Chapter 327: Ice Flame Killing Formation
While Yu Nianzhen was still refining his first two treasures, Jiang Yue broke through to the second level of the origin tempering realm.
After stabilising his realm, he opened his eyes and looked at his Taoist companion.
’He has just begun to refine the thunder essence crystal and heavenly gentle soil. It will be a while before he can break through.’ He thought and sighed.
"Azhen, I will be waiting for you outside." He muttered and stepped out of the bathing pool.
Soon after, he dried his clothes, left the room, and descended to the first level of the ancient palace.
"Brother Jiang, you are finally out." Xuan Ke said when he saw Jiang Yue.
"Brother Xuan, congratulations on breaking through to the second level."
"You have also broken through, congratulations. What about Brother Yu?"
"He took some time to refine one of the treasures we found in the soul beasts’ forest. He won’t be out in a short while."
"Is that so..."
"When did you come out of seclusion?"
"Half a year ago." Xuan Ke said and his voice was full of grievances.
Although he broke through earlier, he couldn’t leave the ancient palace because neither Yu Nianzhen nor Jiang Yue was there to let him out.
"We will be more careful next time." Jiang Yue said and touched his nose in embarrassment.
"Let’s go out." Xuan Ke didn’t insist on blaming his brothers.
In fact, staying in the ancient palace wasn’t a waste of time.
In the half year he was stuck inside, he stabilised his realm and refined a lot of lightning liquid.
His cultivation had quickly increased and he was already at the mid-stage of the second level.
With a little effort, he would soon reach the peak of the second level.
At that time, he would only need to refine another origin treasure to break through to the third level of the origin tempering realm.
"Good." Jiang Yue said and pulled Xuan Ke out of the ancient palace.
"Brother Xuan, Brother Jiang." Li Futian called when he saw them.
"We are out." Xuan Ke answered.
"Both of you did well." Yang Xu said and nodded.
"Are we still in the ice cave?" Jiang Yue asked as he looked around.
"The ice cave is bigger and more difficult than we expected." Bing Lan said and sighed.
"Ayue, it’s good that you are out." Yang Xu said and Jiang Yue looked at him in question.
"There is a formation in our way." Li Futian explained.
"Formation? Is it a natural formation?"
"It isn’t."
"How can there be a formation in this kind of place?" Xuan Ke wondered.
"It’s not impossible." Yang Xu said and explained.
"It’s likely that someone found an immature treasure during a previous opening of the secret realm. They likely planned to come back for it or let their descendants find it."
"It’s not uncommon for cultivators to do this." Bing Lan said.
"Let me see what I can do." Jiang Yue said and began to investigate the formation.
Two hours later, he finished his examination and sighed.
"What did you find?" Xuan Ke asked.
"This is a level five ice flame-killing formation." He informed.
"Level five? Only origin-tempering realm cultivators can enter the Nine Treasures secret realm. Is it possible for a cultivator of our level to arrange a level five formation?"
"That’s not necessarily true. Higher realm cultivators can suppress their realm to enter the secret realm. Arranging formations requires more soul power than qi. With sufficient soul power, even an origin forging realm cultivator can arrange a level five formation." Jiang Yue explained.
"Brother Jiang, can you break the formation?"
"I can. Give me some time and I should be able to break it."
If it were before he entered the soul beasts’ forest, Jiang Yue wouldn’t dare to deal with a level five killing formation.
However, his foray into the soul beasts’ forest helped him nurture a soul flame and his soul power had increased a lot.
With his soul power at the peak of the fifth level, Jiang Yue didn’t worry that he didn’t have enough soul power to deal with the formation.
His only worry was that his formation mastery hadn’t kept up with his soul power.
"I need to study for the next short while." He said.
"Good. You can return to the ancient palace to improve yourself." Yang Xu instructed.
"Okay."
After that, Jiang Yue returned to the ancient palace while the others continued to explore the outside of the ice flame killing formation.
One year later, he came out again.
In the time he was away, he managed to urge his formation mastery to the fifth level.
Under normal circumstances, it was impossible to improve from the third level to the fifth level in one year.
However, Jiang Yue had two advantages.
The first advantage was his powerful soul. With a fifth level soul, understanding third and fourth level formations was very easy.
Jiang Yue only took three months to perfect his understanding of third and fourth level formations while the remaining time was spent on fifth level formations.
Aside from the powerful soul, Jiang Yue had the formation inheritance hidden in the white jade void tiger bone.
The inheritance was comprehensive and he didn’t have to slowly grope his way when learning.
"Brother Jiang is a man among men." Xuan Ke flattered when Jiang Yue came out.
"You don’t have to flatter me." Jiang Yue said and threw something at his brother.
"What is this?"
"It is a jade pendant. I made it."
"What is it for?"
"It should allow us to enter the ice flame killing formation without triggering the formation." Jiang Yue explained and gave the others a copy.
"This is a good idea." Yang Xu nodded.
In the time they spent exploring the area, Yang Xu was always uneasy.
He didn’t know whether the person who set up the formation would come to retrieve the hidden treasure.
Now that Jiang Yue had come up with a method to enter the formation, Yang Xu was at ease.
If the formation wasn’t destroyed, it could serve as a defence when they entered the hidden area.
"Although we have the jade pendants, we can’t enter from any random place. I will find a loophole first." Jiang Yue said and activated his illusion eyes.
"Wait." Bing Lan suddenly said.
"What’s the matter?" Yang Xu asked his wife.
"We haven’t decided how to share the spoils."
"Brother Xuan and I came later; we don’t need too much from the spoils."
"That won’t do." Bing Lan didn’t agree.
She knew Jiang Yue was being considerate but she didn’t want to take more than she deserved.
"Although we found and cleared the way, we wouldn’t be able to enter so easily without Ayue. I think Ayue should have the first pick of what we find inside. The rest can be shared according to contribution."
"Mistress, you have an ice origin. You should have the first pick." Jiang Yue refused.
"If you get something I want, I will find a way to trade with you." Bing Lan insisted and Jiang Yue couldn’t keep refusing.
"I don’t have a problem with senior Bing’s suggestion." Li Futian said and Xuan Ke nodded.
"Let’s do it this way." Yang Xu said.
With a sigh, Jiang Yue turned to the formation and his illusion eyes soon found a loophole.
"We can enter from here." He said and pointed to a place on the formation.
"We understand." Everyone said and Jiang Yue activated his jade pendant.
Soon after, he stepped into the formation and the others followed.
"It’s so cold." Xuan Ke shivered and frowned.
"The temperature is several times lower than outside." Yang Xu said.
Although his innate cultivation was higher, he still felt cold.
The cold was the kind of chill that pierced the bones and froze the marrow.
"We can’t stay here for too long." Jiang Yue said through chattering teeth.
"Where should we go?" Xuan Ke wondered.
Inside the formation, everything was white ice.
There was nothing to indicate where they should go to find the treasure and they didn’t dare to walk randomly.
"The coldest place is that way. Let’s head there." Bing Lan pointed to the North and Jiang Yue secretly agreed.
His treasure compass was also indicating that way which showed the greatest treasure was in the North.
"Let’s hope we won’t freeze before we get there." Xuan Ke complained but still followed.
"Imagine what would happen if the formation activated while we were inside." Jiang Yue said and everyone shuddered.
Even Bing Lan, who had an ice origin, found it difficult to endure the extreme cold.
If the formation activated, they would all die without a doubt.
"Don’t say unlucky things." Xuan Ke said and glared at his brother.
"I am just saying." Jiang Yue stuck out his tongue and didn’t continue with the topic.
Unfortunately, not speaking about it didn’t make any difference in the grand scheme of things.
