Around Bì Lóng Lake, some cultivators charged forward recklessly, determined to seize whatever fortunes lay ahead.
Others, however, prioritized their lives, deciding to retreat while they still could. Opportunities were important, but nothing was more valuable than survival.
The further north they fled, the fiercer the snowstorm became.
The blizzard was so intense that it blurred their vision entirely, making it impossible to see the road ahead.
As if the relentless snowfall wasn’t bad enough, ice statues would occasionally lunge out of the storm, swinging their weapons down without warning!
And this cold—this wasn’t just ordinary cold. It felt like some kind of domain-wide spell.
Some cultivators had low resistance to ice attributes—in other words, they couldn’t withstand the cold at all. Those unfortunate ones were instantly frozen into statues themselves.
To be honest, even Xu Ming was starting to find these ice sculptures increasingly annoying.
Activating his Dao Pattern Eyes would allow him to see through the blizzard, but the strain was too great. If they encountered some kind of boss-level existence later, he might not even have the strength left to use it.
Thankfully, Shi Xin’s defensive techniques were truly overwhelming.
For starters, the Golden Bell Shield that enveloped them was already enough to block most attacks.
On top of that, Shi Xin had another spell that covered the entire body in golden light, making it seem as if they were wrapped in a golden battle robe. It rendered them impervious to blades and spears, and even made them feel warm—like a summer day.
Then there was yet another defensive technique, where golden lotus flowers floated around them.
Whenever an attack was about to land, a lotus would swiftly position itself in front of the attacker, its petals spreading apart to form a shield.
And there were even more spells like these.
Xu Ming had barely seen Shi Xin use any offensive techniques, but when it came to defense—Shi Xin had seemingly mastered them all.
It was as if she had maxed out every possible defensive ability.
A deep bell chime rang out, and suddenly, the raging snowstorm began to dissipate.
What appeared before Xu Ming and Shi Xin was a vast lake.
But this lake was entirely frozen over.
Logically speaking, with the steady snowfall from the sky, the ice should have been covered in a thick layer of snow by now.
Yet, strangely enough, not a single speck of snow settled on the lake’s surface.
The moment snowflakes touched the ice, they melted instantly—leaving behind a pristine, mirror-like surface.
And at the very center of this frozen lake stood a towering, majestic temple.
It bore the appearance of both a Buddhist monastery and a Taoist temple, an unusual blend of the two.
But most importantly—when Xu Ming had studied records of the Rootless Secret Realm, this temple had never been mentioned before.
Which could only mean one thing.
This temple had appeared for the first time during this cycle of the secret realm.
If it had existed before, it definitely would have been documented.
As Xu Ming and Shi Xin arrived at the lake’s edge, more cultivators trickled in one after another.
When they saw the frozen lake, they were overjoyed—finally, they had reached their destination! Their long-sought treasures were now within reach.
But when they laid eyes on the temple, they hesitated, just as Xu Ming had.
No one had expected a temple to be here.
However, their shock quickly turned to excitement.
A never-before-seen temple, its gates tightly shut—this could only mean that no one had set foot inside yet.
Which meant that whatever treasures lay within were untouched.
A sudden clap of thunder rumbled across the sky.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
Above them, the white clouds began to compress into a single, dense mass.
Clouds were an ordinary sight.
But somehow, these clouds felt… strange.
Wasn’t this white cloud… too white?
And how could a white cloud produce thunderous roars? This wasn’t even a storm cloud.
But soon enough, the cloud answered everyone’s doubts.
From the sky, a bolt of white lightning struck down.
Xu Ming grabbed Shi Xin and dodged just in time.
The white lightning crashed into the exact spot where they had just been standing.
Xu Ming took a closer look—and finally realized.
This wasn’t lightning.
A jagged ice spike, shaped like a lightning bolt, now stood tall on the frozen lake, rising over a hundred meters into the air.
Thunder rumbled again, and more ice spikes began raining down from the sky.
Some cultivators failed to dodge in time. They were instantly frozen solid—only to shatter into countless icy fragments a moment later.
Some had thought that once they escaped the blizzard, they would finally reach safety.
But upon arriving at Bì Lóng Lake, they were greeted with what looked like a tribulation of the heavens.
They thought they had escaped hell… only to step straight into another one.
In less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn, half of the cultivators who had reached Bì Lóng Lake were already dead.
Fortunately, the ice thunder wasn’t endless.
After two incense sticks’ worth of time, the storm finally subsided.
But no one dared to relax.
Their nerves remained taut—who knew what would happen next?
The sound of ice breaking echoed across Bì Lóng Lake.
Everyone froze, unsure of what was happening.
Xu Ming’s gaze snapped downward.
The ice, which he had assumed was unbreakable, was now covered in cracks.
And those cracks were spreading.
Without hesitation, Xu Ming grabbed Shi Xin and leaped away.
The frozen lake shattered, revealing a massive hole.
A jade-green dragon burst forth!
This was a true dragon—not a mere flood dragon or some lesser variant.
And it was breathtaking.
The horns on its head were translucent, shimmering like pure crystal.
Its body was more slender than an ordinary dragon’s, and its scales glowed with a faint, ethereal radiance.
But following closely behind the Emerald Dragon was something even stranger—
A gigantic fish with one head and ten bodies.
Xu Ming’s heart clenched.
He had read about this creature in an ancient text.
The records described it as follows:
“In the mountains of Qiáo Míng, the Qiáo River flows westward into the great river. There, many Hé Luó Fish reside—each with one head and ten bodies. Their cries resemble the barking of dogs. Consuming their flesh can cure abscesses and sores.”
The Hé Luó Fish was an ancient mythical beast, one that had long since vanished from this world.
Yet here, in the Rootless Secret Realm, it still existed.
But Xu Ming had no time to dwell on his shock.
Because the Hé Luó Fish didn’t hesitate.
And unleashed a breath of pure frost, seeking to eradicate every intruder in its domain.