“Xu Ming, where are we?” Shi Xin asked, looking around in confusion.
“Bì Lóng Lake,” Xu Ming replied with a yawn. After spending days fighting in the Rootless Secret Realm, he was feeling quite exhausted.
“But I don’t see a lake anywhere,” Shi Xin questioned again. All she could see was a vast world of ice and snow.
“We haven’t reached Bì Lóng Lake yet,” Xu Ming said, speechless. He glanced at the map. “This place is just on the outskirts of Bì Lóng Lake. If we keep heading north, we’ll reach the real lake.”
“Oh,” Shi Xin nodded and hugged the little Chaos Beast cub in her arms even tighter, afraid that it might get cold.
At this moment, the tiny Chaos Beast was already wrapped up like a ball.
Shi Xin had actually wanted to let the Chaos Beast rest inside her Qiankun Pouch, but Xu Ming insisted that keeping it inside wouldn’t be good for its development. Besides, he claimed that Chaos Beasts couldn’t be harmed by the cold.
In the end, Shi Xin chose to believe Xu Ming’s nonsense but still took out some clothes from the storage pouch to wrap the little creature up.
“Are there dragons in Bì Lóng Lake?” After walking for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Shi Xin looked up and asked Xu Ming again.
“But you might get to see one this time. Since this is the final time the Rootless Secret Realm will open, if there really are dragons in Bì Lóng Lake, they would probably want to leave this place and go to the outside world rather than perish along with the secret realm,” Xu Ming speculated.
“Oh.” Shi Xin nodded again.
She was actually quite excited since she had never seen a dragon before.
Even though this was all just Xu Ming’s speculation, Shi Xin trusted him. If Xu Ming said there were dragons, then there was a good chance that dragons truly existed.
As they continued forward, the two chatted along the way. Whenever Shi Xin thought of something, she would bring it up to Xu Ming. If Xu Ming knew the answer, he would respond; if he didn’t, he simply said he didn’t know.
There was an inexplicable sense of harmony between them.
This was just how their dynamic had been during their time together—comfortable and natural.
Shi Xin never hid her true self from Xu Ming, and Xu Ming didn’t feel the need to put up any pretense either. He was simply himself.
After walking for roughly half an hour, the snowfall grew heavier.
Xu Ming’s hair was dusted with white, while Shi Xin’s bald head looked as if she was wearing a white hat.
Along the way, they encountered many cultivators.
But with the heavy snow and the fact that this was already deep into the Rootless Secret Realm, anyone who had survived until now was not someone to be trifled with.
So generally, no one made a move recklessly.
Everyone was wary that if they acted first, they might not live to regret it.
As they pressed on, they began to see rows of ice sculptures.
These weren’t artistic carvings, but humans and demons frozen into statues.
Some of them had expressions of utter terror, as if they had encountered something horrifying before their deaths, their fear frozen in time.
Others looked completely at ease, as if they had simply been walking along when they were suddenly turned into ice.
Cultivators moved cautiously between these frozen figures, their expressions filled with vigilance, afraid that they too might become part of this eerie landscape.
“Stay close. This place is probably not simple,” Xu Ming warned Shi Xin.
Aside from the Blood Bodhi Mountain, where their only opponents had been other cultivators, this place seemed similar to Samadhi Cave—guarded by something.
Maybe a person. Maybe a divine beast.
But either way, it wouldn’t be easy.
“Mm-hmm,” Shi Xin murmured in agreement.
Shi Xin nodded and finally placed the Chaos Beast cub into her Qiankun Pouch. If a fight really broke out, she didn’t want to be caught off guard with her hands full.
She glanced at the hem of Xu Ming’s robe, her golden eyes blinking lightly before reaching out to pinch it.
Xu Ming felt a slight tug on his clothing and turned his head, only to meet Shi Xin’s golden gaze.
“I’m afraid of getting lost,” Shi Xin explained.
“Then hold on tighter,” Xu Ming said casually, not making a fuss about it.
Shi Xin nodded and gripped Xu Ming’s robe even tighter.
Suddenly, a scream echoed from not far away.
Xu Ming and Shi Xin immediately looked in the direction of the sound.
A cultivator had been knocked to the ground by the surrounding ice statues. In the next instant, the ice statues around him began to move, lifting their weapons and hacking at him like mad.
Within just two breaths, the cultivator was reduced to a bloody mess—his body torn into pieces, flesh and bones scattered all over. It was a gruesome, blood-soaked scene.
The sheer brutality of it was enough to make Shi Xin feel unsettled, and even Xu Ming frowned at the sight.
The only fortunate thing was that these ice statues either lacked the ability or the awareness to destroy a person’s soul, meaning that these slain cultivators could still reincarnate.
Whether or not they would regain their past-life memories in their next life would depend on their fate.
For most cultivators, recovering past-life memories was only possible upon reaching the Jade Purity Realm. Even those with extraordinary talent would need to be at least at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Just as Xu Ming was contemplating the mystery behind this place, Shi Xin called out softly.
Xu Ming turned his head just in time to see an ice statue wielding a massive axe, swinging it down toward him.
However, before the strike could land, Shi Xin had already cast a protective spell around Xu Ming.
With a sharp clang, the axe was deflected.
“What the hell is this?!” Xu Ming cursed, sending a powerful punch forward, instantly shattering the ice statue.
But more and more of the frozen figures began to “awaken.”
They shook off the layers of snow covering them and started attacking nearby cultivators one by one.
Fortunately, these ice statues were already long dead. Even though they could fight, they only used basic spells and moved rather sluggishly, completely incapable of dodging attacks.
That made them relatively easy to destroy.
The problem was—there were just too many of them.
Even if they could only use simple magic, their sheer numbers made them a real nuisance.
“Stay close! I’m breaking through!” Xu Ming called out to Shi Xin.
He had no intention of wasting time here. The sooner they got out, the better.
Xu Ming threw a punch forward, his fist wind blasting through the icy battlefield like a cannonball, carving out a path ahead.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Shi Xin’s wrist and sprinted forward.
Meanwhile, deep within the raging snowstorm, something stirred.
A presence awakened—its eyes slowly opening.