Meng Lin opened her eyes, feeling a rush of energy coursing through her veins. A glance at the system menu confirmed her suspicion.

Her cultivation had increased again, this time by a significant 11%. The three High-Grade Booze had indeed lived up to their names.

Feeling invigorated, Meng Lin began to assess her surroundings. The cave was still as quiet as before, the only sound being the occasional drip of condensation from the cave ceiling.

Her senses, however, were heightened. She could feel the faint vibrations of the earth beneath her, hear the distant rustle of leaves outside, and smell the fresh scent of the earth.

She felt that she could have another breakthrough if she continued drinking the multiple booze, however, she also knows that it would not be good to jump stages in realms without understanding the stages one at a time.

She decided to go out as she was, she felt that she prepared enough, she opened the system menu again, noting her new stats:

[Meng Lin]

[Gold Core Stage (late)]

[Experience points: 39%]

System coin: 18,234

Immortal Jade: 7

Taoist Gacha wheel: unavailable

Spiritual Roots: [Water>Fire>Gold>Wood>Earth]

Variant Elemental Qi: [Mud] [Erosion] [Water]

Main Cultivation Method: [Black Tortoise Essence Art, 5th Layer]

Side Cultivation Methods: [Basic Qi Gathering] [Formless Cultivation Method] [Brute Vortex Cultivation Method]

Techniques: [Celestial Moonlit Sword Art] [Hundred Unity Techniques] [Wrath of Thunder] [Physique Cleansing Sutra] [Vital Essence Exchange]

Ancient Spirit Seals: ~Black Tortoises~, Gong Fu - Golden Lizard.

[Market] [Blacksmith] [Alchemy]

She smiled before raising her hands, her nails, which she hadn't paid attention to had grown back, most likely the result of her breakthrough.

She felt a sense of satisfaction but she knew that there was no time to rest on her laurels, she still had the red spot on the map to explore.

Taking out the Qiankun Treasure Map Meng Lin carefully looked towards the red spot, which indicated danger.

She had not been paying attention to it before but she noticed now that It was a glacial environment with ice spikes every few dozen meters from each other.

she wondered what kind of treasure was there, or what kind of danger she might encounter. The thought made her heart race, but she was also filled with anticipation.

She then stood up and stretched her body, feeling the strength in her muscles and the eagerness to use them. She looked around the cave one last time, then stepped out into the crisp morning air.

Soaring into the sky in a blur Meng Lin left a streak of light as she flew across the forest trees underneath, the wind whipping through her hair and the morning sun warming her skin.

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She could see the vast expanse of the world beneath her, a mix of towering mountains, dense forests, and meandering rivers, seeing that sight made her feel joy as it was proof of her progress, proof that she was gaining a footing, she just has to continue now.

Within her eyes, the world seemed to stretch on forever, and a small dot appeared in her peripheral vision, with her enhanced vision, Meng Lin could tell that it was a city, a civilization, she had been moving throughout this whole province and this was her first time seeing a city.

She made sure to note down where the city was, maybe she would visit it. She still has the 30 or so talismans from those talisman masters, she has to find a way to identify them somehow.

She returned her head forward, for now, the treasure ahead was what she wanted, she could feel the subtle changes in the temperature as she moved closer to the glacial environment. The air became colder and the wind stronger.

Flying a few minutes within a streak, she neared the destination and slowed down before landing gently on icy ground.

With no shoes on, the cold tried to seep through her skin but she barely noticed, her focus solely on the imposing ice formations in front of her.

Every few meters were crystals of ice spikes that filled the whole area and upon closer inspection, she realized that these were not just any ice spikes. They were infused with a type of energy that she had never felt before. It was raw and powerful, yet strangely comforting.

She gently touched one of the spikes. A jolt of energy surged through her fingers as frost began to form on her hand.

Sensing no immediate danger, Meng Lin closed her eyes and released her spiritual consciousness outwards.

"Hmm"

Meng Lin noticed a series of cold auras emanating from the ice spikes. As her consciousness spread further, she encountered a variety of different beasts, all with cold auras. Most of them were rank 2, but there were a few rank 3 beasts among them.

However, as her consciousness expanded, she suddenly felt a strong aura that made her feel threatened. It was coming from a crystal ice cave nearby. Instinctively, she stopped spreading her consciousness, realizing that it might awaken whatever beast lurked within the cave.

Curiosity piqued, Meng Lin took out the map and studied it carefully. The red spot indicated the treasure was not at the crystal ice cave, it was a few thousand meters away.

Meng Lin thought for a little before deciding to focus on the treasure, whatever that strong aura was from the crystal ice cave could come later.

Gently lifting off the ice floor she flew towards the red spot on the map, all while making sure to keep a lookout for anything along the way.

As Meng Lin flew closer to the red spot on the map, the landscape transformed into a frozen wonderland. Snow-covered trees and icy cliffs surrounded her, glistening in the sunlight.

She could sense the aura around her growing stronger with each passing moment, indicating that she was getting closer to something.

After flying for a minute, Meng Lin landed near a small frozen lake. The red spot on the map seemed to be located at the center of the lake. She carefully stepped onto the icy surface, feeling the cold through her bare feet.

She swept her gaze over the lake before releasing her spiritual consciousness towards the icy ground.

Thump!!!

As soon as she did so Meng Lin's heartbeat accelerated as she felt a threatening aura that was giving off the same aura as the demonic core from the last griffin.

Crack!!

She didn't have a chance to think about what she was feeling as massive cracks stretched across the floor before the whole lake burst apart with the appearance of a massive claw.

Boom!!!

The claw stretched from the ice and slammed to the ground, creating a shockwave that sent Meng Lin flying backward. She quickly regained her composure and landed on her feet, her eyes fixed on the colossal creature that emerged from the shattered ice.

Roar!!

It was a crystal behemoth that resembled a lizard, its crocodile mouth opened up before letting out a massive roar that shook the area.

Dark blue piercing eyes met with Meng Lin's and fear crept up from the bottom of her heart, the whole area became suffocating as a boundless aura held everything in place and Meng Lin felt that she couldn't move her body as heavy pressure was placed on her body.

Boom!!

The ground where she stood sank and broke apart as debris and ice fog filled the air, the pressure placed on the ground had been too much, Meng Lin using this opportunity quickly tapped into the Formless Cultivation Method and her body turned into formless mist, evading the crushing force.

Meng Lin floated a few dozen meters away from the crystal behemoth, observing the creature with cautious eyes, her mist form waving about as if alarmed.

'This is definitely rank 4' Meng Lin thought as the crystal lizard towered above her, its massive form radiated an overwhelming aura that seemed to freeze the very air around it, it was way beyond the realm she was in.