The Cold Spring was extremely cold, its temperature at least below zero, but strangely, it did not freeze. After entering the Cold Spring, Huo Yuhao could clearly feel a wave of heaven and earth origin energy, tinged with coldness, rippling in the water.
Although for the current him, such ice-attribute heaven and earth origin energy was not much, this coldness was very pure and beneficial to him. No wonder the spring water here could nourish the human body.
The Cold Spring was very deep. Huo Yuhao circulated his soul power to sink downwards. The further down he went, the lower the temperature became. If an ordinary soul master were here, their soul power would have been rapidly consumed long ago. But for Huo Yuhao, there were no adverse effects; it would only nourish his third martial soul, which had fused with the Ice Empress's origin.
The surrounding light gradually dimmed. However, this dark environment, which was enough to affect a soul master of the same level, was not a problem for Huo Yuhao, who possessed the Evil Eye martial soul.
Although the ability of spiritual power to spread in water was weaker, Huo Yuhao's current Half-Step God King realm spiritual power was simply too formidable. Apart from his speed being slightly affected, there was not much consumption.
Huo Yuhao held the Snow Empress's hand tightly, his spiritual power probing downwards one step ahead.
After all, even the Earth Dragon Gate itself was not particularly familiar with this secret realm. The two of them naturally had to be careful to avoid any unnecessary danger.
Before coming down, Nan Shuishui had told Huo Yuhao that this spring was about thirty meters deep. At the very bottom, even an expert of her Soul Douluo level found it somewhat difficult to resist.
And the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave from the original novel was located somewhere between twenty-five and thirty meters from the Cold Spring.
In fact, in Huo Yuhao's spiritual perception, the depth of this spring seemed to be more than thirty meters. After reaching the thirty-meter mark, there was a clearly strong cold current surging upwards. Below this cold current, it felt like the bottom, but if one continued to probe deeper with spiritual power, they would find that there seemed to be a deep blue spring eye there.
The spring eye was very large, enough for one person to pass through. But Huo Yuhao also sensed the deep blue color of the spring eye in his spiritual detection, which showed its degree of coldness.
Both Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress were very interested in this Cold Spring's eye. The colder the place, the more suitable it was for the two of them to cultivate their Ultimate Ice soul power. The temperature at that Cold Spring's eye, as he felt it, was indeed already comparable to the Extreme Yin Ice Spring in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well that he had visited.
However, although Huo Yuhao was unaffected by the cold and darkness, he was still human, and humans had to breathe. Although he could hold his breath for a long time, he couldn't do it indefinitely.
In any case, it was better to find the entrance to that Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave first. Thinking this, Huo Yuhao continued to use his soul power to control his body, leading the Snow Empress as he dived downwards.
Soon, they reached a depth of twenty-five meters. This diving speed was certainly much faster than that of the Earth Dragon Gate's ancestors. After all, neither he nor the Snow Empress needed to protect themselves from the cold.
The walls of the cave surrounding the Cold Spring were cold and slippery, feeling exactly like ten-thousand-year-old profound ice. As Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress continued to dive downwards, they searched for the entrance to the cave.
The entrance to the cave was naturally formed. This place was not originally a well, but a natural spring eye. Later, after the Earth Dragon Gate occupied this place, they specially built a well for it. During the construction, the Earth Dragon Gate had set up a mechanism here. If not for the Earth Dragon Gate's master, Nan Shuishui, swimming down with them, it would have been almost impossible for a modern person with a bad sense of direction like Huo Yuhao to find this mechanism based on a description alone.
At this time, Nan Shuishui was undoubtedly already approaching her limit. The extreme low temperature had inevitably affected her breathing. However, she was a person who finished what she started. Since she had promised Huo Yuhao to take him to that secret place, she would definitely do it.
Nan Shuishui began to grope her way down along the stone wall. She soon found a small protrusion. An ordinary person who felt this kind of place would definitely choose to press down. But the mechanism of the Earth Dragon Gate was the exact opposite.
Nan Shuishui pinched the protrusion and pulled it upwards with force, as if she were pulling something out. She used a full fifty percent of her soul power to just barely lift the protrusion a little.
Then she turned and swam to the stone wall on the other side, groping for an inconspicuous indentation on it. This indentation was not there before; it only appeared after she had pressed the protrusion on the other side.
When Nan Shuishui pressed down hard on the indentation, she faintly heard a slight "kaka" sound. Then, using the last bit of her strength, she returned to the previous protrusion and pressed down hard, pressing until the protrusion was completely flush with the stone wall.
The entire stone wall began to tremble slightly. Huo Yuhao and the other, who were following behind, turned to look and saw a door, only large enough for one person to squeeze through, quietly opening.
Strangely, when this door opened, a large amount of cold current gushed out from inside. Even Huo Yuhao, who possessed the Ultimate Ice martial soul, felt a chill.
Nan Shuishui quickly activated her soul power to form a protective film on her body, resisting the invasion of the cold. But she still underestimated the coldness at this deepest part, and her body was instantly invaded by the cold.
What a low temperature! The Snow Empress secretly praised in her heart. She was an ice and snow spirit nurtured by heaven and earth. This kind of cold was a kind of enjoyment for her instead.
Before the door had fully opened, Huo Yuhao quickly moved forward and first wrapped his arm around Nan Shuishui's waist. After all, the latter had already exceeded her tolerance limit to bring them here.
Nan Shuishui's entire body was covered in a layer of ice fragments, and an unhealthy flush appeared on her pretty face. She was not an ice-type martial soul soul master, but rather a earth dragon martial soul that was completely countered by the extreme cold.
"Her heart rate is very high. It should be hypoxia caused by a long period of air deprivation." The Snow Empress immediately acted to dispel the cold on Nan Shuishui's body, and sensing the latter's current condition, she sent a telepathic reminder.
Huo Yuhao's brow furrowed. He couldn't care about that much now. He directly blocked Nan Shuishui's red lips and passed a breath of air to her.
"Quick, disperse the cold current at the entrance. I can't last much longer either." Seeing this scene, the Snow Empress's delicate brows had just furrowed when she heard Huo Yuhao's urgent voice.
The Snow Empress did not dare to be negligent. She quickly used Absolute Zero Snowfall to block the cold current, and with one hand, she pulled Huo Yuhao and the other and squeezed through the door.
Outside the door was clearly a cold spring, but this door seemed to have a strange power that completely blocked the coldness outside. When the three of them squeezed in, the cold spring water on their bodies was actually completely frozen dry by that strange power. With a shake of their bodies, ice fragments fell from them like snow, and their entire persons instantly became dry.
However, along with the dryness came that extreme coldness. Nan Shuishui was clearly unable to withstand this coldness. Having just escaped danger, she was immediately in a life-threatening situation again.
How can the master of the Earth Dragon Gate be so weak? Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress were simultaneously speechless, but they couldn't just watch her die, could they?
Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and finally decided to stuff the frozen Nan Shuishui into his otherworldly space. This move would undoubtedly expose this life-saving ability of his. At worst, he would just give her a dose of Kotoamatsukami afterwards to make her forget.
Waves of terrifying cold current, carrying visible ice elements, impacted Huo Yuhao's body. Unfortunately, they could only stay on the surface of Huo Yuhao's Ice Empress's Protection. Not only could they not cause any damage, but they also made the soul power in Huo Yuhao's body, which had already transformed into Ultimate Ice, immediately become active.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual power naturally spread out, detecting the situation inside the cave.
This cave was not too large. It was densely covered with unknown ores, and the temperature was extremely low. It was about the same as the ice spring eye he had sensed before, and the temperature was comparable to the Extreme Yin Ice Spring in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
If Huo Yuhao still only had the strength he had before forming the contract with the Snow Empress, he would probably find it difficult to withstand this level of ultra-low temperature.
After all, at that time, he had not fused with the torso bone of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion like in the original timeline, and was lacking in the ability to resist extreme cold energy.
Huo Yuhao did not rush to go deeper with the Snow Empress. He carefully observed the surroundings at the entrance of the cave and at the same time, he called out to the Ice Empress in his spiritual sea.
Although he knew for sure that there was a treasure like the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow here, it wasn't even this cold in the core circle of the Extreme North back then!
A flash of jade-green light flickered, instantly illuminating everything around. The Ice Empress soul spirit quietly appeared beside Huo Yuhao. A light flickered on its body, illuminating the surroundings.
Both the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress were stunned at the first sight.
Under the illumination of the jade-green light on the Ice Empress's body, this cave had a nearly hallucinatory beauty.
The cave before them was entirely composed of various crystals. These crystals were azure blue, and they should have been deep blue themselves, but had turned azure blue because of the jade-green light on the Ice Empress's body.
These crystals were crystal clear and, under the illumination of the jade light, were filled with a dreamlike beauty. This beauty was difficult to describe with words. Huo Yuhao, the Snow Empress, and the Ice Empress now seemed to be in a fairyland.
The floor, walls, and ceiling of the cave were all made of these crystals, large and small, of all kinds, shimmering with light. The deep and shallow azure blue light illuminated the cave, revealing every detail.
"Ice Empress, Snow Maiden, my memory isn't wrong, is it?" Huo Yuhao immediately said with a proud smile.
The Ice Empress looked at everything here somewhat dazedly, then with a flash of her figure, she flew out. Although she was in the form of a soul spirit, her affinity for the ice attribute was still extremely strong.
After the Ice Empress flew out, the cold current in the cave immediately converged towards it, rotating around it.
"As expected of the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave! It's actually real! There's really a Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave here? Heavens! This is simply... too incredible!" The Ice Empress's voice instantly became high-pitched. It was the first time Huo Yuhao had ever seen this twin-tailed loli so shocked.
"So many Ice Pith God Crystals... So many Ice Pith God Crystals means there must be a Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave nearby! This is too incredible! How could such a place appear in your human world? How is it possible? How is it possible!"
The Ice Empress flew around in the cave almost madly, her two ponytails swinging like a windmill. The light emanating from her body simultaneously illuminated the entire cave.
The cave was not too large, extending inwards for about thirty meters. However, Huo Yuhao could clearly see that as the Ice Empress flew, waves of blue light mist were circling around it.
The ultra-low temperature brought by these light mists made even the Snow Empress gasp in admiration.
Such a low temperature was simply too incredible...
The Ice Empress flew in the air for nearly a quarter of an hour before gradually stopping. Huo Yuhao breathed in the cold air here and gradually felt that he had to circulate his Ultimate Ice soul power to dissolve this coldness. In other words, the lowest temperature here even exceeded the Ultimate Ice that the Snow and Ice Empresses had bestowed upon him.
"Snow Empress, if only I could have come here before I turned into a soul spirit." The Ice Empress finally regained some of her senses and returned to Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress. She grabbed the Snow Empress's shoulders, her delicate face filled with excitement as well as a strong sense of sadness.
"Stop complaining. You wanted to kill me before you became my soul spirit." Huo Yuhao couldn't help but tease.
The Ice Empress took a deep breath, rolled her eyes at Huo Yuhao, and barely managed to calm herself down. She said in a deep voice, "The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave is the ultimate land of the ice attribute, the ultimate of the ultimate. If I could have found a Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave before becoming your soul spirit, then I wouldn't have needed to find any breakthrough methods at all. I would have definitely been able to lead Xue'er to break through the bottleneck at that time, and even in the near future, I would have definitely been able to compete with the Beast God, Di Tian!"
"For us soul beasts who cultivate ice-attribute abilities, the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave is a treasure land. Why was the Beast God able to break through the bottleneck eight times in a row and reach a state where no one could match him? It's because the Silver Dragon King let him master such a treasure land—the Lake of Life in the very center of the Great Star Dou Forest's core circle. With the nourishment of the vast life force there, he has achieved what he has today."
"This Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave is a perfect match for us ice-attribute soul beasts! Its preciousness is no less than that of the Lake of Life occupied by Di Tian!"
Huo Yuhao had personally seen the Lake of Life. At the bottom of that Lake of Life, there was such a large piece of Gold of Life. It was just that that was the place where the lifeblood of the Great Star Dou Forest was gathered, and it was guarded by the Silver Dragon King.
"Ice Empress, don't forget, there's also a Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave in the core circle of the Extreme North." Huo Yuhao said with a wicked smile.
The Ice Empress's eyes were somewhat angry. She guessed what Huo Yuhao wanted to say to her.
Another voice sounded at this moment. "Yuhao, you brat, don't get me into trouble." A flash of light, and the Skydream Iceworm appeared beside the Ice Empress with an embarrassed look on his face.
Even the Snow Empress couldn't help but tease, "I almost forgot the reason why you, an ice worm, have lived so long."
The Skydream Iceworm had indeed spent most of his time eating and sleeping, waking up and eating again, over and over for a million years.
The Skydream Iceworm nodded embarrassedly and said, "The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow I ate was indeed produced in the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave. I discovered that place by accident... The essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave is the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow. I was just an ordinary ice worm back then. With the benefits brought by the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, I cultivated into a million-year soul beast. That was why Bingbing was chasing me back then."
"You spendthrift!" The Ice Empress couldn't help but curse resentfully. But now the Skydream Iceworm had already transformed into Huo Yuhao's soul ring, and his life origin power had been plundered by the fierce beasts of Star Dou. There was no point in lecturing this guy now.
"Alright, our task now is how to handle this treasure land." Huo Yuhao clapped his hands. "Since we're here, there's no reason to return empty-handed, right? Xue'er, it's up to you."