Chapter 104: The Cold Abyssal Cave

  Tiancheng Sword Sect is located in the western foothills of Manglong Mountain, with an influence radius of over 100 miles. The mountain gate alone has six peaks and Xiong City's Black Tortoise.

  Within the scope of the sect's power, there are three notorious danger zones: Fire Dragon Cave, Cold Abyss Cavern, and Dark Wind Gorge!

  Among them, Huo Long Dong and Han Ming Kui are only a few dozen miles away from Xuanwu City, making it the first choice for Jianzong disciples to hunt and kill demon beasts, dig spiritual jade mines, and grind their inner strength.

  Qin Yun stood at the entrance of the Cold Abyss Cave.

  It is close to Luoxia Peak, and it takes only half an hour to walk from Xuanwu City. The cave is located at the deepest part of a mountain valley, and from the outside, it looks dark and unfathomable.

  From time to time, icy cold gusts of wind gushed out from the depths of the cave. If Qin Yun hadn't cultivated the Nine Yang Mystical Technique and had his body protected by the true energy of the sun's fire, he would have found it difficult to stand at the entrance for long.

  The cold and dark cave is notorious for its freezing temperatures, the tunnel leading underground is winding and complex like a maze, deep within it hides many ferocious beasts and spirits, among which are powerful and terrifying existences, no disciple without real strength dares to venture in.

  Qin Yun came to the cold and dark cave as required by Shui Wan Xing. He needed to collect a batch of ice beads.

  Ice Pearl is a specialty of the Cold Abyss, formed by the condensation of cold water over a long period of time. It's very difficult to find and collect, and its market price is very high.

  Wan Xing needs a lot of Cong Bing pearls to refine the Cong Bing Dan for Lü Liu. If Lü Liu can practice the Bi Bo Gong with the Cong Bing Dan, it will have twice the effect.

  Just condensing ice beads to go to the market to buy substitutes is too expensive, and Shui Wan Xing's cultivation of the Huishui True Classic restricts her strength in the Cold Abyss Cave, so she handed this task over to Qin Yun to complete.

  Qin Yun accepted the order with a smile. He had just been promoted to the sixth heaven of refining Qi and also needed to consolidate his realm through battle.

  For this, Qin Yun specially went to the Tianji Palace. After learning about the internal situation of the Hanming Cave in detail, he received a task from the Zongshi Institute to collect the inner elixir of the Hanbing Beast. Gujian ventured into the Hanming Cave alone.

  Not many disciples come and go from the Cold Abyss Cave, and at the entrance, there are still sword sect warriors guarding, leading spiritual dogs, and checking all disciples who come out of the cave.

  Huǒ Lóng Dòng and Hán Míng Kū are both owned by the sect. Inside, there are veins of Huǒ Líng Yù and Bīng Líng Yù.

  Although both places are open to all disciples without restriction, the spiritual jade excavated from inside must be handed over to the sect. The sect will compensate with contribution points according to the quantity and quality.

  The spirit dog guarding the cave entrance has an extremely keen sense of smell, no matter how well it is hidden on the body, it can sniff it out, eliminating the possibility of secretly carrying private goods.

  As for other spoils of war such as demonic beast cores and mineral spirit medicines, they all belong to the disciples of the Lower Cavern.

  In this regard, Jianzong is still very kind.

  Under the emotionless gaze of the guardian warriors, Qin Yun entered the Cold Abyssal Cave for the first time.

  A chill ran down his spine, and the feeling was as if countless tiny needles were piercing through his clothes into his skin, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

  Qin Yun had no choice but to urge his true energy to drive away the chill, and only then did his body regain its warmth.

  His heart was chilled, this icy cave was indeed one of the three great dangers, and this was only the entrance, he had no idea what kind of terrifying situation lay in the deeper layers below.

  He took out a wooden token from his waist pocket and infused it with true energy. The surface of the token instantly flashed with a faint light.

  This is a Tracing Symbol Strip, made from the heartwood of a ten-year-old peach tree. With it by your side, you won't get lost in complex terrain caves and holes, but it can only be used once.

  Shui Wanqing assigned the task of collecting the Cong Bingzhu to Qin Yun, and was also worried about Qin Yun's safety. After repeatedly instructing him, she took out several talismans for him to carry with him in case of emergency.

  Xun Zong Fu Lao is one of them.

  If you're not extremely familiar with the environment of the Ice Abyss, it's easy to get lost in the complex network of paths after entering. At this time, even if your swordsmanship is divine, it won't be of any use.

  Activated the Tracing Symbol, Qin Yun proceeded with caution.

  The cave is very large, with giant stalactites and frost hanging everywhere, the sound of ice springs echoing eerily.

  The dark rock wall was densely covered with many small silver-white minerals, and it was because of the weak light they emitted that the interior of the cave was not pitch black.

  On the road, Qin Yun did not see any demonic beasts or even animals, and there were many abandoned mining stones scattered on the ground. Many places had been excavated by people, and digging sounds could be heard coming from deep within the caves.

  Many disciples of the Sword Sect, in order to accumulate enough contribution to exchange for Gongfa Dan medicine, will spend years digging for spiritual jade in the Fire Dragon Cave and the Cold Abyss Cavern.

  A fork in the road appeared ahead, and Qin Yun casually chose a direction to proceed. The depths of the Cold Abyss were interconnected with numerous passageways, and it was said that the deepest part could lead directly to the Underworld Hell.

  The deeper he went, the colder it got. Qin Yun had to use at least 30% of his true energy to barely withstand it, which meant he couldn't stay in the cave for long.

  Qin Yun sped up, no longer being as cautious as before.

  All the way forward, Qin Yun didn't know how many intersections he had passed, only knowing that he was constantly going deeper into the ground.

  The cave was getting colder and more quiet, originally he had seen some fellow disciples enter the cave, but up to now after walking for more than half a time, he hadn't even met a ghostly figure, which could be seen how deep and vast the Cold Abyss Cave was.

  Wow!

  Just as Qin Yun was about to transfer into another channel, a blue shadow suddenly darted out from the darkness in the corner and pounced on him with lightning speed from the side.

  The attacker's attack came suddenly, but Qin Yun had never abandoned his vigilance since the moment he entered the cave, and instantly drew out his long sword to block.

  Hmph!

  The ambusher crashed head-on into the sword's blade, the friction between the blade and armor producing a teeth-grinding screech.

  Qin Yun retreated two steps back while drawing his sword, and the sneak attacker was knocked to the ground, also allowing Qin Yun to see its true appearance.

  This ambusher was a monster the size of a hunting dog, with sharp horns and bulging eyes, short and thick limbs, and a stout body. Its body was also wrapped in a thick layer of icy blue tortoise shell-like armor plates.

  What's most heart-stopping is that it has a row of sharp teeth on both the upper and lower jaws, which keep rubbing against each other with a hissing sound, while white mist sprays out from its throat.

  Ice Beast!

  This is the most common low-level demon beast in the cold and dark cave, with a large number of them appearing in various places in the cave. They make a living by swallowing cave water insects and ice fish, and are born to be fierce and brave.

  Yao beasts are yao beasts, no matter how low-level they may be, and are not to be underestimated. The fangs of the ice beast are extremely sharp and can easily pierce through iron armor.

  And it also has a hard ice armor, and its speed of jumping and dodging is fast, making it quite troublesome.

  Ah!

  The Frost Beast roared again and pounced, seemingly determined to bite through Qin Yun's throat, as the previous sword strike had not caused it enough pain.

  "Looking for death!"

  Qin Yun's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and the Qinghua sword shot out in a straight line, accurately and swiftly stabbing into the open mouth of the ferocious Ice Beast.

  At the moment the sword entered the beast's mouth, Qin Yun suddenly infused his energy into the sword body, urging out a burst of sword energy that pierced into the opponent's tender oral cavity without any stagnation, penetrating its skull and shattering the hard armor wrapped outside!

  A scarlet-golden sword aura burst out from the Frost Beast's neck, stretching nearly a foot long!

  Boom!

  Qin Yun's long sword was instantly withdrawn, and the Bingshu beast fell to the ground with a thud, rolling over several times before it could no longer move.

  In the city of Xuanwu, there are many disciples selling copies of what they claim to be the secret manuals of Huo Long Dong, Han Ming Kui and Yin Feng Xia. Many of these contain written explanations and illustrations of the spiritual beasts, demons, spiritual medicines and objects within the caves.

  He spent only fifty taels of silver to buy a thick stack, and after flipping through it several times, he gained quite some understanding of the situation in the Cold Abyss.

  As the most common demon beast in the Cold Abyssal Cave, its weakness is naturally well-known.

  However, to be able to thrust a sword through its throat the moment the Ice Beast launches an attack is not something that just anyone can do. The speed, strength and angle of drawing the sword all have to be just right, and one must also possess the calm and confident courage to do so in the heat of battle.

  There is no doubt that Qin Yun did it perfectly.

  The only regret was that he broke through the thick shell of the Ice Beast, but did not find a fully formed inner dan inside.

  Many demon beasts and spirit beasts need to live long enough to condense their true inner elixir, this Ice Beast is obviously still very young, so its strength isn't that strong.

  But Qin Yun didn't mind this small regret, and with increased confidence, he continued to venture deeper into the cave.

  The Frost Beasts appeared more and more, initially just one or two, but later three to five of them formed a group, launching continuous attacks on Qin Yun, among which were some larger and more ferocious ones.

  Qin Yun's advancing speed greatly decreased, and the pressure he bore also increased exponentially. He couldn't hit the Frost Ice Beast's vitals with every sword strike, and more often than not, he had to forcefully slash at its outer shell, sending it flying and injuring it.

  The number of ice beasts was so numerous that it made him feel strange, the Cold Abyss had been open to the Sword Sect disciples for hundreds of years, and every day there were inner sect disciples entering and exiting to practice, logically speaking, a place that wasn't very deep shouldn't have many demonic beasts existing.

  However, the passage chosen by Qin Yun seemed to be leading them to their lair, as wave after wave of them appeared, and they would rather die in battle than retreat.

  He faintly sensed that there might be something strange about this, but the speed of drawing his sword didn't slow down in the slightest, instead becoming even more ferocious and swift.

  Sword energy tore through the air, and the crimson-golden light illuminated the dark space. The Ice Beast's anguished howl echoed in the cave for a long time, and the corpses that fell around Qin Yun's feet grew more numerous.

  The fire-attribute sword energy is the nemesis of the water-attribute ice beast, and Qin Yun's sword energy also contains the sharp power of Geng Jin, so even if the ice armor of the ice beast is very hard, it can't withstand it.

  One sword breaks armor, two swords take life. Qin Yun killed a Frostbite Beast with the most three swords. If he could seize the opportunity, one sword would be enough.

  But with just half a stick of incense, dozens of Frostbite Beasts were killed or injured!