On the northern side of Extreme Eastern Ice City.
Just as the sun was setting, seven black-clad figures wearing cloaks over their heads and masks over their faces arrived before a magnificent shrine built entirely of ice.
This was Extreme Eastern Ice City's Zhenhai Shrine, a place for honoring the fallen forebears and ancestors of Zhenhai Kingdom.
Numerous fully armed soldiers stood guard here, and security was tight.
Yet these seven people of unknown origins brazenly walked through the temple gates and passed through as though no one were there.
Whatever Dharma Method they used, none of the surrounding soldiers noticed any trace of them.
Their leader was a woman with a voluptuous, graceful figure. Her mask obscured her features.
She walked at the front, and wherever she passed, all the shrine's restrictive spells remained unresponsive, as though they did not exist.
Only when they reached Zhenhai Shrine's rearmost courtyard did the black-clad woman abruptly stop before it.
She raised her head, gazing at the plaque above the courtyard gate with a complicated look. "Ahead is the Mind-Purification Courtyard. In past years, Mother would fast here for a day and a night whenever she came to honor our ancestors.
"The Grand Elder of Sea Sacrifices also often resides here. Barring any surprises, she will preside over this ancestral ceremony as well. She was born a hundred years after me, yet ranked alongside me on the Heavenly Ranking. She retired at ninety-second place, but her strength extends far beyond that. You must be exceedingly careful."
As the black-clad woman spoke, she deliberately employed an ice-sealing method, freezing her voice within a five-foot radius.
"We know all this. We certainly won't underestimate this great expert of your Ice City-"
It was a woman's voice, coming from the black-clad woman's left, from a