I have changed my destiny and become an unparalleled immortal.

Gu Yun cursed and swore, relying solely on his powerful divine sense.

He carved third-order cold-resistant array patterns in the void with his bare hands, and the warm array patterns were steadily attached to the dragon bone of the flying boat.

The elders of the Array Hall watching from the side were wide-eyed with astonishment.

These old scholars who had studied formations for over a hundred years were like children just beginning their education in front of Elder Gu Yun.

"The Grand Elder's mastery of formations...is truly awe-inspiring!"

Mo Qianyan stood at the bow of the boat.

Looking at the man who commanded with composure amidst the wind and snow, one could sense the aura of a master.

It made her usually aloof eyes sparkle, and a hint of pride unconsciously crept onto her lips.

"Dad, when did you learn so many formations? This skill is way cooler than your fists!"

Gu Chengfeng, shirtless, came closer.

"Get lost! I've been saving this up for a long time!"

Gu Yun kicked her son in annoyance.

He turned and walked towards Mo Qianyan, brushing the stone dust off his hands, his expression solemn.

"Qianyan, the flying boat has ventured deep into the heart of the Northern Sea of ​​Ice. The magnetic field here is chaotic; even my divine sense is compressed to within a hundred feet. Where exactly are the coordinates your master left behind?"

Mo Qianyan took out a compass covered with frost runes from her bosom, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.

"The compass readings are getting stronger; it's right under the largest glacier ahead."

The airship slowly descended.

The group walked into a huge, bottomless ice cave.

The ice cave was dark and deep, with ancient ice all around emitting a ghostly blue light. The deeper one went, the more distorted the space became.

Until the end of the ice cave, there was no way forward, only a chaotic, churning void rift.

"This is it."

Mo Qianyan held the compass, looking at the raging void currents, but didn't know how to activate it.

"I'll do it."

Gu Yun stepped forward.

The mastery of formations at its peak is finally revealing its incredible value.

In his eyes, the seemingly chaotic void was actually a spatial lock woven from countless intricate ancient array patterns.

"This founder of the sect was truly a genius; he actually hid the entrance and the gate of life here."

Gu Yun stroked his chin and took the rune compass from Mo Qianyan's hand.

With precise control, he used the compass as a key, inserting it at a tricky angle into an invisible node in the void!

"click"

A crisp click of a mechanism echoed in the void.

Immediately afterwards, the raging void turbulence parted to both sides like gentle flowing water, and a spatial portal emitting a soft white light slowly appeared.

"It's open! The Grand Elder is mighty!!"

The disciples of Hanyue Palace cheered with relief at surviving the ordeal.

"Let's go! The entire sect enters the secret realm!"

Mo Qianyan gave the order.

The crowd marched through the portal in a grand procession.

However, when Gu Yun and Mo Qianyan stepped into the legendary "Ice Soul Secret Realm" and saw the scene before them, the joy on their faces instantly froze.

There is no ethereal paradise, nor are there snow lotuses growing everywhere.

What comes into view is a boundless, pure world of ice.

The sky was gray, and the earth was a flat, mirror-like sheet of solid ice.

The cold wind howled across the empty ice field, like the wailing of ghosts and wolves.

What's most despairing is...

"Why...why is there not a trace of spiritual energy here?"

One of the accompanying elders turned pale and frantically reached out to grab at the air, but grabbed nothing.

In the world of cultivation, spiritual energy is the lifeblood of cultivators!

Without spiritual energy, one cannot cultivate, set up formations, or even have one's internal magical power gradually depleted.

Mo Qianyan squatted down and forcefully chiseled the ground with her Snow Jade Sword.

"when!"

Sparks flew everywhere, leaving only a faint white mark on the ice.

"There is no land, only ancient ice harder than steel."

Mo Qianyan slowly stood up, her beautiful face full of bitterness, and turned to look at Gu Yun.

"The hundreds of acres of spiritual herbs and seeds we brought from Hanyue Palace... simply cannot be grown here."

Without the replenishment of spiritual energy and without land to grow spiritual herbs, the resources they bring become like water without a source.

Even if they take away the wealth accumulated by Hanyue Palace over thousands of years, with several thousand people living off it all, it will eventually run out of resources.

This is an absolute dead end.

It is simply not suitable for a sect to take root and multiply here.

Looking at this desolate and lifeless ice plain, the disciples of Hanyue Palace lost all their initial joy, and despair began to spread among them.

Gu Yun looked at the vast, boundless ice field, then glanced at his wife beside him, whose expression was somber.

He stretched out his large, warm hand and held Mo Qianyan's slightly cool hand tightly in his palm.

The two exchanged a glance, looking at this desolate, snow-covered wasteland where not even a single weed could grow, and simultaneously let out a long sigh.

"well..."

"Dad, Mom, why are you sighing?"

Just when the atmosphere was at its most oppressive, Gu Chengfeng's carefree loud voice suddenly came from behind.

The young man, shirtless, walked over, holding the small, tan-colored dog upside down, looking puzzled.

"This place is great! It's big enough and sturdy enough, just enough for me to practice the second level of the 'Nine Slashes of Prison Suppression'!"

Gu Chengfeng grinned and casually tossed the struggling little yellow dog in his arms onto the ice.

"Woof!"

The little yellow dog slipped and fell flat on its face on the smooth ice, sliding a long way away.

It shook its chubby head, seemingly very dissatisfied with the cold, hard ground.

It approached a protruding piece of black ice and twitched its wet, black nose.

"Sniff..."

The little yellow dog's eyes lit up.

It opened its small mouth full of fangs, and with a "crunch," like gnawing on a radish, it bit off a large chunk from the ancient, hard ice that was harder than a magical artifact!

"Crunch, crunch..."

The little yellow dog chewed with relish and swallowed the piece of ice in no time.

Followed by.

"belch"

The little yellow dog let out a long burp.

With that burp, an extremely pure and concentrated wisp of ice-attribute spiritual energy was expelled from its dog mouth, transforming into a small, crystalline snowflake in mid-air before slowly drifting down.

This faint trace of spiritual energy stood out starkly against the Spiritless Ice Plains.

"Um?!"

Gu Yun, who had been sighing, suddenly widened his eyes.

Elder Wang of the Array Hall swallowed hard, then trembled as he stretched out his withered hand and placed it on the ice.

She tried to circulate the wood-based cultivation technique she mainly practiced, hoping to absorb a trace of spiritual energy.

"Hiss, pfft!"

The moment she channeled her energy, Elder Wang gasped sharply, his face turning ashen, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood!

Before the blood hit the ground, it froze into red ice shards in mid-air, then shattered upon impact with the ice.

A layer of pale frost quickly spread across her entire right arm, causing him to scream in agony from the cold!

"Elder Wang!"

Mo Qianyan's expression changed, and she hurriedly stepped forward, forming a sword with her fingers. A stream of pure spiritual energy touched Elder Wang's shoulder, which barely forced back the domineering cold energy.

"Cold... such domineering extreme cold..."

Elder Wang clutched his numb right arm, his face filled with horror. "The spiritual energy in this ice layer is completely unabsorbable! It not only rejects my wood-based cultivation technique, but it's even trying to freeze my meridians!"

The crowd stirred again.

Those servants and outer disciples who did not specialize in ice-type techniques, as well as the elders who also practiced fire-type alchemy and wood-type spiritual plants, all showed despair.

A treasure mountain that can devour people—this is even more despairing than a mountain devoid of spiritual energy!

"What's the big deal?"

Gu Yun, however, remained calm and unhurried.

Gu Yun had read relevant records in the library, which were probably left by the ancestors of the Cold Moon Palace.

He walked up to Elder Wang, stepped on the hard ice with his toes, and began to speak eloquently and calmly.

"This is the Absolute Ice Domain. The spiritual energy in this ice field is so pure that it cannot tolerate any impurities. However, only ice-based techniques can be cultivated here, and one must have ice-based aptitude."

Upon hearing this, nearly half of the disciples who were not of ice-type aptitude instantly turned pale.

"Then...then aren't we useless? We can't even practice breathing exercises here, we'll eventually die from exhaustion of our magic power..."

Several outer sect female cultivators couldn't help but sob softly.

"Why are you crying? You haven't finished speaking!"

Gu Yun rolled his eyes, a smug smile playing on his lips. With a wave of his hand, his voice boomed across the icy plains:

"However, the most incredible aspect of this Absolute Ice Domain lies in its assimilation!"

"If you stay in this space long enough, the omnipresent extreme cold will, like a gentle spring rain, forcefully cleanse your bodies and meridians! Under the assimilation of this power of heaven and earth, regardless of whether you previously had a fire spirit root, a wood spirit root, or were a mortal with no spirit root, as long as you can withstand it, you will have the opportunity to be forcibly transformed into an ice-type aptitude, thereby cultivating some ice-type techniques!"

Gu Yun sighed inwardly. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that morale would quickly crumble. He tried to calm things down: "Of course, the strength of this acquired talent varies from person to person. Those with a resilient will can even mutate their ice spirit root!"

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

Then, a sky-high cheer erupted from the Cold Moon Palace!

"My God! It's possible to forcibly modify spiritual root aptitude?!"

"This isn't a death trap; it's practically a paradise for producing ice-type geniuses!"

Mo Qianyan stood to the side, her clear, starry eyes gleaming with an unprecedented brilliance. She finally understood why the founding patriarch of the Cold Moon Palace had set up the sect's most core inheritance secret realm in this forbidden place where no living being could enter!

"The Cold Moon Palace was originally founded on ice and snow techniques."

Mo Qianyan took a deep breath, and a flush appeared on her beautiful face, indicating that she was extremely excited.

She looked at Gu Yun, her eyes filled with admiration and disbelief: "Gu Yun, you're right. This place is simply a supreme holy land tailor-made for my Cold Moon Palace! Just give us a hundred years... no, just fifty! The entire Cold Moon Palace is full of ice-elemental geniuses. At that time, even if a Nascent Soul cultivator from Blood Fiend Valley comes knocking, we can make sure he never returns from this Ice Soul Secret Realm!"

"Hehe, you're right, madam."

Gu Yun took the opportunity to walk to Mo Qianyan's side and shamelessly put his arm around her slender waist.

Mo Qianyan, unusually, did not slap away his lewd hands. Instead, she tilted her head slightly and let out a soft hum in a barely audible voice.

"Dad! I don't practice magic, I'm a physical cultivator! This damn ice is freezing my feet, what am I supposed to do?"

Gu Chengfeng was shirtless and shivering from the cold.

Although the bloodline of the witch clan within him was violent, his pure mortal body would still instinctively feel uncomfortable in the face of such extreme cold.

"You idiot!"

Gu Yun glared at her son, annoyed.

"The Great Wilderness Body technique emphasizes using the most extreme forces of heaven and earth to temper the physical body! Isn't this icy marrow and cold energy the best whetstone? From today onwards, you are not allowed to wear clothes every day. You must stand shirtless and swing that black sword ten thousand times on this icy plain! When your blood and energy can melt the mysterious ice beneath your feet, your Great Wilderness Body will have reached its second level!"

Gu Chengfeng's face turned green upon hearing this.

But under Gu Yun's murderous gaze, they could only wear a bitter expression.

On the other side, there's that little yellow dog.

It was lying on the ice, its two front paws tightly gripping a protruding piece of ice, gnawing on it like a big bone. With each bite, a faint, extremely subtle blue luster flashed across its yellowish-brown fur.

Looking at the little monster, Gu Yun stroked his chin, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

"Even this little beast can swallow ice marrow whole... With my Great Wilderness Body of Glazed Jade Bones, plus that monstrous power of the Purple Mansion's Devouring Ability, there's no reason I can't, right?"

Gu Yun secretly made his own plans.

His dantian is still empty.

Although there are already thirteen perfected foundations in the Purple Mansion, the final dantian foundation is missing.

Gu Yun turned to look at Mo Qianyan.

"This ice field is indestructible; ordinary magical artifacts simply cannot break through it. You will lead ice-elemental disciples with cultivation levels above the Foundation Establishment stage to use sword energy to carve out ice caves as temporary dwellings. As for defensive formations..."

Gu Yun smiled confidently.

"Leave it to me!"

After saying that, Gu Yun took out dozens of blank array flags from his storage ring and unleashed his divine sense!

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Under the shocked gazes of Mo Qianyan and the elders, Gu Yun, relying solely on his divine sense to manipulate objects, precisely drove array flags into specific points of the millennia-old ice, like nails.

"Kill formation! Activate!"

Gu Yun bit her fingertip, flicked her finger, and a drop of blood fell into the array's eye.

"boom"

Centered on Gu Yun, the ice field within a radius of ten miles suddenly trembled!

The icy spiritual energy flowed wildly along the array patterns set up by Gu Yun.

A massive, visibly cold, azure light barrier instantly rose from the ground, firmly protecting everyone from the Cold Moon Palace within it.

Without using a single trace of his own magic power, he used the superior terrain of the mountains and rivers to set up the formation!

"Gulp..."

The elders of Hanyue Palace swallowed hard, their gazes towards Gu Yun shifting from that of a gigolo to one of utter reverence for the God of Formations.

"The Palace Master's judgment... is truly terrifying!"

Mo Qianyan looked at the man who single-handedly held up the sect's last barrier in the freezing snow, and the tenderness in her eyes almost materialized.

This is her husband.

Whether he was a mortal king or nobleman in the past, a killing god in Falling Star Valley, or a grandmaster of formations today.

He always managed to carve out a path to survival for her and for the Cold Moon Palace, even in dire straits.

"Alright, the formation is finished. Even if a Nascent Soul cultivator could break through the door, they wouldn't be able to get through it anytime soon."

Gu Yun clapped his hands, turned around, and resumed his playful, grinning manner as he moved closer to Mo Qianyan.

He whispered.

"My lady, it's freezing cold here. I spent a lot of energy setting up the formation just now. Shouldn't we go back to the newly dug ice cave... to warm each other up and discuss the mysteries of ice-based techniques?"

Seeing the ill intent flashing in Gu Yun's scarlet eyes, Mo Qianyan blushed slightly and glared at him.

But under the ambiguous gazes of all the disciples and elders, the Ice and Snow Sword Master obediently let Gu Yun take his hand.

"Stop being so cheeky... Let's get this straight, no fires or barbecues inside the ice cave!"

"Yes, madam!"

In this desolate and icy secret realm.

In the Cold Moon Palace, these people who were forced to leave their homes finally ignited the first spark of rebirth on this coldest land.

The massive glacier was hollowed out by the sword energy, transforming into a spacious ice sculpture cave.

Inside the cave, although the walls were made of ancient ice that emitted a faint blue light, the moonstones that Mo Qianyan had casually arranged created a serene and warm atmosphere.

Gu Yun sat cross-legged on the ice jade couch, looking at his empty dantian, and was now shrouded in a layer of depression.

"Sigh, when will I be able to use spiritual energy?"

Gu Yun scratched his silver hair, then leaned back on the ice couch and let out a long sigh.

Mo Qianyan was tidying up the bed when she heard the sigh, and her hands paused slightly.

She turned around and looked at this man who was arrogant and boundless in front of outsiders, but acted like a child in front of her. A hint of tenderness flashed in his cold eyes.

"Your physical body is already strong enough to tear apart a Golden Core demon with your bare hands, so why are you still so fixated on magic?"

Despite saying that, Mo Qianyan gracefully walked to the ice couch and sat down. She lightly touched her storage ring with her delicate hand, and a jade slip, radiating a cold, ancient aura, appeared in her palm.