50: Chapter 51 Reunion in Desperate Circumstances

The ice tunnel was narrow, its cold qi biting to the bone.

Ye Chen led the way in front, holding the profound ice token.

Liu Yiyi followed closely behind, her teeth chattering incessantly, sustained solely by the gentle and mellow Profound Ice True Essence Ye Chen was transferring to her.

The snowflake patterns on the profound ice token flickered with an indigo-blue glow, not only guiding their direction but also emanating a gentle power.

It dispelled the excessively dense cold qi ahead, allowing the two of them to advance with difficulty.

The passage was not straight; it wound and twisted, sometimes ascending, sometimes descending, as if delving deep into the mountain's belly.

The rock walls were all made of millennia-old ice, smooth and hard, reflecting the token's light in a kaleidoscope of bizarre colors.

Occasionally, massive icicles hung down from overhead like ferocious fangs, requiring careful avoidance.

"Y-Young Master Ye... where are we going?"

Liu Yiyi's voice trembled, unsure if it was from cold or fear.

"According to the information obtained, this passage should lead to an ancient, small-scale teleportation Formation. It might allow us to leave this underground maze."

Ye Chen said solemnly, though inwardly he was far from certain.

The fragmented memories were scattered; whether the teleportation Formation was intact or where it led were both unknowns.

More importantly, through the profound ice token, he could faintly sense a few familiar, weak fluctuations of Qi coming from ahead.

One of them, clear and cold yet carrying tenacity, made his heartbeat quicken.

It was Clear Snow!

She was still alive, and right ahead! This realization greatly boosted Ye Chen's spirits, and his steps involuntarily quickened.

Seeing the change in his expression, Liu Yiyi seemed to guess something. She bit her pale lips, said nothing more, and silently followed.

After walking for about another quarter of an hour, the space ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a small ice chamber.

In the center of the ice chamber, there was indeed a circular stone platform about three meters in diameter.

Dense, somewhat blurred ancient runes were carved onto the stone platform, forming a simple teleportation Formation.

However, the position for embedding Spirit Stones at the Formation's center was empty, and the stone platform itself was riddled with cracks, appearing dilapidated.

Beside the teleportation Formation, several people were either sitting or lying down, their auras feeble. They were Lin Qingxue, Scarface, Lin Dong, and Chen Feng!

Lin Dong and Chen Feng seemed to have suffered significant injuries, their faces pale, leaning against the ice wall gasping for breath.

Scarface was covered in blood, holding a long sword, vigilantly guarding in front of Lin Qingxue.

Lin Qingxue sat cross-legged in a relatively clean corner, her eyes slightly closed, her face as pale as snow, with a trace of undried blood still at the corner of her mouth.

The Qi around her fluctuated erratically, clearly suppressing injuries and potent toxins.

But that clear, cold, and tenacious temperament remained undiminished.

"Clear Snow! Brother Scarface!" Ye Chen's heart tightened, and he rushed over quickly.

"Young Master Ye!"

"Brother Ye!"

Hearing the voices, Scarface and Lin Dong abruptly looked up. Seeing Ye Chen and Liu Yiyi, their faces immediately lit up with wild joy.

Then it turned into deep worry and lingering fear.

Lin Qingxue also slowly opened her eyes. Seeing Ye Chen safe and sound, even with a stronger aura than before,

a ripple finally stirred in those clear, cold eyes, like an ice lake thawing.

"You... it's good that you're alright." Her voice was somewhat hoarse. She seemed to want to stand but aggravated her injuries, her body swaying.

Ye Chen hurried forward to support her. Her skin felt cold to the touch.

He could sense her depleted Qi and blood within, and two Yin-cold forces entangled and rampaged through her Meridians.

One was her own profound yin cold qi.

The other was even more vicious, clearly a new strike from the undercurrents or a recurrence of an old poison.

"Don't move."

Ye Chen said gravely, immediately grasping her wrist.

Pure Profound Ice True Essence, mixed with a trace of Origin power obtained from the Ice Lotus Imprint, was carefully transferred into her body.

This power was pure, gentle, and carried a hint of the vitality of Chaos. Once it entered Lin Qingxue's Meridians, it began rapidly nourishing her damaged channels

and attempted to dispel and neutralize that external Yin poison.

Lin Qingxue's body trembled slightly, an abnormal flush appearing on her pale face.

She could clearly feel that the True Essence Ye Chen was transferring was completely different from before.

Not only was it purer and vaster, but it also carried an indescribable Dao charm close to the Origin, making the profound yin qi within her body become active and receptive.

The entangled Yin poison, in the face of this power, melted away like ice and snow, quickly being suppressed.

"Your cultivation..." A flicker of astonishment passed through her beautiful eyes.

"A fortunate Breakthrough." Ye Chen glossed over it simply, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"How are everyone's injuries? How did you end up here? Where are the others?"

Scarface shook his head with a bitter smile, his voice hoarse.

"The undercurrent was too fierce; we were all scattered. Miss, Lin Dong, Chen Feng, and I were washed to a water channel near here, managed to climb up, and found this abandoned teleportation Formation. The others are probably in grave danger."

His face showed pain. The skilled fighters brought out from the Lin family now numbered only a few of them.

Lin Dong also said quietly.

"Brother Chen and I collided with ice spikes in the undercurrent, both suffering internal injuries, but we can still hold on. It's truly fortunate that Miss Liu encountered Brother Ye."

Liu Yiyi hurried forward to check Chen Feng's injuries. Seeing he was only suffering from cold qi invasion and internal organ shock,

she breathed a sigh of relief, took out a Medicinal Pill, and gave it to him.

"Can this teleportation Formation still be used?"

Ye Chen looked at the cracked stone platform, his brow furrowed tightly.

Scarface shook his head.

"We've checked. The Formation core is severely damaged, and there are no Spirit Stones to power it. I'm afraid..."

At that moment, Lin Qingxue suddenly spoke up. Though her voice was weak, it carried a note of certainty.

"Not necessarily. The runes of this Formation bear some resemblance to an ancient teleportation Formation recorded in my Lin family's ancient texts. It seems to be bidirectional and has specific requirements for Spiritual Qi attributes."

Her gaze fell on the profound ice token in Ye Chen's hand. "Ye Chen, the token in your hand..."

Ye Chen's heart stirred. He handed the profound ice token to her.

"This was obtained in that ice palace. It seems related to this place."

Lin Qingxue took the token, carefully examined the snowflake patterns on it, then looked at the runes on the stone platform. Her beautiful eyes grew brighter.

"Correct! The patterns on this token faintly resonate with the runes at several key nodes of the Formation core! Perhaps... this token itself is one of the 'keys' to activate the Formation, or it can replace part of the Spirit Stones, providing energy of a specific attribute!"

Everyone's spirits lifted.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's try it!" Lin Dong urged anxiously.

"No." Lin Qingxue shook her head, her expression grave.

"The Formation is damaged. Forcibly activating it carries extreme risk. We might be teleported to an unknown location, or even trigger spatial turbulence. Moreover, we don't know what's on the other side or if it's safe."

Ye Chen pondered for a moment, then said,

"Staying here, waiting for those outside to find us, or starving and freezing to death, is also a dead end. Activating the Formation might offer a sliver of hope. Clear Snow, since you understand this Formation, can you roughly judge the teleportation direction?"

Lin Qingxue examined the Formation runes carefully once more. After a long while, she spoke uncertainly.

"Judging from the remaining traces of the runes, the original purpose of this Formation seems to have been for short-distance, fixed-point teleportation, connecting two fixed locations rich in ice-attribute Spiritual Qi. One should be the depths of the cold pool we entered from. The other rune points deeper into the earth's veins, towards a fire-attribute region?"

A place where ice and fire converge?

Ye Chen's heart stirred, thinking of the Molten Fire Abyss.

Could the other end of this teleportation Formation be somewhere in the Molten Fire Abyss?

"Let's gamble!" Scarface gritted his teeth.

"Better than waiting here to die! Young Master Ye, Miss, you decide!"

Lin Dong, Chen Feng, and Liu Yiyi also nodded one after another, their gazes resolute.

Ye Chen looked at Lin Qingxue.

Lin Qingxue met his gaze, seeing the determination and trust in his eyes, and gave a slight nod.

"I'll try to guide it, but I need you to provide pure ice-attribute Spiritual Qi to activate the token and stabilize the Formation. Once the Formation activates, we must immediately step onto it without the slightest hesitation."

"Alright!"

Ye Chen nodded heavily, then said to everyone,

"Everyone gather in the center of the Formation, hold onto each other tightly, no matter what, don't let go!"

Everyone immediately complied, supporting each other as they stood in the center of the stone platform.

Ye Chen stood at the forefront, holding the profound ice token, slowly infusing his own Profound Ice True Essence into it.

Lin Qingxue crouched down, gathering faint profound yin True Essence at her fingertips, and according to the remembered sequence of runes,

began attempting to guide and activate those nodes on the stone platform that weren't completely damaged.

As Ye Chen's True Essence poured in, the snowflake patterns on the profound ice token suddenly lit up, emitting a dazzling blue light!

A pure, ancient cold qi spread out. The dim runes on the stone platform, as if injected with vitality,

lit up one after another with an indigo-blue glow!

The entire ice chamber began to tremble slightly. Dangerous spatial fluctuations shot out from the cracks in the stone platform!

"The Formation is activating! But it's very unstable!" Lin Qingxue said urgently.

"Ye Chen, increase the Spiritual Qi input! Stabilize the core!"

Ye Chen dared not delay, madly injecting nearly half of the Profound Ice True Essence from his Dantian into the profound ice token.

Simultaneously, the Ice Lotus Imprint deep in his Soul stirred slightly, separating a strand of Chaos-colored Origin cold qi to merge into it!

Instantly, the profound ice token's light blazed brilliantly, and the lit runes on the stone platform also stabilized considerably.

A pale blue, slowly rotating light gate gradually took shape above everyone's heads!

"Now! Go in!" Lin Qingxue shouted.

"Go!"

Ye Chen, one hand tightly gripping the glowing profound ice token, the other firmly grasping Lin Qingxue's cold wrist, charged towards the light gate first!

Scarface, Lin Dong, Chen Feng, and Liu Yiyi also followed closely behind, leaping up with all their might!

Just as their figures were about to vanish into the light gate—

"Boom!"

From the direction of the ice tunnel they came from came the sound of a violent explosion and furious shouts!

Immediately after, several disheveled yet ferocious figures rushed in.

It was Black Wind Fiend, Zhao Qian, and Wang Mang!

They had actually, by some means, also found this place! Seeing Ye Chen and the others about to teleport away, the three of them were furious, their eyes wide with rage!

"You little bastard! Where do you think you're running!"

Black Wind Fiend roared, slashing out with his blade from a distance!

Zhao Qian also thrust out a finger, a sharp gust of finger wind shooting straight at Ye Chen's back!

Wang Mang even flung out a handful of poisoned flying needles!

"Be careful!"

Scarface and Lin Dong roared, turning back to block with sword and blade, but how could they withstand the furious attacks of three experts in such haste?

Just as the attacks were about to affect the teleportation light gate and everyone!

Ye Chen's eyes turned fierce. He abruptly pushed Lin Qingxue into the light gate.

He himself instantly turned around, throwing the profound ice token towards the light gate.

At the same time, both palms struck out, expelling all the remaining True Essence in his body, along with that strand of Chaos Origin from the Ice Lotus Imprint, without reservation!

"Frozen for Ten Thousand Miles!"

No longer Sword Qi, but pure, extreme cold! It erupted violently with him at the center!

The temperature of the entire ice chamber plummeted below absolute zero!

The incoming blade energy, finger wind, and poisoned needles, upon contacting the cold tide, instantly slowed drastically, thick frost condensing on their surfaces, their power greatly diminished!

"Pfft!"

Ye Chen violently spat out a mouthful of blood, his body flying backward like a kite with a severed string, crashing precisely into the light gate that was about to close!

In the last instant before he entered, he saw the faces of Black Wind Fiend and the others, filled with shock and anger, temporarily blocked by the cold tide.

He also saw Lin Qingxue, whom he had pushed into the light gate first, looking back at him, her eyes filled with horror and anguish.

"Ye Chen—!"

He seemed to hear her heart-wrenching cry.

Darkness swam before his eyes, the world spun, and violent spatial forces tore at his body.

Before losing consciousness, he tightly grasped that cold yet soft hand that had, at some point, grabbed his again.

...

When he opened his eyes again, the first things he felt were scorching heat waves and a pungent smell of sulfur.

The roar of churning magma filled his ears.

Ye Chen lay on a piece of scalding black rock, with the others, equally disheveled and unconscious, beside him.

Above, the familiar dark red rock walls of the Molten Fire Abyss.

The teleportation had succeeded.

They had come from the extreme cold of the ice cavern to a deeper part of the Molten Fire Abyss.

And in his hand, he still tightly held that hand, and that profound ice token, its glow now dimmed, yet still cool to the touch.