Chapter 378: Chapter 317: Ice Coffin

Fei Yuan caught up, smelling the lingering, sweet scent of a female in the air. His face instantly darkened. “So this is why you were in such a hurry to get here. You were trying to steal my woman! Where’s Luo’er? Hand her over!”

Cang Qian stared fixedly at the empty air before him, his voice cold and flat. “She’s not here. She ran.”

“Why can’t I sense her presence anymore? You must have hidden her somewhere. You act like a block of wood most days, but you’re playing games with me behind my back?”

“…I really didn’t do anything to her. She’s not with me right now.”

“Looks like you won’t hand her over until I beat it out of you!”

“…”

…

Sang Luo arrived in an ice cave overflowing with a bone-chilling aura. She looked around, completely lost. ’Where did I just randomly teleport myself?’

The air was damp, frigid, and thin, as if she were deep underground.

This cold, which pierced straight to the bone, was highly unusual. Even though Sang Luo covered herself in a layer of Flame Spiritual Energy, she still shivered uncontrollably, barely able to fend it off. She already had a bit of a cold to begin with, which made her let out a few violent sneezes. She rubbed her hands together. “I should get out of here, fast!”

Just as Sang Luo was about to teleport away, Little Zhi Xin ran out and sniffed the air wildly. “Mother, there’s something here!”

With that, she took off, running toward the depths of the ice cave.

Sang Luo couldn’t stop her. ’This child!’

’As an Ice Beast, she isn’t afraid of the cold, but couldn’t she spare a thought for her mother!’

Sang Luo scanned her surroundings, then probed the area with her spiritual power. This ice cave was indeed unusual. Many special magnets were embedded inside, and these magnets could shield against detection. Her spiritual power couldn’t see a thing.

In the end, curiosity won out.

Sang Luo wrapped a few more layers of Fire Spiritual Power around herself and followed her daughter.

For an underground ice cave, the place was ridiculously large—visibly even bigger than the entire Ice Palace. Sang Luo guessed she was still near the Ice Palace, perhaps even directly underneath it now.

The ice cave was empty, filled with nothing but ice. Not a single colored stone was in sight. Everything was translucent ice and snow. The cavern was vast, soaring over a hundred feet high. A boundless sense of desolation and loneliness washed over her, creating a truly staggering sight.

“Mother will give you a little test. What is this kind of Ice Stone used for?” Sang Luo walked up to an ice wall and released Little Qi from her storage space.

Little Qi looked small, but he was her eldest child. For the first few years of his life, he had been with his father, Quan Jin, and hadn’t learned much. After she took him in, she, Si Ye, and the others began to push his education.

Little Qi was also very smart; he learned almost anything in a single try. He especially loved to read ancient texts about rare and exotic treasures.

He spotted the key details at a glance and wagged the tip of his tail happily. “Mother, this ice cave wasn’t formed naturally. Someone built it. This ice is called Profound Yin Ice. It’s very precious and rare. From what I can see, it’s at least a thousand years old. To be able to gather so much thousand-year-old Profound Yin Ice, the creator must be an extraordinary person. It was most likely made by Uncle Qilin.”

“That’s what Mother guessed too. But why did he put so much Profound Yin Ice in this cave? What is it used for?”

“Profound Yin Ice is as hard as metal or stone. Historically, some Artifact Refiners would specifically seek out this kind of Ice Stone to craft special Magic Artifacts. However, this Ice Stone has another very special use: it can preserve a physical body for ten thousand years without decay.”

Sang Luo’s heart skipped a beat. ’Cang Qian doesn’t have any… special hobbies, does he? Hiding dead bodies in an ice cave…’ Her mind immediately jumped to some rather unpleasant scenarios…

Little Zhi Xin’s voice, layered with echoes, drifted from the depths ahead.

“Mother, hurry! There’s something good over here!”

Sang Luo could barely see where she was. “Slow down, don’t get lost.”

Sang Luo carried Little Qi as she walked over, arriving at the deepest part of the ice cave.

A three-meter-long block of Ice Stone was suspended in mid-air. From its top and bottom corners, eight ice chains stretched out and were embedded into the walls, ensuring the block wouldn’t fall.

Sang Luo studied it for a long time. The more she looked, the more something felt off. Why did the shape of this Ice Stone look so much like… a coffin?

’Damn! There isn’t actually a corpse in this place, is there?!’

Sang Luo felt the urge to retreat.

Little Zhi Xin ran over. “Mother, I can smell the Rejuvenation Pearl! There’s definitely a fragment of the Rejuvenation Pearl hidden here!”

Sang Luo’s heart pounded with excitement. For someone with the obsessive compulsion of a collector, only heaven knew what it meant to be just one final piece away.

But the excitement was quickly doused with cold water. She shook her head and said, “But this isn’t our territory, after all. It wouldn’t be right to just take things.”

Little Zhi Xin shifted her weight from one front paw to the other, reluctant to leave. “Mother, if we can get the complete Rejuvenation Pearl, my Soul Law will be perfected, and I’ll be able to use the Rejuvenation Pearl’s power.”

Sang Luo was pleasantly surprised to hear this, but she still hesitated.

Little Zhi Xin wrung her little paws, trying to coax her. “Uncle Cang Qian wants to do something with the Rejuvenation Pearl, but he can’t do it with just a fragment. He must want to merge the three pieces into one even more than you do, Mother. We’ll have to get this fragment sooner or later anyway. When we do, not only can I help you, but I can also help Uncle Cang Qian achieve his goal.”

Sang Luo felt her daughter had a point. Then she remembered how Cang Qian, who looked so honest, had turned out to be so despicable, even trying to force himself on her! A fire of anger ignited in her heart. “Mother will help you look!”

“Mhm, Mother’s the best!”

Little Zhi Xin was ecstatic.

Sang Luo released her other children as well to help with the search.

They searched all over but found nothing.

Sang Luo’s gaze fell upon the coffin hanging in the air.

She didn’t really want to look there, but her instincts told her that the Rejuvenation Pearl fragment Little Zhi Xin wanted was, in all likelihood, inside that Ice Coffin.

Sang Luo thought through the chain of events and was able to guess the reason. The Beast God High Priest had passed away many years ago, and his remains were buried in the North, guarded by the Qilin Clan. This Profound Yin Ice could keep a deceased person’s body from decaying. To use so much of this precious Ice Stone, the person it was for must have had an incredibly high status.

The one lying in this Ice Coffin…

…was probably the legendary Beast God High Priest himself!

Sang Luo took a deep breath, recalled her children into her storage space, and flew up to the coffin.

This time, she didn’t need Little Zhi Xin to say anything. She could sense the powerful aura of the Rejuvenation Pearl herself. It really was in this coffin!

She looked down at the Ice Coffin before her.

It was crafted entirely from ten-thousand-year-old Profound Ice. A thick layer of mist and frost floated over its surface, obscuring whatever was inside.

Sang Luo placed her fingers on the lid, thought for a moment, and then pulled her hand back.

’If there really is a dead person inside, this would be a great act of disrespect.’

Sang Luo pressed her palms together and silently recited a few times, “This junior has offended you. Forgive the disturbance! I’ll just take one look!”

She gently brushed her warm palm across the surface of the ice. The moment the frost and mist touched her skin, it melted away inch by inch, revealing the man inside the coffin. He lay quietly within, as if lost in a deep, long slumber.

When Sang Luo saw the man’s face clearly, she almost forgot to breathe.

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