Having completed all preparations at the camp, Jie Ming wasted no time.

He stepped directly into a teleportation array within the camp, entering a vortex shimmering with silver-white runes.

As light and shadow swirled, his vision cleared, and he found himself inside a forward outpost established by the wizard legion in the Frostshadow Realm.

This outpost was one of the wizards’ achievements over the past two years, a testament to how far the battle lines of the two races had been pushed back.

The entire outpost was constructed from high-strength special alloys and anti-magic runes, fully sealed, its surface encrusted with thick frost, exuding a cold and unyielding aura.

Inside, stable magical circuits maintained a comfortable temperature, the air dry and warm, starkly contrasting the extreme cold outside.

Jie Ming approached a heavy composite viewport, his gaze piercing through multiple layers of transparent crystal, revealing a world of ice and snow utterly different from the Blazing Sun Realm, yet equally extreme.

The leaden gray sky hung low, heavy and oppressive, like a frozen canopy.

Large snowflakes fell ceaselessly, blanketing the earth in a relentless, chilling white purity.

In the distance, sprawling glacier mountains rose like grand sculptures, massive icicles hanging from their peaks, reflecting the sky’s dim, almost nonexistent light with an eerie, cold glow.

The air was thick with fine ice crystals, visibility abysmally low, as if the world were shrouded in a dense, blurry filter.

Whenever a strong gust blew, it whipped up violent snow vortexes, spiraling unpredictably with ghostly wails, capable of tearing through mortal flesh and freezing blood solid.

“Welcome to the Ice Prison, my friend,” a hoarse voice called from behind.

Jie Ming turned to see the outpost’s overseer, a pale-faced second-tier wizard draped in a heavy robe.

The wizard glanced at Jie Ming, who was still adjusting to the environment, gave a curt nod as a greeting, and turned to leave, tossing out a final remark:

“Wear extra layers. Constantly using mental energy to fend off the cold isn’t a smart move.”

Jie Ming nodded slightly, saying nothing.

The advice was well-intentioned.

Unlike his initial trip to the Blazing Sun Realm, this forward outpost, after a year of development, was deeply entrenched in the Frostshadow Realm.

From what Jie Ming knew, the deeper one ventured into the two worlds of the Yanfrost Plane, the more extreme the temperature disparities became.

At this location, the external cold and blizzards were equivalent to being constantly exposed to a second-tier apprentice’s freezing spell.

He pushed open the heavy metal door, and a bone-chilling cold hit him instantly, sharpening his senses.

In the camp’s laboratory, he had simulated the Frostshadow Realm’s extreme cold, but experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different matter.

Yet, something surprising happened.

As he stepped into this icy world, his “Body Forging Method” seemed to resonate with a specific frequency, beginning to operate autonomously!

Jie Ming immediately understood what was happening.

His body was undergoing adaptive changes to the Frostshadow Realm’s extreme cold!

He could clearly feel his blood flow slowing, becoming thick and heavy, no longer rushing as it had in the Blazing Sun Realm.

His body’s heat seemed locked within a specialized insulating layer, more efficiently retained to minimize loss.

His muscle fibers grew tougher in the cold, taut yet elastic, each contraction brimming with explosive power.

He could even sense his cells undergoing subtle restructuring as his body temperature clashed with the external chill.

His “low-temperature elemental resistance,” already strengthened through training and secret potions, was now steadily increasing!

“What an unexpected boon,” Jie Ming thought, mildly surprised. “In such a short time, the changes surpass the results of one or two months of training.”

Oddly, the cold environments he had trained in were harsher than this.

As he traveled and pondered, Jie Ming came to a realization: “It seems the ‘concept’ thoroughly permeates the cultivation techniques of the immortal world. Even for body cultivators, the benefits gained vary under different conceptual environments.”

Rather than recklessly delving deeper, he began a preliminary survey around the outpost, also allowing his body to undergo further conditioning.

The swirling snow provided natural cover, and with a few flickers, his figure blended into the blizzard.

During his trek through the endless snow, he encountered some unique creatures native to the Frostshadow Realm.

Some were bizarre “frost worms” wriggling deep in the frozen soil, their translucent bodies emitting faint ice element fluctuations, entwined to form a massive, slow-moving nest that devoured subterranean energy.

Others were colossal beasts lurking beneath thick ice layers.

They revealed themselves only when Jie Ming drew near, casting enormous shadows below the ice before vanishing, leaving cracks and deep, howling chasms in their wake.

Without exception, these creatures exuded an extraordinary aura, proving this world was far from the lifeless desolation it appeared.

Jie Ming trudged through the vast ice plain, his Detection Eye’s range pushed to its limit, keenly picking up any abnormal energy fluctuations in the air.

Finally, a distinct ice element fluctuation, laced with clear signs of life, pierced through the blizzard and was precisely caught by him.

“Got it…”

He halted abruptly, crouching low in the snow, concealing all traces of his presence.

Ahead, a partially snow-covered ice ridge loomed, where several massive figures flickered in and out of the storm—snow beasts!

It was a patrol of about twenty snow beasts, their bodies composed of hard ice crystals and frozen earth, towering and robust, with six sturdy limbs wrapped in dense frost.

Their eyes glowed with an eerie blue light, their steps heavy and rhythmic, as if on patrol.

“Hm?” Jie Ming observed briefly, frowning.

He noticed that this snow beast squad lacked any second-tier creatures. “These snow beasts… their ranks are a bit low, aren’t they?”

Whoosh—

The snow beasts’ distinctive howls cut through the storm, carrying a chilling, oppressive edge.

All the snow beasts halted in unison, their heads swiveling as their glowing blue eyes locked onto Jie Ming’s hiding spot!

“Looks like I’ve been spotted,” Jie Ming said, cracking his neck, unsurprised.

In the near-lightless environment of the Frostshadow Realm, these elemental creatures clearly relied not on sight but on heat detection to find enemies.

“Wizard!”

The lead snow beast, slightly larger than the others, let out a deafening roar that echoed across the ice plain, laced with bone-chilling cold.

It took a heavy step forward, its massive frame carrying powerful momentum, leading the others in a charge toward Jie Ming!

Jie Ming raised his hand, expressionless.

The battle began and ended in a mere dozen seconds.

Utterly effortless, a near-total rout.

He swiftly collected the snow beasts’ “ice crystal cores” into his spatial ring, then activated his wizard tool to cast “Soul Search,” skillfully extracting the soul fragments of the fallen snow beasts.

Strands of icy mental fluctuations, carrying fragments of the snow beasts’ memories, were forcibly drawn into him.

After a brief analysis, he found the information he sought about a snow beast gathering point.

Following the intelligence gleaned from their souls, Jie Ming traversed the ice plain for several hours.

Finally, he arrived at the area marked as the “snow beast gathering point.”

The gathering point was far larger than he had expected, encircled by several massive icebergs, with a relatively flat frost basin at its center.

Scattered within were crude structures built from ice and frozen earth, rugged and primitive.

The air was thick with a heavy ice element aura, and faint drumming sounds hinted at a significant number of snow beasts within.

However, as Jie Ming cautiously concealed himself, even using a camouflage rune to blend his form and body heat perfectly with the blizzard, and stealthily scouted the area, a new wave of doubt arose in his mind.

The number of snow beasts in this gathering point was substantial, far exceeding that of a typical small outpost, even reaching the scale of a medium-sized one!

Yet, through the precise detection of his Detection Eye and energy fluctuations, Jie Ming uncovered a shocking truth—this vast gathering point was guarded by only one second-tier snow beast!

Let alone third-tier snow beasts, he couldn’t even find traces of other second-tier ones!

“How is this possible? So many snow beasts, and only one second-tier leader?” Jie Ming was filled with confusion.

This was highly irregular!

According to the wizard legion’s prior intelligence, a gathering point of this scale should have been managed by one or two third-tier snow beasts and hundreds of elite second-tier snow beasts.

Hidden in the shadow of an iceberg, Jie Ming patiently observed.

He studied the snow beasts’ behavior patterns within the gathering point while monitoring his dantian, attempting to detect any traces of Mortal Dust Qi.

However, after careful sensing, he confirmed with a heavy heart: “Just like the lava giants… no Mortal Dust Qi.”

The result weighed on him slightly.

Though he had anticipated this before coming, the confirmation still left him feeling a bit heavy.

The issue was no longer just about the raw materials for the Mortal Dust Potion but something far more troublesome.

“I hope… it’s not the worst-case scenario…”

With this confirmed, Jie Ming didn’t hesitate.

Though he had reached a preliminary conclusion, he decided to investigate a larger gathering point to be sure.