bestfiction Chapter 396 There's actually a seal!
Chapter 396 There's actually a seal!
Long Chuqing stood atop the snow-capped peak, the biting wind whistling past her ears. She wrapped her plain white cloak tighter around herself and exhaled a soft breath of white air.
Looking out into the distance, shrouded in mist, one can vaguely see a Heavenly Lake, surrounded by mountains on all sides, standing quietly in the center of the valley.
Tianchi Lake is like a jewel embedded in the mountains, shining brightly in the sunlight, quiet and mysterious.
"Oh dear! This is bad."
Looking at the frozen, mirror-like Heavenly Lake, Long Chuqing suddenly realized that the time of year was wrong; the ice in the Heavenly Lake had not yet melted!
For most of the year, Tianchi Lake is frozen over, with only three or four months being ice-free.
It is currently in a frozen period.
The Netherworld Valley is located deep within the Demon Realm, and the Heavenly Pool surrounded by mountains in front of us is one of the hidden entrances to the Demon Realm.
The phantom of the phoenix landed lightly on Long Chuqing's shoulder, tilting its head to examine the frozen lake below: "The ice on Tianchi Lake won't melt until at least June."
"No problem," Feng Yu said dismissively. "Just smash the ice."
There is more than one passage into the demon realm; there are several other routes.
These are the Great Rift Valley in the Kunlun Mountains, the Eye of the Sea in the center of the South China Sea, the miasma-ridden land deep in the dense forests of Lingnan, an ancient well in the deep mountains of Sichuan, and the extremely cold Heavenly Lake in front of us.
The entrances to the demon realm from each world are located in different areas. Long Chuqing learned about these entrances by questioning the previously captured Dream Eater.
According to Mengmo, the Eye of the South China Sea only opens at dawn during the full moon, a fixed and brief period. Coupled with its location at sea, it is the most inconvenient entrance.
The entrance to the Great Rift Valley in the Kunlun Mountains was sealed a thousand years ago, making it impossible to enter or exit normally.
The miasma-filled lands of Lingnan are fraught with danger, and few demons choose to enter or leave through them.
The Dream Eater entered the human world through an ancient well in Shu (Sichuan), and it did not know much about the conditions of the Extreme Cold Heavenly Pool, so it was not explained in detail.
Tianchi is the closest to the capital, so Long Chuqing came to Tianchi first, but it was the wrong season and Tianchi was still frozen.
Fei Feng sighed and said, "How about we enter the demon realm from somewhere else?"
"Going to other places will take a lot of time!" Feng Yu said eagerly. "Why don't we just dig a hole and go down!"
It's just a small layer of ice, not a significant obstacle. We can break through it; we had already considered this when we came.
Fei Feng cautiously warned, "I think the thickness of this ice layer is unusual. Too much movement could affect the balance of the mountain."
To break through such a thick layer of ice would be quite a disturbance, and there is a risk of causing an avalanche that could harm the creatures living in the mountains.
Feng Yu thought for a moment: "Concentrate your power in one place and hold back some of your strength."
"Let's go down and check the thickness of the ice first."
As Long Chuqing spoke, she lightly touched the ground with her toes and leaped down towards the Heavenly Pool below.
Phoenix Feather transformed into a ray of light, hovering and observing around the Heavenly Pool. Suddenly, she transformed into a sharp sword, plunging fiercely into the ice layer with a sharp aura.
"昘——"
The sword pierced the ice steadily, but froze the moment it touched the ice surface.
"Huh! Huh?"
They were stuck in the ice!
"Qingqing," Feng Yu sobbed for help, "It's over, boohoo... I can't pull it out."
Long Chuqing walked slowly to the side of the sword, her tone somewhat helpless: "Alright... stop playing around."
"Hehe...Isn't this quite interesting!" Phoenix feathers transformed into a ray of light and flew back to Long Chuqing's shoulder: "Qingqing, this ice layer is quite thick!"
The Heavenly Lake in front of us was covered by a thick layer of ice, which shone brightly in the sunlight.
Long Chuqing looked around, then squatted down, placed his palms on the ice, and closed his eyes to sense it quietly.
"It must be said that the thickness of this ice layer is truly astonishing, more than three feet thick."
It is equivalent to about one meter.
Now that we're here, how can we easily retreat and change course because of the mere obstacle of ice?
Long Chuqing transformed into a dragon, gathered his strength for a moment, and then slammed his dragon claws onto the ice surface.
"boom--"
"Crack-"
Spiderweb-like cracks spread out from the gash where Feng Yu had just stabbed him.
"boom--"
Before the cracks could fully spread, another claw slammed down, shattering the ice surface and sending countless transparent ice crystals flying, revealing a hole large enough for someone to pass through.
Below was an unfathomable darkness.
Without the slightest hesitation, Long Chuqing leaped into the icy pool.
It was freezing cold when I first entered the water, but as I continued to descend, the water temperature gradually warmed up, and the light became dimmer.
Using the dim light, Long Chuqing skillfully swung her tail and slowly swam towards the depths of the pool.
The underwater space is much larger than what you see on the ice.
The rock walls and the bottom of the pool are covered with many strangely shaped rocks, casting eerie shadows in the dim light.
Because Tianchi is a volcanic landform, with high altitude, low oxygen, and a unique environment, there are almost no organisms in the water.
Long Chuqing searched carefully at the bottom of the pool and finally found a faint light behind a boulder.
She swam quickly closer and discovered it was the entrance to a cave.
She leaped lightly into the cave and then transformed back into human form.
The cave is located between two mountains. The rock walls are smooth. Due to the harsh environment, no plants such as moss have grown around it. A few rays of light shine through the narrow cracks in the cave wall above, making the entire cave relatively bright.
On one side of the rock wall were ancient runes carved on it, and in the center a swirling pattern could be vaguely seen—that was the entrance to the demon realm.
Long Chuqing stepped forward and cautiously reached out to gently touch the rock wall. However, apart from the runes and patterns, the rock wall in front of him looked like an ordinary stone wall with nothing special about it.
Phoenix Feather released a wisp of spiritual energy that coiled around Long Chuqing's fingertips. Long Chuqing touched the rock wall again, and the moment she made contact, the seal suddenly lit up, and an invisible force separated her from it.
At the same time, the dense incantations on the rock wall began to emerge as if they were alive, flowing and reorganizing to form an indestructible barrier that firmly sealed the entrance.
"A seal?" Long Chuqing was startled.
There's a seal?
After finally finding the entrance to the demon realm, it turned out that the entrance and exit here were also sealed off.
Sigh, wasn't this trip a complete waste?
Long Chuqing frowned and muttered something to herself.
Feng Yu exclaimed in amazement, "Such a powerful seal!"
If evil spirits approach, they will likely be directly repelled or injured by the powerful force of the seal.
“This seal looks like it has been there for a long time.” Fei Feng’s gaze lingered on the seal.
Long Chuqing bit her lip, lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment, then transformed into a dragon again, gathering the power of the dragon race within her in her claws, attempting to tear a gap in the seal.
However, her power was like a mud ox entering the sea; the seal remained unmoved and instead unleashed a counterforce that violently blasted her away.
The cave was small, and the dragon's body was shaken and slammed against the rock wall.