Shi Yan and the other stood three thousand meters away, gazing at the fractured glacier with grave expressions.

Nearby, dozens of scattered martial artists were present—like Shi Yan and his companion, they had been forced to retreat under the threat of the Four Great Powers.

Human nature was greedy; even knowing they might gain nothing, these people were unwilling to leave, holding onto a shred of luck, always believing they were different and might uncover the glacier's secret.

"Rumble!"

The glacier's roar intensified; the area truly felt like mountains were collapsing and the earth was splitting. Several nearby volcanoes erupted again, spewing lava.

The ground tore open with deeper fissures, bottomless ravines, and in some of these chasms, glimmers of the glacier could faintly be seen emerging.

Deep beneath that section of earth, it seemed an expanse of ten-thousand-year ice lay beneath the surrounding dense volcanoes—ice penetrating the earth, an utterly bizarre phenomenon.

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan stood surveying the distance, watching the experts from the Four Great Powers relentlessly bombard the glacier.

Ripples of pale white emanated outwards in rings, centered on the ice mass.

The chilling aura of the white ripples increased tenfold!

The shuddering earth, covered by this icy atmosphere, seemed frozen in place, and the sound of the tremors gradually ceased.

The magma within the ravines began to emit wisps of cold air as the pervasive chilling energy spread.

The strange ripples, carrying a world-shattering chill, caused the very air to crackle wherever they passed. Ancient trees felled by the earthquake instantly encased in pale white ice crystals, and the ground glittered with crystalline light.

Centering on the glacier, this world rapidly froze over. The ripples continuously expanded, spreading toward the entirety of Menluo Island.

"Not good!"

Xia Xinyan’s face was aghast. "This cold energy is too intense; it’s almost comparable to Bei Ming Shang's Extreme Cold Ice Flame Martial Soul. This chill originates from the glacier; who knows what lies within it?" "Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The glacier finally shattered completely.

Shards of ice prisms splintered from within the mass. These prisms were veiled in a faint, pale white luminescence, and soon, they manifested into bizarre crystalline monstrous beasts shaped vaguely like leopards.

These ice crystal beasts were three to five meters long, their bodies forged from cold ice, glittering under the sunlight and brimming with raw power.

In just a short time, hundreds of such ice crystal beasts coalesced. They possessed no discernible life aura, yet they shimmered brilliantly; once fully formed, they immediately lunged to attack the nearby living beings.

The cold energy emanating from the ice beasts was tens of times heavier than that of the ice ripples!

Each ice beast radiated an intense chill; the air in areas they traversed seemed to freeze solid, producing a strange hissing sound.

The glacier continued to tear apart.

More ice crystal beasts flew out from the fractured ice, gleaming coldly, and began slaughtering the martial artists of the Four Great Powers.

Crystalline light started to emerge from many of the deep fissures. Soon, thousands of ice crystal beasts soared out from those ravines.

It seemed the lava within the ravines had been flash-frozen, as the crystalline glow rose from many chasms, suggesting the presence of glaciers even there.

The glacier fully split open.

Over ten thousand ice beasts surged forth densely, spreading outwards like locusts, originating from the glacier and radiating in all directions.

Shi Yan stared, dumbfounded.

"Where did these ice beasts come from? They carry nothing but intense cold energy, not a shred of vitality—what in the hell is going on?"

"Go! There are too many ice beasts; we can't stop them. They possess extremely strong cold energy—hurry and leave!" Xia Xinyan released her spiritual power to sense the situation, her expression changing dramatically.

"Ahhhh!"

In the distance, some high-ranking martial artists from the Four Great Powers were completely surrounded by ice beasts. Their attacks, regardless of type, failed to sever the beasts' crystalline bodies.

Many of the surrounded martial artists were torn to shreds by the ice beasts, meeting incredibly gruesome ends.

Dongfang He, Chen Shi, Gu Jiangge, and the others also looked utterly distraught. At this point, they had no care for exploring the glacier's mysteries. The Four Great Powers split into four groups and swiftly retreated from the ice mass, fleeing at top speed.

Seeing even the experts from the Four Great Powers flee in panic, Shi Yan dared not hesitate and quickly retreated with Xia Xinyan.

The ice beasts moved with extreme agility, like leopards, their speed astonishing; running across the crystalline wasteland, they were faster than many high-ranking martial artists.

Beside Shi Yan, the other martial artists who had remained within three thousand meters of the glacier were filled with terror, screaming and fleeing for their lives.

"Xuan Bing Beasts! They are Xuan Bing Beasts! I saw their likeness in an ancient text—these are Xuan Bing Beasts controlled by the Profound Ice Cold Flame!"

In the distance, an elderly martial artist, his face etched with terror, yelled wildly.

This elder possessed only a cultivation of the Hundred Tribulation Third Heaven realm. Absorbed in his shouting, he drifted closer and closer to the ice beasts, soon overwhelmed.

Piercing screams echoed from the area where the old man had stood.

Shi Yan’s heart clenched, his expression darkening as he rapidly fled.

As soon as Xia Xinyan heard "Xuan Bing Beasts," her delicate body shuddered violently, and a look of extreme horror flashed in her eyes. She cried out, "Shi Yan, hurry and follow me!"

Shi Yan dared not delay and swiftly moved close to Xia Xinyan.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several figures suddenly streaked across the sky.

Shi Yan looked up and saw several Celestial Realm experts from the Four Great Powers fleeing desperately toward the edge of Menluo Island, each clutching one of their disciples.

Gu Jiangge, his body radiating rainbow light, was held firmly by a Celestial expert from the Dongfang family, looking down at him.

Shi Yan snorted coldly, then lowered his gaze and quickly followed Xia Xinyan.

Near a dormant volcano four thousand five hundred meters from the glacier, Xia Xinyan abruptly halted. The emerald ring on her finger flashed, and a silver drill emerged.

Xia Xinyan channeled her essence energy like lightning, pouring it furiously into the small drill.

The drill shone with silver light and plunged violently into the flank of the dormant volcano, shattering rock and sending debris flying.

Before long, a cave was forcibly chiseled into the side of the volcano.

Xia Xinyan darted inside and hastily waved to Shi Yan, "Quickly, come in!" Shi Yan glanced back and saw that the tens of thousands of ice crystal beasts were surging outwards like a tide, many martial artists already engulfed and torn into bloody ruin.

Dozens of ice beasts, radiating dense coldness with no hint of life, were rushing toward their location? Shi Yan’s heart chilled, and he dared not hesitate, diving into the opening.

Xia Xinyan controlled the small silver drill, digging deeper into the rock behind them. With her delicate hands, she began moving whole, fractured stones, saying, "Help me seal the entrance!"

Without a word, Shi Yan stepped forward, picking up boulders the size of millstones from the ground and moving them to block the opening.

Working together, the pair moved dozens of stones of varying sizes, sealing the entrance tightly.

No light escaped the sealed opening, but Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan did not dare to stop. Under Xia Xinyan's sharp commands, Shi Yan continued to transport stones.

In just a few minutes, the two had moved hundreds of rocks, thoroughly blocking the thirty-meter-deep passage they had dug.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Violent impact sounds echoed from the entrance.

The ice beasts had reached the opening and were battering the stones, their fierce blows attempting to shatter the barricade.

However, the rocks between the entrance and the pair numbered no less than three hundred, the smallest being the size of a stone stool. With so many stones jammed together, even the beasts' fierce impact was unlikely to blast the door open immediately.

The ice beasts did not give up at once, continuing to hammer the cavern for half an hour before the roaring outside gradually subsided.

"That’s finally safe," Xia Xinyan wiped the sweat from her brow and removed her veil; her delicate features were beaded with glistening perspiration.

The stone chamber was pitch black, but shortly after entering, Xia Xinyan had produced a luminous stone, so their visibility inside was unimpeded.

Xia Xinyan, looking somewhat exhausted, put away the small drill and sat on the ground, letting out a breath. She managed a wry smile. "That was truly narrow."

"Xuan Bing Beasts? That old man, before he died, said these beasts were Xuan Bing Beasts. You looked very surprised; do you know about Xuan Bing Beasts?" Shi Yan sat beside her, his brow furrowed as he asked.

Xia Xinyan slowly nodded, her expression grave. "I finally understand why there is a glacier on Menluo Island, an island covered in volcanoes."

"Why?"

"The glacier contains the Profound Ice Cold Flame."

"Profound Ice Cold Flame?" Shi Yan looked puzzled. "Is that flame so powerful?"

"Heavenly Fire!" Xia Xinyan took a deep breath. "You must have heard of the three types of flames: Heaven, Earth, and Man, right?"

"Man Fire is carried naturally by a person; it’s a type of Martial Soul, like the Bei Ming family's Extreme Cold Ice Flame Martial Soul. Earth Fire comes from beneath ten-thousand-year volcanoes; its power is immense but it lacks life; it's used for refining pills and tempering Martial Veins, and it is terrifying. Heavenly Fire is the flame that existed since the beginning of the world; it holds the greatest power and possesses self-awareness—it is a miracle of life. It is said that Heavenly Fire is far more potent than Man Fire or Earth Fire, possessing an extremely terrifying flame force, is that correct?" Shi Yan recited.

"Mhm," Xia Xinyan nodded, explaining, "Of the three fires—Man, Earth, and Heaven—Man Fire is the weakest, Earth Fire next, and Heavenly Fire is the most terrifying. What is sealed within that glacier should be the Profound Ice Cold Flame, one of the Heavenly Fires. It is the purest cold-energy flame between heaven and earth, possessing life. Wherever the Profound Ice Cold Flame resides, there will inevitably be ten-thousand-year glaciers, with the coldness being incredibly dense."

"Profound Ice Cold Flame?" Shi Yan was stunned. "Why would this flame appear here?"

"It was sealed," Xia Xinyan mused for a moment. "It is said that powerful experts at the Divine Realm can merge Heavenly Fire into their souls, granting them earth-shattering divine abilities. But to integrate Heavenly Fire into one's soul, one not only needs Divine Realm cultivation but also the assistance of extremely rare materials, and first, one must capture the Heavenly Fire—the hardship involved is indescribable to outsiders."

"Has anyone fused with Heavenly Fire?"

"In the tens of thousands of years of history in the Endless Sea, countless experts have attempted to gather Heavenly Fire and fuse it with their souls, but almost all failed, suffering counter-attacks from the fire that shattered their divine souls. Once Heavenly Fire is integrated into the soul, the Sea of Consciousness possesses its power, making them virtually invincible against peers, and the Sea of Consciousness cannot be breached. If a martial artist at the first heaven of the Godly Connection Realm integrates Heavenly Fire into their soul, no one at the second or third heaven of Godly Connection can stand against them; they might even be instantly killed!"

"Instantly killed?"

"Yes, instant kill!" Xia Xinyan’s expression was heavy. "Legend says that once the Sea of Consciousness fuses with Heavenly Fire, it undergoes a transformation! No one knows the exact nature of the change, but the divine sense projected from the Sea of Consciousness becomes terrifyingly potent; it can directly incinerate the opponent's Sea of Consciousness, extinguishing their soul with ease!"

"Has anyone ever truly fused with Heavenly Fire?"

"Yes! In the history of the Endless Sea, it seems two individuals successfully fused with Heavenly Fire. One was in the Godly Connection Realm, and the other in the True God Realm. They were unstoppable; in their respective realms, no peer could defeat them, dominating their tiers!"

"The Profound Ice Cold Flame, sealed in a place of ten-thousand-year volcanoes—did someone use the volcano’s flame power to suppress it? Attempting fusion?" Shi Yan exclaimed.

"Mhm, but that person likely failed in the fusion," Xia Xinyan nodded.

PS: This chapter is done, and my hands are twitching; my health is continuously declining. It seems I really am getting old. Please send monthly tickets to comfort me; the hardship of a writer is indescribable, I beg for your comfort through monthly tickets...