Enemies on a Narrow Road!

The lingering fragrance of the seafood feast still curled through the icy sea, slow to fade. The spirit fire crackled, casting warm orange-red light onto the dark-blue ice walls around them and refracting dreamlike halos. Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they sat around the bonfire and each entered a state of rest and recovery.

Murong Taxue leaned back against the ice wall, her slender body wrapped in a plain white cloak, her ice-blue longsword laid across her knees. Her breathing was long and distant; with every inhale and exhale, she slowly drew the Ice Element Law drifting through the frigid air into her body, mending the hidden injuries left by battle after battle. Tu Jiao sat cross-legged on the other side, her coldly beautiful eyes half closed, her short blade stabbed into the solid ice before her. Flickering firelight reflected on the edge of the blade. A faint layer of Primordial Qi coiled around her, merging with the cold air and turning into a strange blue-red mist.

Lin Qingxuan, meanwhile, took out a jade slip and pressed it to the spot between her brows, sinking her divine sense into it to nourish her damaged meridians.

Shi Jingtian was even more direct. He lay sprawled on his back across the ice, the Mountain Shaker Staff pillowed behind his head, his mouth slightly open, snoring like thunder. The sound of his snores echoed through the ice valley, actually carrying a peculiar rhythm, shaking loose fine ice dust from the crystals on the walls.

Lu Changsheng sat cross-legged at the very center of the spirit array, his eyes half closed, his aura steady. But he had not fallen asleep. With a thought, he took from his Cosmic Bag the beast-hide spirit array scroll he had obtained from the second floor