A few hours later, Shi Ming was back at the summit.
This was a brutal snowscape, carved by blizzards and Sub-Blades. While the Sub-Blade Storm had entered a lull, the extre cold was the one constant. Shi Ming could easily withstand the temperatures of around -100 degrees Celsius, but Rong Bing and Li Jiuyuan couldn’t handle such a harsh environnt for extended periods.
Cold!
To deal with it, they were ard to the teeth.
They had even activated their "Ice God Suits."
This anti-low temperature combat gear was jointly developed by Da Yu and Katyusha, the latter of whom was permanently stationed in the Ice Sea. The suits allowed an Awakened to maintain their combat effectiveness while withstanding extre temperatures as low as -150 degrees Celsius. Though Shi Ming didn’t need it, he didn’t want to stand out. He put on the armor-like mountaineering suit just like the others.
For Da Yu, this was an opportunity too precious to waste.
The saying goes, "Use good steel for the blade’s edge," and the Mount Everest Summit was that edge. In addition to the Ice God Suits, Da Yu had also outfitted the team with state-of-the-art detection equipnt and after-action recorders.
The detector in Rong Bing’s hands was running at full power. It was a scientific instrunt integrating life and energy detection, capable of penetrating land and permafrost. It remained stable even in the most extre environnts and was incredibly precise—not even microorganisms invisible to the naked eye could escape its sensors.
Its only drawback was a limited detection range of about thirty ters.
Li Jiuyuan held the super-recorder.
This device could perfectly record every aspect of the exploration: images, details, physical sensations, and even things imperceptible to the naked eye, like the fluttering frequency of each snowflake. It was primarily used for post-mission debriefings. The logic was that even the wisest can make a mistake, but with this super-recorder, the team could replay the exploration process repeatedly, ensuring no significant clue was overlooked.
"No life signs, no energy anomalies."
"No life signs, no energy anomalies."
"..."
The exploration continued thodically.
Their altitude climbed steadily.
The three of them looked like astronauts stranded on a white planet. Frost coated their form-fitting Ice God Suits, which creaked with every swing of their arms.
In so ways, exploring a mountain peak was no different from exploring the deep sea.
Gradually, the team neared the spot where Shi Ming had excavated the suspected Jianmu Seedling.
Shi Ming had already wiped away every trace of his previous visit. Even the excavation marks in the permafrost had been flawlessly concealed by Ah Jian’s "Spiritual Reorganization." After two hours of the storm’s scouring winds, not even a machine, let alone Shi Ming using his own Spiritual Power, could detect that soone had recently been here digging.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
The detector chirped nonstop.
It had detected the aura of life seeping out from thirty ters below the ice.
This was the one thing Shi Ming couldn’t erase.
"Readings are changing! Do a deep scan here!"
"Right!"
Shi Ming and Li Jiuyuan jamd the detector’s sensor nodes hard into the ice. Rong Bing steadied his footing on the mirror-like surface and focused, interpreting the data fluctuations streaming from the device.
His eyes lit up.
"Excellent."
"This is another Life Energy leak. A sha we haven’t found any biological matter. Looks like no Frostjade Bloom has ford yet, so it must be a recent leak. Mark the coordinates, transmit them to Da Yu, and we’ll continue the grid search."
Rong Bing was visibly excited.
Two special zones found in just fourteen hours! He had already secured the contribution points for this mission. With at least ten hours left in the predicted lull, there was a very real chance of finding even more.
’Let’s press our advantage!’
Just as Shi Ming was about to pull the sensor nodes from the ice, the Spiritual Power he kept spread around him for vigilance detected a dangerous presence. It was coming from higher up the summit...
No, it was coming from all directions!
"Master!"
Ah Jian’s warning ca at the sa instant.
"Detecting a massive number of Sub-Blades forming. A storm is brewing!"
WHOOSH!
Rifts of Sub-Blades, each the size of a large fan, tore open in the air just outside their field of vision. The sound rapidly escalated into a shriek sharp enough to rupture eardrums, and then hundreds of invisible Ice Blades erupted from them, hurtling toward the trio.
Sub-Blade Storm!
The wind and snow instantly intensified their howling, and in a matter of seconds, the Sub-Blade Storm had fully ford!
"This is bad!"
"Watch out!"
Shi Ming roared a warning. Rong Bing reacted instantly, adjusting his position. The two n took up positions on either side of Li Jiuyuan, who had no defensive abilities, simultaneously activating the Black Tortoise Shield and the Aegis of Supremacy to shield him.
Li Jiuyuan, in turn, activated his own ability at the perfect mont.
He simply closed his eyes—
’The Sub-Blade Storm only exists when I see it. If I can’t see it, it’s just an illusion, a paper tiger baring its fangs.’
Skill: Idealism!
Though battered by the Sub-Blade Storm, the trio perfectly avoided its core. All around them, glaciers shattered and flew apart. CRASH! The fragnts were swept into a whirlwind, churned by the storm into the finest possible ice crystals—a state neither solid, gas, nor liquid—that scoured the three of them.
"Damn it!"
"This was supposed to be the lull! How could the forecast be so far off!"
As the Sub-Blades multiplied, Rong Bing knew their expedition was over, a fact he accepted with deep regret. It was a sha they couldn’t reach the true summit or see the great stone monunt together.
"Group up!"
He acted decisively, pulling out a piece of phoenix tree wood that shimred with rainbow patterns in the reflected light of the snow. He injected it with his Awakening Power, activating it instantly.
Jade Sea Cangwu!
As the signature artifact of the Nine Cauldrons, it grants the holder twenty minutes of immunity to environntal damage like fire, frost, lava, and poison gas. A true trump card for ergencies.
"We’re retreating!"
"Head for the Xirang Research Institute!"
The Black Tortoise Shield and the Aegis of Supremacy had expired. But under the protection of the Jade Sea Cangwu, the trio didn’t need to reactivate their defensive skills. They huddled together under the shimring canopy of the rainbow-colored wood and retreated down the mountain at top speed.
Twenty minutes. That was more than enough ti to get off the summit, descend past the upper snowline, and reach the safe zone.
The storm’s fury reached its zenith.
Yet it couldn’t touch the people under its protection. So, in its impotent rage, it could only pulverize the surrounding glaciers, turning them into a blizzard of debris that filled the sky. The world beca a canvas of pure white.
It was impossible to know if this was rely nature’s fury, or the influence of so other mysterious force.
Shi Ming’s frost-caked eyebrows twitched. It was a warning from the Eye of the World.
[■■■, ■■■■■]
Staring at the black squares, his eyes grew as cold as the surrounding ice.
He already knew the answer.
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