With the mountains shedding their snowcaps and the mist dissipating, the mountain valley showed itself again.

Surrounded by clouds, Jing Rou looked down and saw Nie Tian, who was standing beside the ice prison. Disbelief filled his eyes as he asked, “Has the Spirit-sealing Frozen Mountains Formation been solved just like that?”

“Unbelievable...” Jing Feiyang muttered.

However, in the next moment, a furious look appeared in his eyes as he shouted, “Patriarch Icy Crystal! What is this supposed to mean?!”

Patriarch Icy Crystal flew out of the mountain valley, a large number of translucent and sparkling snowflakes pouring out of his cuffs.

Patriarch Icy Crystal’s soul shadows could be seen flickering within the snowflakes, as if every single one of them was vested with profound soul power.

The snowflakes fell onto the surrounding mountains to stabilize them and stop them from falling apart.

At the same time, Patriarch Icy Crystal’s transparent, sparkling domain came to form around him.

The frost power in the entire area instantly increased tenfold.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The five fierce spirits that were flying back and forth across the sky were enveloped by Patriarch Icy Crystal’s frost domain. Their illusory bodies seemed to be frozen by the frigid aura. Every move they made became incomparably difficult.

Moments later, they were actually frozen, and sealed behind a layer of sparkling, crystal-clear ice.

With a grim look in his eyes, Patriarch Icy Crystal then formed an exquisite hand seal. As he did, the sparkling snowflakes fused into the mountains’ surfaces, which rapidly stabilized them and saved them from the verge of falling apart.

“I just told him to solve the Spirit-sealing Frozen Mountains Formation and touch that piece of ice at the center, not to destroy the foundation of my grand spell formation!”

As soon as Patriarch Icy Crystal spoke, a fifty-kilometer radius was enveloped in an intolerable frigid aura.

At the same time, a frosty mist that was even more intense rose from the depths of the earth, causing even the discarnate souls, who had been trapped inside the mountains for tens of thousands of years, to let out bloodcurdling wails.

Jing Feiyang suddenly dashed off the ancient starship. “You told him to solve the spell formation, and he did. You’d better keep your word!”

Countless divine seals surrounded him like dancing butterflies.

His seal domain also came to form. The divine seals that filled the sky shone with glorious light, gradually infiltrating the ice-cold ground in the Realm of Crystal Snow.

Standing in the unbearable cold, Nie Tian couldn’t stop his teeth from chattering.

He looked skywards. Looking at the five fierce spirits frozen in Patriarch Icy Crystal’s frost domain, he let out calls from his soul.

However, they hadn’t grown to the point where they could contend against a Saint domain expert.

His calls didn’t make any difference, like stones that were thrown into the sea.

It appeared that Patriarch Icy Crystal’s frost domain had even cut off the soul connection between them and Nie Tian.

Strange light flickered in Patriarch Icy Crystal’s sullen eyes as he was torn with a dilemma.

He had promised someone that he would be able to trap Nie Tian in the Spirit-sealing Frozen Mountains Formation unless he admitted failure and left.

He had been so confident that he had already claimed the rewards, which were precious materials that would be of great help to his advance to the middle Saint domain, as well as the perfection of his frost domain.

He hadn’t been able to wait for the job to be done to use them.

Therefore, if he let Nie Tian leave with Fan Kai and the others, he wouldn’t even be able to return those precious materials.

“Now that I can’t return those things anyways, I can only do everything within my power to keep him here, even if it means I have to go back on my word...” After a moment of pondering, Patriarch Icy Crystal shouted aloud, “Nie Tian damaged the foundation of my grand spell formation. I won’t let him off so easily!

“He has to stay here for two years to atone for his wrongdoing. Two years later, I’ll allow him to leave the Domain of Endless Snow with his people!”

Two years was the minimal time he had promised to trap Nie Tian.

He believed that, as long as he didn’t kill this Son of the Stars, the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace wouldn’t unleash their wrath on the Heavenly Ice Sect.

Nie Tian looked up. “You want to imprison me for two whole years? Why should I agree to that? You just violated the rule of your own making, you shameless old dog!”

WHOOSH!

The gigantic Bone Blood Demon suddenly flew out from within his ring of holding, and swung its huge bony arm towards the piece of ice where Fan Kai and the others were imprisoned.

Inside the ice prison, Fan Kai shook his head with a bitter expression, as if he knew that the Bone Blood Demon wasn’t strong enough to break the ice.

A sneer filled Patriarch Icy Crystal’s eyes as he saw Nie Tian summoning the Bone Blood Demon. “Do you really think a puppet made from an eighth grade Bonebrute can break my heavenly ice?”

BOOM!

The strong impact sent icy light flying in all directions, and the solid ice he referred to as the heavenly ice stood unwavering.

The Bone Blood Demon then swung its both arms at the same time in an attempt to slice the heavenly ice with its bony, sword-like hands.

However, countless sparkling strings swam about within the piece of heavenly ice, as if they had their own awareness, to strengthen the heavenly ice and make it impregnable.

No matter how hard the Bone Blood Demon tried, the piece of heavenly ice stood there like a mountain of steel without even the slightest fissure.

Inside the heavenly ice, anticipation and hope gradually faded from the faces of Fan Kai and the others.

Zhao Luofeng sighed inwardly. “Elder Fan is also at the early Void domain. He tried everything within his power, but still failed to break this piece of heavenly ice. As powerful as the Bone Blood Demon may be, it won’t be able to display battle prowess that exceeds its peak battle prowess from when it was alive. How can it possibly break the ice?”

It was as if he knew that they were destined to be imprisoned for two more years.

“Star Boat!” As Nie Tian let out an explosive roar, the air-transportation spiritual tool the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace had left for him flew out in a flash of dazzling light.

Without any hesitation, Nie Tian jumped onto it, paved its bottom with numerous Star Stones, and activated its attacking spell formation.

Bright starlight rapidly built up at the Star Boat’s awl-shaped prow. Even the stars in the heavens seemed to somehow be channeled, as beams of starlight started to pour out of the night sky.

A pillar of glorious light that seemed to contain the entire starry river within it shot forth from the sharp prow of the Star Boat.

The pillar of light instantly slammed into the piece of heavenly ice with might that was similar to that of the Phantasms’ Heaven-shattering Crystal Cannon.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

Like shining stars, hundreds of thousands of spots of bright starlight were infused into the heavenly ice, bringing an ancient, mysterious aura with them.

Under their attack, numerous sparkling strings were severed.

The spell formation inside the heavenly ice, which Patriarch Icy Crystal had created and vested with his own soul strands, finally stopped working.

CRACK!

Countless fissures suddenly appeared on the piece of heavenly ice. As the pillar of starlight continued to shoot into it, it ripped it apart.

BOOM!

The piece of heavenly ice exploded, filling the ground with sparkling, crystal-clear pieces. Fan Kai and the others hastily avoided the pillar of starlight as they finally broke free.

“Nie Tian!”

With surprised and joyous cries, as they rushed to Nie Tian’s side.

A surprised look spread across Nie Tian’s face.

He had seen the Star Boat’s strongest attack before. According to his estimation, it might be able to pose a threat to a Soul realm expert, but it probably wouldn’t be strong enough to hurt a Void domain.

This piece of heavenly ice had been refined by Patriarch Icy Crystal, who was at the Saint domain, with profound frost power spell formations carved on its inside.

He found it hard to believe that the Star Boat was able to shatter it with a single strike.

“Those spots of starlight...” After briefly being dumbstruck, he snapped back to reality, and instantly realized that the numerous spots of starlight had destroyed the spell formation that had been built into the heavenly ice, which was the reason why it had been unbreakable.

Once the spell formation was destroyed, the heavenly ice would lose its wonders and become fragile.

Patriarch Icy Crystal’s expression flickered, as if he had suffered a minor injury from the explosion of the heavenly ice.

More furious than ever, he thundered, “Nie Tian! First, you damaged my Spirit-sealing Frozen Mountains Formation. Now you’ve broken my heavenly ice, which I spent a lot of time and energy refining! Don’t you even think about leaving the Realm of Crystal Snow!”

“Come on!” Nie Tian waved his hand at Fan Kai and the other Qi warriors from the Domain of the Falling Stars, and they flew up onto his Star Boat.

“You broke our deal in the first place,” he refuted. “How dare you blame this on me?”

Then, like a falling star, the Star Boat shot out of the mountain valley, where the frigid aura became increasingly intense, towards Duan Shihu and Jing Rou’s ancient starship.

“You can’t get away!” Patriarch Icy Crystal shouted fiercely.

SHEW!

All of a sudden, a burning meteor flashed across the highest heavens before mysteriously vanishing again.

As powerful as Patriarch Icy Crystal and Jing Feiyang were, they didn’t notice the brief appearance of the burning meteor.

However, the frigid environment in the Realm of Crystal Snow started to experience profound changes because of it.

The frozen mountains that formed the Spirit-sealing Frozen Mountains Formation had just been stabilized by Patriarch Icy Crystal. However, they started shaking violently again, giving rise to deafening rumbles.

The frosty aura that kept rising from the depths of the earth stopped.

Snow stopped falling, and the ice and snow that covered the entire realm started to melt. The inhabitable cold realm seemed to see its first spring.

Patriarch Icy Crystal, who was just about to seize Nie Tian despite Jing Feiyang’s threat, suddenly came to a stop, and glanced around with shock written all over his face.

“Who is it?” He asked meticulously.

No one answered.

The frozen lakes and rivers and glaciers that filled this vast realm continued to melt at an alarming rate.

Such melting gave rise to a torrential flood that rushed down towards some of the low-lying cities and villages.

Each and every Qi warrior in the Realm of Crystal Snow, who practiced frost power incantations, felt insecure and uneasy in the heat.

Everyone lived in the fear that the entire Realm of Crystal Snow was melting down, bringing doom on them.