After watching someone who had claimed to be a Ruler—the most powerful Celestials known in the entire Celestial Realm—die so easily simply because he tried to pluck a flower, Leon developed a trauma of flowers.
He no longer dared to touch them.
Nor would he let Amon or Caria pick any.
He even threatened to cry if they dared to do so!
Ultimately, Amon and Caria had no choice but to give up on the idea.
The three eventually flew over the sea of flowers, carefully bypassing the countless ice flowers as they continued onward. Leon remained unusually nervous the entire time, constantly looking around to make sure he didn’t accidentally brush against a flower.
When they passed over the small lake at the very center, Amon suddenly paused.
He wanted to see whether he could take some of the water or perhaps discover what lay beneath its silver-blue surface.
However, to his surprise, as he leaned closer, the air before him rippled faintly.
An invisible barrier surrounded the small lake. He cautiously reached out his hand, only for his hand to meet an unseen force that prevented him from going any farther.
The barrier didn’t attack or harm him.
It simply refused to let him enter.
At that moment, Leon, who had noticed Amon stop, cried out and rushed back to drag him away. He was too nervous to let Amon and Caria linger anywhere near the flowers or the lake. As a result, neither of them pondered the strange reason why the barrier around the lake refused to let even Amon enter. Nor did they notice the faint, fragmented sparks of white light drifting beneath the surface of the silent water.
Only after they had crossed the sea of flowers did Leon let out a sigh of relief.
The three continued moving forward, leaving the breathtaking floral sea behind.
However, the butterflies did not follow or guide them any farther. They remained at the edge of the flowers, hovering quietly in the air as though an invisible boundary prevented them from going any farther.
As their backs slowly vanished into the distance, they failed to notice the space behind them distort before the entire area disappeared behind an invisible boundary, hiding it from anyone who might pass by.
An hour later, Amon, Caria, and Leon discovered another treasure within the frozen structures around them. It was a large ice stone that had condensed from the power of the Cold and Void. Unlike the ice flowers, this massive stone seemed to have formed on its own, as though it had been nurtured by the frozen land itself.
Cautiously, the three tried to take it.
To their surprise, nothing happened.
Leon’s eyes lit up as he wiped his forehead with a laugh. It seemed they had crossed the dangerous area and were safe for now!
With that, the three continued deeper into the frozen land, completely unaware that they had already stepped into an invisible domain. With every step the trio took, they drew closer to the very spot where Kyle’s soul had knelt before scattering after the fight between him and Azazeal concluded.
And Amon, Caria, and Leon were the only ones, aside from Yue, who were reaching that long-forgotten place so effortlessly.
Along the way, they even found several powerful treasures in the ice structures.
Everyone else—the countless other test participants, the Rulers who had followed them, Mirabel, Yizhe, and even Alec, Jian, and those accompanying the two—were struggling against terrifying beings of ice.
The ice butterflies, which would normally vanish into white wisps of frost whenever someone touched them or captured them, had suddenly become completely hostile toward the intruders, transforming without warning into monstrous frozen creatures that attacked anything trying to go deeper.
The worst part?
There seemed to be no way to truly kill these creatures, formed entirely from ice.
Whenever one was finally brought down, two more would emerge in its place, their frozen bodies taking shape immediately.
Even more terrifying was the fact that they weren’t formed from Natural Energy, nor did they use Natural Energy. They seemed to be born directly from the Laws themselves.
And they weren’t weak either! They were actually powerful enough to stop even those at the peak of the Celestial Rank.
***
In a different location inside the frozen grounds, for two days, Mirabel and all the Rulers accompanying her had been locked in a fierce battle against the ice creatures, just like everyone else who had entered the towering gate. No matter how fiercely they fought, they could barely move forward, as if they were trapped in an endless struggle.
After fighting the creatures nonstop for so long, the once arrogant and mighty woman looked noticeably disheveled. Her usually composed appearance had become messy, while her lips had taken on a faint blue tint from the cold permeating the surroundings.
Even the many Rulers beside her—some who had entered before her, following Yue, and others who had entered alongside her—were beginning to show signs of frostbite.
While they were struggling, a group of Celestials suddenly appeared from behind.
Unlike the others, they all seemed almost completely unaffected by the bone-chilling cold. They were also engaged in battle with the ice creatures, but their method was very different. The group had formed a circular formation, with their backs protected and their power and weapons facing outward.
Rather than trying to kill the ice creatures, they focused entirely on kicking or tossing them away. With coordinated movements, they fended off wave after wave of frozen monsters lunging at them while steadily advancing deeper into the testing grounds.
Mirabel froze for a split second when she noticed the group. Her gaze shifted toward the other Rulers accompanying her. They immediately understood what she wanted and, without wasting any time, adjusted their formation to imitate the newcomers.
In an instant, the Rulers moved and also formed a circular formation, protecting one another while keeping their attacks directed outward. Instead of wasting their strength trying to destroy the seemingly endless ice creatures, they began knocking them aside, slowly advancing through the frozen horde.
As they moved, Mirabel suddenly felt a familiar aura nearby. Her eyes narrowed.
Yizhe was nearby...
It’s just that he seemed to be hiding.
But why?
At the same time, Asher, who was among the group that had just arrived, clicked his tongue in disdain when he noticed Mirabel and the others mimicking their formation.
"Who are those people? Don’t they have brains of their own? Why are they copying us?"
Alec didn’t comment on his words.
Jian merely shook his head, looking completely unbothered.
"Ignore them. What can we do if we’re just too impressive? Of course, everyone wants to copy us."
He let out a dramatic sigh.
"If not for the fact that no one here can break through the space and travel freely, we would have left this place long ago."
Behind them, Bia kicked another creature aside. The frozen monster tumbled away.
She glanced into the distance before looking back, a breath escaping her lips.
"Alec, are you sure the kids are in the direction we’re advancing? I feel like we’re going the wrong way."
Alec sighed in response.
"I honestly don’t know. The tracking device stopped working after the small butterflies transformed into these massive creatures."