After passing through the inner gates, Feng Fan and his group entered a vast chamber where nearly a hundred cultivators were scattered throughout the space.
Without exception, every single one of them had reached the peak of the Golden Core Formation realm.
"How did these weaklings make it here alive?" a muscular, bearded man scoffed, eyeing Feng Fan’s group with disdain.
"Why does it matter, Hao Chen? Their presence has nothing to do with you," another man replied indifferently. "What’s important is that we’re almost at the required number to proceed."
Hao Chen shot the speaker, Liu Boqin, a look of contempt. "Hmph. Liu Boqin, you’d do well to keep your mouth shut unless you want me to crush you."
Liu Boqin remained silent, simply closing his eyes as if uninterested in further conversation.
’A required number of people?’ Feng Fan thought, scanning the chamber until his gaze landed on a massive door wrapped in thick ice chains. Above it, a counter displayed a glowing number: 5.
’So we need five more people before the door opens?’
Feng Fan moved a little away from the door and sat on the ground. "Let’s wait."
The others sat close to him.
They didn’t have to wait long. Just a few minutes later, another group arrived, bringing more than enough people to open the gates.
"Isn’t that the Mao Emperor’s seventh son, Mao Rong? I didn’t expect the emperor to send his own child here."
Hearing the name, Mao Shun’s expression darkened. He quickly turned toward the newcomers—a group of seven, led by a young man with an air of arrogance.
Mao Rong locked eyes with Mao Shun and smirked. "Mao Shun, I was looking for you. You really are an idiot for coming here."
The crowd watched with interest, eager to see a battle between Mao Shun’s group and Mao Rong’s. However, no one expected Mao Shun to stand a chance.
Not only was Mao Rong at a higher cultivation level, but he was also a genius cultivating a Heavenly-graded technique.
Before Mao Rong could make a move, a loud rumbling sound echoed through the chamber. The counter above the massive door reached 0, and the thick ice chains slowly unraveled. Moments later, the door creaked open on its own, inviting everyone inside.
Seeing the path clearing and others beginning to enter, Mao Rong gave Mao Shun one last, condescending glance. "Consider yourself lucky, you get to live for a few more hours."
With that, he turned and led his group through the doorway.
"Mao Shun, it looks like your cousin is asking for a beating. Let’s show him later how polite we can be," Feng Fan said with a grin, his eyes fixed on Mao Rong’s back.
Mao Shun smirked. "I think you’re right, Brother Feng."
Without another word, they got up and stepped through the door.
The scene inside the second chamber was chaotic. Ice bears and knights clashed with cultivators, filling the space with the sounds of battle. On the far side of the chamber, ten tunnels stretched into the unknown.
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Each time someone tried to enter a tunnel, the ice creatures would move to block their path. If one destroyed an ice creature, another one would instantly take its place, making it a useless endeavor.
"Which tunnel should we take, Fanfan?" Xue Qiang asked.
Feng Fan activated his spiritual qi vision and examined the tunnels, but he couldn’t detect any difference between them.
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"Any of them will do," he said. "Let’s just make sure we enter together."
Feng Fan took the lead, quickly summoning his trusty brick and using his weapon enlargement technique. "Follow me!"
With the Suppression Relic leading the charge, they sprinted toward the rightmost tunnel. The brick was unstoppable. Every creature in its path met the same fate: total destruction.
Even those that didn’t perish immediately, their cores still intact, took too long to regenerate. By the time they reformed, Feng Fan and his group were already long gone.
After Feng Fan and his group entered the tunnel, the creatures that had been fiercely guarding it suddenly turned back. It was as if they only cared about preventing entry; once someone passed through, they were no longer a concern.
Seeing this, the group slowed their pace, carefully watching for any traps. Feng Fan kept his spiritual qi vision active the entire time but didn’t notice anything unusual.
They continued forward without obstacles until they reached another chamber. They weren’t alone; two other groups had already arrived, standing still and staring at something in the center.
It was Hao Chen’s group and Liu Boqin’s group.
At the heart of the chamber stood a towering figure—a five-meter-tall woman made entirely of ice. She held an ice spear, and a crown sat atop her head, marking her as a queen.
"Those seeking the Frozen Legacy, prove your worth," the queen declared, pointing her spear at Hao Chen’s group, the closest to her.
Her words took everyone by surprise. This was the first time since arriving that a creature had spoken to them!
But while others were stunned, Feng Fan wasn’t paying attention to the queen’s words. His expression darkened as he observed her with his spiritual qi vision.
Thirty cores were fueling her power.
And that wasn’t even the worst part. Half of the cores were inside the ice queen, but the other half were scattered throughout the room, each linked by faint energy threads. It was clear they were responsible for strengthening her.
’We’re screwed,’ he thought.
A vortex formed at the tip of the queen’s spear, pulling in ice spiritual qi at an alarming rate. The sheer force of it shattered the limits of what should be possible for a Golden Core Formation cultivator.
This was clearly the power of the Nascent Soul realm!
A crystal-clear beam shot out from the spear, streaking toward Hao Chen’s group with terrifying speed. Just sensing its power made the hairs on Hao Chen’s neck stand on end.
"Don’t try to block it; run!" he shouted before dashing away as fast as he could to escape the queen’s attack.