Chapter 10: The Frozen Continent (Part 1)

A white vine grew out of the snow, branching into more than a dozen strands that spread across the snowfield. Its leaves were needle-shaped, about half a foot long, resembling ice crystals, growing in clusters along the vine. This was the famous Snow Vine, imbued with extreme cold energy. It could be used to craft various ice-based ritual artifacts or enhanced for use in altars.
It was this Snow Vine that Guo Shier had been referring to earlier. At the beginning of their careers, professionals mostly used materials from plants and animals. As they advanced in level, they began to use more minerals. It wasn’t that plant or animal materials were inferior, but rather the materials they needed became rarer and more precious. For example, even professionals using third- or fourth-tier altars would be tempted by this Snow Vine.
Every part of the Snow Vine was valuable, whether its leaves or roots. In fact, the most precious part was the Snow Vine Fruit. Unfortunately, it took a long time for it to bear fruit, and once it did, it fell off after three days, drifting to other places with fierce storms and snow, only to be buried under snowdrifts.
It wasn’t until the snow covering it reached over ten meters thick that the Snow Vine Fruit would take root and begin to grow. Thus, the roots of a Snow Vine often extended several kilometers deep into the snow, making it difficult to extract entirely even if dug up.
Seeing Guo Shier and the others working so hard, Huo Fen Tian couldn’t help but intervene. Several virtual talismans extended along the main stem of the Snow Vine, and she shouted, “Lift!” With a rustling sound, the entire Snow Vine was pulled out.
The roots of the Snow Vine were as thick as an adult’s arms, and countless silver-white roots were also pulled out intact. Guo Shier and the others had originally planned to give up and only take the upper half of the vine, but they never expected Huo Fen Tian to step in and extract the entire vine. What surprised them the most was that the root parts contained clusters of ice cores—thousands of them, each as large as a goose egg.
Huo Fen Tian smiled and said, “This thing needs to be wrapped in virtual talismans to enclose everything before being pulled out, so that no part is damaged. Only then is it a complete Snow Vine.”
Guo Shier quickly thanked her. Huo Fen Tian tilted her head and said, “If you want to thank me, give me more wine.”
Eagle Demon and the others watched Guo Shier with amusement, waiting to see if he would agree. Guo Shier gave a wry smile—he was completely awed by this crazy woman. Fortunately, she seemed to have no hostility toward them. It also puzzled him—since they met, although Huo Fen Tian had caused many troubles, she had also helped them quite a bit.

Guo Shier said, “Well, actually I’ve purified some liquor recently. I originally planned to keep it for a while, but since you want it, I’ll give it all to you—yes, everything.” He took out over a hundred bottles, not keeping a single one for himself. That was thousands of pounds of strong liquor, with a few bottles having been specially purified to an alcohol content of 70 degrees—liquor as fierce as fire.
Huo Fen Tian happily took them and said, “Good boy!”
Guo Shier replied, “I really have none left. I’ve given it all to you. It will take at least half a year before I can brew the first batch again. It still needs to be purified, aged, and left to rest for a long time before it can be drunk. So… senior, if you finish these, don’t ask me for more.” As he spoke, he looked up and found that Huo Fen Tian had already disappeared.
Ying Mo suppressed a laugh and said, “She got the liquor and left. Shier, who are you talking to?”
Guo Shier roared in anger, causing Ying Mo and the others to burst into laughter. Guo Shier muttered, “This old lady is really too mean…” He completely ignored Huo Fen Tian’s beautiful appearance and simply called her “old lady.” Thankfully, Huo Fen Tian didn’t hear it; otherwise, she might have gone crazy again.
Huo Fen Tian didn’t open any of the bottles right away after getting so much liquor. Not only did she like the taste of strong liquor, but she also gradually enjoyed teasing Guo Shier. She found it fun, especially when her soul was chaotic. Seeing Guo Shier gave her a sense of calm that made her feel comfortable, which was why she followed these kids around.
As soon as Guo Shier put away the snow vine, he sensed the soul fluctuations of the handsome old man: “We can cultivate this. First, store it in the storage talisman space. I’ll refine a high-grade ice-type cultivation talisman, so we can get snow vines continuously in the future. But you’ll need to collect some ice marrow too; otherwise, it will be hard to cultivate.”
Guo Shier responded with a soul fluctuation. He already had many cultivation talismans, most of which were used to grow plants—mainly edible or aromatic plants, with few rare ones. He also had hundreds of talismans specifically for growing rice and wheat, all of which were excellent varieties, including the Jingming rice.
After a brief delay, the group set off again, still running on the snow. At their speed, it wasn’t much different from flying low, as they had to keep scanning the surroundings for special ice-related materials, so they couldn’t go too fast.

Guo Shier and the others quickly realized an important problem—Huo Fen Tian was gone. They had run over a hundred kilometers without seeing her, which surprised and delighted them at the same time. The four of them stopped and looked at each other. After a while, Eagle Demon said, “Could it be… she’s left?”
Guo Shier pondered for a moment before saying, “Not necessarily. Let’s ignore her for now and do what we need to do. If we still don’t see her by the time we leave the Frozen Continent, then she might really have left… Hehe.” He couldn’t help but laugh. If he could get rid of this terrifying woman, he had no objections.
Nan You said cautiously, “Maybe she left temporarily for some reason. If she wants to find us, it should be easy for her.”
In fact, Huo Fen Tian hadn’t left. She was just nearby, trying hard to digest the souls of several altar masters she had obtained. This time it was a bit difficult—having consumed too many souls had caused her own soul to become chaotic, so she needed to sit in silence to suppress its restlessness.
Guo Shier thought carefully for a while before shaking his head and saying, “I still feel like she’s nearby. Let’s continue searching for materials. It wasn’t easy to reach this Purely Cold Continent; we need to gather more cold-element materials. We might not get another chance like this.”
The others agreed and followed Guo Shier forward.
Suddenly, Nan You shouted, “There’s a snow pit here!”
Guo Shier flew over and saw a snow pit as big as a well, with an unfathomable depth inside. Eagle Demon used his life treasure to cut through it, and with a loud crash, the entire snow-covered ground collapsed. The opening expanded rapidly, forming a huge snow pit from which an extremely cold aura emanated.
The four of them hovered above. Guo Shier said, “If an ordinary person stepped on it, hehe, it would be a super big trap. It’s a shame it’s useless to us.”
Luo Zhan said, “I’ll go down and take a look.”
Guo Shier said, “Be careful. If anything seems wrong, come back immediately.”
Luo Zhan laughed and said, “It’s fine. A snow pit can’t be dangerous. I just want to see what’s down there.” With that, he fell down.
More than twenty minutes passed, and Luo Zhan didn’t come back, but sent a message token. After checking it, Guo Shier laughed and said, “Let’s go down. Hehe, there are good things down there.” The others followed him downward.
The snow pit wasn’t dark. The light coming in from the opening illuminated the inside brightly, showing layers of ice that appeared bizarre under the light.

Guo Shier and the other two descended rapidly, not knowing how deep it was. It took them over ten minutes before they saw Luo Zhan’s silhouette. All of them were in free fall until this moment when they managed to control their bodies and float downward.

Luo Zhan said with a smile, “There’s a lot of ice marrow here.”

The ground was covered with ice marrow crystals of various sizes—some as big as eggs, others as small as soybeans. Guo Shier exclaimed happily, “Not bad, not bad. Just what the old man needs to make planting talismans—he requires a large amount of ice marrow to cultivate snow vines. Hehe, this is enough, and it can also be used for other things.”

He cast several spells, and countless virtual talismans flew out, forming chains that pierced the ground. Guo Shier began collecting large amounts of ice marrow while the others flew into the air. Eagle Demon said with a laugh, “It’s only in places like this that there’s ice marrow, and in such large quantities. Professionals have to travel to many places; otherwise, they won’t even be able to gather the materials.”

Suddenly, the old man appeared and said, “Sigh, I’m dying of boredom!”

Everyone laughed at that. For some reason, this old man was terrified of Huo Fen Tian—he would never show up as long as Huo Fen Tian was around.

Eagle Demon said cheerfully, “She could appear at any moment!”

The old man cursed, “You brat, don’t bully an old man. Respect the elders, understand?”

Eagle Demon replied with a grin, “I know, I know. The old man is so cool, so mighty…” Having known the old man for so long, he certainly knew his temper. Joking around like this would never make the old man angry.

The old man cursed, “Just like those scoundrels—all slick tricksters!”

Guo Shier called out, “Hey, old man, don’t drag me in.”

The old man said, “There’s enough ice marrow here. Collect as much as you can. Also… be careful of that woman. I don’t know why she’s desperate to devour souls, but I know that devouring them so quickly has a huge impact on her own soul. If things go wrong, her soul could become chaotic and she might go insane. By then… things will get really troublesome.”

Guo Shier said with a bitter smile, “We can’t stop her.”

The old man replied, “I know. So you need to find a way to get away from her. Try not to anger her. That woman is unpredictable, and her strength is too great. For now, no one can stop her madness.”

Guo Shier certainly knew about Huo Fen Tian’s danger. He said, “She doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions toward us.”

The old man glared at him and said, “Are you betting on her character? Or on luck? Her fire sacrifice is absolutely monstrous—it can burn your soul right away. It’s even more terrifying than those damned Black Talisman people.”

Eagle Demon said, “No wonder…”

The handsome old man asked, “Why is that surprising?”
The Eagle Demon said, “No wonder you’re so afraid of her.”
The handsome old man snapped, “Who’s afraid of her… I simply disdain to pay her attention! I’m going back first!” Though he spoke with confidence, it was obvious to everyone that he was extremely wary of Huo Fen Tian.
Guo Shier knew the handsome old man was just stubborn, but he had to admit his point was valid—their fates shouldn’t be in someone else’s hands. Yet he was worried about how to get rid of Huo Fen Tian.
Nan You said, “Don’t overthink it. Just get through this period for now; opportunities will always arise.”
Guo Shier said, “You’re right. Let’s go up.” The group flew upward.