Ice Sculpture Royal Capital.
Within the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake.
Through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, Cang Xu observes the ice lake outside the Alchemy Laboratory.
This is a silent world. The ice layer serves as a natural gigantic barrier, isolating the noise and clamor of the surface Royal Capital. During the day, sunlight penetrates through the top ice layer, coloring the entire lake with a blue hue. The light refracts within the cracks and bubbles of the ice, creating a flickering scenery akin to the Northern Lights underwater.
At night, without the suppression of the top layer sunlight, the bioluminescence of organisms dominates. Various mosses, water plants, and winter fishes emit biological light, which converges into a faint green glow, saturating the entire ice lake from bottom to top.
This is also a world full of vitality. Between the various ice layers is slowly flowing lake water. It has a unique ecological system, where the creatures living and breeding here are not only highly cold-resistant but also each possesses extraordinary characteristics.
Cang Xu knows this is a consequence of the radiation from time’s divinity.
The creatures alone here can keep the mages researching for countless years, and the lake water and ice layers have even higher research value. Cang Xu secretly infiltrated here with the ship ghost, constantly receiving outside information, and already knows about the matter of ice block red wine, and has learned the latest happenings in the Royal Capital, naturally including the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
The ship ghost silently floats to Cang Xu’s side, speaking in a ghostly tone: "Stop looking, the Undead Master has summoned us."
Cang Xu follows the ship ghost to the core of the Alchemy Laboratory to pay respects to the Undead Master.
The Undead Master is quite fatigued mentally.
Upon entering the Alchemy Laboratory, he utilizes the alchemy components here for continuous observation of the surrounding scenes.
What he focuses on is the newly-completed royal engineering—the Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Super Magic Array.
There’s quite a harvest.
"The construction cost of this Super Magic Array is astounding and has a strong connection with the time dragon’s dragon corpse."
"The array has not been activated, currently in trial operation, and the maximum degree of activation does not exceed 5%."
"Once officially activated, the array can powerfully probe and detect the conditions of each layer of the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake. This will undoubtedly greatly assist the Ice Sculpture Royal Family in mastering this super resource point."
"This is an accomplishment that the Ice Sculpture Kingdom has never achieved in the past millennia!"
"Once the array is fully activated, it seems capable of shaping a time dragon ice sculpture for battle, possessing unmatched divinity."
The Undead Master cannot ascertain the exact degree of divinity it holds.
The array has other functions, which the Undead Master cannot yet explore.
"Several pillars of the Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Array lie below. The Alchemy Laboratory I’m in is only built on the Hundred-Year Ice layer."
The Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake is layered.
The surface layer is the ten-year ice. After countless years of reinforcement by the Kingdom, numerous magic arrays have been constructed, making it extremely tough and thick.
Above the ten-year ice layer is the Ice Sculpture Royal Capital. Below the ice layer is the flowing lake water. It starts with several years’ worth of ice lake water, followed by ten-years-worth, several decades worth. A hundred meters below the ten-year ice layer is a hundred-years-old lake water. The deeper the lake water, the older its age.
Beneath the hundred-years-old lake water is the second ice layer—Hundred-Year Ice layer.
The majority of Alchemy Laboratories are usually established above and below the ice layer.
Below the Hundred-Year Ice layer is hundreds-years-old lake water.
When the lake water reaches a thousand-years-old, it becomes Thousand-Year Ice layer.
Crossing the Thousand-Year Ice layer, diving deeper, the age of the lake water increases, accumulating over millennia, reaching ten-thousand-years.
At this point, one reaches the lake bottom of the Ice Lake—a massive ice layer covering the silt.
This is the most essential part of the Ice Lake—Ten-thousand-year-old Ice layer—legend has it that a fallen time dragon’s corpse is sealed within it! It is precisely because the Divine Dragon fell here that this super resource point, the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake, was formed.
"We must explore as much as possible to find out the specific information about this Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Array!"
"Once this Super Magic Array officially activates, it’s too late. We won’t be able to investigate so easily."
The Undead Master has long been aware of some rumors and hearsay regarding this Super Magic Array, but the truly significant secrets are strictly guarded by the Ice Sculpture Royal Family.
Without a doubt, this constructed Super Magic Array will become one of the most significant trump cards of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom!
"Current investigation has reached its limit."
"To find out more, we must continue to go deeper, heading to the Thousand-Year Ice layer."
"To fully understand the array, we might have to reach the lake bottom of the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice layer!"
The Alchemy Laboratories built on the Thousand-Year Ice layer are far more advanced than those on the Hundred-Year Ice layer. The Hundred-Year Ice layer hardly has any Mage Towers, but the Thousand-Year Ice layer hosts several.
Upon reaching the Ten-thousand-year-old Ice layer, there are only a few Mage Towers, each extremely tall, along with large temples led by the Glacier God. These temples are not the main temples, but each possesses tremendous power, a joint effort by the major sects of the Ice Sculpture Kingdom to suppress powerful measures at the lake bottom of the Ice Lake.
The Undead Master secretly infiltrating the Ice Sculpture Kingdom, penetrating deep into the Ice Lake, naturally has a significant mission.
For long-term planning, he has decided to explore the array’s essence, thereby summoning the ship ghost, Cang Xu.
However, the Undead Master does not reveal his intention to leave this place, to delve into the Ice Lake, instead saying: "These days, I’ve fully activated the Alchemy Laboratory to observe the Ice Sculpture Royal Family’s Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Array, discovering that the foundation of this Super Formation is exceptionally peculiar, seemingly comprising ice sculpture guardians throughout the Royal Capital."
"Typically, the foundation of magic arrays is fixed, but the foundation of this Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Array is mobile."
"However, the Ice Sculpture Royal Family’s ice sculpture guardians, accumulated over millennia, primarily use ice blocks from the Ice Lake as the main material, with added alchemy materials being minimal. In terms of origin, they indeed integrate with the Ice Lake, making them plausible for use as the foundation."
"No one knows which mage conceived such elaborate thoughts, creating such a wondrous magic array."
"It seems that only such a concept can eventually allow the magic array, once fully activated, to shape a temporary Ten-thousand-year Dragon ice sculpture puppet using the Ten-thousand-year-old ice."
"With this, testing the ice sculpture guardians in the Royal Capital can also add understanding of the Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Array. You two, perform this task for me."
The ship ghost, Cang Xu exchanged glances, both immediately expressed that assisting the esteemed Undead Master is their honor.
The ship ghost then inquired how to proceed, what type of ice sculpture guardian to target, and what channel to use to return to the Alchemy Laboratory after stealing an ice sculpture guardian.
The Undead Master replied: "You do not need to return, just stay in the Royal Capital."
Once he dives deeper into the Thousand-Year Ice layer, there’s a risk of being discovered. If he’s discovered, the Ice Sculpture Royal Family might trace back to the Alchemy Laboratory.
Thus, if the two continue to remain here, it is not safe.
The Undead Master continued: "Our Undead Orthodoxy in the Royal Capital has more than just this Alchemy Laboratory."
"Follow these two addresses separately to find two other laboratories."
"There’s no need to risk it by catching Ice Sculpture Guards. The current Warm Snow Cup is underway, and there’s a test that requires alchemists to team up and collaborate, to create alchemy puppets on the spot to defeat Silver Level Ice Sculpture Guards."
"For this mission, your assumed identities are the winners of the previous Warm Snow Cup. According to the rules of the Warm Snow Cup, you can directly join the subsequent competitions and participate in the second round of assessment."
"This way, you can openly study the Ice Sculpture Guards."
The ship ghost listened carefully, committing the Undead Master’s instructions to memory.
Cang Xu was secretly delighted: "With such arrangements, can’t I directly contact Zi Di?"
These days, although he stayed in the Alchemy Laboratory at the lake bottom, he wasn’t cut off from information. He was able to learn about a lot of current news through the channels of the Undead Orthodoxy. Naturally, this included the news that "the Mage Yao Ma from the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps (Zi Di) is participating in the current Warm Snow Cup and performed outstandingly in the first round."
After giving instructions, the Undead Master also applied Disguise Magic to Cang Xu and the ship ghost, giving them time to organize their things and adjust their state.
When the time came, the two were sequentially arranged onto a Teleportation Array and directly teleported away.
After the two left, the Undead Master modified much of the Alchemy Laboratory data, adjusting it to a low-efficiency self-operating state, then quietly escaped into the ice lake.
As a result, just as he approached the thousand-year-old ice layer, the Undead Master triggered an alarm.
The Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Formation immediately burst out a golden light, flowing over.
The Undead Master quickly hid, narrowly evading danger, a chill rising in his heart as he realized the activation level of the Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Formation was much higher than what he had previously observed at the hundred-year-old ice layer.
The deeper it goes, the higher the detection and defense standards of the Ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Formation become!
The golden light surged, causing ice shards to fly and stirring hundreds of tons of ice lake water.
Such commotion was significant, spreading from the thousand-year-old ice layer and observable even to Yuan Ci hidden in the Alchemy Laboratory at the ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake.
"The activation level of the Royal Family’s Super Formation is getting higher and higher."
"I can’t stay here much longer!"
"I must quickly unlock the Purple Vine Secret Stash."
Yuan Ci gritted his teeth, feeling immense pressure.
Among everyone, only Yuan Ci knew the specific location of the Purple Vine Secret Stash at the ten-thousand-year-old Ice Lake. But knowing that alone wasn’t enough; he also needed five Level 0 Purple Vine Secret Orders.
Yuan Ci calculated: "I have one, Jiu Jin has one, Ghost Vine has one, Shi Liu has one, and Cong Mang has one. That makes five."
"After Bing Yang’s defeat, Shi Liu successfully became the recommended fighter of the Ice Prison."
"Why hasn’t Cong Mang landed yet?"
The latest intelligence Yuan Ci received showed that Cong Mang, leading his pirate group, defeated the First Naval Fleet’s sub-squad and even captured the squad leader Bei Jia, boldly sending a message to the First Naval Fleet demanding ransom.
Yuan Ci gnashed his teeth. He couldn’t understand why Cong Mang was still lingering at sea. Clearly, the Purple Vine Secret Stash was more important now.
If it passes this point in time, once the Royal Family’s Super Formation fully activates, the entire ice lake will be tightly monitored, and acquiring the Purple Vine Secret Stash will become almost impossible!
Yuan Ci didn’t know that Cong Mang was actually already in the Ice Sculpture Royal Capital.
Zi Di’s Level 0 Secret Order was equivalent to three pieces, Fat Tongue had one, Jiu Jin had one, and Cong Mang had one, making a total of six pieces.
But Zi Di hadn’t yet had the mind to consider the Purple Vine Secret Stash.
On one hand, she didn’t know about the Super Formation, and on the other, she had more urgent matters to attend to.
According to Elder Jiu Jin’s recommended list, Zi Di personally set out and made contact with many Alchemists.
But among these Alchemists, some directly refused to meet, some dismissed her outright, and some asked for exorbitant fees when meeting with Zi Di.
During a conversation, Zi Di caught a flaw and, upon further questioning, the Alchemist revealed the secret — someone from the Lijian family had already contacted him and offered a high price to prevent him from cooperating with the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Zi Di’s worst fears had come true.
The Lijian family, the Jingxiang family, and even the Alchemy Guild, all three forces, were concertedly exerting pressure to "encircle and suppress" the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Although one or two had initially agreed to team up with Zi Di, she was filled with worry, hesitating to directly sign the Magic Contract.
What if those who agreed had already been heavily bribed by the three parties? Wouldn’t that be inviting wolves into one’s home?
The more people Zi Di met, the more dejected she became, starting to doubt whether her actions held any meaning.
"If I can’t use special methods to truly break through this predicament, further exchanges with more Alchemists would be meaningless."
When this thought was growing stronger, the door knocked by Zi Di opened.
"You’re finally here, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?" Cang Xu sighed with relief, secretly transmitting his voice.
"Who are you?!" Zi Di was astonished.
With the appearance greatly altered by the spells cast by the Undead Master, Zi Di didn’t recognize Cang Xu.
Upon confirming identity, Zi Di was overjoyed, never expecting to reunite with Cang Xu under such circumstances.
Cang Xu sighed, "I didn’t expect it either. The Undead Master led me through multiple teleportations, and I ultimately ended up in the Ice Sculpture Royal Capital."
"I heard that you were being targeted and were in a predicament."
"Initially, I intended to find you, but feared being overly proactive might arouse suspicion, so I chose to wait for you to visit me."
"Just as well, I also have tasks entrusted by the Undead Master. Let’s collaborate together this time."
Unexpectedly, Zi Di hesitated before finally saying, "I remember your alchemy skill was not as good as mine, was it?"
Zi Di’s intention in forming a team was to find strong allies.
Cang Xu laughed, "Miss Zi Di, please don’t underestimate me. For this test, the contributions I can make are greater than most of the participating members."
Zi Di suddenly realized, "Do you plan to leverage undead methods for alchemy?"
Cang Xu: "Let’s not talk about this for now. I wish to meet the squad leader. I need to discuss the current dire situation of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps."
"Is it that bad?" Zi Di mentioned the Dragon-man youth with pride, "Ever since the squad leader returned, our situation has completely turned around, with significant positive changes!"
"Currently, we are actively disengaging from the Lijian family, with the squad leader’s strength sufficient to guard our interests in mount magic potions."
Cang Xu shook his head, sighing deeply, "Anyway, let me meet with the squad leader first."