GDK 478: A Strange Sight
This was a world of ice and snow. The coldest place on Profound Continent was right here. All along the way, cold wind whizzed. Snow covered every nook and cranny. It was a vast expanse of whiteness as far as the eyes could see. Trees, stones, rivers, all were encrusted in a layer of ice. It was as though the world had lost its colour.
However, within the coverage of Han Shuo’s consciousness, he sensed a trace of the presence of ice bears, snow wolves and frost eagles in this bone-numbingly cold region. These magical creatures, who preferred cold regions as their natural dwellings, roamed about in this remote, deserted world of ice and snow, adding a hint of vitality to this world.
Of the numerous mountain summits, Han Shuo had one specific target. His heart was as cold as ice, sterned to massacre as he flew at lightning speed.
The most formidable characters in the Shrine of Ice were the duo of Ice Celestial Corey and Snow Celestial Tiana. The two were the true backbones of the Shrine of Ice. Of the two, Snow Celestial Tiana once schemed against Han Shuo on the Sacred Mountain, with Han Shuo nearly being captured alive by the Church of Light. On the other hand, there was Ice Celestial Corey. Not only did he abuse the entire race of dark dragon, his actions even resulted in Gilbert’s death.
On top of that, the Shrine of Ice and the Church of Light were the of best allies. Han Shuo couldn’t find any reason not to retaliate against them.
Before he got close to the frozen mountain in the center, Han Shuo slowed down his flying speed. While his consciousness was still fully unfolded, he concealed the presence coming from his body. Carefully observing each and every movement on the main peak, he seeked a way to intrude without being detected.
Gathering up his attention, Han Shuo’s consciousness immediately sensed the existence of a frost and cold boundary all around the summit. The boundary enveloped the entire main peak of the mountain range with vigorously cold wind and ice. Within that cold wind and ice, Han Shuo sensed the presence of divine energy of the Ice Goddess.
This discovery made Han Shuo even more cautious in his approach. He further slowed down his advance towards the shrine of ice on the main peak. In his heart, he rapidly turned over in his mind how to deal with the situation he was presented with.
One after another, disciples of the Shrine of Ice entered and exited the frozen mountain. Yet, the huge boundary made no warning signals nor defensive responses.
Han Shuo carefully examined for a moment, and found out that among these disciples that entered the main peak of the Shrine of Ice were in fact ones upon whom the Ice Goddess did not even bestow divine energy. However, their bodies were all ice-cold without exception. Much lower than the normal human body temperature.
With a mere once-over, Han Shuo figured out a solution. Hovering in the sky at a height hard to catch sight of with the naked eye, Han Shuo slowly adjusted his body temperature. He even deployed the Mystical Glacial Spellfire to generate cold air in his body, at a finely-controlled intensity. In a heartbeat, Han Shuo’s body temperature plunged to match the disciples of the Shrine of Ice down below.
On Profound Continent, there were existences with greater strength than Han Shuo. However, Han Shuo was convinced that no one else surpassed him in terms of the ability to exercise control over physical body. This self-confidence came from the demonic arts’ perverted forging of his physical body!
After properly adjusting his body temperature, Han Shuo again surveyed the area for another while to be absolutely certain that in this way he would not trigger the boundary surrounding the frozen mountain. Only then did he begin searching for an opportunity to enter this main peak.
Watching for a while, Han Shuo discovered that halfway up the frozen mountain there was a protruding steep cliff. There wasn’t a single disciple of the Shrine of Ice manning the region. Having found a vulnerable spot, Han Shuo made use of a window of opportunity and noiselessly descended to that cliff from high altitude.
His consciousness firmly locked onto the entire frozen mountain. While meticulously concealing the presence on his body, he had long discovered Ice Celestial Corey’s exact location — in a conical building on the mountain top.
At this point in time, Ice Celestial Corey ought to have still been in recovery period. Han Shuo could sense that his aura was smooth and steady, without any fluctuation of emotions. There was not a single person stationed around the conical building. As long as Han Shuo could stealthily get to that building and mount a sneak attack, Han Shuo was confident of succeeding.
However, to reach that structure from the precipice where Han Shuo was, and not be detected by anyone midway, would be quite the impossible feat.
This was because, on the entire frozen mountain, other than steep mountain roads, there were no trees nor rocks that could provide concealment. In this place where every inch of every surface was blanketed with ice and snow, any slightest movement could cause others to catch one in sight.
Moreover, from a magical tower on the apex of the mountain, Han Shuo sensed some kind of magical wave undulation similar that of Sky’s Eye. This magic released by the magical tower seemed to be able to catch every movement on the mountain.
Han Shuo thought for a moment with creased brows, and suddenly called to mind metal elite zombie. After thinking briefly, he felt that this method was feasible.
Although a solid layer of ice covered the mountain, the inside was fundamentally still supported by hard rock. The thick layer of ice above it was naturally formed on one hand, while also deliberately thickened by the Shrine of Ice on the other hand. With metal elite zombie’s abilities, Han Shuo could entirely bore through rocks and reach right to the bottom of the building that Corey was in.
This is indeed feasible! Han Shuo immediately spread open his two hands. His fingernails suddenly grew madly long to form the incredibly incisive Demonic Blades that glimmered cold light. With his demonic skill, Han Shuo began to dig into the ice. After boring three meters deep into the ice, Han Shuo finally saw the foundational support of the frozen mountain – rocks.
Han Shuo issued his command to metal elite zombie. Once he understood the command, golden lights radiated from his palm. Metal yuan energy steeped into the rocks like flowing water. Afterwards, under Han Shuo’s attentive gaze, the hard, solid rock split open, creating a pathway.
As Han Shuo gazed at the tunnel produced, he couldn’t help but lament in his heart how truly useful the five elite zombies had been to him, even without taking their strengths into consideration.
Following his sense of Corey’s location, with the assistance of metal elite zombie, from halfway up the mountain, Han Shuo unhurriedly headed towards the mountain summit where Ice Celestial Corey was located.
The metal elite zombie himself could freely go in and out in rocks, as though he were swimming in water. But now, having to take Han Shuo along, metal elite zombie had no choice but to open up a tunnel. Using some methods that Han Shuo could not understand, while metal elite zombie’s palms discharged brilliant golden rays, the hard rock was split up, recombined, and tamped to build a path growing upwards.
As metal elite zombie’s palms glowed golden, the tunnel didn’t seem in the slightest bit dark. While he followed behind metal elite zombie up an inclined pathway, he considered the particulars on mounting a sneak attack on Ice Celestial Corey.
All of a sudden, the metal elite zombie stopped. Caught off guard, Han Shuo almost bumped into metal elite zombie.
They had walked just a few hundred meters. There was still a long way up the frozen mountain summit where Corey was. Why would metal elite zombie suddenly stop?
Han Shuo was puzzled. Looking at the back of metal elite zombie, Han Shuo didn’t hesitate to transmit, “Why did you stop?’
“Father, look!” metal elite zombie leaned to one side. The rocks around him pulled back a little, making enough space for Han Shuo and metal elite zombie to stand shoulder to shoulder.
Han Shuo strode over to the empty spot that metal elite zombie specifically let out, and cast his sight following the upward direction that metal elite zombie pointed to with his right hand. He was immediately dumbstruck by what he saw.
In front of Han Shuo was a big chamber made by hollowing out the mountain rocks. There stood a magnificent, approximately sixty meter tall statue of the Ice Goddess, within the emptied insides of the mountain.
This grand, gargantuan statue of the Ice Goddess was made of ice as polished as perfect crystals. The carving was vivid and lifelike. She wore an expression as cold as ice, with her left hand holding firmly onto a crystal staff also carved from ice, appearing as though she was fighting against some wicked demon. Her look was solemn and dignified, giving off a sacred feeling of inviolability.
The Ice Goddess statue was dressed in a unusual striped robe. But as the entire graven image was made of the same block of solid ice, Han Shuo could clearly see her body interiors.
Inside the body of the carving, there were no internal organs, but a mixture of iced water and some peculiar substances was circulating within. It glistened like diamond as it slowly flowed through her body in some kind of strange pattern.
However, in the lower abdomen of the statue of the Ice Goddess where the uterus should have been, stood a fully-naked, beautiful young lady with jade-like skin. Her eyes were serenely shut, and emanated not an iota of the presence of life. She possessed such beauty that could give the Saintess of the Church of Light a run for her money – so perfect it seemed impossible that it could exist in this world!
Han Shuo stood below the statue. When he raised his head to look at this majestic carving of the Ice Goddess, a feeling of insignificance surfaced from the bottom of his heart. He was momentarily awestruck by this Ice Goddess statue in the center of the mountain that appeared out of nowhere.
The only certainty was that this statue had been carved from just one massive chunk of ice. There must have been a justification for the Shrine of Ice to hollow out the insides of the mountain and place in it such an enormous statue of the Ice Goddess. After Han Shuo came to his senses, he was shocked to the core, his eyes glittering.
The naked young lady situated in the womb of the Ice Goddess statue was ice cold and without any trace of life. Han Shuo’s consciousness also could not detect any soul fluctuation. No matter how, he could not understand why there would be such an odd scene in the interior of this mountain.
While Han Shuo was still perplexed and pondering, rasping sounds suddenly came from the rock wall above the statue. WIth Han Shuo watching attentively, a huge platform slowly protruded from the wall. A few disciples of the Shrine of Ice stood on the platform.
At the first rasping noise that sounded, Han Shuo instinctively stepped backward and hastily sent a command to metal elite zombie. Metal elite zombie made one sweep with his hand. The passageway opening in front of him rapidly shrunk. By the time the rock platform above the statue fully extended, the passageway before Han Shuo and metal elite zombie had shrunken to just one small fissure remaining.