Nine Desolate Records

Day five of the journey to Frostbone Keep.

The wind and snow not only failed to stop, but instead intensified. The leaden-gray sky hung low, as if it were about to collapse at any moment. The snowflakes were no longer soft feathers, but fine and hard like sand, whipped by the gale and lashing against the protective inner energy with a screeching sound. Visibility had dropped to less than ten feet, and the world was a chaotic white expanse, with only the endless howling of the cold wind in one's ears.

"Damn this weather!" Shi Yong had to raise his voice to keep it from being torn apart by the wind. He used an iron rod as a crutch, and every step he took sank deep into the knee-deep snow. His chest heaved violently. Although Lin Qingyuan had fixed the broken bone with secret medicine and bandages, the pain was still excruciating in this harsh environment.

Lin Qingyuan walked slightly ahead, holding a specially made bronze compass. The compass needle didn't point north or south, but trembled slightly on some complex scale, its surface covered with a thin layer of ice, which he carefully maintained with his true energy. "The earth's spiritual energy is becoming increasingly chaotic, and there's a strong yin energy field interfering ahead. We shouldn't be far from Frostbone Fortress. But the direction… is difficult to pinpoint."

Yun Jin wrapped her fox fur tightly around herself, her silver eyes closed, all her senses directed outwards. Her face was paler than snow, not from frostbite, but from excessive mental exhaustion. In this area shrouded in eerie energy, her penetrating eyes felt like they were in a thick quagmire; trying to "see" her surroundings was incredibly difficult, and each attempt brought a stabbing headache. "In the cold air... there's something... not living, not dead... like... frozen 'emotions'." She described the fragments she sensed with difficulty, "Anger, despair, resentment... frozen in ice, still pulsating slightly."

Lu Li walked at the front of the group, his Shouzhuo sword hanging at his waist, its scabbard covered with thick frost. The dark golden light in his left eye flowed steadily, and his vision of "seeing the world" was greatly suppressed. The originally clear network of power lines became blurred and distorted here, especially the part from the depths of the earth and the north, as if it were blocked by a thick, writhing gray curtain.

But he could clearly feel that the "Fragment of the Mountains and Seas" in his arms and the Returning Void Array Diagram in his sea of ​​consciousness were continuously emitting faint resonances and warnings. It was the resonance between forces of the same origin, and the closer he got to Frostbone Fortress, the stronger the resonance became, accompanied by a chilling tremor that penetrated to the very marrow of his bones.

"Stop, everyone." Lu Li suddenly raised his hand.

Everyone immediately stopped and looked around warily.

The wind and snow continued, with only surging waves of snow as far as the eye could see. But Lu Li's senses detected something unusual—mixed with the sound of the wind was an extremely faint, intermittent sob, like a woman crying, or the last note of a broken musical instrument. Even more strangely, the surrounding temperature seemed to be defying logic and beginning to rise at some point…?

It wasn't that it became warmer, but rather that the biting, soul-freezing extreme cold had lessened slightly, replaced by a sticky, damp chill, as if one were immersed in ice water.

"Look at the ground!" Lin Qingyuan whispered.

Not far ahead, the snow began to melt unnaturally, revealing the dark frozen earth beneath. The meltwater didn't flow; instead, it quickly rose into wisps of grayish-white mist. At first, the mist was thin, but as it rose into the air, it seemed to be drawn by something, slowly drifting and gathering towards the north—towards Frostbone Fortress.

As more snow melted, the grayish-white fog grew thicker, gradually forming a slowly moving band of mist. Wherever the fog passed, whether it was rocks or sparse withered grass, a layer of crystal-clear ice shell, emanating a faint gray mist, quickly condensed on the surface.

"It's the 'Frosty Bone Cold Tide'!" Lin Qingyuan's expression changed. "Just like in the records, it's a strange, frigid mist overflowing from the fortress! Everyone be careful, the mist itself is extremely cold, and it may contain resentment capable of freezing the soul!"

As if to confirm his words, some distorted, semi-transparent humanoid silhouettes began to emerge vaguely from the gray-white mist. They had no physical form, as if they were formed from the mist itself, silently wandering and struggling in the mist, occasionally turning towards the four people, their empty "faces" seemingly casting a gaze, bringing a chilling unease.

"Back off, get around the fog!" Lu Li made a quick decision.

The group immediately moved to the side and back, trying to avoid the expanding, eerie cold mist.

However, as soon as they moved, the mist seemed to come alive, changing its direction and speed, rolling towards them like a gray tide! The distorted figures in the mist became clearer, and even clearer, painful sobs and groans could be heard.

"It...it's chasing us?" Shi Yong felt a chill run down his spine.

"It's not chasing us, it's our 'heat' and 'vital energy' that attracted it!" Yun Jin exclaimed urgently. "This icy mist devours all life and warmth! Run!"

The four of them held nothing back, channeling their inner energy to its fullest extent, and unleashed their movement techniques on the deep snow, sprinting wildly to the side.

But the speed of the cold mist was beyond imagination. It didn't pursue them in a straight line, but rather, as if it possessed intelligence, it constantly flanked and maneuvered from both sides, and its range was growing larger and larger. To make matters worse, as they ran, similar grayish-white mist began to rise in front of and to the sides, as if this area had already been permeated by the cold wave, but was only now being fully activated.

Soon, they found themselves surrounded by a chilling fog surging in from several directions, with less and less space to escape. The fog grew thicker, visibility plummeted, and the air was filled with a damp, sticky chill. Their protective inner energy was rapidly depleted, and their skin felt like it was being pricked with needles.

"This won't do!" Lin Qingyuan shouted. "We'll be trapped inside!"

Lu Li scanned his surroundings. Within his "Seeing Heaven and Earth" vision, the surging gray-white mist wasn't without flaws. Its flow varied in intensity; some areas were densely packed, almost tangible, while others were relatively thin. And in the due north, towards the source of the mist, although the energy there was the most violent and chilling, the mist's "density" seemed...uneven?

A crazy idea flashed through Lu Li's mind.

"Follow me! Don't fall behind!" he roared, and instead of continuing to try to escape, he charged towards the densest patch of cold fog to the due north—the direction of Frostbone Keep!

"Lu Li!" Lin Qingyuan exclaimed.

But Shi Yong and Yun Jin had absolute trust in Lu Li and followed without hesitation. Lin Qingyuan gritted his teeth and chased after him as well.

The moment I plunged into the dense, icy fog, it felt like falling into an abyss of ice. The extreme cold instantly pierced through my protective inner energy, my limbs and bones felt as if they were being pierced by countless ice needles, and my thoughts seemed to be frozen. The distorted figures in the fog almost brushed past my face, their chilling wails filling my ears and assaulting my very soul.

Lu Li suppressed his discomfort, maximizing the dark golden light in his left eye as he locked onto the tiny "gaps" and relatively thin "passages" in the flowing mist ahead. These passages were extremely unstable, appearing and disappearing intermittently, and were enveloped in dense negative emotional energy, making them completely undetectable by ordinary perception.

He was like a small boat navigating a raging glacier, using the sword intent of the Shouzhuo Sword as his rudder and his own will as his sail, searching for a glimmer of hope amidst the destructive chill. Every step he took was precisely placed in the gaps of energy conflict, and every change of direction was cleverly taken advantage of the pull of the mist's flow.

Shi Yong, Lin Qingyuan, and Yun Jin followed closely behind, treating Lu Li as their only guiding light. They did their best to keep up with him, entrusting Lu Li with the task of defending against and dealing with the attacks from the fog shadows on both sides.

This was undoubtedly a high-stakes gamble, placing everyone's lives on Lu Li's perception and judgment.

The icy fog thickened, almost solidifying into liquid ice, completely obscuring vision. They could only advance by sensing their surroundings and following Lu Li's retreating figure. More tangible attacks began to emerge from the fog—ice spikes, swirling vortexes of cold air, and even tangible yet intangible surges of resentment. Lu Li wielded his Shouzhuo sword in rapid succession, alternating between soothing, guiding, and transforming techniques, painstakingly clearing a path. His own energy expenditure increased rapidly, and his face grew paler.

Just as Lu Li felt he was about to reach his limit and the passage was about to be completely submerged, a different color suddenly appeared in the dense gray-white ahead.

That's...black?

It wasn't the gray-black of fog, but the deep black of something solid.

Immediately afterwards, a chilling aura, far more ancient, heavier, and more deathly than the cold mist, rushed towards us, like the breath of a sleeping behemoth.

"We're here!" Lu Li's spirits lifted, and he mustered his last bit of strength to rush forward several steps.

"Whoosh—"

It felt as if I had passed through a curtain of icy water, and the pressure around me suddenly eased.

The four staggered out of the cold mist and fell onto the hard, black ground covered with a thin layer of ice.

Looking back, behind them was a thick, swirling, gray-white wall of cold mist, but it seemed to be blocked by an invisible boundary, unable to penetrate the area beneath their feet.

And right now...

It is a fortress.

A massive, dilapidated fortress constructed entirely of black ice rock.

It stands atop the snow-covered plain, towering dozens of feet above the surrounding terrain, like the jagged skeleton of a colossal beast. The fortress walls, several dozen feet high, are not smooth, but covered with marks of assailant chiseling and massive cracks; many sections have collapsed, revealing deep, dark passageways and ruined halls within. The entire fortress is devoid of light and life, exuding only an ancient, bone-chilling cold and deathly stillness.

Most striking is the highest point of the fortress, where instead of a typical watchtower or main castle, lies a massive, irregular hole, as if torn and hollowed out from within by some unimaginable force. At the hole's edge, black ice rock displays a twisted shape, as if molten and then rapidly frozen. Wisps of frigid air, more solid and almost black than the surrounding mist, slowly and continuously emerge from that hole, rising into the sky and merging into the surrounding grayish-white fog.

This is the source of all the cold waves—Frostbone Fortress.

Simply standing in front of it, one can feel the terrifying pressure that suppresses the soul, as well as the overwhelming resentment and unwillingness contained within it.

"We...we're really in?" Shi Yong stood up, leaning on the iron bar, looking at the cold mist behind him that was so close yet he couldn't cross it, still feeling lingering fear.

Lin Qingyuan, breathing heavily, quickly checked his and his companion's condition. Aside from the enormous depletion of their true energy, minor frostbite, and some tremors in their souls, they were otherwise unharmed—it was truly a miracle. "Thanks to Junior Brother Lu..."

Yun Jin stared intently at the massive hole in the fortress, her body trembling slightly, the vortex in her silver eyes spinning wildly uncontrollably. "That…the thing inside…it's terrifying…it's watching us…no, it's watching everything that enters…cold, hollow, hungry…"

Lu Li swallowed a few recovery pills, regulated his breathing for a moment, and forced himself to recover from the extreme exhaustion he had just experienced. He looked up at the desolate black fortress, the resonance between the fragment in his arms and the array diagram in his sea of ​​consciousness reached its peak, and at the same time, he clearly felt a faint but clear... pulsation emanating from the dark blue-green lock on his chest.

That is the prisoner's "tyranny" origin, a response to concepts of the same or similar origin.

What is sealed or contaminated within Frostbone Keep is anything but ordinary.

"Looks like we've found the right place." Lu Li's voice was a little hoarse, his gaze sharp as a knife. "Everyone, hurry up and recover. We must enter this fortress."

He paused, looking at the deep, dark gate that resembled the mouth of a giant beast—two towering black metal doors, several meters high, covered with strange frost patterns, one of which was already tilted and collapsed.

"What awaits us inside is probably a hundred times more dangerous than the cold fog outside."