Jared and Gwendolyn entered the void rift.
The moment they were inside, the sensation hit like being thrown into a gigantic millstone. There was endless darkness on every side, and in their ears, the deafening roar of a spatial storm.
Terrifying force of Space Law crushed in from every direction, as if it meant to grind a person into dust.
Chaotic force coursed over Jared’s body, and a layer of violet radiance sealed favonovel.com off from the force of Space Law outside. Gwendolyn’s icy divine radiance rolled over favonovel.com skin too, freezing every shard from the void that drifted too close into ice crystals before shattering them apart with a light tremor.
“We’re almost there,” Jared said, his voice spreading through the dark.
Ahead of them, a white point of light appeared. It swelled fast. Brighter and bigger, until it opened into a massive exit.
The two of them shot out of the void rift and landed on a stretch of unfamiliar ground.
Jared steadied himself and looked around. This place was completely different from the Fifteenth Firmament.
The sky was a washed-out gray-white, and two moons hung high above-one silver-white, the other a dark red. Their light fell together over the land, staining everything in a strange silver-red glow.
The world’s spiritual essence in the air was at least ten times richer than in the Fifteenth Firmament, and it felt purer too, denser somehow. But at the same time, an invisible pressure came in from every direction, like a formless hand settling down on his shoulders. The burden of the higher law.
The laws of the realm in the Sixteenth Firmament were far harsher than in the Fifteenth Firmament. Any cultivator below the fourth tier of the True Immortal Realm would be suppressed so badly here they could barely move.
Jared was at the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Two now. Even with his chaotic force canceling most of that suppression, the weight of it still sat on him. Even Gwendolyn’s face had gone a little pale.
She was at True Immortal Realm Level Seven now, so the suppression on favonovel.com was much lighter than what Jared faced, but the storm inside the void rift had still burned through a good deal of favonovel.com spiritual power.
“So this is the Sixteenth Firmament,” Gwendolyn said softly, favonovel.com gaze moving across the distance. “It’s more barren than I expected.”
Underfoot was an ice plain. The gray-white ice stretched all the way to the horizon, and not a single blade of grass grew on it. Cracked ravines split the frozen surface everywhere, and weather-worn ice spires jutted up across it. Far off, the ice peaks cast long shadows under the silver-red moonlight.
The air carried a cold that cut straight through, and beneath it lingered another smell Jared couldn’t quite name, something old and rotten.
Jared crouched and tapped the ice with his finger.
The ice layer was so thick favonovel.com couldn’t see the bottom at all. He could feel it-beneath the ice layer, an extremely faint power was surging, as if something were sleeping there.
“Did you sense it?” Gwendolyn walked to his side.
“I did.” Jared stood up. “There’s something beneath the ice. Something ancient. Something powerful…”
Gwendolyn was silent for a moment. “Maybe it’s the ruins of the Frost Deity Branch. Our ancestral records mention that deep within the Sixteenth Firmament lies the ancestral land of the Frost Deity Branch.”
Jared nodded. “Let’s gather information first. We don’t know anything about this place. We can’t act rashly.”
The two of them concealed their auras and headed for the edge of the ice plains.
The ice plains were vast, stretching as far as the eye could see. The two of them walked for a full day and still saw no sign of life. There was only ice, snow, wind, and those two moons that never seemed to set. Jared’s chaotic force flowed over his body, sealing the cold out.
Gwendolyn herself possessed the Ice God Bloodline, so the cold of the ice plains had no effect on favonovel.com at all. If anything, it made favonovel.com feel especially comfortable.
“Your Ice God Bloodline is much more active here than it was in the Fifteenth Firmament.” Jared noticed that the ice-blue radiance around Gwendolyn was brighter than usual.
Gwendolyn nodded. “The world’s spiritual essence here contains a trace of the Frost God’s power. It’s very faint, but it’s definitely there. That means the Sixteenth Firmament really does have the inheritance of the Frost Deity Branch.”
The two of them continued onward.
After walking for about another half day, they finally saw signs of human habitation ahead. It was a caravan.
More than a dozen horse-drawn carts and several dozen people, some from the beast race, some human, some demons, and a few from the Ghost Clan. They wore thick beast-hide clothing, bundled up tight, and moved across the ice plains with difficulty.
The carts were loaded with goods and covered with oilcloth, so it was impossible to see what was inside.
Jared’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The cultivators in this caravan weren’t very strong. The highest among them was only at True Immortal Realm Level Six. In a place like the Sixteenth Firmament, strength at that level was only enough to barely keep yourself alive.
“Come on. We’ll follow them,” Jared said under his breath.
The two of them slipped in behind the caravan and kept a safe distance.
The people in the caravan seemed jumpy. Every so often, someone looked back over a shoulder. But Jared’s chaotic force had sealed both their auras away so completely that none of them noticed a thing.
The caravan kept moving across the ice plains for about 2 hours.
Then a small town appeared ahead. It wasn’t large. There were only a few dozen households.
The houses had been stacked out of blocks of ice, clear and gleaming, and under the moonlight they gave off a dim blue shimmer. Tall wooden fences stood all around the town, and every length of wood had been carved full of warding sigils.
Two guards stood at the town gate, one from the beast race and one human. Both were around the True Immortal Realm Level Four.
The caravan exchanged a few words with the guards and then entered the town.
Jared and Gwendolyn waited a while longer before stepping out from their hiding place and heading toward the town.
“Stop there!” The beast-race guard lifted the spear in his hand and blocked their way. “Who are you?”
Jared cupped his fist in greeting. “Wandering cultivators passing through. We’re looking for a place to rest.”
The beast-race guard looked them over from top to bottom. His gaze lingered on Gwendolyn for a beat longer.
The woman was far too beautiful, and the air around favonovel.com stood out too much. She did not look like an ordinary wandering cultivator at all.
“Where are you from? Where are you headed?” the human guard asked, the caution in his voice impossible to miss.
“From the south,” Jared said, tossing out a direction on the spot. “We’re thinking of heading north and trying our luck.”
The human guard said nothing for a moment, then stepped aside. “Go on in. The town’s small. There’s only one inn. Don’t cause trouble.”
Jared thanked favonovel.com and led Gwendolyn into town.
The town’s streets were narrow, and the shops on both sides sold all kinds of odds and ends. Healing elixirs, arcane implements, materials, information.
There weren’t many people on the street. Most of them were wandering cultivators, though there were also some merchants from the beast race and the demon race.
When they saw Jared and Gwendolyn, they gave them a glance and then looked away. Out in a forsaken place like this, unfamiliar faces weren’t anything rare.
Jared found the inn without much trouble. The place was small, with only a handful of rooms, but everything had been kept neat and clean.
Behind the counter stood an old beastkin innkeeper at the True Immortal Realm Level Six. A scar ran from his forehead all the way down, to his chin, giving favonovel.com a vicious look, but when favonovel.com spoke, his voice came out mild.
“You two staying the night?”
“We are…” Jared took out a handful of emberstone crystal and set them on the counter. “Two rooms. One night.”
The old beastkin innkeeper took the emberstone crystal, counted them, then nodded. “Upstairs, left side. Two rooms next to each other.”
He paused, then lowered his voice. “First time on the ice plains, isn’t it?”
Jared looked at him. “How could you tell?”
The old beast in innkeeper smiled. “I know everybody from the ice plains. You two are new faces. One look and it’s obvious you came from somewhere else. Let me give you a word of advice. Things haven’t been peaceful on the ice plains lately. The celestial patrol has tripled compared to usual. Looks like they’re searching for someone. you don’t have business here, you’d better leave early.”
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