Above the mage!

Chapter 636 Ancient Seal
Gao De and Sunaifa walked to the edge of the pit together and leaned down to look down.

The pit had now become a bottomless vertical shaft.

The bottom rock wall was covered with a thick layer of white frost, and cold air was rising continuously from the bottom of the pit.

Deep in the pit, by the faint light remaining above, a pointed outline could be vaguely seen, gleaming with a faint blue light in the darkness.

The outline was not an irregular jagged edge of gravel, but rather carried a sense of regular sharpness.

The top appears to be a polygonal facet, refracting scattered points of light in the dim environment.

"A gem!" Flora looked down as well, offering her own judgment.

“There are very few gems this big, Lady Flora,” Sunefa said earnestly to Flora.

"We'll find out once we go down and take a look," Gao De had already decided.

He flew towards the bottom of the pit first, with Sunefa following closely behind.

Flora flapped her little wings, wanting to follow, but Sunefa stopped her with her Mage Hand.

"We'll have to trouble Lady Flora to cover our retreat." Sunefa said seriously, facing Flora's questioning gaze.

Flora was conflicted, but the sense of responsibility of being entrusted with such an important task overcame her curiosity.

"Okay, I'll leave it to Lady Flora," the little figure replied, sounding slightly "sad."

Seeing this, Gao De couldn't help but chuckle – Sunefa had also completely mastered Flora's user manual.

What Sunaf did was exactly what God wanted to do.

Although it doesn't seem like anything at the moment, it is still an unknown entity and there are potential dangers.

Children should stay away from danger.

The two then flew down into the pit and soon reached the bottom.

The space at the bottom of the pit was narrower than that at the top, and the pointed outline that glowed with blue light was now clearly visible to the two of them.

It was a rhombus-shaped top, made up of countless tiny ice crystals, each facet as smooth as a mirror, refracting light.

“It’s like a block of ice, with the aura of pure ice, and it’s so big,” Sunafa said softly, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. “And it should only be the tip of the iceberg.”

"Let's see what this is." Gao De nodded and raised his hand to gather earth-yellow light again.

This time, the spell's range was significantly reduced, making it much more precise.

The light from the "Quick Excavation" tool was like a gentle brush, carefully peeling away the frozen soil and gravel around the top of the rhombus.

He controlled the magic, ensuring that each peeling did not touch its original body.

The surrounding soil was gradually cleared away, and the outline of the ice crystal became clearer.

The surface of the prism is covered with intricate runes, as fine as a spider web.

Most strangely, the runes were not static; pale blue energy flowed slowly between the lines like a living thing, sometimes as bright as stars, sometimes as dim as night.

It exudes an ancient and majestic aura as it flows through the air.

Despite the fact that they were unfamiliar runes he had never seen before, Gao De felt a tremor in his heart.

That sense of familiarity was strange and intense.

It's as if it's a response across time and blood.

Like long-lost brothers who have never met, yet can sense a connection deep in their souls the moment their eyes meet.

Sunafa was also intently examining the runes, her eyes reflecting the flowing blue light.

She stared intently at it for a long time, her fingertips occasionally tracing a subtle magical trajectory, gently touching the energy fluctuations of the rune, only to be repelled the moment they made contact.

Finally, she slowly straightened up, her voice tinged with solemnity: "This is a seal."

"The seal of Zhenbing contains something extraordinary."

As the surrounding soil was completely cleared away by the [rapid excavation], the entire ice crystal prism was finally revealed to the two without any reservations.

It was about the thickness of three people who could hug it, and the cross-section of the ice crystal was a perfect hexagon, extending upwards from the bottom of the pit, which was several meters deep.

The rhomboid top is sharp and fierce, and the column is covered with a thick layer of frost, yet it still cannot hide its crystal clear nature.

The icicles were already quite mysterious, but what shocked the two even more was that through the clear ice, they could clearly see a figure curled up inside the prism.

That was a monster.

This wording might not be quite appropriate.

Judging by its appearance alone, it really doesn't resemble a monster at all; it's more like a cute pet.

It is not particularly tall, and can even be described as quite small, only about fifty or sixty centimeters tall, but it has extremely agile lines and a slightly arched back.

It has a pair of thick, fan-shaped ears with frosty tips standing upright on its head, and a long, fluffy, snow-white tail trailing behind it.

Its limbs are thick and strong, covered with dense short down.

At the corner of its mouth, a fang exactly like the one Flora had dug out was slightly protruding.

This proves that it is the owner of that ice-encased tooth.

What's even more captivating is its pair of vertical pupils that gleam like molten gold.

Even though it was frozen, its pupils still seemed to retain a lively light, revealing a captivating charm.

"What kind of creature is this? Is it still alive?" Gao De's voice was solemn, and a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

He naturally wouldn't let his guard down or underestimate its origin just because it was small and "cute".

What could be sealed by such a peculiar ice pillar be an ordinary beast?

So, what is the origin of this creature, how did it get frozen here, how long has it been frozen, is it still alive, and why are its teeth lost?
A series of questions popped up one after another.

Gaode is trying to explore its status.

However, it was discovered that whether it was magic or mental probing, the moment it touched the surface of the ice pillar, it was as if it had touched an invisible barrier.

His reconnaissance efforts were forcefully blocked.

No matter what method was used, it was like throwing a stone into the sea, completely swallowed and isolated by the power of the ice pillar, without even a trace of feedback.

He could only turn his gaze to Sunefa beside him.

Sunefa shook her head at him, knowing what he was concerned about, and said, "The sealing power of the ice pillar is too strong. It is not a simple condensation of ice elements. Even I cannot probe its state through the ice pillar."

"Is there a way to melt the icicles?" Gao De frowned slightly and asked again.

He couldn't even melt the thin layer of ice covering a tooth, so melting this icicle was absolutely impossible.

So we can only rely on Sunefa.

“I’ll give it a try,” Sunafa said softly, her tone tinged with uncertainty—this was the first time Gaode had ever sensed this emotion in her.

Having said that, she stepped forward and gently pressed her palm onto the ice pillar. Immediately, a powerful and condensed surge of pure ice magic energy emanated from Sunafa's palm.

A layer of silvery-blue light overflowed from her palm, like flowing moonlight, slowly covering the surface of the ice pillar.

Wherever it passed, the frost on the ice seemed to melt slightly, only to refreeze in an instant, even thicker than before.

Sunefair's method of melting is not as brutal and direct as the fire melting method used by God.

Her method is closer to using her extreme control over ice elements to forcibly dispel the ice elements in the ice pillars, thereby achieving the so-called "ice turning into water".

This is a technique that can only be used when one has reached the pinnacle of understanding the ice element; it is far more subtle and powerful than melting with fire.

The light grew brighter and brighter where her palm touched the icicle.

The condensed power of the Pure Ice was like a rushing river, continuously flowing into the ice pillar, attempting to dismantle its structure.

The runes beneath the ice seemed to sense the threat, and the flowing pale blue energy suddenly accelerated, becoming violent.

The runes themselves began to glow, and streaks of blue light spread out from inside the ice pillar, colliding fiercely with Sunefa's True Ice magic on the surface of the ice pillar.

hum!
A deep hum echoed through the underground space.

The collision of the two forces generated an invisible shockwave that shook the surrounding rubble.

Sunafa's face turned somewhat pale, but the magic power in her palm did not weaken at all; on the contrary, it became even more concentrated.

Under her control, a portion of the ice on the surface of the icicle began to show signs of melting.

Fine water droplets slid down the icicles, dripping onto the ground with a crisp sound.

However, just when Sunefa thought she could further break the seal, the runes inside the ice pillar suddenly burst out with a dazzling blue light, and the pale blue energy surged back like a tsunami.

Sunafa felt a tremendous force coming from her palm, as if she had been hit by an iceberg.

The water droplets that had just melted were instantly refreezed upon contact with the counterattack of ice elemental energy, and even formed a thicker and more solid layer of ice on the surface of the ice pillar.

The ice elements that had just been dispelled not only instantly filled the gap, but also became even more violent and concentrated.

Sunafa took a deep breath, a hint of shock flashing in her eyes.

She could clearly sense that the sealing power of this ice pillar was not fixed, but rather possessed extremely strong self-healing and counter-attack capabilities.

The more ice elements she dispels, the more the seal draws from the surrounding environment.

The icicles still stand silently in the deep pit, as clear and translucent as a flawless sapphire.

The pale blue aura surrounding it grew softer, yet also more majestic.

Sunefa's attack was merely a gentle breeze across the lake, vanishing without a trace before leaving even a ripple.
For the first time, Sunafa felt a sense of powerlessness.

She slowly withdrew her hand from the icicle and shook her head at Gao De: "No... the power of this seal is too strong. With my current abilities, I cannot break it."

Upon hearing Sunefa's words, Gao De felt a chill run down his spine.

Sunefair is currently the strongest Iceborn mage in the North, yet he is still helpless against the ice pillar before him.

One can only imagine the terrifying power that the being who created this ice pillar possessed.

Even more alarming is that, judging from the thick layer of age marks on the surface of the ice pillar and the geological changes in the surrounding rock layers, this ice pillar has existed for at least a thousand years, and possibly even longer.

Over such a long period of time, ordinary magical seals have long since lost much of their power or even disappeared completely due to the erosion of time.

Yet the sealing power of this ice pillar remains so immense and so condensed.

It seems that time has not weakened it, but rather made it stronger with the passage of time.

The level of power behind this is beyond Gaode's comprehension.

Gao De remained silent, his brows furrowed, his gaze fixed on the ice crystal prism before him.

Through the clear ice, the tiny figure huddled inside could be clearly seen.

Therefore, the "neutral" result given by [Divination+] should be considered a successful divination, rather than a failure of the divination.

More than half an hour has passed since the icicle was dug out, and neither good news nor any hidden danger has occurred. Even the icicle itself remains as still as ever, without the slightest movement.

This precisely confirms the divination result: the act of digging itself will indeed not bring any good or bad within half an hour.

At this moment, a more pressing question occupied Gaode's thoughts:

The appearance of this icicle and this sealed unknown creature—is it a blessing or a curse for him and for Phoenix?
However, this question cannot be answered by [Divination+], because [Divination] can only predict the immediate fortune or misfortune of an action within half an hour.

Clearly, the icicle will not change in the next half hour.

Therefore, since there is no way to cheat with magic, one can only decide for oneself how to deal with the ice pillar and the monster inside.

"What do you think?" Gao De asked Sunafa.

There are now only two paths.

If one believes that this icicle is an ominous object, and that the creature inside harbors a monstrous calamity.

Then, while it remains completely still, use all your strength to throw it into a remote, uninhabited place, the farther away from the northern border the better, to eliminate any future trouble.

Alternatively, it could be carefully stored away and taken back to a secret room in Phoenix for safekeeping.

We'll explore its true nature when it naturally unseals itself in the future, or when Sunefa's strength advances further and he's confident he can break the seal.

These two paths are: one is the safe approach of eliminating the problem completely, and the other is the risky approach that leaves room for maneuver.

The former can completely avoid potential risks, but may miss unknown opportunities.

The latter retains infinite possibilities, but it's also like having a bomb planted nearby that could explode at any time.

When asked by Gaode Maps, Sunafa fell into a long silence.

She raised her hand and touched the surface of the ice pillar. The cold and powerful sealing power still emanated from her fingertips, and the energy flowing through the runes was terrifyingly stable.

“This icicle must have come from an Iceborn mage,” she said softly.

Therefore, this is most likely related to the ancient history of the Iceborn, and may even be related to the decline of the Iceborn bloodline.

This prevented Sunefa from making the more "rational" and "prudent" decision.

After thinking it over for a long time, a strange light suddenly flashed in her eyes. She looked at Gao De and made a suggestion that even Gao De hadn't thought of: "I think we can consult Lady Flora's opinion."

Gao De was slightly taken aback, then burst into laughter.

Upon closer examination, this seemingly absurd suggestion turns out to be the most reliable option at present.

There is too little information to analyze the pros and cons.

In this situation, one can only rely on intuition to make a judgment.

In terms of intuition, Flora, with her innate ability to perceive good and evil and the purity of her natural heart, is actually better able to make choices that lead to good fortune and avoid misfortune.

(End of this chapter)