"You are carrying the stench of fresh blood and stolen cores on your robes, rogue, and you will not take another step through this valley while my blade draws breath," the female voice said, her words cutting through the sudden freezing air like cracking ice.The lush green ferns of the hidden valley withered in an instant, turning into brittle, silver structures as a blinding flurry of razor-sharp frost erupted out of nowhere. The sudden drop in temperature was so violent that the moist air inside the rocky gorge crystallized into a swirling wall of white mist, completely blocking the path ahead. Lin Feng reacted on pure instinct, pulling hard on the thick fur of the Purple Flame Tiger to force the massive beast to halt its stride. From the center of the artificial blizzard, a lone figure stepped forward onto the frosted grass. She wore flowing, snow-white robes that did not carry a single speck of dirt, and her icy sword was pointed directly at Lin Feng's chest, radiating a

 "The floor is not just cracking from my ice, Lin Feng, the entire bedrock of this valley is falling out right from beneath our feet," Ye Xue screamed, her perfect composure vanishing as a deep, terrifying groan echoed from the dark bowels of the mountain.The solid stone floor of the hidden canyon split wide open with a sound like a thousand iron shields shattering all at once. Before Lin Feng could even answer her, a massive chasm tore through the center of the clearing, swallowing the frozen mud, the ancient pine trees, and the small mountain stream into a pitch black subterranean void. Lin Feng lunged sideways, his fingers digging desperately into the thick purple fur of his tiger as the ground beneath the beast’s paws tilted violently into the abyss. The air grew instantly heavy with the suffocating smell of crushed sulfur and ancient, undisturbed dust that had been buried for ten thousand years. From the depths of the newly formed crater, a colossally

 "If your heart stops beating right now, princess, your holy land elders are going to flatten this entire mountain range looking for your killer," Lin Feng muttered, his fingers digging into the icy silk of her sleeve as he dragged her shivering body away from the edge of the dark chasm.The shattered remains of the stone serpent lay dead at the bottom of the crater, but the air inside the hidden valley was still deathly cold, thick with a lingering, blue tinted fog that smelled of frozen ozone. Ye Xue collapsed onto the frosted grass, her translucent sword slipping from her numb fingers and clattering onto the stones with a hollow, metallic ring. Her face was completely pale, almost translucent under the dim morning light, and her lips had turned a dangerous, bruised shade of indigo. A thick layer of white frost was rapidly creeping up her neck, spreading out from her chest where her rare ice root was currently fracturing under a violent, uncontrollable energy b

 "This dirt does not belong to the Mystic Sword Sect, Lin Feng, because these pillars were carved by your own ancestors before the first temple was ever built on this peak," Ye Xue said, her voice echoing softly through the sudden, vast silence of the subterranean world.The deep chasm left behind by the stone serpent did not lead to a common mud cave, but opened up into a massive, hidden underground valley filled with the dark outlines of broken history. The blinding daylight from the upper canyon faded away, replaced by a strange, natural blue luminescence that leaked out from the massive veins of spirit crystals embedded in the high vault ceiling. Lin Feng stepped off the broad back of the Purple Flame Tiger, his boots making a quiet, heavy hollow thud against the smoothly polished white jade slabs that lined the massive floor. Giant, cracked stone pillars rose up into the shadows like dead trees, their surfaces covered in deep, intricate geometric grooves tha

 "You need to step exactly four inches to the left of that cracked dragon tile, Lin Feng, or the hidden pressure plates will shoot thirty iron spikes coated in hydra poison straight through your shins," the ancient voice inside his mind space snapped, its tone entirely too casual for someone describing a lethal trap.The narrow, dark limestone corridor of the western maintenance tunnel smelled heavily of damp earth and rotting cedar roots. The giant Purple Flame Tiger squeezed its massive purple frame through the tight stone passageway, its flaming shoulders casting a flickering, hot violet light against the damp walls. Ye Xue walked slightly ahead, her translucent blue sword drawn as she scanned the darkness for any signs of the inner pavilion guards. Lin Feng walked right in the center of the formation, his thumb rubbing against the smooth surface of the glowing golden jade slip he had just stolen from the lower vault. He was trying to decode the complex, inter