"What I wish to do in the future, huh?"

Liu Xun mumbled to himself as he followed behind the group.

To be honest, Liu Xun himself was not too clear on what his steps were. Sure, step one was to probably join the Thousand Blossoms Sect. But what about step two, then three, and then four... The path to immortality is long and treacherous and he had an inkling that his journey would not be smooth sailing even if he were to rely on the system.

Thinking things around, he had so far relied heavily on the system to bypass many obstacles that other normal people would not have been able to. What if there were to be a point where the system is unable to assist him or a situation beyond the system's available help? These were probably things he had to consider once he returned from this journey. While gathering his thoughts, the group has slowly made its way into the outer peripheries of the Frost Yin Basin. No longer was it a scenery of desolation as many white ice-like plants grew in the surroundings. The area emanated cold air and qi which could be felt seeping into one's skin and bones.

Looking at the surroundings, it was a forest filled with ice that was blanketed in white snow. There was only the feeling of chill and purity reverberating from the surrounding trees and undergrowth. The soil which the group stepped on felt soft and wet. As one landed his or her foot, they could feel a jolt of frost travel up from their foot. Even though the place looks like a heavenly paradise in some sense, there was no doubt that it is a hostile environment where one could lose their life at any moment.

Most beasts that live around here were reptilian by nature. The predominant natives used to be the lizardmen until they have migrated due to the changes that occurred so far. Glancing left and right, Liu Xun noticed that there were occasional wooden posts with a beast skull hung up upon them. He was truly curious about what these designs meant.

"Lizardmen totems...they are used to demarcate territory and ward off invaders through fear."

A light voice came from his side. Looking to his left, the silver-haired Millie seemed to be looking around the basin area warily. She used to be rather relaxed before the group entered the basin. Even the fights against the lizardmen did not faze her as much as the current atmosphere. Her words spoke of the lizardmen's habits, yet it also signified something important. If the lizardmen who were very territorial and invested in a spawning ground were forced to evacuate. How big the threat must have been to cause such a big group to retreat to another location.

"This place is giving me a rather scary vibe..."

Ruoxue mentioned with a wary voice. She looked around left and right as she observed the place carefully. Everything was still just a blanket of white as there was nothing jumping out and attacking them.

"Hey hey, you should not worry about it Miss Ruoxue! Leave it to this fatty, he will blast everything away for you, no problem!"

Langsheng mentioned in a confident tone. He then took two steps up as he clenched his fist, indicating that he was ready for a fight. It was probably weird seeing how the youth who had his ego boosted by fighting a couple of qi gathering lizardmen acted, the threat currently is hidden but it is definitely way greater than essence foundation lizardmen, much less qi gathering ones.

"Haaah.."

Waner sneered at Langsheng's words as she walked by Ruoxue's side. She could not be bothered to insult the garrulous fatty as she watched her surroundings carefully. Perhaps the previous attack got to her where she noticed she was the liability, she was even more cautious now and treaded everything carefully to prevent herself from falling into the same scenario.

The seniors themselves were guarded as they slowly advanced forward. Senior Xuan and Liu Five who spearheaded the front observed the area with both their qi and eye. Senior Gan held onto his wooden spirit compass, while Senior Qin's hands were on her scabbard, ready to draw for a fight. The current environment was tense and it could be understood since whatever threat that is hiding here could just pop out at any moment.

"Heeeh...look at these ice blocks. They seem to have frozen beings inside them."

Waner pointed out in an intrigued tone. There were many frozen statues that littered the surroundings as many unsuspecting beasts would enter this territory and get buffeted by the cold without any means of leaving. They could only slowly freeze away and turn into these ice statues themselves.

"Hoooh...many of these creatures died due to the cold. We better stay warm then. Anyone wants a hug?"

The noisy fatty continued his joking words. Too bad, no one was in the mood for his nonsense at the moment.

--

After walking for a few minutes, the scenery still remained the same. A forest of white with countless frozen corpses. The group had already mostly let their guards down as they had to conserve their energy for a real fight. Of course, they were prepared to fight at any moment. Yet, they could not maintain their levels of full vigilance without expending extra energy.

Looking at the ice sculptures, Liu Xun casually mentioned.

"Cats, snakes, puppets, birds, wolves. There sure are a wide variety of these unsuspecting victims. Hmm, what is that? It looks like a large ball of fluid with a wolf inside it..."

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Hearing these words, a few in the group immediately raised their vigilance.

"Everyone watch out!"

Suddenly, Senior Xuan's voice shouted out as he slammed his fist towards the front, mainly towards that specific ice statue.

!?

Everybody was alerted by this sudden alarm!

"Look...look at the ice sculptures! Some of them are hibernating beasts!"

He continued his words as his fists swung upon a dark blue liquid-like demonic beast.

"These are metamorphosing mimic beasts!"

He shouted out as he resisted the incoming blow, sending him two feet back.

!?

Many were shocked by the scene, Senior Xuan was known for his great defense. And this demonic beast could send him back? It had to at least be a mid or high essence foundation beast! The other seniors immediately drew their weapons as they got into formation. The juniors also looked warily from behind as they observed the ongoing fight.

[That is a slime.]

What, what do you mean 'slime'?

[That is the general genus of the demonic beast.]

Huh, so it is not one of those metamorphosing mimic beasts that the seniors speak of?

[No, you cultivators generally call it that. But in the upper realm, we recognize it as 'slimes'. They can shapeshift, devour, and are very strong against physical attacks.]

Oh, what are their other weak points?

[Five points.]

Oh come on, stop being a penny pincher.

[The system is always fair.]

Ugh, I don't believe I need every single thing from you!

Liu Xun complained to the system as he observed the one-on-one fight between Senior Xuan and the big ball of slime.

"Golden Vajra Palm!"

Senior Xuan shouted out as a golden qi fist emerged from his palm. This was surprisingly the first time Liu Xun had seen Senior Xuan actually pull out a spell. Was this enemy really that difficult to handle? He thought to himself.

The golden fist collided against the viscous body as it sent the dark blue slime flying towards an ice tree.

Wham!

The slime knocked against the tree as the wolf inside its body was expelled to the ground. The slime then slowly regained its spherical shape as it has suddenly gotten smaller.

?

Most of the group was confused by its actions, was it already finished? Senior Xuan himself was still in a battle-ready position as he slowly awaited his opponent's next move.

Sprrriiiiing.

The blue slime sprang forward with quick speed as it leapt towards Senior Xuan. It no longer maintained its shape as it turned into a wave of fluid, attempting to devour the black-robed monk. What, so it was actually compressing itself for a sudden attack? Liu Xun thought to himself. He had seen many demonic beasts fight so far, but he had yet to see such a peculiar demonic beast.

The slime wrapped itself around Senior Xuan attempting to engulf and devour him. The rest of the group that was just observing while watching for other sneak attacks decided that they should step up now.

"Xuan Tie, let me assist!"

Senior Qin mentioned as she dashed forward with her frost white sword unsheathed. She directed her blade towards the blue viscous body, aiming to slice it away.

Swoosh.

What!? The crafty beast turned Senior Xuan to face Senior Qin as it made use of the fact that they were allies to prevent attacks onto it. Senior Qin immediately hesitated as her sword that was swing down suddenly stopped. This situation was rather tricky to handle. Senior Xuan himself was pulling against the fluid body, trying to detach it from himself.

The struggle continued as the rest of the group watched helplessly. Many wanted to step forward to help, but if they get caught in the devouring attack they would be more of a burden than a help.

"Fireball!"

Senior Gan shouted out as a ball of fire launched from his palm.

BANG!

The fireball blasted onto the slime as it shook in retaliation. The slime instantly detached as it shook itself off and dropped onto the ground while wrapping itself around snow to extinguish the fire. Senior Xuan himself was slightly burnt by the fireball, but this was definitely much better than being trapped by that slime!

"Hah, eat this you metamorphosing beast!"

Senior Gan shouted out with gusto as he tossed out several more fireball talismans. Each one burnt to shreds as balls of fire appeared around the yellow-robed old man. Senior Gan then waved his hand confidently as he shouted out.

"Go!"

The several fireballs immediately launched off as they targetted the blue slime.

!!

The slime was shocked by the number of spells cast against it. It immediately contracted once again before bouncing off in another direction, avoiding all the fireballs. Still, the slime itself seemed to be getting more distant. It seems that the creature itself was scared off as it retreated.

"Phew, thanks Xinjian! I owe you one!"

Senior Xuan mentioned as he wiped the sweat off his cheeks.

"Heh, no problem! We know that these metamorphosing beasts are afraid of elemental spells, especially fire attributed ones. I am the one in charge if we need to use many elemental spells, after all!"

Senior Gan mentioned proudly as he thumped his chest with his fist. The rest of the seniors also relaxed their wary expressions as they knew they could rely on this old man's words. They had known each other for quite a while already to travel together like this after all.

"Still, the sight of the metamorphosing beast is rather worrying. How strong was it, Xuan Tie?"

Senior Qin mentioned as she looked towards the black-robed monk. If Senior Qin herself could not detect the power of this demonic beast, it had likely to be at least high essence foundation stage. A cultivator could only detect those who are equal or lower cultivation to them unless they have some form of detection or disguising cultivation technique. Of course, some beast would also be able to use such abilities innately.

"Early Core Formation..."

The silent man said out in heavy words.

!!!

He directly skipped past high and peak essence foundation and estimated it to be early core formation! This was rather bad news! Most of the group were just middle essence foundation cultivators. Perhaps several of them can tackle one early core formation, but with that hostage-taking ability, it would be difficult to pull off a proper fight! Even more so, what if there were more than one of those beasts?

The situation bore badly for the group as they watched Senior Xuan, hoping that he would change his appraisal of its strength.

"On the minimum, early core formation. It could take a Golden Vajra Fist with barely any damage. I have used that skill against other early core formation cultivators and dealt more damage than that."

"Ohh, but it is physically resistant, no?"

Senior Gan tried to sweeten the situation by stating some facts.

"No- it definitely has to be core formation. That fist has some yang energy that makes it partially elemental as well."

His words immediately shut off Gan Xinjian's mouth. There was likely almost no room to hope that the beast was something the group could handle with ease anymore. No doubts, it seems this trip would be more trouble than it is worth. This was the last lingering thought of Liu Xun as he digested the entire proceeding of the situation. A trip into unknown territory and the first enemy is already one that is beyond handling? Will we still proceed forward, or will the group turn back?