While Rocky's team explored the snow land, the other teams were scattered, engaging other
dangerous areas as well.
Moreover, it seemed that some of the other teams had already entered the snow land before Rocky
and his team. Thus, they grabbed the chance to follow their footprints to make their lives a little easier.
Although they still encountered a few demonic spiritual beasts, whose strengths were equal to that of a
primary-stage Spiritual Emperor, it did not cause them much trouble. After all, Finnegan, a medium-
stage Spiritual Emperor was with them.
The area they were treading was actually a vast expanse of white land. Even if they wanted to, it was
pretty difficult to tell which direction they were headed to. All they could do was follow the footprints of
the previous teams. However, unexpectedly, the snow disappeared, and the ground ahead was
covered by a layer of thick ice. It was as smooth as a mirror, and it also covered a huge area. Because
of this, they could no longer use the footprints of the other teams as a guide.
"Young Master, we can't track the traces of other teams anymore! We have to do this on our own from
here on," a Spiritual King at the premium stage reported as soon as he came back from scouting the
area.
With a slight frown, Alex turned to Finnegan to consult him. However, he just lightly shook his head and
said, "I'm afraid I'm also not familiar with the Ethereal Valley and have no prior experience with it. What
we should do and where we should go from here on will be up to you."
Hearing this, Alex was obviously overwhelmed and was at a loss for what to do. After all, she had no
experience either. If something bad happened to her team because of her poor decisions, she would
surely regret it.
Seeing the worried look on her face, Rocky shook his head and let out a wry smile. Then, after thinking
for a while, he called out to her, "Could you come here for a while?"
Alex immediately walked towards Rocky, assuming that he had some great ideas. "Do you know what
we should do now?" she whispered.
"Where do you think we are right now?" Rocky asked vaguely.
"Where? Of course, we are in a snow land," Alex answered in a matter-of-fact way, a bit confused at
what Rocky was trying to say.
"I am referring to our current position."
"How should I know? I have never been to this place before," Alex replied with a frown.
"All right, let me make the question simpler. How do you think the layer of ice beneath us was formed? I
don't think there are many places where a thick layer of ice could be formed in a snow land." Rocky
had no choice but to prompt her and give her some clues.
"A thick layer of ice? Are you implying that a huge lake is right beneath our feet?" Finally, Alex
understood what Rocky was trying to say.
"Assuming that it is indeed a lake, how did it form?" Rocky asked again, forcing Alex to use her mind.
Then, after thinking for a while, she came up with two possibilities. "It is most probably formed by a
river. The other possibility is it was caused by underground water."
"That's right. Now, if it is formed by a river, there will definitely be a source of that river. If it is formed by
underground water, then there must be an underground waterway. No matter which one it is, there
should be traces around that we can easily find. Have you thought of what we should do next?" Rocky
asked with a straight face, recognizing that Alex must have already figured it out.
At the same time, Alex's eyes lit up. It seemed that she fully understood what he meant.
Without wasting any time, she ordered the Spiritual King at the premium stage to explore the
surroundings again.
Soon enough, the Spiritual King at the premium stage came back and reported that he found a trace of
a river under the thick layer of ice. Moreover, he also discovered traces that the other teams before
them were fetching water from it.
Because of the good news, the team's morale improved again. With this, they continued moving
forward, trying their best to track and catch up with the other teams that were just ahead of them.
Half a day later, the ice turned into a ground filled with snow again. It meant that they just got out of the
vast lake of ice.
Then, not long after, Rocky and the others saw a few figures in front of them. It seemed that these
people were from other teams that came before them.
However, just as when they got close enough to those figures, the scene that welcomed them made
them tremble in fear.
The figures that they saw from afar were either dead or heavily injured. The situation was obviously
tragic and had gone out of hand. One of them had his chest pierced through by ice thorns, and blood
was still flowing all over his body. From the expression on his face, one could tell that he died with
utmost regret.
The primary cause of death and injuries of these spirit warriors were those huge and sharp ice thorns
popping out from the ground.
"Argh!" At this moment, a painful scream was heard not far away from them.
Rocky and his teammates immediately looked in the direction where the voice came from. Then, they
saw that it was a female spirit warrior who seemed to be from the Lingji Clan. She was trapped by
several ice thorns, and she was in a very perilous situation.
"We should go and save her before it's too late!" On impulse, Alex suddenly shouted and rushed over
to save her.
However, just after taking a few steps forward, several ice thorns suddenly rose from the ground. They
moved so fast that she wouldn't have enough time to dodge them.
Fortunately, in the blink of an eye, a figure silently appeared behind her. He wrapped his arm around
her waist and hastily pulled her back.
Alex was still in a daze after what just happened. She vividly saw the ice thorns intertwine in front of
her. Her face turned ghastly pale as she was almost impaled by the ice thorns. She did not even
understand how she was able to get away in time. If it wasn't for the person who saved her, she would
have been dead by now.
When she finally regained her senses, she also looked up at her savior. The moment she saw the face
of the one who saved her, she was astonished and her mouth was left open. It was none other than
Rocky.
At this moment, she was leaning against Rocky's chest and could vaguely hear his heartbeat. She
could also feel the steady breathing coming from above her head that was slightly reaching her
earlobe. This, in turn, made her a little restless, instantly turning her face very red.
It had actually been her first time being held so intimately by a man ever since her father did so when
she was a child. Although she had been trained and raised as a man since childhood, and her behavior
was undoubtedly like a man's, she was still a woman inside. Thus, she would be flustered by
something like this.
"Are you okay? Don't worry, you're safe now," Rocky assured in a gentle tone.
"Y-yes. I'm okay. Thank you..." Alex replied, hastily leaving Rocky's arms to hide her shyness.
After making sure that Alex was fine, Finnegan and all the spirit warriors in the team were greatly
relieved.
At this time, Vivian walked beside Rocky and Alex and informed them, "There should be some kind of
spiritual array under the snow that is being triggered by stepping on it. In the process, it traps anyone
who does. Based on what I can observe, the scope of the spiritual array is quite large. In other words, if
we don't have some powerful enchanted barrier that can block these ice thorns, I'm afraid we don't
have a chance of safely passing through it."
As soon as Vivian said this, all the spirit warriors in the team, including Finnegan, wore a serious look
on their faces.
Rocky let out a sigh, knowing that Vivian's judgment was on point. Just by merely looking at the chaotic
scene in front of them, one could conclude that the power of these ice thorns was extremely
overbearing. They could easily penetrate a Spiritual King's body protection that was made up of
spiritual power, and their destructive power was very evident.
It was already pretty difficult for a Spiritual King to walk through the snow land because of the harsh
climate. Now, with the deadly ice thorns that could appear anytime and anywhere, it became even
more difficult to pass through the snow land.
"If we could only fly, we wouldn't have such a hard time dealing with this place. I should have prepared
a flying spiritual beast beforehand," Alex said frustratingly.
"Do you really think that the spiritual array will only attack anyone that stayed on the ground?" Rocky
smiled and picked up a small amount of snow to form a snowball. Then, he threw it into the air above
the spiritual array.
Just as the snowball flew midair, a flash of lightning struck it down, revealing a devastating
power.
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