The Ice Cave of Despair

Sensing several approaching presences, Lin Xiao stopped what he was doing and stood up.

A figure in blue emerged from behind a small iceberg not far away and asked:

"Young man, digging a hole here won't get you out."

Hearing the voice, Lin Xiao turned his head and saw that the person in blue who was speaking looked quite young, with a very upright appearance. He looked to be in his early twenties and had a cultivation level of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement Refining.

Seeing that he thought he was digging a hole to get out, Lin Xiao didn't explain, but simply followed the other person's words and asked:

"Really? How do we get out then?"

The man in blue smiled helplessly and shook his head, saying:

"If I had known, I wouldn't still be stuck in this godforsaken place. There's nothing here but these icebergs and empty buildings. Now that we're trapped, it's impossible to gather resources in the first three days. Sigh, it seems we can only wait for the exit to open in fifteen days and be automatically sent out..."

Lin Xiao was about to speak when another voice came from nearby:

"It's probably impossible to wait until it's automatically transmitted after fifteen days."

The two who were talking just now looked over when they heard the sound, and saw a young Qi Refining cultivator dressed in red with silver patterns walk out. This person was at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement Refining, just like the person in blue. However, his face looked a bit more youthful than the person in blue, as if he had just turned twenty.

The man in blue was somewhat surprised to see the person in red with silver patterns.

"Heavenly Profound Sect?"

That Heavenly Profound Sect bowed to the two of them and said:

"Hu Guanyu of the Heavenly Profound Sect."

Lin Xiao and the blue-robed cultivator also introduced themselves. It turned out that the blue-robed cultivator's name was Jiang Cheng.

After exchanging names, Jiang Cheng asked curiously:

"I wonder what Brother Hu meant by that just now?"

Upon hearing his question, Hu Guanyu replied with a serious expression:

"You have only been in Yuanling City for a short time, and you may not know that some areas of this Icefield Mystic Realm that are not marked on the map are said to be not because they have not been explored yet, after all, this secret realm has existed for more than a hundred years."

It's not that people didn't want to take the information out of these unrecorded areas of the secret realm, but rather that no one who entered these areas could take any information out of them.

"If this is true, what should we do..." Upon hearing this, a hint of tension and panic appeared on Jiang Cheng's originally calm face.

Lin Xiao asked, somewhat puzzled:

"If this is true, then why hasn't any news leaked out? If that's the case, wouldn't many cultivators disappear every year after the secret realm closes? Wouldn't this kind of deduction reveal the dangers within the secret realm?"

Hu Guanyu glanced at him with some surprise, then shook his head and replied:

"Young brother, you must be someone who has been confined at home for many years and rarely goes out to train. You may not know this, but every year at least tens of thousands of cultivators enter this Icefield Mystic Realm. But do you know how many people are left when the secret realm closes? Less than two-thirds."

Of these one-third, the vast majority died in battles with other cultivators. Those of us who were unlucky enough to enter this unexplored area are a tiny fraction. After the secret realm closed, they didn't leave, and everyone will assume they also perished in battles within the realm. No one will know they died in dire straits."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Cheng, who was standing to the side, asked him rather nervously:

"How did you find out?"

Hu Guanyu then pulled out a piece of white cloth from his pocket, on which were written large amounts of text. He said:

"Because I found this among the remains here yesterday."

He handed the white cloth to Lin Xiao and Jiang Cheng.

"This piece of cloth must have entered here sometime before this year; it briefly describes what happened after it arrived."

Lin Xiao took the white cloth and, together with Jiang Cheng who had come up, looked down at it.

It turns out that this white cloth was a final letter written by a Foundation Establishment cultivator named Yuan Zhonghe.

He said that he appeared in this ice cave after entering the secret realm. He tried everything he could, and even joined forces with other people who had entered the cave like him, but they still couldn't find any way out.

As time went by, they gradually gave up their futile efforts and decided to just wait for the fifteenth day to be teleported out of the secret realm.

Unexpectedly, fifteen days passed, and they still showed no signs of being informed of their whereabouts, remaining trapped in the enormous ice cave.

Until three days later, at some point, whether it was day or night, I couldn't tell.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold emanated from the ice cave, a coldness that even these Foundation Establishment cultivators found extremely biting.

The chill was extremely strange. No matter how much Spiritual Power everyone used to warm themselves, it was useless. The chill seemed to have penetrated into everyone's soul, and it grew stronger day by day.

A group of Foundation Establishment cultivators were frozen in the ice cave, their lips turning purple, their teeth chattering, and they even started shivering.

And so, the temperature in the ice cave dropped lower and lower day by day. Many Qi Refining cultivators with lower cultivation levels had already died, and even some Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivators were frozen solid. Only a few Foundation Establishment Middle and Late Stages were still barely clinging to life.

Yuan Zhonghe anticipated that he might die here, so he mustered his last strength to write this final letter.

At the end of his suicide note, he wrote that if any kind-hearted person read this note, and if anyone in the future had the ability to escape this terrifying ice cave, he hoped they could help take his ashes out to his son and tell him of his death.

After reading it, Lin Xiao felt a little uneasy, but he didn't show it on his face.

However, Jiang Cheng, standing to the side, looked terrified, his eyes momentarily glazed over as he murmured:

"These Foundation Establishment cultivators all perished here... does that mean that entering this place is tantamount to certain death...?"

Seeing his dejected and fearful state, Hu Guanyu stood up straight and said:

"Seniors are seniors, and I am me. No matter what you think, I will never accept that this small ice cave in the secret realm can trap me. My life will never end here!"

Anyway, I've already told you the message left by Senior Yuan. You can decide what to do yourselves. I'm leaving now.

With that, he turned and left, then, as if remembering something, he turned back and reached out his hand to Lin Xiao, who was holding the suicide note:

"You need to return this suicide note to me. I still need to take Senior Yuan's remains out to inform his son."

Lin Xiao found this man quite interesting. After handing the white cloth back, he asked him again:

Where are you headed?

Hu Guanyu then said:

"Naturally, we must find a way out."

How do you plan to search?