Nine Astra Skies

Celestial Chi could not insulate this cold at all and Ye Chen's body was soon covered with a thin layer of frost.

"Why is it so cold here?" Ye Chen looked into the cavern. It was not clear how deep the cavern was. If it was already this cold at the opening of the cavern, it must be even colder in there!

Ye Chen glanced at Little Tanuki, only to realize that it was absorbing the coldness into its body bit by bit. Little Tanuki even looked a little excited. The cultivation system recorded in the Celestial Scripture on Mystical Beasts' Cultivation was a type of Ice-styled cultivation system. In addition, after Little Tanuki had absorbed the Celestial Chi from Ye Chen's body, it now had a little understanding regarding cultivation. Hence, Little Tanuki could now absorb and render this coldness for its own use.

Can this cold air be absorbed?

Ye Chen pondered for a moment, then immediately converted all the Celestial Chi in his body into the Ice Mystic Technique. Almost in an instant, he no longer felt the cold any more. The madly overflowing cold air at the entrance of the cavern swirled and gathered toward Ye Chen, just like torrents.

Ye Chen's body was like a sharp swirling vortex, absorbing the frosty air frantically. An Ice-type Chi Circle was formed from the Ice-type Celestial Chi in the Nine Astra in his body. And a pearl as large as a grain slowly formed at the very center of the Nine Astra, just like what had happened to the Fire-type Celestial Chi. The Fire- and Ice-types had both changed. As for the other seven Chi Circles, nothing had happened.

The amount of Celestial Chi in his body was rising rapidly. His Celestial Chi was initially still at beginner Tenth Level and had not yet stabilized but now, after absorbing and quenching the cold air, his Celestial Chi had undergone massive improvement. If he continued consolidating it further, he might be able to achieve peak Tenth Level.

Ye Chen had no idea what was inside the cavern and why there was such a strong chilliness here. Chances were that the Winged Serpent was hiding in here. It would be troublesome if he were to bump into the Winged Serpent.

"Squeak." Little Tanuki went inside the cavern.

Seeing Little Tanuki entering the place, Ye Chen followed in behind.

The cavern was full of frost. There were also icicles hanging down everywhere inside the cavern. If someone were to exhale a breath, the breath would almost certainly condense into ice. If Ye Chen had not circulated his Ice-type Celestial Chi, he must have already been frozen to death by now. He peeked inside one corner of the cave and saw some small animals such as beetles and mice. They must have accidentally stumbled into this cave and had been frozen in there, forming delicate ice sculptures.

Cautiously, Ye Chen ventured deeper into the cavern, passing through a narrow and dark area in the process. Suddenly, his eyes brightened up as he noticed a huge ice cave. The ice cave was about a few hundred meters wide and several dozen meters high. This ice cave must have been deeply hidden among the mountains. Ye Chen was not sure where the light source came from as it illuminated the entire place in a crystalline clear brilliance, just like the interior of a crystal palace. The floaty ice mist inside too, had contributed to a dreamy and ethereal feeling to the place.

When Ye Chen looked to the front, he found more ice burrows over the cavern wall. It seemed that there were deeper and wider spaces inside.

There were also some bloodstains scattered on the ground. Ye Chen assumed that they were left behind by the Winged Serpent.

"Squeak." Little Tanuki looked back at Ye Chen and waved its small white paw. It was squatting by a pond in the very middle of the ice cave.

Ye Chen walked over and saw a frosty pond. It was two or three meters in diameter and was five or six meters deep. There were tiny ripples on its surface and the bottom of the lake could be seen through at one glance. Every now and then, cold air spread from the surface of the lake.

Following Little Tanuki's gaze, Ye Chen looked toward the bottom of the pond and saw that it was covered with green stones. These stones were like emeralds, green and transparent, and contained no trace of impurities.

Seeing Little Tanuki's joyfulness, Ye Chen could not help but ponder, 'Could these stones be some kind of treasure?'

If Ye Chen wanted to retrieve these stones, he needed to go all the way down to the bottom of the pond. Just when he was considering whether to go pick up the stones, the entire ice cave suddenly quivered. Ye Chen felt that some kind of huge creature was quickly approaching where they were standing from one of the burrows in the distance.

Was it the Winged Serpent?

Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat. The Celestial Chi in his body had recovered to a peak condition but his Astral Body had not fully recovered. He was not sure if he could defeat the Winged Serpent. Thinking of that terrifying destruction when the Winged Serpent had battled with Tantai Ling, a glint of concern flashed in Ye Chen's eyes. Meanwhile, his Astral Body was already staring in the direction of the sound source.

"Squeak." Little Tanuki called and the Psyche extended outward.

It was the Winged Serpent! The Winged Serpent's several hundred-meter-long body was seen gliding swiftly in the burrow. Its blue scales touched the surrounding icicles, breaking all of them and scattering ice shards all over.

After a short while, the Winged Serpent arrived at the ice cave where Ye Chen and Little Tanuki were. It stared at Ye Chen and Little Tanuki with its giant snakehead, hissing while flicking its scarlet forked tongue.

The current version of the Winged Serpent was indeed much weaker than the one prior. The bright brilliance on the original scales had become extremely dim, and its body was still bleeding fresh blood.

"Human, this is my territory. Hurry and leave or I'll eat you all!" the Winged Serpent opened its mouth and warned. Likely due to its weakness, its original hoarse voice became a bit high-pitched and weird. It sounded a little child-like.

Ye Chen frowned. This Winged Serpent was a little different from the extremely snobbish Winged Serpent that he had seen in town before this. However, Ye Chen could not pinpoint where the difference was.

"Squeak." Little Tanuki squeaked a few times but it was unsure what it just said.

"Hiss." The Winged Serpent spat out its red forked tongue as if it was saying something.

Ye Chen was not sure what Little Tanuki and the Winged Serpent were communicating about. Ye Chen gradually amassed his Astral Body and turned it into a gold-armored soldier, standing in the void behind him. His own Astral Body had no effect on this terrifying Winged Serpent but he can't just sit and do nothing. He hoped that the Winged Serpent was not as strong anymore after dueling with Tantai Ling. Otherwise, even if he and Little Tanuki gave their all, it would all still be futile.

At this critical moment, Ye Chen gradually entered the Dao Trance, watching every action of the Winged Serpent.

The scary Winged Serpent's large mouth was right below its eyes. The scales on its body emitted a blue luster. The appearance of such a behemoth gave him a very strong sense of oppression.

"Come on if you want to fight!" Ye Chen took out the Hell Rupture Sword from his arm guard all the while staring at the Winged Serpent.

The Winged Serpent communicated with Little Tanuki for a while and it seemed a little hesitant. The yellow light in his eyes flickered constantly and in this yellow light, there was a kind of peculiar energy. Fortunately, the Winged Serpent's strength was severed. There was no longer a terrifying oppressive force on its body like before.

"I can eat a lot..." the Winged Serpent opened his mouth and said. Strangely, there was a weird child-like tone in his voice.

Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat when he heard what the Winged Serpent said. He knew it. The Winged Serpent was never a good company. Did he want to eat both himself and Little Tanuki?

"Squeak." Little Tanuki waved its claws in an imposing manner, seemingly replying to something.

"I can eat three cows and five sheep a day," the Winged Serpent said again.

Wow! This Winged Serpent can eat three cows and five sheep a day! Based on the body size of himself and Little Tanuki, they would not even be enough for the Winged Serpent to plug its teeth. Ye Chen started pondering some countermeasures on how he can bring Little Tanuki out of here.

However, all he saw on Little Tanuki was an unconcerned attitude as it continued to squeak and say something. The sentence was too complicated. Although he could not understand what Little Tanuki meant, Ye Chen could feel that Little Tanuki was very relaxed. Ye Chen really could not understand this relationship between the two beasts.