Book Chapter 15: Trekking
As the cracking sound became more frequent, Xin Zhou Lun became more cautious. He walked in front to scout, and even if the ice walls were to collapse, as long as he noticed it he would be safe. Blocking the collapsed ice walls was not a big problem with his strength.
Hong!
An ice block the length of three meters fell and was shattered by Xin Zhou Lun, but immediately after another ice block fell.
Everyone rushed to block, XinFeng raised his shield as well, shattering the ice block falling towards their heads.
Quickly, they abandoned the collapsing path they were on, turning onto another route. They set off again and sighed in relief after the falling ice blocks stopped. Unless it was a mountain’s worth of ice blocks, they wouldn’t be in danger, but even so, without putting up a defense, even normal ice blocks can injure them.
Hong!
The route collapsed again, instantly blocking the road forwards. Thankfully, they were all practitioners, while the natives were not bad themselves either. Unhesitantly, they stepped onto the shattered ice blocks as they moved forwards.
From afar, pleas for help could be heard.
Xin Zhou Lun shouted, “Quickly move forwards!”
XinFeng knew that they had to quickly move away from the shouts, who knew what those people met with. Despite their strength and fearlessness to everything, they still wanted to avoid troubles.
The group understood this, and when Xin Zhou Lun asked them to hurry, no one objected and instead walked faster. Some even leapt forwards. Feng Ying and Shi Hu walked in front and being XinFeng, protecting him. Though they couldn’t fly here, if they were to meet with a big fracture opening up the ground, they would fly over instead of falling.
Connected by rope, even if one of the seven were sucked into the relentless winds, they could be pulled down by the others.
The seven of them were slightly awkward in the beginning, but now they were all in sync. If someone were to see them from above they would notice how the seven if them were a like a centipede sliding across the ground in sync at a fast speed.
Crashing sound could be heard from afar as they felt a tremor beneath their feet. Xin Zhou Lun could not help but curse as he led the group down another turn, cracking sounds appearing every direction, making their scalps go numb. This was their instinctual fear, an involuntarily response.
Swiftly leaving, the sounds faded gradually, leaving only the howls of the wind and the sounds of the snowflakes slashing the ice.
After walking about ten kilometers, Xin Zhou Lun signaled for them so stop, “There’s a huge ice ravine here, let’s rest for a while.”
Entering the crack in the wall, their surroundings instantly quieted down, the whistling sounds were not as ear-piercing anymore.
Avoiding the bone piercing cold winds, everyone felt slightly better.
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “Eat a bit before leaving, it’s a pity we don’t have hot soup to drink, it’s too cold.”
With even Xin Zhou Lun complaining about the cold, it was evident to see how low the temperature here was.
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “How far left till we’ve crossed?”
Chu Tou spoke, “We ended up walking a longer route but we will cross soon.”
XinFeng spoke, “Good, this is my first time experiencing such cold weather.” even the coldest times in Tiger Cliff Castle were not this scary, not even a first ringed true master could survive here for long.
They had no choice but to rest for fifteen minutes, as it was too dangerous, they needed to walk through it without wasting time. Fifteen minutes was enough for them to eat a bit, and XinFeng also ate two fist sized meat balls, but that bit of meat could only sate his hunger, it was far from being filling.
Actually, XinFeng knew a way of recharging strength, eating sweets. But sweets were rare in this world, they were hard to find. Most of them were made of honey, which appeared in many places and in all kinds of varieties.
Coning out from the ravine, they set off again, obviously feeling better with food in their stomachs. Their bodies alone were not enough to stave off the cold, they had to use their Lun Yin Li or Yin Li to survive, therefore, they had to replenish their energy.
It was strange how Chui Tou found the correct paths, in this journey, XinFeng had already lost his sense to direction not even knowing how to get back. If it wasn’t for someone leading the path, he would’ve been lost a long time ago, and going missing here meant certain death, even if you were ninth ringed.
This was also why natives could live here. Despite having strong bodies, they could be killed by outsiders, but with their capabilities as living maps, the outsiders could only rely on them.
They madly sped along again, sweating despite the cold weather.
Finally, Chui Tou celebrated, “Haha, we can to get out soon…..ai, we almost got lost….” this sentence made everyone’s hair stand, if this fellow were to get lost, they would all be doomed.
They quickly entered a large ice crack, and following the ravine, they met with a wall, there was no more path.
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “Are we walking from above? Or below?”
Chui Tou spoke, “We can’t walk up there, the snowstorm is too big, we’ll walk from below.”
Xin Zhou Lun spoke, “Found it yet?”
After discussing, Chui Tou and Kuang Fu led them further down along the ice walls.
And in a while, Chui Tou found a smooth ice wall, and with a gentle knock, he nodded, “We’re here.”
Kuang Fu spoke, “Let me.”
Stepping backwards, Chui Tou spoke, “Move back a bit.”
Taking off the rope, Kuang Fu rose his huge axe, and with a last check, he suddenly waved his axe, a golden glow appearing on it in an instant as it crashed against the ice wall accompanied by Kuang Fu’s shout.
After a chop, Kuang Fu retreated as well.
Hong!
The wall cracked open, revealing a cave entrance. Kuang Fu spoke, “Alright, it’s open! Enter quickly.”
XinFeng found this ice wall strange, the crack Kuang Fu’s axe formed was quickly disappearing, and in a few minutes, this cave entrance would most likely disappear completely.
With Chui Tou in front, the crowd entered the cave.
This was a small opening, but inside it was quite large, and thanks to the ice walls, light was able to enter slightly illuminating the dark cave. XinFeng shockingly noticed that this cave entrance seemed to be man made, as the ice on the ground was like a ladder leading downwards, a very proportionate ladder.
XinFeng asked, “Did you guys make this?”
Chui Tou replied, “Not completely.”
Xin Zhou Lun answered, “Its half natural and half made, this cave is owned by the natives, outsiders can’t find them. If you don’t believe me, look at the entrance, it should be closed by now.”
Turning back, XinFeng noticed that the hole was indeed gone.
The temperature here was very comfortable, the moment they entered, everyone sighed in comfort. even with fur covering their mouths and noses in the cold weather, the low temperature still managed to strongly trigger their noses, forcing them to breath slowly to accustom themselves to the cold.
Taking off the hat, XinFeng sighed deeply, “Ai, I can finally breathe comfortably, will we be resting here?”
Xin Zhou Lun laughed, “We’re planning to stay here for a while, at least a night. Hehe, this is the first true resting point through the glacier. You’ll understand as we walk even more. ”
This underground path was very long, and after a full twenty minutes did they come to an open icy hall with icicles hanging downwards. The hall was very large, about three hundred square meters. In the hall, they could see a stone fireplace still containing bits of charcoal ashes and a few pieces of tattered beast furs.
Feng Ying laughed, “Alright, we can light a fire. I didn’t expect a fireplace to be here, hehe, I wonder who left it.”
Chui Tou laughed, “My tribesmen left this……that……..” His eyes turned to XinFeng.
XinFeng laughed, “Don’t look at me, there’ll be food!”
Chui Tou and Kuang fu both revealed satisfied smiles.
After walking through cold weather, eating a warm meal and a large bowl of warm soup was absolutely heavenly.
XinFeng didn’t use charcoal, but instead used oil wood. Oil wood could burn for very long, and three sticks of oil wood was enough to boil a large pot of water, it was very good fuel. After supplementing some charcoal, they had enough for a warm meal and fire.
Chowder was already XinFeng’s best dish, it was simple, convenient, practical, easy to cook and delicious as well.
The temperature in the icy hall was higher than the temperature outside, and as the oil wood in the fireplace started the burn, everyone took off their fur coats.
As he cooked, XinFeng asked, “Where will we go tomorrow?”
Xin Zhou Lun replied, “We still need to go through an ice mountain……only then will we arrive. Hehe, if there isn’t any accidents, the two day trip will be fast……”
XinFeng nodded, “Is it that mine you mentioned last time?”
Xin Zhou Lun laughed bitterly, “I don’t have a choice, I planned on waiting for a bit but the situation feels strange, I can’t help but feel unsettled and started to fear. You must know that this material is rather rare and only appeares in this area, if I lose this chance, it’ll be hard to find another.”
XinFeng asked, “Can’t it be bought?”