bioinnovel Chapter 259 Kunlun Ice Abyss, Yongzhou Dingling
Chapter 259 Kunlun Ice Abyss, Yongzhou Dingling
The news of the awakening of the Qingzhou Cauldron spread throughout the entire planet Blue Star within half an hour.
Western media outlets urgently interrupted their broadcasts with news headlines that were increasingly sensational.
"China acquires another divine weapon, tilting the balance of power between East and West?"
"With the two cauldrons resonating, what exactly did Su Fan find?"
Experts warn: The gathering of the Nine Tripods could reshape the world order!
In the virtual conference space on Mount Olympus, the atmosphere was so heavy it was almost palpable.
Twelve golden thrones floated in mid-air, but only seven people were seated on them at the moment.
Seated in the main seat was Zeus's charioteer, a middle-aged man with golden hair like a lion's mane and eyes filled with lightning. He stared at the holographic projection in front of him with a gloomy expression.
The projection showed the Qingzhou Ding soaring into the sky, resonating with the Jizhou Ding.
Beside her stood a woman with a resolute face, clad in armor; she was Athena's guardian spirit.
She said in a deep voice, "According to our intelligence, the Nine Tripods that China is searching for are very likely the national treasures in their mythological system. If they really manage to collect them all..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood the consequences.
A figure wreathed in flames spoke, the guardian of Hephaestus.
"We cannot let China continue like this; we must take action."
"How do we proceed?" another goddess-like figure, lounging lazily on the throne, sneered.
"Go straight to war? Don't forget about Tang Sanzang. Even though he's crippled, he's still a genuine deity. Add to that the various gods of China, and that strange God of Misfortune. We won't gain anything in a direct confrontation."
The goddess of wisdom, the divine guardian, calmly analyzes the situation.
"The goddess is right. Moreover, China now has the support of two cauldrons and the protection of the Myth Arena. Fighting on their home turf, our chances of winning are slim."
Zeus's charioteer remained silent.
After a long silence, he slowly raised his head, lightning flashing in his eyes: "Then... let's start from other angles."
"Inform our allies in India and urge them to expedite the process of awakening Brahma."
"And Egypt, Northern Europe... tell them that if they don't want to see the East dominate, they should show their true abilities."
"As for China..."
He paused, then looked at the goddess of beauty.
"Venus, you're adept at manipulating people's hearts. Find a way to create some trouble within China, at least slow down their search for the Nine Cauldrons."
The goddess-keeper smiled sweetly: "Leave it to me."
The meeting ended, and the virtual space dissipated.
……
At the same time, deep in the Kunlun Mountains.
Yuan Qingsheng and his Po Jun squad were standing in front of a bottomless ice crevice.
The altitude here is over 5,000 meters, the temperature is minus 30 degrees Celsius, and the howling wind mixed with ice shards stings your face like a knife.
An ordinary person would freeze to death after ten minutes here, but the team members all looked perfectly normal.
They are all at least sixth-level Divine Masters, so they can withstand this kind of environment.
"Boss, the detection results are in."
A young team member wearing thick goggles ran over, holding a constantly flashing device in his hand:
"The crevice is over 1,500 meters deep, and there is a strong divine force reaction at the bottom, but..."
"But what?"
"The divine power is very chaotic," the team member said, frowning.
"It has the weighty aura of the Yongzhou Cauldron, but also a very cold and sinister energy. Moreover, the ice fissure structure is unstable and could collapse at any time."
Yuan Qingsheng squinted, looking at the dark ice fissure leading to the Earth's core.
Before setting off, Su Fan reminded him that the man in black robes might have left a backup plan at the location of each cauldron.
The Jizhou Cauldron houses a demonized dragon spirit, the Qingzhou Cauldron is Fan Zhongyan's protective array, and the Yongzhou Cauldron here...
"Who cares about demons and monsters?" Yuan Qingsheng grinned, gripping the Gonggong Halberd tightly. "This halberd of mine is for dealing with all kinds of disobedience."
He turned to the squad: "Check your equipment and prepare to descend. Remember, once you're down there, follow my instructions. Report any unusual situations immediately."
"yes!"
Fifteen minutes later, twelve figures slowly descended into the ice crevice via specially made ice anchor cables.
The further down you go, the dimmer the light becomes and the lower the temperature gets.
The surrounding ice walls were no longer crystal white, but had an eerie pale blue hue.
"How long has this ice crevice existed?"
Some team members muttered to themselves.
"At least tens of thousands of years ago," Yuan Qingsheng said in a deep voice. "Kunlun is the ancestor of all mountains, and the secrets buried here are far more numerous than we can imagine."
When the descent was about 800 meters, a sudden change occurred.
hum-
Suddenly, the surrounding ice walls lit up with a ghostly blue light!
The light was not evenly distributed, but rather formed twisted runes, densely covering the entire ice layer.
The runes flowed, emanating a chilling aura.
"Alert!" Yuan Qingsheng shouted nervously.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the frozen fossils on the ice wall began to move!
A blue light shone in the mammoth's eye sockets, and the saber-toothed tiger's teeth snapped in a fierce bite...
They were not resurrected, but rather manipulated by some force and turned into ice golems!
"fighting!"
Yuan Qingsheng took the lead, sweeping his Gonggong Halberd horizontally. The golden halberd light slashed out like a crescent moon, cutting the three ice wolf puppets that pounced at him in half.
But the severed puppet did not disappear; instead, it turned into ice shards and reformed, returning to its original state in the blink of an eye!
"Physical attacks are ineffective!"
One of the team members shouted.
"Then use divine power!" Yuan Qingsheng's eyes flashed with a fierce light. "Gonggong Halberd—"
"Raging waves!!!"
Yuan Qingsheng gripped the halberd with both hands, divine power surging within him, and the phantom of Gonggong appeared behind him.
He had a human face and a snake's body, with fiery red hair, wielding a long halberd, and treading on dark water.
boom!
The raging power of the water god erupted, and raging waves and tsunamis surged forth!
Wherever the blue halberd light passed, the ice golems shattered into pieces, and this time, they could not reassemble.
However, the runes on the ice wall are still glowing, and more ancient fossils are beginning to awaken.
And... the ice fissure is vibrating!
"Boss! Up there! The ice is about to collapse!"
Yuan Qingsheng looked up, his pupils contracting.
Hundreds of meters above, the ice wall was cracking at a speed visible to the naked eye, and countless huge ice spikes and blocks of ice fell like rain!
If someone were buried inside, even a seventh-level Divine Master would be in grave danger!
"Keep descending! Quickly!"
The team accelerated downhill, narrowly avoiding the falling icy rain.
When they descended to about 1,200 meters, they finally saw the bottom of the crevasse.
It was a vast ice abyss, more than a thousand meters in circumference, with a smooth, mirror-like surface of ancient ice.
In the center of the icy abyss stands a palace made entirely of ice crystals.
The palace is ancient and imposing, with flying eaves, brackets, carved beams and painted rafters, and the whole structure is made of ice.
The palace gates were tightly shut, and two ancient seal characters were carved on the lintel—
Yongzhou.
"Found it!" a team member exclaimed excitedly.
But Yuan Qingsheng frowned.
Because he saw that around the ice crystal palace, there were countless... ice corpses.
It wasn't a puppet, but a real corpse.
They were all frozen in the ice, each corpse's eyes were open, and the pupils shimmered with the same eerie blue runes as those on the ice walls.
"This is... the Tomb Guardian Corpse Formation."
Yuan Qingsheng recognized the formation; it was described in the "Complete Collection of Basic Heavenly Talismans" given to him by Su Fan.
"Using the resentment of the dead as a lure, and extreme cold as a prison, they trapped and killed any intruders. That bastard in black robes actually used such vicious methods!"
"Boss, what do we do now?" the vice-captain asked. "A direct assault?"
Yuan Qingsheng shook his head: "The most troublesome thing about the Tomb Guardian Corpse Formation is the resonance of resentment. If we attack any one of the ice corpses, it will trigger a backlash from all the corpses. There are more than a thousand of them, and their strength is no less than that of a seventh-level God-Controlling. They can wear us down to death."
He looked around, his mind racing.
Forcing our way in won't work; we'll have to outsmart them...
Yuan Qingsheng's gaze fell on the frozen corpses, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
"The positions of these frozen corpses... don't they look a bit like the changing formation of the Big Dipper?"
Upon closer inspection, the vice-captain indeed found that although there were numerous ice corpses, the seven core ancient corpses formed the shape of the Big Dipper.
The ice corpses on the outer perimeter are arranged according to the Twenty-Eight Mansions.
"This is the layout of 'Seven Stars Locking the Soul, Twenty-Eight Mansions Guarding the Tomb'."
Yuan Qingsheng grinned, "That grandson of a man in black robes has a good grasp of formations, but unfortunately, young friend Su has already taught me the entire 'Complete Collection of Basic Heavenly Gang Talismans'."
"Do you have a solution?"
"certainly."
Yuan Qingsheng pulled out a palm-sized tortoise shell from his pocket. It was a fragment of the Hetu Luoshu that Su Fan had given him before they set off, specifically for breaking formations.
"Listen up, everyone! Once I break through the array's core, the tomb-guarding corpse array will pause for three seconds. In those three seconds, charge into the palace!"
"yes!"
Yuan Qingsheng took a deep breath and infused his divine power into the tortoise shell.
The tortoise shell lit up, revealing the profound innate Bagua (Eight Trigrams) patterns of the Hetu and Luoshu.
"Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, Zhen represents Thunder, Xun represents Wind..."
As Yuan Qingsheng recited the mantra, he stepped out according to the eight trigrams.
With each step, the pattern on the tortoise shell changes, resonating with the formation in the icy abyss.
The ice corpses seemed to sense something; the blue light in their eyes flickered violently, and they emitted low whimpers.
The entire icy abyss began to tremble, and the cold intensified, even causing frost to form on Yuan Qingsheng's eyebrows.
But he didn't care and continued walking.
After seven steps, Yuan Qingsheng stopped at the Tian Shu position, the position corresponding to the first star of the Big Dipper.
"Now!"
Yuan Qingsheng roared and slammed the tortoise shell hard onto the ice!
hum-
Centered on the tortoise shell, the golden Bagua diagram instantly expanded, covering the entire Ice Abyss!
The dark blue runes on the ice wall seemed to have met their nemesis, and they all went out.
The blue light in the ice corpse's eyes began to dim, and its movements became sluggish.
"Rush!"
Yuan Qingsheng took the lead, transforming into a golden light that shot straight into the ice crystal palace.
The team members followed closely behind.
Three seconds pass in the blink of an eye.
The moment the last team member stepped through the palace gates, the blue light in the Ice Corpse's eyes rekindled, and it let out an angry roar.
However, the formation had already been broken, and they could not leave their original positions, so they could only watch helplessly as the intruders entered the palace.
boom!
The palace gates closed behind them.
"It's...it's a success..."
The vice-captain, panting heavily, glanced back with lingering fear.
If they had been even half a second slower, they would already be engulfed by the frozen corpses.
Yuan Qingsheng, however, did not let his guard down.
Because the inside of the palace is even more eerie than the outside.
The ground is paved with bluestone slabs, ancient paintings hang on the walls, and the Four Treasures of the Study are placed on the table.
And all the furnishings were made of ice.
"Watch out, here..."
Before Yuan Qingsheng could finish speaking, another unexpected event occurred.
Suddenly, the ground in the center of the palace cracked open, and an ice platform rose up.
On the ice platform, there is a bronze tripod with three legs and two handles.
The body of the tripod is engraved with a topographical map of the Kunlun Mountains, and two ancient and powerful characters—
Yongzhou!
However, nine black chains were wrapped around the cauldron.
The other end of the chain was connected to nine ice coffins.
The ice coffin was transparent, allowing a clear view of the person sealed inside.
Above the Yongzhou Cauldron, a black crystal the size of a fist floats.
The crystals continuously emitted a chilling, malevolent aura, which flowed through the chains into the nine ice coffins.
Each time the injection was administered, the person inside the ice coffin would tremble slightly, as if enduring immense pain.
"This is... the Nine-Life Soul Suppression?!"
Yuan Qingsheng's expression changed drastically.
He had read about this evil formation in the ancient books of the Huaxia Treasure Pavilion. It selects nine people with specific destinies, freezes them when their vitality is at its peak, and uses their souls as the core of the formation to suppress the divine artifact.
Those whose souls are suppressed will never be able to be reborn, and their souls will suffer torment day and night.
The Yongzhou Cauldron, which serves as the core of the formation, will also be continuously eroded by evil energy, eventually becoming completely demonized.
"Black-robed man...you're not human!"
Yuan Qing was so angry that he was trembling all over.
These nine people are all citizens of China.
"Boss, what do we do now?" The vice-captain's voice was hoarse. "If we forcefully break the formation, the souls of these nine people will immediately dissipate..."
Yuan Qingsheng gripped the Gonggong Halberd tightly, his lips turning white.
Forcibly breaking the formation resulted in the annihilation of all nine souls.
If the formation is not broken, the Yongzhou Cauldron will continue to be eroded, and these nine people will suffer for eternity.
Dilemma.
Yuan Qingsheng fell silent.
After a long while, he slowly raised his head.
"Brothers, prepare to break through the formation."
"Boss, but they..."
"I know," Yuan Qingsheng interrupted the deputy captain, his voice low.
"But listen carefully, rather than let them suffer for eternity, let them be freed."
"And look."
Yuan Qingsheng pointed to the Yongzhou Ding.
"The Yongzhou Cauldron is crying for help. If we don't save it, it will eventually become completely corrupted by demons. At that point, the sacrifice of these nine people will have been meaningless."
The team members looked at the Yongzhou Ding.
Sure enough, the blue light emanating from the cauldron trembled slightly, as if it were calling for help.
"I understand." The vice-captain nodded emphatically. "Boss, give the order."
Yuan Qingsheng took a deep breath and raised the Gonggong Halberd.
"Everyone, follow my orders."
"Old Zhang, use the 'Mount Tai Press Down' technique to bombard the black crystal and attract the evil energy to counterattack."
"Xiao Wang, take three people and use the Four Symbols Demon-Sealing Formation to lock the nine chains, minimizing the impact on the soul."
"The rest of you, follow me and smash that broken coffin!"
"yes!"
The order was given, and the squad immediately took action.
Old Zhang roared, and a phantom image of Mount Tai appeared behind him. He punched the black crystal.
The crystal vibrated, the evil energy went berserk, and the nine chains instantly straightened, frantically drawing the soul power from the ice coffin.
It's now!
Xiao Wang and his three teammates formed a formation, infusing it with divine power. The phantom images of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise appeared, tightly locking the nine chains.
"Break it for me, you bastard!"
Yuan Qingsheng leaped up, and the Gonggong Halberd burst forth with dazzling golden light, slashing fiercely at the nearest ice coffin!
Click!
The ice coffin shattered upon impact.
The soul within the coffin was released, transforming into specks of light that coalesced in the air to form a blurry figure.
He looked at Yuan Qingsheng, clasped his hands in a salute, and then vanished into the world.
There was no resentment, only gratitude.
"Continue!" Yuan Qingsheng's eyes reddened as he swung his halberd, striking the second and third bodies...
One by one, the ice coffins shattered, and one by one, the souls were released.
With each release of a spirit, the blue light of the Yongzhou Cauldron intensifies, while the evil energy of the black crystal weakens.
After the last ice coffin was shattered, the nine souls returned to one, transforming into the purest primordial power, which flowed into the cauldron.
Om-! ! !
The Yongzhou Cauldron burst forth with an unprecedented blue light!
The black crystal shattered inch by inch under the impact of the blue light!
Nine chains snapped!
The ice palace has begun to collapse!
"Got it, let's go!"
Yuan Qingsheng grabbed the Yongzhou Cauldron and led his team toward the gate.
Behind them, the palace collapsed, the icy abyss trembled, and the entire Kunlun Mountains resonated.
As they burst out of the crevasse and returned to the ground, a deafening roar echoed behind them.
The crevice, which was a thousand meters deep, closed completely.
"Boss, we... we succeeded?"
The vice-captain was still somewhat dazed.
Yuan Qingsheng looked at the Yongzhou Cauldron, then at the continuous snow-capped peaks of the Kunlun Mountains, and grinned.
"It's a success."
He turned on his communicator and reported to command:
"Kunlun Squad reports: The Yongzhou Cauldron has been awakened!"
Almost simultaneously.
The tripods of Ji, Qing, and Yong resonate in harmony!
Three beams of azure light shot into the sky from the Taihang Mountains, Laoshan Mountains, and Kunlun Mountains respectively, converging in the sky above China to form a giant triangular array of light.
Under the protection of the light array, the dragon vein of China was completely stabilized, and the nation's fortunes prospered!
The world is in shock!
In the dark space, the third rune on the Haotian Golden Palace Seal in front of the black-robed man, the Yongzhou rune, lit up.
The three runes, like three stars, shone brightly in each other.
The man in black remained silent for a long time.
Then he smiled.
The laughter was icy, carrying endless killing intent.
"Three cauldrons already... Su Fan, you guys are really fast."
"But the game should end now."
The man in black robes slowly rose, his body enveloped in surging black energy.
"I... am leaving seclusion ahead of schedule."
"Let your blood celebrate my complete control of the Haotian Golden Palace Seal!"