C974 Frost Well!

"I know you hate me."

Ruan Fu leisurely flicked his sleeve, revealing an ancient, green-brown Frost Well, etched with the signs of time, that he had conjured forth.

The mouth of the well faced Yu Yuan, while its depths connected to Ruan Fu's Golden Sanctum.

Peering into the well's profound depths, Yu Yuan initially saw no water.

But as he gazed into the opening, a chilling darkness crept into his flesh, bone marrow, and even his soul!

Ice light seemed to flicker at the edge of his vision when he looked at the well.

"Frost Well of the Dark Realm!"

A memory sparkle burst within the Lunar Spirit's spirited body.

Despite having no prior knowledge or experience with such a daunting well, Yu Yuan instantly recognized its name and understood its origins.

The Frost Well of the Dark Realm was forged by the Shura from the Star River in the extraterrestrial realms!

The Shura crafted these wells to venture into the Dark Realm's frigid abyss.

In the Frozen Abyss, if a Shura warrior could endure and survive, they would undergo a metamorphosis and emerge as a Shura of the Dark Realm!

These Dark Realm Shura were considered the most extraordinary and formidable warriors within the Shura Clan, holding an esteemed status and symbolizing nobility.

The desolate well before him was the very "Frost Well" refined by Ruan Fu, the Chief Elder of Winter's Bite.

"Merge, a Frost Well of the Dark Realm!"

Yu Yuan exclaimed, a revelation striking him.

Ruan Fu appeared to have just entered the Unbound Realm. He wasn't just merging with the Dao Integration Stage; he was merging with something as mystical and compatible with his spell – the Frost Well.

In the Dao Integration Realm, one's combat strength could significantly increase within that unique domain.

Take Zu Ann, the Untamed, or Yu Zhu, for example...

However, once a cultivator of the Dao Integration Stage steps outside that domain, they, like any other cultivator in the Unbound Stage, would possess no distinct advantage in the outside world.

For instance, Ruan Fu, who had merged with an artifact, wasn't as powerful as those who had merged with the heavens and earth. Yet, with an artifact in hand, he could unleash the full potential of the merge. However, should the artifact be damaged or destroyed, the person who had merged with it would suffer greatly, potentially resulting in death, just like the artifact itself. Thus, merging with the world and with an artifact each had their advantages and disadvantages. Ruan Fu chose to merge with an artifact to achieve great freedom, but the artifact in question was a Frost Well, which was quite unconventional.

Poof! Another memory sparkle burst open! Yu Yuan's soul quivered, and he suddenly remembered that when he first heard of Ruan Fu, the Chief Elder of Winter's Bite, the man was merely a Solar Spirit cultivator and had not yet attained the Unbound realm.

"The world is in chaos, nations are at war, and a multitude of extraterrestrial demons are emerging and gathering. This will spur on cultivators. At this stage, it's easier for cultivators to shatter the shackles of their realms and advance more rapidly," he recalled.

"This is because, once war erupts, cultivators will perish in droves, like ephemeral blossoms."

"The abundance of deaths will saturate the Root of the Lunar Meridian with unprecedented Yin Qi, creating more Ghost Kings and enabling existing powerhouses to grow more swiftly."

A fresh set of memories was etched into his Lunar Spirit, destined to remain forever. Yu Yuan was momentarily bewildered.

The information about the Frost Well and how powerhouses could more easily break through during times of upheaval, but also die just as quickly, wasn't something that Yu Yuan of this life, or Hong Qi of his previous life, should have grasped. Yet, it had surfaced unexpectedly at this moment.

"It's the Dragon Slaying Stage, the legacy of my first owner," Yu Yiyi's thought emerged from beneath the earth, echoing in Yu Yuan's mind.

He vividly recalled roaming the shattered Dragon Slaying Stage, extracting peculiar "little dragons" from the remains of the Chronowyrm, the golden dragon, and the frost wyrm using Wraithbinding.

With Yu Yiyi's prompt, everything clicked into place.

"Frost Well! Ha, I knew that well hadn't just vanished without reason. You had secretly acquired and refined it."

Zhongli Dapan, still locked in combat with the Golden Elephant God, cracked a sinister grin and let out a chilling chuckle. "Yu met his end in the Forgotten Ruins, his skull impaled by Nie Qingtian's sword sheath. He brought the Frost Well from the Dark Realm with him. Although he perished, the whereabouts of the Frost Well remained a mystery."

"I see," Yu Yuan exclaimed softly.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Frost Well, linked to Ruan Fu's Golden Sanctum, began to brim with icy water. The water appeared to be a manifestation of Ruan Fu's chilling spiritual energy, as if it were drawn directly from the frigid depths of the Dark Realm.

Yu Yuan's eyes sparkled with revelation as he opened his Third Eye. He saw the well's walls, riddled with cracks, housing fierce creatures unlike any from the Everlands—frost wyrms, giant pythons, and an array of bizarre dire beasts exuding an eerie chill.

These peculiar inhabitants of the Frost Well seemed to have been deliberately cultivated by Ruan Fu, awakening from their prolonged dormancy as the well filled.

Whoosh!

The icy presence drew near, and the Frost Queen, akin to a towering glacier, forsook her adversary and materialized behind Yu Yuan. Her ice-blue eyes remained fixed on the Frost Well, unflinchingly.

Yet, she spared not a single glance for Ruan Fu. Conversely, upon her arrival, Ruan Fu's excitement surged. "You are the soul I've been desperately seeking to merge with the Frost Well!"

His declaration set the Frost Well's waters churning, transforming it into the gaping maw of a bizarre frost wyrm, ready to engulf both Yu Yuan and the Frost Queen.

Ice shards, frost particles, and beams of icy light erupted from within the Frost Well. Yu Yuan's senses plunged into a world of utter darkness and biting cold, where every touch was met with the deep freeze of Ice Shards.

"The walls of the Frost Well in the Dark Realm!"

In a flash of insight, Yu Yuan realized he was lost, unaware of the Frost Queen's location or his own, his senses shrouded in obscurity.

A sharp, agonizing pain shot through the fingers of his left hand. An unidentified extraterrestrial Frostreaver was gnawing at his digits with blade-like teeth, threatening to sever and consume them in haste.

As the dire beast clamped down on his fingers, a rush of Arctic Breath surged into him, leaving him numb and devoid of sensation in his fingers after the initial wave of pain.

The five digits of his left hand seemed to vanish from his body, severed by the bite.

The pain itself became unperceivable.

Subsequently, his shoulders, waist, the nape of his neck, and his knees were gnawed on by the Frostreavers lurking within the Frost Well of the Dark Realm.

Each bout of excruciating pain was followed by a chilling coldness, then a loss of consciousness.

It was as though his body, forged and refined through countless trials, was being devoured piece by piece by the Frostreavers, swallowed into the bellies of the beasts, no longer his own.

He was overwhelmed by a sense of despair, as if he were being dismembered alive, yet so numb that he was unaware of it.

Suddenly, a cold sensation touched his chest.

"The chest, the heart, the little world of vitality!"

His mind reeled, sensing danger. If his little world of vitality were to fall, frozen by the Frostreaver under Ruan Fu's control, escape would be nearly impossible.

Yet the coldness did not rob him of consciousness.

Dazed, he realized that the source of the cold was a small, cool hand. As he visualized the shape of the icy hand in his mind, he blurted out, "Frost Queen..."

Had the Frost Queen been dragged into the Frost Well too, her form reduced to its normal size as she searched for him within its depths?

It seemed that only upon touching his chest did the Frost Queen confirm she had found him, not just another Frostreaver subdued and refined by Ruan Fu.

Then, a glimmer of light, faint as a firefly, suddenly burst forth, blazing as bright as the sun.

"Canli!"

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