Chi Jinlin released his true fate and divine intents, letting chaos energy surround and nourish them.

He felt an unprecedented comfort and thought that he could actually open his grand dao and break the bottleneck.

The shackles were still there but if he kept on gestating his grand dao in this manner, it would grow stronger. After hearing Li Qiye’s advice, he took the risk of involving his true fate in the cultivation process.

Previously, he merely tried to channel as much chaos energy and dao power as possible to break the shackles. This was proven futile.

Now, he approached this problem from a new angle, focusing on his true fate instead. This, in turn, improved his vitality. The true fate gradually grew stronger and could play a factor in overcoming his dao issue. It was only a matter of time.

His enthusiasm returned as he nourished his true fate, hoping for the day of breakthrough.

“This is different, I think I can do it!” He benefited from the sessions and became ecstatic.

He looked over in Li Qiye’s direction but Li Qiye was no longer there.

“Brother?!” He searched his home to no avail.

He didn’t give up and returned to the city. Li Qiye wasn’t there either.

“Where did he go?” He murmured with disappointment.

It turned out that Li Qiye had done another spatial step while he was immersed in cultivation and left for another place.

The body had no awareness or destination. The next location happened solely by chance - a world of ice and snow.

In the distance was a divine mountain reaching the sky. It was covered in ice and couldn’t be overcome, seemingly the home of an ice god.

Just watching from afar was enough to stir the soul. Cultivators could sense a dreadful intent of the ice affinity.

This place was known as Ice Plateau, famous for its inhabitable mountain. The world knew very little of it, let alone visiting.

It was famous for a tale back in the previous epoch - the age of the Immortal Emperors. This plateau didn’t use to be unbearably cold or filled with ice.

It had fragrant flowers and birds singing, being one of the most fertile lands in the world.

That era was ruled by a brilliant emperor. According to the legends, he had reincarnated three times and became emperor each time.

His title was San Shi, meaning three eras. During his youth in his third reincarnation, he obtained a divine fire from the other shore. He cultivated it and obtained a historically matchless mastery over flames.

His opponent resided in a mythical ice palace - the master of ice. She has lived for a long time, starting as a goddess and ending as an empress. Her title was Ice Empress despite not being an Immortal Emperor.

For some reason, a battle ensued between Ice Empress and Immortal Emperor San Shi. Rumor has it that they had an ongoing feud for eras now. Another perspective stated that it was due to their conflicting dao…

Either way, this ended with a frightening battle that shook the core of the world. Alas, others didn’t have the privilege of watching this fight in person due to its destructive nature.

Immortal Emperor San Shi showed the power of his flame during this battle, incinerating both oceans and continents.

However, Ice Empress was equally as impressive. Her ice froze time and space along with the stars above.

Eventually, the invincible emperor that has reigned for three eras lost to Ice Empress. This was one of the most well-known fights from the last epoch.

After all, Immortal Emperors were invincible during their era, especially one as brilliant as San Shi. How did he lose to Ice Empress who wasn’t a real emperor?

Though he lost, the prosperous territory under Ice Empress became eternally frozen. The mythical palace was encapsulated in ice and disappeared from the world.

Everyone knew that the emperor had lost but they didn’t know the ending of the princess. Some speculated that she was grievously injured and couldn’t heal the wounds, eventually dying in her palace.

Another rumor included her taking the spot of the emperor and leaving for another world. Of course, one more camp said that she was still inside the palace, wishing to live a reclusive life…

Now, these beings were only parts of a legend, no longer mattering in Eight Desolaces. The one clue left was the plateau. Alas, there were no signs of the battle since only ice and snow remained.

Li Qiye suddenly stopped and fell downward. The chilling snow began covering him.

After a long while, a group came across the area.

“Hey, there’s a corpse here.” Someone noticed the frozen Li Qiye.

The group dug him out and a senior took a better look at Li Qiye’s dirty appearance then said: “This beggar must have gotten lost and died here.”

“Poor guy.” A girl in the group lamented.

Suddenly, Li Qiye opened his eyes, albeit still in a muddled state.

“What the hell?!” The group shouted.

“It’s a zombie!” A cowardly member turned and ran.

He was grabbed by a senior who told him: “What zombie? He’s alive.”

The guy calmed down just like the rest. They took a good look and sure enough, Li Qiye was alive.

They didn’t know that the cold had zero chance of freezing Li Qiye to death, not even the coldest place in existence.