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Delving further into the forest after four hours, they came across some lowly beasts which did not pose any danger to them. Since their master had instructed them not to kill what didn't want to kill them, they peacefully walked past them or pretended not to notice their peeping eyes.

Wu Tao led the way even though he had no idea where they were going. But with his ability to sense any souls nearby and Liu Ming's heightened senses, they would easily detect any danger and easily find their way back home.

If that didn't work, they had their master to rely on.

The more they went in deeper, the more chilly the air became until the warmth completely vanished from the atmosphere.

Liuyue rubbed her arms to generate some warmth. "Why is it so cold?"

"I heard from the residents that there is a cursed part of this forest that feels like winter all year round even though there was no snow. If you can't handle it, you should go-"

"Hmph!" Liuyue thrust her chest forward and stood straighter while brushing past Liu Ming. "Do I look that weak?"

Liu Ming's brow raised as he stared at her back. "You were obviously cold just now," he mumbled before hurrying to catch up with them.

Tuning up his hearing, Liu Ming welcomed all sounds from as far as two miles away. He filtered out the normal bug sounds and focused on the bigger beasts to sense any restlessness. When there was no danger, he relaxed to enjoy the adventure, feeling curious about what had caused this part of the forest to be this icy cold.

They ended up in front of a wide cave mouth that appeared like the gaping mouth of a serpent.

Coming from inside it was an odd breath. Wu Tao turned to Liu Ming. "What is it? I cannot feel any souls in there."

Liu Ming shut his eyes to open up his other senses as smell and hearing. "A plant. It smells weird."

"Could it be...the Heavenly grass?" Liuyue asked spinning to face him. "Have we finally found it?"

Liu Ming opened his eyes and shook his head. "I can't be certain as I've never seen or smelled it. But if it truly is the heavenly grass, why has nobody found it all this time? Something feels weird. Let us not go in."

Liuyue slapped his arm. "What are you afraid of? Your big sister is here."

"I'm serious Liuyue. This place doesn't feel right. No beasts lingering around this cave, the cold air is most intense inside there, and no cultivators are here to grab it."

"Relax. This big sister will show you how to do things," she declared turning to walk in.

"Stop!" Wu Tao grabbed and yanked her from the entrance. "Liu Ming is right. This cave is not normal. We shouldn't rush in without learning more-"

"You two are acting like children. Are you frightened by a few plants? I'm the strongest here, how can I not know if it's dangerous?" She wriggled free her arm and inhaled before facing the mouth of the cave. "Wait for me out here. I'll go and see what makes you two act like this. I'll cut down any danger and get the grass so Master can let us practice on the fifth floor."

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Liu Ming and Wu Tao exchanged glances. They knew that stopping Liuyue once she had made up her mind was impossible. Only their master had such power over her.

Liu Ming slowly gave in, thinking that maybe he was overreacting, and she was right.

Before they all went in, Wu Tao sent back a message to their master informing him about what they were about to do.

Ren, without knowing what they were walking into, permitted them.

"It's getting more colder," Liu Ming said even though all three of them could feel it.

He had the advantage of turning off his touch sense until his skin was numb and could no longer feel anything.

Liuyue looked back at the light that was slowly dimming as they moved down the dark tunnel. She reassured herself that nothing would go wrong; after all, she had been working so hard to prove her usefulness to their master other than making him mooncakes.

Her only goal in this life was to protect Ren from whatever would happen to him in the future.

Even though she could not remember the specific details, the fear that had been lingering in the depths of her soul about the future left her feeling unease each time she sensed it.

She made three balls of normal fire to illuminate the path ahead for them, bottling in the trembling caused by the dense cold.

The more they went in further, the more silent it became. Not a single sound, not even water dripping as one would expect from such a cold cave.

A shadow ahead brought all of them to a pause.

Liuyue's sword materialized in her hand while her eyes grew sharper at the motionless human shadow, ready to face any danger on behalf of her brothers.

"Who's there? Come out or I will attack."

Silence.

"I said-"

"Liuyue, I don't think whoever it is, is alive. Their soul is long gone," Wu Tao informed stepping past her.

He continued walking until he came to stand beside the frame of a human buried beneath thick ice. Using Liuyue's fire, Wu Tao carefully examined the young man whose eyes were still wide open with a terrified expression forever frozen.

"Something did this. His soul didn't leave him on its own, it was...drawn out." His eyes widened feeling the presence of an entity that could not be detected easily. He only sensed it because his soul was growing scared, telling him to...run.

"Let's leave, now!"

"What are you-"

"Something is here!" he yelled grabbing both their hands to drag them out of the danger that was nowhere in particular, yet could be everywhere.

"Stop!" Liuyue yanked her wrist. "If there is any danger, why can I not feel it?"

"Liuyue! Stop being stubborn right now and listen to me. We can argue when we're out of this cave!"

She ignored him and turned in the direction they had been moving and then sent out one fireball to light up the rest of the tunnel trying to prove her point.

But the rest of the path was filled with soulless humans frozen. Some seemed to have tried to get away from whatever had killed them, while others appeared as if they tried to shield their eyes.

A ball of fear formed in her throat realizing that her brothers might have felt the danger while she remained ignorant and selfish by dragging them in with her.

"What did this? How did it only freeze these people yet the walls remain unfrozen?" Liu Ming wondered staring cluelessly at the corpses.

"This is not the time to ask such questions. Come on, we should go." Wu Tao pulled Liu Ming. When he noticed that Liuyue hadn't moved, he turned to take her hand and get them out of the mysterious cave that now bled of eeriness and death.

He had concluded that the entity that had killed all those people did so by snatching their souls before or after freezing them

He also noted that the entity in question had no soul of its own, which was why they hadn't detected it from outside.

A soulless being? He'd have to do thorough research about such an existence that defied the natural laws.

"Liu-"

Her sword clinked dripping on the rocky ground, her eyes fixed on the roof of the cave.

The heavy feeling of his soul wanting to flee his body had deepened, signifying that...it was already here.

His eyes hesitantly moved along the uneven bumpy wall to the specific spot Liuyue's gaze was glued on.

A pair of glowing yellow eyes was staring back at them, surround it were countless smaller yellow glowing eyes that were hidden by the darkness of the cave.

He suddenly grew motionless. Not because he had been turned into an iceberg, but because his soul was experiencing the worst fear he had ever felt.

Staring at the entity was like staring into the eyes of a god, constantly pumping dread into one's soul till he found himself wishing for a quick death.

"Liu Ming," Wu Tao whispered.

"What is it? Why are you two-"

"Shut up!" he hissed, not taking his eyes off the creature on the roof. Even though the fear he was experiencing made him want to cry until his eyes shrunk from their sockets, he could feel that looking away would probably bring in more disaster.

"Don't dare look up. Just leave this cave and contact Master. We have been completely isolated," he instructed, tears flowing from his eyes and tremors filling his thighs and legs.

Liu Ming closed his eyes and did exactly what he was told not to do.

He activated his heightened sight, seeing through his shut eyelids which was equal to seeing with them parted and in a brightly lit room.

They glowed white under the closed eyelids to investigate what had made his peers act the way they were doing.

On the roof, a being that was half snake and half human clung to the rough surface with its head turned at a terrifying angle to look down at them. Its head was covered by small blue snakes with glowing yellow eyes in place of hair, and it emitted no trace of a soul, yet his soul could be felt throbbing to escape his body.

Liu Ming's entire body grew paralyzed from fear of the ugly and horrifying being on the roof whole head was turned backward like an owl's.