Lu Xingzhou found himself in a peculiar experience.

He felt as if he had become one of the particles within the ice layer, moving at high speed, with nothing but thick ice visible all around him. Yet, despite being “particle-ized,” he could still distinctly feel Du Gu Qingli pulling his ankle, making him question whether he was human or ice.

A mysterious connection had been forged through Du Gu Qingli’s hand, linking with his water bones. It was precisely because he possessed this half water attribute that he could transform into ice. Du Gu Qingli likely couldn’t bring just anyone; she could only bring those connected to the water or ice attributes, which he happened to be.

This experience gave Lu Xingzhou a completely new understanding of his own water attribute, as if it had been re-deconstructed. It was like… coming into close contact with the laws of nature, listening to the “voice of the Dao.”

Unfortunately, before he could fully analyze it, they arrived at their destination. Ahead, there seemed to be a boundary membrane, preventing their passage. Lu Xingzhou immediately knew that beyond this membrane lay a vast secret realm, and the earthquakes were caused by its continuous ascent. If they could circle to the other side of the realm, they would likely see that the ice layer below had completely shattered.

From their current height, it looked like the area would collapse after arching up a bit more, so their timing was just right. Seeing that Du Gu Qingli seemed to have no solution for the boundary membrane, Lu Xingzhou transmitted a thought: “Let’s search around the membrane. Based on experience, the space below is very chaotic, and the membrane isn’t stable. There might be spatial rifts we can slip through.” As he spoke, he suddenly thought of how the “smugglers of the ancient realm” probably came into being in a similar way.

Du Gu Qingli, without a word, took him around the boundary membrane, like two flies searching for a crack in an egg. The secret realm was enormous. After circling for an unknown duration, they indeed touched a slight fissure. With a whoosh, the world spun, and both fell inside.

Du Gu Qingli descended, holding Lu Xingzhou’s ankle, like someone holding a parachute. Having finally entered normal space, Lu Xingzhou could speak: “Can you let go?”

Du Gu Qingli released his ankle with a look of distaste.

The moment she let go, a biting frost assailed him. The extreme cold was even worse than above. It felt as if even the moisture on his skin instantly solidified, and in the blink of an eye, his body was covered in frost, which then began to affect his internal fluids and blood. Without intervention, he would soon become an ice man. Lu Xingzhou was secretly alarmed, but fortunately, he also had a fire attribute. He silently circulated his cultivation technique to ward off the cold and managed to endure it. He turned to look at Du Gu Qingli, who seemed completely unfazed.

“This is outrageous,” Lu Xingzhou’s voice trembled slightly. “This extreme cold feels like being constantly under some kind of forbidden spell.”

Du Gu Qingli slowly said, “This isn’t even the extreme. If it were truly extreme, you wouldn’t be able to stay. Forbidden spells aren’t this weak.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

They had landed on solid ground, though the “solid ground” was still ice. However, unlike above, it wasn’t empty; this was truly a city with buildings, streets, and even trees and flowers along the roadside. But the buildings and plants were all frozen, looking like ice sculptures at first glance. Upon closer inspection, they weren’t; they were normal houses and trees encased in thick, solid ice. At first glance, it was beautiful, but a second look was chilling. There were also human figures of various forms on the streets, and some even walked dogs. It was as if, while walking normally, the entire city was suddenly encased in ice, everything within frozen, all life preserving that moment’s posture, forever solidified.

Lu Xingzhou remembered the ruins of Pompeii he had seen in his previous life; this was very similar. A young man caught in the act of tubing was solidified, forming an “Ode to Life: Died for the Tube.” For example, at this moment, Lu Xingzhou peered around a tree and saw a couple embracing and kissing, the man’s hand already inside the woman’s clothes, frozen in that eternal moment.

Du Gu Qingli walked over, looking utterly speechless. “Your first reaction is to look at this?”

Lu Xingzhou asked, “I’ve heard that if you’re frozen, you might still retain life?”

Du Gu Qingli shook her head. “That possibility is very low. I detect no life aura; they are all frozen to death.”

Lu Xingzhou was silent for a moment. “It’s a little… sad. They were living their lives so peacefully.”

Du Gu Qingli also fell silent, not responding. Lu Xingzhou looked at her strangely.

Du Gu Qingli slowly said, “I don’t often feel emotions like this. But it’s good that I’m not completely devoid of them; at least after you say something, I feel a little. So, am I inherently a demonic creature? More cold-blooded than you, a demonic cultivator?”

“Not at all. I used to feel nothing when hearing such stories, sometimes even wanting to laugh. It’s just that seeing it in person feels different; it stirs a slight emotion. Your emotions are naturally faint, so this is normal,” Lu Xingzhou smiled. “Besides, if you feel something after I tell you, then you’re quite human-like.”

Du Gu Qingli looked expressionless. “What do you mean by human-like?”

Lu Xingzhou ignored that and continued, “Furthermore, I’m not a demonic cultivator now. My life is very happy, so my heart has naturally softened a lot.”

Du Gu Qingli wanted to say, if you’re so happy, why do you still want to flirt with me? How insatiable is the human heart? But she stopped short of saying it, only stating with a poker face, “Aren’t you supposed to set up a formation? Go scout the formation nodes and also investigate the cause of this city’s freezing.”

Lu Xingzhou looked up at the hazy, icy sky, feeling a bit of a headache. To scout formation nodes, he first needed to determine direction. In a place like this, losing his sense of direction, unable to distinguish north, south, east, or west, made it very difficult to judge. Moreover, his spiritual sense was greatly restricted by the icy environment.

Du Gu Qingli pulled out a compass. “Whether in the Cold River or overseas… this thing is useful. I mean, you at least study divination and aura脈, how do you not even have such basic tools?”

“Because I really don’t study divination. It was your ‘mom-like’ master who insisted I memorize some basic knowledge.”

“Now she’s ‘my mom-like master,’ not your dear, beloved Yetanlan?”

Lu Xingzhou: “…Actually, most of the time, she only admits to being called Ye Zhuoyu, or even Yuan Muyu.”

“What about a small portion of the time?”

That’s when she’s being coaxed in bed to admit she’s the Holy Lord Yetanlan of Tianyao, but that’s something he couldn’t discuss with her. Lu Xingzhou simply said, “And the one I’m engaged to is also called Ye Zhuoyu, not Yetanlan, so technically, I’m really not your grand-master.”

Du Gu Qingli looked at him expressionlessly, “You still want to distance yourself from this relationship, do you? Everyone with white fur knows the Marquis Lu’s intentions.”

“Cough.” Lu Xingzhou coughed dryly, took the compass, and examined it for a moment, then looked north. “Let’s go, let’s first look at the seat of power of this city’s ruler, usually in the north.”

No sooner had they left than the eyes of those “lifeless” ice people began to flicker with red light. Inside the houses, ice people lying on beds slowly sat up with creaking sounds. Before long, even the eyes of cats and dogs began to glow red. Some powerful beings had already drawn their weapons. But they genuinely still showed no signs of life.

Lu Xingzhou and Du Gu Qingli sped northward. The city was truly vast, like a royal capital. Soon enough, they saw a frozen palace. They descended into the palace. Just as they entered a certain range, both felt a chill in their hearts. Various sharp lights suddenly burst forth from all directions, heading straight for them. Faint, net-like dashed lines appeared around them, as if a heaven-and-earth net had been cast.

This was an ancient royal city’s defensive array, which, after such a long time and the brutal cold, was still perfectly intact and undamaged. As soon as a foreign force intruded from the sky, the array’s attack was immediately triggered.

“Clang!” Du Gu Qingli’s ice sword left its scabbard, and a ghostly blue sword light cut through the sky in a crescent shape. Lu Xingzhou stood back-to-back with her, purple flames rising, protecting the other half. When their energies clashed, both could feel their backs pressing tighter against each other, meaning that in their usual stance, they would have been retreating.

This array was at the Huiyang level, possibly even peak Huiyang, far stronger than them. Even with the Yin-Yang paired rings’ augmentation, Lu Xingzhou couldn’t withstand the array’s power. Without the rings, it would likely be worse. With just one contact, blood trickled from both their mouths, yet they tacitly stood back-to-back, enduring it without dodging. If they dodged, they would betray each other.

Lu Xingzhou’s thoughts stirred, and the Soul Banner emerged from his ring, black flames erupting. “Little Black, go to the northeast corner. There must be an array stone there. Go burn it.” The black flames shot straight to the northeast. An array, if manipulated by someone, would be very troublesome. Without manipulation, it was merely a dead thing; destroying its foundation would suffice. There were no living beings in the royal palace, so naturally, no one was manipulating it. The black flames moved swiftly, instantly reaching the spot Lu Xingzhou’s spiritual sense guided it to, finding a uniquely carved array stone whose patterns were glowing with a ghostly blue light. The black flames, too lazy to observe what the patterns were for, directly began to incinerate it.

“Clang!” Du Gu Qingli parried a sword light attacking from the right, her vital energy in disarray, when another sword light silently attacked her left rib. Du Gu Qingli’s blue eyes glowed faintly. The incorporeal sword light actually solidified into ice inch by inch, stopping by her ribs. Just then, the array was destroyed, and all attacks ceased. Du Gu Qingli exhaled, somewhat exhausted, and was just about to relax when Lu Xingzhou suddenly arched his back, pushing her forward. Du Gu Qingli, caught off guard, stumbled several steps forward.

In her stumble, Du Gu Qingli turned her head in astonishment, only to see flames rising silently from the ground where she had just stood, very much like Lu Xingzhou’s black flames. Lu Xingzhou was very familiar with this attack method and had sensed it, subconsciously arching Du Gu Qingli away. He, however, was thoroughly engulfed by the tongues of fire. Du Gu Qingli was still stumbling forward, looking somewhat stunned at Lu Xingzhou being engulfed by flames. She felt that her stumbles were in slow motion, and the flames also seemed to be in slow motion.

“Don’t make that face, I’m fine.” Lu Xingzhou’s ring had deployed a shield, which was burnt. Then his outer clothes were burnt. The remaining few flames burned against the Dragon Subduing Armor inside, not even leaving a scorch mark; there was no damage at all. Lu Xingzhou, already prepared, pulled out a set of outer clothes from his ring and put them on, grinning. “I have to say, seeing fire down here in the ice, it feels so familiar.”