Ice Sea

"You learn fast, but right now you can only light a flame. If you run into something without emotions, that hand of yours will only be good for roasting snow."

Chen Guan didn't stop walking: "For roasting, I have other options."

Like the skill he'd borrowed from Baal—Blazing Fury.

Baal laughed even louder.

Guan Jinyue couldn't hear their mental conversation, but that didn't stop her from talking to Chen Guan.

"You're adapting to that power far too quickly."

"Is that a compliment?" Chen Guan turned his head to ask her.

"More like a warning." Guan Jinyue stepped across a patch of snow flattened by the wind, leaving a footprint behind.

"Demonic power is never given for free. It warps your perception. It warps your judgment."

"I know," Chen Guan replied softly.

"You don't act like you know," Guan Jinyue said, watching him.

She had seen plenty of contractors before. People who lost themselves in the power. They all ended the same way—drifting toward madness.

"Miss Guan, I'm fully aware whose fire I'm borrowing to keep warm. But the road ahead is cold. It would be foolish not to use the fire while I have it."

Guan Jinyue looked away: "Just don't forget that fire can burn you too."

She said no more. The two of them continued north.

The mountainous terrain where the Crystal Shrine sat fell behind them. The land flattened out, and the wind bore down from the distance without obstruction, each snowflake laced with fine ice crystals slashing against their faces like knives.

Two hours later, the surrounding trees disappeared completely. At the edge of the snowfield, vast stretches of exposed black rock covered in thick ice emerged.

Chen Guan stared at the darkening sky ahead: "What exactly is the Frozen Sea?"

"The Frozen Sea is the oldest forbidden zone in the Northern Territory," Guan Jinyue answered after a moment's thought. "There, my spatial abilities are suppressed."

To demonstrate, she opened a spatial rift—but it immediately showed signs of shattering.

"Even your space is affected?" Chen Guan looked at the failed rift.

Guan Jinyue withdrew her hand into her sleeve.

"The closer you get to the Frozen Sea, the more chaotic the spatial laws become. Once you actually set foot on its shore, my usable abilities will be greatly reduced. It's covered year-round by massive ice sheets, and the temperature beneath them is low enough to freeze most high-rank demon beasts to death. Yet strangely, the water under the ice doesn't freeze."

Because of her sister, Guan Jinyue had traveled to the Frozen Sea several times, so she was fairly familiar with it.

Chen Guan raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds like this isn't a natural formation."

"Legend says that beneath the ice cap lies an ancient ruin that belongs neither to the demon beasts nor to humans," Guan Jinyue said, her voice clear despite the wind and snow.

"Several generations of the Bear King in the Northern Territory sent demons to explore it. But very few came back alive. And those who did couldn't explain what was down there."

"What do you mean, 'couldn't explain'?" Chen Guan asked.

Guan Jinyue was silent for a moment before answering uncertainly: "They would forget what they saw."

Chen Guan slowed his pace.

"Their memories were erased?"

"Or perhaps their will couldn't withstand the environment there. The Bear King himself once went to the entrance but never ventured into the deeper areas." Guan Jinyue looked at the gray line gradually appearing on the horizon.

"Even the Bear King wouldn't go in, and the two of us are running over there? That's a bit too much exploratory spirit, don't you think?" Chen Guan smiled.

"The Bear King didn't dare to face Baal. You did. So it's not unreasonable that you'd dare to go where the Bear King wouldn't."

Guan Jinyue gave him a deep look, clearly recalling memories that weren't particularly pleasant.

"Miss Guan, your way of offering comfort is even more unique than mine," Chen Guan shook his head.

"I wasn't comforting you," Guan Jinyue replied seriously.

Baal burst out laughing in the mental space.

"This girl has potential. Every word cuts to the bone without a hint of flattery."

He didn't mind being used as a comparison at all.

As long as it was amusing—why hadn't these two started traveling together sooner?

The further they walked, the stranger the wind and snow became.

Snow no longer fell from the sky. Instead, it swept in from all directions, only to be silently pushed away as it approached a certain area.

The sky pressed low, and the gray line in the distance gradually expanded, revealing an endless expanse of icy white.

That was the Frozen Sea.

No waves. No flocks of birds. No sound that belonged to a coastline at all.

A single massive ice cap connected to the horizon, its surface covered in black cracks that exposed the sullen color of seawater beneath.

Chen Guan stood at the edge of the shore, looking at the sloping black rocky beach and the thick ice sheet ahead.

"This place is unnaturally quiet."

Chen Guan could feel the black mark on his right palm growing cold.

This wasn't the cold draining his warmth. His emotion-sensing ability had completely vanished here.

No killing intent. No fear. No anger. No demon beasts lurking beneath the snow.

Even Guan Jinyue's emotions had suddenly become faint—almost imperceptible.

She was right beside him, yet this Frozen Sea seemed to have cut them off from each other.

Chen Guan looked down at his palm. This strange occurrence quickly caught Guan Jinyue's attention.

"What did you find?" Guan Jinyue asked, looking at him.

"There are no emotions here," Chen Guan said, sweeping his gaze across the ice cap.

Guan Jinyue fell silent. That statement was more troubling than encountering an enemy. An empty, lifeless place was the most frightening—it meant nothing could survive.

"Baal," Chen Guan called out in his mind.

Wind blew in from the ice cap, carrying a bone-chilling cold.

"Baal isn't responding?"

Guan Jinyue had apparently tried contacting Baal as well and received no reply.

"Baal," Chen Guan called again.

Baal's voice finally came through, but with less of its usual levity.

"Kid, something's wrong here. The signal's bad. This Frozen Sea has some kind of rule—it's erasing emotions."

Chen Guan looked at Guan Jinyue: "Baal says the rule here is erasing emotions."

Guan Jinyue's expression turned cold: "Sounds like that clashes with your new ability."

With that, she raised her hand and pointed to a huge, perfectly circular opening several hundred meters away: "That's the entrance. It's flooded with seawater year-round. Below it lies the outer passage of the ruins. The currents there are very tricky—we need to be cautious."

As they approached, the circular opening looked far larger than it did from a distance. The thick ice at its edges formed a smooth, regular arc.

The black rocky beach sloped downward toward the opening, the wind-polished stones glistening. Deep inside, no waves could be seen and no echoes could be heard—only rings of dark seawater spiraling down along the ice walls.

Chen Guan stood at the edge of the opening: "This is the entrance?"

Guan Jinyue crouched beside the ice, pressing her fingers against the edge. Frost began climbing up her hand the moment she touched it. The cold wind spiraling out of the opening blew her silver hair back.

"This isn't an ordinary ice cave. It's a vertical sea well. The outer layer is entirely made of thousand-year ice and deep-sea currents. The narrowest part of the entrance is about twenty meters, and it widens the deeper you go."

Chen Guan looked down the opening. The ice walls showed no signs of artificial carving. The surface was unusually smooth and even.

"Have you gone down here before?"

Guan Jinyue withdrew her hand: "I only made it to the outer passage. I never actually entered the deeper parts of the ruins."