“Bob, it seems like you’re itching for a fight!” Casey chuckled and spoke up.
“Just kidding!” Bob grinned.
“Let’s go.” Billy glared at Bob before leading the group into a left passage.
“The pressure aura inside suddenly became stronger.” Stout remarked shortly after they entered.
“Stay alert.” Billy nodded slightly and enveloped everyone in a defensive aura.
“Boss, what do you think that is?” Azure Fang pointed to some protruding crystals on the ice wall not far ahead.
“Looks like spirit stones, right?” Bob walked over and took a glance before speaking.
“Damn it! The purity of these spirit stones seems even higher than the top-grade ones we seized in Frost Palace!” As he spoke, he reached out to touch one of the stones.
“Bob, stop!” Billy stopped him.
“What’s wrong?” Bob blinked in confusion.
“A place like this with so many high-purity spirit stones appearing out of nowhere can’t be that simple.” Casey said.
Bob nodded.
“For now, don’t touch the spirit stones. Let’s keep moving forward!” Billy said, leading the group to continue.
The passage, embedded with spirit stones, was about two to three hundred meters long. If they collected all these stones, it would be quite a valuable haul. More importantly, the purity of these stones was a level higher than the top-grade ones. They could be considered top-grade treasures. If these stones were refined, even a mid-stage Sovereign martial artist would likely be able to advance one level.
“Casey, give it a try!” Billy said as they walked about two to three hundred meters along the passage embedded with spirit stones.
Casey nodded. Then, a gust of wind surged out from his palm, knocking down the stones closest to them on the ice wall. Almost at the same time as the stones fell, powerful and sharp auras
shot out from the sides and the top of t he passage, rushing through like an unstoppable force. The range of the aura attacks was not limited to the passage with the spirit stones but extended two hundred meters in both directions. Before long, terrifying cracks could be seen on the sides and the ground of the passage.
“Let me test its power!” Bob said as he flicked his wrist, sending a sword shooting out.
Immediately after, the strong unseen force was completely shattered by his sword.
“Damn! Is it really that powerful?” Bob couldn’t help but exclaim. Although he hadn’t used his full strength just now, he had at least exerted eighty to 90%t of his power. From this, it could be seen that even a Fifth-rank Sovereign would find it difficult to easily dodge these invisible force.
“Whoever set up this mechanism is at least a Saint-realm martial artist!” Azure Fang replied thoughtfully.
“Let’s keep going!” Billy nodded slightly and continued leading the group forward.
In the next stretch of the journey, apart from the increasing pressure aura, nothing else out of the ordinary happened.
After walking for a few more minutes, Billy furrowed his brows.
“Boss, what’s wrong?” Casey noticed his expression.
“There’s a fight happening in the middle passage.” Billy responded.
“What do you mean?” Bob was puzzled. “Boss, can you sense what’s happening in the adjacent passage?”
“I couldn’t sense it before, but now it’s probably getting close to the convergence point of the three passages.” Billy replied.
“The people in the middle passage are from Aquilandia. Could something have happened to the princess of Aquilandia?” Azure Fang spoke up.
“Boss, should we go and take a look?” Casey asked.
After a moment of thought, Billy nodded. Although he had no romantic feelings towards Princess Eligina, they could still be considered friends. Now he wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
Let’s rewind time a few minutes.
Just as Billy and the others had passed through the aura killing formation. In the middle passage, the remaining seven members of Aquilandia also arrived at a section of the passage embedded with spirit stones. The man at the front saw the high-purity spirit stones on the ice wall. Without waiting for Eligina to stop him, he reached out and took the closest one. As expected, a sharp and powerful aura instantly enveloped the group. In the end, apart from Eligina, Jess, and another man at the Seventh-rank Sovereign realm, all the other four were shredded to pieces by the mysterious force. Eligina managed to escape unscathed, but she had a few cuts from the aura.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” the other man at the Seventh-rank Realm asked Eligina.
“I’m fine!” Eligina took a moment to catch her breath and shook her head in response.
“Your Highness, the road ahead will only get more difficult. Shouldn’t we go back?” the man looked at Eligina with a serious expression.
Eligina let out a heavy sigh and nodded. “Let’s go back.” She didn’t want to give up so easily, but reality forced her to. Out of the original ten people, only three remained. And apart from Jess, both she and the man had injuries. Most importantly, they had no idea what dangers lay ahead of them. Exploring was important, but preserving their lives should be the priority.
While speaking, Eligina glanced at Jess, who was still recovering. She couldn’t help but feel angry. Jess had almost reached the Ninth-rank Sovereign Realm, and with his strength, things wouldn’t have turned out so badly if he had helped the group wholeheartedly. But throughout the entire process, Jess only cared about himself and didn’t pay any attention to the lives of his teammates.
“Lord Jess, shall we go back?” the man at the Seventh-rank realm spoke up to Jess.
“Yeah!” Jess opened his eyes and responded.
Suddenly, Jess attacked, sending the man flying with a palm strike. The man crashed onto the icy ground a hundred meters away, causing the ice beneath him to crack like a spiderweb. He then coughed up a mouthful of blood. Caught off guard, he hadn’t expected Jess to attack him, leaving him defenseless. With just one move, Jess had dealt a heavy blow.
“What are you doing?” Eligina snapped and hurried over to help the man to his feet.
“Why?” the man asked Jess with difficulty.
“No reason!” Jess shrugged his shoulders. “From the moment you stepped into the Ice Cave, it was destined that none of you would make it out alive!”
“You bastard! Do you even know what you’re doing?” Eligina raised her voice in anger.
“My dear princess, I heard that you have a good relationship with that Commander Gardner from Glavale.” Jess said with a faint smile. “I also heard that even your father has been trying to curry favor with Glavale for the past two years.”
“What are you trying to say?” Eligina frowned again.
“Imagine this, if your father were to hear that you were killed by Commander Gardner in this Ice Cave, what do you think his reaction would be?” Jess’s mouth curled up slightly.
“Jess, what are you planning?” the Seventh-rank Sovereign man asked angrily after spitting out another mouthful of blood.
“He wants to kill me!” Eligina spoke up for Jess.