PD -Chapter 137 A World of Ice and Snow

“I can open the gate to the Eight Cold Hells,” Shentu said, touching the icy giant door. “But once this door is opened, it can only be entered. You cannot come back out through it.”

“If you want to escape from Hell again—and if you want to release all the souls imprisoned inside—you must sever the core of the Eight Cold Hells,” she continued.

“Then… what is the core? And where is it?” I asked.

Shentu thought for a moment.

“The core of the Eight Cold Hells is a Polar Frost Beast King. As for where exactly it is… you’ll have to find it yourself. The core of Hell is ever-changing. It appears differently to every person who sees it.”

“However, there is one clue that may help you. The deeper you go, the greater your chances of finding the core.”

She breathed warm air onto the hand that had just touched the frozen gate and continued:

“You need to hurry. If we don’t cause some commotion soon, the Underworld authorities will discover what that Liu family brat is doing at Ghost Gate Pass. If that happens, everything we’ve done will be for nothing.”

“Why do I have to go in alone? What are you going to do?” I asked indignantly.

“I’m going to Avici Hell. How about we switch places?” Shentu replied with a provocative smile.

I froze.

Avici Hell—the deepest layer of Hell—was the place where souls who had committed the gravest sins suffered eternal torment after death. Legend said that once a soul was cast into Avici Hell, it would never reincarnate again and could never escape.

Avici Hell contained every punishment from every other hell. It was as though all the great hells were stacked atop one another, making it the most dangerous and cruel place imaginable.

“If we’re going to make trouble, we might as well make the biggest trouble possible. Otherwise, this trip would be a waste.”

Shentu suddenly seemed full of spirit, as though she were completely confident that she could turn the most terrifying hell upside down.

“Forget it… I’ll stay here.”

I sighed.

Compared to the most vicious and brutal Avici Hell, I would obviously choose the Ice Hell. At least the suffering here seemed limited to extreme cold. It didn’t have those horrifying punishments that sent chills down your spine just from hearing about them.

“Since you’ve made up your mind, I’ll open the door for you.”

As she spoke, dark-red spiritual energy burst from her fingertips. She traced a complicated formation across the enormous ice gate.

Instantly, the massive blue door rumbled. Chunks of ice began falling from above. A dark-red crack appeared in the center of the gate and slowly widened until it formed a passage just large enough for one person to pass through. Then it stopped.

The moment the gap opened, a violent gust of freezing wind mixed with ice shards blasted into my face.

Even my Golden Light Incantation was partially eroded by the cold.

I couldn’t help feeling surprised. I immediately poured more spiritual energy into the Golden Light Incantation, thickening the protective barrier around my body.

“The rest is up to you.”

Before I could react, Shentu tossed out those words and vanished into a crimson blur.

I cursed the woman under my breath and narrowed my eyes, trying to peer through the opening to see what lay inside.

But I could see nothing.

It wasn’t that there was nothing there—it was as though some restriction deliberately prevented outsiders from seeing the conditions within.

I sighed.

Despite everything, my heart was still uneasy.

After all, this was Hell—not some neighborhood teahouse. Anyone standing in my place would probably feel at least a little afraid.

I paced before the gate for quite some time before taking a talisman from my chest pocket. I activated it with spiritual energy, causing it to emit a faint golden glow.

It was a Voice Transmission Talisman I had prepared before leaving.

The talisman glowed for quite a while before Liu Xiaopeng’s voice finally came through.

He sounded out of breath, as though he had just run five kilometers.

Of course, I knew refining Black Jade consumed an enormous amount of spiritual energy. He had to continuously maintain the existence of the Dragon Sons while using Heavenly Dragon Fire to melt the Black Jade.

I simply asked about the situation on his side.

Liu Xiaopeng told me there had been some activity not far from Ghost Gate Pass earlier, but no one had actually arrived. It seemed the Underworld soldiers searching the area really had been lured away by Shentu and me.

So far, no Yin soldiers had appeared to cause trouble.

Only then did I finally relax.

After slipping the Voice Transmission Talisman back into my pocket, I gritted my teeth and squeezed through the narrow opening.

Cold.

Bone-piercing cold.

Even protected by the Golden Light Incantation, I still felt an unprecedented chill spread through my entire body.

Cursing under my breath, I immediately ignited a layer of Demon-Burning Flame within the Golden Light barrier, wrapping my entire body in fire before I gradually adapted to the temperature.

The instant I stepped through the ice gate, the crack Shentu had opened snapped shut behind me.

At the same moment, the darkness before my eyes suddenly brightened.

I glanced back at the enormous ice gate.

It appeared exactly the same from the inside as it did from the outside.

Massive.

Heavy.

Majestic.

Even Shentu probably couldn’t force it open through brute strength.

Freezing winds howled all around me, producing sounds like the wailing of ghosts.

Of course, I couldn’t be completely sure it was merely the wind.

Perhaps it truly was the cries of frozen souls.

I looked around.

I found myself standing on a vast frozen plain. Huge snowflakes drifted continuously from the sky, carried by the relentless wind.

The snow tried to strike my body, but the Golden Light Incantation blocked it. The flakes melted the instant they touched the golden barrier around me, then quickly refroze and fell to the ground as tiny crystals.

It felt as though I were standing on the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean.

Looking out across the landscape, I realized that the horrifying scene I had imagined—countless souls frozen in place, screaming in agony—was nowhere to be seen.

There was nothing here besides wind and snow.

Shielding my eyes with a hand, I gazed into the distance.

But the blizzard was simply too intense.

Everything ahead was a sea of white.

No matter how long I stared, I couldn’t see anything.

With a sigh, I once again activated the Wind-Fire Forward Sprint Talisman and sped ahead.

I crossed several snow-covered hills and climbed to a high vantage point.

From there, I finally noticed scattered black dots appearing in the distance.

Against the endless white snowfield, they stood out sharply.

The shadows moved slowly back and forth, and there seemed to be a great many of them gathered among the snowy mountains.

After pondering for a while, I rushed toward them.

Reaching the nearest ridge, I concealed myself behind the mountaintop and observed from cover.

The countless black dots turned out to be human figures.

Or rather, the figures of souls.

Every one of them radiated icy Yin energy.

There were men and women alike.

All of them were naked.

Their bodies were little more than skin stretched over bone, colored an unhealthy bluish-black.

Across that bluish-black skin were swollen pink frostbite blisters that looked grotesque and horrifying.

Yet these souls, enduring the torments of Hell, had somehow formed a community.

In the midst of this frozen wasteland, they had managed to build a life for themselves.