I never upgrade

Chapter 84 Crystal Maze

When this female elder appeared, Xu Lun felt as if an ice queen had stepped out. Although she did not have exquisite makeup or a fashionable hairstyle, her long black curly hair was casually draped over her shoulders, but she exuded a natural and wild beauty. Combined with her feathered robe, she had the charm of a mature woman.

Xu Lun hesitated for a moment, unsure whether he should kneel and bow like Qing Wu, but in the end, he cupped his hands in greeting and said with his head bowed:

"This humble one, Xu Lun, greets Elder Qingyu."

Qingyu looked him up and down without any change in expression, and said calmly:

"As you probably already know, Lord Qingwang wishes to see you. Please come with me."

After saying that, she turned and left.

Xu Lun and Qing Wu exchanged a glance, and the other man nodded, signaling him to follow.

The two followed Elder Qingyu for a while and arrived near a doorway.

Along this road, guards stand at regular intervals, making it essentially a restricted area in terms of security.

Standing in front of the doorway, Elder Qingyu turned around and said:

"Go in. Lord Qingwang only wants to see you. No one can approach without his summons, so we can only wait here."

Qingwu also stepped aside, looked at Xu Lun, and said:

"This is the secret passage I was talking about. To be honest, I've never been inside, so I can't describe what it's like inside."

Xu Lun nodded, said nothing more, walked between the two, and went straight into the secret passage.

Shortly after he left, Elder Qingyu and Qingwu exchanged a glance, then asked:

What is your impression of him?

Qingwu clenched his right fist again and placed it in front of his chest, but this time he did not kneel, but simply bowed his head and said:

"Reporting to the elder, we can't discern anything yet, but this person's physique is rather unique. He is not afraid of the cold and has strong endurance, so his cultivation level is probably not shallow. Moreover, he can communicate directly with that cloud leopard in the human language, which is quite strange..."

"Is that so..."

Elder Qingyu listened, a thoughtful expression on his face, and said nothing more.

...

Xu Lun walked through the narrow secret passage.

This secret passage is narrower than the previous path into the mountain, but it doesn't have as many twists and turns; it's almost a straight line, and the terrain is flat.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Lun finally saw the exit ahead, but when he arrived at the exit, he was immediately stunned:

At the end of the secret passage, another huge cave appeared, or rather a maze.

The cave is filled with structures made of ice crystals, without any rocks or minerals, making it look like a crystal palace.

Because of all those crystal-clear substances, Xu Lun couldn't tell which side was the road and which side was the wall.

As soon as he took a step, he lost his footing—he thought it was a flat road, but it was actually a slope.

Xu Lun stumbled and fell backward onto the ground, sliding down the slope all the way to the depths of the maze, where he came to a relatively open area before stopping.

He lay there for a few seconds before slowly sitting up.

Looking around, this open area was surrounded by many irregularly shaped geometric ice walls, even overhead.

The backs of those ice walls glowed with a faint blue light, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

Xu Lun glanced down at the bracelet. Besides saving his life, the bracelet had another useful function: a crisis detection system.

If any danger approaches, the crystal-like part of the bracelet will emit a faint light to warn the user.

However, the color of the light is not fixed, and Xu Lun does not understand its meaning. It may be related to the level of danger.

At this time, the bracelet did not light up, indicating that there was no danger nearby.

However, the next second, a clear, ethereal voice suddenly rang out:

"What are you dawdling over there for?"

The sound quickly spread throughout the space, echoing between the surrounding ice walls.

Xu Lun was startled, but when he came to his senses, he suddenly realized:

This voice seemed completely different from the one he had heard outside the forest before.

The voice that had just spoken was filled with a power that transcended the mortal realm. It spread from the snow-capped mountains, shaking heaven and earth. Those who heard it felt only awe, and their minds were completely suppressed by the power of the words themselves. There was no room for imagination or suspicion about the owner behind that voice.

But the voice that just rang out was very ethereal, and sounded exactly like the voice of an elegant woman.

Xu Lun stood up from the ground. At this moment, the ice surface beneath his feet, the surrounding ice walls, and the glacier above him were all emitting a blue, eerie light—and all the light, like ripples on water, radiated outward from the same direction.

Xu Lun followed the direction of the light source and soon saw a large, smooth ice mirror standing not far ahead, towering and majestic like an obelisk.

That was the source of all the light, and a blurry figure stood in that ice mirror, staring at Xu Lun.

Xu Lun was startled. The moment he saw the blurry figure, he felt an unprecedented, bone-chilling cold.

Despite being separated by a semi-transparent ice mirror, and despite the figure being very blurry, unable to discern its size or shape, for some reason, it gave the feeling that a pair of chilling eyes were staring at you.

"Are you calling me?"

Xu Lun snapped out of his daze and asked.

His voice echoed through the labyrinth of ice crystals, reverberating between the ice walls and producing a constant stream of sounds.

"Otherwise what?"

That ethereal voice answered him once again.

This time, Xu Lun was quite certain that it was indeed a woman's voice, but it was impossible to tell her age. It seemed to have the feeling of a young girl, the charm of a young woman, and the wisdom of a mature woman. It was a combination of multiple female voices.

"So you are Snow Mountain Pride, Azure King?"

Xu Lun inquired, but regardless of whether it was true or not, he decided to proceed with the formality first.

Xu Lun bowed and clasped his hands, saying:

"Many thanks to King Qing for speaking up for me before. I, Xu Lun, am deeply grateful."

This time, the voice did not respond to him immediately, but fell silent.

Helpless, Xu Lun looked up to check if the figure was still there.

The "figure" in the ice mirror was still there, and the blue light continued to emanate from its position, spreading outwards every second like ripples on water, along all the ice walls, all the way to the other end.