On the second day at the Ice Sea, the wind was far fiercer than it had been the day before.
A gale blew in from the north, carrying fine shards of ice that struck the face like needles. Shen Xiu stood atop the icy cliff before the tent, staring at the gray-white horizon in the distance, his brow creasing almost imperceptibly. He could sense an exceedingly faint vibration coming from deep within the ice on the wind. It was not the sound of cracks naturally spreading, but a rhythmic pulse, like an enormous heart slowly beating beneath the ice. The pulse was so faint as to be nearly undetectable, yet within the sensory network he had linked with the power of lightning, it was as distinct as someone beating a drum beside his ear.
Liu Qingyan poked her head out of the tent. Seeing Shen Xiu standing motionless on the ice cliff and gazing into the distance, she wrapped her cloak tighter and walked over to stand beside him. Following his gaze, she saw nothing unusual on the distant ice sheet. Only several deep-blue fissures stretched beneath the sunlight, like the palm lines of the earth.
"What is it?" Liu Qingyan asked.
Shen Xiu was silent for a moment before saying, "Something is moving beneath the ice."
Liu Qingyan froze slightly and lowered her gaze to the ice beneath their feet. The ice was crystalline and transparent; she could see cracks and air bubbles several zhang deep below, but farther down lay a murky blue-black darkness where nothing could be made out. Instinctively, she took half a step back, then stopped herself. "What is it?"
"I don't know." Shen Xiu shook his head. "But it's huge. Much larger than the deep-sea demonic beast we encountered by the shore. It's moving