We continued forward. The vibration intensified after each footstep.
In a flash, Shen Ming dropped to a crouch. A piece of ice, the size of a fist, shot past his head.
Then...
*Crack*
The three of us turned around in unison and saw that the structure behind us was quivering. The pieces of ice scattered around it quivered at a larger frequency.
We wanted to check what was going on, but all of a sudden, the pieces of ice started coming at us at an insane speed.
Shen Ming jumped up, swiftly dodging the barrage of ice. But the ice that came afterwards went right above, exactly where Shen Ming was. It was as if the ice were solely targeting us. He extended his hand as a sickle sword appeared out of thin air.
There was no way to dodge all of them so we had no choice but to block. I took out my sword and slashed through the air. This created a large blade of qi which collapsed with the flying ice stones.
Shen Ming gave me a look, conveying his intentions. Maybe because I knew his way of thinking, I understood what he meant and nodded back.
Defending was also futile, as it showed no signs of stopping. The best we could do was to run. After slashing out once more, I turned around along with the two and sprinted. The star at the centre was our goal.
However, the frequency of the vibrations increased as we ran, and the ice stones grew large.
Xiao Yating wasn't able to keep up with us and Shen Ming couldn't ignore him either. A large dimensional space opened beside him as he called out
"Meng'er"
A large figure with azure fur jumped out and approached Xiao Yating at a speed not slower than us. It was a horned wolf, Shen Ming's pet mount.
From time to time, I turned around and slashed out, to decrease the amount of ice stones. As the wolf got closer, Xiao Yating jumped and held onto it.
Once Xiao Yating settled, he turned to face the oncoming Ice stones.
Previously, I had seen him wielding a blade but his hand was now gripping a silver bow. Two arrows appeared in his other hand, probably from the storage ring as he aimed at an ice boulder. The boulder looked way larger than all of us combined. Two arrows formed a golden light, pierced through and shattered it completely.
Xiao Yating could shoot out two arrows at once.
'Woah, he's strong', I thought.
So, Xiao Yating was good at archery. Short-range attacks were his weakness, which might be why he lost to the corrupt disciple back then.
Suddenly, a thunderous crack echoed behind us. The two colossal Icebergs were cracking as if they would come at us any moment. If something like that happened, our chances of survival were uncertain.
"Change the directions." Shen Ming shouted as he started running towards the left. Meng'er too, ran towards the left while I ran towards the right. It was for the better.
From the beginning, the ice structures directly behind us showed signs of movement, while the rest remained still.
As we changed directions, the colossal structure of Icebergs stopped cracking, instead, the other structures directly behind us did. Just as we expected.
Running constantly was the only way to avoid this.
If I went in the same direction as the two, I was afraid the structure would launch at me by the time.
I tried to run in a circular path so that any of the large structures wouldn't shudder and… as expected, Shen Ming and Meng'er did the same.
This trick was kind of working, but it didn't completely stop the ice from approaching us.
As the distance shortened, I could now have a proper look at the star glimmering in the middle. No, It wasn't a star, but an old, rusty lantern that emitted a strange black flame.
The light it emitted had a yellow tint even though the fire was completely black.
Before I could turn to look at the other two, I felt a giant shadow covering me as I instinctively slashed out.
The sound of a slash was heard but it did nothing to the huge chunk of ice.
Till now, I had only used normal sword slashes, instead of using attacks that contained sword qi.
Looks like I have no other choice.
…
"Are they still inside?"
A female voice echoed in someone's head. He was currently standing near the Tul mountain, monitoring the hill where an unknown genius resided.
"Yes, I can't sense their presence inside. But they hadn't left this place in the last 3 hours."
The person responded.
"Hmm.. Go inside and check what's going on" the female voice said in a demanding tone.
"B-but" The person was bewildered for a moment as he hastily tried to reject.
She wants him to check what they're doing inside? Wasn't that just courting death? Especially when two of the people there were referred to as 'heavenly geniuses.'. One among them was even called the 'Second greatest genius' of the Northern Edge.
"Didn't I make it clear?"
"Y-yes." There was no way he could defy her orders. And so, he decided to grit his teeth and do as she said.
Approaching the hill, he sensed numerous gazes upon him.
"How brazen…"
"To think that he'd dare to go there? Isn't he just courting death?"
"Looking at his expression, someone must have forced him…"
"Poor fellow"
"Rest in peace soon."
'Ugh.. These guys…'
Just like him, there were other disciples appointed to monitor the unknown genius.
Although they were 'murmuring', they deliberately said in an audible voice.
They did so just to provoke him and he knew that very well. Because he was doing something they could never do.
Discarding them, he leapt onto the hill and approached the entrance.
"Woah."
The amount of spiritual qi inside the cave made him speechless, as he stood there for a moment, feeling blissful.
An array of spirit stones bathed the cave in dense spiritual qi. The array looked refined, something he had never seen.
If he could cultivate here for at least a day, he was sure his strength would soar.
What exactly was that person's identity to have this many spiritual stones?
There had been many investigations on him, but none yielded any info. Who was he? Which sect did he belong to? And finally, what relation did he have with Shen Ming?
No one knew the answers.
Moving forward, he found a hole near a corner wall, instead of the three men.
"This.."
He immediately transmitted a message to the person who ordered him.
"..."
Although she said nothing, he could guess she was up to something crazy.
That's what she literally was, after all.
Within moments, another figure entered the cave. She was clad in a casual yellow robe which had slight tatters and dust, as if she just came rushing from a battlefield. Her emerald eyes shone brilliantly, their exquisite beauty perfectly complementing her flawless, jade-like face. Yet her unkempt hair and parched lips made her look homeless. Besides the two storage rings, she wore nothing decorative.
At first glance, she was a delicate beauty. In the next glance, her appearance will creep you out. So you probably wouldn't take a third glance.
That was her.
She went near the hole with a curious look.
"Hmm, I wonder what's inside."
"Are you entering, senior sister?"
"No, let's just wait outside for now."
…
As the giant chunk of ice drew near, a blinding light enveloped Zhao Fan's sword.
Dense sword Qi rose as the blinding light burst out.
Shen Ming and Xiao Yating felt a weird sensation that made every hair on their body stand up.
They both were kilometres distant from Zhao Fan and yet, they felt like they'd be sliced into pieces.
Was that sword qi suppressing them? Terrifying!
From this, Shen Ming understood a few things.
Zhao Fan was the one who executed that heaven-tier battle skill. Although he didn't witness it head-on, it was quite evident.
'Zhao Fan is stronger than me. He might be the strongest person in this realm right now… perhaps even stronger than Ye Han.'
Even if he were to fight Zhao Fan, unless he used his final trump card, there was no possibility of winning.
By this time, the huge chunk of ice above Zhao Fan had already been shattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Woof"
Meng'er let out a cry, interrupting Shen Ming's thoughts.
They were about to reach the centre, but the whole mountain range started shaking uncontrollably.
Shen Ming was quick to decipher what was happening, once he saw the rusty lantern. He turned back and stared at their shadows, which blocked the light from reaching the mountains.
From what he understood, the light at the centre was the source that stabilised this mountain range. After they entered through those Icebergs, they were blocking the light from reaching certain places, because of their body. The places where the light couldn't reach were directly behind them, causing them to lose their stability.
The more they went near the lantern, the larger their shadow became and the larger the amount of unstabilised ice became.
If they went any further, this entire ruin would collapse, including them.
They couldn't run back to where they came from as it would take much more time than it takes this ruin to collapse.
Even a slight jump would block the light from reaching the ceiling.
He quickly transmitted this message to Zhao Fan, as his voice wouldn't reach him.
Shen Ming activated a teleportation talisman and vanished from the spot, taking Xiao Yating and Meng'er with him.