"We're so close! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, let's take a gamble!"

As soon as Xiang Wan had a thought, the chill from the entire cave rushed toward where he was hiding.

The nascent soul formed hand seals, opened its mouth and exhaled a beam of golden light, which then spun rapidly around its body along with the cold energy it had absorbed.

That transparent barrier, like a cocoon, subtly enveloped the nascent soul.

Looking inward with his divine sense, he saw a chilling aura swirling around the barrier, frantically crashing into one of its points.

Click!

Subtle sounds create a chain reaction within the body, compressing, smoothing, and impacting the barrier.

Click click click click!

The ice outside the cave cracked open, and long, snow-white legs began to wriggle, desperately trying to break free.

The ice-covered hole was shrinking at a visible rate, and the cold air, carrying sand particles, completely blocked the area where Xiang Wan was.

Ding ding! Ding!

The white creature, with most of its body exposed, repeatedly pounded its abdomen against the ice beside it, hoping to break free from the ice's hold as soon as possible.

This is an eight-legged creature, each leg about ten feet long, covered with bristles and barbs. Its head is very small, only the size of a palm, and is entirely composed of accessory eyes. In front of its head is a foot-long, steel-pipe-like mouth from which black liquid oozes, dripping onto the ground and emitting an enticing aroma.

The head connects to the body via a retractable tube, extending up to two meters when capturing prey. The body consists of only a large abdomen connected to the white legs. The abdomen is like an oval-shaped sac, as hard as iron, striking the ice repeatedly and sending up fine ice shards. The slightly pointed end of the abdomen is its tail. A ring of tiny openings, gleaming coldly, surrounds the anus.

As Xiang Wan absorbed more and more of the cold air, more and more eight-legged creatures emerged from the ice, struggling desperately to break free.

Suddenly, one of them struggled free from the ice's grasp, immediately turned its head, glanced towards the evening, and then quickly climbed towards the other end of the cave wall. As it climbed, it bumped against the surrounding icicles, seemingly finding them in the way.

Beneath a cliff, a woman in a white dress looked up at a strange, bright red flower that clashed in stark contrast to its surroundings. She cautiously observed it, saying, "I've walked for so long and haven't seen any restrictions or magical artifacts, yet here's this flower blooming so brilliantly, brimming with spiritual energy. If it were a trap, that would be understandable. But I've stood here for so long, and there hasn't been a sound. Am I just imagining things?"

After a moment's thought, the woman took out a gleaming dagger, channeled her spiritual energy, and threw it at the flower.

In the blink of an eye, the dagger sliced ​​the flower off the cliff face, and it fell to the ground.

The woman did not reach out to take it, but instead took out a white silk ribbon, rolled up the flower, and placed it in front of her.

This is a flower about the size of a head, with five petals like a palm, supporting a bead of flowing spiritual energy in the center.

The woman was somewhat excited. With this spiritual pearl, she could break through to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage and enter the Nascent Soul stage in one fell swoop.

She carefully observed her surroundings again, and seeing that there was still no movement, she reached out, cupped the flower in her palm, and plucked the bead off.

The beads are round and smooth, and the surrounding spiritual energy is almost tangible. They feel warm to the touch, making them more and more irresistible to the eye.

"nice one!"

The woman grabbed it and put it into her storage bag.

The moment the spiritual energy circulated, a sudden change occurred.

Countless transparent threads extended from the bead, firmly gripping the woman's hand. Upon closer inspection, these threads could be seen piercing through her skin and extending into her body along her veins.

"Ugh, what the hell is this?"

The woman had never seen this before. Her first reaction was to quickly raise her hand, trying to throw it away.

Unexpectedly, the beads seemed to be permanently attached to her palm; as she swung them, the pain spread from her palm, causing them to adhere even more firmly.

"Get down!" the woman snapped, using a dagger to slice the bead off her palm.

But when she saw clearly what had fallen, she began to tremble all over.

This isn't a bead at all! It's clearly an empty shell!

By this point, how could the woman not understand that the contents of the bead had entered her body?

Having cultivated immortality to such an extent, what is an arm compared to life?

Without hesitation, she reached out and sealed the tendons in that arm, then with a swift motion, she sliced ​​off the arm.

Blood was splattered everywhere. The woman quickly got up and fled the scene.

The arm she severed turned to dust in less than three breaths. Then, a small, transparent ball gradually rose from the ground, rolled into the red petal, and flew up the cliff.

The woman flew for about fifteen minutes when she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and began to tremble all over.

"I was careless! The ruins of a miracle are so eerie..." Before she could finish speaking, her face drained of color, and she collapsed.

On her deathbed, she was still lamenting that even self-destruction wouldn't work, what kind of monster is this!

Within her body, wisps of transparent matter rapidly enveloped the golden core, like a persistent, invasive disease, gradually draining its spiritual energy. Finally, the woman's body turned to dust and fell into the soil.

Where she fell, new petals and a small ball brimming with spiritual energy formed again, flew to a large tree, and waited quietly.

Huan Qi, suspended in mid-air atop a tree, witnessed everything. He flicked a gust of wind from his fingertip, sending it hurtling towards the petal.

The petals seemed to sense his movement, and suddenly flew up, quickly disappearing into the air.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!