Su Jiu glanced at the barrier and immediately understood why Sect Master Yan and the others had done this. "Are you afraid the cold air inside will escape?"
Yan Yan nodded. "The cold air in here is immense. If we don't seal it, it will invade Medicine King Valley in just two days."
This time, Su Jiu was surprised. "It's that powerful?"
Yan Yan sighed. "Why else would no one have set foot on the second level in ten thousand years?
"Even while exploring the first level, we used up a great deal of cold-resistant medicine. Yet despite that, we still lost many people. Later, the sect explicitly decreed that no one below the Nascent Soul stage was permitted to approach this place."
Sect Master Yan smiled gently and took a map from his Storage Bag, handing it to the two before him. "Please don't blame my junior brother and junior sister for being harsh. It truly hasn't been easy for Medicine King Valley to survive to this day.
"Especially with the changes in the natural formations outside to contend with, people inevitably grow restless, their hearts tossed about like drifting waves.
"This map represents the painstaking efforts of all our sect's cultivators over ten thousand years. What it depicts is the first level of the Ice-Melting Cave."
Su Jiu saw many routes marked on the map, along with a few red and green dots.
Su Jiu pointed at the markings on the map. "What are these?"
"The jade slips left by our predecessors recorded that this cavern contains many nodes. The node you seek is only one of them. There are far more nodes of other kinds.
"These nodes come in all shapes and forms. Some are harmful, and some are harmless. Those marked on the map have all