Han Li now stood in a huge hidden room with endless rows of three-meter-tall steps carved from fine jade. He appeared baffled.

The stairs were at least three hundred meters wide and each of the steps sparkled with various colored barriers, each containing a variety of their own jade slips.

At the other end of the room, there was a flight of stairs heading upwards. The floors seemed to be separated by thick dense stone.

Shocked, Han Li took a shallow breath and turned to an old man dressed in the sect’s attire. “This is the palace’s Hidden Scripture Pavilion?”

“That’s right, Senior. There are seven separate floors of the Hidden Scripture Pavilion. Every floor has different types of records deposited with rarer records on higher floors. There are separators on each floor, preventing disciples from grabbing the wrong jade slips. When Senior wishes to head down, please give me the order. I will be waiting outside on your command.” The old man spoke with a lowered head, but his body displayed the spiritual pressure of a mid-Core Formation cultivator.

Han Li nodded, “I understand. You may head out!”

“Yes!” The old man respectfully withdrew and closed the stone gate behind him.

With Han Li alone in the room, he bluntly walked in front of one of the light barriers and waved his hand through it.

With a light bang, the light barrier shattered, revealing three jade slips underneath.

He took them into his hand and immersed his spiritual sense into them.

At the same moment Han Li was perusing the records, two white-robed women were speaking on the second floor of the Pure Focus Pavilion.

One of them was Bai Yaoyi and the other was the woman that was earlier speaking with Master Arctic Dragon.

The two bore a strong resemblance, but one of them had a gentle beauty while the other appeared ice cold.

Bai Yaoyi stood next to the window with one hand resting on the windowsill and the other fiddling with her hair. She frowned, appearing somewhat annoyed. “Second Sister, I’ve already told you, I don’t know much about this Fellow Daoist Han. Although he claims to be an overseas cultivator, the Yin Sifting Sect and the Endless Sky Temple both claimed he was from the Heavenly South. His abilities are on par with a late Nascent Soul cultivator and managed to even match the Silver-winged Nightfiend in the Yin Yang Cave. I’m also not sure as to how he managed to escape Kunwu Mountain as well.”

“Seventh Sister, please don’t take offense! It is rather hard to believe how a mid-stage cultivator from an area as remote as the Heavenly South could possess such abilities.” The other white-robed woman had a smooth voice, but it was cold and lacking emotion.

Bai Yaoyi didn’t seem to mind the other woman’s tone as she knew it was caused by reaching the height of her cultivation technique. But she was losing her patience with repeated questioning about Han Li.

Bai Yaoyi took several steps away from the window and said, “I’ve only known him for a short time, having met him the last time I left the sect. I am unable to offer more details. Everything I’ve told you is true. What’s going on? Why has the grand elder suddenly grown so interested in Fellow Daoist Han?”

“This is the person Senior Martial Brother Arctic Dragon has been searching for, a person who harbors a flame of extreme cold. Speaking of which, why haven’t you mentioned this person to us?”

“The last time I met him was ten years ago at Kunwu Mountain. I couldn"t have known if he would return from the mountain alive. What point would there be in mentioning him?

“In that case, I won’t ask anything else,” the white-robed woman bluntly said, “Since Fellow Daoist Han possess such vast abilities, it’ll be best to rope him in and make certain of the flame’s true power.”

Bai Yaoyi frowned and reluctantly said, “I understand. If there is an opportunity, I will look into it.”

“Very good. Then I will take my leave!” With that said, the white-robed woman expressionlessly descended to the first floor.

Bai Yaoyi didn’t reply. She merely looked out the window and watched her senior martial sister fly through the air with an expressionless gaze.

...

Time quickly pa.s.sed by and Han Li found himself on his eighth day in the Hidden Scripture Pavilion. He had already looked through several interesting records and had received much useful knowledge. However, he only managed to look at the third floor.

When Han Li thought of this, he felt that it was a pity. He reckoned he wouldn’t have enough time to look at the records on the fourth floor.

At that moment, he was looking through a record detailing rare spirit medicines found during ancient times. Suddenly, a fiery streak entered the hall.

In his alarm, he reached out to the streak and took it into his hand. It was a burning voice transmission talisman. Once he read it with his spiritual sense, a trace of happiness appeared on his face.

He put away the jade slip in his hand on one of the tables and immediately flew out. After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, an azure streak arrived in front of the Pure Focus Pavilion.

A graceful woman in white robes was waiting there for him.

When the light faded, Han Li faced Bai Yaoyi and quickly asked, “Fellow Daoist Bai, is it true you’ve found the Profound Ice Flower?”

Bai Yaoyi looked at Han Li and sweetly smiled, “Of course. Originally, I believed it would take a month to find one, but I didn’t expect that you would stir up the Grand Elder to take action. With so many people looking for the Profound Ice Flower, it is only natural that it was found quickly.”

Restraining the joy in his heart, Han Li said, “That’s great! Let’s go find it!”

Bai Yaoyi pursed her lips and smiled, “Of course. I’ve been waiting here to guide you. However, the discovered location of the flower is rather far away. It is already outside the range of North Night Island. The trip will take several days.”

Han Li bellowed with laughter and forthrightly said, “That’s nothing. So long as I can pluck the Profound Ice Flower, I wouldn’t make journeying for even a year. Let’s go!”

When Bai Yaoyi heard Han Li, she beamed a smile at him and remained silent.

The two didn’t delay in the slightest and soon left the Hidden Arctic Dragon Border and left the city to head north.

On the way, Bai Yaoyi explained the precise location of the Profound Ice Flower.

“The den of a group of Snow Rage Beasts?”

Bai Yaoyi nodded and said, “That’s right. When the disciple that discovered the Myriad Year Profound Ice, he was inattentive and was discovered by the Snow Rage Beasts. He was pursued over fifty kilometers and was heavily injured. He nearly died.”

“Oh? Then what grade are these Snow Rage Beasts?” Han Li asked with interest.

Bai Yaoyi smiled, “I fear that I must disappoint you. They are only grade-six beasts. I fear they aren’t enough to warrant your attention.”

“Then there really is no point in capturing them alive.” Han Li chuckled.

“However, once we leave North Night Island, we will be entering the Ice Sea, the domain of demon beasts. There are countless demon beasts here, and the farther we go from the island, the higher the grade of demon beasts we will encounter. Of course, several days of travel is nowhere near enough to encounter a grade eight demon beast. However, many fearsome demons lingered in the depths of the Ice Sea, including grade ten demons. Even the Grand Elder of the previous generation once spotted a grade ten Ice Phoenix possessing true ancient blood. This single beast possessed enough power to overtake most of the palace!” Bai Yaoyi said with a grave tone.

“A grade ten Ice Phoenix?” Han Li felt his heart jump.

“There is no need to worry. The establis.h.i.+ng ancestor of the palace had an agreement with the most powerful demon beasts of the Ice Sea after fiercely battling with them. So long as we don’t wantonly attack the high-grade demon beasts of the ice sea, the high-grade demon beasts will not appear within a half million kilometers of North Night Island. Low-grade demon beasts aren’t subjected to these restrictions. As for the demons that have attacked our palace in the past, they all gathered from other regions of the Great Jin. If the Ice Sea Demons were to involve themselves, our palace would’ve been destroyed several times over. Our North Night Palace was able to flourish until now because of this.”

Following a moment of alarm, a smile appeared on Han Li’s face. “So it was like that? Does that mean there shouldn’t be any danger on our trip?”

Bai Yaoyi shook her head, “Not necessarily! An agreement is only an agreement. Occasionally, there will be high-grade demon beasts that are thrown into a range and will come charging towards the sect. As a result, there will be palace disciples that fall to demon beasts every year. It’ll be best to be careful.”

Han Li looked at the pure glaciers below him and indifferently said, “But this journey will only last several days. How could our luck fail us in such a short time.”

Soon after, his body flared with azure light and his speed increased.

In truth, Bai Yaoyi was only making conversation. But when she saw him, her eyes began to wander and her body flared with light as well, following Han Li closely.

On the way, they hadn’t discovered any trace of high-grade demon beasts. Additionally, they hadn’t spotted many low-grade demon beasts either.

After three entire days of continuous flight, they arrived at a huge glacial ravine.