Chapter 29: The Four-Armed Ice Ape

Qu Yi used the Tide Stone to successfully break free from the encirclement of the Cold Wind Ice Ants. After several teleportations, he arrived at a certain place.
On the icy ground lay an ice cave about a hundred meters in size, extending vertically downward. Its depth was unknown, as spiritual perception was blocked.
Near this ice cave, there were actually eighty identical ice caves in total—meaning there were eighty-one ice caves across the entire icy surface.
As Qu Yi hesitated whether to jump in, the voice of the Artifact God rang out: “Qu Yi, among these eighty-one ice caves, only the entrances of nine can protect you from attacks by the ice-based monsters inside. The one beneath your feet is one of those safe ice caves.”
Qu Yi never doubted the guidance of the Artifact God, so he immediately jumped into the ice cave and began to fall swiftly.
The nine major sects—Tai Yuan Gate, Qing Yun Sect, Jin Yang Religion, Cang Yang Valley, Bai Shou Peak, Xian Yue Cliff, Jiu Gong Island, Lan Yang Palace, and Ying Tian Sect—had also escaped the siege of the Cold Wind Ice Ants and teleported over. They all noticed Qu Yi’s actions and gathered at the entrances of ice caves.
As for Bi Yan Peak, for daring to ignore the rules set by Emperor Hao, its members were destined to be slowly killed by the Cold Wind Ice Ants.
The ten major sects had now reduced to a competition among nine.
The strong members of these nine sects each arrived at an ice cave entrance. After some hesitation—unlike Qu Yi, who had the guidance of the Artifact God—they didn’t dare jump in casually. However, after scanning the surroundings with their spiritual perception, they realized that this place in the Eastern Wasteland was peculiar, leading them to conclude that the key to passing through the Eastern Wasteland must lie beneath these ice caves.
Jump!
After discussing among themselves, the strong members of the nine sects immediately jumped into the ice caves. As for the ice cave where Qu Yi had jumped, none of the sect members dared enter. They were afraid of the Poison Fruit Qu Yi carried; if he betrayed them, they would surely die in this Heavenly Immortal Mansion. Thus, no one dared take the same path as him.
…
After jumping into the ice cave, Qu Yi found that his spiritual perception worked again. It turned out that the barrier blocking spiritual perception only existed around the cave entrance.
Scanning with his spiritual perception, Qu Yi discovered that this ice cave resembled a path leading to a planet’s core, extending downward endlessly.
After falling for thousands of miles, Qu Yi finally reached an ice wall. On it were nine glowing surfaces, each showing the situation of a sect falling into the ice cave.
Qu Yi was extremely astonished.

“Hehe, the Nine-Nine Ice Palace Formation set up by Emperor Hao leaves nine open passages. Those who enter these passages will be safe and can reach the center of the Ice Palace directly. As long as they avoid the attacks of the four-armed ice ape in the center, they can enter the teleportation array and leave immediately,” the Artifact God added promptly.

Upon hearing this, Qu Yi was confused and asked right away, “Artifact God, there’s only this ice wall here. How can I get to the center of the Ice Palace?”

The Artifact God chuckled before explaining, “Don’t worry. It seems Emperor Hao really thought of those entering the nine ice caves. You get to watch for free the battles of those who enter the Death Ice Caves. As long as one person dies, this ice wall will collapse, revealing a passage. But if you forcefully break this ice wall, this ice cave will turn into a Death Ice Cave instead.”

Qu Yi happened to have the Six-Directions Blade in his hand. Hearing the Artifact God’s words, he immediately put the blade back inside his body and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

What a close call!

On the ice wall, nine layers of platforms arranged in three rows each showed the movements of the strong warriors from the nine major sects.

The four members of the Taiyuan Sect, led by their sect leader Tai Ming, fell rapidly through the ice cave. After descending tens of thousands of miles, they arrived at an ice platform. Suddenly, a group of eight-legged ice rats emerged from ice caves on both sides.

Each of these eight-legged ice rats was about two meters long and possessed the strength of those in the middle stage of the Tribulation Phase. They rushed out of the ice caves fearlessly, spewing ice swords that could tear through space as they attacked the four members of the Taiyuan Sect.

Each of the four members of the Taiyuan Sect had an elite spiritual weapon, which was actually a lower-grade immortal weapon. Facing the attacks of the eight-legged ice rats, they immediately activated protective light shields while using their four sharp spiritual weapons to slash at the incoming rats.

None of them dared to use their true energy to activate their elite spiritual weapons, as that would be like the people from the Biyan Peak—breaking Emperor Hao’s rules and leading to immediate death. Thus, they could only rely on the sharpness of their weapons and their agile fighting styles to kill these eight-legged ice rats.

The ice rats rushed at them, but they couldn’t withstand a single strike from the elite spiritual weapons and were instantly shattered, turning into streams of water energy that dispersed throughout the ice cave.

These eight-legged ice rats were actually composed of water energy, without their own souls, seemingly controlled by the formation to attack the people of the Taiyuan Sect.

The four members of the Taiyuan Sect fought frantically against the eight-legged ice rats. After killing a hundred of them, they were surprised to find a tiny crack appearing on the wall of the ice cave near the platform, which seemed to be slowly widening.

Thus, the four members of Taiyuan Gate understood that they needed to kill enough Eight-Legged Ice Rats to create a passage large enough to allow them to leave this place. Naturally, they now welcomed the attacks from the Eight-Legged Ice Rats, swiftly swinging their top-grade spiritual weapons to slay those that jumped out of the passage. After a thousand Eight-Legged Ice Rats died, the gap widened enough to fit a palm inside. By this point, the four members of Taiyuan Gate had already consumed a bottle of medicinal pills, and their vital energy had been greatly depleted by the Eight-Legged Ice Rats. Yet, they had no other way to obtain a passage for flight except by killing these rats, so they had to persevere hard.

※※※

In another ice cave, the five members of JinYang Sect fell thousands of miles before landing on an ice platform. From the ice caves on both sides, Jumping Sky Ice Snakes emerged one after another. Each of these snakes possessed the strength of mid-stage tribulation phase, measuring ten meters in length. They moved by coiling their tails and shooting forward hundreds of meters in an instant, as if teleporting. As they emerged from the caves, they launched themselves at the five members of JinYang Sect with great force. Among the five, only three had top-grade spiritual weapons—a sword, a knife, and a spear—while the other two carried high-quality sword-shaped spiritual weapons. Faced with the attacks of the Jumping Sky Ice Snakes, the five immediately created protective energy shields with their vital energy to block their bites, while using their weapons to strike back. Learning from the lessons of BiYan Peak, they naturally refrained from using their primal energy for attacks. Similar to what was happening at Taiyuan Gate, after killing the Jumping Sky Ice Snakes, the five realized that a gap had appeared in the ice wall ahead, understanding that they needed to kill enough of these snakes to obtain a passage for flight. So, they fought even harder.

※※※

The other seven sects were in a similar situation to Taiyuan Gate and JinYang Sect, all facing attacks from groups of ice-based monsters at mid-stage tribulation phase. Qu Yi watched the scenes displayed on the nine platforms and couldn’t stop laughing. The pitiful sight of the strong warriors from these nine sects consuming medicinal pills still amused him greatly. Suddenly, a demon cultivator from BaiShou Peak, whose true form was a Dominant Sky Crane, was bitten by a Four-Wing Ice Silkworm. Unable to react in time, he was bitten by more ice silkworms, his vital essence freezing instantly before he was completely devoured alive by the Four-Wing Ice Silkworms. With the death of this demon cultivator from BaiShou Peak, the ice wall in front of Qu Yi shattered, creating an ice passage.

Qu Yi hesitated not at all and immediately flew into the passage, then flew for thousands of miles before suddenly arriving in a palace that shone with a crystal-clear icy light. The palace was a world of pure ice, forming a cubic space, and at the center of this space was a circular ice platform, on which stood a spatial teleportation array. As soon as Qu Yi entered the palace, he did not fly straight to the ice platform. Instead, he saw a giant monstrous beast on it—a four-armed ice ape. The four-armed ice ape also noticed Qu Yi’s arrival. Like a lustful beast that had been lonely for millions of years, it immediately let out eerie roars as soon as it saw Qu Yi and rushed at him with its four arms outstretched.