Chapter 139: The Profound Ice Stele

Watching the direction in which the young man departed, Liu Pan wore a look of doubt in his eyes. He refused to believe that the man had failed to notice the Profound Ice Stele marked on the layout map, and since he had seen it, how could he possibly remain unmoved?

Unless he was harboring some unspeakable secret, or, from the very beginning, he had known there was something fishy about the Profound Ice Stele.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Liu Pan shifted his steps, following at a distance behind the man. To prevent losing him, he placed a spiritual imprint upon the man's hair.

Soon, the two of them, one after the other, traversed more than half of the Heavenly Frost Sect. What caused Liu Pan's heart to sink slightly was that along the way, although they encountered no obstruction, he sensed upwards of a dozen divine senses sweeping across him from the shadows.

This was a tiger's den! In an instant, Liu Pan made this certainty in his mind.

Yet, despite realizing the danger, Liu Pan did not dare to turn around and leave at all. Or rather, from the moment the second divine sense scanned across him, it was destined that he could no longer turn back.

Before long, the man ahead halted his steps. At this point, he had stopped beneath a mountain completely covered in lush vegetation. Though separated by a certain distance, Liu Pan still saw the man produce something, apparently having it inspected by the mountain-guarding disciples.

However, the very next moment, the young man's body stiffened slightly, and then he turned and left the mountain, walking toward another direction.

At that moment, Liu Pan's eyelids twitched involuntarily, because just a few breaths before the young man turned and left, he sensed that the spiritual imprint he had left on the young man's hair had been triggered.

A formidable master of spiritual power was guarding that place! Liu Pan missed a beat in his heart. But the next moment, a sudden realization struck him, and with a flick of his thought, a strand of spiritual imprint flew out, branding itself onto his own hair.

Soon, Liu Pan arrived at the foot of the mountain. Just as he made a motion to take something out, a sudden thought crossed his mind, and he retrieved the layout map of the Heavenly Frost Sect instead.

Observing the surrounding environment and then studying the layout map, Liu Pan was in the midst of comparing them when a voice suddenly echoed in his ear: "Stop looking. Someone has tampered with you. Go and stay near the Profound Ice Stele now."

Liu Pan's body stiffened. This was not an act, for to transmit a voice across a distance, the person hiding in the dark must at least be a powerhouse who had mastered a realm of space.

"Fortunately."

Liu Pan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. If any problem had genuinely been discovered, he likely wouldn't have been able to leave this place today.

The expression on his face shifted slightly, and Liu Pan rapidly turned around, walking toward the location of the Profound Ice Stele. He could sense that the man upon whom he had branded the spiritual imprint was also heading in that direction.

After walking a certain distance, upon sensing that both the divine senses and spiritual imprints locked onto him had vanished, Liu Pan finally set his hanging heart at ease.

Turning his head to look back at the mountain he had just passed, Liu Pan's eyes once again revealed a strange expression. Then, a sudden realization dawned upon him: a faction was quietly gathering within the Heavenly Frost Sect!

Furthermore, from the words of those two disciples at the mountain gate of the Heavenly Frost Sect who tested ice-attribute aptitude spiritual roots, it could be deduced that this quietly assembled faction consisted almost entirely of cultivators with ice-attribute spiritual roots.

Ice-attribute spiritual roots? Where did so many ice-attribute spiritual roots come from?

Aside from the two factions—the former Ultimate Ice and the present Ultimate Ice—Liu Pan could think of no other place that possessed a massive number of ice-attribute spiritual roots cultivators.

Yet, what was the purpose of this gathering? Could it be that a major upheaval was about to take place?

In the book Liu Pan had read, there was no record whatsoever of an event where ice-attribute spiritual roots cultivators gathered. Because of this, Liu Pan thought of a possible trigger for this matter—the spiritual imprint he had left on the fair-skinned woman.

If this truly had to do with that spiritual imprint of his, then the current situation of that fair-skinned woman would probably be far from favorable, and she might even have already...

Liu Pan frowned, took out the layout map of the Heavenly Frost Sect to take another look, and then quickened his pace toward the Profound Ice Stele.

Though he knew the Profound Ice Stele might be unreliable, he still decided to go and take a look. However, immediately after that, he would leave the Heavenly Frost Sect and head straight for that desolate city in the north.

As for the Profound Ice Stele, because he felt it was untrustworthy, Liu Pan had not pinned high hopes on it. Yet the moment he saw it with his own eyes, it filled him with astonishment.

This was a stone tablet filled with the vicissitudes of time. It looked as though it were cast from ice, but clearly, it was not true ice. The body of the tablet stood dozens of zhang high and nearly ten zhang wide, towering within a massive pit.

The large pit had been cleared, with numerous stone steps and platforms arranged for people to sit and meditate. When Liu Pan arrived, he saw no fewer than two hundred figures sitting cross-legged on the stone steps surrounding the giant tablet, all with their eyes closed, seemingly concentrating deeply on something.

Around the large pit, numerous disciples clad in the attire of the Heavenly Frost Sect patrolled back and forth, and Liu Pan could also sense an extremely powerful divine sense covertly scanning the area from the shadows.

Clearly, the Heavenly Frost Sect's protective measures for the Profound Ice Stele were far from lax.

After a brief hesitation, Liu Pan also found a spot and sat down.

However, before he could even begin to sense anything, an agonized roar rang out, and then he saw a young man suddenly go mad, clutching his head with both hands as he rolled on the ground.

Though separated by a distance, Liu Pan still saw frost condensing upon the young man's hair. Yet, he had no clear understanding of what kind of situation this was.

Raising his eyes to look around, Liu Pan noticed that many people at that moment had opened their eyes to look at the frenzied young man. Yet no one uttered a word, and the entire scene appeared somewhat eerie. The impression it gave was as though they had long since grown accustomed to it.

Amidst Liu Pan's confusion, a figure closest to the very base of the Profound Ice Stele stood up. This was an elderly man, and it was only because of this elder's movement that Liu Pan abruptly awakened to his presence.

The elder's cultivation realm was not low; Liu Pan even suspected he was a figure of elder status within the Heavenly Frost Sect.

After casting a glance at the young man who was clutching his head and rolling in madness, the elder shook his head, then stepped forward to stand before the man, pointing a finger directly at the young man's head.

Soon, the young man grew quiet, though his mind seemed somewhat dazed. For a long while, he neither stood up nor offered thanks to the elder.

"Take him away. He can no longer continue comprehending the Profound Ice Stele today." The elder spoke, and as he spoke, he returned to his original seat and sat down, ignoring everything else.

Following the elder's words, two disciples from the patrol squad surrounding the Profound Ice Stele stepped forward and swiftly supported the young man, presumably leading him away to rest.

Once the young man was escorted away, complete tranquility returned to the giant pit. Many people cast unusual gazes toward the Profound Ice Stele, but ultimately, they closed their eyes once more and resumed their comprehension.

Liu Pan felt somewhat bewildered; he simply could not understand.

Lifting his eyes to scan his surroundings, Liu Pan's gaze finally landed upon a cultivator not far from him: "My friend, what was the situation just now?"