Chapter 17: The Far South, Under the Ice
It took three full days for the wind and snow to gradually subside. The boat was sheltered in the leeward of an iceberg, and the entire body of the boat had been completely enclosed in ice and snow. Chenguang and the others worked together to dig the Tianzhou out of the ice and snow, and then began to track down the monster. The monster should not have encountered this snowstorm, and at this time, the morning light could no longer sense the location of the Yin-Yang Treasure Mirror.
It is said that there are many strange beasts on this southern continent, and everyone has been very careful. On the third day of coming to the Southern Continent, I really ran into it. On this day, Chenguang was driving the heavenly boat, and only Xue outside suddenly ran to the organ room and shouted in horror: "There are many strange beasts on the ground, as if it is an army of strange beasts, black and pressed in a line, and they are marching." ”
Chenguang hurriedly came to the head of the boat with the sheep's horns and looked down. I saw that on the snow-white ice, a long black line stretched for dozens of miles, all the way to the end of heaven and earth. Upon closer examination, it can still be seen that these black lines are formed by a series of moving figures.
Seeing so many black shadows, everyone couldn't help but gasp, and said in their hearts: "If these strange beasts really attack us, I'm afraid we won't even have scum left." The sheep's horns and the morning light glanced at each other, and Hula ran into the organ room, manipulating the heavenly boat to hurriedly rise a few hundred feet, far away from these black shadows.
On the ground, a fat-headed goose staggering around looked up at the sky and barked at a small black dot in the sky, as if to say to the partners around him: "Look, there is also a big goose in the sky." The other bigger one next to him stretched out a wing, "pop" and slapped on the head of the big goose, "quack, quack" and called loudly, as if to say, "It's your business, hurry up, don't get in the way!"
On this day, until the dark shadow was no longer visible, Sheephorn and Chenguang were both desperately driving the heavenly boat forward.
The sheep's horns and the morning light alternately drove the heavenly boat, day and night to catch up with the center of the southern continent. After another five days like this, Chenguang was pleasantly surprised to find that the position of the Yin-Yang Treasure Mirror could already be sensed, and it seemed that the direction told by the Demon Ancestor was correct.
Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the target, on the night of the sixth day, Sheephorn landed the heavenly boat next to a huge ice ditch, which was a hundred zhang wide and unfathomable.
The horns gathered the people together and took counsel.
Sheep's horns said to everyone first: "Brother Chenguang has sensed that the monster is on the other side of this deep ditch, and it has stopped about ten miles away. It seems that the monster has arrived in the land of the sealed demons. In my opinion, the purpose of my waiting for this visit has been achieved. There are two options for the immediate response, one is for us to return immediately, unite with the heroes of Tiexiong Mountain and other heroes halfway, and then come to find this monster to fight, and the other is to wait here. The drinking water on the boat is enough for everyone for two months, and we have been here for about a month, but the weather here is too cold, and everyone doesn't eat much, and there is still a lot left, and it shouldn't be a problem to stay here for ten days and a half months, I don't know what you think?"
Chenguang asked: "Brother Sheephorn, we came this time to explore the reality of the monster, at this time we haven't even seen the shadow of the monster, is there any comradeship of the monster here, is there anything strange about this matter, what is sealed in the sealing land, have we ever found out?"
The horns were speechless for a while, so he had to shake his head and say, "These ...... Indeed, I do not know. ”
Chenguang said: "If we don't know, we should go and find out, otherwise why are we here?"
Zuo Tao said: "I agree, if it comes, you should go and see what it is." ”
Wei Xue interjected: "We're here to track the monster, since we've already chased it, just follow the monster, the monster stops, we stop, the monster goes, we follow it again." ”
When she said this, the conversion next to her and the chubby nodded incessantly.
Amytis said, "Sister, what you say is very true, but why are we waiting here?"
Wei Xue said: "Of course, when my parents come with reinforcements." ”
Amytis nodded, "Then let me ask you, if that monster set up an ambush in this ice ditch, do you think your parents will know?"
Wei Xue looked at the huge dark deep ditch next to her and shook her head.
Ametis then asked, "The Yin-Yang Mirror is a treasure of heaven and earth, and ordinary demons can't approach it at all, but that monster can steal the mirror, do you think that monster will be easy to deal with?"
Wei Xue's face had changed a little at this time, and she bit her lip and shook her head.
Ametis asked again, "If your parents came thousands of miles with reinforcements, but they crashed headlong into the trap set by the most powerful monsters without realizing it, do you think they would be safe and sound?"
Wei Xue stood up suddenly and said in a loud voice: "No, you can't let them go like this!"
Sheephorn shook his head and said, "Now that you can see that there will be a trap here, what can we do if we go?"
Chenguang said: "Big brother, the art of war is unexpected, and it is unprepared. The monster had just arrived here, and I believe it was too late to make many arrangements, and besides, a few of us tracked it down, and the monster didn't know that we went to catch him off guard. In addition, we have few people and small targets, and the enemy is even more imperceptible, so perhaps the results will be better than that of my master. All we need to do now is hide our tracks, and don't let the monster know we're coming. ”
Zuo Tao said: "What Chenguang said is good, old sheep, when you and I intercepted that monster in the sky that day, we almost suffered a big loss at the hands of that monster, and this account always has to be recovered." ”
Sheephorn sighed and said, "Okay, but we have to say first, whether we can gain anything or not, as soon as we find danger, you must return immediately, and I will cut it off." ”
Chenguang smiled and said, "Big brother, don't worry, I have already fought that monster in the Star-Moon Valley, although the monster has some means, but it will not make us escape." ”
Before Sheep's Horn could say more, Amytis interjected: "In this way, we will leave immediately, but Sister Weixue and the old way of conversion can't go, so let's stay and guard the heavenly boat." ”
As soon as Wei Xue heard this, she stood up and grinned, but looking at the eyes of a few people looking at her, she thought about it and thought that she really couldn't help much, so she pouted and sat down again.
Seeing that no one had any more opinions, the sheep horn said: "We will hide the Tianzhou in the crack of the deep ditch next to it at the moment, and the refuge Taoist and the little sister of Weixue will stay in the Tianzhou, and a few of us will follow this deep ditch to find the place where the monster is, and carefully investigate." ”
Everyone nodded yes. So, the heavenly boat slowly disappeared into the darkness of the deep ditch and hovered beside a cliff. Several soldiers divided into two paths, taking refuge and staying on the Tianzhou with Wei Xue, Xue'er, and Chubby to respond, and Sheep's Horn, Zuo Tao, Chenguang and Amytis quietly groped along the gap at the edge of the deep ditch towards the place where the monster was.
This ice ditch is bottomless, and the position of everyone is at the end of the sun's reach, and then down, it is endless darkness, which cannot be glimpsed, and the probe looks up, and there is ice and snow as far as the eye can see, and the ice and snow show an endless posture, like a knife and axe, like a mountain rock wall, like a forest and bamboo, like a wind sweeping Shazhou. The faint sunlight shines through from top to bottom, making the entire ice trench glow with a faint blue color, which is truly a breathtaking beauty.
After walking along the ice ditch for more than two hours, the morning light signaled to everyone that the monster was not far ahead, and everyone immediately cheered up and was ready to meet the enemy at any time.
After crossing an ice wall, the ice ditch in front of him suddenly changed, and after walking more than ten miles before, the ice ditch was obviously cracked, and the two walls were uneven, and everyone could still walk along the crack of the ice wall. However, the ice ditch here seems to have been split by someone, and the two walls are smooth and traceless, and there is not even a place to stay. Morninglight and Amytis unfold the Wind Trick, while Zuo Tao summons a kind of vine that is close to the wall, carrying her and the sheep's horns on the ice wall. Of course, several people have already hidden their bodies in the darkness of the ice gully.
After about half an hour of further travel, several people stopped in front of a huge ice wall. The bottom of the ditch, which was originally invisible, had now extended from the darkness, forming an ice road dozens of zhang wide. And this ice wall stands straight in the middle of the ice road. The ice wall is very huge, from the ice road all the way up to the top of the ice ditch, only in the lower right corner, leaving a triangular gap the size of a few people to pass through, forming a natural ice door. Several people hid their bodies behind a protruding ice rock dozens of feet away, observing the ice gate from a distance.
I saw two figures faintly revealing from the ice gate, one on the left and one on the right, guarding behind the ice gate.
Chenguang lowered his voice and said: "This place is deep in the center of the Southern Continent, it is extremely cold, not even a single bird or beast is seen, there is actually a human figure, it must be a monster." ”
Sheephorn nodded and said, "It seems that we didn't come in vain this time, this must be the monster's lair." ”
Chenguang said to Sheephorn: "Brother Sheephorn, this ice gate is narrow, and those two are guarding behind the door, how can we touch it?"
"This place can't be touched at all, and if we attack it, it will be exposed, so it's better to wait and see." ”
A few people waited for about a cup of tea behind this ice rock, but the two figures still did not move, but a few of them were shivering from the cold, and they couldn't hold on.
Amytith said in a trembling voice, "One ...... It's not a way to wait all the time, if you come to attract bricks and stones, it will ...... Lure them over and start again. ”
When Zuo Tao heard this, he said, "No....... Number...... No., fast ...... Fast...... Hurry up ......"
As soon as Amytis stretched out her hand, she shaved off a small piece of crushed ice with the spikes in her hand, and with a wave of her hand, she threw the crushed ice onto the ice wall far away from the ice gate, making a crisp sound, and then bounced back onto the ice path, making a continuous sound. The sound reverberated in the ice ditch, louder and louder.
A few people were still poking their heads out from behind the ice rock to watch, but when they saw that the small broken ice actually made such a loud noise, they looked at each other in fright, and hurriedly shrank behind the ice rock to hold their breath. For a long time, he couldn't hear any movement, Zuo Tao quietly looked at it, the two figures behind the ice door were still not moving, Zuo Tao gently pulled Amy Thy and said, "Emily, you go over and take a look." ”
Ametis asked, "Why did you let me go?"
Zuo Tao said: "You threw the ice cubes, but they didn't move, who are you going?"
When Amytis heard this, she almost slipped, but saw that the other two people were also shivering with cold, looking at herself with expectant eyes, so she had to sigh secretly, and gently pulled the cicada feather on her body, and the whole person turned into a piece of feathers, silently floating to the ice wall on one side, and then drifted against the ice wall on the opposite side, and then slowly fell above the triangular ice gate at a very slow speed, and hovered still.
Several people here watched Amytis's performance, and they all didn't dare to breathe in a nervous atmosphere, and in the empty ice ditch, they seemed to be able to hear the heartbeat of the three of them, "dong, dong......".
Amytiss hovered over there for a moment, then suddenly she rolled over, jumped down, and landed in front of the ice door with a "click". The hearts of the three people here were all "Knock!", and they almost jumped out of their chests, thinking that Amytiss had been attacked by the ice queen and fell.
A few men were about to rush out with their swords raised, but when they saw Amytiss standing up, they turned around and beckoned to them. The three of them stepped forward with some doubts, and Amytis walked through the ice gate, pointed to the figure behind the ice door and said, "The two ice puppets scared us for a long time. As he spoke, he tapped his finger on the two frozen men.
The three of them walked into the ice gate and saw that they were indeed two people, but they had been frozen into two large ice sculptures. They were wearing thick fur clothes, which should be Xia Yanguo's, and the two of them had a big "tiger" character engraved on their shoulder armor, and they both held a long ge in their hands. Changge in the hands of the two people was holding his hands in front of his chest, and his eyes were closed, as if he was asleep.
Sheep's horn suddenly said: "Fifty years ago, Xia Yanguo's Heavenly Sword Heavenly Sword led dozens of cultivators and thousands of elite soldiers to bravely explore the Southern Continent, but they never returned, these two people must be the elite soldiers at that time. It seems that Heavenly Sword Yu Qian has also visited this place, but it is a pity that these two soldiers are guarding the ice gate here, but they are frozen to death here. ”
Chenguang said: "Heavenly Sword Yu Qian was one of the twelve earth immortals at that time, and his cultivation must be extremely high, and he still had a large number of followers, but he couldn't return safely from this southern continent, or he was ambushed by the monsters here, from this point of view, these monsters are really not to be underestimated." ”
"Yes," said the sheep, "we have to be careful, and we don't know what kind of danger lies ahead." ”
The group said goodbye to the two ice sculptures and moved on.
The scene behind the ice gate was different from before. After about half a mile of walking, the ice ditch in front of me suddenly closed and turned into an ice cave four or five zhang high and ten zhang wide and narrow.
A few people touched the ice cave and felt that the more they went in, the narrower the ice cave became, and after walking for about two or three miles, the ice cave was only a zhang wide and narrow, and there were some forks next to it that only allowed one person to pass through. Sheephorn looked at the four walls of the ice cave and said, "Be careful, this place is not a natural formation, but a man-made carving. Everyone couldn't help but tense their nerves.
After several people deliberated, they felt that they could not be separated, and first proceeded along the widest passage. After walking a little further on, the ice cave began to twist and turn, and after turning a corner, everyone was shocked again.
It is much wider than the previous ice cave, forming a wide hall. At the end of the hall was a large ice door. The ice gate was carved square, three zhang wide. Behind the ice door, there were faint human voices, and a strange light came out.
A few people quietly slipped to the ice gate, with Sheep's Horn and Morning Light on the left, Zuo Tao and Amytiss on the right, carefully listening to the sound behind the ice door.
Behind the ice gate is an even more expansive hall. A dignified middle-aged man was standing at the end of the hall, and there were several people next to him, listening to the middle-aged man's orders. Strange to say, the surrounding air is cold, but these people are only wearing single clothes, but they don't seem to be cold at all.
I only listened to the middle-aged man: "Take this treasure to the vault and put it away." This shadow is depleted and needs to be dealt with properly. ”
One of the people next to him replied, and turned to the side of the ice gate. He was holding an object in his hand, which was the Yin and Yang Treasure Mirror. Another walked towards a corner on the side of the hall, but the crowd couldn't see what was there. But there were people in this southern continent, which still surprised a few people.
At this time, a strange sound suddenly sounded in the freezing, like a human voice, but it was not real. Like thunder, it exudes a majesty.
The middle-aged man in the hall heard this voice, laughed, and said, "I already knew, so I don't need to be reminded." He didn't know what he was saying, but a few people secretly said something bad outside the ice gate. Sure enough, the middle-aged man said aloud to the Bingmen: "The hero outside the door, since you are here, why don't you come out to meet you." ”
Seeing that his whereabouts were revealed, Chenguang was the first to rush into the ice gate, and in a blink of an eye, he saw a familiar light quietly disappearing from the ice wall at the end of the hall, but he didn't think about it, and went straight to the person holding the Yin-Yang Treasure Mirror, and raised his hand to grab the Yin-Yang Treasure Mirror. The man had a long bearded robe, and when he saw the morning light rushing in, he did not panic, but smiled slightly, and when he raised his hand, the morning light suddenly felt that an ice wall suddenly appeared in front of him, and he couldn't dodge, and hit the ice wall with a "tom" and was bounced back.
At this time, Sheep's Horn, Zuo Tao, and Amytiss also entered the ice gate and stood side by side with Chenguang. The middle-aged man over there frowned and said, "When will the human race and the demon race also come together?"
"Who are you?"
The middle-aged man said loudly: "The old man is in the sky. ”