Martial Peak
chapter-1344

Chapter 1344, Ice Road

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Putting the Array Plate aside for the moment, Yang Kai secretly decided that after going back he would ask Yang Yan about it. If she was really capable of refining Array Plates, he would definitely ask her to refine a few of them so he could set up large Spirit Arrays anytime, anywhere in the future.

A moment later, Fei Zhi Tu and the other Origin Realm masters finished restoring themselves and the group continued forward after a brief discussion.

As they travelled, they would see some exotic flowers and plants randomly sitting in nearby flower beds, from time to time, each of them worth as much as a city, some of them even thought to be extinct and all of them seemingly genuine.

However, after their first experience with the Spectral Cloud Array, Fei Zhi Tu and the others no longer dared to arbitrarily touch these rare spirit flowers and herbs lest they accidentally trigger another Spirit Array.

Yang Kai, on the other hand, had an extraordinarily strong interest in these spirit flowers and herbs because, with his knowledge and judgment, he found that these things were all the real deal.

In other words, those things were not set up as traps but were instead real herbs that were just waiting to be picked. However, because he could not be one hundred percent certain there were no traps here and the priority of this trip was to rescue Qian Tong, he suppressed his desires and followed behind Fei Zhi Tu and the others.

Still, Yang Kai silently memorized the route they took in preparation for after they saved Qian Tong. At that time, he planned to come back here and carefully determine whether these things were real or just traps.

Even acting with an abundance of caution, the journey forward was not free of trouble. The Spirit Arrays inside this Ancient Ruin were all extremely well hidden, to the point where even Fei Zhi Tu, a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, was unable to always spot them despite constantly using his Divine Sense to sweep their surroundings.

Fortunately, the two young Array Masters, Cai He and Du Si Si were accompanying them. Whenever the group found themselves trapped inside a Spirit Array, the two of them would work together to crack it while the others defended against the Spirit Array’s attacks.

This pattern continued for some time and, although everyone was somewhat dishevelled, there were no casualties. Only the old lady was slightly injured while Yang Kai and Lian Guang, the two Saint King Juniors, never encountered any real danger.

Unfortunately, after these Spirit Arrays were cracked, none of them left behind an Array Plate, greatly disappointing Cai He and Du Si Si.

After three days, the group of eight stood in front of a spacious passageway. This passageway was white and flawless, seemingly paved from the purest of white jade. However, a deep chill lingered in the air while wisps of frigid energy visible to the naked eye floated about. On either side of this passage were numerous ice cones that glistened with cold light, giving off an imposing and dangerous aura.

Even if they were just standing in front of this passage and had not actually entered, everyone was still being affected by the chill, and frost was even forming at the tips of their hair.

“This should be the ice road!” Fei Zhi Tu’s expression grew solemn as he spoke, half to himself, half to everyone else.

“So cold, how did Elder Qian pass through this place?” Ning Xiang Chen’s old face turned slightly pale. He estimated that if he were to enter this passage on his own, forget about reaching its end, he would quickly be transformed into an ice sculpture.

Although Qian Tong was a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, without some kind of powerful treasure or artifact to restrain the cold here, it would have been impossible for him to take a mere Saint King Grade Artifact Refiner with him to cross this ice road.

“I heard that Elder Qian obtained a Blazing Flame Bead several dozen years ago, he probably crossed this ice road with the help of that,” The old lady said thoughtfully to the side.

Fei Zhi Tu lightly nodded, “En, Old Qian indeed has a Blazing Flame Bead, otherwise, he would definitely have had to retreat here,” Saying so, he turned to Yang Kai and asked, “How about it?”

Yang Kai stared at the passage but did not answer the question directly, “City Lord Fei, do you know how long this passage is?”

Fei Zhi Tu shook his head slowly, “The message from Old Qian didn’t mention how long this passage was. However, since Old Qian was able to lead another person through it with just his Blazing Flame Bead, it shouldn’t be too long.”

“As long as it’s not too long it should be fine then,” Yang Kai said somewhat hesitantly.

Fei Zhi Tu’s reason for bringing Yang Kai on this trip was to borrow the power of the Firebird Artifact Spirit to cross this ice road, so now it was naturally time for Yang Kai to fulfil that role.

“Relax, this City Lord also prepared something for this moment, we’re not counting on your Artifact Spirit alone.” Fei Zhi Tu reassured as he waved his hand and summoned a bronze bell-like artifact into his palm. This bronze bell was crimson in colour and radiated a pure, hot aura.

“The Grand Fire Ward!” Ning Xiang Chen’s eyes lit up as he smiled, “I didn’t expect Brother Fei to even borrow the Grand Fire Ward. It seems that passing this ice road shouldn’t be a difficult matter.”

Fei Zhi Tu smiled, “Although this Grand Fire Ward is the Sect Master’s treasure, he rarely summons it even if he is in a fight. However, since this trip is to rescue that old ghost Qian, the Sect Master naturally won’t act stingy.”

Hearing this, Yang Kai and the other juniors understood that this Grand Fire Ward artifact belonged to Shadow Moon Hall’s Sect Master and had only been borrowed by Fei Zhi Tu for this mission.

Although a borrowed artifact could not display its full power, providing some assistance wouldn’t be an issue.

Seeing this, Yang Kai nodded his head and calmed himself. With a command of his Divine Sense, the Artifact Spirit rushed out of Yang Kai’s body and quickly transformed into a light curtain that surrounded the group of eight.

The Firebird did not have a true physical form so although it usually appeared in the shape of a bird, it could transform into essentially any shape.

At the same time, Fei Zhi Tu poured his Saint Qi into the Grand Fire Ward and in the next moment, it expanded in size until it too covered everyone.

Under these two layers of protection, everyone felt more secure.

“Hey, don’t push me!” Du Si Si murmured from behind, causing Yang Kai to glance back in time to see Cai He smiling awkwardly.

It was not his fault though, there were simply too many people here. To maximize the protective power of the Firebird Artifact Spirit and the Grand Fire Ward, Yang Kai and Fei Zhi Tu both made sure to expand them to only the minimum radius required to cover everyone.

As a result, the group of eight had to stand quite close together. Cai He clearly had intentions towards her, so he stood next to Du Si Si to play the part of a gentleman and shield her from the others, but not only did she not appreciate his gesture, she even began complaining.

Cai He had a temperate personality, so he didn’t get angry and patiently explained himself to Du Si Si.

“Let’s go!” Yang Kai took the lead together with Fei Zhi Tu and began advancing.

As soon as they stepped onto the ice road, everyone shuddered involuntarily. The cold here was so profound it was like an invisible blade that pierced through the double-layered protection and directly entered everyone’s body, causing their skin to tighten.

Even with two powerful Fire Attribute shields, the cold was still potent, so without any protection, it was obvious that stepping onto this ice road would be deadly.

Realizing this, everyone paled slightly. Du Si Si no longer had any complaints about Cai He and instead moved closer to him, seemingly looking for some sense of security. Seeing this, Cai He was overjoyed and suddenly began wishing this ice road would never end.

Yang Kai’s expression became dignified as he was communicating with the Artifact Spirit with his Divine Sense. As such, he could perceive the coldness of this ice road far clearer than anyone else. For every moment they stayed here, the Artifact Spirit would consume a great deal of energy, and although it wasn’t impossible to supplement this consumption, the Firebird was one of Yang Kai’s greatest boons for this Ancient Ruin exploration, so he didn’t want to needlessly drain its strength.

Immediately, the group’s pace increased.

When they were standing in front of it, none of them could clearly see what was happening on this ice road, but now that they had set foot onto it, glancing around, everyone could not help trembling slightly. The Ice Attribute energy that was lingering in their surroundings was so dense it had transformed into a kind of thick fog.

Although everyone knew that some incredible treasures would definitely have been formed due to such extreme densities of Ice Attribute Energy and so many years of accumulation, no one had any interest in searching for them and only wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.

After a half cup of tea’s time, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as he found that he had underestimated the length of this ice road. Looking forward at this moment, he was still unable to see the end of this ice road. At the same time, he could not clearly see his surroundings. It was as if the entire world had fallen silent, with only the occasional heartbeat and breath filling disrupting the eerie stillness.

Sometime later, Du Si Si suddenly called out, “Look over there!”

Everyone was startled and turned to look in the direction she was pointing, only to pale upon seeing what she had seen.

In front of everyone’s eyes, about three hundred metres away, were several human-shaped ice sculptures, each one of them exceptionally lifelike.

These ice sculptures had male, female, old, and young forms. All of them wore different robes and had different expressions on their face. Some of them showed looks of pleasant surprise, others wore looks of terror, while others showed completely indifferent looks, as if they did not realize what was happening right up until the moment they died.

These ice sculptures were all frozen people!

“It seems like it wasn’t just Old Qian who found this Ancient Ruin,” Fei Zhi Tu sighed softly.

These ice sculptures were clearly cultivators who had come here to explore before, but for some unknown reason, they had all become frozen here, with no trace of scars on their bodies from a battle at that.

“This is…” Ning Xiang Chen’s old eyes flashed a terrified light as he stared at a certain ice sculpture, unable to speak for quite a while.

“Brother Ning, do you recognise him?” The old lady glanced over at him and asked.

“Since you were able to recognize him as well, I shouldn’t be mistaken. Unexpectedly, it is really him. When I was young, I was fortunate enough to meet him once, but I never dreamed he would actually fall here,” Ning Xiang Chen smiled bitterly.

“Is there someone here whom two Seniors know?” Cai He asked in surprise.

“Yes, two hundred years ago, there was an extremely famous master on Shadowed Star who, although not from Star Emperor Mountain, was rumoured to be the most likely to break through Shadowed Star’s World Principles and reach the Origin King Realm. Unfortunately, he suddenly disappeared a hundred years ago and was never heard from again,” Ning Xiang Chen explained lightly.

“Such a master also fell here…” Cai He showed a trace of sympathy.

“Take a closer look at the robes these people are wearing!” Fei Zhi Tu seemed to have discovered something and called out.