# Chapter 1274: Five-Colored Ice Cavern
Zhang Ruochen carried the severely injured Ao Xinyan, traveling at the fastest possible speed. His gaze was cold as a blade, his figure sometimes appearing, sometimes disappearing, as he performed Great Space Teleportation.
According to Ao Xinyan, they had been surrounded and attacked by a large number of Saint realm beings from the Undying Blood Clan, Jiuli Palace, and Zu Longshan. At the critical moment, Huang Yanchen and Qing Mo had fully activated the power of the Realm Son Seal, blasting open a path for her to escape.
Unfortunately, Manlong Shaojun and Mangjiao Wang's cultivation was far higher than hers. They had severely wounded her, and in the end, she still couldn't escape.
If Zhang Ruochen hadn't arrived in time, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Zhang Ruochen's heart burned with anxiety as he pushed his speed to the extreme.
Qing Mo's strength was indeed very formidable, but her practical combat ability was not particularly outstanding. Coupled with the fact that the enemy had numerical superiority, she might not be able to hold out for long.
Before long, Ao Xinyan led Zhang Ruochen to the location where they had been ambushed earlier. This stretch of ice plain had been shattered by battle, with cracks extending hundreds of miles in some places, and some pits reaching depths of a thousand meters. Chaotic forces filled the space between heaven and earth.
Some of the broken ice was stained red with blood—both human blood and that of savage beasts. Several Saint corpses were sealed in ice, some torn apart by cat claws, others cleaved by a kitchen knife.
Zhang Ruochen examined one of the Blood Saint corpses. Its hardest spine had been neatly severed, the Saint body cut in two. Clearly, that was the work of a silver kitchen knife.
Had even Qing Mo gone mad?
On this ice plain, he found no trace of Huang Yanchen or Qing Mo. Zhang Ruochen's expression turned extremely cold.
"Enter the gourd first to heal your injuries. I'll continue searching for them."
Zhang Ruochen sent Ao Xinyan into the Water Star Gourd. At the edge of the ice plain, he found residual Saint Dao aura left by Huang Yanchen and immediately gave chase.
Along the way, Zhang Ruochen discovered many bloodstains. The aura emanating from them belonged to Huang Yanchen and Qing Mo.
"Don't let anything happen. Please, don't let anything happen."
After pursuing for about three hundred li, a massive vertical ice cavern appeared on the ice plain.
From the bottom of the cavern, strands of five-colored light surged upward like auroras, turning the sky into a riot of five colors, appearing exceptionally magnificent.
Two sacred beasts guarded the edge of the ice cavern: a Dragon Li Cat covered in thick scales, and a stone tortoise the size of a millstone.
Being able to reach the central area of the Abandoned Deep Sea, their strength was naturally quite formidable. The weak had already died along the way.
The Dragon Li Cat's body was enveloped by a Saint Soul domain, resisting the terrifying cold of this place. White smoke billowed from its nostrils as it said, "There must be a supreme treasure at the bottom of the ice cavern. Why else would it emit five-colored radiance?"
"There could also be great danger below. The five-colored light carries Extreme Yin Dragon Qi. If you accidentally touch it, with our cultivation, you'd be frozen solid in an instant," said the stone tortoise.
Being frozen meant death.
The Dragon Li Cat said, "Does that mean those two severely injured women and that black cat are doomed after being knocked down by the demoness of the Undying Divine Temple and the Qi Tian Crown Prince?"
"Anyway, Devouring Demon Dragon Highness and the two princes of your Jiuli Palace have all entered the ice cavern. Even if they aren't dead, they'll be captured. For now, we just wait for Zhang Ruochen to come and die. Once he's dealt with, we can split the treasures beneath the Glacier Continent," said the stone tortoise.
The Dragon Li Cat laughed. "Zhang Ruochen simply doesn't know his place. He thinks that being the Heir of Time and Space makes him invincible under heaven, yet he dares to offend Zu Longshan, Jiuli Palace, and the Undying Blood Clan all at once. Any one of these three major powers could crush him to dust with a flick of their little finger."
The stone tortoise said, "Zhang Ruochen captured Princess Bai Li, which has violated Devouring Demon Dragon Highness's taboo. This time, His Highness has declared he will capture Huang Yanchen alive and bring her into the Devouring Dragon Palace, making Zhang Ruochen suffer unbearable pain."
"Where has Zhang Ruochen gone? Why hasn't he come yet? Could it be that he sensed the danger and has already fled Yin Yang Sea? I really hope he gets here soon. Bullying the number one among the younger human saints would certainly be an interesting affair," the Dragon Li Cat said with a mocking laugh.
"He can escape the first day, but not the fifteenth. As long as he's still in Kunlun Realm, Zu Longshan can kill him as easily as squashing a bug... simple..."
Before the stone tortoise could finish its words, a young figure appeared before it, standing on the ice plain, holding a long sword, exuding a sharp killing aura.
"Are you talking about me?"
The figure gradually became clear. He wore a white Daoist robe, his long hair falling on both sides of his face, revealing a handsome visage.
"Zhang Ruochen."
A trembling sound came from the stone tortoise's mouth. It was extremely surprised. They had just been talking about him, and now he appeared.
A purple-red light emerged from the stone tortoise's abdomen, traveled up through its neck, and spewed from its mouth as purple-red flames. Its combat reaction speed was not at all like that of a tortoise—too fast. The moment it saw Zhang Ruochen, it spat fire.
The stone tortoise was an ancient relic that had lived for over a thousand years. Although its cultivation speed was slow, its lifespan was long, making it one of the longest-lived races. Moreover, after a thousand years of tempering, its cultivation at the same realm was practically invincible.
Zhang Ruochen was not afraid of the flames spewed by the stone tortoise. He ran through the fire, holding the Abyssal Ancient Sword, dragging out Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force, and slashed down with one strike.
"What? Purple Core Earth Fire can't harm him at all? Is this kid's physical body forged from divine iron?"
The stone tortoise stopped spewing fire, and Saint Qi surged toward its back.
On its back, the stone skin revealed purple-red fire patterns, very much like ancient script. Those characters actually began to rotate.
"Boom."
The power of the Abyssal Ancient Sword was unmatched. It sliced through seven layers of flame characters in succession, producing seven loud sounds. Sparks flew everywhere as it pressed inch by inch toward the stone tortoise.
The stone tortoise was startled. With its defensive power, it was actually having difficulty withstanding Zhang Ruochen's assault. What kind of heaven-defying divine weapon was the sword in his hand?
"Zhang Ruochen, you've finally come to die. This Saint will destroy you."
The Dragon Li Cat roared loudly, extending a cat claw and swiping it horizontally.
The cat claw's shape was very similar to a dragon claw. It stretched longer and longer, grew larger and larger, until it became several times larger than the Dragon Li Cat's own body.
The Dragon Li Cat's cultivation had reached the peak of the Xuanhuang realm, and its strength was not weak. Xuanhuang Qi surged out, and the cat claw emitted deafening wind and thunder sounds. The power it carried caused space to tremble slightly.
Zhang Ruochen glanced sideways at the Dragon Li Cat and swung his sword backhandedly.
"Pfft."
Sacred blood splattered. The Dragon Li Cat's cat claw was shredded by the sword energy, turning into a cloud of blood mist.
The Dragon Li Cat screamed in pain and retreated rapidly, preparing to gather Saint power to regenerate its severed claw.
The stone tortoise's defense was too strong. Especially after the purple-red ancient characters on its back were activated, they formed ten layers of character light membranes that even the Abyssal Ancient Sword couldn't cut through.
Zhang Ruochen abandoned the stone tortoise, raised his black war sword, and charged toward the Dragon Li Cat.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen charging at it, the Dragon Li Cat had long lost its earlier confidence and retreated even faster. The Zhang Ruochen of now was a completely different person from the one on Dragon Fire Island. He was like a god of slaughter, and his combat power was terrifyingly high.
"Weren't you going to kill me? Why are you running?" Zhang Ruochen pursued.
The Dragon Li Cat felt that the cold aura emanating from Zhang Ruochen was even more frigid than the cold rising from the ice cavern. It was even more unwilling to engage Zhang Ruochen in battle. It thought to itself, "I'll risk it!"
It leaped up and jumped down the ice cavern.
The Dragon Li Cat didn't fall straight down. Instead, it pounced toward the five-colored ice wall on the right side of the cavern, intending to use the ice wall for leverage.
"Die."
Zhang Ruochen swung his hand and slashed. A space rift flew out and struck the Dragon Li Cat.
"Pfft."
The Dragon Li Cat was torn apart, leaving only some fragmented flesh and blood that flew out from the edge of the space rift and fell into the ice cavern.
Those pieces of flesh, upon touching a strand of five-colored radiance, immediately made a sizzling sound and froze into ice.
Zhang Ruochen had killed a Saint realm powerhouse like the Dragon Li Cat in just a few moves. In just a few short days, this kid's strength had reached a terrifying height.
The stone tortoise was badly frightened. Trembling, it said, "You dare to kill the sacred beast of Jiuli Palace? You have completely offended Jiuli Palace. You will surely face severe punishment. No one among humanity can protect you."
"I'll not only kill it, but also you. Sword Seven."
A towering sword intent surged from Zhang Ruochen's body. Tens of thousands of sword shadows appeared in the air.
Those sword shadows made a whooshing sound as they rushed into Zhang Ruochen's body. Then, Zhang Ruochen transformed into a beam of light. Before the stone tortoise could react, he crashed into it.
"Bang, bang."
Ten layers of purple-red ancient characters appeared on the stone tortoise's body, but they were all pierced through by the sword energy.
This strike was Zhang Ruochen's full power, combined with the might of the Abyssal Ancient Sword. Even if it wasn't quite equal to a Sword Saint's strike, it was close.
The stone tortoise was sent flying, its stone shell separating from its body.
A tortoise without a shell had drastically reduced defensive power, like a stone-skinned toad. With a thud, it fell onto the ice surface. Terrified to the extreme, the stone tortoise fled toward the ice cavern.
Zhang Ruochen's figure moved and appeared above the stone tortoise's head. Gripping the sword hilt with both hands, he thrust downward. The long sword pierced a foot deep, and crimson blood flowed out along the blade.
"Tell me, are Huang Yanchen and Qing Mo still alive?" Zhang Ruochen asked coldly.
The stone tortoise screamed in pain as it said, "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
Zhang Ruochen applied more force, driving the Abyssal Ancient Sword another foot deeper. More blood gushed out, staining his white Daoist robe crimson.
The stone tortoise wailed, "I really don't know. Earlier, the Qi Tian Crown Prince and the demoness of the Undying Divine Temple activated the original power of the Extinction Divine Cross Shield, knocking the two women you're looking for and that black cat into the ice cavern. Before they fell, their bodies were already nearly torn apart. They're probably dead at the bottom by now."
"Pfft."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword transformed into a beam of dark light, piercing through the stone tortoise's head. Then, it dragged out a long sword light and severed the stone tortoise's head.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was cold and sharp. Gripping the sword hilt, without a moment's hesitation, he leaped up and jumped straight down into the ice cavern.