Yue Xiaofei took the large bowl without a moment's hesitation, tipped back his head, and gulped down every drop of the fiery liquor.
A line of fire burned straight from his throat to his stomach, sending the blood and energy throughout his body surging wildly.
"Excellent!"
Zhao Mengsheng drained his bowl as well, then hurled it into the snow, smashing it to pieces.
He wiped the liquor from his beard, his gaze turning deadly serious as he lowered his voice.
"Xiaofei, your brother Yue Feng went in from here."
Zhao Mengsheng pointed toward the towering summit behind the camp, completely shrouded in thick white fog.
"He said he could smell the Heavenly Palace, and that your mother might be inside."
"Since then, there's been no word from the Heavenly Pool."
As Yue Xiaofei listened, the Emperor Engine inside him gave a deep, muffled roar.
He tightened his grip on the hilt at his waist, his gaze piercing the swirling snow to lock onto the deathly silent frozen lake at the summit.
Far above, in the heights of the sky untouched by the snowstorm's light, a faint aurora quietly rippled. Several cold, sinister gazes from beyond the Dragon Kingdom had already turned toward the snowfield.
The Heavenly Pool on Changbai Mountain.
Sixteen steep, snow-covered peaks surrounded an enormous expanse of ice.
The ice was an eerie dark cyan, like a vast bronze mirror reflecting the aurora gradually emerging in the sky.
The bitter wind howled, whipping the snow on the ground into billowing layers of white mist.
Yue Xiaofei stood at the edge of the Heavenly Pool, with several meters of solid ice beneath his feet.
He could clearly feel a bone-deep chill creeping upward through his soles, only to be instantly swept away when it touched the boiling dragon