After surveying the surroundings, Xu Ziqing felt somewhat reassured.
Yun Lie glanced at him. “Well?”
Xu Ziqing smiled back. “If we are not mistaken, this should be the place.”
The Feng family heard their exchange and began to understand.
Evidently the two had received information about the location but could not be certain. Perhaps they had also thought divine water might appear in one of the other ice springs, which was why they had said nothing earlier.
Those were minor concerns, however. After so many days of searching, everyone would be delighted if this truly was the place.
The group headed into the snowy forest.
The forest was immense. Its trees were thick, straight giants with rounded trunks, often more than ten zhang tall. Their luxuriant branches spread in every direction, covering the sky. Had the snowy ground not been so brilliantly white, the forest might have been plunged into darkness.
The farther they went, the denser the trees became, crowding together as though there were no end to them.
More strangely, there seemed to be no living creatures in the forest.
Everyone remained alert as they advanced.
Many spread their spiritual sense across the surrounding hundreds or thousands of li, but something about these trees was unusual. Even their spiritual sense could penetrate only a few dozen li. They could hardly avoid feeling uneasy.
Before long, a vast stretch of forest lay behind them, yet countless trees still surrounded them.
Just then, a wave of cold air struck their faces.
After visiting so many ice springs, this was not unusual. Whenever they found one, there was bound to be some such phenomenon.
This time, however, the cold was exceptionally fierce. Several Feng juniors at the Essence Transformation stage were instantly coated in ice and nearly frozen into statues.
Family Head Feng hurriedly struck each of them once with his palm, dispelling the ice, then gave each a fiery-red pill. Only then did they recover.
Even so, they were badly shaken.
Xu Ziqing said, “May I ask all fellow Daoists below Golden Core to leave the forest first? We can continue on our own.”
Even he could sense that this cold was different, biting straight into the bones.
Family Head Feng readily agreed and ordered the promising younger disciples to retreat. He had brought them along only in the hope that they might make an impression on the Second Young Palace Master. He certainly had no wish to lose them here.
Feng Jun’s cultivation was insufficient, so his elder brother sent him out as well. Feng Qi and two other Golden Core cultivators remained with Family Head Feng.
Once they were ready, Xu Ziqing drew his heavy cloak more tightly about himself and hurried onward beside his senior brother.
After several dozen zhang, the forest gradually opened up, and the icy aura grew so dense it almost seemed solid.
None of the countless ice springs they had visited had ever been this cold.
Family Head Feng thought that their search would very likely succeed here.
Sure enough, the view suddenly opened before them. Milky-white clouds of mist drifted about, making the scene look almost like an immortal paradise.
Enshrouded within that mist was an ice spring!
Those with higher cultivation could also discern a faint current of warmth rising through the extreme cold. Before it could break through the snowy forest’s barrier, however, it was stopped, keeping that warmth from escaping beyond the trees.
Xu Ziqing hurried forward, about to pass through the mist.
Abruptly, he halted and drifted swiftly backward. A burst of green needles erupted from his palm, turning into countless green streaks that shot straight into the white fog!
Startled, Family Head Feng shouted, “Fall back!”
As he spoke, he moved the Feng juniors behind him to shield them.
Everyone heard a succession of rustling sounds, as if countless unknown objects were falling to the ground. Yet no matter how hard they stared, they could not make out what they were.
What on earth was hidden in that mist?
They received their answer a moment later.
A thunderous flurry of wings suddenly rose within the fog, clattering and beating against one another before rushing outward.
They were swarms of tiny demonic beasts flying in formation. Massed together, they resembled a heavy dark cloud. Behind them, the mist itself seemed to grow thinner.
They had been hiding within the fog all along. No wonder no one had spotted them.
Anyone who stepped in unprepared would probably find themselves covered in the creatures, with consequences impossible to predict.
Family Head Feng recognized them immediately and warned, “These are Coldwater Demonic Butterflies! They favor bitter cold, but they are even more ravenous for flesh and blood. They are vicious things. Don’t let their appearance deceive you, and show them no mercy!”
Xu Ziqing frowned slightly and looked at the butterflies.
Each was no larger than an infant’s palm, translucent as jade and white as snow. Their wings seemed woven from fine silk, while bright-red eyes, like paired pieces of coral, made their faces strikingly beautiful. At first glance they appeared delicate and harmless, but the most innocent-looking creatures could sometimes be the most vicious.
They lived on flesh and blood. How many living creatures must they have devoured to produce a swarm this large?
This was not Xu Ziqing’s first encounter with butterfly-type demonic beasts. Not long after he began cultivating, a swarm of illusion butterflies in a minor secret realm had trapped him within an illusion, and he had nearly failed to awaken. Those butterflies had been drab and ugly enough to inspire fear at a glance. These were breathtakingly lovely, almost enough to arouse pity.
But Xu Ziqing was also a completely different person from the inexperienced cultivator he had been then.
He raised his hand. Green needles poured endlessly from his palm, seemingly without limit.
He had long developed many variations of his minor divine ability, the Qingyun Needle. Dividing them into so many needles was one of the simplest applications.
Every Qingyun Needle struck with absolute precision, piercing a butterfly and instantly draining its life force. The creatures withered into dead wood and rained down upon the ground.
The ruthless efficiency of the attack left many of the Feng family staring in disbelief.
Family Head Feng had almost relaxed after seeing this young man in red, with his gentle aura and mild manner. Now that he had witnessed those methods, his caution returned at once.
No wonder a late-stage Golden Core cultivator had earned the Second Young Palace Master’s regard. He possessed frightening power indeed.
What Feng Tai did not know was that Yuezheng Hezhi’s admiration was directed primarily at Yun Lie, whose repeated challenges had pushed him to his limits. His favorable attitude toward Xu Ziqing came from Yun Lie and Zhuang Wei, not because he had seen Xu Ziqing’s own abilities.
Whatever thoughts crowded his mind, Feng Tai was the family head and could not afford to be slow in acting.
The butterflies did not attack Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie alone. They showed no mercy to Feng Tai’s party either.
But Feng Tai was a Nascent Soul ancestor who had governed his family for many years. How could mere butterflies defeat him? He instantly released a flying-wheel-like treasure, which multiplied in the air into hundreds and thousands, then countless whirling blades that charged into the swarm.
The wheels spun without pause, their edges sharp as knives. Wherever their force reached, countless butterflies were ground to dust.
Feng Qi and the others were sheltered by the Nascent Soul ancestor, but they did not simply stand idle.
Those with magical treasures brought them forth; others used spells. Some released flames and other scorching attacks, and together they slaughtered the butterflies.
However vast the Coldwater Demonic Butterfly swarm, it could not endure such relentless attrition.
Yet as the number of butterflies dwindled, no one relaxed.
Anyone with experience knew that a swarm of demonic beasts was bound to have a leader.
Wolf packs had wolf kings, bee colonies had queens, and demonic butterflies naturally had butterfly rulers as well.
Just as a mother butterfly had controlled the entire swarm of Rainbow Illusion Butterflies in the Linyuan Minor Secret Realm years ago, there must be some terrifying creature hidden in this mist.
Sure enough, just as the remaining few hundred butterflies were struggling to survive, a shrill scream rang out.
From the fog burst an enormous butterfly, its wings spreading nearly a zhang across!
At that size its appearance was unmistakable. It had the body of a butterfly but the head of a beast, with more than a hundred sharp teeth in its mouth. The sight was grotesque and horrifying.
It flew as quickly as lightning, crossing the distance to them in less than the blink of an eye!
At Xu Ziqing’s thought, a blood vine shot forward and pierced its abdomen.
The beast came within less than a chi of him, but in that very instant the vine had drained it completely. Nothing remained but its two wings and a thin skin of flesh.
Several Feng family members were still reeling from the piercing scream when Xu Ziqing finished off the butterfly king. They regarded him with even greater dread.
Feng Tai looked at the state of his juniors, then at Xu Ziqing, and could not help sighing.
Finally he gave a small snort, shattering the remaining force of the sonic attack and helping the juniors recover.
Now, surely, they could enter the mist.
Yun Lie and Xu Ziqing went first, with the Feng family close behind.
The mist had thinned considerably, revealing the ice spring’s indistinct outline within.
The younger disciples were somewhat relieved. The successive attacks had been bizarre. The butterflies seemed easy enough to kill, but their own true essence was limited. Under a ceaseless assault, they might not even have had a free hand to take pills and replenish it. Once exhausted, they would have become food for the swarm. If they had come alone, they might already have died here.
As they went farther in, the fog dispersed further and the spring came more clearly into view.
Suddenly Yun Lie raised one hand, sending something slicing through the air.
A black-gold streak shot into the sky before piercing an unseen target with a soft pop, drawing an agonized cry from it.
A dark shape plummeted to the ground and was smashed into a pulp.
Everyone recognized the creature as another butterfly much like the earlier king, except smaller and even more hideous.
Feng Tai said slowly, “So there was a male and female pair.”
The female was even fiercer than the male. Looking up, Feng Tai saw a hole pierced through a towering tree, left by the same black-gold light.
If Yun Lie had not detected it first, the female butterfly concealed in the air could easily have ambushed the Feng juniors. Fond as he was of his younger family members, Feng Tai knew it probably could not have harmed either Xu Ziqing or Yun Lie. Feng Qi and the others would have been the ones to suffer.
Now the danger truly seemed over. They stepped around the butterfly corpses and continued toward the spring.
Soon the entire ice spring appeared before them, but Feng Tai halted his juniors before they could approach any farther.
“We shall wait here,” he said. “Please proceed as you wish, fellow Daoists.”
They were now ninety percent certain that the divine water could be found here. If the Feng family followed any closer, they might appear to be coveting the treasure.
It would be better to do the two men a favor and stand guard instead.
Xu Ziqing understood his reasoning and smiled. “Thank you, then.”
He and Yun Lie went to stand beside the ice spring.