Chapter 1 The Place Where Cloudships Dock

The Yun Hu hovered high above, using its spiritual power to shroud an area, sheltering the law enforcement officers surveying the foot of the snow mountain.

"...Hmm?"

Suddenly, he frowned, noticing something strange.

"What's wrong?" Xuan Gui asked.

"Hong Lin used the 'Yun Wen Shan' (Cloud Pattern Fan) I gave her." Yun Hu narrowed his eyes, "Something is amiss here."

Hong Lin had already reported the drone crash.

Yun Hu hadn't taken it to heart at first.

Because having cultivated to his level, if there was any "inauspiciousness" or "calamity," his sea of consciousness would give him a warning in advance!

So he simply had Hong Lin take two people to investigate quickly.

Before he could finish speaking—

"Whoosh!"

A sharp sound of air being torn apart rang out, and a slender, jet-black arrow shot out from the depths of the snow mountain!

"Boom!"

Yun Hu's expression suddenly turned grim. Wind and snow swirled behind him, his domain expanded, instantly transforming into a huge white tiger!

The arrow was very fast.

But Yun Hu was even faster!

With a single swipe of his paw, he shattered the jet-black light into fragments.

He was strong enough, but others didn't have such quick reactions. Countless arrows shot out from the pale white snow. Those candidate who had advanced to the third level could barely parry with their nascent domains.

As for those unlucky low-level enforcers, they exploded upon being hit!

In an instant, countless blood flowers burst apart.

The scene was extremely chaotic!

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack!"

Before the messages in the central control channel could calm down, the snow mountain suddenly trembled. Countless snowflakes flew up, cascading down like waterfalls. Within seconds, the avalanche surged, like a tsunami, and everyone was fleeing for their lives.

"There really are transcendent beings?!"

Xuan Gui's face was unsightly.

"Everyone... return to the cloudship!"

He fell from the sky and waved his sleeves to unleash his divine envoy domain. A jet-black curtain pierced through the foot of the snow mountain and fell, and the snow tide crashed against this jet-black barrier, unable to break through it for the time being. Countless snow tides surged and piled up.

Xuan Gui, who had crashed to the ground, spread his arms and pressed his hands against the jet-black barrier.

He took a deep breath and held it in.

Among the four divine envoys, Xuan Gui's defense was the strongest. He alone was an impregnable fortress.

Now that a massive avalanche had descended, he alone was stopping it!

The candidates fled in disarray, returning to the cloudship one after another. Blue flames scoured the ground, and the people from the Source Tower were forced to retreat not long after landing!

Xuan Gui breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the cloudship start up.

He took two steps back, then retracted his domain, and used the propulsion of his exoskeleton mech to climb up sharply, boarding the cloudship's hatch at the last moment. Countless torrents rolled across the ground, the snow was vast, and the splashing snow waterfalls were tens of meters high. Even inside the cloudship, one could still feel fear and shock.

Xuan Gui looked back at the interior of the cloudship.

It was a tragic sight.

The sudden attack had caught everyone off guard...

The arrows seemed to be imbued with a special mithril power, and could detonate a transcendent being upon impact!

The subsequent avalanche left the Source Tower with no chance to fight back, and they could only retreat.

Otherwise, the cloudship would have been buried there!

The Source Tower suffered heavy casualties. The candidates were alright, but nearly half of the low-level enforcers with low transcendent levels had died!

Xuan Gui gritted his teeth: "The transcendent beings in this [Ice Sea Relic] are so ruthless... and they know how to use schemes?"

From beginning to end.

He hadn't even seen the enemy's shadow!

Yun Hu sat in the central control room with a grim expression, transmitting his voice: "Xuan Gui... come here for a moment."

Xuan Gui pushed the door open and entered. He saw Yun Hu clenching several jet-black arrows in his hand, and the closed network was recording the inscriptions on the arrows, comparing them...

"What's wrong with these arrows..."

Xuan Gui was stunned.

"These arrows, at first glance, don't seem like much..."

Yun Hu took a deep breath.

He had wanted to import the data from these arrows into the closed network for storage.

They had suffered such a great loss.

But to his surprise, the closed network gave a prompt that these arrows had been used extensively in the Southern Continent.

"The inscriptions on these arrows were carved by the Storm Church!"

Veins bulged on Yun Hu's forehead, "It wasn't some transcendent being who ambushed us! So that avalanche just now was the work of the Jùlù Saint!"

...

...

On the snow mountain, a burly figure in black clothes sat cross-legged.

Seeing the cloudship fleeing in a panic, he satisfiedly put away the conch shell in his palm and stopped urging the [Tides].

The avalanche immediately stopped, leaving only a few aftershocks.

The noisy sounds of this world gradually died away, becoming quiet.

"The Saint is wise and mighty!"

"The Saint is decisive and extraordinary!"

Two archbishops hurriedly complimented.

The believers of the Storm Church also returned one after another, returning to the summit.

"The 'Source Explosion Array Rune' bestowed by the Divine Seat is indeed powerful. Even when used on ordinary arrows, it can unleash extraordinary power!"

The Jùlù Saint recalled the scene of countless blood flowers exploding at the foot of the mountain just now, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile: "Did you hear what those idiots from the Source Tower said at the end? They really thought there were transcendent beings in this place, and that those arrows were the weapons of ice sea transcendent beings..."

"Hahaha."

The two archbishops laughed along.

A Devotee stepped forward and reported in a low voice: "Lord Jùlù, three people are missing."

"Hmm..."

Jùlù waved his hand and said indifferently: "They must have been submerged by the snow tide caused by the [Tides]. I told them to evacuate as soon as they finished shooting, no need to pay attention to them. The Source Tower might return, so you guys hurry up and dig out all the remaining 'Black Silver'!"

"Yes!"

The believers walked down the mountain again. At the foot of this snow mountain, there was a damaged mountain wall, which contained a large amount of black silver!

In the five continents, black silver was the mithril with the highest density and best quality!

Even in the Northern Continent, which had the highest output of mithril, the amount that could be mined each year was counted in grams!

Without the blessing of the Divine Seat's fire seed power, "black silver" was the best strong logical material in its initial state, bar none!

Such precious resources.

At the foot of this snow mountain, there were at least several hundred pounds! Perhaps more!

This was the reason why the Storm Church preemptively forced back the Source Tower... once the Source Tower delved deeper, the ownership of this black silver would be uncertain.

The Storm Church had the Jùlù Saint sitting in town, so they weren't worried.

But the Yun Hu and Xuan Gui, the two divine envoys of the Source Tower, had extraordinary talents and had been at the fourth level for a long time. It was said that they were both facing a breakthrough...

Jùlù's sudden cold arrow, a ruthless move, was to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future. If these two young juniors joined forces, he would be in trouble if he couldn't beat them!

The believers went to mine and collect black silver.

At the top of the mountain, the Jùlù Saint sat alone in cultivation.

One of the two archbishops who had been complimenting him, spoke up at this moment.

"Lord Jùlù, that plan just now was indeed brilliant, killing Yun Hu and Xuan Gui and routing them, but there is one thing I don't understand."

"Speak."

"The Divine Seat previously instructed that the [Tides] should not be used lightly, so as not to invite disaster..." the archbishop reminded with lowered eyebrows.

Although they were under Jùlù, those who could wear the archbishop's robe in the church must be loyal to the Storm Divine Seat.

Compared to the actions of the Jùlù Saint, they paid more attention to whether the Storm's oracle was being obeyed.

"Is there any disaster happening now?"

The Jùlù Saint asked calmly.

The two archbishops were speechless.

The Jùlù Saint comforted in a kind voice: "When we collect this 'black silver' and return to the Holy City, we will present it to the Divine Seat... he will not blame us, but will reward us handsomely. Moreover, according to the Divine Seat's words, as long as we are not outside the relics and the 'power of authority' is captured, there should be no disaster. We have traveled south across the sea and have now successfully entered the [Ice Sea Relics]. Rest assured, there will be no problems."

Seeing that the two archbishops were still silent.

He asked with a smile: "So what are you worried about? Could it be that you are really worried... that there are transcendent beings in this [Ice Sea Relics]?"

"Yes..."

The archbishop sighed softly and explained: "It's not that. Although we haven't sensed any danger along the way, this ice sea is boundless, how can we say for sure that there are no more powerful beings?"

The Storm Church worshipped not only the Storm Divine Seat.

But also the boundless sea of source matter that the Southern Continent relied on.

In their church creed, the Divine Seat and the sea were both supreme existences.

"Indeed, the ice sea is boundless... perhaps there are other beings, only to be more powerful than us..."

The Jùlù Saint shook his head and said indifferently: "I think it's impossible. No matter how big this ice sea is, that's all there is to it. Don't forget, you and I are both powerhouses personally cultivated by the Divine Seat, exploring a relic suspected of being a 'prehistoric civilization', and carrying such powerful authority with us, why should we be timid? What we need to pay attention to are the transcendent beings from other continents who will arrive at the snow mountain next, that's all."

"Before that, let's take all the 'black silver' away."

Saying this, the Jùlù Saint stood up.

He stretched his back.

In the next moment, the smile on the Jùlù Saint's face suddenly froze. After getting up, he glanced unintentionally and saw a strange scarlet figure standing on the vast silver-white snowfield after the avalanche in the distance.

Long bright red hair fluttered in the wind.

A slender and thin body, draped in layers of bamboo armor.

Inside the thick bamboo armor of that figure was hidden a narrow long knife, which was not unsheathed. On his face was a thin mask, as pale as paper, on which were carved rare ancient texts that had never been seen before.

The Source Tower had just retreated.

Even if someone hadn't boarded the ship, in that avalanche just now... how could anyone have survived?

The bright red figure squatted down, picked up a broken arrow on the snowfield, and examined it carefully in front of him. After a while, he walked a few steps and picked up some other broken objects, walking and stopping all the way, until he raised his head and saw the Jùlù Saint standing on the cliff.

Two gazes collided.

The bright red figure tilted his head slightly in confusion, his gaze never moving away again.