Douluo Continent: I can overdraft the future in advance

After sorting through all the harvest, Luo Yun didn't rush to leave.

The underground space was much smoother than he had expected, and the ice crystals on the cave walls reflected a faint blue light under the lamp. He carried the lamp and slowly walked around the space, beginning to observe the cave.

He squatted down and touched the ice surface. His fingertips felt cold, but the ice layer had a uniform and fine texture, without the messy cracks and bubbles that natural ice has.

The ground in a natural ice cave shouldn't be like this; it feels like ice created by soul power.

He continued walking along the wall.

After walking about twenty steps, a strange sound came from the ice beneath my feet.

Luo Yun paused for a moment.

He looked down at the ice beneath his feet. The light from the lamp illuminated it, revealing nothing unusual. The ice was thick, uniform in color, and showed no signs of cracks. He hesitated for a moment, then took the next step.

The ice shattered the moment my foot touched it.

Luo Yun's body plummeted downwards, and the feeling of weightlessness instantly enveloped him. He instinctively reached out to grab the ice wall beside him, but the ice wall was too smooth to hold on to. His fingertips left a few shallow marks on the ice surface, and he fell into the darkness.

"grass--"

Before he could utter the last word, his back slammed into the ice.

It felt like an ice track, with my body sliding down the ice at breakneck speed, so fast that I couldn't stop. It was winding and bumping into things, leaving me feeling dizzy and disoriented.

I don't know how long I glided, maybe a few dozen breaths. After losing my sense of time in the darkness, every second became incredibly long.

Finally, the slide came to an end.

He was thrown out of the exit, arced through the air, and crashed heavily to the ground.

"boom--"

The muffled thud echoed in the empty space for several seconds before dissipating. Luo Yun lay on the ground, his body feeling like it was falling apart; his shoulders, back, and knees ached. After catching his breath, he slowly sat up, supporting himself on the ground, and reached down to touch the ground beneath him.

ice.

He rubbed his sore shoulder on the smooth, flat ice surface and cursed, "What kind of hellhole is this...?"

As he spoke, he took out a spare lamp from his storage bracelet and infused it with his soul power.

The moment the lights came on, Luo Yun froze.

Four or five meters in front of him was a bird's head.

An enormous bird's head.

Its head was taller than his entire body, covered entirely in ice-blue feathers, each feather gleaming with a metallic sheen. Its beak was long and sharp, slightly parted. Its eyes were half-closed, eyelids drooping to reveal a sliver of deep blue pupils—those pupils were devoid of luster, like two shattered gems, reduced to dull fragments.

Luo Yun's blood seemed to be frozen.

He stood frozen in place, motionless, even his breath stopped. Only one thought raced through his mind—this was enormous! What level of soul beast was this? Ten thousand years old? A hundred thousand years old?

It’s over.

This was the second thought that flashed through his mind. The far north was indeed a forbidden zone for humans; he, a mere three-ring Soul Master, had come here and wasn't even good enough to fill the teeth of a Soul Beast of this level. Was this place the Spirit Treasure Sable had brought him to a blessed land or a graveyard?

He waited a long time.

The giant bird remained motionless.

Luo Yun's breathing gradually returned to normal. He stared at the huge bird's head, observing it carefully for a while—the feathers were dull, the eyelids drooped and motionless, and there were fine cracks on the edge of the beak, like dry keratin cracking at low temperatures.

died?

He dared not let his guard down, remaining seated rigidly, but slowly increasing the spiritual energy output of the lamp. The light grew brighter and brighter, its halo spreading outwards, illuminating a larger area.

Then he was completely shocked.

More than one.

As the light shone, one after another, the corpses of giant birds came into view. Some lay on the ground, their necks twisted, their wings drooping limply at their sides; some had their wings spread, as if they were still trying to fly before they died; some stood against the wall, their heads bowed, their beaks pressed against their chests. Each corpse remained in a dead posture, without any sign of struggle, as if something had taken their lives in an instant, leaving them no time to even fall.

One, two, three, four... Luo Yun counted, there were seven bodies in total.

No, eight. There's one more in the corner, lying on its side with its wings folded at its sides, almost blending into the ice surface; you wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely.

Eight giant birds. Each one was three or four times his height, with a wingspan of at least ten meters. Their feathers were of different colors, some as deep as ink, some as light as white, and some as icy blue with a hint of purple, but without exception, they were all incredibly magnificent. Even though they had been dead for countless years, their feathers still retained their luster, reflecting dreamlike colors under the light.

Ice Phoenix.

The name popped into Luo Yun's mind. Such a magnificent giant bird, if it had a name, would surely be an Ice Phoenix, and it also matched the image of the phoenix in the book.

Luo Yun slowly stood up, his legs still a little weak. He held up the lamp and slowly looked around—this was not a cave, but a palace.

The dome is towering, estimated to be over twenty meters high. It is not a natural ice layer, but an archway built from huge blocks of ice. In the very center of the dome is a circular recess, inlaid with something, but it is now covered by ice and its original appearance is no longer visible.

On the surrounding walls, there are octagonal icicles standing at intervals; these are definitely not naturally formed.

Luo Yun stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by the corpses of eight ice phoenixes, each remaining motionless in its dead posture.

It's more like a temple.

No one knows how many years they have existed, who built them, or how these ice phoenixes died.

His gaze fell on the corpse of the ice phoenix in the very center.

That phoenix was larger than the others, at least a third larger, with a wingspan of about fifteen meters. It sat on a slightly raised ice platform in the very center of the hall, its head held high, beak pointing skyward, as if uttering its final cry before death. Its feathers were the most vibrant in color, best matching people's concept of blue, and shimmered with a dazzling luster under the lights.

Something was glowing beneath it.

Luo Yun took a few steps closer, squatted down, and moved the light closer.

It is an egg.

The egg was about half his height, ice-blue in color, and covered with fine cracks, each crack gleaming with a dim blue light. The eggshell was dull and gray, like an old object that had been sealed away for many years.

Luo Yun stretched out his hand, hovering above the eggshell, but did not touch it.

There was no temperature. No sign of life. No fluctuation of soul power.

He hesitated for a moment, but still placed his hand on it.

It was icy cold. Not the warm coolness one would expect from a living creature, but the same deathly cold as the surrounding ice. He gently tapped the eggshell, producing a dull "thump-thump" sound, not the crisp sound of a hollow egg, but the muffled sound of something still inside.

He tried to move it.

It was heavy, but he could move it. He held the egg in both hands and lifted it up with force. The egg left the ice platform with a slight "click"—the eggshell seemed to have developed a few more cracks.

Although the eggshell was cracked all over, it was not completely broken, and when I moved it, I could feel liquid moving inside, as if there was still egg liquid inside.

Luo Yun stood in front of the egg, countless thoughts racing through his mind.

How did these ice phoenixes die? They were all killed in an instant, without any sign of struggle, as if simultaneously obliterated by some force. What power could do such a thing? A ferocious beast? A god? Who built this temple? Why was it built deep underground in the far north?