Although they didn't know the situation with that bizarre, talking ball of white water, Ye Feng and the others chose to err on the side of caution.
Moreover, they weren't too far from the Eternal Frozen Ice anymore, and Lin was able to determine their direction with reasonable clarity.
Therefore, after Lin used a fire-attribute arcane raw stone to clear the ice蛊 on them, they quickly hurried towards the direction of the Eternal Frozen Ice.
...
On the other side,
Some distance away from Ye Feng and his group, in a place that was unusually hot, with lava occasionally splashing up.
"As expected of the Eternal Frozen Ice, it shows no signs of melting even in the core area of the lava. Instead, it has cooled a large portion of the lava!"
Kolerji adjusted his thick black-rimmed glasses and said, looking at a palm-sized white crystal suspended in the middle of a large expanse of scorching lava.
"Hey, hey, Kolerji, judging by where that thing is located, the Eternal Frozen Ice has likely absorbed and neutralized a large amount of heat energy from this lava vent."
"If you take that thing away, what if the volcano erupts? We'll be doomed here!"
The mass of white water, condensed into human form, frowned at Kolerji.
"Yue Miao, you're standing so far away. Are you genuinely afraid of the heat, or are you up to something else?"
Kolerji didn't answer the other party's question and retorted.
"Hmph, you know perfectly well whether I'm afraid of the heat!"
Yue Miao snorted coldly, her tone full of displeasure.
"That's true..."
Kolerji said noncommittally, narrowing his eyes, and turned his gaze back to the Eternal Frozen Ice in the center of the molten rock.
Immediately, a flash of light appeared in his hand, and a circular glass sphere materialized instantly.
Kolerji tapped the circular glass sphere against the stone wall. The glass instantly cracked, and he quickly threw it into the air above the large lava pool.
"Clink clatter~"
The embryo inside the glass sphere developed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it swelled the glass ball and shattered it.
A mass of flesh and blood bulged and protruded, rapidly growing tentacles covered in suckers that latched onto the surrounding rock walls, quickly transforming into a giant octopus-like monster that propped itself up over the lava pool.
"Roar! Hiss!"
The heat radiating from the large amount of lava in the lava pool caused the octopus monster to cry out in pain, struggling to escape.
"Behave yourself!"
Kolerji said calmly. At the same time, a long, fleshy tube eerily extended from his palm and directly pierced into the octopus monster's body.
Before long, the octopus monster, which had been crying out and struggling, calmed down.
Even though the scorching lava below was charring its flesh and skin, it remained motionless...
"This monster, you cultivated it by extracting the egg of a kraken and injecting it with a strengthening serum, didn't you?"
At this moment, Yue Miao's voice rang out.
"Oh? This is the first time I've seen you interested in my little darling?"
Kolerji looked at Yue Miao with some surprise, then strode onto the octopus monster's tentacles and walked towards the Eternal Frozen Ice.
"What an incredible creation of nature! Such dense ice-attribute arcane energy, yet so docile, without any hint of harshness!"
Upon reaching the Eternal Frozen Ice, Kolerji looked at the ice that was emitting faint traces of icy blue light, closed his eyes, and marveled after sensing it.
Immediately, Kolerji reached out and grabbed towards the Eternal Frozen Ice...
Seeing this, Yue Miao's expression turned grim, and she cast a furtive glance at the passage behind her.
"It's just ahead, we're almost there!"
At this moment, Lin's excited voice rang out, followed by a series of rapid running sounds.
In no time, Ye Feng and his group appeared not far in front of Kolerji.
"Yoho, it seems Bing Gu and my little darlings couldn't stop these people!"
Saying this, Kolerji looked at Yue Miao.
"I'll go see what's happening!"
After speaking, without waiting for Kolerji to respond, Yue Miao's figure turned into a puddle of water and disappeared into a crack in the rock...
"..."
Kolerji did not try to stop him, but narrowed his eyes slightly.
"There's a monster!"
"That's the Eternal Frozen Ice!"
"There are other people here!"
Little exclamations, followed by excited shouts from Lin and Lei Jian, sounded almost simultaneously.
"It... it's you... you demon..."
Then, Xu Wenqiang's trembling voice, filled with fear, rang out.
"Old Xu, you know the person on that octopus monster?"
Liu Laotou turned his head and asked curiously.
"Mhm! That face, even if it turned to ash, I'd recognize it!"
Xu Wenqiang said through gritted teeth, word by word, "More than twenty years ago, it was that person, leading a group of monsters, who madly hunted and slaughtered people connected to the City of Glacial Cold. Almost all the surrounding villages and towns within the Frozen Snowy Domain were bloodbathed by him..."
"People from the City of Glacial Cold back then?"
Kolerji, with one hand grasping the Eternal Frozen Ice, turned his head and glanced indifferently at Xu Wenqiang, showing no concern.
When he saw Ye Feng, his eyes widened slightly in surprise. "What a coincidence, Lin Senhai of Kruden Town died by your hand, didn't he?"
"What?"
Ye Feng was originally examining a person on top of a monster, whose features were bizarre and gender indistinguishable.
Upon hearing Kolerji's words, his expression suddenly changed, as the other party actually knew about Lin Senhai...
"That shouldn't be!"
Ye Feng frowned tightly.
After killing Lin Senhai at the time, he and Xiao Xiao had carefully checked the surroundings, and there was no one else.
"When a person dies, the last image they see is etched firmly onto their retina. This is also why people often speak of seeing their 'last glimpse'!"
As if sensing Ye Feng's confusion, Kolerji's voice sounded.
"Did this guy go find Lin Senhai's body afterwards and do something to it?"
"And why is he explaining himself to me?"
Ye Feng pondered secretly, feeling quite perplexed.
"Big... Big brother, that person has that chilling aura I told you about!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao approached Ye Feng and whispered fearfully.
"The modified human with the ice蛊 from before... and this strange scent... this group of people, are they the ones who have been ahead of us?"
Connecting the dots, Ye Feng suddenly understood.
"Little girl, this is an extremely luxurious natural perfume, extracted from 108 young maidens. You... are very suitable as material for refining perfume!"
Although he was quite far away, and Xiao Xiao had deliberately lowered her voice, Kolerji heard it clearly.
He grinned at Xiao Xiao and uttered chilling words.
"Ye Feng, this is bad!"
"That person is stalling for time. He is using his own origin arcane energy to absorb the Eternal Frozen Ice. He wants to absorb the Eternal Frozen Ice directly!"
Suddenly, Lin's anxious voice rang out.