One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Zhang Chulan continuously bombarded the swarm of insects trying to climb onto the platform with lightning magic, but the energy expenditure was enormous. His breathing became increasingly heavy, veins bulged on his forehead, and with each release of palm lightning, his face paled a little more.

The insects seemed endless. You kill one batch, and two more swarm in; you kill two batches, and four more swarm in. Their numbers weren't decreasing, but increasing—because more insects were arriving from all directions, as if summoned by some signal.

"We need to find a way to completely solve these problems, or at least find a solution!"

Nie Lingfeng handed Xiaoyun over to Chen Duo.

"I have high hopes for her."

Chen Duo took Xiao Yun and held her tightly in her arms. She retreated to the safest spot in the center of the platform, leaning against Zhang Lingyu, protecting Xiao Yun against her chest. Xiao Yun's little hand stretched out from under the blanket and reached out towards Nie Lingfeng, her mouth opening as if to call "papa," but Chen Duo gently pressed it down.

Nie Lingfeng walked to the edge of the platform.

He looked down at the surging, metallic, and foul-smelling swarm of black insects—the insects churning, writhing, and jostling each other like boiling water. Their carapaces reflected a fluorescent light, forming eerie patches of light that blinked like countless eyes in the darkness.

And further away in the darkness, there were even more, larger shadows, seemingly disturbed by the swarm of insects and beginning to stir—shadows bigger than people, bigger than cows, some even bigger than trucks. They moved slowly in the darkness, their outlines indistinct, but the oppressive feeling could be felt hundreds of meters away.

Their eyes glowed in the darkness—some were red, some were green, and some were yellow—like will-o'-the-wisps flickering in the darkness.

His eyes were cold.

He slowly raised his right hand.

Palms facing upwards.

A chilling aura, far more vast, purer, and colder than Zhang Chulan's lightning magic, began to condense and swirl in his palm.

The chill didn't come from the outside—it surged from within him, like a glacier that had slumbered for millennia awakening. First, a layer of white frost appeared on his palm, then ice crystals, and then an icy blue light. The light grew brighter and colder, so cold that the water vapor in the surrounding air began to condense, forming a swirling, tiny vortex of ice crystals above his palm.

The surrounding temperature dropped rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Zhang Chulan shivered and instinctively wrapped his soaked clothes tighter around himself—not because of the dampness, but because the chill emanating from Nie Lingfeng was too intense, so intense that even he, a practitioner of thunder magic, felt cold. It wasn't a physical cold, but a bone-deep chill that made one tremble from the inside out.

He felt as if he were standing in an ice cellar at tens of degrees below zero, and his breath turned into white mist.

Thin ice began to form on the water's surface at the platform's edge—first a transparent, glass-like sheet, then thickening and turning milky white. The ice spread from the surface into the distance, accompanied by a continuous "crackling" sound.

The insects trying to climb the platform also became sluggish and stiff. Their legs lost their flexibility in the low temperature, first taking one step at a time, then becoming slower and slower, and finally freezing completely, lying motionless on the rock wall, turning into black ice sculptures.

The swarm of insects seemed to sense danger. The previously frantically surging insects suddenly stopped, as if something had pressed a pause button. The rows of insects closest to the platform began to retreat, with the insects behind them crowding forward and then retreating again, forming waves of crimson, chaotic tides.

They hesitated, they were afraid.

But there were too many of them. The insects behind, unaware of what was happening ahead, continued to push forward, pushing those in front onto the platform. Fear and hunger spread simultaneously through the swarm, causing chaos and disorderly turmoil.

"Since we can't kill them all—"

Nie Lingfeng's voice, like ancient ice, echoed through the eerie underground space. Every word seemed to come from the depths of a glacier, cold and devoid of warmth or emotion.

"Then, let's freeze them all."

His right hand suddenly flipped downwards.

Palms down.

It was aimed at the surging black ocean below the platform.

"The Six Secrets of Frostbite: Freezing a Thousand Miles of Ice".

There was no explosion.

There was no roar.

only--

"Click."

A soft sound.

It's like the first ice flower to form on a window in winter.

Then--

An icy blue light exploded from his palm.

The light didn't shoot outwards, but rather rose from Nie Lingfeng's palm like an ice-blue sun, illuminating the space within a radius of tens of meters as if it were daytime! But the light was cold—so cold that if you looked at it, you felt as if your eyeballs were frozen.

The cold air surged out like a tsunami!

Instead of spreading slowly, it swept in all directions instantly, like an explosion! A layer of ice-blue, semi-transparent shockwave, carrying extreme cold, spread simultaneously downwards, forwards, to the left and right, and in every direction, centered on Nie Lingfeng!

Where the shockwave passed—

Time seemed to have been paused.

The insects closest to the cold air froze the moment they came into contact with it. They didn't even have time to struggle or make a sound before their black shells were covered with a layer of white frost. Then their bodies stiffened, they detached from the rock wall, and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

The insects in the distance sensed the danger and began to scatter. But they couldn't outrun the cold air—it spread much faster than they could crawl. Within seconds, the cold air caught up with them from the edge of the platform, freezing them one by one into ice sculptures.

The water was frozen solid—not just a thin layer, but the entire surface, from top to bottom, from the shore to the center of the lake, was frozen into a solid layer of ice. The ice was deep blue and translucent, allowing you to see the frozen insects and air bubbles beneath. The air bubbles, frozen inside the ice, looked like tiny, transparent beads.

The rock face was frozen solid—the once damp, moss- and fungus-covered rock face was now covered with a thick layer of white frost. The moss, frozen into brittle little pieces, peeled off the rock face with a "crackling" sound. The fluorescent light emitted by the fungus became blurred beneath the ice, like looking at a light through frosted glass.

The ground was frozen solid—the once slippery, moss-covered rocky surface had been transformed into a smooth, mirror-like expanse of ice. The ice reflected the glow of fluorescent lights and flashlights, like a giant, shattered mirror.

The entire space, in just a few seconds—

It transformed from a damp and sweltering underground cave into an ice cave.

The temperature plummeted to tens of degrees below zero.

Zhang Chulan exhaled, and his breath instantly turned into a tiny ice crystal in the air, which fell to the ground with a "whoosh." He sneezed loudly, his nose turning bright red from the cold, and his lips turning purple.

"Achoo! Brother Nie...you're going too far...that's ridiculous..."

His teeth were chattering as he spoke, making a "clattering" sound. It wasn't because he was scared, but because it was so cold.

Master Wang Ye shrank his neck and subconsciously moved closer to Zhang Lingyu—Zhang Lingyu had black qi around him, and the black qi was hot, like a small furnace. He rubbed his hands together; they were already numb from the cold.

"Brother Nie... could you please give me a heads-up before using this move next time? My meager skills were almost 'frozen' by you..."

Chen Duo wrapped Xiao Yun's blanket tighter, making the little girl look like a round ball. Xiao Yun's face was buried in her arms, with only a small section of her hair showing. Chen Duo's own lips were white from the cold, and her eyelashes were covered in frost, but she didn't move, just held Xiao Yun tightly.

Bald Bear huddled up in a ball, looking like a frozen bear. He was already injured from the fall, and now he was shivering from the cold, feeling like his blood was about to freeze. His lips were purple, his face was blue, and he looked like a corpse that had been frozen for a long time.

"I'm freezing to death... Are you... are you really human...?"

The entire underground space had turned into a silent ice field.

There was no rustling of insects, no dripping of water, no sound of any living creature. Only the occasional "crack"—the faint sound of ice continuing to freeze and expand.

On the ice, thousands upon thousands of insects were frozen together.

They remained in their final poses before death—some were crawling, six legs outstretched; some were raising their heads, mouthparts pointing upwards; some were tearing at each other, locked in a fierce struggle. They were like sculptures frozen in time, each one lifelike, yet each one already devoid of life.

The scene was both eerie and spectacular.

"Safe...for now."

Nie Lingfeng withdrew his hand, his tone remaining calm, as if the earth-shattering ice seal just now was merely an ordinary breath.

However, his face was also slightly pale. This move, "Freezing a Thousand Miles," was quite energy-consuming, especially in this underground environment where the air had a high moisture content, and condensing it into ice required even more Qi.

He took a deep breath, his internal energy circulating, quickly restoring his depleted strength.

"Let's go."

He turned toward the tunnel that led deeper into the cave, one that wasn't covered by ice—a tunnel just outside the reach of the cold, as if deliberately protected by something.

"This is the path they should take."

He took a step forward and led the way.

Feng Baobao, Zhang Lingyu, Wang Ye, Chen Duo, and Zhang Chulan followed in turn. Bald Bear was being dragged by Zhang Chulan—not on his back, but pulled along, as Zhang Chulan pulled on his still-intact leg, gliding across the ice like a sled.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch—!" Bald Bear screamed in agony.

"Bear with it! Who told you to break your leg! This is to save you effort!" Zhang Chulan said irritably.

The group disappeared into the darkness deep within the tunnel.

The ice field behind us emitted a faint blue glow under the light of fireflies and flashlights.

Countless ice sculptures of insects stood silently on the ice, like a silent warning.

And in the darkness further away—deeper than the frozen swarms of insects—those enormous, shadowy figures were still moving slowly.

They did not come close.

Perhaps they are hesitating. Perhaps they are waiting.

Maybe--

They knew that this ice cover wouldn't last long.

Meanwhile, the prey continued to venture deeper.

Venture deep into their territory.