But how could such a stronghold exist near Ming City?

Shen Qian was puzzled, but what reassured him was that at least the system had not reacted yet, which meant that there were no threats beyond his control nearby.

Actually, if you think about it carefully, everyone's fighting strength is not weak.

Sun Fang is at the peak of the high-level martial arts realm, and the nine principals present are also high-level martial arts realm practitioners, along with nearly a hundred intermediate-level martial arts realm practitioners such as Song Ben and Zhao Hanhai.

Most importantly, the Changyou Battalion was the elite of the Southwest Army, and its thousand-strong force could withstand mountains and seas.

Unless something beyond the realm of mountains and seas appears... Ugh!

He quickly stopped himself from having that thought, lest Murphy's Law continue to take effect.

"Commander, there's a valley one kilometer ahead. Judging from its shape, it looks like the Toothless Valley on the map!" A scout quickly approached, past the corpses, and shouted.

"Can you see which way the opening is facing?" Sun Fang's spirits lifted noticeably.

"The snowstorm is too strong, visibility is poor, further investigation is needed!"

“Buya Valley is located between Mingcheng and Jingcheng. If we know the direction of the opening, we can reposition ourselves.”

Seeing the puzzled looks from the group of principals, Song Ben offered an explanation.

Everyone perked up a bit. Getting lost in the forbidden zone is an extremely dangerous thing, and the appearance of Tooth Valley was just in time.

"Quickly scout ahead, let's head towards Toothless Valley first."

Sun Fang immediately gave the order.

The group bypassed the snow-covered area piled with corpses and continued forward. Soon, a slope appeared ahead.

Sun Fang's expression was not good, because the scouts had not returned even as they approached the valley.

Just as he was hesitating about whether to stop, he suddenly felt a lightness in his body.

Those walking in front noticed it and immediately showed expressions of joy.

Because the howling wind and snow suddenly stopped.

It was as if we had stepped into some kind of boundary; although the ground was still covered with ice and snow, the temperature was rising rapidly.

Everyone relaxed for a moment and quickly urged the people behind them to speed up.

When you reach your physical limit, the sudden appearance of a place to rest would make anyone happy.

Shen Qian sensed it too, and was about to interact with Gu Zifang, who was crying tears of joy beside him, when he suddenly froze.

Danger!

A peculiar signal emanated from the depths of his heart, causing him to tremble all over.

The system, which had been silent until now, suddenly became agitated, as if it were constantly warning him in this way.

There's someone here!

Song Ben, who was walking at the front, had already stood at the top of the slope. He pointed ahead and shouted.

The others quickly followed, and Shen Qian, who was unaware of the danger's origin, also rushed over.

A fault line appeared ahead of the slope, below which was a collapsed valley with a forest standing in it.

Beside the woods was an incredibly flat depression, covered with countless ice crystals that resembled veins. These ice crystals continuously gathered and eventually arched into an ice platform that looked like a tree stump.

Nine people dressed in black cloaks, their faces obscured, stood silently around the ice platform, hands at their sides, motionless.

Shen Qian's heart was pounding, but he had a strong feeling that the danger did not come from the nine cloaked figures.

He raised his head, his gaze momentarily unfocused, searching continuously under the system's sensors.

Finally, Shen Qian's gaze locked onto a certain spot in the void directly above the ice platform.

He saw a strange spot of light.

The light spot was only the size of a palm and hundreds of meters away. If it weren't for straining one's eyesight and having the guidance of the system, Chen Qian would never have noticed the existence of this tiny light spot.

As Shen Qian stared at the spot of light, it was also slowly breaking free from the unknown void at an almost static speed...