Quick Travel to the Clouds

Chapter 724 Hidden Mission 10

Yun Chu lowered her voice and said, "True Lord, please wait! When I was collecting the Ice Soul Jade Flower, I discovered that deep within the monster's lair, the spiritual energy did not dissipate naturally. Instead, it was drawn together by an invisible vortex and condensed in one place, faintly radiating a pure and precious light. This was far superior to the turbid energy of ordinary monsters. It probably contains a treasure of great fortune!"

Upon hearing this, Yue Ze Zhenjun's icy eyes flashed with surprise, and he immediately stopped. He closed his eyes, and his powerful Nascent Soul stage divine sense flowed like mercury, silently probing into the depths of the cave.

The cave entrance was dark and cold, filled with the stench of monsters and ice shards.

However, as the divine sense penetrated deeper, a scorching and condensed aura, completely different from the ice and snow on the ground, pierced through the layers of rock.

He suddenly opened his eyes, a cold glint in them: "How strange! There's another world hidden deep inside, a place where lava pulsates!"

He made a hand seal with his fingertips, and a point of spiritual light gathered into a mysterious rune at his fingertips, which he pointed at the ice wall below with lightning speed.

With a crisp "crack," the ancient ice, harder than steel, was silently torn apart, revealing a hole below that glowed red and shimmered with heat. A rich blend of spiritual energy and the smell of sulfur rushed out.

The two exchanged a glance, their bodies transformed into streaks of light, and without hesitation, they leaped into the underground molten abyss.

The scene before me was breathtaking.

This is a huge underground lava cave, with walls made of dark red solidified magma rock and countless dark blue ice crystals embedded in the crevices.

In the center, a milky white stalactite hangs quietly, below which gathers a pool of crystal-clear, warm, and jade-like liquid, which is the spiritual milk that has accumulated the essence of countless millennia!

A unique and sweet fragrance filled the air; just one breath was enough to refresh the mind and soul.

Even more astonishing is that a large area of ​​dazzling ice-blue crystals is embedded in the cave wall not far from the Spirit Milk Pool, radiating a bone-chilling cold air. It is an extremely rare ice spirit crystal mine!

Pure icy energy and the heat of lava intertwine here in a strange way, forming a surging yet orderly energy field.

Even with Yueze Zhenjun's profound cultivation at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, when his gaze fell upon the pool of ten-thousand-year-old spiritual milk, he couldn't help but gasp, his pupils shrinking sharply, and his heart trembling: "Ten-thousand-year-old spiritual milk! This place actually nurtures such a rare treasure that rivals the creation of heaven and earth?!"

He subconsciously glanced sideways at Yun Chu. He saw that the girl's face was also filled with immense surprise, her eyes shining brightly like stars, filled only with pure joy and awe, without a trace of greed or evil thought, crystal clear.

This reaction reassured Yue Ze and also secretly expressed his approval.

Without hesitation, he waved his sleeve, and a mysterious array plate engraved with complex array patterns flew out instantly. Its spiritual light shone brightly, transforming into countless rune chains that intertwined into an invisible net, instantly imprinting itself on the stone wall at the entrance, tightly sealing off the aura of the entire lava cave.

"We cannot linger here, lest something unexpected happen. We must seize this opportunity quickly!" Yue Ze's voice was grave.

“Alright!” Yun Chu immediately understood and replied crisply, “True Lord, your cultivation is profound, and the spiritual milk you collect will not easily dissipate, so you shall go and collect the spiritual milk. I will go and mine those ice spirit crystals!”

“Good!” Yue Ze did not refuse, knowing that collecting liquid spiritual objects required extremely precise control.

He sat cross-legged beside the pool of spiritual milk, and a jade bottle flew out from his sleeve. The bottle's mouth hovered above the spiritual milk, and he performed a profound incantation to carefully draw the precious droplets into the bottle one by one.

On the other side, Yun Chu glided lightly to the ice wall like a butterfly, took out a small and exquisite crane-beak hoe magic weapon, and poured her divine sense into it. Each dig was precise and steady, peeling pieces of crystal containing pure ice elemental power from the rock wall and letting them fall into a specially made storage bag with a clinking sound.

Pale blue crystal flakes fluttered down, reflecting on her focused profile.

After Yue Ze put the last drop of the incomparably precious ten-thousand-year-old spiritual milk into the jade bottle, sealed the bottle mouth with several layers of spiritual incantations, and confirmed that everything was in order, he immediately rushed to the side of the ice crystal mine, flicked his sleeve and summoned an even more ancient and heavy mining pickaxe, and silently began to assist in the mining.

His movements seemed simple, but each swing of the pickaxe contained immense power and was extremely efficient, chiseling out large swathes of ice spirit crystals.

Working tirelessly day and night, the spiritual light shone continuously. After more than two days, the two of them finally managed to completely excavate this rare ice spirit crystal vein.

Yun Chuxin was meticulous, carefully scanning every inch of the rock wall with her divine sense, leaving no corner unchecked.

Suddenly, a strange metallic luster, deep and almost inky, caught her eye!

The object was deeply embedded in the deepest layer of ore, its entire body a dark blue-black, its touch chillingly cold, as if capable of freezing one's very soul. The naturally formed, mysterious patterns on its surface exuded an ancient aura under divine sense. "This is...?"

Yun Chu searched through her memories but couldn't find a matching item. She carefully used the tip of her hoe to peel away the surrounding ore debris. "Strange, this thing seems to have never been recorded in ancient books? Its aura is a hundred times colder than the purest cold iron!"

Upon hearing the sound, Yue Ze came over. After just one glance, even his usually icy face couldn't hide his astonishment: "Mysterious Ice Cold Iron?! Legend has it that it only comes from the deepest, most yin and coldest part of a star's core, and can be used to forge rare and precious treasures! It's actually... mixed in with this mine? Just what kind of treasure land is this?!"

This unexpected joy revitalized the two. It took another hour for True Monarch Yueze to personally and carefully excavate the extremely precious Xuanbing Cold Iron Mother Ore completely.

With their immense and weighty harvest, the two dared not linger. They immediately fled the cave, completely collapsing and burying the entrance, erasing all traces, and then transformed into two barely perceptible streaks of light, disappearing like lightning into the vast, frigid plains.

Less than three hours after they left, three elegantly dressed figures broke through the wind and snow and descended upon the place; it was Zhang Xiu and his group.

Zhang Xiu immediately noticed the lingering scent of the Ice Soul Jade Flower in a corner of the ice wall.

That was one of his key objectives for this trip!

The intense feeling of being robbed was like a venomous snake gnawing at his heart, and a furious rage instantly filled his eyes: "Who?! Who dares to steal my Jade Flower?!"

Veins bulged on his forehead as he slammed his fist into the ice wall, sending ice shards flying.

Suddenly, a figure he had glimpsed in the distance on the outskirts of the Frozen Domain flashed through his mind like lightning—the Ice Soul Jade Flower was exactly what he needed… “Yue—Ze—!”

He spat out the name through clenched teeth, his eyes turning incredibly venomous and sinister, a savage grin spreading across his twisted face. "So, True Monarch Yueze! Relying on your cultivation? Hmph! So what if you have an Ice Spirit Root? So what if you're a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

"I, Zhang Xiu, will remember this grudge for stealing the treasure! One day... one day, I will kill you, Yue Ze! I will crush you, this so-called genius, under my feet!" The cold vow was accompanied by the howling wind and snow, leaving behind a deep-seated hatred.

Meanwhile, Yun Chu and Yue Ze Zhenjun had safely arrived in Jin'an City, a bustling metropolis.

Yue Ze directly rented a top-tier cave dwelling in the city, a place of the highest grade and filled with spiritual energy like mist.

After a short rest, he immediately found Yun Chu, his expression calm and solemn: "The gains of this trip are all thanks to your vigilance. I intend to give you the ten-thousand-year-old spiritual milk and ice spirit crystal equally. In addition, although the Xuanbing cold iron was an unexpected gain, you should also get a share."

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out the jade bottle and storage bag that he had prepared in advance and sealed tightly.

Knowing his upright character and that most of the opportunities he had encountered were indeed due to her guidance, Yun Chu did not refuse out of politeness. Instead, she gracefully bowed and accepted the generous gift, saying, "Yun Chu thanks the True Lord for his generous gift!"

Seeing her clarity, Yue Ze's eyes showed even more appreciation. He nodded and said, "The spiritual energy here is abundant. I need to immediately go into seclusion to digest the insights gained from this trip. This time, the gains have been great, and it will probably take a long time."

"You may do it yourself..."

Before Yue Ze could finish speaking, Yun Chu bowed slightly and said, "What you say is absolutely right, True Lord. I also feel that my realm has been touched and I need to go into seclusion to consolidate and sort it out. I wonder if I can go into seclusion with you, True Lord?"

Looking at Yun Chu, whose eyes were firm and whose aura was showing signs of fluctuation, Yue Ze wondered if she was determined to stick with him.

Looking at Yun Chu's expectant face, Yue Ze could only sigh helplessly: "...Fine. You can go into seclusion in that cave next door where the spiritual energy is slightly inferior."

Yun Chu thanked him again and immediately entered his small cave, embarking on a long period of secluded cultivation.

The cave's stone gate is sealed, allowing only abundant spiritual energy to flow in day and night.

In the blink of an eye, the seasons have changed countless times.

On this day, the stone door of Yun Chu's cave suddenly opened, and the girl's aloof figure stepped out, her spiritual power flowing smoothly around her, clearly having stabilized at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm!

After consolidating her cultivation, she sensed that True Monarch Yueze's cave was still deeply locked by restrictions, and his aura was as deep and stagnant as an abyss, indicating that he had not yet emerged from seclusion.

After a moment's thought, Yun Chu left a simple message on a jade slip at the cave entrance: "Yun Chu has emerged from seclusion and wishes to refine a weapon while waiting. She will await orders at the entrance of the cave."

Immediately, she took out various gold and mineral ores and refining furnaces from her storage bag, set up a restriction in the open area at the entrance of Yueze Cave, and devoted herself to the great work of refining weapons.

The fire in the furnace was blazing, and the sound of hammering could be heard incessantly.

Time passed silently, and more than a decade went by amidst the focused clanging of the hammer from the young girl.

Finally, on this day, a terrifying pressure, as vast as a cascading galaxy and as sharp as newly formed ancient ice, suddenly erupted and instantly permeated the entire cave area!

The stone gate, which had been closed for decades, slowly rose. Before the dust settled, a figure as upright as a pine tree and as imposing as an abyss stepped out, surrounded by an invisible aura that made people's hearts tremble—it was none other than True Lord Yueze, who had completed his cultivation and emerged from seclusion!

His eyes shone brightly as he opened and closed, and his overwhelming aura... clearly indicated that he was already a powerful cultivator in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm!