Chapter 469: The Secret of the God Storage Land (Two-in-One)

Qi Ming gestured to Yan Jing.

Yan Jing nodded, his expression knowing.

His suspicions had first been aroused back when they dug that figure out of the Sand Domain.

If such ancient beings existed in the Sand Domain, he couldn't rule out the possibility of people being hidden in other regions.

That feeling had only grown stronger after he saw the patterns on the Ice Cavern's doors.

And now, it had been confirmed once more.

They had let one escape last time; making the same mistake twice would just be stupid.

He walked to the far right edge of the "ice wall" before him and reached out to carefully inspect the border. Sure enough, he found something unusual.

The ice layer at the very edge, about a meter thick, looked identical to the rest of the Ice Cavern, but its essence was completely different.

It felt like nothing more than ordinary ice imbued with a special energy.

He drew back his fist and slammed it forward.

The ice in front of him shattered instantly, erupting into a mist of frost and flying shards.

Right at that moment, Qi Ming, who had been listening intently, clearly sensed the breathing inside the ice block grow much more erratic.

Yan Jing proceeded to smash the ice on the left and top sides in the exact same manner. What emerged before them was a massive ice block, roughly five by five by five meters in size.

Looking through the gaps Yan Jing had blasted open, they could see that this was indeed the deepest part of the Ice Cavern. Behind it lay the same ice walls as the surroundings; there was no more space.

"The captain is incredible."

The group was completely won over.

No matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn't wrap their heads around how he possessed such incredible judgment.

The entity's scheme had indeed been nearly flawless.

First, you needed to understand the history of the Ice Clan. Second, you needed the strength to reach the lowest level. Even then, you had to remain constantly vigilant and remember the mention of the Ten-Thousand-Year Solid Ice from before entering. Finally, you needed a "bait" capable of bombarding the ice layer to verify the truth.

Furthermore, the entity devouring the bait that entered the ice was likely just a way for it to recover its strength.

So it was also absolutely vital to save the bait trapped inside.

The single, tiny flaw in its entire plan was simply that this block of ice took slightly longer to smash than the rest of the ice walls.

The rest of them didn't even know what the "Ice Clan" was. Aside from Yan Jing standing right in front of them, they couldn't imagine anyone else pulling this off.

"Let me see if I can move it," Zhou Xian said.

He walked up to the ice block, reached out, sank his hips, took a deep breath, and hoisted it up with a sudden burst of strength.

The ice block slowly left the ground.

Although Zhou Xian's face flushed red, he didn't seem to be struggling too much.

He set the ice block back on the ground and looked at Yan Jing. "Moving it shouldn't be an issue, but getting it out of here is the problem."

To get it out, they needed to blast an opening at least five by five by five meters in size, and they had to break the ice faster than the walls could regenerate.

This step was easily the most difficult part of the entire process.

Perhaps this was part of the reason the Ice Clan hadn't taken this block of solid ice with them back then.

"It's also possible this Ice Cavern was designed so that no one could take the complete ice block away."

Zhao Dongchuan looked at the corners and edges of the ice block, figuring that if all else failed, they might at least be able to take a piece of it.

After a brief moment of thought, Yan Jing ultimately decided to have everyone rest where they were for the day.

The moment Meng Bing's figure appeared in the Surface World, she couldn't hold on any longer. Her body was like a torn sack, blood spraying out wildly.

Only half of her body remained. Her skin was covered in gruesome gashes, and her face was a bloody, mangled mess.

The T-shirt-wearing man, who had been waiting for a long time, instantly changed his expression. He conjured a white cloth to drape over Meng Bing and carried her into a separate room.

The weird energy around him surged continuously into her body.

An unknown amount of time passed before he finally withdrew his weird energy and let out a slow breath of relief.

Meng Bing's life had been temporarily saved, but her injuries were far too severe. She seemed to have suffered irreversible damage; even if she recovered her strength later, she would likely remain crippled.

"Yan Jing..."

His eyes practically shot flames.

A few minutes later, Meng Bing finally opened her eyes. Seeing the T-shirt-wearing man with his back to her, her pupils contracted and she hurriedly spoke. "Your Majesty."

"Who did this?"

The man's voice sounded as if it were wrapped in a freezing gale.

"It was..."

Meng Bing hesitated. She wanted to say Yan Jing's name, but thinking of the leverage he held over her, the words caught in her throat.

To the man, however, this hesitation meant something completely different.

He clenched his fists.

That bastard!

"Speak! Was it Yan Jing?!"

The man's voice was low, yet entirely saturated with fury.

Had he not said anything, she might have held it in, but the moment he spoke, Meng Bing's tears began to flow unstoppably like an opened floodgate.

She opened her mouth but couldn't utter a single word. In the end, overwhelmed by a mix of grief and indignation, she simply fainted.

The fury in the man's heart completely erupted.

His expression was dark as weird energy flowed around his body. The dragon depicted on his shirt, which had always kept its eyes closed, slowly opened them.

The round dragon eyes were entirely bloodshot, without visible pupils, as if covered by a membrane of blood.

Almost simultaneously, a high-pitched dragon's roar echoed through the sky above the First Ring Domain.

Everyone currently in the First Ring Domain shuddered, sensing an incredibly intense oppressive force pressing down from above.

The crowd looked up in terror, seeing what appeared to be a colossal entity descending from above the clouds. A massive dark shadow pierced through the cloud cover and fell across the ground, blanketing the entire plaza.

They stared up at the dark shadow.

With deer antlers, a camel's head, a snake's neck, and long whiskers, it swam slowly through the air.

"Is that... is that a... dragon?"

Someone swallowed hard, their voice trembling.

Unexpectedly, despite this sudden disturbance, not a single one of the three domain lords situated in the First Ring Domain stepped forward. They simply allowed the dragon shadow to slowly patrol the skies.

Inside the First Building.

Beneath her white veil, the woman watched the dark shadow with a calm expression, the corners of her mouth slightly raised.

It was just as she thought. The T-shirt-wearing man had come to power too late and was far too young. Having been flattered by thousands, he had always been impatient.

The next day.

The group finished resting.

In a place no one paid attention to, inside that block of Ten-Thousand-Year Solid Ice, a pair of eyes had long since quietly opened.

Those eyes looked identical to the solid ice itself. The crystal-clear eyeballs stared at the seemingly oblivious Yan Jing, their vicious gaze looking as though they wanted to devour him bite by bite.

If it hadn't been for this man in front of her, swallowing that person yesterday would have allowed her to recover a small portion of her strength—enough to let her slowly move within the ice block.

But now, let alone moving, just lifting a hand required her utmost effort.

This damn bastard.

She swore to herself that once she got out, he would be the first person she devoured entirely.

This guy seemed to want to move this ice block yesterday. What a stupid pig.

She sneered coldly, making no effort to conceal the contempt and mockery in her eyes.

Did he really think that if it were so easily done, a supreme treasure like this would have been left behind until now?

Back when she had entered the ice block, she was still a hair's breadth away from the Near-Immortal Realm.

Over the many years spent inside this Ten-Thousand-Year Solid Ice, her realm hadn't regressed; instead, it had advanced, truly reaching the Near-Immortal Realm.

That was enough to prove how precious this supreme treasure was.

If she could absorb it with all her might, she believed that stepping into the Celestial Immortal realm—or even a higher tier—was merely a matter of time.

As for this idiot in front of her.

He would likely return empty-handed in the end, at most taking away a tiny piece of the ice block.

And doing so would only deplete the power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Solid Ice, helping her unseal herself.

Thinking of this, her gaze turned mocking as she looked at Yan Jing, waiting to see his defeated expression.

But the next instant, her pupils shrank.

A familiar sensation washed over her from the surroundings.

She had experienced this feeling once yesterday. At the time, she felt as if she had lost a segment of memory, and when she woke up again, the prey that was right in her grasp had completely vanished.

It was happening again...

She raised her eyes, looking outside, and discovered to her horror that she was no longer in the Ice Cavern.

When?!

The space outside was pitch black. No figures were visible, nor were there any borders.

This place seemed like a void—cold, silent, completely devoid of the concept of space. If she hadn't been able to look down and see her own body, she would have thought she had gone blind.

How was this possible?!

She truly panicked, twisting her head frantically, yet she couldn't find a single trace to indicate where she currently was, nor could she see Yan Jing.

Fear, unease, and anxiety flooded her heart.

An unknown amount of time passed like this. Just as she was nearing despair, her gaze suddenly froze.

Before her eyes, a gleam of light appeared in midair amidst the void.

The next second, Yan Jing's figure appeared in front of her.

"Let me out!!!"

She struggled with all her might, causing the entire ice block to tremble slightly.

Her roar transmitted through the ice became incredibly faint.

She hadn't expected Yan Jing to be able to hear her, but to her surprise, Yan Jing spoke. "I don't understand you."

"..."

She didn't understand either. What was this guy babbling about?

The eras the two of them came from were simply too far apart; communication was fundamentally impossible.

She wanted to try again, but unexpectedly, after a brief moment of thought, Yan Jing directly slashed open a rift and vanished into the light once more.

"Come back!"

"Come back!!!"

She shouted anxiously, but it was to no avail.

It was over...

Her heart filled with despair.

She had originally planned everything out, waiting for the great era to arrive, waiting to be reborn when the day of restarting came.

Who would have thought she would be trapped in this place?

If this continued, by the time she got out, a new world order might already be established. The heavenly prodigies of various generations would have already revealed their brilliance and reached the Summit.

Then what was the point of her abandoning her family, her friends, and everything she had possessed?!

She felt a mouthful of blood surge up her throat, nearly vomiting from sheer anger.

But right at that moment.

Another beam of light appeared in front of her.

He was back?!

Hope reignited in her heart, and she shouted desperately, "Don't be in such a rush to leave! Let's talk! Let's try to talk!"

Oh, how she wished her body was visible right now; that way, they could at least communicate using hand gestures.

Unexpectedly, the one who appeared before her this time was not the human she thought it was.

It was a man with fair skin and curly blond hair.

"Wu Xu?!"

She was shocked. Looking at this familiar face from ten thousand years ago, she didn't know how to describe her feelings. "You're not dead?"

"Wu Xu?" Yan Jing was taken aback. He had assumed the identity of Wen Xu and appeared before the woman, hoping to use Wen Xu's memories to find a language they could use to communicate.

This was thanks to the restriction of [Trait: Space]—only one space could be opened within a single Domain. Even if Yan Jing and Wen Xu's two identities were together, they could only share one space.

This limitation actually proved to be perfectly advantageous for him to interact with her.

Yet he hadn't expected the woman to call out someone else's name right from the start.

"Impossible, Wu Xu should already be dead..." the woman murmured.

Many years ago, she had witnessed the entire process of Wu Xu's death with her own eyes. His soul had been completely destroyed; there was absolutely no room for error. In the decades that followed, she had never heard any news of her friend.

She stared intently at Yan Jing and finally noticed what was wrong, letting out a long breath. "You really aren't Wu Xu. Wu Xu had a tattoo on the back of his neck."

She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad. The person in front of her was not her deceased friend, which proved her friend hadn't faked his death to deceive her—but it also proved he was truly dead.

Yan Jing nodded and spoke softly. "My name is Wen Xu. As for my identity..."

"...I am a remnant soul of a Deity from the Wizard Tribe."

"Impossible." The woman denied it outright, sneering. "Even if the Wizard Tribe gained some momentum after the severed era, they could never restore their past glory. The Wizard Tribe can never produce another Deity."

"I am a Deity from before the severed era," Yan Jing said.

"Then that's even more impossible."

The woman looked at him as if she had seen right through the imposter in front of her. She mocked, "A Wizard Tribe Deity from before the severed era dying in the God Storage Land? Do you even know what kind of place the God Storage Land is?"

"What kind of place?" Yan Jing's eyes flickered.

"It's..." The woman stopped halfway, realizing what she was doing. She looked at Yan Jing with a cold sneer. "You haven't even told me your true identity. Why should I tell you?"

"This is my true identity." Yan Jing's expression remained calm. "I didn't die here."

"Then where did you die?" The woman was determined to expose Yan Jing's trickery.

"The Great Prison," Yan Jing said softly.

"The Great Prison..." The woman frowned, ultimately shaking her head. "Never heard of it."

"It doesn't matter. I don't need you to believe me."

Yan Jing spoke slowly, "This is simply a transaction."

"That human from earlier asked me to come and communicate with you. If you tell me the secrets you know about the God Storage Land, I will take responsibility for letting you out."

"A Deity making a deal with a human." The woman scoffed. "Are you crazy, or am I?"

"Putting it that way, it seems you have no intention of doing so." Yan Jing nodded and turned to leave.

"...Wait."

In the end, the woman couldn't hold back. She asked, "How can I trust that what you're saying is true?"

"You just have to gamble on it."

Yan Jing smiled faintly. "Even if you don't speak, I lose nothing. I know there are others like you in this place. If I catch them, someone will eventually be willing to talk."

"You don't have the right to bargain with me."

"You..." The woman was furious. She hadn't expected this guy, who looked so much like her friend, to possess zero negotiation skills, acting exactly like a bandit—just like that human from earlier.

"I need to make a deal first."

After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke up. "I will separate a sliver of my consciousness into a corner of this ice, and you will take that sliver outside. After all these years, I've been driven crazy from being cooped up."

"We can consider this our first transaction, to build a little trust between us..."

The woman didn't get to finish her sentence because Yan Jing had already turned to leave.

The woman panicked. "Are you here to communicate or not?! You don't even have a shred of patience!"

Yan Jing turned sideways to look at the woman, his extremely gentle eyes curving into a slight smile. "The Ice Clan possesses a secret technique that allows them to turn ice into water and then reform their consciousness."

"Once I take you out, you would first turn into vapor and dissipate, then condense somewhere else. This way, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you, and you'd gain an escape route out of nowhere."

"Am I right?"

"..." The woman's eyes flickered with suspicion and shock.

She hadn't expected him to know such a deeply guarded secret.

This was practically the greatest secret of their Ice Clan.

"I don't just know this. I'm also quite familiar with your Ice Clan's history and origins."

Yan Jing spoke softly, his gaze mocking. "I told you, I am a Deity."

"Since you have absolutely no sincerity, you can stay in here a while longer."

"No, no, no, no!"

The woman wanted to say more, but this time, Yan Jing truly left.

She cried out unwillingly for a while before finally returning to tranquility and slowly closing her eyes.

She didn't believe it. She absolutely refused to believe that the guy was some bullshit Deity.

Nor did she believe he could catch anyone else from their generation.

Unlike her, those guys weren't all immobilized.

"Did something happen, Captain?"

Wang Gang asked. She had been enthusiastically digging through the ice layer when she suddenly noticed Yan Jing's somewhat glazed-over eyes.

"It's nothing."

Yan Jing smiled faintly and said, "Everyone keep digging. Once we've collected everything in this area, we're heading to the next place."

"Alright!!!"

The group responded in unison, full of energy.

"But what if someone digs up the items before us, Captain?" Wang Gang asked.

"Then we follow standard procedure."

Yan Jing's gaze was calm. "What gives them the right to dig up our stuff?"