Who Did This Hand Belong To?

Although this place was near the border between Myanmar and Sichuan, and he had seen all kinds of bugs, he had never seen a centipede this huge. Its head was even bigger than his fist!

As Wang was reeling in shock, someone suddenly yanked him back. At that very moment, the centipede, which had been some distance away, lunged at them.

Its sharp mouthparts opened, spraying a jet of black liquid.

"Sizzle..."

The venom splattered onto the ground, immediately giving off a plume of black smoke as green bubbles bubbled up across the dirt. Seeing this, Wang's heart sank. If no one had pulled him back, that spray would have hit him right in the face.

Being disfigured would have been the least of his worries. He probably would have lost his life right there.

At the thought, he looked back and saw Xiong Tao behind him. Wang felt a little awkward, since he had just spent the last few moments mocking him.

Fortunately, this wasn't the time for pleasantries. The red-headed centipedes in the woods seemed to have caught the scent of some delicious food. They swayed as they crawled out of the forest one after another.

"Run!"

Xu Tong yelled, leading everyone back the way they had come.

But after only a few steps, Xu Tong and the others were dumbfounded. Behind them lay a pine grove and a stone pagoda, but this wasn't the route they had taken to get here.

Even more bizarrely, rows of monks' corpses sat neatly in the pine grove. They were just like the dried corpses they had seen outside, each one posed as if in prayer.

Anyone would have found the sight unsettling, but they had no time to dwell on it. The scuttling sounds behind them were enough to make their scalps crawl.

"This way!"

Yang Guanjin pointed ahead, in the direction all the monks were kneeling toward. If they were going to find what they were looking for, that seemed like the most likely place.

But when everyone looked, they saw no buildings there. There was only a narrow path, its destination unknown. Looking closely, they could see a deep ravine below.

The ravine was concealed beneath a thick canopy of trees. If they listened carefully, they could hear running water. Without looking closely, they would never have known there was such a hidden place here.

Yang Zixuan walked at the front, his palm open. A ball of light appeared in his hand, illuminating the area around them.

The farther they went into the valley, the darker it became. A faint, rotten smell lingered in the air, but strangely, the centipedes didn't seem to be following them down.

"Do you really think this place is some kind of blessed land?"

Looking at the path ahead, which seemed to have no end, Xiong Tao couldn't help voicing his doubts.

After all, whenever people thought of a blessed land, they pictured famous Daoist mountains like Wudang, Shaolin, Longhu, or Laojun—places that towered into the clouds and seemed close to the heavens.

So why was this Ascension Bureau leading them underground instead? It was more like some grave hidden from the light of day.

But no one could explain it to him.

By the time they finished talking, the five of them had reached the bottom of the ravine. A chill breeze swept over them, making them shiver. The temperature seemed to drop by more than ten degrees in an instant, as if they had walked into a freezer.

Yang Zixuan raised the orb of light in his hand and shone it ahead. Silver gleamed before them: a stream flowed out from between the cliffs, and icicles hung along both banks.

The temperature here was clearly far below normal. No wonder the centipedes hadn't followed them down.

After only a few steps, a thin layer of frost had already formed on their eyebrows.

"We can't go any farther. We need to find a way to warm up, or we might all get hypothermia."

Xu Tong called out to Yang Zixuan at the front. He and Xiong Tao both had powerful Prop Cards, but he, Wang, and Yang Guanjin did not.

The temperature was already below freezing, and their thin clothes weren't enough to keep their body heat in. If any of them started showing signs of hypothermia, they'd be in serious trouble.

"I have two sets of clothes. Put these on first."

At Xu Tong's words, Yang Zixuan took two slightly thicker outfits from the Prop Catalog and handed them over. Xu Tong gave one to Yang Guanjin and the other to Wang.

He himself put on the deerskin coat he had originally given to Yang Zixuan. It had gone all the way around, only to end up back with him in the end.

Once he had the coat on, he felt much warmer. With Yang Zixuan's bright orb lighting the way, Xu Tong scanned their surroundings. Then he suddenly noticed something and pulled Yang Zixuan a few steps forward.

Yang Zixuan aimed the light at the solid ice before them. Beneath the surface, the face of a woman appeared.

The two stared at each other. Yang Zixuan swallowed and lowered the orb. The woman was naked, and her pale skin was visible through the ice.

Before Yang Zixuan could reach down, Xu Tong grabbed his wrist and turned the light toward the other side.

But the ice there was the same. A young girl was frozen beneath its surface, and she seemed underage.

"Why are there women here too?"

Wang suddenly leaned over to look. His brow furrowed, and he cursed, "This place is some kind of cult hideout. They didn't even spare little kids."

"Stop talking nonsense. Let's keep moving. My Mystic Light Technique is about to run out."

Yang Zixuan pushed Xu Tong and Wang aside and urged them onward. Sure enough, they hadn't gone far before the light around them dimmed.

The Mystic Light Technique had clearly run out.

Fortunately, even without the Mystic Light Technique to light their way, the icicles ahead reflected a faint glow. Once their eyes adjusted, they could just barely make out the path.

The faint light refracted through the ice and reflected off the water. After passing through the water's surface, it gave the ice cave a strange, otherworldly appearance.

But what truly made them uneasy was that, with the light dimmer, they could see the women frozen inside the surrounding ice even more clearly. There was one every few steps.

The five of them had been following the path for an unknown length of time when the light ahead suddenly dimmed.

Even with their keen eyesight, they could only make out faint glimmers on the water's surface.

"There's a breeze up ahead, and it feels warm. We might be near the exit. Everyone, be careful. Hold hands, and don't let anyone get separated!"

Yang Zixuan walked at the front and took a deep breath. He could feel a warm current blowing from deep inside the cave ahead. The warmth was faint, but he could still feel it against his freezing face. It even tickled a little.

It was like having someone breathe warm air onto your face in the middle of winter, when the skin had gone white from the cold.

As he spoke, he reached back and took Yang Guanjin's hand. Yang Guanjin held Xiong Tao's, and Xiong Tao turned around and took Xu Tong's hand.

But when Xu Tong turned around and reached out to Wang behind him—

He suddenly froze.

Something felt wrong. He turned back to look at Wang.

In the darkness, the blurry figure slowly reached out toward him. Xu Tong felt around with his hand. It was... icy cold. He felt more carefully and found bits of ice clinging to the fingers.