Chapter 138: Such Temptation

Leaving the town, Liu Pan headed north. However, instead of going directly to the desolate city in the northern wastes, he followed the map to find the Heavenly Frost Sect, the only Seven-Star sect in the Northern Plains.

The situation of the Heavenly Frost Sect in the Northern Plains was similar to that of the Burning Heaven Sect in the Southern Commandery; both were the sole supreme powers and ruled over their respective regions.

Liu Pan had not come to the Heavenly Frost Sect seeking his own death, obviously. It was because, while perusing ancient texts earlier, he had accidentally discovered that the Mysterious Ice Art existed here. Someone had supposedly mastered it to the seventh level, with rumors even speaking of an eighth and ninth level.

As for the Mysterious Ice Art, Liu Pan had already cultivated it to the sixth level. He had always harbored a deep curiosity about this technique, believing it was far from ordinary.

Now that the Mysterious Ice Art had surfaced, and right along his northward path, how could he possibly resist coming to take a look?

As for the dangers of a Seven-Star sect... Liu Pan had deliberated thoroughly before deciding to come and investigate.

Having spent time within the Burning Heaven Sect in the Southern Commandery, he had a fairly good gauge of the kind of figures that inhabited a Seven-Star sect. As long as he did not do anything particularly eye-catching, he figured he would not attract the attention of those powerhouses.

As for whether any Fire Sun Sparrows might notice his aura, Liu Pan was not concerned. In a freezing wasteland like the Northern Plains, even if Fire Sun Sparrows existed, they would need meticulous human care to survive.

Thus, once he sneaked into the sect, he simply needed to avoid the peaks where spiritual beasts were raised and those mountains with abnormally high temperatures.

Upon arriving at Heavenly Frost City outside the Heavenly Frost Sect, Liu Pan immediately inquired about the detailed situation of the sect.

Originally, Liu Pan thought that infiltrating the Heavenly Frost Sect would not be too easy, and might even be entirely impossible. Yet the reality surprised him greatly.

Through his inquiries, Liu Pan learned a piece of news: the Heavenly Frost Sect had been keeping its gates wide open, specifically recruiting disciples with water or ice-attribute spiritual roots!

After digging deeper, Liu Pan learned that there were two rumors regarding why the Heavenly Frost Sect did so: one rumored that it was by special instruction from one of the supreme powers in the Central Plains that controlled these lands, and another rumored that it concerned the Mysterious Ice Monument within the Heavenly Frost Sect.

A strange look flickered in Liu Pan's eyes. He had no way to verify what the supreme power in the Central Plains might have instructed, but after gathering information about the Mysterious Ice Monument, he found himself quite astonished.

From all he had learned, the only conclusion he could draw was this: the origin of the Mysterious Ice Art was that very Mysterious Ice Monument!

What is going on here? Liu Pan frowned. For some reason, he always felt something was amiss with this matter, though he could not quite put his finger on where the problem lay.

Should he go in and take a look?

After pondering for a long time, Liu Pan ultimately decided to enter the Heavenly Frost Sect and check it out. After all, he had already arrived at the doorstep; to stop here now would leave him deeply unsatisfied.

Perhaps because they were constantly and openly recruiting disciples with ice-attribute spiritual roots, the mountain gate of the Heavenly Frost Sect differed greatly from those Liu Pan had seen in the past. It was a grand hall, where tests were conducted upon entry. As long as one's primary spiritual root was of the ice attribute, one could almost directly enter the sect and become an outer disciple.

Stepping into the hall, before Liu Pan could even glance around, a faint voice drifted into his ears.

"What do you make of the situation in the past few days? Why are so many ice-attribute cultivators with decent aptitude suddenly wanting to join our Heavenly Frost Sect?" one cultivator asked in a lowered voice.

"How would I know..." the other cultivator began, but before he could finish, he noticed Liu Pan walking in and immediately shut his mouth.

Glancing briefly at Liu Pan's waist and finding no identity token, that cultivator then asked, "May I ask what brings this senior brother to our Heavenly Frost Sect?"

Liu Pan paused and said, "I am here to join the Heavenly Frost Sect."

Hearing Liu Pan say this, the cultivator asked no further questions. Instead, he pointed to a spiritual bead capable of testing aptitude on the table and said, "In that case, senior brother, please undergo an aptitude test. If your primary spiritual root is of the ice attribute, and its quality is at or above the lower-middle grade, you can become an outer disciple of our Heavenly Frost Sect."

Liu Pan truly felt quite surprised at this moment. Even though he had already heard about the recruitment situation here, it still caught him off guard. Could it really be this easy to enter the Heavenly Frost Sect? The status of an outer disciple here seemed utterly worthless...

Just as Liu Pan was testing his spiritual root, another cultivator walked in—another ice-attribute cultivator looking to join the sect. This gave Liu Pan a rather strange feeling... Was the "business" of the Heavenly Frost Sect in recruiting ice-attribute disciples really this booming?

Once the spiritual root test was completed, Liu Pan was handed a specially crafted identity token and a layout map of the interior of the Heavenly Frost Sect. He was then motioned that he could enter the sect.

Walking through the grand hall in a somewhat dazed state, he looked out at the expanse of rolling mountains before him, and the strange look in his eyes grew even more intense. There was definitely something wrong here!

Casually unfolding the interior layout map of the Heavenly Frost Sect, Liu Pan's gaze locked, instantly drawn to a specific marker on the map.

The Mysterious Ice Monument! Liu Pan never expected such an item to be marked so blatantly on the layout map. What astonished him even more was that a clear route was traced out, leading directly from the mountain gate of the Heavenly Frost Sect all the way to the Mysterious Ice Monument!

What was this supposed to mean? Was this a case of "the stolen silver is not buried here"? Or were the people of the Heavenly Frost Sect well aware that all the ice-attribute cultivators coming to join the sect were after the Mysterious Ice Monument, and thus they had specially marked this route?

As for sect layout maps, it was simply impossible for them to be drawn with extreme clarity and detail. Most only marked general locations to prevent newly initiated disciples from losing their way.

However, for major sects, to prevent hostile forces from gleaning too much information from a layout map, such things as travel routes would never appear on them.

Therefore, upon seeing the clearly marked route on the map, Liu Pan truly felt it was bizarre. Even if the Heavenly Frost Sect was the strongest in the Southern Commandery, marking it like this was surely a bit too arrogant, wasn't it?

Yet, despite feeling that marking the route on the map was somewhat improper, Liu Pan felt from the bottom of his heart that the temptation of this route was immense. Right now, he even had the impulse to follow this path and take a look.

To go or not to go?

In truth, Liu Pan had entered the Heavenly Frost Sect specifically to see this Mysterious Ice Monument, but now he hesitated because everything felt far too abnormal.

Go?
What if it was a trap?

Not go?
It would have been fine if he hadn't seen what was on the map, but having seen the blatantly marked Mysterious Ice Monument and the route, a strange feeling welled up in his heart—the "treasure" was right before his eyes, within arm's reach.

Such temptation...

Just as Liu Pan was struggling internally over whether to go or not, a young man walked out from the grand hall behind him—none other than the person who had entered the hall just when he was testing his spiritual root.

Glancing sideways at Liu Pan, the young man casually unfolded the sect layout map in his hand. Then, his gaze narrowed slightly, he put the map away, chose a direction, and set off.

Liu Pan suddenly froze for a moment, because he realized that the direction the young man had left in was not the path leading to the Mysterious Ice Monument at all...