While Rocky's team explored the snow land, the other teams were scattered, engaging other dangerous areas as well.
Moreover, it seemed that some of the other teams had already entered the snow land before Rocky and his team. Thus, they grabbed the chance to follow their footprints to make their lives a little easier. Although they still encountered a few demonic spiritual beasts, whose strengths were equal to that of a primary-stage Spiritual Emperor, it did not cause them much trouble. After all, Finnegan, a medium-stage Spiritual Emperor was with them.
The area they were treading was actually a vast expanse of white land. Even if they wanted to, it was pretty difficult to tell which direction they were headed to. All they could do was follow the footprints of the previous teams. However, unexpectedly, the snow disappeared, and the ground ahead was covered by a layer of thick ice. It was as smooth as a mirror, and it also covered a huge area. Because of this, they could no longer use the footprints of the other teams as a guide.
"Young Master, we can't track the traces of other teams anymore! We have to do this on our own from here on," a Spiritual King at the premium stage reported as soon as he came back from scouting the area.
With a slight frown, Alex turned to Finnegan to consult him. However, he just lightly shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I'm also not familiar with the Ethereal Valley and have no prior experience with it. What we should do and where we should go from here on will be up to you."
Hearing this, Alex was obviously overwhelmed and was at a loss for what to do. After all, she had no experience either. If something bad happened to her team because of her poor decisions, she would surely regret it.
Seeing the worried look on her face, Rocky shook his head and let out a wry smile. Then, after thinking for a while, he called out to her, "Could you come here for a while?"
Alex immediately walked towards Rocky, assuming that he had some great ideas. "Do you know what we should do now?" she whispered.
"Where do you think we are right now?" Rocky asked vaguely.
"Where? Of course, we are in a snow land," Alex answered in a matter-of-fact way, a bit confused at what Rocky was trying to say.
"I am referring to our current position."
"How should I know? I have never been to this place before," Alex replied with a frown.
"All right, let me make the question simpler. How do you think the layer of ice beneath us was formed? I don't think there are many places where a thick layer of ice could be formed in a snow land." Rocky had no choice but to prompt her and give her some clues.
"A thick layer of ice? Are you implying that a huge lake is right beneath our feet?" Finally, Alex understood what Rocky was trying to say.
"Assuming that it is indeed a lake, how did it form?" Rocky asked again, forcing Alex to use her mind.
Then, after thinking for a while, she came up with two possibilities. "It is most probably formed by a river. The other possibility is it was caused by underground water."
"That's right. Now, if it is formed by a river, there will definitely be a source of that river. If it is formed by underground water, then there must be an underground waterway. No matter which one it is, there should be traces around that we can easily find. Have you thought of what we should do next?" Rocky asked with a straight face, recognizing that Alex must have already figured it out.
At the same time, Alex's eyes lit up. It seemed that she fully understood what he meant.
Without wasting any time, she ordered the Spiritual King at the premium stage to explore the surroundings again.
Soon enough, the Spiritual King at the premium stage came back and reported that he found a trace of a river under the thick layer of ice. Moreover, he also discovered traces that the other teams before them were fetching water from it.
Because of the good news, the team's morale improved again. With this, they continued moving forward, trying their best to track and catch up with the other teams that were just ahead of them.
Half a day later, the ice turned into a ground filled with snow again. It meant that they just got out of the vast lake of ice.
It had actually been her first time being held so intimately by a man ever since her father did so when she was a child. Although she had been trained and raised as a man since childhood, and her behavior was undoubtedly like a man's, she was still a woman inside. Thus, she would be flustered by something like this.
"Are you okay? Don't worry, you're safe now," Rocky assured in a gentle tone.
"Y-yes. I'm okay. Thank you..." Alex replied, hastily leaving Rocky's arms to hide her shyness.
After making sure that Alex was fine, Finnegan and all the spirit warriors in the team were greatly relieved.
At this time, Vivian walked beside Rocky and Alex and informed them, "There should be some kind of spiritual array under the snow that is being triggered by stepping on it. In the process, it traps anyone who does. Based on what I can observe, the scope of the spiritual array is quite large. In other words, if we don't have some powerful enchanted barrier that can block these ice thorns, I'm afraid we don't have a chance of safely passing through it."
As soon as Vivian said this, all the spirit warriors in the team, including Finnegan, wore a serious look on their faces.
Rocky let out a sigh, knowing that Vivian's judgment was on point. Just by merely looking at the chaotic scene in front of them, one could conclude that the power of these ice thorns was extremely overbearing. They could easily penetrate a Spiritual King's body protection that was made up of spiritual power, and their destructive power was very evident.
It was already pretty difficult for a Spiritual King to walk through the snow land because of the harsh climate. Now, with the deadly ice thorns that could appear anytime and anywhere, it became even more difficult to pass through the snow land.
"If we could only fly, we wouldn't have such a hard time dealing with this place. I should have prepared a flying spiritual beast beforehand," Alex said frustratingly.
"Do you really think that the spiritual array will only attack anyone that stayed on the ground?" Rocky smiled and picked up a small amount of snow to form a snowball. Then, he threw it into the air above the spiritual array.
Just as the snowball flew midair, a flash of lightning struck it down, revealing a devastating power.
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