Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

314: Entering the Holy MountainThe old and heavy voice of Clan Chief Stone Eagle, mixed with the howling wind outside the ice house and the crackling of the bonfire inside, sketched out the cruelty of the Profound Ice Secret Realm and the desperate situation facing the Great Wind Tribe in his mind.

The silence of the ”guardian deity” Mountain Giant Ape, the rampage of the ”ice fiend,” and the dangers within the Sacred Mountain... these fragments of information gradually pieced together, deepening Lin Jingyu’s understanding of this world of ice and snow.

He knew clearly that this was by no means a simple crisis of tribal survival.

A ”guardian deity” capable of protecting a tribe for long years had suddenly fallen silent; behind this, it must be related to the Profound Ice Secret Realm, the abnormal changes in the overall Spiritual Qi, and even the turmoil of the deeper Laws of Heaven and Earth.

And such high-level anomalies were very likely to have indirectly affected, or even endangered, Fei Yangyang, who had ventured deep into the Secret Realm and whose whereabouts remained unknown.

Entering the Sacred Mountain was imperative.

This was not only to fulfill his promise to the Great Wind Tribe in exchange for their full assistance in searching for Fei Yangyang, but also because the Sacred Mountain, as one of the core areas of the Secret Realm, likely concealed the key clues to uncovering the truth behind the Secret Realm’s anomalies, and even finding the whereabouts of Fei Yangyang.

The place where the so-called ”guardian deity” had fallen silent might just be the hub for unraveling the series of mysteries.

With his thoughts decided, Lin Jingyu set down the bone cup, the surface of the soup barely rippling.

He raised his eyes, his gaze calm yet carrying an unquestionable decisiveness, and looked at Clan Chief Stone Eagle, whose hair and beard were white and whose eyes held anticipation and anxiety. He said slowly, ”Tomorrow at the hour of the dragon, I will enter the Sacred Mountain to investigate.”

The words were soft, yet like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, they stirred up silent ripples within the small ice house.

Upon hearing this, Clan Chief Stone Eagle’s furrowed face trembled slightly with excitement, and hot tears instantly welled up in his murky old eyes.

He stood up abruptly and, leading the several equally elderly Elders behind him, bowed with the solemnity of a collapsing mountain—the tribe’s highest gesture of respect—toward Lin Jingyu, their foreheads touching the ground deeply. Their voices were choked with emotion yet firm:

”Many thanks, Master! Many thanks for your compassion, Master! Regardless of success or failure, our Great Wind Tribe’s descendants for generations will never forget this kindness and virtue, and we will worship the Master’s name for generations to come!”

At this moment, Lin Jingyu was not only the hope for their survival, but also seemed to have become the only ray of light connecting them to the outside world and helping them resist the bitter cold of this desperate land.

In the darkest moment before dawn the next day, the entire Great Wind Tribe was already brightly lit and bustling with people.

All the clansmen, regardless of age or gender, were dressed in the thickest animal fur clothing, silently gathering at the simple entrance of the tribe, which was built from massive blocks of ice.

Hundreds of gazes, mixed with endless anticipation, pious prayers, and deep-seated fear, were fixed on the Sacred Mountain in the distance, which appeared increasingly towering, mysterious, and daunting in the faint morning light and the lingering darkness.

It was both the sustenance of their generations of faith and, now, a desperate land that devoured the lives of warriors.

The cold wind, carrying ice shards, scraped across people’s frost-reddened cheeks, yet no one shrank back.

A nearly tragic and solemn atmosphere enveloped the entire tribe.

Clan Chief Stone Eagle, supported by two of the strongest warriors, walked unsteadily to Lin Jingyu.

Trembling, he took out a talisman plaque from his bosom, meticulously carved from an unknown milky-white animal bone. The style of the talisman was ancient and simple, and embedded in the center was a small, crimson crystal that emitted a faint but persistent warmth.

”Master.” Stone Eagle held the talisman plaque above his head with both hands, his voice becoming increasingly hoarse due to excitement and the cold.

”This is the ’Warm Sun Talisman’ passed down by the Clan Chiefs of our tribe throughout the generations. It contains a trace of Earth Fire essence, which can slightly resist the extreme cold deep within the Sacred Mountain that is capable of freezing the soul to the point of shattering. Please... you must take it. May the spirits of our ancestors and the remaining will of Lord Mountain Giant Ape protect the Master and ensure your safe return!”

Lin Jingyu could feel the gentle yet tenacious heat flowing from the talisman plaque; this was clearly one of the tribe’s most treasured possessions.

Although he possessed the Thunder True Intent and Evergreen Spiritual Power, and his resistance to the cold far exceeded that of ordinary people, the outcome of this trip was uncertain, and having extra preparation was always good.

He solemnly took the talisman, finding it warm to the touch, and nodded slightly: ”Rest assured, Clan Chief. Since Lin has promised this, I will certainly do my utmost.”

He tucked the Warm Sun Talisman into his bosom, and immediately a wave of warmth spread out, dispelling some of the surrounding chill.

Immediately, he said no more, and under the silent, nearly frozen gaze of all the clansmen, he turned and stepped forward.

His steps were steady, treading on the permafrost that had never melted for ten thousand years, making a ”creak” sound that was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent dawn.

His green-robed back, in that vast expanse of white, gradually moved further away, eventually disappearing into the shadows of the Sacred Mountain’s deep entrance, which looked like the gaping maw of a giant beast.

As soon as he stepped into the entrance, the light suddenly dimmed, as if stepping from one world into another.

The howling wind and snow from the outside world were blocked by some invisible force, replaced by a deathly cold and a sense of oppression.

The entrance was extremely wide, enough to accommodate several carriages side by side, but after venturing less than a hundred feet deep, a dense network of crisscrossing ice cave tunnels appeared before his eyes, like a giant ice-crystal labyrinth, extending in all directions, with no indication of where they led.

The cold inside the cave multiplied geometrically; the air was filled with visible pale blue cold mist. When inhaled into the nose and mouth, it pierced straight to the lungs, as if even his Spiritual Qi was about to be frozen.

The surrounding ice walls were not transparent but presented a deep blue color, with what appeared to be liquid flowing inside, flickering with bits of phosphorescence. This barely illuminated the path ahead, yet it added a sense of eeriness and mystery.

Lin Jingyu immediately circulated the Evergreen Art, and the pure, gentle Evergreen Spiritual Power flowed ceaselessly like a warm current, nourishing and protecting his Meridians and internal organs.

At the same time, he activated the dark golden Thunder Origin mark within his Dantian, and traces of extremely yang and rigid Thunder aura naturally radiated, forming an invisible barrier on the surface of his body, barely resisting the extreme cold that was encroaching upon him.

He tried to expand his Divine Sense to investigate, but found that the suppression of Divine Sense in this place far exceeded that of the outside world. His Divine Sense, which could originally cover several miles, was now compressed to a range of only a few dozen feet around him, and his perception became blurry, as if separated by a thick layer of frosted glass.

”This place is indeed bizarre.”

Lin Jingyu felt a chill in his heart and dared not be the slightest bit careless.

He restrained his aura and operated the Spirit Refining Art to the limit. Although the range of his powerful Divine Sense was restricted, it acted like the most precise tentacles.

Carefully sensing the subtle differences in the energy flow in the air, the faint vibrations coming from deep within the ice layers, and the veins of the omnipresent Law of Ice.

Relying on this spiritual perception that surpassed ordinary spirits, he chose a main tunnel where the cold air was relatively ”active,” and where energy seemed to be constantly surging from the depths, and proceeded with caution.

Before he had gone far, an attack struck suddenly!