Bitter Realm: Otherworldly Gods and Demons

Chapter 209 Above the Peak

Teng Xie held it in his hand, feeling its slight chill. This place was like a natural, extremely cold formation. The environment of the Seventh Peak was already filled with extremely cold spiritual energy. Ordinary martial artists here would be like continuously battling with an expert with an ice-attribute cultivation technique. Once their internal energy was exhausted, they would be frozen into an icicle.

In Teng Xie's perception, hundreds of feet away in the snow and ice, there was an old icicle that had been frozen for who knows how many years. It must have been an unlucky fellow who came to explore Aofeng at some unknown time.

The eighth peak, the ninth peak—when Tengxie reached the tenth peak, he discovered that the extremely cold spiritual energy here had become so dense that it condensed into wind and snow. This was equivalent to the ultimate move unleashed by a master who had cultivated the art of freezing.

However, Teng Xie did not use his internal energy to resist the cold at this time; he used other methods instead.

A purple crystal floated in his palm; it was the crystal of ice and fire he had refined using the Haotian Cauldron.

He used a purple crystal as the array's core to set up a miniature array, and manipulated the array to continuously draw in extremely cold spiritual energy, injecting it into the crystal to ignite the ice and fire flames. He then transformed the ice and fire flames into fire-attribute spiritual energy, released it, and then merged it with the surrounding extremely cold spiritual energy.

Within a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of Tengxie, the environment becomes warm and spring-like.

The eleventh peak.

—I didn't expect this place to have so many popsicles. Is this some kind of cold drink wholesale market?

In Tengxie's perception, there were more old popsicles of all shapes and sizes scattered around the eleventh peak than there were in the seventh to tenth peaks combined. However, these old popsicles did not seem to have frozen solid, but rather were frozen after being killed. Their cause of death was not that their bodies were destroyed by the extreme cold spiritual energy, but rather that they were killed by sword techniques.

"—Very exquisite, or rather, very vicious, sword techniques, and two or three out of ten of them were sneak attacks from behind. It must have been done by that scumbag from my memory, right?"

After walking for a while, Tengxie saw several thatched huts by the mountain path ahead, with lights on inside, and two people with profound spiritual energy.

"What a wondrous cultivation body! The extreme cold spiritual energy of Aofeng is to these two what lightning is to Panlu Kuangxi, and Liu Huo Canglong is to Wuming. Is this what it means to be born with an extreme cold body?"

A moment later, when Teng Xie arrived near the courtyard, the two people inside had already come out. One was a calm and deep-seated middle-aged man, and the other was a handsome young man full of spirit.

The boy looked at Teng Xie strangely. He had seen strangers arrive at the Eleventh Peak before, but he had never seen Teng Xie so relaxed and without a speck of snow on him.

The boy's eyes were filled with curiosity, and he was about to ask a question when the middle-aged man beside him gave him a deep look and asked in a low voice, "Do you intend to continue on your way?"

Teng Xie smiled slightly. "Indeed, I am Teng Xielang. I didn't expect there to be people living here. May I ask how you two are addressed?"

"My name is Leng Shuangcheng, and this is my son, Leng Zui."

Teng Xie nodded to the two men, his mind flooded with memories of them. Then, Leng Shuangcheng continued, "Your methods are truly remarkable; you must be capable of reaching the thirteenth peak. However, there is a very dangerous person there, and the legends surrounding him are nothing but ethereal smoke. May I ask what brings you here?"

I've come to collect some Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Mystic Ice, which is the kind of ice that can be found everywhere on the Thirteenth Peak. Although it's common on the Proud Peak, it's eternally unmelting, fire cannot melt it, and swords and blades cannot damage it, making it an excellent material for refining weapons.

"Ah, I see, so that's how it is—"

Teng Xie's answer was clearly unexpected by Leng Shuangcheng, but after looking at Teng Xie's methods, he felt that it was very reasonable. This person was a master of formations and weapon crafting, so it was not surprising that he came here to find materials.

But the Thirteen Peaks of Aofeng belong to the Leng family. The secrets of Aofeng, everything about Aofeng, must not be touched by outsiders.

A surge of malice rose in Leng Shuangcheng's heart, but he perfectly concealed it, saying warmly, "The road beyond Aofeng is rugged, and the snowstorm is fierce. How about I lead the way for you?"

"Are you trying to make popsicles again?" — Leng Shuangcheng thought he had hidden his malice well, but just like Liu Huo Canglong thought he had successfully deceived Su Huanzhen, all his mental fluctuations were completely visible to Teng Xie.

"Ah, how could I trouble you, senior?"

"It's alright, please come with me. Zui'er, I'll be right back."

"Yes, Father."

Leng Zui was actually very curious about Xie, but he was a very obedient child. When Leng Shuangcheng spoke, he had no choice but to stay home obediently.

Then.

Leng Shuangcheng led the way for Teng Xie, seemingly casually asking, "Someone came to Aofeng before, saying they were looking for some kind of Three Religions Spirit Jade. Did you hear about it when you traveled the martial world?"

"I've heard that a master of the Spirit Jade resides on Aofeng Peak? Isn't that you and your son?"

"No, that person is at the entrance to the Thirteen Peaks and doesn't allow anyone to go up. That person is extremely dangerous, so you should be careful."

Danger? Is there any danger from your malice? — Teng Xie suddenly remembered that the master of the Spirit Jade in Wind Blade Valley had killed Xiao Fengchen without saying a word.

In his memory, after the spirit jade entered his body, its host had the ability to distinguish between good and evil. If it was a dark creature such as a demon, evil spirit, ghost, or monster, the spirit jade's owner could identify it at a glance.

We should be careful then; Xiao Er's swordsmanship is extremely powerful.

Before long, Leng Shuangcheng had brought Teng Xie to the twelfth peak. He suddenly felt that the energy around him was not right. He turned his head and saw Teng Xie shrink the range of the protective formation. He put one hand into the extreme cold wind and snow, gathered strands of icy blue energy, and quickly condensed an ice crystal. He then injected strands of true essence into the ice crystal, and the ice crystal began to show dense and intricate patterns at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This person can actually forge weapons with his bare hands like this?

Leng Shuangcheng frowned inwardly, feeling that he had underestimated the other party's abilities—should he take advantage of his distraction now and kill him directly?

Leng Shuangcheng's evil thoughts arose again, but he quickly suppressed them—the more profound this person's abilities, the more likely he would clash with Xiao Zhongjian, and the more opportunities he would have to kill two birds with one stone.

A moment later, the ice crystal in Teng Xie's hand flashed with light and transformed into a stream of ice, flowing into Teng Xie's palm.

"That's it?" Leng Shuangcheng couldn't help but ask, "What is Your Excellency doing?"

Oh, I'm testing the level of cold air here, and it's indeed incredibly powerful. I'm even more excited about the Eternal Mystic Ice now.

Hmph, if I let you get even a shard of ice, I'll change my name—Leng Shuangcheng's malice rose and then suppressed, still thinking he had concealed it well.

Little did he know that, in Teng Xie's perception, his mental energy fluctuations had become so ugly as to be distorted.

"Please be careful, sir."

Before long, the two reached the highest point of the Twelve Peaks. They saw that there were even higher peaks ahead, and on the rocky platform beside the mountain path sat a person dressed in black with a hood, playing a long flute that produced a sound even more desolate than the wind and snow.

Teng Xie stepped forward, but Leng Shuangcheng stopped in his tracks. He saw the man put down his long flute, and the surrounding wind and snow suddenly became even more biting.