At the same time, unbeknownst to Zhang Ling and the others, a rumbling vibration echoed from a massive ice cave not far from them.
The vibration was accompanied by low roars. Suddenly, the vibration ceased, and a thick layer of ice within the ice cave shattered with a crack, sending countless ice shards flying.
Several figures appeared there.
Leading them was a burly man with black hair on his face. He was large and round, with a fierce aura. Upon closer inspection, one of his arms was incredibly thick, and his entire palm was crimson, with sharp claws growing from it. This was a clear sign of a demon beast.
Black light flickered in his hand, and his entire palm returned to that of a normal human. The black hair on his face also disappeared instantly, making him look like a stout man with a thick beard.
However, a layer of demonic aura swirled around him, proving that he was not a human cultivator, but a demon cultivator.
Beside him were two other people. The one on the left had snow-white hair and was only half a person tall, like a small old man, with a face full of wrinkles and several gnarled, intertwined horns growing from his head, resembling tree branches.
The one on the right was as thin as a twig, with a head of green hair that covered most of his body. Patches of scales could be seen on his exposed arms.
These two fellows were also demon cultivators.
In front of these three demon cultivators was a fiery red steed with horns on its head and cyan fur on its back. The horse was majestic, covered in a layer of cyan-red light, and occasionally spewed wisps of cyan flames from its mouth.
If Zhang Ling were here, he would surely be overjoyed, because this cyan-maned steed was none other than the Flamehoof Beast.
However, the Flamehoof Beast seemed to be seriously injured, with wounds all over its body and one of its two horns broken.
After the ice shards settled, the white-haired old man chuckled, his voice hoarse. "Brother Black Elephant, as expected, with the Flamehoof, we can easily pass through the restrictions here."
"I knew long ago that there was a Flamehoof Beast here, occupying the ice-fire eye above its head for cultivation. I didn't care about it originally. If you hadn't told me that this place hides the cave of that female cultivator who once stirred up the Ice Sea, I wouldn't have come to this desolate place," King Black Elephant grunted.
"Hehe, Brother Huang and I happened to run into this human cultivator more than a year ago, and we deliberately followed him, carefully eavesdropping on the transmissions of those human cultivators, which is how we learned about this place," the white-haired old man sneered smugly.
"Although your Yellow Infant Beasts are not very strong, according to the human race, your divine sense is not weaker than a great demon like me."
"King Elephant is too kind. If everything goes smoothly this time, can King Elephant help us repel the savage beasts?" the white-haired old man chuckled.
"Don't worry, a mere ice savage beast. After this trip, I will naturally kill it and help you reclaim that Ice Vein Mountain."
The white-haired old man's face was full of smiles, and he wanted to say something more, but suddenly his face sank. He patted his chest and spat out a black-red round bead.
The round bead trembled slightly, and a mass of black light emerged from it, floating shakily in the air.
Then, he summoned the round bead into his hand, his expression darkening even more. "Not good, that human cultivator is also nearby. This treasure bead was refined from the blood left behind by the human cultivator when he was injured in the battle with the Flamehoof Beast. Although a certain amount of time has passed, it can still sense its aura within a thousand miles."
King Black Elephant glanced at the black-red treasure bead. "What's the panic? According to you, that human cultivator is only equivalent to a mid-stage Transformation cultivator. What can he do even if he comes?"
"Brother Elephant, don't be careless. The human race is not like us demon cultivators, who mostly act alone. If that person comes, he will definitely bring helpers," the white-haired old man's face became solemn, and he couldn't help but remind him.
"Hehe, so what if he brings helpers? I have also traveled among the human race for a hundred years. They seem united, but they have a lot of schemes. For tens of thousands of years, they have been arguing and even divided into a group of alien demons. For news of this kind of ancient cultivator's ruins, that human cultivator will at most bring a few cultivators of the same rank. Even if there is a great cultivator who is not weaker than me, there is nothing to fear." King Black Elephant's face revealed a fierce aura, and with a flash of his eyes, he coldly said to the Flamehoof Beast in front, "Still not moving?"
The Flamehoof Beast neighed, seemingly dissatisfied. But for some reason, it just shook its head and continued to move forward.
Ahead was a wide ice path leading to a crystalline ice gate in the distance, with many blue ice jade pillars on both sides.
As soon as the Flamehoof Beast walked more than ten zhang, a cold wind suddenly rose on the ice path ahead, stirring up whirlwinds. Ice flowers and ice thorns visible to the naked eye condensed in mid-air.
The cyan-red light on the Flamehoof Beast flashed, and it turned into a stream of light and rushed out.
It seemed that it was clearing the way for the three demon cultivators.
……
On Zhang Ling's side, the seven were still trying their best to break the restrictions.
As they activated the array flags in their hands, the black-yellow array flags in the hands of Zhang Ling, Old Madam Miao, and the black-robed cultivator transformed into ten-zhang-high sails, and patches of black light emerged from them, gathering into three dark black light spheres in the air.
At the same time, the two yellow flags in the hands of Fellow Daoist Chen, the bald old man, and the black-faced man transformed into dense yellow runes, entwining the three black light spheres.
Real Person Shi Yun, who was presiding over the formation breaking, was standing under the three light spheres, and the array plate in his hand was also emitting a hazy white light. These lights appeared dim and uncertain.
Suddenly, the white light expanded, and the entire array plate also became illusory, transforming into a white hexagonal array diagram floating in front of him.
Real Person Shi Yun chanted incantations and quickly threw out six high-grade earth spirit stones, merging them into the array diagram. At the same time, he called out in a deep voice, "Fellow Daoists, quickly activate the array flags with all your strength, do not interrupt the spellcasting."
Immediately, the array diagram emitted a great yellow light, and the three black light spheres above also floated out with colorful black light. Strange runes merged into the array diagram.
Zhang Ling and the others immediately felt that the array flags they had activated in their hands were somewhat out of control, frantically absorbing their own spiritual power.
At this rate, even they, as Nascent Soul cultivators, would not be able to last long. If Real Person Shi Yun had not reminded them, they might have directly interrupted the output of mana.
At the same time, muffled sounds came from the cyan-red water shield below, which was covered by yellow light. Between the flickering lights and shadows, a giant dragon phantom and a fire phoenix phantom that shook their heads and wagged their tails appeared on it.
Two terrifying spiritual powers were emitted.
Upon seeing this scene, Real Person Shi Yun shouted, "Seal!" His hands danced, and he shot out streams of spiritual light that submerged into the hexagonal array diagram.
Immediately, the hexagonal array diagram rotated to the left and shot out six beams of light, which struck the cyan-red water shield with a loud bang.
The dragon and phoenix phantoms that had emerged had not had time to solidify, and seemed to be frozen by something strange, becoming much slower.
"Haha, as expected, it can seal most of the power of this restriction, everyone, now we only need to attack this water shield with all our strength, just break a gap to enter it," Real Person Shi Yun laughed loudly, and immediately sacrificed a ten-zhang-long wooden crutch. He spat a mouthful of essence on it.
The crutch flashed with green light and directly transformed into a giant green snake, attacking it. The giant snake crashed into the water shield, creating layers of ripples on it.
Good, Zhang Ling and the others' attacks also arrived one after another.
While controlling the array flag, Old Madam Miao took out a dusty bag, shook it gently, and released a piece of gray light. It was wrapped with more than a dozen stone balls.
These stone balls made a series of cracking sounds, and strangely transformed into stone-carved demon beasts, looking like real demon beasts.
The black-robed masked cultivator on the other side, his sleeves bulged, and a cloud of black mist floated out from it, with red shadows flashing inside, and a strong yin aura, sweeping out like a strange glow.
It crashed into the water shield, stirring up a series of crackling explosions. This attack seemed to have a strong corrosive effect
Zhang Ling also waved his hand, and a piece of Heavenly Star Sand was scattered, gathering into a mass of quicksand in front of him, and then dividing into seven or eight Earthly Fiend Earth Spirits, releasing dense earth thorns.
Fellow Daoist Chen threw out a black stone sword, which transformed into a giant sword.
The bald old man rubbed his hands together and sacrificed a bright yellow seal.
The black-faced man also did not sacrifice a magic weapon, but chanted incantations, and with a single hand, he activated a magic formula. In a short while, one of his arms suddenly lengthened by a factor of several times, turning into a green stone arm. The man laughed wildly, and between the shaking of his arm, he shot out green palm prints. They landed on the water shield with a rumbling sound.
Working together, everyone's attacks impacted the cyan-red water shield, causing the water shield to shake non-stop.
After continuously attacking for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, finally, at a certain moment, the water shield shattered like a bubble, with a clear sound.
Real Person Shi Yun, who was standing at the front, his eyes lit up, and he instantly rushed into it. Zhang Ling and the others naturally followed quickly. All of them entered under the water shield.
As soon as they entered, there was darkness in front of them. After a moment, faint dim lights appeared around them. Upon closer inspection, they were in a long ice passage. This ice passage went straight down, like an ice well.
Zhang Ling and the others carefully sacrificed defensive treasures to protect their bodies. Although they had come in, it did not mean that they were safe.
After waiting for a moment, nothing happened, and Real Person Shi Yun ordered, "Go, let's go down." Saying that, he took the lead and flew down.
Although the prohibition breaking just now did not take long, the spiritual power they consumed was not small. Even Zhang Ling consumed nearly 30% of his spiritual power. During the descent, he took out a Purple Yang Pill and swallowed it to replenish his consumption.
The ice passage was not deep, only three to four hundred zhang deep, and they reached the bottom. The space below was very large, and thick ice crystals were condensed everywhere.
They stood on a ring-shaped ice passage, surrounded by many blue ice crystals forming ice blocks, ice thorns. There are also ice pillars, ice caves and other environments.
These are not ordinary ice blocks, they are all ice spar. It is a low-level ice attribute spiritual mine, the value is not very large, can be used to refine middle and upper grade magic weapons.
Everyone did not care, and directly released their divine senses to scan the surroundings. After a while, they found that there were fluctuations of formation restrictions in a certain ice cave on the left. Immediately walked towards it.
