Descending, descending, descending.
The blue lake water was extremely cold, at least below freezing, but strangely, it didn't solidify.
After entering the bottom of the ice lake, Huo Yuhao saw the cold spring and clearly felt a surge of cold spiritual power in the water.
This cold energy was very pure. After being filtered by Tianmeng's remnants and the Bone Spirit Cold Fire, it seemed to be nourishing his body.
Or rather, it was nourishing his not yet fully formed second ice-attribute martial soul.
As he sank into the cold spring, the light around him gradually dimmed. However, for Huo Yuhao, neither the darkness nor the cold was much of an issue.
Although the ability of his spiritual power to spread in water was weak, once he activated his spiritual detection, he could still sense everything within a twenty-meter radius.
After descending about fifty meters into the cold spring, Huo Yuhao felt a powerful cold current emanating from a spring below him.
The spring was large enough to allow a person to pass through, and under spiritual detection, Huo Yuhao could even sense its deep blue color, indicating its terrifying cold power.
In fact, unless one was an ice-attribute Soul Douluo or even a Titled Douluo, ordinary soul masters would have exhausted their soul power to resist the external cold at this point and would need to surface immediately, or risk being turned into an eternal ice sculpture around the spring.
Once he entered the spring, Huo Yuhao no longer needed to move on his own. The rushing water carried him through the not-so-narrow cave. Finally, he felt the water calm down, and above him, there seemed to be some twinkling lights.
Emerging from the water, Huo Yuhao was surprised to find himself in an underground dark river, with a black cave in front of him. The water surface of the dark river was below the cave, so it didn't flood it.
Climbing up with both hands and feet, Huo Yuhao carefully observed the surroundings of the cave.
The cave wasn't very large, filled with unknown minerals, and extremely cold, similar to the cold spring he felt before.
"Tianmeng, is this the Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Cave you mentioned?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Not rushing to explore further, Huo Yuhao carefully observed the surroundings at the entrance of the cave. Though he didn't know where the so-called white flame was, the level of cold here was not something that could form casually; not even the extreme northern depths he previously experienced were this cold.
Silently, Yao Lao's somewhat illusory figure appeared in the cave. He extended his hand, and a white flame burned in his palm, illuminating everything around them.
The cave had a nearly dreamlike beauty under the light of the Bone Spirit Cold Fire. Huo Yuhao saw that the entire cave was made of various crystals.
These crystals were all deep blue, crystal clear, and filled with a dreamy beauty, making Huo Yuhao feel as if he were in a fairyland.
"This is the Ice Extreme God Crystal, formed alongside the Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Cave. Further inside is where I slept," Tianmeng said lazily.
"I happened to fall into this place from a snow pit, then exited through the ice lake. So your entrance was my exit. I don't know the specific situation here, but I remember there were no Ice Extreme God Crystals here back then."
"Ice Extreme God Crystals are valuable!" Huo Yuhao said, his eyes shining.
Ice Extreme God Crystals are the hardest and most flexible ice-attribute metal. They look like crystals but have the malleability of metal.
They are also the best conduits and amplifiers for ice-attribute soul power, especially valuable for soul masters with extreme ice attributes.
In the original story, Huo Yuhao and Xuan Ziwen from Mingde Hall collaborated to develop the Ice Extreme War God Armor, the earliest humanoid soul tool to assist soul masters in battle, and the prototype of the soul armors that appeared ten thousand years later.
The main material for the Ice Extreme War God Armor was the Ice Extreme God Crystal, a rare metal only found in the Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Cave. Now, he had the opportunity to gather some.
Huo Yuhao explained the function of the Ice Extreme God Crystal to Yao Lao, who was also intrigued. On the Dou Qi Continent, there were also blacksmiths, so Yao Lao understood how precious materials formed in extremely unique environments could be.
However, extracting the Ice Extreme God Crystal required the use of extreme ice soul power. Although Yao Lao's Bone Spirit Cold Fire might reach that level, it was best not to damage the structure of the Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Cave, as it could cause it to collapse.
The priority was to find the strange fire!
Walking deeper into the cave, they eventually came to a fork with two paths, one left and one right.
"The left path is the way I exited, while the right path leads to where I sensed the white flame. I felt threatened by the white flame, so I didn't go in," Tianmeng explained.
"No need to explore the left path; I've absorbed all the Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Essence there. Even if some have formed again, it won't match what I absorbed," Tianmeng continued.
Huo Yuhao nodded, consulted with Yao Lao, and then headed to the right.
After about half an hour, Huo Yuhao felt a terrifying coldness. Around him were strange ice pillars of various sizes.
Each ice pillar was as white as jade, with liquid flowing inside, emanating the terrifying cold.
Unlike the inwardly cold Ice Extreme God Crystal, the cold here was impossible to contain, making the air seem thick with the dense ice elements that even Tianmeng's remnants and the Bone Spirit Cold Fire couldn't fully isolate.
Only Yao Lao, as a spiritual entity, was unaffected, not just because he lacked a physical body, but also because he controlled the Bone Spirit Cold Fire, which combined cold and heat.
"Ten Thousand Year Black Ice Essence? Even purer than what I absorbed!" Tianmeng exclaimed. "Good thing I brought you here first; if I had brought Bing Bing, it would've delayed my plans!"
At this moment, a grey sphere deep in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea suddenly dispersed into grey gas. Electrolux's surprised voice echoed in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea.
"It seems there's a divine aura here."