When the ice layer cracked open before Gu Linyuan, it made no sound at all.
The edges of the fissure were smooth as a mirror, as though sliced cleanly by an invisible blade. Not even a shard of ice had fallen away.
The opening stretched downward, leading straight to somewhere deep beneath the ice. Profound darkness surged from the crack, carrying a warm, pure aura. There was no sound of wind, only a faint hum echoing from deep within the earth, like the lingering resonance of a plucked string trembling somewhere far away.
Gu Linyuan did not hesitate and stepped into the fissure.
Emerald light spread from beneath his feet like a soft carpet of radiance unfurling through the darkness, supporting every step and steadily carrying him into the depths of the abyssal rift.
Ice Empress and Snow Empress exchanged a glance without speaking, then followed one after the other. Ah Yin walked last, pale golden light flowing around her and trailing behind her in a long, slender streak, like an elongated wisp of starlight in the night sky, continuously shining within the dark fissure.
The ice walls on either side of the crack became smoother as they descended, gradually changing from rough ice into a nearly glass-like transparent structure.
Fine silver specks were embedded within the ice walls, like fragments of stars frozen deep in the ice. They flickered faintly as the four passed by, their shifting light carrying a softness worn dull by time.
Ice Empress paused for a moment. Her jade-green eyes fixed on the silver specks in the ice wall for a long while before she started walking again.
Her brows furrowed slightly, as if she were trying to identify something familiar yet difficult to confirm. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.