The Heart of the Icebound Secret Realm

They knew of Yuan Zhiyun. After all, as intelligence operatives for Wanwantong, which had just begun expanding its influence into Yuanling City, they naturally had to conduct thorough background checks on all the local powers.

The Yuan family was a key target for their Yuanling City branch to build good relations with. Therefore, upon hearing Yuan Zhiyun introduce himself as the young master of the Yuan family, they had already decided to help him as much as possible, provided his request was not too outrageous.

Thus, Yuan Zhiyun explained to them that the ice cave would trap anyone inside, making it impossible to teleport out after fifteen days. He also revealed that an ice coffin he had accidentally discovered was highly likely connected to the method of escape. However, since he lacked the strength to open it alone, he needed their assistance.

Hearing this, Liang Zhonghuai immediately took out their Substitution Array, wanting to test if they could swap positions with the corresponding array they had previously set up outside.

However, after injecting his spiritual energy, the Substitution Array merely flickered before its light dimmed. They remained standing within the array, completely untransported.

This was the first time a Substitution Array issued by Wanwantong had ever failed!

Promptly, the two agreed to Yuan Zhiyun's request, and the trio immediately hurried toward the suspicious subterranean cave.

Yet, when Yuan Zhiyun led the two Wanwantong staff members back into the cave, they found that the ice coffin that had been there was gone.

By this time, Lin Xiao and Liao Pantu were already far away from the cave.

Lin Xiao took out the paper crane Hu Guanyu had given him earlier. After injecting a trace of spiritual energy, the paper crane mechanically flapped its wings and took flight, slowly heading in a specific direction.

Now that he had finished mining the Frost Condensation Jade and Senior Liao's soul had been unsealed, he planned to find Hu Guanyu as they had previously agreed.

Having fused his soul, Liao Pantu remained nestled in the Soul-Nourishing Pendant, hidden within Lin Xiao's robes.

Seeing that Lin Xiao was going to find that disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect, he casually asked, Are you really going to look for him?

Lin Xiao nodded as he leisurely followed the paper crane leading the way and replied, Yeah. Hu Guanyu is a disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect, and so far, he seems like a decent person. Anyway, the whole point of my trip this time is to expand my network. If I see a suitable candidate, I will naturally make a move.

Although his task required him to befriend five Foundation Establishment cultivators or a clan overseen by at least three Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Hu Guanyu met neither of those criteria.

But Lin Xiao did not intend to limit himself strictly to the task's parameters.

To him, the task merely pointed out a general direction. He did not have to follow it rigidly to the letter. Making a few extra friends with decent character was not a bad thing.

Moreover, it suddenly occurred to him that he had taken the Secret Realm Core of the Green Field Secret Realm. He still did not know how the Soul Formation cultivators of the Heavenly Profound Sect, who were responsible for opening the realm, would react when they realized they could not open it a year from now. If he could befriend a disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect, he might be able to gather some inside information later on...

Hearing this, Liao Pantu did not say much else, only replying, As long as you have a plan.

He never objected to Lin Xiao's plans, as he too wanted to see how far this overly young sect master could grow.

Except, of course, for Lin Xiao's demand for his giant soul-nourishing wooden bed.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao, having just thought about the Secret Realm Core, was currently asking the system in his mind:

"System, why haven't you issued a quest for me to obtain the Heart of the Secret Realm for this one?"

System: ...

[The current status of the Icefield Secret Realm indicates that it has an owner. This system can only acquire ownerless Hearts of Secret Realms for the host.]

Hearing the system's reply, Lin Xiao was a bit surprised.

To think that this secret realm, which had been opening in Yuanling City for over a hundred years, actually had an owner?

But judging from the current situation, the ownership of this secret realm didn't seem to belong to any of those sects or families. Otherwise, who would be willing to open the secret realm to the public and let so many cultivators enter to harvest its resources?

It would be much more convenient to simply move the entrance inside their own sect or family estate.

Thus, Lin Xiao sent a voice transmission to Liao Pantu:

"Senior, if you became the master of a secret realm, would you open it to outsiders?"

Liao Pantu replied without even thinking:

"If I had a secret realm, I wouldn't let anyone in. I'd open the entrance right in my own home. But how could it be so simple to truly own a secret realm? Setting everything else aside, just take refining the Heart of the Secret Realm—unless you have a unique refining method, even with a Nascent Soul cultivation base, it's impossible to refine it! And as for this refining method, I've only heard of it, but never seen anyone possess it... except you."

"Oh—Senior, how do you know that even the Nascent Soul stage wouldn't work?" Lin Xiao asked with a hint of cheekiness.

Seeing him asking when he already knew the answer, Liao Pantu said in annoyance:

"What do you think? You brat really need a beating!"

He knew the Nascent Soul stage wouldn't work because, of course, he had tried it himself.

In the past, it wasn't that he hadn't encountered the Heart of a Secret Realm in some ownerless secret realms; it was just that he had tried several times and failed to refine them.

Getting Liao Pantu's answer, Lin Xiao guessed that this secret realm might belong to some senior with profound cultivation. Perhaps because this secret realm was too low-level, they didn't care about it and just released it for everyone to play in?

Or perhaps the master of this secret realm had some other unknown ulterior motive...

However, none of this had anything to do with him at the moment. He tossed aside these messy thoughts and asked Liao Pantu:

"Senior, you've stayed in this ice cave for decades. Do you know a way out?"

Hearing this, Liao Pantu sighed and said:

"Previously, with that seal in place, my range of movement was limited to the vicinity of the crypt. At most, I could poke my head above the ground, so I actually know very little about the surrounding environment. However, there is one thing I can tell you. Besides the temperature dropping in this ice cave after the secret realm closes on the fifteenth day, a massive blizzard will sweep through on the twentieth day.

"When that time comes, the corpses of the cultivators on the ground, frozen stiff as logs, will be stripped of all their flesh and blood after this blizzard, leaving only white bones."

"I see," Lin Xiao nodded.

No wonder even though some of these people might have died in this ice cave in recent years, there were white bones scattered in every visible corner of the entire ice cave, without the slightest trace of flesh.

"Could this blizzard devour flesh and suck blood?"

Liao Pantu replied:

"Exactly. It's called a blizzard, but it's actually a massive swarm of snow bugs. Snow bugs generally appear in places of extreme cold, and their numbers are usually not very large. Yet, this place has enough snow bugs to form the momentum of a blizzard. It's incredibly bizarre."

While Lin Xiao and Liao Pantu were still discussing inside the Icefield Secret Realm, far away, tens of thousands of miles distant, in a region heavy with Yin energy...

Deep within the gloomy cave abode, Yin Xuanzi, who had been wholly absorbed in his meditation, suddenly opened his eyes.