The moment his body passed through the door, it was enveloped by blinding white light.

Only a white expanse of nothingness could be seen in front of his eyes, making him feel lost. As for the doorway behind him, it had disappeared as well.

It was only when he looked next to him and saw Gao Zhen’s figure that a sense of relief appeared in his heart.

The feeling was shared by Gao Zhen as well, who had turned her head towards him after witnessing this change.

"Let’s keep walking forward," she said with a hesitant smile. Her words were not only for Yi Chen but for herself as well.

"Mhm."

Yi Chen nodded, a similar smile on his face, as the two of them soon turned and walked deeper and deeper into this expanse of white light.

They had taken about ten steps forward when their surroundings experienced an instantaneous change.

Before they could realise, they had already walked out of this door passage as the white light completely dispersed, and what remained in front of them was a wide hallway made of stones with an end that couldn’t be seen from their positions.

Torchlights, burning with black flames, were lined along both sides of the hallway at regular intervals, enveloping the entire hallway in grey light.

"Looks like we are out..." Yi Chen muttered while looking around at this new environment.

"It indeed seems to be the case," Gao Zhen added while walking towards the stone walls and touching them.

"This..." she muttered, feeling the sensation in her hands.

"What’s wrong?" Yi Chen frowned the moment he saw her actions.

"Nothing..." Gao Zhen shook her head with a smile and said, "It just feels so ethereal to finally touch something that isn’t ice cold..."

The dim lighting of the hallway wasn’t enough to suppress the joy in her heart for finally leaving the Frozen Ice Realm.

"Ah, so it was just that." Yi Chen snorted in amusement and shook his head when he heard her words.

The next second, he too walked next to her to feel the stone wall’s warmth.

"Well, you’re not wrong, though," he agreed the next moment.

"What did I just tell you? You should have just believed me from the start," Gao Zhen snorted while feigning derision in her tone.

"My apologies, I’ll keep that in mind from next time, Madam Gao," Yi Chen stated sincerely.

"Yes, you better." Gao Zhen nodded with a serious countenance. However, that expression broke in less than two seconds, prompting the two to chuckle at their little exchange.

"A-Alright, that’s enough. We should get going now." Gao Zhen stated while controlling her breath.

"Yes, let’s do that." Yi Chen smirked and glanced towards the end of the hallway in front of them. The passage behind them was blocked by a stone wall, so it was apparent in which direction they needed to proceed.

With that said, the two started walking forward as the sound of their steps resonated in the empty hallway. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Step!

Step!

Step!

Yi Chen glanced towards Gao Zhen’s hands from the corner of his eyes. She was holding a spirit stone in her hand that was completely engulfed in dark Qi.

It was her way of replenishing her dark Qi.

When Yi Chen had witnessed this scene for the first time, when they were inside the Frozen Ice Realm, he was unable to wrap his head around what was going on.

An obvious question popped into his head at that time.

’The spirit stone obviously doesn’t contain any trace of dark Qi in it. So how was it she was able to recover her dark Qi using this method?’

When Gao Zhen had heard this at that time, he still remembered how her eyes beamed with interest as she patiently explained a concept he had no idea about.

’So it can be absorbed by devouring anything, huh...’ Yi Chen repeated his understanding from that time in his mind before turning his gaze away.

The sound of steps kept echoing as they went farther and farther inside the hallway. Just then, an enormous door that should tower more than five metres in height appeared in their vision, far away.

"That was quite a long walk. It even made me break into a sweat." Yi Chen snorted while glancing at the door far away.

"It’s the same with me. I think it’s mostly because our bodies have long adapted to the cold," Gao Zhen chuckled lightly while wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead.

Yi Chen nodded with a bitter smile, hearing her words.

The two kept their pace and, with each passing moment, reached closer and closer to the enormous door.

"What does Madam Gao think? How many more trials do we have to face to clear this tomb?" Yi Chen asked curiously.

"Hmm," Gao Zhen made a thoughtful expression before answering, "From my understanding, the number of trials a tomb contains depends on the strength of the tomb’s core, which is in turn dependent on the creator of the tomb.

It’s obvious that this tomb’s creator possessed extraordinary strength, so under normal circumstances, there should be quite a few more trials we need to go through in order to truly clear the tomb and acquire its core.

However, I still think that the next trial is going to be the last one. The Frozen Ice Realm, which we just cleared, was a separate domain that contained several principles of space and time which I had never seen or heard before.

To keep something like that active, a massive amount of spiritual Qi must be required, and that’s why I believe that the next trial will be the last one."

When Gao Zhen finished her words, Yi Chen couldn’t help but look at her with an impressed expression, "Madam Gao really has a way of analysing things meticulously."

Hearing the compliment, she smiled and said, "And Young Master Chen is quite skilful in praising others."

"Well, I try to give a compliment when it’s due."

Yi Chen chuckled, seeing Gao Zhen’s somewhat embarrassed expression.

A few moments later, their steps finally came to a halt as their heads tilted up to fully take in the view of the massive stone door.