He Lan Tianxia

With a "smack," the white-haired woman used her annihilating frost palm technique to freeze the group in place. Then, as if still not satisfied, she unleashed about twenty consecutive blows on the gorilla. The gorilla, enraged, leaped back and fiercely fought the white-haired woman. Half an hour passed before the white-haired woman finally tired herself out and blasted the gorilla away.

Having expended considerable energy on the journey, and still injured, Murong Junlan couldn't break the ice sculpture quickly enough. Everyone else was teeth chattering from the cold. Murong Junlan's eyes sharpened as he looked at the woman not far away, and he coldly ordered, "Release them!"

"On what grounds?" the white-haired woman said sarcastically. "Do you think you're still the King of Qi from back then? Ha... Today, I'll show you what true heartbreak is. Come out!" The white-haired woman beckoned to a side cave, and a woman walked out woodenly.

"Yan'er!" Murong Junlan mustered his strength and painfully shattered the ice sculpture on his head.

"Go! Kill him!" The white-haired woman commanded, and the woman obediently walked up to Murong Junlan, raising a stone resembling an awl. Seeing that the woman was merely standing there, the white-haired woman added viciously, "Remember, he is your husband's killer." Upon hearing this, the woman's eyes immediately filled with deep hostility.

"What the hell? What husband-killer? Then who am I?" Murong Junlan was both amused and exasperated. But now was not the time to laugh, nor could he possibly laugh, because the white-haired woman added ominously, "Don't worry, I've already kept her in the Forget-Worry Cave long enough, ha..."

"Yan'er, I am your husband." Murong Junlan didn't care about anything else and in his haste, he simply put the title of "husband" on the card, planning to explain later.

"Kill him, kill him, or he'll escape!" the white-haired woman urged.

With eyes full of hatred, Yan'er raised the sharp stone awl and viciously smashed it at Murong Junlan.

"My consort." As the sharp stone awl was about to strike Murong Junlan's face, Luo Xie blurted out from the crack in the ice sculpture. Unexpectedly, the woman turned to Luo Xie with the stone awl in hand. She stared at him for a moment, then said softly, "You are my husband."

Murong Junlan's expression changed immediately upon hearing this. He would rather have a rock smashed on his head than humiliate a man like that.

Yan'er's soft voice came again, "But you ran away before we even consummated our marriage."

"Men are all the same, let's kill them all!" The white-haired woman was delighted. "Looks like I can kill two men with one stone today, how wonderful, how wonderful."

What do you mean, "two husbands in one arrow"? This white-haired woman is truly vicious. Murong Junlan wished he could chop the white-haired woman in half with one palm.

"Then who should I kill first?" the woman asked blankly.

"Kill whoever you want, just kill them." The white-haired woman sat there, seemingly satisfied, waiting to see the show.

The woman tried to push the ice sculpture on Luo Xie's head, but it wouldn't budge and was too cold to touch. She then turned back to Murong Junlan and looked him up and down for a while, but she really didn't recognize him. Suddenly, she blurted out, "Why did you kill my husband?"

Murong Junlan was choked for a moment. In his haste, he broke another piece of ice sculpture. With a burst of strength, the ice shattered on the ground with a "crack". Before he could move his frozen limbs, he eagerly opened his arms to Yan'er and said, "My beloved concubine, how could you forget me?"

"Don't come any closer!" The woman pointed the awl in her hand at Murong Junlan and stabbed it fiercely. "Today I will avenge my husband."

"Don't listen to that white-haired woman's nonsense. You're not even officially married yet, how can you have a husband?" Murong Junlan gently caught the awl the woman was thrusting at him, but unexpectedly, she transmitted a hidden force through it. Something was wrong. Murong Junlan knew his Yan'er's background very well. Was that hidden force coming from her continuously? Was it something the white-haired woman had taught her in such a short time? Or was it the "Dreamlike Twin Shadows" technique that had awakened her potential? If it was the former, how terrifying! Martial artists are most wary of rapid progress. If their meridians are disrupted, they will suffer a qi deviation, especially since his Yan'er had already suffered internal injuries. No, he had to take his Yan'er away today.

Once he made up his mind, Murong Junlan immediately unleashed several whirlwind palm strikes, shattering the ice sculptures of the three people. Then, he casually tossed away the awl in Yan'er's hand, and no matter how Yan'er struggled, he pulled her into his arms.

"Hurry up, take them with you and let's go," Murong Junlan said to Luo Xie, who was still patting the ice sculptures around him.

Luo Xie was no ordinary person either; he took one woman in each hand and turned to follow. Strangely, the white-haired woman remained seated, and the atmosphere inside the cave was eerily strange. Both Murong Junlan and Luo Xie sensed something was amiss, and sure enough, just as they reached the cave entrance, Murong Junlan's arms suddenly felt heavy, and Yan'er in his arms fainted.

"Yan'er, wake up." Murong Junlan shook her vigorously.

"She consumed the Seven Emotions Severing Powder from the Valley of Destruction. To wake up, she'll have to..." the white-haired woman said softly from behind.

"Unless what?" Murong Junlan stood there without turning his head.

"Unless the secret of the glass lock is revealed, I may be fortunate enough to find an antidote."

“I want to know the secret of the glass lock even more than you do.” Murong Junlan turned around and glared at the woman with a sharp look in his eyes. A cold smile flashed across his lips as he uttered a sentence that drove the white-haired woman crazy: “Since you have made her forget me, then she will also forget the secret of the glass lock completely.”

"Impossible!" the white-haired woman screamed. She panicked. She had never expected this loophole. She had calculated everything, but now she had squandered her only hope. What a tragedy!

Murong Junlan picked up Yan'er and strode out, with Luo Xie and the others following behind.

"Come back! Come back here!" They're gone, and this glass lock is useless. What use is it to her with something useless? So the white-haired woman shouted loudly as she came over. Seeing that Murong Junlan had no intention of staying, the white-haired woman stepped in front of her and blocked her way, staring at the woman and saying, "The Seven Emotions Severing Desire Powder will make someone fall into a deep sleep from which they will never wake up."

"Give me the antidote!" Murong Junlan said firmly.

"No," the white-haired woman said casually, though she regretted it.

"No antidote?" Murong Junlan was furious upon hearing this. The poison she had given Yan'er had no antidote. Murong Junlan's anger pressed down on her.

"I can refine it."

"It still needs to be refined?" Murong Junlan was furious when he heard this, and his knuckles cracked as he gripped his hand tightly.

At this moment, a slight tremor ran through the white-haired woman's heart. It wasn't because of Murong Junlan's oppressive aura, but because she truly didn't have the antidote, and this woman herself was an enigma, making her very important to her now.

"Why should I believe you?" Murong Junlan looked at the person in his arms.

"Just because of this." The white-haired woman pulled out a handful of powder from her bosom and threw it at Murong Junlan and Luo Xie, catching Murong Junlan, who had just looked up, in the fumes.

Murong Junlan shook his head vigorously, trying his best not to faint, but he still fell down. Luo Xie and the others had long since given up.

"Trying to escape my grasp? No way," the white-haired woman sneered menacingly. She ignored the several people lying on the ground and returned to her seat to regulate her breathing. In truth, she was also quite injured, which was why she had tried to avoid fighting earlier.

"Spirit Monkey, leave those guys aside." The gorilla ran over, tossed the group aside, and went outside to clean up the mess. After practicing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the white-haired woman couldn't calm down anymore. She took out a glass lock from her sleeve and started fiddling with it again.

Murong Junlan slowly awoke at midnight, followed by Luo Xie, who was unable to move. The white-haired woman and Yan'er were gone, while Luo Rina and Xiong Bao remained unconscious.

"This woman only uses underhanded tricks," Luo Xie said indignantly.

"We were too careless. The white-haired woman must be badly injured too. We need to find her quickly and rescue Yan'er." Murong Junlan picked up Xiong Bao in one arm, then glanced at Luo Rina, "See if you can wake your sister up?"

Luo Xie patted Luo Rina, who woke up groggily. After resting for a moment, Murong Junlan picked up Xiong Bao and headed forward to find a way out. Luo Xie helped Luo Rina and followed Murong Junlan around for a while before returning to the original spot.

"Your Highness, look." Luo Xie pointed to several powerful characters on the wall.

"An ancient ice sculpture cave?" Murong Junlan looked around again, but couldn't find the entrance. Wait a minute, the white-haired woman and the gorilla came out from here, there must be some mystery.

"Shanyu, go up and take a look." Murong Junlan looked up and gestured to Luo Xie.

"Go up?" Luo Xie was completely confused.

“Yes, didn’t you fall from up there?” Murong Junlan answered affirmatively.

"Your Highness, didn't you see that it's all frozen up there?" Luo Xie let go of Luo Rina, who had almost recovered, and jumped around a few times to make sure he couldn't reach it.

"Then lie down," Murong Junlan said casually.

"Lie down?" Luo Xie thought he had misheard.

"If you don't want to, then forget it."

"Why aren't you lying down?" Luo Xie had learned his lesson after suffering many losses lately.

"If you're too scared, then let your sister lie down. She'll be willing anyway."

"Don't bully her, or I'll be ruthless to you." Murong Junlan shook his head at Luo Xie's protectiveness towards Luo Rina.

"Originally, I wanted to pass on the Lazy Man's Secret Manual to you, but since you are so magnanimous, forget it, I'll leave it to my queen to learn..." Before Murong Junlan could finish speaking, Luo Xie suddenly lay down on the ground.

"You recite the incantation."

Murong Junlan knew Luo Xie couldn't resist being provoked, so he suppressed a laugh and immediately recited the Lazy Man's Secret Manual. Luo Xie, already skilled in martial arts, slowly rose after practicing it once, almost falling back to the ground in his excitement. He quickly composed himself to avoid crashing. Luo Xie practiced again, and his body slowly rose once more.

"Your Highness, it's very sturdy up there." Luo Xie tapped the solid ice surface with his hand, feeling a slight pain in his hand.

"Then come down." Murong Junlan couldn't think of a good solution for the time being.

"Now that we're up here, I'll look around some more." Luo Xie was still enjoying the "lazy man's guide" and wanted to linger in the air a little longer.

"You like it." Murong Junlan was too lazy to pay him any attention.

After drifting for about half an hour, Luo Xie seemed to sense something was wrong. "Hey, how do I get down?" he thought. So he called down, "Prince Murong, how do I get down?"

"Download it however you like." Murong Junlan was still drawing diagrams on the ground, studying the design flaws in the hole.

"It seems I can't download it. How about giving me another cultivation method?"

"No." Murong Junlan answered without hesitation.

"Then how did you get down?" Luo Xie asked again.

"He fell down." As soon as the words left his mouth, Murong Junlan regretted it a little. He had wanted to tease Luo Xie, but he remembered his embarrassment back then. However, the words had already been spoken, and Luo Xie burst into laughter.

"I can imagine the prince's sorry state back then, ha..."

"Slap." Murong Junlan angrily slapped Luo Xie.

"Trying to kill me to silence me? How could a prince like you resort to such a dark tactic?"

With a series of "thump, thump, thump," Murong Junlan unleashed several palm strikes at Luo Xie. Luo Xie quickly lunged forward to dodge, yelling in protest. Murong Junlan seemed not to hear him and continued to strike, each move more ferocious than the last.

Enraged, Luo Xie turned and kicked off the ice wall with both feet, heading straight for Murong Junlan. Before he even reached Murong Junlan, a large chunk of ice suddenly crashed down from where he had kicked off, smashing directly into Luo Xie.

"Brother, watch out behind you!" Luo Rina exclaimed. Luo Xie also sensed the danger behind him, but it was too late to avoid it.

Murong Junlan, however, reacted swiftly, pushing the large ice block away from behind Luo Xie with both palms. With a loud crash, the ice block struck the ice wall, scattering ice crystals in all directions before falling to the ground with a "whoosh."

Luo Xie tumbled to the ground, still clinging tightly to a large ice sculpture beside him, afraid he would rise up again. Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, a giant gorilla suddenly tumbled into the ice cave.

"Get out of the way." Murong Junlan tossed the newly awakened Xiong Bao to Luo Rina and immediately engaged the gorilla in battle.

Luo Xie now understood that Murong Junlan had asked him to go up because he had already seen the flaw in the ice wall and just wanted to use his legs to send a message up. He had misunderstood him again. This guy, why doesn't he always give a heads-up before he makes a move? Frustrating.

Murong Junlan and the gorilla were evenly matched when Luo Xie joined the fight with a graceful roll. Murong Junlan had injured his hand earlier and had to use his strength sparingly after being bandaged. Luo Xie, however, was different. He vented his pent-up anger on the gorilla, seizing an opportunity to slap it across the rear. The gorilla cried out in pain and then charged at Luo Xie furiously. As you know, gorillas hate being hit on the rear. Thus, an enraged humanoid and a human with nowhere to vent their anger began to fight each other.

"Eh, it seems Prince Murong Junlan's matter is over. Alright, let's sit down and discuss a way out." Murong Junlan carefully examined the four walls and discovered that four pictographic characters were faintly visible beneath the ice walls: Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding. These four characters should normally be arranged clockwise or counterclockwise, but not in this ice cave. In this ice cave, the front is Jia, the back is Yi, the left is Bing, and the right is Ding. This doesn't resemble the arrangement of the Eight Trigrams or the layout of constellations. This woman kept saying she had waited for her beloved for ten thousand years, so it must be an old layout of an ancient formation.

An old formation? Murong Junlan's eyes lit up. Yes, it must be a restriction, an ancient restriction! Murong Junlan immediately used the ancient restriction he had learned to break through the obstacle in front of him. The surrounding ice walls immediately shimmered with mysterious light, and the four characters "甲乙丙丁" (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding) appeared raised and distinct, seemingly moving yet still. Then, an astonishing scene unfolded, making it hard to believe. The four ice walls automatically shattered and fell down with "beep beep pop," simultaneously exploding into a ring of dazzling ice shards around each of the four characters.

The sudden change left both the gorilla and Luo Xie dumbfounded and stopped. Luo Xie, in particular, who had lived here for countless years, could not accept the existence of the shattered object. It even attributed the change to Murong Junlan. So the gorilla stretched out its long arm and pounced on Murong Junlan.

As if oblivious, Murong Junlan stood like a pillar in the middle of the ice cave. Just as the gorilla's arms slammed down, Murong Junlan stretched out his hands and unleashed two powerful, primal forces towards points "A" and "B". With a deafening boom, two large holes were pierced through points "A" and "B". At the same time, the gorilla was also knocked to the ground with a "crack", mainly due to the residual force of Murong Junlan's primal power and Luo Xie's strike that cleaved Mount Hua.

"Your Highness, how do you know that those two sides are the core of the formation?" Luo Xie, who had led troops for many years, knew that to break a formation, one had to find the core, which was also the most hidden place in the entire formation.

"Just a guess." No sooner had Murong Junlan finished speaking than two plumes of black smoke erupted from the two holes. Before Murong Junlan could even finish his warning, "Be careful," the entire ice sculpture cave vanished into darkness…