Translator: AnubisTL
"Before things escalate completely, I could try visiting some of the larger snow monster gathering places..." A thought became crystal clear in his mind.
He had come here in the first place to verify his hypothesis about Mortal Dust Qi, although the small camps he had visited earlier had already provided sufficient confirmation.
Moreover, he himself suspected that even larger gathering places would likely yield no Mortal Dust Qi.
Still, for the sake of thoroughness, Jieming wanted to conduct more experiments.
As a researcher, he couldn't rest until he had verified his findings multiple times; otherwise, his mind would remain unsettled, and the thought process wouldn't reach its natural conclusion.
And now was the perfect opportunity for such an experiment!
Those larger, less defended snow monster "cities" were the ideal locations for his experiments.
More importantly, beyond the experiments, he could now venture into the large cities he had previously feared to approach.
With a bit of luck, he might even obtain valuable spoils he couldn't have obtained before.
Having made up his mind, he immediately informed Edgar of his intentions.
"Lord Edgar, I wish to continue investigating some of the larger snow monster gathering places," Jieming said, finding a plausible excuse. "Since the high-tier forces have already withdrawn, the current investigation risk is minimal. We might be able to obtain more valuable intelligence."
Edgar wasn't surprised by this, even showing a hint of admiration.
In his view, Jieming was a junior with exceptional drive and an insatiable spirit of exploration.
"That's a good idea, but be careful," Edgar cautioned. "I have some intelligence here on several confirmed large-scale snow monster 'cities' within our patrol area. You can use it as a reference."
He transferred a 3D map marked with several red dots to Jieming.
The map detailed the coordinates, approximate scale, and previously identified defensive deployments of several major snow monster settlements.
Jieming paid the required military merit and saved the valuable map to his magic net terminal.
He didn't linger. After a brief farewell to Edgar, he pushed open the heavy metal gate of the outpost once more.
"Thank you. I'm heading out now."
The biting wind wrapped around him again. The body tempering method activated autonomously, generating faint streams of warmth.
He glanced at the closest red dot on the map, confirmed the direction, and with a flash, disappeared into the vast expanse of snow and wind.
Armed with detailed intelligence purchased from the outpost wizards and a precise 3D map on his magic net terminal, Jieming navigated through the blizzard for days.
Finally, a vast, ice-covered abyss slowly revealed itself before his eyes.
This was the first exploration target: Snow Monster City No. 4.
However, the location of this "city" differed from Jieming's initial expectations.
It wasn't built atop a towering ice mountain, nor hidden within a glacier's icy depths, but rather in a breathtakingly deep, circular crater!
The entire city's outline seemed to follow the edge of this massive impact crater.
Jieming carefully reviewed his purchased intelligence and couldn't help but marvel, "Judging by its smooth walls and residual traces, could this colossal crater have been created by draining a large ice lake and then building upon its foundation?!"
According to the data he obtained from the Intelligence Station, normal snow monster gathering places typically consisted of caves carved into glacial cliffs or ice houses piled on flat ice plains.
He never expected that settlements reaching the scale of "cities" would choose to build in similar lakebeds or basins!
"This kind of location... If any ordinary creature dared to settle here, a single blizzard would bury the entire city under a thick blanket of snow!" Jieming thought to himself.
For any normal creature, choosing such a low-lying area as a stronghold in such an extreme environment would be tantamount to suicide.
However, for snow monsters, these peculiar elemental creatures, such a location made perfect sense, even carrying cultural significance.
It seemed that in snow monster culture, being buried by snow was a sacred act, a return to nature's embrace. Even being frozen deep within the ice was considered a form of spiritual "slumber" and cultivation.
Furthermore, as elemental creatures, they didn't need to breathe oxygen. Being buried under thick snow or deep within the ice was no different for them than being on the open ice plains.
Instead, like fish in water, they could absorb the cold energy from the earth meridian more efficiently.
This explained their unique city locations.
"But since they're in a pit, sneaking in will be easier," Jieming couldn't help but grin.
He suppressed all energy fluctuations from his body and carefully cast several camouflage spells to mask his heat signature, life signs, and temperature fluctuations.
With practiced skill, he activated his alchemy to dig a tunnel on the spot, carefully burrowing into the city's interior.
Under his expert technique, the tunnel sloped downward, swiftly bypassing the sparse patrols outside the snow monster city and leading directly to its underground level.
Once inside, Jieming's first priority was to perform his crucial "verification."
He moved like a ghost through the frigid tunnels until he reached the edge of the city's core region.
Quietly hiding in the shadow of a massive ice sculpture, Jieming calmly sensed the complex energy fluctuations permeating the city—the product of countless snow monsters' activities.
He spent the entire day engaged in this intricate process of perception and confirmation.
He traversed various parts of the city, from ordinary snow monster dwellings to crude "council halls," from their "breeding grounds" to their "training grounds."
Yet, to his dismay, the result was one he had half-expected.
Even in such a massive snow monster city, Mortal Dust Qi could not be born!
"As expected, something is wrong with this world," Jieming sighed inwardly, a hint of resignation in his heart.
As he had previously considered, since it was confirmed that these elemental creatures could not produce Mortal Dust Qi, the mere lack of it was no longer his primary concern.
While this result was somewhat disappointing, it brought another piece of good news!
Through his day of reconnaissance, Jieming had also thoroughly confirmed another of his hypotheses: this city indeed contained a massive number of first-tier snow monsters, far exceeding his expectations.
Yet there were almost no second-tier or higher-level snow monsters!
He only sensed a few recently advanced to second-tier, their qi still unstable.
These were clearly recent breakthroughs, few in number.
Since the crucial Mortal Dust Qi could no longer be obtained, it was time to pursue the second main objective of his Frostdark expedition: searching for rare resources!
After all, such a large snow monster gathering place typically hoarded vast quantities of rare materials, including high-tier ice-attribute materials and even peculiar minerals born from the depths of the Frostdark Realm.
With Jieming's previous strength, he would never have dared to approach such a gathering place without a clear mission!
With the high-tier snow monsters having vanished, the resources here were an open treasure trove!
However, the city's defenses remained a concern.
Though the threat of high-tier snow monsters was gone, the sheer number of lower-tier ones was staggering. Jieming could sense no less than a hundred thousand snow monsters in the area.
"A hundred thousand..." Jieming calculated silently.
Even if they were all merely first-tier creatures of the same level, a simultaneous assault by such a massive force would be terrifyingly effective.
Even for him, quickly taking the entire city in this icy environment without significant losses would be extremely difficult.
This required a highly efficient and large-scale clearing method.
Standing in the underground area at the city's core, Jieming closed his eyes and pondered for a few seconds.
Countless plans flashed through his mind, but eventually, a simple and direct plan took shape.
He made up his mind, flicked his wrist, and withdrew the "Sixth-Tier Small Elemental Pool" from his internal space—a item he had previously purchased at a high price from Mentor Clark.
To be honest, Jieming had originally intended to use this item as a "backup power source" for his Purgatory Sulfur Plane.
However, since the infrastructure for the Purgatory Sulfur Plane hadn't been fully constructed yet, he kept it with him for the time being.
The elemental pool was a mysterious blue-black, its interior brimming with vast and stable energy.
Normally, such devices were used to provide a continuous supply of elemental energy, but Jieming's application this time was entirely different.
Using the small elemental pool as the core, he rapidly constructed a simple yet efficient runic array on the ice beneath his feet.
The runes of the magic formation glowed with a faint red light, forming a stark contrast with the chilling aura emanating from the elemental pool.
The array's function was straightforward: to forcibly convert the pool's stored energy into thermal energy and release it all at once!
Crude and brutal, yet remarkably effective!
He had already gathered considerable research on snow monsters.
Much like lava giants are immune to cold, snow monsters, as elemental creatures, are naturally resistant to small amounts of fire.
During his laboratory studies of their physiology, Jieming had discovered that the white fur covering the snow monster's body was essentially a network of crystalline energy structures filled with ice elements.
As long as the power of the fire attribute attack didn't exceed a certain threshold, this layer of fur could act like "reactive armor" to resist external damage.
Conversely, just as a lava giant's body structure would change and slow its movements after being subjected to a large amount of sudden, rapid cooling, snow monsters also had their own weaknesses.
If they were exposed to sufficiently high temperatures in a short period, their internal cores would become hyperactive, causing them to lose their physical stability.
In simple terms—they would melt!
This melting wasn't fatal. Like lava giants, once the temperature subsided, their cores would return to normal activity.
They could then quickly reform their bodies around the core.
However, during this melting phase, their bodies would become extremely vulnerable, unable to move or attack, leaving them completely defenseless!
This was the "clearing" plan Jieming had designed.
"Activate!"
As Jieming issued his new command, the runes on the magic formation beneath his feet suddenly lit up with blinding crimson light, resonating violently with the Sixth-Tier Elemental Pool at its core.
In an instant, a massive wave of energy surged outward in all directions!
Boom!
Within Ice City, the air instantly expanded with explosive force!
Visible shockwaves radiated outward from Jieming at high speed!
The magic formation unleashed all the energy stored in the Sixth-Tier Elemental Pool in a single burst. The massive heat, like a nuclear explosion, instantly vaporized the air throughout the city!
In the core region where the magic formation was activated, a genuine explosion occurred due to the extreme temperature difference.
The temperature inside the city soared from nearly -200°C to a terrifying over 100°C in an instant!
Everywhere, steam rose in billowing clouds. The frozen ice and snow buildings began to creak and melt, and water started pooling on the ground!
Screech! Screech!
Countless snow monsters let out agonizing, chaotic roars.
Their massive bodies were instantly engulfed in scorching steam and heatwaves, their ice-crystal fur evaporating in moments. Their rigid bodies softened under the intense heat, becoming like heated plastic.
The cores of some snow monsters began to flicker, and then their bodies rapidly collapsed like melting ice cream.
They melted into shapeless puddles of slush, temporarily losing all mobility and writhing helplessly on the ground.
At this temperature, a second-tier snow monster could have endured it by relying on its stronger core vitality and physical advantages, but at a significant cost.
For the vast majority of first-tier snow monsters, however, it was enough to completely incapacitate them, rendering them unable to move or resist.
Jieming remained completely unaffected.
After withstanding the initial air shockwave with protective magic, his body tempering method automatically activated, resisting the drastic temperature change.
His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings as he casually activated his rune-imbued magical artifact, eliminating the few remaining second-tier snow monsters that were still roaring in agony and struggling to resist.
Though they could still resist, the heatwave slowed their movements, making it difficult for them to evade Jieming's lethal spells.
The entire city had been completely cleared out!
He paid no attention to the first-tier snow monsters collapsed on the ground, waiting for the temperature to recede and for them to re-solidify.
They were now nothing more than piles of living "materials," posing no threat.
Jieming knew his time was limited.
He flickered through the city, rapidly searching.
His target was the treasure trove the snow monster city might be hiding, and any other high-value items it might contain.
(End of the Chapter)
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