The silver-gray passage within the Interlayer stretched endlessly beneath Xu Wuyi's feet. He did not keep track of time, relying only on the coordinates on Fang Yan's Data Pad and the residual energy traces along the way to determine his direction. The energy residue from the shattered cores was still distinguishable on the Interlayer's inner walls, like a corridor that had been traversed repeatedly.
The ice-blue patterns on the Order Tree's leaves gradually stabilized. The Frost Rule fragments had been fully digested and integrated into the overall workings of the canopy. As he traveled, he sensed that his body temperature was slightly lower than normal. It was not coldness, but an automatic adaptation to low-temperature environments. Those Frost Rules were making his body better at resisting the cold.
He emerged from the Interlayer near the second node marked on the Data Pad. The solid ground beneath his feet was a rocky celestial body, roughly two hundred kilometers in diameter. Its surface was covered in a dark-gray hardened shell riddled with cracks, with no trace of ice or vegetation. He stood on its surface for a while and extended his senses downward. Several kilometers below the rock layer was a hollowed-out space. The energy fluctuations coming from within were heavy and slow, completely unlike the Ice-Shell Lord's sharp chill.
He followed the cracks across the celestial body's surface toward its center. With every step on the rock, he could feel the shell beneath his feet gradually thinning. At last, he stopped at the edge of a crack several meters wide. It extended deeper than his senses could directly reach, and a muffled, rhythmic vibration rose from below—like some enormous creature breathing or chewing slowly.
Xu Wuyi did not hesitate. He stepped directly into the crack, his body dropping swiftly along its