Chapter 695: Silver Snake of Profound Ice
“Heaven Fighting Race, the race that fights against heaven itself! They truly are a race that sports extreme arrogance and might!”
Hui Jia of the Lizard Race wore a dark expression on his face, sparks flying off his dark red pupils. “I have the blood of giant lizards flowing inside my body, and although giant lizards couldn’t compare to giant ancient dragons, they had their glorious time. The blood of the giant lizards is also why I felt instinctive fear towards him. It would appear that the Heaven Fighting Race had not only hunted down high rank living beings such as the giant ancient dragons, but also our ancestors, the giant lizards as well!”
“They are the prey and food that the Heaven Fighting Race enjoyed regularly. Therefore, their experts had raised them as food for their descendants… our elders and ancestors were their food,” Qing Luo said solemnly.
The two race leaders didn’t try to keep their voices down. Therefore, their clansmen had heard everything they said.
The lizardmen and dragonmen couldn’t help but stare at the ice hole with fierce eyes after hearing the ancient secrets their leaders had spoken off.
“How dare a human with the blood of the Heaven Fighting Race show his face in our territory! My lord, how should we deal with this fellow?” a dragonman exclaimed.
Qing Luo frowned deeply as he fell silent for a moment. Then, he said, “For now, we still need his power to find the ice spirit!”
Hui Jia nodded and added, “We shall pretend as nothing had ever happened!”
Their conversation had happened outside the ice hole.Therefore, Lu Heng and Bai Li couldn’t hear the conversation, and thus didn’t know that Qing Luo and Hui Jia were harboring ulterior motives towards Qin Lie now.
Lu Heng and Bai Li’s attention was focused at the inner region of the ice hole.
Right now, the violent lava flames surging turbulently out of Qin Lie’s body were melting the inner region of the ice hole that couldn’t be easily shattered even with a high rank spirit artifact..
The ice hole continued to expand deeper and deeper.
Lu Heng and Bai Li had no choice but to condense their spirit energy and form many layers of shields around their body to be able to continue hanging around inside the ice hole.
The lava-like flames continued to gush out of Qin Lie’s body for five to six minutes.
“That’s enough, Yao Tian!” Lu Heng suddenly cried out in pleasant surprise.
Bai Li’s eyes also lit up abruptly.
Deep inside the ice hole and covered in white mist, Qin Lie heard Lu Heng’s cry and cooperatively withdrew the power of his bloodline.
Once his mind had calmed down and his breathing had stabilized, the blazing flames on the surface of his body swiftly retracted back into his body in the blink of an eye.
The high temperature inside the ice hole was fading quickly.
Even more frost vapor had appeared from the translucent ice walls of the ice hole and flew outside creating many thick white clouds.
When they noticed that he was no longer unleashing blazing flames from his body, Lu Heng and Bai Li finally walked into the ice hole. The two foreign race leaders, Qing Luo and Hui Jia, had also led their clansmen into the cave.
It didn’t take long before the quartet had gathered around Qin Lie’s side once more. When they stared at the ice hole that had been penetrated at least dozens of meters deep by Qin Lie alone, they began to look at him in a completely different light.
“You truly are no ordinary martial practitioner to dare venture into Frost Island with that Fulfillment Realm cultivation of yours, kid. At the very least, you have won our respect!” Even Lu Heng, the guy who had been looking at Qin Lie with hostile eyes had changed his attitude and said, “You are now qualified to join us!”
“We, the Lizard Race, have no objections regarding this,” Hui Jia said.
“I agree” Qin Luo also nodded.
“What’s the... benefit of joining you?” Qin Lie looked astonished.
Judging from their expressions, it was as if his participation would win him a portion of the pie he wasn’t privy to until now. This made him feel a little confused.
“Bai Li, please explain it to him for a bit,” Lu Heng instructed.
“Alright.” Bai Li began explaining with bright eyes and a spirited expression, “Yao Tian, among the many abnormal changes that had happened in Frost Island, the bottom of the island was one of them. The aura of absolute frost had come from beneath the ice mountains of Frost Island. We believe that Frost Island must be hiding some sort of secret that drew the attention of its new master. At the very least, we dare guarantee that there exists some high rank frost attribute ores at the bottom of these glaciers. Who knows, there may even be a frost crystal ore vein or a frost type treasure!”
“When we say we allow you to join us, we mean that you have the right to take a share of whatever we discover in Frost Island!” Lu Heng said loudly.
Qing Luo and Hui Jia also nodded in agreement.
Qin Lie was startled for a second as he stared at these people. He finally understood what they meant.
The trio’s attitudes could hardly be called friendly when he had come over with Bai Li. Lu Heng especially had worn a frigid expression that almost seemed to suggest that Qin Lie had owed him a great debt or something.
But now, he understood that the trio had thought that Bai Li and him couldn’t aid them in their efforts. They were also afraid that their arrival would eat into their share of profits.
After he had opened a path through the ice hole and display his extraordinary ability, Lu Heng finally thought that he was capable of helping them in Frost Island. That was why he had changed his attitude and told him that he now had the qualifications to join them.
Lu Heng was obviously a very pragmatic person.
“Please move aside while I make an inspection.” Lu Heng walked over and urged Qin Lie and Bai Li to move further away from him. He himself went into the deepest area of the ice hole before a dark green light that almost couldn’t be discerned with the naked eye appeared from his body.
A strange soul ripple penetrated the ice walls and travelled deep into the ice hole like the ripples on a lake.
A few seconds later, the dark green light in Lu Heng’s eyes abruptly lit up, “It’s right behind this wall!”
An ancient longblade burning with green flames flew out of Lu Heng’s sleeves and transformed into a dark green light beam. It stabbed fiercely into an ice wall.
The ice wall instantly shattered into pieces.
The eerie fiendish aura of the Greenflame Longblade continued to radiate with sharpness and vanished in the blink of an eye after the ice had shattered.
“We’re through!” Lu Heng followed the green light of the Greenflame Longblade and walked through the crushed ice.
Qing Luo, Hui Jia, and Bai Li didn’t hesitate. They immediately walked past the crushed ice and entered the new area behind Lu Heng.
Qin Lie only hesitated for a brief moment before flashing into the new area before the dragonmen and lizardmen behind him could come in.
What entered his eyes was a huge ice cave.
The ice cave was hundreds of meters wide and a dozen or so meters tall. Many gigantic translucent icicles that looked like giant swords hung off the cave’s ceiling. Upon closer inspection, one would discover that there were seven people frozen inside the seven icicles.
There were humans, Gray Wing clansmen, and dragonmen inside the icicles. Although cold air was emanating from their bodies, their life forces were still pretty strong. If the group listened closely, they would even be able to hear their heartbeats.
“Dong Qiu! Jia Yang!” Bai Li immediately cried out when she saw the two human martial practitioners who were frozen inside the icicles. “They used to cultivate in Frost Island just like me. They vanished after they had gone to express their reproach towards Frost Island’s new master!”
“The remaining five Gray Wing clansmen and dragonmen are also cultivators who cultivated at different areas of Frost Island. They were probably frozen by Frost Island’s new master after they came in,” Lu Heng said.
“Let’s destroy their seals first and wake them from their slumber. We’ll ask them what exactly had happened to them,” Qing Luo suggested.
The quartet immediately went to an icicle each and unleashed their power in an attempt to shatter those icicles and free the people trapped inside.
“Hss! Hssssss!”
It was at this moment a sharp hiss rang from the surroundings. When the group turned to look intently at their surroundings, they noticed that there were many caves at the secluded corners of the giant ice cave.
Many frost type spirit beasts had suddenly appeared from these caves. There were Ice Soul Pythons, Dragon Pythons, Giant Frost Crystal Alligators and Silver Snakes of Profound Ice.
The Dragon Pythons were rank four spirit beasts, the Giant Frost Crystal Alligators were rank five, and the Silver Snakes of Profound Ice were rank six. A rank six spirit beast was the equivalent of a Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner.
Although this cave was wide, the sudden appearance dozens of frost type spirit beasts including six Giant Frost Crystal Alligators, four Silver Snakes of Profound Ice, and dozens of Ice Soul Pythons and Dragon Pythons had caused the place to become jam packed with bodies immediately.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”
The caves the spirit beasts had emerged from were also gushing with terrifying cold streams of air. They caused the temperature inside the ice cave to drop rapidly, making the cold air even deadlier.
The frost type spirit beasts let out strange howls and attacked the crowd.
The quartet immediately stopped their rescue actions and screamed for their clansmen to work together against those spirit beasts.
The moment the battle began, the supposedly wide ice cave immediately felt all too narrow.
“Protect that kid!” Lu Heng sucked in a deep breath and sent two subordinates to Qin Lie’s side. Then, he told Bai Li, “Just protect him from harm! He is very useful to our journey, so make sure that he doesn’t die yet!”
After realizing how useful Qin Lie was, Lu Heng had begun showing him special care and attention. He wanted Qin Lie to continue displaying his usefulness in future endeavours.
“Got it!” Bai Li promised him.
“There’s no need!” Qin Lie shook his head once. The second the battle had begun, he charged towards a Giant Frost Crystal Alligator and attacked with the intent to kill the beasts himself.
The Rank Five Giant Frost Crystal Alligator was almost ten meters long. Its body was covered in thick ice armor so strong that the average spirit artifact couldn’t pierce through it.
The Giant Frost Crystal Alligator could crush most living being’s bones with just its sharp teeth. Its teeth also contained a terrifying cold energy that could be injected into an enemy to freeze their blood. It was an incredibly annoying opponent to deal with.
A Rank Five spirit beast’s power was equivalent to that of a Fulfillment Realm martial practitioner. However, all frost type spirit beasts would experience a huge rise in power in this cold, icy cave.
This meant that the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator Qin Lie was fighting was even more difficult to deal with compared to most other human Fulfillment Realm martial practitioners.
“Keep yourself safe, Yao Tian! A Rank Five Giant Frost Crystal Alligator will be able to unleash the strength of a late stage Fulfillment Realm martial practitioner here! There’s no way you’re its match!” Bai Li shouted.
“Hula!” The Giant Frost Crystal Alligator opened its mouth and sprayed out a freezing stream of energy mixed with ice bits, ice pieces and ice blades.
Freezing cold intent appeared from inside the freezing air and poured down on Qin Lie’s head.
This power of absolute frost was enough to cause most Fulfillment Realm martial practitioners to freeze all over to the point where they couldn’t even circulate the spirit energy.
However, Qin Lie was able to move as smoothly as ever.
Under Bai Li’s astonished gaze, Qin Lie swung his arms and sent the ice bits and ice pieces bouncing away from his body. Then, he laughed loudly and landed on top of the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s body. He made a grabbing gesture in midair, and a sharp ice spear appeared in his hand.
The ice spear turned into a harsh beam of ice that stabbed straight at the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s head.
“Crack!”
The ice spear exploded into countless fragments as the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator began twisting its body intensely upon feeling the pain. It let out a shockingly loud roar.
Qin Lie looked down and discovered that his full power strike had only managed to leave a tiny bleeding hole in the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s head.
It hadn’t penetrated its skull as he had imagined before the strike.
“The softest part of a Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s body is its neck and waist. Its head and back are its toughest spots!” Bai Li hastily reminded him.
“Got it!” Qin Lie answered.
“Uooh!”
As the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator roared, Qin Lie jumped down its head in a flash.
Just as he was ready to make a move and slip under the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s stomach, a dark shadow threw a strike at him from the side like a silver whip.
“Crackle!”
The shrill hisses in the air sounded like a rattlesnake swinging its tail wildly. It sent a shiver through the spine of anyone who heard it.
“Watch out!” Lu Heng screamed.
But the silver whip had already reached Qin Lie’s back.
“Bang!”
A tearing pain racked his entire body as Qin Lie was sent flying through the air before he slammed heavily into a suspended icicle, shattering it into many pieces.
Qin Lie landed on ice and stone as the icicle shattered into many pieces, and he couldn’t prevent the blood from spraying out of his mouth.
He looked behind him in shock.
A silvery spirit snake that was only three meters long was slithering in an odd fashion in midair. Whenever it swung its whip-like tail, it conjured many terrifying whip shapes that caused a sharp noise in the air.
“The Silver Snake of Profound Ice!” Qin Lie’s expression changed.
The Rank Six Silver Snake of Profound Ice was the equivalent of a Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner. It possessed terrifying strength, and all the places struck by the silvery whip shapes were engulfed in loud explosions.
The hanging icicles above the cave instantly shattered into bits when they were struck by the Silver Snake of Profound Ice.
The two icicles that contained the Gray Wing Race clansmen were also struck by the tail of Silver Snake of Profound Ice. After the icicles had shattered, the two Gray Wing clansmen actually shattered along with the ice and turned into many pieces of frozen flesh.
They hadn’t bled even a drop of blood.
Forget blood, even boiling oil would instantly cool into a piece of ice crystal in this cave and at this temperature.
“Still alive?” Lu Heng cast a glance at him from afar.
Qin Lie stood back up on his feet after wiping the blood from his mouth. “I’m fine.”
“Stay away from the Silver Snake of Profound Ice!” Lu Heng yelled once before he went after the Silver Snake of Profound Ice that had hurt Qin Lie.
“Whoosh whoosh!” Almost at the same time, the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator that had fought against Qin Lie charged towards him again.
“Well met!” Qin Lie abruptly charged towards the beast.
This time, the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator didn’t spit out a freezing stream. Instead, it opened its bloody mouth in attempt to crush Qin Lie between its teeth and swallow him whole.
Three dazzlingly glowing lifeblood essences that looked as red as blood crystals appeared and begun to spin in midair. The beautiful orbs flew straight into the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s mouth.
Qin Lie detonated the energy inside his lifeblood essences using the Blood Spirit Art.
Three dull explosions came from the Giant Frost Crystal Alligator’s stomach. Then, an imperishable flame of lava surged wildly out of its mouth.
The Giant Frost Crystal Alligator abruptly roared in terror, rolling and twisting its body wildly before Qin Lie.
Three terrifying balls of flames burned fiercer and brighter inside its crystalline body.
In just ten seconds or so, this Rank Five Giant Frost Crystal Alligator was burned to ash.