Stumbled into the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave, Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow!

He looked around; there was nothing but ice and snow, not even a single blade of grass.

"If I kick the bucket in this ice crevice, that would be too embarrassing..."

Xue Chen curled his lip. As a transmigrator who possessed twin martial souls, innate twentieth-level soul power, and had even been baptized by a lightning tribulation, it would be the joke of the century to die miserably of hunger or cold in a crack in the ice.

Better to rely on oneself than others.

He stood up again, brushed the ice shards off his backside, and his gaze turned resolute.

He carefully examined the bottom of the deep ice crevice; both directions extended into darkness, with no end in sight.

"I must find a way out myself!"

He stood where he was and looked back in the direction he had come from—the path he had tumbled down. Aside from the steep ice walls and piles of fallen snow, there seemed to be nothing else.

He turned his head to look forward, toward the direction where he had discovered that deep, dark opening.

Darkness swallowed everything. The unknown often meant danger, but it could also hide a way out.

"Time to gamble..."

Xue Chen took a deep breath of the frigid air, his eyes narrowing as he ceased all hesitation.

He chose to head forward, taking a step toward the unknown darkness.

Rather than sit and wait for death, it was better to actively seek a path.

Even if a den of tigers and wolves lay ahead, it was still better than being trapped to death in this desperate situation!

He moved forward cautiously, observing his surroundings with vigilance as he walked.

High above him, on the vast ice sheet far away.

Xiao Bai was still searching frantically and aimlessly. His massive bear paws raked through layer after layer of ice and snow, and his anxious roars echoed across the empty plains, but they were destined never to reach the deep underground.

Xue Chen held a flickering ball of blue lightning in his palm. Using this light—not bright, but steady enough—he trudged forward through the pitch-black bottom of the crevice.

All around him was ice that had remained frozen for eternity.

He didn't know how long he had been walking when he suddenly shivered, subconsciously pulling tight a coat that didn't exist.

"What the hell, what's going on..."

He couldn't help but curse under his breath, a look of uncertainty and shock appearing on his face.

The Far North was a forbidden zone of extreme cold, but ever since he had been adopted by the Snow Emperor as a child, he had never felt the sensation of cold.

Yet at this moment, he could clearly feel a... chill!

An extreme, biting cold that did not come from the external environment was becoming clearer and more intense as he moved forward.

This was highly unusual!

He stopped in his tracks and scanned his surroundings warily.

Aside from the lightning in his hand and the endless ice beneath his feet, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet, that formless chill continued to surge toward him.

After a moment of hesitation, his curiosity finally overcame his caution.

He gritted his teeth and continued to step forward.

After rounding a bend, the path ahead was no longer pure darkness.

A faint, pure blue light seeped from the depths of the crevice, illuminating the ice walls ahead until they were crystal clear.

The light was not blinding, but it carried an indescribable charm and... an even more piercing chill!

The ball of lightning in Xue Chen's hand seemed dim and restless against the backdrop of this blue glow.

"What is this...?"

The doubt in Xue Chen's heart reached its peak.

He dissipated the lightning in his hand and suppressed his own aura, becoming even more cautious, creeping toward the source of the blue light on tiptoe.

A narrow gap appeared ahead, wide enough for only one person to squeeze through sideways.

That alluring yet dangerous blue light was emanating from behind this fissure.

Xue Chen did not hesitate; he turned sideways and carefully squeezed through.

When his body had completely passed through the narrow gap and he saw the scene before him, he froze in place. His mouth fell open into a round "O" shape, and his pupils contracted violently from the sheer shock.

Before him lay a massive, naturally formed ice cavern!

The dome and walls of the cavern were no longer made of ordinary dark blue ice;

Instead, they were constructed entirely of a magical ice crystal that was crystal clear, with blue halos flowing slowly within!

And in the center of this cavern grew... yes, "grew" was the only way to describe it!

Clusters and stalks of strange matter, resembling giant crystal bamboo shoots or an inverted forest of ice crystals, hung from the ceiling and jutted up from the ground!

They were a purer, deeper shade of blue throughout.

They contained an unimaginably vast amount of energy and extreme cold; the blue light that permeated the entire space and the chill that made even Xue Chen tremble originated from them!

These ice crystals seemed to possess a life of their own, breathing silently while radiating an ancient and vast aura.

The entire ice cavern, due to the presence of these crystals, was as beautiful as a fairyland realm.

Xue Chen's mind buzzed as he recalled the Douluo novels he had read back on Blue Star.

"This... could this be... the legendary... Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow?!"

Xue Chen stood dazed at the entrance of the ice cavern, gazing at the wondrous sight composed of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow before him, his heart filled with incomparable shock.

Even though he was not an ice-attribute soul master, he could sense the preciousness and terrifying nature of this item from its extremely pure, frigid energy.

"Hiss—so cold!"

After a brief moment of distraction, that bone-deep chill struck him once more, making him shiver uncontrollably.

The temperature on the surface of his body was being rapidly stripped away, and fine white frost even began to condense on his skin.

"No! If this continues, I'll turn into an ice sculpture before I even find a way out!"

Xue Chen's heart tightened; he dared not delay any longer.

His thoughts raced, and the blood and qi within his body suddenly awakened, beginning to surge frantically!

"Hum!!!"

That strange origin soul ring circling his body flared with brilliant light without any conscious effort from Xue Chen!

The power of Xue Chen's blood and qi surged, mixing with the power of thunder to form an invisible barrier of warmth that tightly covered his skin.

"Whew—"

Xue Chen let out a long breath as warmth returned to his body and the frost on his skin quickly melted away.

He flexed his somewhat stiff fingers, inwardly marveling at the miraculous nature of this origin soul ring.

It not only granted him the ability to dragonize and control thunder but could also mobilize his own blood and qi, making it a perfect integration of offense and defense.

Having resisted the terrifying chill, Xue Chen's gaze turned greedily once more toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow emitting that blue light.

He stepped forward cautiously and reached out a finger, wanting to touch the nearest piece of Profound Ice Marrow.

Before his fingertip even made contact, an even more biting cold air traveled through the air toward him.

At the same time, the thunder soul power within his body produced an instinctive sense of repulsion, as if water and fire could not coexist.

Xue Chen's hand froze in mid-air, his brows knitting tightly together.

"This is troublesome..."

He muttered to himself, the look of excitement on his face gradually replaced by a touch of helplessness:

"This thing contains the most extreme ice-attribute origin energy, which is fundamentally at odds with my own thunder attribute!

If I were to forcibly absorb it, let alone increase my cultivation, I would likely trigger an immediate energy conflict and potentially explode to death!"

He stood before a mountain of treasure, yet he could not use any of it for himself.

This feeling was as agonizing as a starving man facing a grand feast, only to discover that every dish had been poisoned.