Great Xia Dynasty, Ji Clan West Mansion, within an unknown mountain range.
This mountain was somewhat different from its surroundings.
Although it appeared as lush and verdant as the neighboring peaks, anyone who truly entered it would discover that its temperature was noticeably lower than that of the surrounding mountains.
Though this mountain stood only two or three thousand meters tall and did not reach the snow line, its summit was covered in snow year-round. Even during the scorching summer, not a trace of ice or snow melted. It was as though all the heat radiated by the Sun Emperor had been absorbed by something.
Over countless years, the ice atop the mountain had even accumulated to a thickness of several hundred meters.
But today, this mountain, unchanged for countless years, underwent a transformation.
"Crack!!"
First, a massive fissure appeared in the ice layer atop the mountain. It was as though this crack had completely severed the mountain's strange nature, instantly making the entire peak's aura utterly different from before.
"Crack!" "Crack!" "Crack, crack!"...
That first fissure was merely the trigger. Soon afterward, the mountain's several-hundred-meter-thick layer of ice continued to split apart, the cracks growing larger and larger. In the end, rumbling sounds rang out continuously as sheets of ice broke away and slid down the mountain.
Then, a faint red glow shone through the cracks in the ice. As the fissures widened, the red light grew ever more dazzling and brilliant.
"Crack!"
At last, all the red light transformed into crimson radiance and burst forth. The ice layer covering the mountain shattered completely, and accompanied by a clear Phoenix Cry, a Phoenix rushed out from within the mountain. Its entire body glimmered with rosy light, scarlet from head to toe, as though it had emerged bearing a vast