Chapter 137: Mountains Collapsing and Earth Splitting

The members of the Heavenly Pool Sacred Land, the Dongfang family, and the Gu family, upon seeing Chen Duo launch his attack, immediately unleashed beams of brilliant light and sacrificed their secret treasures, bombarding the glacier in unison.

Huo Yanqing gestured, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth obeyed, condensing into a sheet of white light that descended from the sky. Gu Jiange let out a sharp cry, and a crimson longsword streaked out from his neck. The blade spat out a scorching rainbow light, and a hundred-meter-long dragon, appearing both real and illusory, suddenly manifested. Its body was covered in dense scales, with sharp horns upon its head and wisps of flame flickering between its scales, exuding an astonishing aura.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Countless secret treasures and martial techniques fell like meteors, crashing against the glacier, causing earth-shattering roars to erupt from the ice. Strange symbols flickered with brilliant light within the glacier, and rings of pearlescent ripples slowly radiated outward with the glacier as their center, increasing the bone-chilling cold tenfold. Many warriors on the periphery wore expressions of terror, hurriedly mobilizing the essence energy within their bodies to resist the invading frigid air.

As the pearlescent ripples emanated from the glacier, the strange symbols within the ice flared with a fiery red light, glowing brilliantly like the fire of the sun. The warriors from the Spirit Treasure Grotto, the Dongfang family, the Heavenly Pool Sacred Land, and the Gu family continued their relentless assault on the glacier.

Deafening roars echoed across Monroe Island. The sky above seemed to bloom with multicolored light, like fireworks splashing against the glacier, shattering into points of light that scattered in all directions. The glacier remained unmoved, but deep within the surrounding earth, rumbles shook the ground; the earth churned, splitting into deeper and more numerous ravines.

Inside the glacier, the strange fiery red symbols dimmed after their initial brilliant display. The pearlescent ripples continued to slowly spread. Those warriors who had been within fifteen hundred meters of the glacier were filled with horror at the sight of the ripples; some trembled violently and were forced to retreat further.

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan remained solemn, yet they did not move. Mobilizing his internal essence energy, warm currents flowed through his meridians. He summoned his Dark Light Shield, using its black glow to ward off the cold. Although it consumed some of his energy, Shi Yan did not find the resistance difficult.

"There are signs of loosening again!" Chen Feng shouted with joy, as silver light cascaded from his giant hammer like thunderbolts, slamming into the glacier.

The warriors of the three major factions once again channeled their internal power, unleashing various secret treasures and martial arts in a frenzied bombardment. Light flickered in the sky, treasures flew everywhere, the air was torn asunder, and the earth split into more gullies. For a time, the heavens and earth changed color; nearby volcanoes roared with immense power, and three of them were affected, erupting prematurely with rolling magma. The lava flowed from the peaks, pouring into the gullies. Before long, the ravines were filled with molten rock like liquid iron, radiating waves of intense heat.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth let out fierce roars, and as more chasms tore open, many warriors standing on the ridges lost their footing and plunged into the depths. The volcanic magma was incredibly ruthless; every warrior who fell into a ravine was swallowed by the lava, dissolved instantly, leaving not even a trace of bone behind.

Screams echoed one after another. Warriors who had come to uncover the secrets of the glacier cried out in terror, fleeing in every direction. More warriors were plunged into the magma by the tremors; in just a few dozen seconds, dozens of lives were lost.

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan searched for footholds, moving nimbly to maintain their balance. Xia Xinyan gripped Shi Yan's hand tightly, her expression solemn, prepared to unleash the power of her Reincarnation Martial Soul at any moment to fly and escape the catastrophe. Nearby, seven warriors fell into the ravines and were consumed by the lava; the essence energy from their bodies quietly drifted out of the gullies and flowed into Shi Yan's acupuncture points. Shi Yan felt a surge of excitement, a grim, uncontrollable smile spreading across his face as he reveled in the sensation.

"Stop! Please stop! We are leaving immediately!"
"I beg you, leave us a way to live!"
"Stop bombarding the glacier, let us leave!"

The surrounding warriors shrieked, pleading desperately with the members of the four major factions. It was these four factions whose relentless attacks on the glacier had caused the earth to shatter and volcanoes to erupt; as long as their offensive continued, the tremors would persist, and more warriors would fall into the chasms. The nearby warriors, terrified and desperate, had no desire to stay and only wished to escape this hell.

Unfortunately, the Spirit Treasure Grotto, the Dongfang family, the Gu family, and the Heavenly Pool Sacred Land turned a blind eye to these pleas. They held no regard for the lives of these lowly warriors and continued to pour all their strength into bombarding the glacier. These four factions were filled with experts and even had Heaven-rank powerhouses presiding over them; no matter how the earth shook, they always found a foothold, suffering no casualties.

Shi Yan realized the cruelty of the Endless Sea. To the fifteen major factions, the lives of others meant nothing. To achieve their own ends, they were unwilling to even pause, preferring to let all the lowly warriors around them be buried with the secret rather than stop for a moment.

More warriors screamed as they were buried in the magma one after another. A very small number of spectators, those with exceptional strength and luck like Xia Xinyan and Shi Yan, managed to find new footholds amidst the chaos, avoiding being swallowed. The four major factions, ignoring the wailing around them, remained single-mindedly focused on their bombardment.

Inside the glacier, the light of the strange symbols gradually dimmed, but the ripples emanating from the ice became increasingly bone-chilling. Even Shi Yan had to expend significant energy to keep his limbs from stiffening. Some warriors who had previously been stable found their movements slowed by the pearlescent ripples, and several, their luck finally running out, plunged into the magma. Of the hundreds of spectators, at least half fell into the ravines, dying amidst shrill, agonizing screams.

Shi Yan absorbed the essence energy of five more Human-rank and Xiantian-rank warriors. The negative energy within his acupuncture points began to diffuse, and a craving for slaughter slowly welled up from the depths of his heart.

"Find a place with fewer people," Shi Yan whispered to Xia Xinyan, his tone sharp. He took the initiative to move toward a less crowded area.

Xia Xinyan remained in the dark regarding his mysterious martial soul. When Shi Yan had used that strange power to heal her Reincarnation Martial Soul, he had only claimed it was a secret technique he used to channel the restorative power of his Undying Martial Soul. She had her doubts, knowing he was hiding something, but she was too tactful to ask.

"Very well," Xia Xinyan replied, complying without questioning why he wanted to move to a less populated area.

Although Shi Yan was greedy for that essence energy, he knew his limits. At the First Sky of the Hundred Tribulations Realm, absorbing too much of that negative power might cause him to explode. What pained him most was his inability to control how much he absorbed; thus, whenever he felt a dull ache in his acupuncture points, he grew vigilant, actively avoiding situations where he might absorb too much. If the negative force exceeded his limit, his acupuncture points would shatter; even if they only throbbed with pain, it would eventually leave him in agony, constantly corroded by negative emotions. In his current situation, he dared not imagine what would happen if he lost his sanity. Therefore, he had to control the intake, daring not to be too greedy.

The massive roars gradually subsided. The experts of the four major factions were not acting out of kindness to save lives; they were simply exhausted. Even these powerful individuals could not sustain such an intense bombardment for long. Fearing that they would deplete their strength too much and lose out to others once the secret of the ice mountain was revealed, they all harbored selfish motives, unwilling to truly exhaust all their power on the glacier.

They ceased their bombardment, and the pearlescent ripples within the glacier slowly vanished. The strange symbols also stopped glowing, seemingly settling down as well. With the glacier no longer under attack, the earth gradually calmed, and the earthquakes ceased.

The survivors, their faces filled with terror and resentment, cast one last glance at the four factions before fleeing, not daring to linger. A few dozen warriors who were confident in their own abilities did not leave, remaining on the periphery with grim expressions, staring at the glacier. Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan were among them.

The sun faded, and the moon rose. That night, the members of the four factions rested with their eyes closed around the glacier. Further away, people like Xia Xinyan and Shi Yan also practiced in silence, all secretly waiting.

Deep in the night, Shi Yan gritted his teeth, his expression twisted, his body radiating a violent aura.

"Can you hold on?" Xia Xinyan asked softly, her face full of concern. They were now three thousand meters away from the glacier, far from the members of the four factions and a significant distance from the other small groups. Thus, the abnormality in Shi Yan's body did not attract attention.

"It's fine," Shi Yan panted, waving a hand to urge her away. "Stay further away from me and just keep watch. Your presence is the greatest temptation to me. Don't let me see you, or I will suffer even more!"

Xia Xinyan was startled, then laughed instead of getting angry. "Do I really have that much charm to you?"

Shi Yan groaned, struggling to endure, and growled, "Xinyan, please don't joke with me right now. I'm afraid I might force myself on you! Truly, you have great charm!"

Xia Xinyan's lips curled, but she was not angry. In a pleasant mood, she drifted away, her soft voice drifting back from afar: "Calm your mind and recover. I will be watching from nearby; you will be fine."

Shi Yan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He suddenly forced the wisps of negative energy within his acupuncture points to move! Wisps of white mist began to escape his body, containing a mixture of various negative forces. He channeled these wisps from his acupuncture points with sheer willpower, forcing them into his veins and into his blood.

"Ungh!"

Shi Yan let out a low roar, his teeth clenching until they clicked. Enduring the agony, he pulled the negative force out, driving it into his blood like steel needles. His blood seemed to burn; his entire body boiled. His expression was terrifyingly savage, and the faint white mist on his body condensed into crystals, clinging to the surface of his skin.

He was cultivating the second level of *Berserk*.

The silent glacier suddenly turned bone-chillingly cold! Rings of pearlescent ripples, without any external bombardment, suddenly radiated outward. The cold was several times more intense than it had been during the day!