Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 496 Frozen City
Lu Xingzhou was caught in a strange experience.

He felt as if he had become one of the particles within the ice layer, moving at high speed within it, and all he could observe was the thick ice layer.

Even though he had already been "particle-ified," he could still clearly feel the sensation of Dugu Qingli pulling his ankle, and he didn't know whether he was human or ice.

He received a link from Dugu Qingli that connected to his water bones. It was because he possessed this half of the water element that he was able to melt ice.

Dugu Qingli probably can't just bring anyone along; she can only bring those with water or ice attributes, which happens to be herself.

This experience gave Lu Xingzhou a completely new perspective on his mastery of the water element, as if it had been deconstructed.

It's like... coming into close contact with the laws and hearing the "divine pronouncements of Heaven".

Unfortunately, before we could figure out the reason, we arrived at our destination.

There seemed to be a barrier in front of them, preventing them from crossing.

Lu Xingzhou immediately realized that beyond the boundary membrane lay a vast secret realm, and the earthquake was caused by the continuous rise of this realm. If they could circle around to the other side of the secret realm, they should be able to see that the ice layer below had completely shattered.

Judging from the distance above, it should have collapsed after arching upwards for a while longer, so this is just the right time.

Seeing that Dugu Qingli seemed to have no way to deal with the boundary membrane, Lu Xingzhou transmitted his thoughts: "Search around the boundary membrane. Based on experience, the space below is very chaotic, and the boundary membrane is not stable. There is a high possibility that there are spatial rifts that you can crawl into."

As I was talking, I suddenly thought of the origin of the illegal immigrants from the ancient world, and that's probably how it happened.

Without a word, Dugu Qingli led him around the boundary membrane, like two flies searching for an egg in a crack.

The secret realm was vast, and the two wandered around for an unknown amount of time before finally touching a slightly cracked spot.

With a "whoosh," the world spun around them, and the two of them fell inside.

Dugu Qingli descended, holding Lu Xingzhou's ankle as if she were holding a parachute.

Having finally entered a normal space, Lu Xingzhou was finally able to speak: "Can you let go?"

Dugu Qingli released her hand in disgust.

As soon as I let go, a biting frost assaulted me, the cold even more intense than above. It felt as if the moisture on my skin froze instantly, and in the blink of an eye, my body was covered in frost. This affected the internal moisture and blood, and without treatment, I would soon become an ice statue.

Lu Xingzhou was secretly alarmed, but fortunately, he was half fire elemental. He silently circulated his cultivation technique to dispel the cold and managed to endure it.

Turning his head, he saw Dugu Qingli, who seemed completely unaffected.

"This is outrageous." Lu Xingzhou's voice trembled slightly as he spoke: "This extreme cold feels like being under some kind of forbidden spell at all times."

Dugu Qingli slowly said, "This is not the ultimate. You can't stay at the true ultimate. There is no forbidden spell this weak."

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

The two had landed on solid ground, which was still icy, but unlike the empty space above, it was now a city with buildings, streets, and trees and flowers along the streets.

The buildings and plants were all frozen, and at first glance it looked like an ice sculpture. But upon closer inspection, it was not; it was just normal houses and trees frozen in thick ice.

At first glance, it looks beautiful, but upon closer inspection, it's terrifying.

There were also human figures of various shapes on the streets, and some people were even walking their dogs. It was as if you were walking down the street when suddenly the entire city was frozen, everything inside was frozen, and all life was frozen in that moment, forever frozen in place.

Lu Xingzhou recalled the Pompeii ruins he had seen in his previous life, which were very similar to this one. There was a young man who had guided a tube, and the moment was frozen in time, forming the hymn to life, "I Will Guide Even After I Die".

For example, at this moment, Lu Xingzhou peeked out and saw a couple kissing behind a tree. The man's hand was inside the woman's clothes, and this moment was frozen in time.

Dugu Qingli approached, speechless: "Your first reaction is to look at this?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "I heard that being frozen might preserve one's life?"

Dugu Qingli shook her head: "That possibility is very low. They were all frozen to death without any sign of life."

Lu Xingzhou was silent for a moment: "I feel a little... sad. They were living a good life."

Dugu Qingli remained silent and did not respond.

Lu Xingzhou gave her a strange look.

Dugu Qingli slowly said, "I don't have many of these emotions. But thankfully, I'm not completely devoid of them. At least after hearing what you said, I can feel something. So, am I a born demon? Even more cold-blooded than you, a disciple of the demonic path?"

“Not at all. I didn’t feel anything when I heard stories like this before, and I even wanted to laugh. It’s just that seeing it in person is a different feeling. You’re naturally emotionally detached, which is normal.” Lu Xingzhou smiled. “Besides, since you felt something after hearing me tell it, that’s quite human.”

Dugu Qingli remained expressionless: "What do you mean by anthropomorphism?"

Lu Xingzhou ignored this and said, "Besides, I'm no longer a follower of the demonic path. I'm living a very happy life now, so naturally I'm much more soft-hearted."

Dugu Qingli wanted to say, "Since you're so happy, why do you still want to seduce me? Why are people so insatiable?" But she didn't say it. Instead, she said with a straight face, "Aren't you going to set up an array? Go and survey the array nodes, and while you're at it, study the reasons why this city was frozen."

Lu Xingzhou looked up at the hazy sky and felt a headache coming on.

When surveying the nodes of a formation, the first step is to determine their location. In such places, if you lose your sense of direction and can't tell which way is which, it's very difficult to make a judgment.

Moreover, their divine senses cannot be fully developed, and they are greatly restricted by the icy environment.

Dugu Qingli pulled out a compass: "Whether in Hanchuan or overseas... this thing is useful. I mean, you've studied divination and qi analysis, how come you don't even have this basic tool?"

"Because I really don't study divination, it's your motherly master who insists that I memorize some basic knowledge."

"Now you've become my mom-like mentor, not your darling Lan anymore?"

Lu Xingzhou: "...In fact, most of the time, she still only admits that she is called Ye Zhuoyu, or even Yuan Muyu."

"And on a smaller scale?"

That is, when you're being coaxed into admitting in bed that you are Ye Tinglan, the Holy Master of Tianyao, then there's no point in talking to you about that. Lu Xingzhou simply said, "Besides, the person I'm betrothed to is also named Ye Zhuoyu, not Ye Tinglan, so theoretically, I'm really not your grandmaster."

Dugu Qingli looked at him expressionlessly. "You still want to distance yourself from this relationship, don't you? Everyone knows what Lord Lu is thinking."

"Ahem." Lu Xingzhou coughed lightly, took the compass and surveyed it for a moment, then headed north: "Let's go, let's first see where the ruler of this city is located, it's usually in the north."

As soon as the two left, the eyes of the ice people, who had been judged to be "lifeless," suddenly began to flash red.

Inside the house, the ice figure lying on the bed slowly sat up with a series of clicks.

Before long, even the cats' and dogs' eyes began to turn red.

Some powerful beings have already drawn their weapons.

However, they truly have no signs of life to this day.

Lu Xingzhou and Dugu Qingli flew north. The city was really big, like a royal city. Sure enough, they soon saw a frozen royal palace.

As the two landed in the palace, they both felt a chill as soon as they entered a certain area.

Various bright lights suddenly burst forth from all directions, heading straight for the two of them. Faint net-like lines appeared all around them, as if a net had been cast over the heavens and the earth.

This is an ancient royal city guardian formation. Despite the passage of time and the harshness of winter, it remains intact and undamaged. The moment any external force invades from the air, it immediately triggers the formation's attack.

"Clang!" Dugu Qingli drew her ice sword, its dark blue light slicing through the sky in a crescent shape.

Lu Xingzhou and she stood back to back, purple flames rising and protecting the other half.

As their energies clashed, both of them could feel their backs pressing closer together, meaning that in a normal stance, they were both retreating.

This formation is at the Huiyang level, possibly even reaching the peak of Huiyang, and its power far surpasses theirs. Even with the blessing of the Yin-Yang Rings, Lu Xingzhou couldn't withstand the power of this formation; without the rings, it would likely be even worse.

With just one touch, blood trickled from the corners of their mouths simultaneously, yet they tacitly stood back to back, enduring the pain without flinching. To dodge would mean betraying the other.

With a slight thought, Lu Xingzhou activated the Soul Banner within his ring, and black flames emerged.

"Little Black, go to the northeast corner. There must be some formation stones there. Go and burn them."

Black Flame shot straight towards the northeast.

Formations are troublesome if someone is in charge of them, but if no one is in charge, they are just inanimate objects; you can simply destroy the base of the formation.

With no living creatures in the palace, there was naturally no one to manage it. Black Flame moved swiftly, instantly reaching the location indicated by Lu Xingzhou's divine sense, where it found a strangely carved array stone, its patterns shimmering with a ghostly blue light. Black Flame didn't bother to examine the patterns' purpose and simply burned it.

"Clang!" Dugu Qingli cleaved the sword beam coming from the right with her sword, her blood and qi were thrown into chaos, and another sword beam silently attacked her left rib.

Dugu Qingli's blue eyes were calm and distant. The sword light, which had no physical form, actually froze into ice inch by inch, and stopped when it reached her ribs.

Just then, the formation broke, and the attack vanished. Dugu Qingli breathed a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat exhausted. Just as she was relaxing, Lu Xingzhou suddenly arched his back against her. Caught off guard, Dugu Qingli stumbled forward several steps.

As Dugu Qingli staggered, she turned her head in astonishment and saw flames rising silently from the ground where she had been standing, much like Lu Xingzhou's black flames.

Lu Xingzhou was very familiar with this attack method and noticed it. He subconsciously pushed Dugu Qingli away, but he himself was completely engulfed by the flames.

Dugu Qingli was still stumbling forward, staring blankly at Lu Xingzhou being engulfed by flames. She felt that her staggering steps were a bit slow, and the flames were also a bit slow.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm fine." Lu Xingzhou's ring deployed a protective shield, which burned away, then his outer garment was also burned. The remaining few flames burned the inner Dragon Subduing Armor, leaving it completely undamaged without even a char.

Lu Xingzhou, who was already prepared, took out a set of clothes from his ring and changed into them, grinning: "I have to say, seeing fire under this ice feels so comforting."

(End of this chapter)