Chapter 71: Encounter at the Frozen Cavern
With so many spirits around, Xiao Nanfeng was afraid that he would be exposed, so he didn't attempt to retrieve the Immortal Cicada that was currently stuck underwater in swamp mud. He and the Lady Arclight hid within an earthen pit, covering themselves with soil and stone, so as to avoid detection.
The pit was small and cramped, and the two of them were almost plastered right by each other's side. It was noisy and raucous outside; the screams and yells of unfortunate cultivators could be heard from afar. Within the pit, however, all was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the heartbeats of the two cultivators.
The Lady Arclight was somewhat discomfited. Her body was tense all over. This was the first time she had been in such close contact with a man. However, understanding the situation outside, she remained silent and immobile.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the soil and stone in the pit in which the two of them were located were suddenly uncovered.
The Lady Arclight, somewhat shy, cried out, "How could we have been discovered?"
A huge wolf spirit appeared before them, baring its fangs with a fierce expression on its face.
"A wolf's senses are particularly acute. This wolf spirit must have sensed our scent," Xiao Nanfeng murmured, blanching.
The wolf spirit snarled at them in an earth-shattering howl. The tang of blood seeped out of its mouth, and a gray ball of energy formed within. A wind blade was right about to manifest and strike them both.
Just as they were preparing to escape, a web-like tongue appeared from behind them, instantly enveloping the two cultivators, dragging them back, and encapsulating them within the toad's mouth.
The wolf spirit's wind blade dissipated. It stared fiercely at the toad spirit before itself. These two cultivators should have belonged to it! How could the toad spirit have snatched them away?
The toad spirit stood firmly before the wolf, not afraid of it at all. Another toad spirit hopped up. The two toad spirits stared back at the wolf spirit.
The wolf spirit had only discovered that there were humans within the pit, not that they were the master of the flying sword. Judging that it was no match for the two toad spirits, it gave them a fierce glare before running off in the direction of the fleeing armored cultivators.
The female toad croaked at her male counterpart, who eyed her and gave her a glance.
There were still a lot of spirits all around. Rather than continue chasing the armored cultivators, the two toads hopped toward the swamp at the center of the valley.
By then, the armored cultivators had either fled or been killed. Several of them were fighting over the armored cultivators' carcasses. They eyed the toad spirits without any particular enmity, then rushed out of the valley in search of even more of the armored cultivators.
The two toads eyed each other again, then swam deep into the valley. It was deeper within, and the water level eventually grew enough that their whole bodies were submerged. They continued swimming deeper and deeper, toward a pool.
The pool was particularly deep. The two toads sank toward the bottom, but it took what seemed like an eternity before they got there. Curiously, there was a tunnel at the bottom of the pool that extended even farther into the swamp. As the toads swam through it, they finally arrived at their destination after a prolonged period of time: a white barrier that prevented the water outside from seeping within. The other side of the barrier was covered with fog.
Without any hesitation, the two toad spirits crashed into the barrier—only to pop through it with little resistance. The barrier remained, still impermeable to water.
After entering the space within the barrier, the male toad spirit spat out the contents of its mouth, Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight.
When the two cultivators were initially caught by the toad spirit, Xiao Nanfeng was shocked. He instantly took out the copper spike he had retrieved from the toad spirit's lower back during their first encounter. If it were attacking them, Xiao Nanfeng would be able to defend himself. Fortunately, the toad spirit only held them in its mouth without swallowing them. Xiao Nanfeng sighed and relaxed.
The Lady Arclight had remained motionless all this time, curled up in Xiao Nanfeng's protecting hug until the toad spat them out.
Once the male toad had spat them out, the two toad spirits surrounded Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight, croaking at them in happiness.
Xiao Nanfeng smiled. "Big fellow, we meet again!"
The two toad spirits nodded fervently. They knew that it was Xiao Nanfeng who had saved them back then.
Xiao Nanfeng had completely won over the two toads, and they treated him like one of their own. The Lady Arclight was included in their number as Xiao Nanfeng's companion.
"Where are we?" The Lady Arclight looked all around her.
They were in a huge mountainous cavern, about thirty meters tall and three hundred meters wide. The cave walls were covered in frost, as though they were in an icy cellar. It was unbearably cold. The frost seemed to give off white light, illuminating the area within the cave. On a wall not far away was an entrance to the external world, with an impermeable barrier that prevented water from seeping in.
The most notable object of interest within the cave was a thirty-meter tall frozen dragon's head, which was embedded into one of the cave's inner walls. It was snowy white and gave off a malevolent air.
The dragon's mouth opened wide, and the frosty aura in its mouth formed a ball of sleet about the size of a watermelon. The ball was slowly growing larger.
Before the dragon's maw were three fifteen-meter tall balls of frost, which radiated extreme cold. They seemed to have been spat out by the frozen dragon earlier.
"This frost looks to be yin frost. This dragon's head is actually gathering yin frost and storing it in the form of large spheres? This... should be a formation, if I'm not mistaken." The Lady Arclight looked all around her.
"What sort of formation?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"I'm not sure, but this is certainly unnatural. Look at that dragon head's right eye! The eye socket is empty; this is a single-eyed dragon. There has to be some meaning to this that I can't grasp," the Lady Arclight replied, frowning.
Xiao Nanfeng turned to the two toad spirits. "How did you discover this place?"
The two toad spirits pointed at a corner of the cave. There were marks on the ground that looked as though it belonged to a spirit that frequently cultivated there. Furthermore, on the frost by the wall, there were five humongous palmprints that looked much like the toad spirits'.
"Those palm prints are larger than those of the toad spirits, and the prints can't belong to them! Could it be the frog spirit, then? That Young Master Wei from before did mention that this used to be the territory of a Spiritsong-realm frog spiritbeast, which has gone into the divine domain in search of an opportunity. The other spiritbeasts we encountered outside must be here hoping to see if they can get anything out of it," Xiao Nanfeng guessed.
"In other words, that lake wasn't the frog spirit's true demesne? They found the wrong place, whereas these two toad spirits, who are similar in nature, were able to pinpoint this location?" the Lady Arclight hypothesized.
"If the frog spirit chose to make this place its abode, there must be something unusual about it, mustn't there?" Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the toad spirits, which nodded immediately.
They bounded toward one of the giant frost spheres, fifteen meters tall and snowy white. Its interior couldn't be seen, but Xiao Nanfeng and the Lady Arclight were both certain that there was something valuable about the spheres.
The two toads placed both their palms on the frost sphere. An aura of frost quickly surrounded them, turning their skin sleet-white, as if they had been frozen stiff.
"As expected, this is yin frost! Even these Ascension-realm toad spirits can barely counter it," the Lady Arclight exclaimed.
The toad spirits held firm against the frost and gave it their all as they pushed the sphere forward, the sphere budging a little at a time. After a while, the two toad spirits released the sphere and took a break to wait for the frost to dissipate from their bodies before continuing the push.
"Is yin frost so incredible that it penetrates even their defenses?" Xiao Nanfeng was shocked.
"Of course pure yin qi is strong! Don't touch it. With your current cultivation, even a slight touch might cause you to be frozen solid," the Lady Arclight warned.
Xiao Nanfeng naturally didn't intend to brave such a risk. They watched the two toad spirits slowly push the sphere toward the frog spirit's palmprints, one step at a time, exerting significant energy in order to do so.
Eventually, Xiao Nanfeng discovered that, where the frog spirit's palmprints were located, there was a subtle spike by the wall, three meters long and like the proboscis of a mosquito. Whether it was natural or manmade wasn't obvious.
The sphere rolled into the thin spike. As it did so, it burst apart in a burst of glowing golden light. Countless small golden dragons emerged from within the sphere, straight toward a slit in the spike.
"Draconic aether?!" the Lady Arclight cried out.
The two toad spirits attempted to catch the draconic aether, but they were too late for the initial burst. The leading dragons seemed to be attracted to the spike and immediately shot into the slit, penetrating it and causing the cavern to quake. The majority of the aether escaped through the spike.
"I get it now. This cavern is right underneath that lake, isn't it? The draconic aether that came from that lake was actually from this cavern, when these two toads smashed apart two of these frost spheres?" Xiao Nanfeng murmured to himself.
The two toad spirits grabbed at the draconic aether, managing to seize hundreds of the golden dragons in all. They divided it into fourths, swallowing a portion each and handing the other two to the two cultivators.
The two cultivators could tell that they were attempting to repay the two cultivators with the draconic aether. The draconic aether struggled to free itself, but the two toad spirits sealed them with their qi.
"My thanks!" The Lady Arclight inhaled her portion immediately, swallowing almost two hundred golden dragons. Golden light burst forth from her body as she sat cross-legged and quickly began to meditate and distill the draconic aether.
Xiao Nanfeng emulated her actions, as did the two toad spirits. Golden light brimmed from them all.
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