Chapter 202

Thus, after a quarter hour, Guo Jue and Qian Zhenren rode the ice wolves across the snowy ground, with a large pack of wolves guarding at their sides.

Wen Lan's corpse was wrapped in a robe, tied onto a wolf's back and carried away.

Jiang Yu occasionally lifted her blindfold, surveyed the white world, and from time to time tossed a pill to the lead wolf, spurring it to run recklessly.

She left the people behind and her subordinates far behind.

"Jiang Tu, what rare spiritual plants do you think might be in this snowy mountain?"

"Ice candle fruit? Cold marrow grass, or perhaps the treasure of the ice dragon and ice phoenix?" The journey was boring, and Jiang Yu didn't want to keep staring at the snow and hurt her eyes, so she covered her eyes with a strip of silkworm silk cloth.

Unexpectedly, before Jiang Tu could respond, the lead wolf, while running, suddenly slowed and turned its head to look to one side.

"What are you looking at? A spiritual plant?" Jiang Tu and Jiang Yu asked in unison.

The lead wolf, naturally unable to speak human language, answered with a few whines in beast tongue.

Jiang Tu provided simultaneous translation: "Legend says that beneath the snowy mountain lies a demonic ice phoenix."

"Demonic?" Jiang Yu patted it to make it stop and wait for the others; when Qian Shiqi and the others caught up, she immediately whispered, "Senior, what level of ice phoenix is buried beneath Snowbreak Mountain?"

Qian Shiqi pondered for a moment, feeling that the two children before him were still young and that knowing too much about the spiritual realm would harm their Dao hearts; thus he carefully said, "At the Great Completion stage, he has long since fallen; beneath the snowy mountain lie only his remains."

In the spiritual realm, any demon that has fully taken human form and often walks among humanity is essentially no different from humans.

Thus they are usually classified by human cultivators' realms; even if the opponent is only a fifth‑level beast that has fortuitously taken human form, it is directly counted among demon cultivators.

"Ice phoenix, did you die here in a battle against the dragon clan?"

"Could this absolute‑spirit snow layer be due to its origin?" asked Jiang Tu, for in mundane legend the dragon and phoenix bring auspiciousness.

But in fact the two sides have fought several great wars, so that true dragons and phoenixes no longer exist in the world, and their bloodlines grow ever thinner.

Even its own parents are not of pure bloodline.

"If so, then the one that faced the ice phoenix must also have been at the Great Completion stage." Jiang Yu thought of the dragon bones in the Dragon Pearl space; perhaps both sides would suffer mutual destruction and perish in the cave heaven, becoming nourishment.

Thinking of the word "nourishment," she couldn't help shivering: "Since they have already fallen, it's best not to disturb them."

"To leave the absolute‑spirit snow grounds as quickly as possible is the best course."

She certainly did not want to see any ice phoenix remains, whose aura would surely be comparable to that of dragon bones.

If Jiang Tu were fortunate enough to obtain it and place it inside the Dragon Pearl for safekeeping, she suspected the two sets of remains would be properly arranged.

"I'm afraid it's already too late," Qian Shiqi said, pointing toward a certain spot.

Jiang Yu and the others lifted their eyes and saw, far off on the hilltops, occasional flashes of red and green.

From experience, the green indicates ancient spiritual plants or trees.

It looks very much like a cultivator's robe fluttering in the wind.

"Could the ice phoenix remains be down there?" Guo Jue had just finished speaking when a booming roar sounded, shaking the snowy ground into wild tremors as goose‑feather snowflakes fell from the sky.

In a moment, he firmly commanded the wolf pack to halt in place, then gave each a pill, and only then did he look again at the white snow mountain that had emitted the sound—now it was split open.

Cry!

A massive phoenix shadow shot up into the sky, its radiance covering the sun above like several suns.

A pack of wolves fled in fear, but an overwhelming pressure descended from the heavens, affecting not only them but also Jiang Yu and her companions, who rolled to the ground, unable to move.

"A living ice phoenix, at the ninth‑level peak," Qian Zhenren instantly recognized, and he also sensed a faint trickle of spiritual energy drifting over the snow.

He pondered and said: "As it turns out, there is a spiritual vein beneath the snowy mountain; this absolute‑spirit place exists because the spiritual energy has been sealed underground, making it devoid of spirit above."

We must not linger here; even a ninth‑level jade‑scaled serpent cannot draw a person from several thousand li away back to the Tai Ji Dian.

The pressure has withdrawn—go! He immediately used the wisp of spiritual power he had just gained, pressing it onto the wolf's head.

The ice wolf carrying him dared not resist; after slowly rising to its feet, it immediately took off.

"Who is blasting the mountain?" Jiang Yu slapped the lead wolf, urging it to go faster.

The lead wolf got its wish, letting out a low growl as it led the pack forward.

However, after running only twenty or thirty li, with a series of swooshing sounds, a group of cultivators adept in lightness techniques leapt forward to block the way, saying, "Fellow Daoist, since we have fate together, why not form a team to hunt for treasure?"

"Dragon Emperor Island, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion?" Jiang Yu noticed that among them, two cultivators wore jade plaques identical to those of Yuan Zhenren.

The Golden Core cultivator leading the team, who had been speaking, smiled and said, "Young friend, your eyesight is excellent."

"I won't go; this poor Daoist has only a few days left to live, so it's inconvenient for me to proceed."

If you insist on inviting me, Fellow Daoist, don't blame me for turning the guest into the host. Under Qian Shiqi's calm tone lay the sudden unsealing of his cultivation.

The distant snow mountain was completely toppled; the absolute‑spirit land is no longer absolute‑spirit, yet flight remains prohibited.

Jiang Yu and Guo Jue jumped off the wolf, closely guarding Qian Zhenren on both sides.

His cultivation was no longer late Golden Core; it was mysteriously shifting, and in the blink of an eye his realm had reached Nascent Soul.

"Sorry for disturbing you, seniors; we juniors will retreat now." The several Golden Core cultivators from Dragon Emperor Island were anxious; the Foundation Establishment cultivators behind them didn't even dare lift their heads, and without needing to be told, everyone fled as quickly as possible.

"It seems there's no need to keep carrying Wen Lan." Seeing those few people fly away, Jiang Tu stepped forward, flung Wen Lan's corpse from the wolf's back, and as he blew out spiritual fire from his mouth, a Golden Core cultivator turned to ash.

This scene was clearly seen by the cultivators who had just flown away; among them, one still remembered clearly what Wen Lan looked like.

"Master Wen?" this person exclaimed in shock, staring at the little monk gathering the ashes.

The Golden Core cultivator leading the team from Dragon Emperor Island heard him mutter and asked, "Do you know him?"

"The corpse is that of a Profound Heaven Sect cultivator; neither the Nascent Soul cultivator nor the little monk recognizes him."

"But the female Foundation Establishment cultivator is a disciple of our Heavenly Origin Grand Void Sect." This person is a Golden Core cultivator of the Heavenly Demon Sect, who has secretly cooperated with the Dragon Emperor Island cultivators.

"If that is the case, Fellow Daoist, you ought to spread the word widely."

"A Profound Heaven Sect Golden Core true person has died for no reason, while the Grand Void Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivator keeps company with a cultivator of unknown origin." The Dragon Emperor Island Golden Core cultivator leading the team, having finally found a living ice phoenix egg, harbored the intention to kill and silence.

Helplessly, since a Nascent Soul cultivator was present, he could not openly kill Jiang Yu's group; he could only act covertly.

"Then I shall take my leave of you all." The Heavenly Demon Sect cultivator had been poisoned by them and only survived by joining their Nine Immortals Alliance.

The Dragon Emperor Island Golden Core cultivator leading the team laughed again: "Don't forget, within one month you must obtain the antidote from beneath the inner snow layers; otherwise, if misfortune strikes, I won't be able to save you, Fellow Daoist."

"Having agreed to join the Nine Immortals Alliance and go to Dragon Island together, I will not go back on my word."

"See you later." The Heavenly Demon Sect cultivator who was going to look for the antidote didn't believe that the Heavenly Origin's alchemists couldn't solve it.

After he left, several Dragon Emperor Island cultivators also quickly took the newly hatched ice phoenix and departed.

As soon as they left, Qian Shiqi's strained body quickly withered, and his cultivation dropped straight down.

Jiang Yu tossed several bottles of pills to the head wolf, "Take and share."

Jiang Tu clarified the exit, and she and Guo Jue, relying on the just-recovered spiritual power, carried Qian Shiqi and retreated quickly.

As dusk fell, they finally ran out of the snow mountain region and reached this innermost side once more.

By the next day, among the Heavenly Origin cultivators, the news that Wen Lan had died at Jiang Yu's hands had already spread.