Zhenyan Xue does not have Shadow Blood...

Her strength lies purely in the power of her flesh and blood.

What secrets, and... dangers, are hidden in the Ice Race?

...

...

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

The old hunter was persuaded by his son. He packed his luggage, leaned on a staff to support his body, and in the clear daylight after the snow, followed his son and daughter-in-law westward.

After a long journey, the three arrived at a peculiar boundary.

Ahead lay darkness, as if the light had been completely cut off.

The old hunter’s white beard trembled, and Zhenyan Xue stepped forward to support him, saying: "Dad, we’ll be there in three days."

Li Yuan supported him from the other side, saying: "Dad, let’s go."

The old hunter took a deep breath and, accompanied by his son and daughter-in-law, entered the Eternal Night...

Upon entering the Eternal Night, it seemed as if Zhenyan Xue had an "auto-navigation" system in her body, twisting and turning as they proceeded forward.

Li Yuan curiously asked: "Wife, how do you recognize the way?"

Zhenyan Xue replied: "The fire is guiding my direction."

Li Yuan said: "Can we talk normally?"

Zhenyan Xue said: "My father said we were born by the fire, so there is also a Fire Seed within us. It is because of this Fire Seed that we can survive in the darkness and cold.

And at the same time, when we enter this Eternal Night, the Fire Seed will also guide us forward, helping us find our way, to get to the fire’s side."

"Fire?"

"An eternal flame that never extinguishes, it is the hope for all tribes living on the Eternal Night Permafrost."

Li Yuan roughly understood.

This was the navigation.

No wonder he couldn’t find the way on his own no matter how hard he tried.

In the Ice Race, one must either be led in or truly find the way by accident.

After an unknown number of hours, the old hunter’s breathing began to weaken.

The three sat down to rest by a giant wind-blocking rock.

In the pitch-black and lightless world, you couldn’t see your hand in front of you, but Zhenyan Xue’s eyes glowed faintly red, like the light of the sun, allowing her to see the surroundings.

Also, since they had just ventured a bit deeper, Li Yuan’s Realm was still at the Fifth Grade, which gave him strong enough eyesight to see the surroundings clearly.

"Dad, do you want to rest for a bit?" Li Yuan suddenly asked.

The old hunter weakly replied: "Yes... yes..."

Li Yuan shrugged off the large pack on his shoulder, began setting up the tent, and laid out the quilts inside.

He set up two tents, one for the old hunter to rest and another for himself and Zhenyan Xue to rest.

Li Yuan and Zhenyan Xue leaned against each other and fell asleep.

But the old hunter suddenly moved like a ghost, quietly floated out from the tent, glanced at the other tent, then swiftly floated away, stepping into the wind and snow along the path they had come.

As he floated, the white beard and wrinkles disappeared from his body, transforming into a red-garbed demoness in a sheer silk dress. When they reached a certain location, four burly figures emerged, two of whom prepared a luxurious palace carriage.

The red-robed demoness flew into the carriage, crossed her long legs, yawned, and pulled out the fine wine prepared early inside the carriage.

She turned her head to glance behind her and muttered: "Indeed, there’s a new stepmother."

Then she cheerfully said: "Now it’s up to you, old dad... this ghostly place, seems quite unusual."

...

...

An hour later.

"Dad?"

"Dad!"

"DAD!!!"

Li Yuan and Zhenyan Xue woke up to find the neighboring tent empty.

Zhenyan Xue panicked.

She and Li Yuan searched everywhere, but after a long time, they could not find any trace of the old man.

"It’s over, Dad must have fallen into some ice crack..." Zhenyan Xue’s eyes turned red, tears streaming down her face, but each tear turned into an ice crystal as soon as it left her eyes.

However, it seemed as if flames flowed in her eyes and on her skin, preventing her from freezing.

"Dad!!"

Zhenyan Xue howled towards the sky like a wolf.

Li Yuan knew the truth, after all, the foster daughter had her own business to attend to, and she was supposed to leave.

Moreover, this Ice Domain was extremely peculiar, the deeper he went, the more he felt the Shadow Blood freeze, the Realm decline... but aside from that, the Evil Ghost Tools also stopped functioning.

In other words, if Tang Nian continued further, the layer of Orion’s Shadow Makeup would remove itself.

Nonetheless, he still accompanied his wife in mourning for a long time, then set up a cenotaph, after which they continued deeper into the ice field.

Their progress was not fast, much slower than when Li Yuan explored alone.

In his heart, Li Yuan silently counted seconds to avoid losing track of time, while also monitoring his own Realm...

About a day and a half later, Li Yuan felt the Five Dao Origin Blood on his Ancestral Talisman, and the Extreme Yang Blood on his heart cooled down, his own Realm fell from Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade...

Another day and a half later, he sensed that although the viscosity of the blood sand hadn’t diminished, it had clearly cooled significantly, with the energy contained within seemingly frozen, and naturally, the Realm declined from Sixth Grade to Seventh Grade, with the data reading "605(2600)~1355(41341)."

He glanced at his wife again.

Zhenyan Xue’s data hadn’t changed, still at the Sixth Grade "600~610."

Her body seemed quite adapted to the cold here.

"We’re almost there." Zhenyan Xue’s voice carried a hint of nervousness.

Li Yuan squeezed her hand tightly.

That hand, which was cold outside, felt warm here.

Before long, the two stopped in front of a massive, fractured Ice Cliff.

Beyond the Ice Cliff, it was pitch black; even Li Yuan could not see a thing, and forward lay a knife-like whistling cold wind.

Zhenyan Xue said: "Brother Mu, close your eyes."