Outside the mining range, the wind carried gravel and biting cold as it howled through the rolling mineral veins for countless years.
At the northeastern corner, the terrain rose sharply. An icy peak, like a long sword abandoned by the gods, thrust straight up from the vast earth into the heavens.
The entire peak had been forged from ten-thousand-year black ice, its surface coated in thick ice crystals that reflected a cold gleam beneath the sparse daylight. Its summit vanished into the roiling clouds, its razor-sharp outline seeming ready to punch a hole through the sky and spill down the scattered light of the Milky Way.
Halfway up the icy peak's cliff face, the patterns in the black ice were no different from those around it. Only upon drawing close could one detect the faintest trace of a formation's fluctuations lingering in the air.
A concealment formation lay over the cliff face like a veil of gauze, perfectly blending the cave entrance into its surroundings.
Using ice crystals as ink and the cliff face as paper, the formation's lines wound through the black ice. Runes flowed within it. Even if someone ignorant of formations wandered below the cliff for ten days, they would only take it for a naturally formed depression in the icy peak, never discovering this entrance that concealed hidden mysteries.
Pushing open the ice door concealed by the formation, a gust of wind mixed with dampness and cold rushed into his face.
The cave was not utterly dark. Scattered Han Yue Stones were embedded in the ice walls on either side, their pale blue halos flickering like fireflies and illuminating the winding stone steps that descended ahead.
The stone stairs had been carved from the rock within the icy peak. A thin layer of frost covered their