Chapter 68: The Crushing of Intelligence
The cold wind howled like a ghost's wail, and the blinding snow reduced visibility to less than two meters.
With a crisp crack, a hand wrapped in a pale blue crystal layer pierced through the solid ice, its five fingers hooking like claws into the ice.
Su Xiao had no way of knowing how low the surrounding temperature was. After climbing fifty meters, the temperature began to plummet again.
Su Xiao thrust his left hand into the ice, suspending his body on the iceberg. A small canister of compressed oxygen appeared in his hand.
Biting the mouthpiece, Su Xiao took a deep breath. He wasn't inhaling oxygen due to altitude sickness; rather, after reaching the Eternal Frozen Sea region, there was no oxygen in the air. Temperatures below minus two hundred degrees Celsius altered the structure of oxygen molecules, causing them to transition into a liquid state. With sufficient pressure, liquid oxygen could form.
Just as Su Xiao took a deep breath, cracks spread across the miniature oxygen canister in his hand, and it shattered with a crisp sound.
In this kind of hellish place, he had no idea how the Moyi Family managed to overcome it. No wonder they were so confident about the Death Ground—without thorough preparation, even a Fifth Stage witch would have no hope of return.
Su Xiao discarded the miniature oxygen canister in his hand, and a pale blue crystal layer climbed up his right hand.
Crack, crack, crack...
Su Xiao continued climbing upward. Unbeknownst to him, he had already ascended over a hundred meters, but for this iceberg, which stood several thousand meters high, this was only the beginning.
While Su Xiao struggled, Amu, hanging below, was quite relaxed. Ignoring the extreme cold, he began looking around, as it wasn't yet time for him to exert himself.
Ice chips flew, sparkling brilliantly in the swirling snow. After climbing just over a hundred meters, Su Xiao began to feel the cold—a bone-piercing chill. This wasn't a metaphor; the wind that blew felt like a dozen razors slicing across his bones.
Su Xiao looked up, seeing only a vast expanse of white, with faint outlines of overhanging ice layers high above.
At a height of 275 meters.
Su Xiao clung to the overhanging ice like a gecko. Just then, a warmth spread through his body. The moment it appeared, he immediately stopped climbing.
People who freeze to death don't feel cold; they feel warmth. This is a false signal sent by the nervous system to the brain due to extreme cold.
Su Xiao hung on the ice, his body completely suspended except for his right hand embedded in the ice. It was time for Amu to take over.
"Amu."
Hearing Su Xiao's call, Amu, ten meters below, let out a low roar and began swinging back and forth.
With a crisp sound, Amu latched onto the iceberg. Su Xiao released his grip, letting his body fall freely. When he descended to the same height as Amu, he grabbed hold of Amu's horn.
The first thing to replace was the tether. In such low temperatures, even ropes woven from hundreds of thousands of fibers couldn't be completely reliable and needed regular replacement.
After replacing the tether, Su Xiao released his grip.
Ding!
The tether snapped taut, abruptly halting Su Xiao's descent. Amu began dragging him up the iceberg.
Su Xiao certainly wasn't going to just hang in midair doing nothing; that would only accelerate his body heat loss. The enemy now was the environment, the extreme cold—an invisible, undefeatable foe.
Su Xiao pulled out three cold-weather suits and wrapped himself tightly. But that wasn't enough. He took out an arm-thick test tube and poured its contents over the outer layer of the suits.
Crack, crack, crack...
In less than two seconds, the three layers of cold-weather suits froze into a solid block of ice. Su Xiao withdrew his hands into his sleeves and took out a pendant, which radiated a gentle warmth.
This warmth didn't make Su Xiao feel comfortable; instead, a stinging sensation spread across his skin. Soon, the stinging faded, and his nearly frozen body regained sensation, giving him a feeling of being reborn.
Su Xiao exhaled a long puff of white breath. If he had the complete Moyi Family heirloom, he wouldn't be struggling like this. Unfortunately, the situation in the Misty Valley had been too critical back then, leaving no chance to obtain it.
Amu dragged Su Xiao rapidly up the iceberg. He could ignore the cold, but Su Xiao wouldn't let Amu do all the work. It wasn't because he wanted to complete the "Extreme Cold Trial," but because he needed his body to gradually adapt to the surrounding temperature. Otherwise, even at the summit, he might freeze to death.
Amu climbed much faster than Su Xiao, and before long, they had ascended nearly a thousand meters.
"Moo~"
Amu's roar came from above. Su Xiao extended his arms outward, and with a crisp crack, the three layers of cold-weather suits encasing him exploded into countless fragments.
The cold wind hit him. Su Xiao began swinging back and forth. When he latched onto the ice, Amu above started free-falling.
After replacing the tether, Su Xiao dragged Amu as he continued climbing upward. A fine layer of ice crystals gradually formed on his skin.
Just as Su Xiao and Amu were cooperating to scale the iceberg, a figure over three meters tall emerged from the wind and snow below. Zang Ge, originally four meters tall, was hunched over, with icicle-shaped snot hanging from his nose.
"F-F-F-Found... y-y-y-you."
Zang Ge stared at Bubu Wang at the base of the iceberg. Bubu Wang was also shivering, not from fear, but from the cold.
Chatter, chatter, chatter...
Chatter, chatter, chatter...
Bubu Wang and Zang Ge chattered their teeth at each other for a moment, the clacking sounds forming a bizarre symphony. The surroundings were deathly still, broken only by that "eerie" chattering.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang let out a low bark, meaning: "You're insane, aren't you? Almost frozen into a damn popsicle, and you still come chasing."
Zang Ge didn't understand Bubu Wang's meaning. The gills under his jaw inhaled a large amount of gas—an organ he had recently evolved temporarily.
Just as Zang Ge was about to kill Bubu Wang, Bubu Wang gradually blended into the environment. Against Bubu Wang in this state, Zang Ge was completely helpless, so he decided to climb the iceberg and continue pursuing Su Xiao.
The moment Zang Ge's hand pierced the ice, Bubu Wang bit him on the butt and then vanished.
Clearly, in the low-temperature environment, Zang Ge's strength was greatly reduced. But in this same environment, Bubu Wang's intelligence skyrocketed exponentially, unlocking to an overloaded degree.
Zang Ge ignored Bubu Wang and continued climbing the iceberg. But before he could get a few meters up, a tremendous force came from his hand.
Boom!
The ice layer Zang Ge was holding exploded, the shockwave launching him into the air. For an explosion of this magnitude, Zang Ge paid it no mind; the cold environment had drastically reduced its power.
Just as Zang Ge landed on the snow, a force erupted from beneath his butt, sending him tumbling forward.
With a splash, Zang Ge felt a chill, as if crushed ice had been poured over him. It was fresh water Bubu Wang had spilled, but due to the extreme cold, it froze before even hitting Zang Ge.
A burst of flame shot toward Zang Ge's face. He didn't dodge or avoid, charging straight into it. Inside the flames, his nearly frozen body began to recover rapidly.
Was Bubu Wang helping the enemy recover? Not at all. The flames melted the ice crystals around Zang Ge, turning them into puddles of water that soaked him.
The flames ceased abruptly. Bubu Wang discarded the flamethrower and compressed air bottle in his hands. Now, he even considered issues like the oxygen-free environment preventing combustion.
The cold wind blew. Zang Ge shivered, a bone-chilling cold spreading from all over his body and seeping inward.
Chatter, chatter, chatter...
Zang Ge, nearly frozen into an ice statue, faced off against Bubu Wang. The two continued chattering at each other. Bubu Wang's series of slick moves had made Zang Ge afraid to continue climbing the iceberg. If he underestimated Bubu Wang, he might even die here.