Chen Wuya had just tucked the yellowed sheet of paper into his robe when a tremor ran through the ice beneath his feet. He immediately looked up, and Bai Zhi and Mo Feng sensed something was wrong as well.
"Something's off," Chen Wuya said in a low voice, already taking half a step back.
Before his words had faded, the entire ice field exploded. Amid a deafening roar, the ground split as though cleaved by a massive axe. A bottomless chasm rapidly spread outward, swallowing the spot where they had just stood. The ice platform beneath the three of them snapped apart in an instant, its edges continuously collapsing as shards of ice plunged into the abyss, with no echo heard for a long while.
Atop a high cliff, a black figure slowly rose. The man wore an ash-black cloak and a metal mask engraved with rune patterns, revealing only a pair of icy eyes. He lifted a hand and pressed his palm against a protruding ice crystal, the corner of his mouth curling up.
"The mechanism has been triggered; the ice valley opens of its own accord." His voice was dry, like sand and gravel scraping together. "You won't make it out."
Standing on the swaying ice platform, Chen Wuya swiftly swept his gaze around. The path ahead had been severed, while the ice behind them was still cracking faster and faster. One moment later, they would all be swallowed.
"It's too late to jump." Mo Feng stared across the gap. The distance was at least twenty zhang; ordinary lightness skill could never carry them over.
One hand supporting her abdomen, Bai Zhi gripped her sword hilt with the other. Her gaze swept overhead, where she spotted several nearly transparent threads hanging from the cliff and connecting to distant