Chapter 478: Death by Falling

Chapter 478: Death by Falling

"Well, I don't know how much time that Ice Soul consumed, but we should get going quickly. Let's not miss our window."

Li Wei noticed that Gusewei was still in a daze and reminded her.

Upon hearing this, Gusewei snapped out of her stupor, gripped her Frost Staff tightly, and nodded forcefully.

She closed her eyes and relied on the Frost Staff to sense for a moment before pointing toward the lower left.

Opening her eyes, she said, "It's over there. Let's continue forward."

Li Wei and Gusewei continued advancing toward the coordinates of the Time Secret Realm provided by the Ice Queen.

Whenever they encountered extremely cold air currents along the way, they would stop briefly to rest.

Fortunately, they didn’t encounter another attack from the Ice Souls.

Even within the Abyss of Extreme Cold, Ice Souls were exceptionally rare and elusive.

Encountering one was like winning the lottery jackpot—the odds were nearly zero.

The two flew deeper into the Abyss of Extreme Cold without pause.

The temperature around them dropped steadily—from minus 180 degrees at the edge of the abyss to minus 240 degrees as they ventured further inward.

Li Wei even feared that at the deepest point of the Abyss, it might approach absolute zero.

At such temperatures, perhaps even time itself would freeze.

Thinking of this, Li Wei couldn't help but wonder—could it be because of this very reason that the treasure of the Time Dragon remained here?

Frozen temporal power?

He shook his head, deciding that speculating too much wouldn't help; he'd find out when he saw it with his own eyes.

Suddenly, Gusewei called out in surprise and disbelief, "Li Wei, I think we've reached the bottom!"

"Oh? That fast?"

Li Wei was taken aback—he had expected to fly for half the day more before reaching the end.

Gusewei glanced sideways at him with irritation. "How long did you want to keep flying? For all I care, I'm about dead from exhaustion already."

Li Wei replied calmly, "If you're tired, then talk less."

In the Abyss of Extreme Cold, speaking a single sentence required several times the energy needed under normal conditions.

Heat was snatched away from inside one’s mouth almost instantly upon opening it.

Gusewei looked at him briefly and fell silent.

Thud-thud!

They landed on the frozen ground.

Looking around, Li Wei was surprised to discover patches of soil visible beneath layers of thick ice at the bottom of the Abyss—an unexpected sight indeed.

Since entering the Frozen North Plains, he hadn't seen actual earth anymore—all he ever saw was snow or solid ice.

Surveying their surroundings, Li Wei asked, "Which direction now?"

Gusewei pointed ahead with her finger.

As they walked forward for some distance, Li Wei suddenly let out an astonished “Huh?” as if something had caught his attention.

Instinctively, Gusewei glanced at him, silently questioning what was wrong.

Li Wei shook his head slightly. "I'm not sure exactly what it is yet—we'll know once we get closer. It looks like...a person."

"A person?"

This time, Gusewei couldn't resist speaking up.

Seeing someone alive down here in the Abyss of Extreme Cold was practically impossible.

Quickening their pace, after crossing hundreds of meters of permafrost, they finally arrived where Li Wei claimed the "person" was located.

Gusewei stared at a patch of red crystalline ice scattered across the ground, giving Li Wei a look full of skepticism, clearly conveying, *You call THAT a person?*

Li Wei crouched down, picked up a shard of red ice, rubbed it between his fingers, and held it close to his nose to sniff.

A sharp, bloody chill invaded his nostrils, making him feel like sneezing.

The cold sensation was swiftly neutralized by the Fire Spirit within him.

"This must be right," Li Wei concluded. "These are human remains left behind after death." He raised his gaze upward. "Looks like whoever it was fell from above, shattered completely upon impact, and then froze into icy fragments due to the bitter wind."

Gusewei sighed weakly. "That sounds like quite a terrible way to die."

Having flown down herself earlier, she knew well enough that falling through the Abyss took a very long time before hitting the bottom.

Such a prolonged descent would surely terrify anyone to death long before impact.

Li Wei scanned the area, spreading his spiritual awareness outward, discovering that the corpse had been reduced to scattered shards of ice spread everywhere.

"There should be clothing or equipment nearby," he suggested. "Let's search around. Maybe we can learn who this person was."

Gusewei grimaced visibly. Searching through a dark field littered with body fragments for leftover clothes or belongings sounded utterly repulsive—it made her stomach churn just thinking about it.

But Li Wei paid no mind to her discomfort—he had already begun searching.

Using spiritual perception allowed him to discern basic shapes and simple properties (hot/cold, hard/soft, liquid/solid), but nothing concrete.

Moreover, in the ultra-low temperatures of the Abyss, everything had essentially turned into blocks of ice.

To his senses, stones and chunks of ice lying on the ground were indistinguishable.

Thus, physical inspection up close became necessary.

Disappointed, Li Wei stood back up. All he found on the ground were chunks of ice vaguely resembling objects.

Not far off came Gusewei's voice: "Found something over here."

Hearing this, Li Wei locked onto her position with his spiritual perception and hurried over.

Gusewei had discovered a flattened suit of metal armor embedded in the ice.

The armor had become fused with the frozen surface beneath.

Li Wei used fire magic to melt the surrounding ice before lifting the armor carefully.

Touching the metal directly would likely cause skin to stick to it immediately.

With telekinesis, he lifted the armor and examined it closely.

"There's a symbol here—what does it mean?"

He spotted an unfamiliar mark etched onto the armor.

Beyond that, however, there seemed to be no other clues.

Perhaps Gusewei might recognize its meaning.

When shown the marking, Gusewei's expression shifted dramatically.

"This is armor crafted by the Orc race!" she exclaimed. "Could the one who fell have been an orc?"

Levi pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "It is a possibility."

"The Ice Queen did mention that whoever is attempting to awaken the Ice Emperor this time likely has ties to the orc race."

A spark of excitement flashed across Gu Sewei's face. "Does that mean we are drawing close to them?"

"Excellent! Let us catch up to them in one swift motion and finish them off!"

Gu Sewei spoke with eager enthusiasm.

Levi hastily cut her short, breaking her train of thought. "Whoa, hold your horses. You don't even know the strength of our adversaries. Rushing in blindly like that is just courting death."

Gu Sewei countered, "They were killed by the fall, so their strength couldn't have been anything too formidable, right?"

Levi shook his head. "Not necessarily. Even a legendary powerhouse, once frozen solid by the absolute-zero currents, would shatter into pieces upon hitting the ground."

Yet even as he said this, Levi felt certain that whoever had plunged to their death was no legendary figure.

For a legendary powerhouse to die from a mere fall would be a laughable absurdity.

It was merely a technical possibility within the depths of the Abyssal Frost.

The probability was infinitesimal.

Given how long the descent lasted, any legendary figure would possess at least a few tricks up their sleeve to slow down and save their own skin.

Levi spoke up, "Never mind them for now. Our priority is the Secret Realm of Time. We have no idea how long we've been inside this frozen abyss; we must not miss our window."

Hearing this, Gu Sewei could only nod in helpless resignation. "Very well."

She turned to look at Levi, a trace of bewilderment in her eyes as she inquired, "Why are you so utterly obsessed with finding the Secret Realm of Time?"

(End of Chapter)