Deep within the ice cave, a dead silence hung like stagnant ice, broken only by the faint ripples of sound as the wolf pack slammed against the light curtain at the entrance.
The air was thick with the scent of rust, old blood, and the unique aura of ancient ice layers.
Jiang Lin walked over to the remains of the member of the Ice Bear Mercenary Group and leaned down to inspect them closely.
"The aura on him is a bit strange; he must have hidden something on his person."
"Furthermore, whatever he hid wasn't discovered after his death, so he likely used some method to seal it away."
"I'm familiar with the sealing formula he used; it belongs to the evil god system."
"I suspect this guy was a cultist himself."
Hearing this, Jiang Lin remembered something and asked.
"By the way, Little Black, are there any skills from your evil god system that I can use?"
"Teach me some when you have the time."
Little Black thought for a moment and replied.
"As for skills from the evil god system, you can probably only handle low-tier to high-tier ones; anything higher and you won't be able to take it."
"Unless you possess the unique immortal body of an evil god, the side effects of those skills would cause you to drop dead on the spot."
"Most cultists in your world still use their own abilities, it is just that their growth relies on the assistance of us evil gods."
"Most of our evil god system's abilities are designed to serve the evil gods themselves."
"Unless it is a special existence like a Holy Son, they generally don't use many abilities from the evil god system."
Jiang Lin felt a bit disappointed upon hearing this.
However, he redirected his attention to the remains before him.
"So, what should I do now?" Jiang Lin asked.
"Do this..."
Following Little Black's instructions, Jiang Lin condensed a faint thread of holy light on his fingertip and slowly pressed it against the edge of the hole in the deceased's chest.
The holy light seeped into the charred wound like a living thing, tracing the path of some long-congealed energy in reverse before finally stopping beneath the third rib on the left side.
The skin there was intact, but a layer of unnatural dark purple patterns faintly showed through.
"Use 【Holy Light Pierce】, keep the power at about the 3rd-rank, and pierce in half an inch."
Little Black's voice rang out.
Jiang Lin followed the instructions, bringing his fingers together as the holy light condensed into a fine needle and accurately pierced that spot on the skin.
Sizzle—
A soft sound echoed as if something beneath the skin had shattered.
The dark purple patterns quickly receded, replaced by a faint blue glow emanating from beneath the skin.
Jiang Lin used his fingertip to lightly pry it out, and a deep blue crystal about the size of a walnut was 'squeezed' out from the flesh, hovering in mid-air.
The crystal was an irregular polyhedron with a thin layer of frost covering its surface, while transparent, flocculent matter flowed inside. Two completely different energies were entangled and clashing within the crystal, forming an eerie balance.
The anomaly on Jiang Lin's side quickly drew the attention of the other nine people.
They all saw Jiang Lin fiddle with something before extracting a crystal from the corpse of the Ice Bear Mercenary Group member.
Jiang Lin swept his gaze around, and through the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】, he didn't see any movement indicating they were about to rush forward to seize the treasure, so he returned his focus to his palm.
Hm??
How did it disappear??!!
The crystal, which contained ice attributes and some unknown attribute, merged into Jiang Lin's body at a remarkable speed the moment it touched his skin.
A cool and pure energy instantly surged from his palm, spreading rapidly along his meridians.
This energy was quite peculiar; it did not become as violent and uncontrollable as expected. Instead, under the instinctive suppression of the holy light circulating within Jiang Lin, it was quickly decomposed and absorbed, turning into a nourishing force that merged into his limbs and bones.
At the same time, a fragmented and blurry memory, seemingly carried by the crystal, surfaced directly before his eyes.
It was an eternal ice field where wind and snow raged. A ghostly figure that looked like a humanoid frost phantom drifted silently past. Wherever it went, the souls and bodies of living creatures were frozen into eternal ice sculptures...
The images shattered, and the key part of the information came to an abrupt halt, leaving behind only a unique, faint rhythm concerning 'extreme cold' and 'souls'.
Jiang Lin stared at the residual glow of the crystal that had vanished into his palm as the remnants of that strange energy slowly subsided within him.
The accompanying memory fragments gave him some guesses regarding the origin of this crystal.
Could this be related to the 'frost ghost' mentioned by the old woman?
In some mysterious way, Jiang Lin felt as if he had acquired a new ability.
"What's the situation?" Jiang Lin asked Little Black.
However, Little Black shook its head.
"Haven't the foggiest."
Looking at the clear-eyed Little Black, Jiang Lin fell silent for a moment and formed a hypothesis in his heart.
It was possible that this member of the Ice Bear Mercenary Group had come across some opportunity related to absorbing the abilities of others. Then, he happened to encounter a frost ghost before he died and just happened to absorb its 'soul freezing' ability.
Or perhaps he encountered a frost ghost before his death, and while the frost ghost was freezing his soul, this crystal formed within his body.
However, considering the man had used cultist methods to seal this crystal inside himself, the former possibility seemed more likely.
In fact, his death might have even been caused by this special opportunity.
But at this moment, the atmosphere in the cave was somewhat subtle.
This was because everyone had seen Jiang Lin absorb that crystal into his body.
And they still had no idea what kind of treasure that crystal was.
For a member of the Ice Bear Mercenary Group to hide it so deeply within his corpse, they hadn't even noticed it during their earlier observation.
And for Jiang Lin to be so impatient as to absorb it directly in front of them, ignoring the risks...
It likely wasn't an ordinary item.
It must be a fine treasure!!
The cave fell into an eerie silence for a moment.
Everyone's gaze was fixed on Jiang Lin, and the air was thick with unease and suspicion.
Frostblade's brow was furrowed, and Red Flame held her scimitar, watching Jiang Lin warily. The Old Scholar pushed his crystal lenses, a hard-to-detect glint flashing in his cloudy eyes.
"Brother Matthew," Frostblade spoke in a deep voice, his words echoing in the ice cave, "what was that crystal?"
Jiang Lin snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the group.
His golden eyes were as calm as water, showing no ripples.
"Just a magic crystal for replenishing energy; it was already very fragile."
"So it shattered immediately when I took it out."
"Shattered?" Red Flame let out a cold laugh. "Everyone saw you absorb that thing into your body, and you're telling us it shattered?"
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense.
The two shield warriors inconspicuously adjusted their stances, tilting their shields slightly toward Jiang Lin. The archer's finger rested on the bowstring, and the figures of the two assassins flickered in the shadows.
Outside the ice cave, the howling of the wolf pack rose and fell, and the muffled thuds of them hitting the defensive barrier were incessant.
There were troubles both inside and out.
Jiang Lin looked around, his expression still calm as he spoke without batting an eye.
"Perhaps the way it shattered was quite strange, making it look to you as if I absorbed it."
"Besides, my profession is a paladin. Would I, a paladin, lie to you?"
Hearing this, the group fell into a period of silence.
Red Flame was the first to break it.
"A paladin?"
"You don't look like you have the conduct of a paladin to me."
"Lies come to you far too easily."
The atmosphere became tense once more.
Jiang Lin sighed, his gaze finally landing on Red Flame.
"Planning to start an internal conflict?"
A faint trace of disdain appeared on Jiang Lin's face.
"I am confident that I can take any one of you down with me, or even more. I can also retreat safely even under the encirclement of both you and the wolf pack."
"The only cost would be losing some of my belongings."
"Does anyone want to trade their life with me?"
"Or do you simply want to die?"
As he said the last sentence, Jiang Lin's eyes were fixed intently on Red Flame.
Dead silence filled the cave, with only the humming of the light curtain being struck at the entrance and the blend of wind, snow, and wolf howls from outside.
The moment Jiang Lin's last sentence fell, the air seemed to freeze, and even breathing became heavy.
Red Flame's expression shifted, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her scimitar, but she didn't speak again.
The blonde youth before her seemed calm, but the confidence and danger radiating from his very core were definitely not a bluff.
Frostblade raised his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.
He stared at Jiang Lin with his single eye, his voice low and restrained.
"Brother Matthew, we have no intention of making an enemy of you. We still have to travel together. If we turn on each other over an unidentified crystal, none of us will make it out of the Everfrost Wasteland."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the team.
"The wolf pack is still outside. Our goal is to reach Blackrock Town. Don't go looking for trouble."
The Old Scholar also let out a cough to smooth things over.
"Captain Frostblade is right."
"Since that crystal has already been dealt with, there is no point in pursuing the matter further."
"The priority now is to hold this place and wait for the wolf pack to retreat, or find a way to break through."
The two shield warriors and the archer exchanged a look and slowly relaxed their stances. The two assassins vanished back into the shadows, though they remained vigilant.
Jiang Lin nodded slightly and then said.
"Miss Red Flame, you seem to harbor some hostility toward me."
"I don't know where your hostility comes from, but since that is the case, if anything unfavorable happens to me within the team later, I will hold you responsible and settle the score with you on the spot."
"Then, I will investigate whether it was actually you before settling the score with the real culprit."
After a pause, Jiang Lin said to the others.
"Everyone, if you know of anyone else who has ill intentions toward me, you can come and tell me at any time."
"I have the confidence to protect you and pay you a reward no less than what you're getting for this trip north."
"Furthermore, I know some of you might be on the kingdom's blacklist, which is why you're doing this life-risking work."
"If you inform me in time and are willing, I can have my family clear the stains on your identities and find you an easy, lucrative job."
As Jiang Lin finished speaking, the cave instantly fell into silence.
Jiang Lin's purpose for saying this was simple.
He wanted to prevent the nine of them from banding together against him.
With his words out there now.
If they wanted to find teammates within the group to form a small circle against him, they would have to wonder if the teammate they chose would sell them out.
As for 'clearing stains' and 'easy, lucrative jobs,' those were purely empty promises.
If a promise was meant to be kept, would it still be called a bluff?
As Jiang Lin's voice faded, the cave fell into a dead silence.
The tense hostility in the air was like frozen icicles—though it hadn't vanished, it was temporarily solidified.
Everyone was re-evaluating the situation. The blonde youth before them was not only unfathomably strong, but his mind was also far more calculating than they had imagined.
Frostblade gave Jiang Lin a deep look, a complex expression flashing in his single eye.
In the end, he said nothing, simply turning toward the cave entrance to check the status of the defensive barrier.
Red Flame's face was ashen, her hand holding the scimitar trembling slightly.
She understood the weight of Jiang Lin's words.
If she really wanted to move against Jiang Lin and organized others to join her, those others might very well betray her for the temptation of having their 'stains cleared.'
And if anyone else moved against Jiang Lin, Jiang Lin would come for her first.
She would be the scapegoat for something she didn't even do.
She gritted her teeth and eventually let out a cold snort, walking to the other side of the cave to sit down and rest with her eyes closed.
The Old Scholar thoughtfully pushed his crystal lenses, his cloudy eyes lingering on Jiang Lin for a moment before he lowered his head to continue studying the map in his hands.
The two shield warriors and the archer exchanged a few looks. Although the atmosphere had softened, their wariness had not decreased.
They silently returned to their respective posts, though their eyes would occasionally flicker toward Jiang Lin before quickly shifting away.
The two assassins remained hidden in the shadows as if they didn't exist.
Time passed slowly within the ice cave.
The howling of the wolves outside drifted near and far, and the muffled thuds of them hitting the barrier came at regular intervals, but the defensive array remained firm after the Old Scholar replenished the magic crystals.
The ice-blue runes flowing on the light curtain cast eerie shadows in the dim cave, reflecting the gravity on everyone's faces.
Jiang Lin sat down cross-legged again, closed his eyes, and began to circulate his breathing technique. He needed to digest the effects of the strange crystal he had just absorbed.
That cool energy had already merged into his limbs and bones, causing no discomfort. Instead, it made the holy light within him flow even more smoothly.
Furthermore, Jiang Lin noticed that this energy seemed to be gradually returning to a crystalline state, condensing in the lower abdomen area of his body.
'Could it be that I need to hunt frost ghosts to increase the power of this crystal?'
He gave it a shallow try. It seemed he hadn't truly mastered the soul freezing ability of the legendary frost ghosts.
Furthermore, there was no such option in his skill list.
The defensive barrier in the ice cave continued to operate under the support of the magic crystals. Runes flowed on the surface of the light curtain, isolating the group from the wolf pack's strikes and icy breath outside.
However, the Ice-Scarred Wolf King clearly possessed intelligence close to that of a human. It did not blindly launch an all-out assault but instead commanded the wolf pack to take turns wearing down the barrier's energy. The light of the deep blue crystals was dimming at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"The energy in this magic crystal is expected to last only another two hours."
After checking the array core, the Old Scholar's voice was low.
After a moment of contemplation, he said.
"I estimate we need to set up an array to recharge the magic crystals."
"That way, we won't have to worry about the magic crystals running out of energy."
Hearing this, Jiang Lin let out a sigh.
He likely couldn't defeat this 5th-rank commander-tier monster at his current stage.
Having just stepped into the 2nd-rank as a newcomer, he had defeated Teacher Groot, who was in the upper-middle levels of the 4th-rank.
And now, he had gone through a full 20 days of accumulation.
He had risen from Level 20 to Level 24.
His current combat power should be stable enough to hold his own in the upper reaches of the 4th-rank.
But facing a 5th-rank opponent, even with the addition of 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 and the holy art 【Eight Extremities Holy Sword】, he estimated he would still fall short.
The difficulty of overcoming a three-rank gap was simply too great.
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