596: The people of the Ice Palace who were being hunted

"Thanks to all of you, not only did I not die, but I also gained a fortunate opportunity."

The corners of Di Juetian's mouth curled into a cold arc, his gaze locking onto Long Ge like ten-thousand-year-old ice.

"Now, it's time to settle the score for surrounding and attacking me."

"Arrogant! So what if you had dog-shit luck and reached a Breakthrough to the Earth Venerable Realm? A mere fledgling Earth Venerable dares to act presumptuously before me? Take him down!"

Long Ge suppressed the alarm in his heart and roared sharply, attempting to use his shouts to cover the fear coming from the depths of his Soul.

He knew well that he absolutely could not retreat at this moment; otherwise, the tribe's prestige would be swept away!

The totem power within his body erupted violently, and a heavy profound ice warhammer appeared in his hand. Carrying a momentum capable of splitting mountains and cracking peaks, it whipped up a sky-covering ice storm and smashed down toward Di Juetian's head!

At the same time, those three Tenth Layer Profound Venerable warriors also endured their fear of the pressure and roared simultaneously. The bone spears in their hands erupted with blinding totem cold light as they charged at Di Juetian!

"Overestimating yourselves."

Di Juetian simply raised his right hand. Facing Long Ge and the other three, he spread his five fingers and then... gently made a fist!

"Freeze!"

Long Ge and those three Tenth Layer Profound Venerable warriors were instantly frozen into lifelike ice sculptures!

The cold wind swept through, carrying sky-filling ice dust and fluttering Di Juetian's long robes.

He slowly retracted his fingers, as if he had only done a trivial little thing.

"Are the bugs outside all this weak?"

Di Juetian looked at the bloody and hauntingly beautiful ice sculpture Hell before him, feeling the surging power within his body and the throbbing of his Bloodline, and said to the Ice Qilin:

"Brother Qilin, I've made a fool of myself. They were just some ants blocking the way. The real world outside is more exciting than this, and also more... dangerous."

He raised his head and looked toward the Ice Snow-drifting sky of the Extreme Cold Continent, his gaze sharp as an icicle.

"Let's go, Brother Qilin..."

...Deep within the palace of the Cold Python Tribe, a sky-shaking roar nearly flipped the ceiling.

The tribal leader, a sinister-looking old man, was surrounded by surging, violent ice Evil Qi. The temperature in the main hall plummeted to the freezing point.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!"

The leader's eyes were blood-red as he shattered the ice crystal throne beside him with a single palm strike.

"A mere Human Race ant of the Earth Venerable Realm not only crawled out of the Ice Abyss alive, but even killed my tribesmen on guard! This is a provocation! An insult to my Cold Python Tribe!"

The several Profound Venerable Realm tribesmen kneeling below trembled, burying their heads even lower, not daring to make a sound.

The Ice Abyss was a place where even the Ice River King dared not set foot. For ten thousand years, those who entered never returned, leaving not even bones!

How on earth did that human do it?

"Pass down the order!" The leader's voice was like a bone-scraping cold wind.

"All hunting teams, abandon other targets and search for this person with full strength!"

"Notify the other tribes. Anyone who discovers this person's tracks can receive one portion of our tribe's Cold Marrow!"

The command turned into an invisible cold current, instantly sweeping through the entire Cold Python Tribe.

Countless figures carrying killing intent charged into the vast ice plains and snowy ridges of the Extreme Cold Continent, weaving a giant web of death.

However, Di Juetian and the human-transformed Ice Qilin had already disappeared without a trace. The Extreme Cold Continent was extremely vast; finding one person in the vast sea of people was incredibly difficult.

In the Extreme Cold Continent, the territories of the various tribes were only one part. The rest were uninhabited regions, and some places even had powerful Yao Beasts.

"This world is, after all, too small."

The Ice Qilin suddenly spoke. He reached out his hand, letting a crystalline hexagonal snowflake land on his fingertip.

"A cage cannot trap a living being that yearns for freedom, whether it be for a thousand years or ten thousand years."

Di Juetian's gaze was solemn: "What Brother Qilin says is true. Once the matters here are settled, I will certainly take you to experience a wider world."

Several days later, in a glacial rift valley surrounded by giant ice peaks, a fierce fight broke the eternal silence.

"Senior Sister Zhong, Senior Sister Miao! Quickly take the Junior Brothers and Sisters and go! We'll cover the rear!"

A male Disciple, covered in blood, roared as he pushed the ice sword in his hand to its limit, slashing out a several-dozen-zhang-long frost Sword Qi that temporarily forced back two pursuing enemies who had lunged forward.

The Disciples behind him mostly had blood-stained clothes and disordered auras. Under the command of the leading Zhong Mu and Miao Yichan, they fought while retreating, struggling to fend off the pursuers from behind.

Those hunting them were warriors from a medium-sized tribe of the Extreme Cold Continent, the Frost Fang Tribe.

Leading them was a burly man of massive build holding a giant axe. The aura emanating from him had actually reached the Fifth Layer Heavenly Venerate Realm!

He alone firmly suppressed the joint efforts of Zhong Mu, Miao Yichan, and over ten others.

"Jie jie jie, little girls, surrender obediently! Offer up your Primordial Yin Essence Blood, and you might suffer less physical pain!"

The burly man grinned hideously, his giant axe sweeping across, sending a pale axe light hacking fiercely toward Zhong Mu's waist and abdomen.

Zhong Mu's face was deathly pale. The ice crystal longsword in her hand rapidly parried, but the massive force shattered her grip. The longsword wailed, and she was sent flying back like a broken kite, spitting out a mouthful of blood that stained the ice surface like striking red plums.

"Senior Sister Zhong!" Miao Yichan cried out. Disregarding her own safety, she mobilized all her spiritual power. Countless sharp ice prisms condensed out of thin air and shot toward the burly man like a rainstorm, attempting to win a moment of respite for Zhong Mu.

However, the burly man merely gave a disdainful cold snort, and those ice prisms shattered one after another.

"A mantis trying to stop a carriage!" Ferocious light flared in the burly man's eyes as he raised his giant axe again, locking onto the weakened Zhong Mu. "I'll slaughter you first!"

At this critical juncture, two figures appeared like ghosts on the ice peaks at the edge of the battlefield.

It was precisely Di Juetian and the Ice Qilin.

"Hmm? People from the Ice Palace?" Di Juetian's gaze swept over the scene below, and he instantly recognized Zhong Mu and Miao Yichan's attire, his brow furrowing slightly.

He did not see the familiar figures of Jiang Hua and Ice Snow.

His thoughts turned rapidly. Lin Wan was cultivating in the Ice Palace, and these people were her Senior Brothers and Sisters.

Although he was no pushover do-gooder, he was acquainted with the Ice Palace and had even been a guest there. The people of the Ice Palace had treated him well, and he had even obtained the peerless Divine Ability of the Ice Palace's ancestor, the Ice Emperor. How could he stand by and watch them die?

"A bunch of noisy bugs."

The Ice Qilin stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the chaotic battlefield below with indifferent eyes, as if watching a group of ants fighting. His tone carried a hint of annoyance at being disturbed.

To him, a Fifth Layer Heavenly Venerate was no different from those Profound Venerable Realm lackeys.

Di Juetian looked at the Ice Qilin: "Brother Qilin, they are my friends. That burly man with the axe leading them—I'll have to trouble you with him. The rest, leave to me."

He needed to test his strength at the Second Layer Earth Venerable Realm.