As the chase continued, Rocky, Vivian, and Alex eventually reached the end of the snowfield, where a
mountain range extended. They crossed the mountains until they found no other way to go except an
unfathomable abyss shrouded in mist.
No one knew what was underneath the abyss. However, it seemed that it was the only way they could
escape the spirit warriors.
Before long, the warriors from the other clans had already caught up to them.
"Ha! You've got nowhere to run!" one of the premium-stage Spiritual Emperors blurted menacingly.
"Stop! There's no point in fighting among ourselves. Don't you think it's better to be generous than pay
for your greed later?" Rocky argued sincerely. He didn't expect these warriors to cause this much
trouble.
"Fine. We'll spare your lives, but on one condition. You have to surrender the treasure to us," the other
premium-stage Spiritual Emperor said.
"Are you joking? Come on, you're premium-stage Spiritual Emperors. Don't bring shame to your clans
by playing the bully!" Alex snapped furiously. She refused to forgo the Ice Wand so easily.
"Then you leave us no other choice. Go and take it!" The premium-stage Spiritual Emperor who found
them first then turned to the other warriors and gave them the order.
All the warriors from the other clans started swarming towards Alex, Rocky, and Vivian and made sure
they left no space for them to escape.
"Should I deal with them?" Vivian whispered to Rocky. A hint of impatience echoed in her voice, and
killing intent began to glint in her eyes.
Rocky shook his head. He knew that once Vivian released her true power, none of these warriors
would be able to survive her wrath. He thought for a moment and suggested that the three of them
should just jump into the abyss.
"What?! Are you serious?" Alex was dumbfounded. She thought Rocky was simply playing around.
Meanwhile, Vivian nodded as she glanced at him and jumped without hesitation.
"Alex, hold tight!" Rocky then put his arm around Alex's waist and followed Vivian into the abyss. The
warriors from the other clans didn't expect they would choose to jump, so they just watched them in
astonishment.
"What the—? Have they gone mad? That's suicide!" The warriors were both shocked and exasperated
at their bold move, but they could do nothing but watch helplessly as the three of them disappeared
into the darkness below.
In the abyss, while they were dropping at an astonishing speed, Rocky hurriedly advised, "Alex,
summon the beast spirit!"
After a short pause, it finally dawned on Alex what Rocky had been planning, so she immediately
waved the Ice Wand in her hand. The next second, the Ice Phoenix appeared out of thin air. It exuded
an intimidating aura as it flapped its wings.
It swiftly dived down, which allowed them to safely land on its back.
"You scared me out of my wits, Rookie! I almost thought you already gave up," Alex cried out, her heart
still throbbing with fear.
Rocky casually smiled and said, "Order your new pet to fly through this mist. We might as well check
what's down there!"
Alex nodded and told the Ice Phoenix to fly into the thick, icy mist.
After drifting for a while, they finally got out of the mist. What they saw next was an astonishing scene.
Below them were the remnants of a complex of ancient structures. All the buildings were built of
crystals, and were all unconventionally shaped and incomparably magnificent. There was an exotic
charm emanating from them.
At the end of the ruins stood a crystal palace, which was as splendid as a masterpiece of the gods. In
front of it was a beast statue that was palpably similar to the shape of the spiritual beast summoned by
the Ice Wand.
"Wait, is this for real?!" Alex was immediately taken aback by this resemblance.
While Alex was awestricken by the view, Rocky and Vivian were much calmer. They both quickly
figured that this crystal palace might have been the residence of some god in the remote past.
"Could this be the temple in the Ethereal Valley that people talked about? They said you can find a
myriad of precious treasures here." Alex was overjoyed. If this was true, it would bring the Wankong
Clan great fortune.
"Well, why don't we see for ourselves?" Rocky smiled sweetly. The reason he and Vivian wanted to
enter the Ethereal Valley was so they could open up a passageway to the Holy-Evil World. However,
they didn't actually have any idea how to do it. He reckoned that getting into the crystal palace might
help them find some clues.
The Ice Phoenix then turned and carefully dived towards the crystal palace.
In just a moment, they arrived and landed beside the beast statue in front of the crystal palace. When
they saw the beast statue closely, their eyes widened. Apparently, the Ice Phoenix and the statue
indeed looked exactly the same.
"The Ice Phoenix must be this legendary beast's soul when it died," Rocky uttered with certainty.
"Legendary beasts die too?" Alex asked in bewilderment.
"They do. Even deities and devils could die," Vivian confirmed.
"Deities and devils?" Alex was stunned by Vivian's answer. This new information was completely
beyond her imagination.
"Wait for me here. I'll go and see if there's an enchanted barrier around this palace." Rocky then walked
towards the crystal palace on his own.
He observed for a while but didn't find any signs of an enchanted barrier around the palace. Strangely
enough, he didn't see its entrance, either.
"That's weird. Is it actually possible that there isn't an entrance to this building?" Rocky thought for a
moment. Upon paying closer attention, he discovered that there were crisscrossed beams of light in
midair which rotated around the crystal palace.
He pondered for a while before he waved his hand to release a stream of spiritual power and aimed at
the beams of light surrounding the crystal palace.
After getting hit, the beams emanated a blinding flash of light. When it gradually dimmed, a crystal
staircase materialized out of thin air, extending from the beast statue to the top of the crystal palace.
"Sure enough! I knew there's a passageway somewhere," Rocky exclaimed with a chuckle.
"Is this how we'll get inside?" Vivian asked as she looked at Rocky.
"I suppose so, but it might not be that easy going up the steps," Rocky surmised. He took a closer look
at the staircase and furrowed his brows.
"I see. Well, we won't know until we tried, right?" Vivian promptly went to the crystal staircase and took
a step.
As she stood on the first crystal step, it suddenly cracked as though it would collapse at any time.
When Vivian moved to the second step, the first one instantly fell apart like broken glass. Nonetheless,
it was automatically repaired the next moment.
"Hmm. My guess was right." Rocky had already considered the possibility that they would encounter
some difficulties in climbing up these steps. Fortunately, it didn't seem too complicated.
Vivian then proceeded towards the third step. As soon as she landed on it, a huge fireball suddenly
materialized above her and dropped at an increasing speed towards her.
She decided to go up the next step, only to find out that her feet seemed stuck and couldn't move an
inch at all.
Vivian frowned at this sudden turn of events. The fireball was so intimidating that she didn't dare
downplay it. As it got closer and closer, she swiftly unleashed her full power of the Shura Realm to
protect herself with the shield from her spiritual power.
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