Li Guanqi pushed himself abruptly to his feet and turned to Xu Junlin. "How much do you know about the Beiming Glaciers?"
Grimacing, Xu Junlin shook his head. "Not much. Even the other sects and clans don't know much about the Beiming Glaciers. That godforsaken place spans an enormous expanse, but it’s covered in freezing glaciers year-round, so cultivators rarely go there. The climate is brutally harsh; even cultivators with ice spiritual roots struggle to adapt. You're going there?"
Li Guanqi offered a wry smile. "I was always planning on going. I only went looking for Qin Wushang first, but he probably ran off to some forbidden ground. I figured I'd ask you instead, and well, here we are."
Xu Junlin furrowed his brows. "That fellow Qin Wushang ran off to a forbidden ground?" But then he couldn't help remarking, "Well, sounds like him. He may look gentle and refined on the outside, but inside, he's arrogant to the bone."
At that thought, Xu Junlin retrieved a pair of ice-blue earrings from his storage ring and handed them to Li Guanqi. "These earrings can ward off ordinary cold poison. You'll be better off wearing them. I don't know why you're going, but if anything happens, don't hesitate to contact me!"
Li Guanqi did not turn down the man's kindness. Taking the earrings, he said softly, "All right. If it really comes to that, remember to send someone to save me."
The corner of Xu Junlin's mouth twitched. "Send someone to save you? It'd take an expert in at least the late Mahayana realm to suppress you."
With that, neither lingered in pointless banter, parting ways cleanly.
Li Guanqi checked his bearings and shot straight toward the Northern Region!
Along the way, Li Guanqi's mind constantly turned over what Meng Wanshu might be facing.
"Find out what's happened to the Xuan family in the Beiming Glaciers for me."
Before long, Yu Hua's voice came through the jade pendant. "Pavilion Master... we've barely set foot in the Ethereal Immortal Domain, and we know nothing at all about the Beiming Glaciers."
Li Guanqi sighed. Outsiders could hardly enter the Ethereal Immortal Domain unless they belonged to this domain, so he could understand.
Putting away the jade pendant, he knew he would have to make the trip alone.
A full half-month passed before Li Guanqi finally reached the border between the Eastern Domain and the Northern Region!
The surrounding temperature plummeted, his breath pluming into clear white mist.
The sight before him was even more astonishing.
Standing atop a high mountain peak, Li Guanqi looked out into the distance, where a vast canyon stretched wide.
Three thousand zhang across it lay an endless expanse of white glaciers!
Beneath the snow-blanketed earth were unyielding glaciers of pale blue, growing darker and deeper the further down they went. Beneath the deep blue, the rock appeared pitch-black.
Winds blew through the great canyon from parts unknown, sweeping howling gales toward the heavens. It was as if a natural barrier of astral wind had formed between the Eastern Domain and the Northern Region!
The cyan astral winds were visible to the naked eye, slicing fine, dense fissures into the surrounding space.
Even Li Guanqi was unnerved by such terrifying force. Without cultivation in the Body Integration Realm, plunging into winds like these meant certain death.
With a calm expression, Li Guanqi took a step and vanished from the mountain peak.
Covered from head to toe in dragon scales, his vitality soaring, he stepped right into the astral winds.
Whoosh!
Riiip!
The sound of his robes shredding rang out immediately. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, raising his hand to draw Red Lotus.
With a casual slash, an extraordinarily terrifying sword light carved a straight path clear through the three-thousand-zhang curtain of astral wind!
Li Guanqi shot right behind the wake of the blade, his feet touching down on the land of the Beiming Glaciers in a flash!
Crunch.
The thick snow underfoot yielded with a soft sound. Snow flurried around him, and the white mist of his breath crystallized into tiny specks of ice midair.
Sensing that the ambient temperature had abruptly dropped several times over, Li Guanqi could not help frowning.
As the primal energy within him surged, he felt a slight sluggishness, and he slowly closed his eyes.
In this realm of heaven and earth, he could sense that water-attributed spiritual energy was extraordinarily active, while the other four elements were virtually nonexistent.
Li Guanqi slowly opened his eyes and put on the earrings Xu Junlin had given him.
Once they were on, he distinctly felt an invisible barrier envelop him.
Shielded by the barrier, Li Guanqi felt significantly less cold.
The biting wind howled, whipping up snow that slashed against his face like sharp daggers.
Looking out across the vast white world of ice and snow, Li Guanqi felt a fleeting sense of his own insignificance. For instance, if he were sealed and suppressed beneath ten thousand zhang of these glaciers, even he would struggle to escape.
"This place really suits Wanshu..."
In the Shenbao Domain, the Meng clan domain was also saturated with active fire spiritual energy—no wonder Meng Wanshu had always disliked the Gu clan domain.
Cultivators with water and ice spiritual roots could display at least twenty percent more power in the Beiming Glaciers than outside!
Ice spiritual root cultivators could even unleash strength far exceeding their actual realm here.
There was no helping it; the geography of the Beiming Glaciers simply complemented them too well.
It was just like him: if he ever found a vast thunder pool, his own might would surely become horrifying as well.
At the moment, Li Guanqi looked around like a headless shadow, having no idea where he even was. Even Xu Junlin knew very little about this place.
Evidently, its unique geography and environment made the Beiming Glaciers the most mysterious place in the Ethereal Immortal Domain.
Without looking back, Li Guanqi flickered forward into the Beiming Glaciers.
He traveled for seven whole days!
Throughout those seven days, he did not encounter a single soul!
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, Li Guanqi cursed under his breath with a scowl, "What kind of godforsaken place is this?! Not a shadow in sight!"
His pace had not been slow over those seven days, yet he had not sensed anyone else's presence at all.
Furthermore, his divine sense was heavily suppressed in this world of ice and snow!
If a weaker cultivator traveled here for an extended period, they would likely succumb to the encroachment of cold poison.
As night fell, Li Guanqi casually hollowed out an ice cave.
Sitting by the cave entrance, he drank wine, still clad only in his thin white brocade robe.
Looking up at the heavens, he found that starlight was surprisingly visible here.
Recalling his time in God Burial Valley, where the sky had remained perpetually gray without distinction between day and night, seeing such a clear night sky had been out of the question.
Suddenly!
Tremors rippled through the glacier beneath his feet. Snow and ice cascaded down the mountain peaks, and shouts drifted to his ears.
Li Guanqi frowned. In this desolate expanse, he had actually detected several unfamiliar presences.
Not only that, there was also the terrifying aura of a rank six great demon.
Roar!
A fearsome roar tore through the air, followed by a succession of violent explosions.
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up, and he vanished from the ice cave in a flash.
Chapter 1103