Chapter Forty-Two: The Frozen Corpse

Hearing these conversations, Dao Sansheng lost all appetite. The meal before him was only half-finished when he threw his chopsticks onto the table and returned to his guest room.

“Little Skull, come out now,” Dao Sansheng communicated with the Fiendfire Gourd through his spiritual sense. After a long moment, the skull emerged with a reply.

“I was just resting—must you disturb my cultivation?” the skull grumbled, clearly displeased, venting its complaints to Dao Sansheng.

“You're the one complaining? Let me tell you, that ice corpse is said to be advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage tonight. I also heard it killed two foundation-level itinerant cultivators before. Tell me, how can I not be anxious?” Dao Sansheng retorted, knocking on the gourd as he finished.

The gourd jumped from his hand. “You brute! Resorting to domestic violence now? I haven’t even finished explaining. Why are you so impatient? Young people these days are so hot-tempered.”

“I’m telling you, kid, you’re in luck. When this ice corpse advances to Foundation Establishment, it will refine all the energy in its body into a single ice crystal. That’s the moment of its weakness—right after its breakthrough. If you snatch the ice crystal then, the creature will lose its combat ability, and we can easily collect and refine it.”

Dao Sansheng hadn’t expected the ice corpse’s Foundation Establishment to come with such a weak period. Realizing this, he knew he had to act quickly before the situation changed.

Without further hesitation, Dao Sansheng got out of bed, closed the room door, and went downstairs. The main hall was as lively as before, people still discussing the recent topic, but Dao Sansheng didn’t linger and went straight outside.

He hurried to the city gate, relieved to find it still open, and walked out. From the conversations earlier, he’d learned that Nansui Ridge lay north of the city. Without pause, he made his way toward the gate, grateful that fortune favored the diligent, and finally exited the city.

Night had fallen, and the official road was shrouded in darkness on both sides. There were people at the gate, but Dao Sansheng was still searching for the way to Nansui Ridge.

Beyond the northern gate, darkness enveloped everything. A small figure paced outside, faced with a broad official road and two smaller paths. Dao Sansheng hesitated; he’d heard that one must take a side path, but didn’t know which to choose.

“Never mind, I’ll just pick one.” Dao Sansheng took the right path and, more than an hour later, was far from the plains.

He was now on a rugged mountain trail, but fortunately hadn’t gone astray. At the next fork, he saw a signpost—both paths led here, making his earlier indecision seem pointless.

Another hour passed, and the night grew deep. The cries of various spirit beasts in the mountains now echoed all around. Fat Chirp crouched quietly on Dao Sansheng’s shoulder. After a long trek through the forest, he had yet to encounter a single spirit beast.

He was nearly there. Ahead, a jagged peak like a wolf’s fang pierced the sky. It was said the ice corpse was cultivating in a cave on this mountain, discovered here in the first place.

Dao Sansheng moved carefully through the undergrowth, taking care not to touch anything that might make a sound and alert the ice corpse.

He slowly made his way halfway up the mountain, where a pitch-black cave lay. Based on what he’d heard, this was the place. Dao Sansheng pressed close to the wall as he entered.

After a hundred meters or so, he heard sounds from within. Peeking in quietly, he could see nothing for now, but knew he was close—soon, he would see.

The noises grew clearer, and Dao Sansheng finally saw the figure: a giant, five meters tall, with a body so pale it was almost startling, covered in a thin layer of frost.

The giant sat cross-legged and entered meditation. Dao Sansheng lay hidden nearby, not daring to move. Time crept by until midnight. The frost on the ice corpse grew thicker, forming an icy statue, but before long, the frost began to recede.

At this moment, the spiritual energy within the cave grew turbulent, swirling towards the ice corpse’s dantian. Dao Sansheng could feel his own spiritual energy being drawn out as well.

Fortunately, he quickly activated his cultivation technique, breaking free from the pull and calming his restless aura.

Time passed. The giant corpse absorbed spiritual energy for two hours before finally stopping. Its white skin turned green, then back to white after a while.

Dao Sansheng watched closely and concluded the creature was indeed advancing to Foundation Establishment. Judging by the signs, it had succeeded, but he still hadn’t seen the legendary ice crystal.

Dawn slowly broke, and after such a long vigil, Dao Sansheng felt weary. The ice corpse began to stand, propping itself up with both hands. After sitting so long, its legs were slightly numb.

As the creature rose, Dao Sansheng caught sight of something glittering beneath its body—a flashing object, the ice crystal he’d been seeking. So it had expelled it from its body.

“Now!” The skull’s command echoed in Dao Sansheng’s mind.

Without hesitation, Dao Sansheng leapt out, swift and decisive, landing behind the ice corpse and seizing the ice crystal before it could react.

The ice crystal felt chillingly cold to the touch, so cold he almost threw it away. But before he could, the newly advanced ice corpse turned with fury in its eyes, reaching out for him.

He was seized in a giant hand, yet he clung tightly to the ice crystal, refusing to let go. The ice corpse lifted him toward its mouth.

Even before reaching the gaping maw, a wave of rotten, sour stench hit him, so foul that others had fainted from the odor before.

But Dao Sansheng had just eaten a pile of strong-tasting food, the flavors still lingering in his mouth. As he approached the corpse’s mouth, his body almost at its nostrils and feet nearly slipping inside, Dao Sansheng imitated the ice corpse and exhaled a breath filled with garlic and scallion.

In that instant, the ice corpse held its breath—and with a loud noise, Dao Sansheng let out a powerful garlic-and-scallion-flavored fart right at the creature’s mouth.

The ice corpse released its grip, and Dao Sansheng fell to the ground, the ice crystal still tightly in hand.

Deprived of the ice crystal, the ice corpse weakened instantly. The Fiendfire Gourd flew into the air, released a stream of black smoke, and sucked the ice corpse inside.

The mission was finally accomplished. Rumor had it this creature had slain two mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators; there should be plenty of treasures here. Dao Sansheng began to search.

One storage pouch, two, three… In just a short time, he collected seven or eight storage pouches. There was no time to check their contents; when he opened the pouches belonging to the two Foundation Establishment cultivators, he found only a single mid-grade magical artifact in each.

Both were mid-grade artifacts. Dao Sansheng now understood how they died—they should have been using spiritual tools, but were instead relying on inferior artifacts suitable only for the Qi Refinement stage, and their quality was poor.

Dao Sansheng put these things away for now and continued searching, convinced the ice corpse would not have appeared here for no reason.

After searching the cave several times, he found nothing else, but did notice something odd: there were many skeletons scattered about, most of them polished and gleaming, except for the innermost one, which was badly worn.

He walked over, turned the skeleton over, and discovered that it wore a storage ring on its finger.