"This is cheating, Ming. You can't leave me here!!"

Snowy kept complaining as he stood in front of the opening of the Weapon Section of the Forbidden Grounds.

Li Ming betrayed him as she suddenly put him down on the ground and hurriedly entered into the column of Weapons using her soul mark.

The soul mark carried the essence of her six mates who were also connected with the wards and portals of the Forbidden Grounds.

Since she was carrying the essence of her mates, the Illusion arrays and the protection ward created at the opening of the Weapon Section did not stop her from entering inside the section.

"Ming! Are you listening? Come back and take me inside with you. Are you planning to freeze me to death here?" Snowy shouted at the top of his lungs and his voice boomed through the high walls of the ice cave.

"Ming!"

However, no matter how loudly he shouted there was no trace of Li Ming anywhere. His cries were met with dead silence.

"If you once again tried to trick me and ended up dying, I'm not going to forgive you. No matter whatever excuse you would make later, I won't listen to you."

Sobs were leaving Snowy's mouth as he stared at the protection ward in front of him with teary eyes.

For the first time, he regretted existing as a mere puppy with no powers or use. He had always been the naughty and tricky familiar who never paid attention to any important stuff.

Only if he had given more attention and importance to learning magic and spells, rather than having fun all the time then he probably would be able to accompany his Master through all her ups and downs.

The poor furball sat outside the Weapon Section as he waited for his Master to return and take him along with her.

----

Li Ming rubbed her hands as she tried to save her body from the cold that was about to kill her.

If the rest of the Forbidden Grounds were cold enough to freeze her into ice then the Weapon Section was chilled enough to make her suffer through a hell of ice.

Her hair was covered with white powdery ice just like her face, eyelashes, and eyebrows. Her teeth were making a chattering sound as she kept walking towards the familiar pull that had once again taken control over her body.

The pull that she was feeling at that moment was far more powerful than what she felt before. Probably hundreds of times more powerful.

It was like a siren's song that was luring her towards her death and she was spellbound, completely unable to do anything against the wish of that song.

Her eyes landed on the flicker of bright blue light that started going on and off at a little distance in front of her.

Actually, it was quite far away from her, probably at the very end of the Weapon Section.

She could make out dozens of ice stairs that were leading to a high platform and in the very middle of that platform was that blue shining light levitating in the air at some height from the ground.

"You are finally here..."

It did not take her even a second to recognize that velvety soft voice. It was just as she remembered.

"W-wh...w-who....?"

Li Ming somehow succeeded in letting that one word escape her lips even though it took a lot of her energy to just whisper it.

She was sure that not a single soul was able to hear her question but then she got surprised when that velvety voice answered her.

"How can you forget me so early? It's not that long since we last met in your dreams. Though I must say that you are even prettier in real life."

Li Ming was too exhausted to pay much attention to anything and thus she could not focus on the blue light that was hiding the answer to many of her questions.

"W-what.....what d-do.....y-you wa-want?" Li Ming asked as she stopped at the foot of the staircases.

Her entire body was trembling under the chilliness that had once again succeeded in penetrating inside her body.

"You are actually more or less ready for what is waiting for you here. However, looking at your current state it's very hard to say anything about the results. You are too weak to survive a bonding at this moment, but we don't have any time left. Now everything is up to your fate."

The velvety voice whispered in a soft tone. Its words were really nerve-wracking, however, Li Ming suddenly started feeling lightheaded at that very moment and did not get the chance to pay any attention to whatever nonsense the voice was muttering.

"T-this..."

Her hands went to clutch her head as the ice walls around her started spinning in a circle, making her head taken over by heaviness.

"There is no time left to waste. Even though you can barely understand whatever is happening here but you need to step forward and grasp that blue light before it's too late. Don't waste any more time. Hurry!"

Li Ming felt her legs started moving up the stairs as she slowly started getting closer to that blue light.

At first, she thought that the velvety voice belonged to that blue light but then she realized that it was not.

The voice never belonged to that light, not there in the middle of an ice cave, and neither it did in her dream when she first encountered that blue light and that velvety voice.

"Hurry up! Don't hesitate. Don't think about unnecessary things. Right now, in this very moment, only one thing matters and it is that blue light shining right in front of you. Get closer to it and grasp it. Mark it as your own..."

The velvety voice kept talking and directing her as she climbed up the dozens of stairs that suddenly started feeling like hundreds.

And then she was standing right in front of that blue light. She still could not see anything except that blue light.

She did not even realize what she was doing until her hand closed around that shining light and for a few seconds, the entire cave was filled with darkness.

And as after the count of three seconds, the light returned in the huge cave, a loud ear-piercing scream boomed through the ice walls of the cave carrying enough power to cause a little earthquake.

---

"What are you doing? We don't have much time to waste. We need to get to Little One as soon as we can. I'm having a heavy feeling in my heart."

The Moon Immortal started moving back and forth as he watched the Supreme Immortal who was sitting at the ridge of the small pond with the cherry blossom tree in the very middle of it.

They reached the northern end of the Forbidden Grounds around half an hour ago but unfortunately, they were met with two bad news.

The first bad news was that there was no trace of their little mate. However, they found her fur cloak resting there beside some rocks which told them that she was also present there at some point.

The second bad news was that a group of those attackers succeeded in following them which made them delay in their search of their mate.

No matter how many they killed, the number of attackers never decreased.

Right at that moment, the Moon Immortal had formed a barrier around themselves which kept the attackers away from them.

However, looking at the cracks that started appearing in the barrier it was clear that very soon the attackers would succeed in taking it down.

"Trust me. I know how to take care of these assailants. If I did not stop them now then they would only keep increasing by every minute." Wen Guiying replied to the Moon Immortal's question as he started forming a balk of energy between the palms of both of his hands.

It was not an easy task for him to focus his attention on the task of creating the spell which would help them in destroying those weird attackers since her mind kept filling with the thoughts of his young mate.

The mere thought of her getting hurt was making panic arise in his soul that wanted nothing but to get to his mate as soon as possible.

Somehow, the Supreme Immortal succeeded in completing the spell and as he launched the huge energy ball filled with green light, it barely took a few seconds before all the attackers, that were previously trying to take down the protection barrier, suddenly disappeared.

"What did you...."

The Moon Immortal never got to finish his question as the very next a tremor appeared throughout the Forbidden Grounds and the area around her and an ear-piercing scream entered the ears of all the six Immortals.

However, what left them in terror was the person behind that scream and the pain that suddenly shot through all of their souls.