Chapter 41

"Your meaning is that the giant thing is someone's pet?" Bai Cangdong looked at the massive creature, over a hundred meters long, in disbelief.

"Yes, only this one possibility exists; the Undead can produce offspring," Yan Mengyun said with certainty.

Bai Cangdong wanted to say more, but the giant egg beside him began to crack, and small Undead creatures started to emerge. Unlike the large Undead, these smaller ones lacked the same level of consciousness and immediately pounced on the two, without any regard for the other eggs that had yet to hatch.

"Don't attack, it will enrage the giant Undead. We need to run," Bai Cangdong stopped Yan Mengyun from attacking and pulled her to run around the giant eggs.

They did not destroy the giant eggs, but the small Undead chasing them crashed into them, shattering them. As the giant eggs were destroyed one by one, the massive Undead finally lost its temper and spewed terrifying Undead light, charging towards them without regard for the risk of crushing the eggs. Its huge body rushed forward.

"Charge in!" Bai Cangdong shouted, and the two of them leaped into the ice cave passage.

Boom!

As the two entered the passage, the giant Undead, with its head stuck in the entrance, charged forward, shattering several meters of the entrance. The monster, unable to move forward due to being stuck in the ice cave, roared and retreated. Then, the passage collapsed, sealing the entrance.

"It's a dead end!" After walking several hundred meters along the ice cave, they found a wall of ice blocking their way, and their faces turned grim.

"It seems we are going to die here," Yan Mengyun sat on the ground, powerless.

"Don't give up. Maybe this place is like the Ice Fog Cave, separated from other ice caves by just a wall of ice," Bai Cangdong summoned a large sword and began tapping the ice walls, hoping to find a hollow spot.

Unfortunately, the results were disappointing. The ice walls seemed different from stone walls, making it difficult to determine where the hollow spots were, or if there were any at all.

"We can only try our luck," Bai Cangdong examined the surrounding ice walls, determined his position, and began digging into one of the ice walls with his large sword.

Seeing Bai Cangdong's calmness, Yan Mengyun felt more at ease and summoned her weapon to help him dig.

Chunks of ice were dug out, but more ice still remained, and it was unclear how thick it was.

After digging for three to four hours, they still couldn't see how thick the ice was, and both were nearly exhausted.

"There's no hope," Yan Mengyun was in despair, dropped her weapon, and sat on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes.

Bai Cangdong also stopped and thought to himself, "The direction we are digging should lead to the Ice Fog Cave. Based on my memory, it should be no more than a hundred meters away, and if we are lucky, it might be only twenty to thirty meters. We have already dug over ten meters, so there is still hope."

Seeing Yan Mengyun about to fall asleep on the ice, Bai Cangdong quickly ran over, hugged her, and shook her, "Don't sleep, you'll die if you fall asleep."

"Let me die, I really have no strength left, I'm so tired," Yan Mengyun said weakly.

"It's okay, we will definitely get out alive. If you're tired, rest a bit, but don't sleep. Can you talk to me?" Bai Cangdong patted her cheek gently and said softly.

Looking at Bai Cangdong's smile, Yan Mengyun felt her fear lessen, "I don't know what to say."

"It's fine, I'll ask the questions, and you just answer," Bai Cangdong helped Yan Mengyun stand up and continued digging the ice wall, asking, "Who else is in your family besides you?"

"My parents are still alive, and I have a younger sister," Yan Mengyun answered.

"Your sister must be as beautiful and cute as you, right?" Bai Cangdong asked again.

"..."

They talked for a while, and Yan Mengyun, watching Bai Cangdong's efforts to dig the ice wall, felt her fear slowly disappear, replaced by a sense of security.

As she watched, Yan Mengyun became lost in thought, staring at Bai Cangdong's back.

"Mengyun, are you okay?" Bai Cangdong asked a few times without getting a response, thinking she had fallen asleep, and turned to check on her.

Yan Mengyun's face turned red, and she quickly lowered her head, stammering, "N... No..."

Bai Cangdong placed his large hand on her head and gently rubbed it, "Be a good girl and listen. We will definitely get out alive."

"Okay," Yan Mengyun's face flushed, and she softly responded.

Bai Cangdong resumed digging the ice wall. Although he was very tired, he dared not stop, fearing that he would lose the strength and confidence to continue.

"Boom!" Bai Cangdong mechanically swung his sword at the ice wall, and it suddenly collapsed, revealing a passage.

"We've dug through, we've really dug through, we are saved!" Bai Cangdong, overjoyed, ran to Yan Mengyun, and they hugged and jumped in excitement.

Yan Mengyun's face was burning, but she did not push Bai Cangdong away.

"Let's go quickly," Bai Cangdong pulled Yan Mengyun into the passage. After walking a short distance, they realized this was not the Ice Fog Cave. Turning a corner, they suddenly saw several figures ahead.

"There are people here!" Both Bai Cangdong and Yan Mengyun were surprised and delighted. The presence of people meant there might be a way out, but they were unsure if these people would be hostile.

However, upon closer inspection, they were shocked to find that the figures were not living people but corpses. Despite being dead for an unknown amount of time, they still appeared lifelike, making it difficult to tell they were dead without a closer look.

There were six people, each without any visible injuries, sitting or lying down, with no signs of pain, appearing to have died peacefully.

"Strange, how did these people die here without any injuries or signs of a struggle? Were they trapped here?" Bai Cangdong's face turned grim. If these people had been trapped and died, they might face the same fate.

"They are viscounts, all six of them!" Yan Mengyun pointed to the foreheads of the corpses.

Bai Cangdong looked closely and indeed saw the viscount marks on their foreheads.

"Unfortunately, none of them summoned their armors. Their armors must have dispersed with their life force," Bai Cangdong said regretfully.

"There seems to be some writing here," Yan Mengyun found a piece of silk with writing on it.

"What does it say?" Bai Cangdong asked.

"The six people claimed to be from Wanglong City, traveling together to seek a way to advance to the rank of earl. They discovered a viscount-level Undead with the special ability of freezing Undead light and immense strength. After working together to kill it, the Undead left behind an Undead egg."

"All six knew the value of the Undead egg, which could be crucial for their advancement to earl. Each wanted to claim it for themselves, so they decided to have a contest. The one who could endure the cold the longest in the ice cave would get the egg."

Bai Cangdong asked in confusion, "Did none of them move, and did they all freeze to death here?"

"No, it's not like that. The one who proposed the contest pretended to give up first. When the others were exhausted, he attacked them to claim the egg. The other five fought back, and in the struggle, they collapsed the ice cave. Without the strength to dig a new passage, they were all trapped and died here," Yan Mengyun explained, finishing the content on the silk in one breath.

"So, there really is no way out?" Bai Cangdong was slightly disappointed.

"If there was a way out, they wouldn't have died here. However, the end of the silk mentions that the six were very close friends. The one who attacked them only had a momentary greed and no intention to harm them. Before dying, they shook hands and remained friends, with their only regret being that they had not mastered a martial technique called 'Awakening.'"

"What kind of technique could help them escape?" Bai Cangdong felt a glimmer of hope.

"I don't know. The content on the silk ends there and does not describe the 'Awakening' technique," Yan Mengyun shook her head.

"I'll look for it. Maybe it's on their bodies," Bai Cangdong, without regard for the respect of the dead, began searching the six corpses.

Apart from some empty medicine bottles, the bodies had nothing. It wasn't until he searched the fourth corpse that he found a crystal plate containing martial techniques.

"It's this. The technique recorded on this crystal plate is 'Awakening,'" Bai Cangdong said with joy.

The two of them read the content together, and Yan Mengyun was greatly disappointed, "This technique, while not limited by rank, is extremely difficult to master. It might take ten to twenty years to learn, and even then, it might not help us escape."

Bai Cangdong, however, thought differently. Holding the crystal plate, his expression changed, "The 'Awakening' technique is indeed marvelous. It allows one to recover strength by entering a deep sleep without eating or drinking. The only drawback is that the cultivation method is extremely profound and difficult, as Mengyun said, taking ten to twenty years to master. But I have the Sword Box. If the Sword Box can absorb the technique like it did with the 'Inner Core Technique' and transform it into a Sword Core, I can immediately master 'Awakening,' and we might have a chance to survive."