Wood Release Adds Fuel to the Fire, Great Buddha Wrapped in Susanoo

After resting briefly, the two prepared to set out, first heading to obtain the Secret Realm's opportunity.

Ye Chen crouched down and glanced back at Lan Lengshuang.

Lan Lengshuang did not understand what Ye Chen meant. "What are you doing...?"

"Get on. Stop dawdling." Ye Chen felt completely helpless. Wasn't this girl pretty clever before?

How did she suddenly become stupid?

"I'm not getting on..."

"You can't keep up with my speed. Get on, quick!" Ye Chen grew somewhat angry. At a time like this, they had to race against every second.

They had already wasted quite a bit of time resting earlier.

What if those natives get there first...

Seeing that Ye Chen was getting angry, Lan Lengshuang could only do as he said.

She awkwardly wrapped her arms around Ye Chen's neck from behind.

Ye Chen immediately grabbed Lan Lengshuang by the thighs with both hands. "Stop dawdling!"

Lan Lengshuang's entire face flushed bright red.

It had to be said that carrying Lan Lengshuang on his back was much more convenient than carrying her in his arms.

It also gave them more bodily contact, making it better for keeping warm.

However, neither Ye Chen nor Lan Lengshuang noticed that someone was following them several hundred meters behind!

That person was none other than Yan Feng, who had disappeared earlier. He had planted a tracker on Ye Chen and Lan Lengshuang, so as long as he maintained a proper distance from them, he could jump out and kill Ye Chen once they obtained the treasure.

Wouldn't Lan Lengshuang then be entirely at his mercy?

Ye Chen and Lan Lengshuang had no idea that someone was following behind them.

Meanwhile, in the native village on the other side—

"Village Chief, the Secret Realm has opened, hasn't it?"

"Yes. Our clan's mission is to guard the treasure. Generation after generation, there were thousands of us, so why has this generation... been reduced to a tiny village like ours?"

The man known as the Village Chief held a little cane in his hand and spoke weakly.

"I don't know whether people like us can protect the treasure..."

The Village Chief let out a long sigh.

He looked at the dozen or so clansmen remaining at his side, wanting to speak but stopping himself.

"Village Chief, what's there to fear? Aren't they just a few outsiders? I, A-Da, will take some people and kill them!"

A burly native spoke proudly.

Judging from the aura radiating from him, he possessed the strength of the Awakened Seventh Realm.

"Alas, I suppose that's all we can do." The Village Chief closed his eyes and sighed.

"A-Da, take Xiao Er and A-San with you and go kill them."

"Yes!" A-Da was overjoyed upon receiving the Village Chief's order.

The Village Chief handed the Secret Realm Key to A-Da. "Follow the direction indicated by this Compass and wait for those people to arrive!"

"Remember, staying alive is what matters..."

A-Da nodded indifferently, then turned and left with the other two.

Two people in the Awakened Sixth Realm and one in the Seventh Realm.

All of them had survived in such a harsh environment.

Their physical bodies were extraordinarily strong as well. After all, they had to hunt Sea Beasts for food.

They even had to face ice-explosion bears, mutated forms of polar bears.

Across the boundless glaciers, Ye Chen carried Lan Lengshuang step by step toward their destination.

He had no idea how long he had been walking. After all, his phone had already frozen and shut down.

Finally, just as Ye Chen's strength was about to give out, he saw a massive Palace in the distance.

Ye Chen dropped to his knees as if all the strength had been drained from his body. He panted heavily while gazing at the miraculous-looking Palace in the distance.

"Ye Chen, we found it!" Lan Lengshuang climbed down from Ye Chen's back and said happily as she hugged him.

She completely forgot about maintaining her usual aloof image.

What Lan Lengshuang did not know was that Ye Chen's legs had practically lost the ability to move.

"Let's rest for a while first." Ye Chen spoke with difficulty.

Only then did Lan Lengshuang realize that something was wrong with him. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little cold. My feet seem to have frozen..."

Although Lan Lengshuang transferred Spiritual Power to Ye Chen, she was an Ice Element user herself.

Having remained at zero degrees for so long, Ye Chen would have been unable to endure it without his powerful body.

Lan Lengshuang finally reacted and remembered everything.

She hurriedly took off her coat and wrapped it around Ye Chen. "Ye Chen... how are you? Are you all right?!"

Ye Chen's consciousness gradually blurred. "Cold..."

"Cold..."

Seeing Ye Chen's condition, Lan Lengshuang gritted her teeth and directly embraced him.

The frigid world suddenly began to snow at that moment.

After an unknown amount of time, Lan Lengshuang could no longer withstand the chill either.

The two of them drifted into an unconscious sleep.

"Today's lottery reward has arrived. You have obtained the Zanpakutō Ryūjin Jakka."

The system's voice rang out, but Ye Chen had already passed out.

The system could only helplessly say, "What a hassle..."

Then the golden little sphere sank into Ye Chen's chest.

At the same time, a warm current flowed out from Ye Chen's heart.

A long blade appeared in Ye Chen's hand.

A scorching aura surged forth, wrapping Ye Chen and Lan Lengshuang together.

"Alas, this system isn't a nanny..."

The system muttered under its breath, then vanished.

A moment later, feeling the searing heat radiating from his body, Ye Chen finally woke from his coma.

Ye Chen shook his groggy head and suddenly realized that someone was lying on his chest.

Ye Chen froze. "Hey, niece!"

Lan Lengshuang was sleeping soundly. In this frozen wasteland, sleeping while hugging a furnace was simply too wonderful!

Ye Chen swallowed and patted Lan Lengshuang's cheek.

"Niece..."

But Lan Lengshuang did not move at all. In truth, she had been continuously sending Spiritual Power to Ye Chen. Although the amount was not much, she was only at the Third Realm, and her Spiritual Power had already run dry. She was exhausted.

Helpless, Ye Chen stood up, took a set of spare clothes from his Storage Ring, and tore them into strips of cloth.

He carried Lan Lengshuang on his back and tied her in place with the cloth strips.

Ye Chen examined the changes in his body, as well as the long blade he had been holding earlier.

"Ryūjin Jakka..." Ye Chen murmured.

He gave a bitter laugh. "This system really treats me well. It can even get me something like this."

"Can you at least say whether it can keep us warm?"

Ye Chen did not respond, and the system said nothing more.

As Ye Chen studied the enormous Palace before him, he suddenly spoke.

"Thanks, system."

Although his eyes remained fixed on the Palace, he was thanking the system. That move shocked even the system, which had been secretly watching him the whole time.

"You're welcome," the system replied.

As the strongest Zanpakutō of the Fire Element, even holding it in his hand allowed him to feel its searing heat.

"Are you planning to have me use Deep Forest Emergence and then add Flame Hell on top of it?" Ye Chen had begun to feel that the direction things were taking was becoming stranger and stranger.

Not to mention Hashirama's Wood Release, which was already enough to give him a foothold in this world.

And now this long blade had been added as well...

These were existences whose combat strength stood at the pinnacle of two different worlds.

"Wood plus fire—what's the problem?" the system said leisurely.

Then it muttered inwardly, If you hadn't come to this wretched place, I would much rather have seen Great Buddha wrapped in Susanoo first...