"Are you kidding me? This rock is as hard as those stones inside a spatial black hole. How's anyone supposed to survive this?" Evan Chu grumbled in frustration.
To break through a rock this tough, I'd have to use Earth Severance. But Earth Severance is way too powerful—I'm afraid if I use it, it'll trigger an avalanche, and then things will get messy. If that happens, finding the cave entrance will be even harder.
Just as he was hesitating, Young Lord Soaring Feather called out, "Hurry up, will you? I'm about to freeze to death here! Why are you wasting time smashing this rock?"
Evan Chu shot Young Lord Soaring Feather a glare. "The cave entrance is right behind this rock, but it's insanely tough. If I use a powerful martial skill, I might trigger an avalanche and bury you alive—then I'd have to go digging for you all over the place. But if I use a normal skill, there's no way I can break through. It's seriously annoying!"
"Are you seriously that dense? Why don't you just move the rock? Even if it weighs tens of thousands of pounds, are you telling me you can't budge it with your cultivation?" Young Lord Soaring Feather retorted instantly.
Evan Chu thought it over and realized the guy had a point. He decided to give it a try—even though the rock was massive, his Demon-Breaking Fist was pretty domineering, so he should be able to shift it.
He immediately circulated his Chaos Dragon Force and unleashed the seventh form of Demon-Breaking Fist. To his surprise, this move made his palm glow faintly gold—a phenomenon he'd never experienced before.
"Boom!" With a deafening crash, Evan's punch whipped up a gust of wind and sent countless snowflakes swirling through the icy air.
But the ice boulder in front of him didn't budge—not even a crack showed. Evan was genuinely stunned. The rock was huge, but with his current attack power, he should've been able to blast it several meters away with a single punch. He couldn't help but feel something was off.
But before he could investigate, a thunderous rumble erupted overhead. Evan's heart jumped—he instantly grabbed Young Lord Soaring Feather and teleported them both into the air.
His original spot was instantly buried under a mountain of snow, and countless snowballs started tumbling down from above with terrifying force. If he'd reacted any slower, he might've been buried alive by the avalanche.
He never expected a single punch to trigger an avalanche. Evan Chu felt like crying but had no tears—after all this, wouldn't the cave entrance be buried under even more snow? Getting inside just got a whole lot harder.
Actually, Evan could've entered the cave easily—he just needed to use Earthshift. But if the Freewind Palace Lord and Serena Dream arrived, they wouldn't be able to get in. He had to break open the entrance for the two of them.
Young Lord Soaring Feather shivered nonstop in midair, clearly unable to handle the cold. But Evan noticed something odd: the spot where the rock had been was barely covered in snow, and even stranger, the three massive ice boulders had vanished.
He realized the avalanche must've swept the boulders away. His own punch hadn't moved them an inch, but one avalanche made them disappear without a trace. That was the overwhelming power of nature—definitely not something human strength could compare to.
Still, Evan was puzzled. The rocks were at the foot of the mountain, so how could the avalanche have swept them away? But when he saw a two-meter-wide cave entrance appear before him, he stopped worrying about it.
He grabbed Young Lord Soaring Feather and landed right at the mouth of the cave. A fierce gust kept blowing out from inside, making Young Lord Soaring Feather shiver even harder.
The cave wasn't all that dim. Evan carried Young Lord Soaring Feather inside and walked slowly forward. The deeper they went, the wider the tunnel grew—and the colder it got. Evan barely felt it, but Young Lord Soaring Feather was clearly suffering.
Evan focused his gaze and scanned the surroundings, spotting plenty of stalactites—not real stone, but ice. Some areas even had ice pillars, just like he'd seen before, and inside the pillars were embedded Ice Crystals.
Evan wasn't impressed by the Ice Crystals anymore. He kept going deeper, and after walking another hundred meters or so, Young Lord Soaring Feather said, "Evan Chu, I... I can't take it anymore. Please... just let me down!"
"Hang in there. I'm looking for the cold pool. Once I find it, I'll put you down. This place may be freezing, but it's your only shot at survival. You have to tough it out—Freewind Palace needs you for its future. Don't croak here, or I'll really lose all respect for you!" Evan Chu said.
Young Lord Soaring Feather didn't reply, but his eyes were full of anger. Evan kept carrying him deeper into the cave.
Every so often, a burst of Coldflame would shoot out inside the cave. Evan dodged them with ease—he wasn't afraid of the chill, but Young Lord Soaring Feather was another story. If he froze to death before they reached the cold pool, all of Evan's effort would be wasted.
After several dozen more meters, Evan stopped. Even he could feel the cold now—without activating Watershift, he'd have to shield himself with Chaos Dragon Force just to endure it. By this point, Young Lord Soaring Feather was already covered in a thick layer of ice.
Finally, the cold pool appeared before him. But what really shocked Evan was that plants were growing in it—lotuses, some in full bloom. Normally, lotuses are pink or white, but here in the cold pool, there were several different colors. The sight made Evan almost delirious with excitement.
A name flashed through his mind—Sacred Snow Lotus. He never imagined he’d find Sacred Snow Lotus here; wasn’t it said they only grew on the Divine Battlefield? Why did the Azure Tide Ruins have them too? It was truly bizarre.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Evan had to get Young Lord Soaring Feather into the cold pool and let the freezing water seal his meridians with ice. Only then could he save him.
With that thought, Evan instantly activated Watershift and fully merged with the icy qi. The cold vanished from his senses—Watershift’s magic was truly unbelievable.
He then placed Young Lord Soaring Feather into the cold pool. Instantly, his body was frozen into an ice statue—and not just any ice, but ultra-hard Mystic Ice.
But Evan pressed his palm to the young lord’s chest, clearing his mind and slowly channeling the wood element from his dragon-mutated bloodline into his body to keep him alive. Otherwise, in such brutal cold, surviving would be impossible…