Jiang Tu kept peeking from her bosom to look ahead, and soon he saw a small patch of snow with movement.

She immediately stopped, set the person down, then as quickly as possible stuck the storage ring on her forehead, drew a red‑cherry long spear and a knife.

The downside of lacking spiritual power is that using the storage ring easily wastes time; fortunately, in this place of disturbance, no formidable foe had suddenly appeared.

An inch longer means an inch stronger; in a dead‑zone, the long spear's reach gives it greater killing power than a sword.

Without hesitation she hurled the magical dagger at that spot of snow, but the sound of tearing air approached with no response.

But just as the dagger's tip was about to pierce the snow, movement finally came from beneath the snow layer—"Ah!"

The dagger had clearly struck, but at the same moment it rebounded and fell to the ground.

"A person?!" The two Jis became even more cautious; Jiang Yu didn't even step forward to pick up the dagger, but instead leapt with her long spear, delivering a fierce tiger‑splitting‑mountain strike downward.

"Ah!" This time, the person struck failed to block the spear shaft, instead grabbing the spearhead: "Fellow Daoist, lend a hand, poor monk."

The voice was hoarse, but also very familiar.

"Qian Zhenren?" Jiang Yu heaved up the gun barrel, dragging out from under the thick snow a person covered in bloodstains and also carrying ice shards.

"Jiang Yu? Really fated." Qian Zhenren's eyes were swollen and red, narrowed to a slit as he looked at her.

But because Jiang Yu had the sun behind her, he saw only a blinding light, and the next moment he relaxed, let go, and collapsed.

"Another wounded one—can you still carry him?" Jiang Tu sighed repeatedly as the companion ran over to take the pulse.

"Don't carry him, dig a hole to rest." Jiang Yu saw that Qian Zhenren was gravely injured, his five viscera and six bowels bleeding.