Chapter 1: Walking the Dog (Part 2)

Ji Xuetian pondered for a moment before saying, “If they really dare to enter… we won’t go in. We’ll wait outside… Hmph, just two layers of altars and they think they can enter the Never-Returning Snow Mountain. It’s easy to get in… but getting out will be difficult. Perfect—let’s force them in; it’s a death trap.”
Ji Yuntian sighed and said, “There’s another person… one not among them. That’s the real killer! Once we force them into the Never-Returning Snow Mountain, we’ll go look for that person.”
If Guo Shier heard their conversation, he would probably still charge into the Never-Returning Snow Mountain. Even if it was a death trap, it was better than being attacked by a group of altar-level professionals. As for searching for Huo Fen Tian, if Guo Shier knew about it, he would laugh himself to death. Not finding him was their luck; finding him would be a disaster for the Gu Ji family.
Gradually, Guo Shier realized something was wrong. He wasn’t stupid. He said, “They’ve scattered… Huh? It’s a surrounding formation. No… that’s not right… Their scent is off!”
Luo Zhan asked curiously, “What scent? Fragrant? Smelly?”
Eagle Demon also noticed. He said, “Something’s wrong. They’re trying to drive us away!”
The Handsome Old Man asked, “Is there something wrong with the snow mountain ahead? Why drive us there?”
Guo Shier saw that the group of altar-level professionals had formed a large C-shape and were approaching from behind. He used teleportation twice to dodge, but he already understood that they intended to drive him toward the snow mountain. He said, “That’s right. They indeed want to drive us into the snow mountain. Could there be an ambush there?”
The Handsome Old Man said, “Unless they’re powerful enough to read your thoughts… Going to the snow mountain was an impulsive idea. We never had such a plan in the first place… So, an ambush… doesn’t make sense! In other words, there’s something strange about this snow mountain!” After analyzing everything, he basically arrived at an answer. Truly, he was an old man who had lived for a long time, full of experience.
Guo Shier asked, “Should we go in or find a way to escape?”
The Handsome Old Man said, “It’s your choice!”
Eagle Demon and the others also said, “It’s up to you. If you want to go in, we’ll go with you. If you want to break free from the encirclement, we’ll follow too… But it seems hard to break free, right?”
Nan You said, “Even if we break free from the encirclement, we’ll still have to circle around the ice field. There’s no way to get rid of those people. There are too many of them. I observed earlier—they’ve also started using altars to bring in more people, taking turns to rest. Our advantage in escaping is gradually disappearing.”

Guo Shieru gritted his teeth and said, “Alright, let’s head to the Great Snow Mountain. If they follow us in, it proves there’s nothing wrong with it. If they don’t follow, then… we shouldn’t go too deep either. We’ll look for an opportunity to slip out. If all else fails… we’ll return to the Thousand Lakes Continent first and come back after some time.”
Both sides had their own plans. But after this struggle, Guo Shieru fully understood that for a altar-level expert to escape, no matter how many people chased after them, it would be very difficult to catch up. If such an expert had coordinates to nearby continents or secret realms, escaping would be even easier.
The snow mountain gradually revealed its majestic and fearsome form. Guo Shieru couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s fucking tall… I wonder how many tens of thousands of meters high it is… Let’s go into the mountain!”
Not long after entering the snow mountain, Guo Shieru noticed that the pursuers were gone. By then, they had already reached the foot of a snow mountain. Guo Shieru stopped and said, “They didn’t follow? Damn it, there must be something wrong with this snow mountain. Let’s change direction and fly along this side of the mountain; we can’t go any further in.”
Elder Shuai said, “Let’s not rush to run yet. Let’s stop here to rest for a while and see if they really haven’t followed.”
Eagle Demon gave a thumbs up and said, “Elder Shuai is really steady. The old man is awesome!”
It was unclear who first said, “The old man is awesome,” but praising Elder Shuai with those words was definitely right. Sure enough, Elder Shuai beamed with joy and said, “Of course, the old man is awesome!”
Guo Shieru couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Alright, let’s follow Elder Shuai’s advice and rest for a while.” He steered the altar down quickly. The snow here was extremely deep, and most of it was firmly frozen, so stepping on it wouldn’t cause one to sink. After lowering everyone off the altar, he retracted it and placed it on top of his head.
At the foot of the snow mountain was a vast forest. The trees here had strange shapes—thick trunks, needle-like branches, and mostly a light blue color. It was the first time Guo Shieru had seen such trees. Out of curiosity, he picked up a branch and noticed a cold aura spreading from where it broke.
Guo Shieru was surprised and said, “These trees are interesting—they emit cold air.”
Elder Shuai said, “It’s unusual, but it’s normal. These are blue ice pines, the most common trees on ice fields. Most extreme cold secret realms have such trees. Like snow vines, they’re also plants from extreme cold regions. These trees are also good materials for ice-related uses.”
“There are only a few main types of plants here. Besides the most common blue ice pines, there are also snow birch trees, ice dust trees, and solitary cypresses. As for others, it depends on the characteristics of each place.”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “By ‘distinctive,’ I guess it refers to materials that are relatively precious.”
The old man shook his head. “Not necessarily, but it does include some extremely special materials. If you want to find them, you’ll need a bit of luck.”
Nan You said, “This forest is huge. I took a look just now—it stretches from the foot of the mountain all the way to the neighboring peak. I think there must be powerful mutated talisman beasts here.”
The old man replied, “It might not be mutated talisman beasts. Even if they are, I don’t think they’d be enough to make altar-level professionals from the Guji family back down. There must be something even more dangerous. It might not be as powerful as Huo Fen Tian, but it’s definitely stronger than sixth-layer altar experts.”
Guo Shier sighed. “It’s normal for our team to encounter some danger. But since I arrived here, I haven’t sensed any danger or anything unusual…” He thought for a moment before adding, “Forget it. We’d better be cautious and not go too deep into the snow mountains. If we get the chance, we should leave this frozen continent as soon as possible.”
The old man nodded. “I agree we shouldn’t take risks. There are things that, once you touch, make it hard to escape.”
Eagle Demon said, “It would be great if we could use this opportunity to get rid of that woman. Even all those altar-level professionals from the Guji family don’t pose as much pressure as she does alone.”
Everyone agreed. When they faced altar-level professionals from the Guji family, they still had a chance to escape. But if Huo Fen Tian wanted to kill them, there would be no hope left—there wouldn’t even be time to run. It could be said that Huo Fen Tian had left an image of invincibility in their minds. It wasn’t surprising—Huo Fen Tian’s killing spree was truly terrifying.
They all knew that woman was crazy. Though she was extremely beautiful and showed no hostility toward their team, no one could guarantee she wouldn’t suddenly turn violent and kill them all. That’s why they didn’t want to be with Huo Fen Tian.
After taking a short rest, everyone ate some dried meat. This place wasn’t suitable for cooking. The weather was too cold, and even dried meat needed to be heated with talisman fire; otherwise, it was too hard and cold to chew.
Guo Shier said, “Alright, let’s fly along here—uh, close to the ground, to avoid being detected. We’ll move through the forest.”

A few of them sneaked along the edge of the Great Snow Mountain, flying through the forest. The Great Snow Mountain was enormous; even the people of the Guji family couldn’t figure out what lay deep within it. All they knew was that after their ancestral master, a master of the seventh-tier altar, entered, he sent a message token with just a few words on it, after which there was no further news. Thus, the Guji family considered it a death zone.

Guo Shier and the others quickly returned to where they entered, though the location had changed significantly. At the edge of the forest, they clearly saw many saints and grand saints patrolling, along with hunting vehicles flying in the sky. Eagle Demon whispered, “We can’t fight. We can’t draw attention. We should keep moving along the forest edge.”

The old hero poked his head out to take a look and said, “They’re all saints and grand saints. There are no altar-level masters… Could they have discovered Huo Fen Tian? Hehe, if they really have, they’re in trouble.” He seemed to take pleasure in their misfortune.

Guo Shier said, “This is our chance to get rid of everyone. Let’s go!” He flew low to the ground, moving at a relatively slow pace. Flying too fast would shake the air, causing the snow on the trees to collapse, which would alert the Guji family’s professionals. So he first led everyone a distance into the forest before speeding up.

It must be said that the Guji family’s professionals were very unlucky—they found Huo Fen Tian in a frozen plain.

Huo Fen Tian was indeed still on the frozen plain, perched on a huge piece of ice. Having absorbed quite a number of souls at once, her own soul was somewhat chaotic. Fortunately, her soul was extremely strong, so the newly absorbed souls didn’t cause too much trouble. She still had to use her own soul to gradually crush and integrate those absorbed souls.

That’s why Huo Fen Tian needed to sit in silence for a while—this was why she left Guo Shier’s team. Once the soul integration began, she would become extremely chaotic. She had a good impression of Guo Shier’s team and didn’t want to accidentally kill them due to her chaotic soul.

Soul integration meant using one’s own soul to suppress the absorbed souls and then gradually merge them. Thankfully, Huo Fen Tian had an abnormally powerful altar, so despite her chaotic soul, she hadn’t lost herself, though her control had diminished significantly. Yet just then, the Guji family’s professionals discovered Huo Fen Tian.

It was a trio—two saints and a junior grand saint. They were wise enough not to attack immediately. After seeing Huo Fen Tian, they retreated right away and sent a message token.

Fire Furnace Heaven had no interest in such minor figures at all. With her soul in a state of chaos, she didn’t even glance at the three of them, continuing to focus on her own soul. The altar-level professionals from the Guji Family happened to reach the edge of the Snowy Mountain of No Return. Upon hearing this news, they immediately changed direction. After all, Fire Furnace Heaven was the real murderer—how could they let her go? Since Guo Shier and the others had entered a deadly situation, there was no need to pursue them further. Thus, Guo Shier’s team escaped their pursuit. But the professionals from the Guji Family didn’t realize that if they hadn’t discovered Fire Furnace Heaven, that would have been their luck; finding her meant they were extremely unlucky.