The wind and snow still howled, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. Chen Wuya walked at the front without slowing. He could feel the system vibrating within him, as though something were tugging at his true qi.
Bai Zhi followed close behind, her left hand pressed against her abdomen, her fingertips tightening slightly. She said nothing, but her breathing had grown heavier than before. Mo Feng walked to the right, his mechanical instrument already activated, the points of light on its screen constantly flickering.
"The energy source is intensifying," Mo Feng said in a low voice. "It isn't ordinary geothermal energy. Its frequency matches the demonic qi in the poison arrows."
Chen Wuya nodded. He looked ahead. A gash had split open across the once-flat snowfield, its jagged edges like something had forcibly torn it apart. The air above the fissure warped, and light passing through it broke in and out, like ripples on water.
"That is the Ice Abyss Rift." Bai Zhi spoke softly. "I've seen records of something similar. Rifts like this do not form naturally."
"It was made by human hands." Mo Feng stared at his instrument. "Someone used external force to pry open a node in the earth veins and draw out the Heart of Extreme Cold's energy."
Chen Wuya clenched his fist. The Royal Seal mark on his palm began to burn again. A line abruptly appeared in the Misaligned Practice Connects to Spirit system:
[High-dimensional energy interference detected. Spacetime structure unstable.]
He did not read it aloud, merely raised a hand in signal. The other two immediately stopped.
"There's something wrong inside," he said. "The system warns that the Misaligned Force may go out of control."
Bai Zhi frowned. "Can you still circulate it now?"
"We'll only know if