Evan Yang walked onward, curiosity in his heart. His pace was neither fast nor slow, relying entirely on multiple strands of divine sense to judge whether the path ahead had any protrusions.
After about three days, Evan's divine sense finally detected something—namely, the Ice Palace. At this moment, the place was shrouded in white mist, making it difficult to see inside. So Evan had to rely on Thousand‑Mile Echo to judge what was happening within.
He kept listening as he hurried ahead.
Evan had visited the Ice Palace once before, but back then it was ordinary and nothing seemed unusual. Now, things were different—heavy mist filled the interior. If he could see clearly, Evan would notice that it had grown several times larger than before.
At this moment, even if ten thousand people gathered inside, it would be no problem. Currently, there were quite a few people inside—twenty-six humans in total.
Each batch allowed five entrants, which meant twenty-five people, but Lana Situ had dashed in at the last moment, so there were twenty-six.
At the moment, Lana Situ was together with her master, but their situation was dire—they were surrounded by dozens of fierce snow beasts.
"Now look at where we are. I told you not to come," Lana's master sighed, gazing at her beloved disciple.
"Master, this was my choice. No matter what, it's a form of tempering for me. I don't want to grow up forever under your protection," Lana Situ bit her lip and said.
"That kind of talk is fine outside, but here, they're all snow beasts. They're not human—they won't care about sentiment. They might even eat you, let alone give you a chance to temper yourself." Lana's master shook her head at Lana's recklessness.
Lana Situ still refused to back down, biting her lip and saying, "No matter what, I'll follow Master."
"Forget it, let's deal with this first," Lana's master sighed, then began attacking the surrounding snow beasts.
Some of the snow beasts were weak, others strong. Lana Situ joined in, slaying them alongside her master.
But these snow beasts seemed endless—no matter how many they killed, more kept coming.
Everyone else faced the same situation, desperately fending off the snow beasts. They prayed the next batch would arrive soon, so they'd have more hands and less pressure. The earliest entrants were already covered in wounds, some taking turns to rest in the middle while others fought.
These snow beasts were simply sent by the powerful beast factions to hinder the humans, while the leaders fought over a corpse in a corner of the Ice Palace.
Six humanoid snow beasts glared at each other. In front of them, a corpse held a box in its hands.
That box contained the power they all desired.
"I want this power. Don't fight me for it," one snow beast said to the others.
"Hmph, it appeared here, so it belongs to all of us snow beasts. Why should you get it? We'll see if you have the strength!" another retorted, and the others looked on, unwilling to concede.
"Here, I'm the strongest. With this, maybe I can break through to Spirit-Wandering and lead the snow beasts to conquer the outside—wouldn't that be easy?" The snow beast tried one last time to persuade the others.
Each snow beast here had already reached peak Spirit-Wandering, their strength nearly equal. If anything, their treasures differed. No one feared the snow beast who spoke—they all wanted to share the box.
Sharing meant dividing the power six ways, which none of them wanted, but there was no other choice—they refused to yield to each other.
So the standoff continued, their subordinates fighting fiercely. When the humans noticed, the beast underlings banded together to attack them.
The twenty-six humans desperately resisted the snow beasts, while the six main beasts didn't attack, knowing that whoever struck first risked being ambushed by the others.
But the allure of power made the snow beasts anxious.
The twenty-six humans struggled nearby, wanting to intervene but unable. All they could do was pray the six beasts kept fighting; if any one beast obtained the power, unpredictable consequences would follow. So they kept praying and fighting the endless snow beasts around them.
Lana Situ hadn't reached Spirit-Wandering, so her spiritual power depleted faster than the experts. After days of fighting, she was now exhausted.
Her master encountered a powerful mid-stage Spirit-Wandering snow beast and could no longer protect Lana Situ. With a helpless sigh, she said, "I told you not to come, now look."
"Master, I don't regret it," Lana Situ said, gritting her teeth, even as she was forced back by several Core-Forming snow beasts.