Just as Evan Chu was about to leave, a dazzling light suddenly flashed nearby. He looked closely and was instantly startled—a massive ice pillar, nearly five meters wide and ten meters tall, stood silently in the distance.
"Damn! What a huge ice pillar—this thing is ridiculously big!" Evan couldn't help but yell.
This ice pillar was obviously much larger than any of the others. Just imagining the size of the Ice Crystal inside made his heart race, but the Coldflame sealed within was bound to be even more terrifying.
"Macy, do you see that? There's a real monster over here. Once we get the Ice Crystal out of this pillar, we can leave." Evan grinned at the Violet Thunder Fox.
The Violet Thunder Fox had also noticed the massive ice pillar and spoke anxiously, "Evan, I think we should just forget it. This pillar is so huge—breaking it open will be incredibly tough. Let's just go."
Evan chuckled, "Relax. With a pillar this big, the Ice Crystal inside might even be an Iceflame Crystal. There's no way I'm passing up this chance. Just stay far back—there's bound to be some vicious Coldflame in there, and I don't want you getting hurt." His intent was clear: he was determined to claim the Ice Crystal inside that giant pillar.
Macy didn’t know what else to say. After spending these last few days together, she’d come to understand Evan’s temperament—once he set his mind on something, no amount of persuasion would ever change it.
"Just be careful, then. That Coldflame is definitely no joke—don’t get yourself hurt." Macy said helplessly, then quickly moved aside.
At this moment, Evan was about twenty meters away from the giant ice pillar—a safe enough distance for using Heart-Sword, though he had no idea how fierce the Coldflame inside might be.
To be safe, he retreated another five meters, then began to channel his Heart-Sword technique.
The Frostbane Sword shot rapidly toward the ice pillar, thunderous explosions echoing across the summit and reverberating in all directions.
After the first strike, Evan saw that only a tiny chunk of ice had fallen off the pillar—it was like a drop in the ocean, but this was exactly what he’d expected.
Even the smaller pillars took several attacks to break; with a monster this size, it’d take dozens or even a hundred strikes to succeed, and by then his Chaos Qi would be nearly drained.
Evan kept unleashing Heart-Sword again and again, and after about twenty attacks, a crack nearly a meter long finally appeared on the giant ice pillar.
“Hell! This thing’s tough as nails. I was starting to think you’d never break. Nearly twenty attacks and I’m burning through my reserves here,” Evan grumbled.
Off in the distance, Macy worried every time Evan struck. The Coldflame inside this huge pillar was sure to be fierce, and who knew—a Coldtide might even erupt. If that happened, it’d be a disaster for the whole group.
As time ticked by, Evan realized that if he kept this up, he’d be finished before the pillar was. Half his Chaos Qi was already gone.
"This isn’t working. I need to recover some Chaos Qi first. If something unexpected happens and I’m out of Chaos Qi, I might not even know how I died," Evan thought to himself.
Macy saw Evan suddenly stop attacking and asked curiously, "Evan, why’d you stop? Are you giving up?"
"Let’s go back. Looks like you’re almost at your limit too," Evan said.
"You’re really giving up on that Ice Crystal?" Macy was a bit skeptical—knowing Evan’s personality, he’d never quit without a good reason.
"Who said I’m giving up? I’m just taking a break for now, restoring my stellar power. This is exhausting—my mind’s nearly shot," Evan laughed. He saw no need to hide anything from Macy.
"Evan, you need to think carefully. This pillar is massive, and it could easily trigger a Coldtide. Do you even know what Coldtide is? It’s even worse than Coldflame," Macy said anxiously.
"Coldtide? That bad? Never heard of it!"
Macy was speechless for a moment—Evan could really be shameless sometimes—but she explained, "Coldtide is like a rising tide: it can instantly freeze everything around into solid ice, dropping the temperature in a flash. Once you’re frozen, there’s basically no way out. All these ice pillars you see were formed that way."
There’s no fixed pattern for when Coldtide erupts; sometimes it happens once or twice a year, and other times a century can pass without a single event.
But there’s always one big trigger: if too much Coldflame is released at once, or if it’s released from a huge pillar, Coldtide is likely to erupt. You’ve already unleashed a lot of Coldflame, and if you break open this giant pillar, you could easily set it off.
Evan was stunned—he hadn’t imagined something like this could happen. Coldflame was terrifying enough, and now there was Coldtide too. Was the world just out to kill him?
"Macy, how do you know all this? Are you hiding something from me?" Evan asked immediately.
"It’s all in my memories. I’ve had this knowledge since I was born—it’s probably part of my inheritance," Macy replied, noticing Evan’s expression had finally started to waver.
"Let’s head back! This isn’t a place to linger—we need to get Jenny out of here as soon as possible," Evan said, quickly turning to leave.
Soon, Evan and Macy’s figures appeared before Jenny Sima. "Look, Evan and Macy are back!" Jenny said happily.
"Something’s off with the boss—look at his furrowed brow. Did something happen?" Goldwing asked worriedly.
"No idea. We’ll ask him when he gets here."
When Evan reached them, the first thing he said was, "You all need to leave this place. It could get dangerous soon."
His abrupt warning left Jenny and Goldwing confused. "Why just us? Why not all of us leave together? Evan, what’s going on—I can see you’re worried," Jenny immediately noticed the problem in his words.
Macy was also surprised. Was Evan still planning to go after the Ice Crystal inside that giant pillar? She regretted telling him about it—now what were they supposed to do?
"Evan, don’t you realize how dangerous this is? Just give up! You’ve already got plenty of Ice Crystals," Macy pleaded.
Jenny caught the gist from Macy’s words. "Evan, if we’re leaving, we’re leaving together—don’t even think about abandoning us. If you’re in danger, do you expect us to just stand by? Please, don’t be so stubborn!"
"Jenny, I understand how you feel, but there are things I have to do—there’s no other choice. I hope you can understand me," Evan said firmly. If the Iceflame Crystal was really inside that pillar, he’d pay any price to obtain it, because this was his promise to Roxanne…