I! Cleaner!-Chapter 1211 - 1101: Cold Spring Realm?

This old man… is really so stubborn…

After glancing at the thin frost gradually forming on the back of his hand, Leon nodded speechlessly, decisively switched to [Disaster of the Sea], wiped away the freezing negative status, and then noncommittally replied with a "Hmm".

"Then let's go!"

Seeing that Leon seemed unaware of his little trick, a smug look crossed the old merman's eyes, and he immediately swung his tail, braving the icy cold current, leading the way down by himself.

As the two of them plunged deeper through the cracked ice layer, gradually approaching the deepest part of Central Sea, the surrounding temperature of the ocean currents started to drop sharply. Within just a few breaths, the water membrane the old merman had previously coated around them began to rapidly freeze.

"Hey kid!"

After secretly rubbing the back of his hand, wiping away the thin frost formed, the old merman turned his head with a sly expression and asked:

"Still holding up? If you can't bear the cold, speak up quickly!"

"Hmm."

While observing the sea area below, Leon replied calmly, continuing to examine the situation of the sea eye beneath the ice layer:

"If I can't handle it, I'll let you know."

"Haha, alright!"

After examining the ice situation around Leon's water membrane, confirming that he was indeed enduring the cold current, the old merman snorted without directly exposing Leon's "bravado" and instead turned back with a slightly disdainful look.

If you don't speak up, then endure it! Let's see how long you can keep bluffing!

"Your Excellency Yishou."

Not bothering with the old merman's childish thoughts, Leon followed behind him, squinting at the large, faintly visible blue 'aperture' under the ice layer, curiously asking:

"Is that the sea eye of the present world down there? How does it differ from the sea eye in your Tidal Realm?"

"..."

Seriously... it's so cold around, yet you have the mind to ask this?

Taking a deep breath of the surrounding seawater, feeling the terrifying cold almost freezing him from inside out, the old merman smacked his lips and glanced back at Leon with mild suspicion.

The water membrane around him should almost be frozen through, right? Wrapped in such low-temperature currents, if it were me, my voice would be trembling by now. Why does this kid seem perfectly fine?

"Your Excellency Yishou?"

After waiting a while without seeing a response, Leon raised an eyebrow:

"Is this question hard to answer?"

"Hmph."

Habitually snorting, the old merman turned his head back, explaining while continuing to break the ice:

"There's nothing I can't say… Our Tidal Realm's part of sea eye doesn't differ much in function from the present world, both connect to the Spring Realm on the other side. But since it was cut from the present world's sea eye, besides connecting to the Spring Realm, it's also the gateway between the Tidal Realm and the present world."

"I roughly understand."

Gazing at the semi-real, semi-transparent gigantic sea eye below the ice layer, Leon pondered and said:

"So the sea eye is like a big pancake, with the front sticking to the present world and the back to the Spring Realm, and your Sea Race essentially folded this pancake in half, meaning now the sea eye is both the passageway between the present world and Tidal Realm, and also the channel for both the Tidal Realm and the present world to the Spring Realm."

"That's about right… Are you ready?"

After touching the ice layer below, the old merman observed it closely, then with a droopy face said:

"Now just one last layer of ice remains. Once we break through this ice, we'll directly hit the sea eye, and if we take just one more step down, we'll directly enter the Spring Realm. But the cold current we'll face will increase instantaneously... Are you sure you can bear it?"

"Hmm."

"..."

This is your own bravado! Don't blame me!

Seeing Leon still stubbornly holding up at this point, the old merman, feeling he's done enough, spoke no more and directly took out his scepter, heavily striking the ice layer below them.

"Crack!"

Following a piercing crack akin to shattering glass, the ice layer between Leon and the sea eye burst open with a rumbling sound. In the dim ocean depths, the colossal ring-like sea eye suddenly expanded.

Tens of thousands of tons of icy seawater violently erupted from the gigantic aperture with a diameter over five kilometers, instantly frozen into a majestic ice waterfall hanging upside down at the seafloor, embedding Leon and the old merman directly inside.

The passageway the two painstakingly carved out while breaking ice all the way down was likewise frozen shut in the blink of an eye, causing whole sections to collapse, dragging both of them, trapped within the ice waterfall, directly into the massive sea eye.

...

Unlucky… to encounter the sea eye's expansion phase right as it cracked open… 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Feeling his thoughts slowed drastically by the invasive icy chill, the old merman inwardly cursed his luck, then with difficulty clenched his scepter and began "digging" toward Leon's position.

Even with a sufficient water membrane for protection, he nearly got frozen by the sudden outburst of ocean currents; that kid was likely already frozen solid, and excavating him would take who knows how much effort… Tsk… Had I known, I wouldn't have tricked him… Whoa!

Seeing Leon, who had just grabbed the end of his scepter and unexpectedly burst through the ice layer behind, the old merman was shocked, then exclaimed with wide eyes:

"How come you didn't freeze?"

"Uh… because I'm resistant to the cold?"

Replying offhandedly with some meaningless drivel, Leon observed the frost-covered old merman from top to bottom, even his nose hair was frosted, and couldn't help but frown:

"Your Excellency Yishou? Are you alright?"

"Me? I'm perfectly alright! More than alright!"

Seeing the shattered water membrane around him, yet not a slightest change nor any sign of fatigue, even his complexion remained as rosy as ever, the old merman hurriedly snapped off his frozen nasal hairs and answered with a stern face:

"You're a human and not frozen, how could I have any issues?"

"Then why is your face frozen…"

"That's not frozen! I'm a Sea Race, we're watery, my face is prone to Frost!"

"Uh… okay then…"

Involuntarily glancing at the frost on the old merman's frozen front teeth, Leon, finding it hard to hold back, nodded slightly, choosing not to dwell on this topic further. Instead, he looked around and said:

"Your Excellency Yishou, are we now in the Spring Realm?"

"Almost."

After turning away to knock off the ice on his front teeth, the old merman retorted:

"You might have been frozen and didn't see it, but I remained sober until the very end, witnessing us encased in ice pillars plunging into the sea eye firsthand. Next, as soon as we're out of this huge ice chunk, it'll be the Spring—what are you doing?!"