After searching for ages without finding the problem, Wu Shaozhen said bluntly, "Old Teng, smash every ice sculpture in this Ice Palace for me..."
"Say, Dust Boy, back on the Netherworld Continent, you killed every living thing you saw. What, now you won't even spare ice sculptures?" Old Teng asked, his eyes wide.
"Cut the crap and smash them..." Wu Shaozhen said, exasperated.
"Fine, you're the boss. If you say smash them, I'll smash them. With someone that powerful backing you, I can't afford to offend you..." Old Teng said helplessly.
A series of crashes followed as Old Teng smashed every enormous ice sculpture to pieces, scattering ice chips all over the floor...
The three searched again but still found nothing. These really were ice sculptures, with nothing suspicious about them...
"Let's keep looking around..." Wu Shaozhen said helplessly. Since they weren't going in circles, they had to find a way out eventually...
The three headed toward the passage again, but as they left, Yuan Mie casually picked up a fragment of an ice sculpture...
After they left, the fragments on the floor suddenly flew into the air and rapidly assembled themselves into ice sculptures.
Soon, twelve lifelike ice sculptures stood there again, exactly as they had been before they were smashed. The only difference was that a small piece seemed to be missing from the tail of a giant tiger sculpture...
The three people and one snake began another circuit, but this time, whenever they entered an Ice Palace, Wu Shaozhen had Old Teng destroy one or two sculptures. He wanted to see whether they would really come back...
After walking for another half hour or so, they arrived at another Ice Palace...
After their usual search, Wu Shaozhen was just about to have Old Teng destroy the sculptures.