CHAPTER 1086: CHAPTER 1083: THE OVERBEARING TREASURE

Lin Tian placed the dug-up Blue Snake Grass along with Xuanbing into the box. Ning Luoxi watched Lin Tian’s demonstration and imitated him, digging one out for herself.

With the convenience of the Crescent Blade, digging Blue Snake Grass became easier. Before long, Lin Tian had dug up half a box. After finishing on one side, he went around to the inside. As he was about to bend down to continue digging, he suddenly noticed something strange.

Ning Luoxi saw Lin Tian standing still and asked curiously, "Lin Tian, what are you spacing out about this time?"

Lin Tian beckoned her over and then walked toward the innermost part of the cave. There, at the most inward point, was a square two-meter-wide Xuanbing platform, surrounded by smaller platforms.

These were clearly marks of artificial chiseling; nature couldn’t form such regular structures. Moreover, the platforms were arranged very neatly and aesthetically.

"Luoxi, don’t you think that big platform looks like a bed in our bedroom, and those smaller ones like tables and even smaller ones like stools?" Lin Tian pointed at the square platforms in front of him, asking incredulously.

Ning Luoxi inwardly rolled her eyes at the mention of "our bedroom" and was speechless at Lin Tian’s description, but his question piqued her interest more.

Upon closer inspection, these square platforms indeed resembled large beds, tables, and stools, indicating that someone had once lived in the frozen cave. The thought left both of them astonished.

This frozen cave had been here for over a thousand years, and its location was so remote and secretive, with the Black Water King Snake and Silver Water Grass outside as obstacles. Who would want to live in such a perilous place?

Lin Tian and Ning Luoxi exchanged a glance and both saw the shock in each other’s eyes. They simultaneously thought of a possibility: Could it be that there are reclusive Immortals or cultivators hidden from the world?

Lin Tian leaned more towards it being a cultivator. Immortals were too ethereal, and he considered them more as stories.

"Hey? There seems to be something over at the Xuanbing bed." As Lin Tian took another look, he noticed a small box at the corner of the ice bed. However, the box’s color almost matched the Xuanbing, making it seem like a decoration of the ice bed if not observed carefully.

Clearly, this was the abode of some senior cultivator, and after the senior left or passed away, the cave was left vacant. If this was indeed a cultivator’s abode, Lin Tian associated it with treasures usually found in such places, and the box might contain something valuable.

With this thought, Lin Tian became a bit excited, hurriedly walking over to open the box. Before opening it, he speculated that it might contain rare elixirs or similar things.

What lay before him wasn’t the familiar elixirs, but a necklace. The necklace’s chain was silver-white, and the pendant was something strange, teardrop-shaped, crystal clear, and even more transparent than the Xuanbing.

In terms of design alone, the necklace wasn’t striking, even less so than the high-grade purple jade necklace on his own neck, except for the teardrop pendant being somewhat peculiar; the rest appeared quite ordinary.

"Looks like something a senior left behind, perhaps the senior was a woman," Ning Luoxi speculated, inspecting the necklace curiously.

Whether the senior was a woman didn’t concern Lin Tian. He cared whether this necklace was a treasure. He initially thought it was an unmatched elixir but found it to be a very ordinary-looking necklace instead.

Lin Tian reached out to pick up the necklace, intending to examine it more closely, but a sudden change occurred. The teardrop pendant emitted a faint white mist, and before he could react, his entire body was rapidly encased in a layer of ice.

The freezing happened swiftly, and in less than a breath, Lin Tian was completely sealed within a thick ice shell.

"Lin Tian..." Ning Luoxi exclaimed in alarm, about to step forward to rescue him. But before she could act, the ice shell emitted a crisp "crack" sound, and a second later, it "boom" exploded, shattering into countless ice shards.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..." Lin Tian burst out from the flying ice shards, spitting out the fragments from his mouth. Although he came out, he looked slightly disheveled, with his hair frozen into a puff and several large holes in his clothes, revealing his strong chest muscles and solid thigh muscles.

Ning Luoxi inadvertently saw a tear near his thigh, almost revealing more than appropriate. She felt her face heat up and quickly averted her gaze.

However, she still asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine. Just a mere ice shell trying to contain me? No way. Even Guizhong Yilang’s prison barrier couldn’t hold me," Lin Tian scoffed.

"However, this necklace is really sinister, triggering magic like that. If I’m not mistaken, someone must have placed witchcraft or some magic on it," Lin Tian speculated.

The Black Robed Secret Master once cast witchcraft on the Yin Yang Life Fruit, triggering under certain conditions. Although Lin Tian was not a Demon Exorcist, a Secret Master, or an Onmyoji, after interacting with those professions often, he naturally learned a lot.

After triggering a spell once, the necklace quieted down. Ning Luoxi looked at the teardrop pendant and frowned, "I’m afraid it’s not just a simple curse; the material of this pendant is quite strange. It resembles Xuanbing, yet purer. Like jade but not jade, like ice but not ice. It could be the extremely rare Xuanbing Essence."

"Xuanbing Essence? What is it, is it powerful?" Lin Tian asked curiously.

"Xuanbing Essence, also known as Ice Soul, is nurtured in Xuanbing for over ten thousand years. The Ice Soul possesses incredibly potent ice energy. A single Ice Soul of this size could freeze the entire area within hundreds of meters if its icy energy is activated."

"If a Demon Exorcist or Onmyoji’s mana is strong enough, they could unleash even more power, achieving a frozen thousand miles isn’t out of the question. Of course, ’thousand miles’ is an exaggeration of scale and not literal, but even freezing an area of one kilometer is terrifying," Ning Luoxi exclaimed in awe.

Freezing a thousand miles, damn impressive, Lin Tian thought excitedly, his gaze at the necklace changing. Now it truly seemed like a treasure, albeit not usable for him since he wasn’t a Demon Exorcist, but perhaps he could trade it for something valuable with the Heavenly Master Girl.

After all, she had various powerful talismans, some usable by ordinary people. Trading for a few dozen of those would be worthwhile.

If the Heavenly Master Girl knew what Lin Tian was thinking at this moment, one wonders if she’d be hopping mad, seeing talismans as if they came off a copier.

"Seeing how much you like the Ice Soul Necklace, you’d better put it away quickly, lest it suddenly goes off again. A few more times and you’ll be left in nothing but your skin," Ning Luoxi said with an amused tone.

"Hmm, that could be troublesome. How about having Miss Luoxi keep it safe instead?" Lin Tian replied earnestly.

Ning Luoxi knew exactly what he was hinting at. If she were the one to be frozen, a few more times and her clothes would be in tatters, leaving her exposed.