Chapter 28: Cold Wind and Ice Ants

Although Qu Yi was guided secretly by the Instrumental Deity, he could not teleport while flying in the Gale Zone. In the Illusion Zone, he had to fly within folded space. Even in the Spirit Suppression Zone, though he always moved in the correct direction, he still couldn’t teleport and could only fly.

Thus, relying on his early-stage Tribulation-crossing cultivation, Qu Yi flew at the fastest possible speed. It still took 11 minutes to cover a distance of one million miles.

On the other hand, the powerful cultivators from the Ten Great Sects, though far more advanced than Qu Yi, had their abilities restricted by the arrays set up by Emperor Hao. As a result, they couldn’t follow the proper route, which greatly extended their travel time.

Take this cultivator from the Ying Tian Sect, for example—his blood was completely red, yet it still took him 58 minutes to reach the stone chair.

Just as he sat down, Emperor Hao’s figure reappeared on the plane where flight began, saying indifferently, “Next!”

This remark chilled the hearts of the cultivators from the Ten Great Sects. That cultivator from Ying Tian Sect had taken 58 minutes, while Qu Yi had only needed 11.

Undoubtedly, the cultivators of the Ten Great Sects finally realized that those 12 final spots could never go to Qu Yi. It was inevitable that 12 of their strongest members would die in this round of selection.

With deep breaths and cold gazes, the cultivators from the Ten Great Sects looked at one another, each with a murderous intent in their eyes.

The third person stepped into the circle and immediately took off.

…

Five days later, all the cultivators from the Ten Great Sects had finished flying and landed on their stone chairs.

The stone chairs not only displayed the time taken to fly but also automatically ranked them. Those who took less time had their chairs move to assign them to their exact positions.

Qu Yi’s chair remained in first place the entire time. As for the cultivator from Ying Tian Sect who flew second, his chair kept moving backward, gradually being occupied by other chairs. Eventually, he no longer had a chair at all, as 48 others had faster times than him.

Of the 48 stone chairs, Qu Yi sat on the first one. The second was occupied by Tai Ming, the third by Jin Xiong, the fourth by Qing Long, and the fifth by Qing Xu. The remaining chairs were occupied by various cultivators from the Ten Great Sects.

At this moment, the 12 powerful warriors without seats glared angrily at Qu Yi, but they were covered by 12 light-projecting shields and unable to move. Among these 12, there were two from the Qingyun Sect, three from the Yingtian Faction, one from the Jinyang Sect, one from the Biyan Peak, three from the Cangyang Valley, and two from the Bai Shou Peak. Just as the last stone chair was assigned, a glowing plane suddenly appeared on the stone wall behind it, and the figure of Emperor Hao reappeared. “The positions are set. All 48 people after them will die!” His voice was calm, yet extremely cruel. “I refuse to accept this! I demand a rematch to determine speed!” “Emperor Hao, this isn’t fair! Why set up so many arrays to hinder us?” “You don’t deserve to be Emperor Hao! We agreed to compete in speed—why did you still arrange three arrays to prevent us from using teleportation?” … Undoubtedly, the 12 doomed warriors all shouted in protest. But would Emperor Hao explain anything to them? Before their anger could subside, a sword-shaped beam suddenly shot out from the light above them, piercing through their bodies without leaving a trace, utterly annihilating them. As soon as the 12 powerful warriors died, the 12 light-projecting shields disappeared as well. Only then did Emperor Hao on the plane speak calmly, “Very good. The 48 people are chosen. Now I’ll send you to the Eastern Wasteland. Whether you can survive in the remaining eight regions and obtain treasures depends on your strength and luck.” With that, the plane vanished. Immediately afterward, 48 stone chairs emitted a burst of white light, then disappeared, seemingly transported elsewhere. ※※※ Ice flowers drifted down, hitting the icy ground with crisp sounds. The entire surface was covered in ice, with ice flowers falling from the sky nonstop, producing a continuous yet pleasant sound. The 48 people were transported to a strange place where everything was made of ice—the ground was a thick layer of ice, and instead of snowflakes, ice flowers filled the sky. “It’s truly amazing!” That was the common reaction of all 48 upon first seeing it and sensing it with their spiritual senses. At this point, among the 48 were 4 from the Taiyuan Gate, 6 from the Qingyun Sect, 3 from the Lanyang Palace, 5 from the Yingtian Faction, 5 from the Jinyang Sect, 6 from the Biyan Peak, 4 from the Cangyang Valley, 6 from the Bai Shou Peak, 4 from the Xianyue Cliff, 4 from the Jiugong Island, and Qu Yi himself. After landing, the warriors from each faction gathered together, ending up in eleven different locations.

As soon as Qu Yi landed on the ice, the Artifact God sent a message through his spiritual consciousness: “Qu Yi, there is an underground ice palace in this area, and inside it lies a lower-grade immortal artifact related to water. The ice palace is guarded by many ice-shaped monsters. Follow my guidance, and you can fly swiftly inside it. Once you reach the center of the ice palace, there’s a teleportation array that can take you to the next location in the immortal realm.”

The Artifact God’s spiritual consciousness was indeed powerful; it immediately located this testing ground in the Eastern Wasteland region and understood the situation there. After hearing this, Qu Yi didn’t fly away right away but asked, “Artifact God, how do you know that the artifact in the ice palace is a lower-grade immortal artifact? Could it be that you come from the immortal realm?”

At this moment, Qu Yi even tried to uncover the Artifact God’s origins. The Artifact God chuckled and said, “Qu Yi, don’t you still know? A top-grade spiritual artifact is actually just a lower-grade immortal artifact. That artifact has the same aura as the Eight Directions Sword and the Six Directions Blade—how could I not recognize it?”

Facing Qu Yi’s inquiries, the Artifact God dodged the question, still unwilling to reveal his origins right away. Nevertheless, Qu Yi finally learned that the Eight Directions Sword and the Six Directions Blade were lower-grade immortal artifacts.

While Qu Yi was talking to the Artifact God, the strong warriors from the ten major sects had already split into three groups: the cultivation sects, the demon cultivation sects, and the monster cultivation sects, each flying in a different direction. However, before these three groups could travel even ten thousand miles, suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound from the ice below, and countless ice ants filled with cold energy emerged—no fewer than a hundred thousand of them.

What was even more terrifying was that each ice ant possessed strength on par with that of someone in the early stages of the tribulation phase. A hundred thousand ice ants emerged in each direction, totaling three hundred thousand. Instantly, a fierce cold wind swept through the area, with icy air covering everything, threatening to freeze the entire world.

“How did these ice ants appear? There wasn’t the slightest sign of their presence.”
“A hundred thousand ice ants in the early tribulation phase—good heavens! Their strength is comparable to any of our ten major sects.”
“We definitely can’t resist. We need to find a way to escape.”
……

The strong warriors from the ten major sects, seeing the ice ants flying everywhere, immediately cried out in alarm and flew back. At that moment, Qu Yi heard the Artifact God’s message: “Qu Yi, immediately take out the Tidal Stone. Don’t activate it—just let the water-energy emitted by the Tidal Stone surround you. That way, you can fly right away, break through the encirclement of the ice ants, and head straight for the underground ice palace.”

The Tide Stone, the essence stone of water, and also the culprit behind the tidal mist, had long been dealt with by Qu Yi. Upon hearing this, Qu Yi immediately took out the Tide Stone, and soon his body was wrapped in a layer of mist, with not a trace of his own vital energy remaining. Then, he quickly used the speed secret technique “Ten Thousand Miles in an Instant,” moving like a phantom and soaring into the air. Indeed, when he approached the Cold Wind Ice Ants, they mistook him for one of their kind and did not attack him at all. Qu Yi promptly put away the Tide Stone and teleported away.

A group of Cold Wind Ice Ants spotted Qu Yi, but it was too late to chase after him. After flying in pursuit for a while, they flew back angrily and pursued the warriors from the ten major sects even more fiercely. The warriors from these ten sects each had a spiritual perception range of tens of thousands of miles, so they naturally also figured out Qu Yi’s method.

At that moment, the warriors from the Taiyuan Sect, Qingyun Sect, Jinyang Sect, Cangyang Valley, Bai Shou Peak, Xianyue Cliff, and Jiugong Island took out a water essence stone each and immediately wrapped the other warriors in their sects. Then, the warriors from these seven sects quickly took off and faced the Cold Wind Ice Ants. Sure enough, they were not attacked by the ants and all left safely.

The warriors from the Lanyang Palace took out a fire essence stone, those from the Yingtian Sect took out an earth essence stone, and those from the Biyan Peak took out another fire essence stone. As soon as these three sects took out their essence stones, the three hundred thousand Cold Wind Ice Ants gathered together to attack them.

“Ah, we need a water essence stone!” The warriors from the three sects immediately realized this, but it was already too late. The three hundred thousand Cold Wind Ice Ants collectively emitted cold winds, forming three huge ice balls that enveloped the warriors from the three sects. The water energy within the ice balls kept attacking them, forcing them to resist with their own vital energy.

At that moment, the warrior from Biyan Peak who held the fire essence stone used his own vital energy to activate it, attempting to melt the entire ice ball with fire energy. As soon as he activated the fire energy, the three hundred thousand Cold Wind Ice Ants, as if they had found mortal enemies, all flew toward the six people from Biyan Peak and continued to emit cold winds. The more the ice balls melted, the thicker they became.

The strong members of LanYang Palace and YingTian Sect were initially stunned to see the Cold Wind Ice Ants surrounding them leave, but then they realized it was because the strong members of BiYan Peak had activated the elemental energy of fire to launch an attack. Emperor Hao had warned that the use of elemental energy for attacks was strictly prohibited in the HaoTian Immortal Mansion. The three from LanYang Palace and the five from YingTian Sect expressed their gratitude to BiYan Peak in their hearts and immediately teleported away. Meanwhile, the six from BiYan Peak not only had to stop using the Fire Element Stone but also had to defend against the attacks of three hundred thousand Cold Wind Ice Ants.