When Tian Yueqing entered the Frozen Hell, she shivered. The cold here was different from the chilling cold of the Undead Realm; it was a bone-chilling cold that could freeze bones, and even her breath instantly turned into ice shards. She quickly circulated the fire attribute Chakra within her body, and a faint layer of flames rose around her, which made her feel a little better.
Looking around, all that could be seen was a vast expanse of white ice. Countless grotesque creatures were frozen in the ice, including armored beasts, winged birds, and even a few figures that looked like humans, holding weapons frozen solid.
"There are probably some good things hidden in this ice." She took out a small bronze stove from her bosom, threw in a fire crystal, and warm flames immediately spewed out from the stove. She carried the bronze stove forward, and wherever the flames passed, the ice began to melt, revealing the minerals that might be hidden inside.
Beneath a massive layer of ice, she discovered a delightful surprise—an ice demon beast frozen into an ice sculpture, with a blue crystal embedded in its heart, emitting a faint glow within the ice. " Ice Soul Crystal!" Tian Yueqing's eyes lit up; this thing could greatly enhance the power of Ice Release Ninjutsu, making it extremely rare.
Just as she was about to melt the ice with her flames, a crack suddenly appeared in the ice surface, and a ghost general covered in ice armor emerged from the crack, thrusting his ice spear with a whooshing sound, "Dare to touch the treasures of Ice Hell? You're asking for death!"
Tian Yueqing dodged to the side, and the flames in the bronze furnace suddenly surged, transforming into a fire dragon that coiled around the Ghost General's ice spear. The ice spear began to melt upon contact with the fire, and the Ghost General roared, unleashing an ice blade with his other hand, aiming straight for Tian Yueqing's face. Unperturbed, she took out a talisman from her sleeve and affixed it to the ice blade. "Fire Talisman - Explode!"
The flames from the exploding talisman instantly engulfed the ice blade, and the aftershocks forced the Ghost General to retreat repeatedly. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tian Yueqing rushed to the ice layer, pressed his palm against the ice surface, and continuously poured in fire attribute Chakra. The ice layer melted at a visible speed, revealing the alluring Ice Soul Crystal.
"Thank you for the gift." She clutched the crystal core in her hand, intending to retreat, but then noticed that the ice beneath her feet was cracking extensively, and countless ice demons were emerging from the fissures. The ice blades in her hands gleamed coldly in the moonlight. Tian Yueqing looked at the increasing number of demons and suddenly smiled—her sealing Ninjutsu finally had a chance to shine.
The ice beneath their feet cracked even more violently, the "crackling" sounds like countless ice knives sharpening in their ears. The freshly melted ice water, before it could even flow away, was frozen into fine ice shards by the surrounding frigidity. These shards flew up with the sound of the ice demon beast emerging, stinging their faces. Tian Yueqing, clutching the Ice Soul Crystal Ice Soul Crystal, took two steps back, placed it in her spatial ring, and clapped her hands together. The ice shards on her palms instantly evaporated into white mist from her body heat. "I'd heard that the Frozen Hell was teeming with ghosts, but I didn't expect it to be such a 'lively gathering'—perfect timing! My sealing array is incredibly powerful; I desperately need strong individuals to test it."
The first ice demon beast had already pounced upon her. It was half a head shorter than the demon general she had just seen, its entire body covered in bluish-gray ice armor, its claws sharp like icicles, and it spewed out a cloud of white vapor from its mouth, instantly freezing the broken ice on the ground into solid blocks. Tian Yueqing didn't dodge; instead, she took half a step forward, activating a fire-attribute rune array. Chakra surged from the soles of her feet into the ground, and the ice within half a zhang of her feet hissed and emitted white smoke. The chilling vapor spewed by the demon beast dissipated as soon as it reached her.
"Is that all you've got?" She scoffed, reaching into her robes with her left hand and pulling out three yellow talismans. Chakra coiled around her fingertips as she flicked the talismans, and they whooshed into the air, circling before landing on the ice to her left, right, and behind. The moment the talismans touched the ground, the cinnabar patterns on them lit up, and three beams of red light emerged, forming a triangle above her head before spreading outwards. Where the red light passed, dense runes appeared on the ice, like a giant net, trapping the surging ice demons within.
" Adamantine Sealing Formation, activate!" Tian Yueqing formed hand Hand Seals and pushed forward. The runes on the ground suddenly sank, causing the ice layer in the entire circle to sink half a foot. The ice demon beasts that had just emerged suddenly lost their footing and plummeted downwards, howling. Some tried to jump out, but were bounced back as soon as they touched the red light net, their ice armor even burning black marks.
"Not bad, right?" She clapped her hands, about to check the quality of the Ice Soul Crystal, when suddenly a loud "boom" came from behind her—the Ghost General-level expert she had just repelled was still alive. Its ice spear was broken in half, and its other hand was gripping a millstone-sized ice boulder, which it was about to smash into her back. Tian Yueqing, with her sharp ears, heard the sound and dodged to the side. The ice boulder smashed into the spot where she had just stood, cracking the edge of the sealing array. Several small ice ghosts seized the opportunity to crawl out from the crack, raising ice blades to slash at her legs.
Tian Yueqing ducked to dodge the ice blade, reached for her waist with her right hand, pulled out a palm-sized metal box, and threw it to the ground. " Space Sealing Armor, combine!" The box exploded with a crack, and countless blue-green armor plates flew up, climbing up her arms and legs, and in the blink of an eye, they assembled into a set of armor—the same kind as Tian Uguisu's previous set, with sealing runes engraved on the armor plates and a crimson gem embedded in her chest, which glowed hot upon contact with her fire attribute Chakra.
Just as she finished donning her armor, the little ice demons pounced on her, their ice blades clanging against the armor without leaving even a white mark. Tian Yueqing kicked the first one away, sending it flying into the Ghost Commander behind her. The Ghost Commander grunted, glaring at her and cursing, "Despicable human, you actually had a backup plan!"
"So what if I hide it? It's better than you savages hitting someone on the back of the head with ice stones." Tian Yueqing raised an eyebrow, reached for the bronze furnace, and threw in another fire crystal. The flames at the furnace opening leaped up half a foot high. She grabbed the furnace handle and slapped it at the Ghost General. The Ghost General raised his broken spear to block, but the flames licked the spear shaft, and the originally cold shaft instantly emitted white smoke, which then spread from the shaft to his hand. The Ghost General was so frightened that he quickly dropped the broken spear, took two steps back, and his eyes were filled with shock and anger. "What exactly is the origin of your flames?"
"A power that can burn your soul to ashes!" Tian Yueqing chased after it, slamming the bronze furnace into its chest. The Ghost General screamed as a hole burned through its ice armor, black blood mixed with ice shards flowing out. It turned to try and disappear into the ice crevice, Tian Yueqing gave it no chance. She stomped her left foot on the sealing array on the ground, and the red light within the array suddenly tightened, binding the Ghost General's legs. She took another step forward, placing her hand on the back of the Ghost General's neck, channeling Chakra into its body through her palm. "Seal!"
The patterns on the talisman crawled along her hand onto the Ghost General's body, instantly binding him into a "talisman man." The Ghost General was unable to move, only able to howl. Before long, he was enveloped by the talisman and sank into the ground, finally disappearing into the ice with a "plop," leaving only an ice pit imprinted with runes—this was the true power of the Adamantine Sealing Formation, not only able to encircle, but also able to seal individual powerful beings into the ground, preventing them from jumping around wildly.
Just as they dealt with the Ghost General, the surrounding ice suddenly cracked even more violently. This time, it wasn't a small crack; it was splitting from all directions towards the center. The cold air emanating from the cracks was ten times colder than before. A thin layer of ice formed on Tian Yueqing's Earth Spirit Armor, and the gem on her chest shone even brighter, barely managing to block the cold air. She frowned and looked towards the cracks—five enormous creatures, each half a head taller than the Ghost General, were crawling out of the cracks. Each was covered in deep blue ice armor, and their weapons were different: some wielded ice blades, some held ice hammers, and one had an ice chain wrapped around its hand, the end of which was an ice claw.
"The Five Great Demon Kings?" Tian Yueqing's heart skipped a beat—she had previously read about the Frozen Hell in ancient texts in the Shinobi World, which said that five demon kings guarded this place, each in charge of one of the five ice plains in the east, west, south, north, and center. She never expected to encounter them all today. The demon king wielding the ice blade was the most impatient; he had barely crawled out when he charged forward with his blade raised. The wind from his blade carried a chilling aura, freezing the sealing array on the ground into a layer of frost, and dimming the red light of the runes.