Split Zone No.13

Big gold rooster looked at me with slight disdain. “Why should I be doing that, you annoying girl? Do you want to become my ice sculpture?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. As long as you can take me there, I’ll agree to whatever you say once I exit the place.”

“Woah, woah, woah.” The big gold rooster pointed a condemning finger at me. “You’re a sly one. There’s no one who can exit that demon palace once they enter. I’ll definitely be on the losing end of this deal.”

I raised a brow. “Oh, is that so? But I’ve entered just a few days ago, and I’ve successfully left it too.”

“Crazy, crazy, crazy. You’re really mad.” Big gold rooster shook his head vigorously.

“Are you guys done chatting? I’m falling asleep here.” Nie Zun yawned lazily.

After this, he lay down on the icy ground and closed his eyes, using his hand as a pillow.

Big gold rooster stared at Nie Zun.

Looking at big gold rooster, I waved a hand in front of his face. “Have you fallen in love with him?” I asked.

Though big gold rooster shook his head, he didn’t give a definite answer to my question.

“He looks rather familiar...” Big gold rooster scratched his head as he continued observing Nie Zun, as if he was recalling something from the past.

I narrowed my eyes and grabbed his arms. “Have you seen him before, when he first arrived here? Try to recall what happened. Do you know what happened to him then?”

Big gold rooster’s eyes shone as he saw me grab his arm.

In the next second, both my arms were frozen.

Crack, crack, crack.

What seemed like pieces of broken ice spread all over my arms, as if it was going to encase me entirely. Even so, I did not avoid it.

And as expected, the ice stopped spreading further after both my arms had been frozen.

“You’re pretty gutsy for a lady.”

I smirked. “Stop being such a nag. Tell me, have you seen him?” I pointed my chin at Nie Zun, who looked like he was enjoying his sleep.

Big gold rooster said, “You should worry about yourself first. This freezing technique will slowly absorb your MF.” I didn’t mind it at first, but once he said that, I got reminded of how Huan Qing was stripped of his MF and life force in that glacier.

Did that happen because he was trapped in the glacier, or was it because of this ice and snow here?

I tried moving my arms but I was trapped. I couldn’t move them at all.

I looked at big gold rooster as I said, “I guess I shouldn’t be hasty since it’s such a powerful technique. May I ask how I should go about undoing it?”

He laughed loudly. His smiling expression was completely different from that look he had on his face when he was encasing my arms in ice. “This ice sealing technique uses telepathy, and the MF comes from that. If you want to melt this ice, you’ll have to find the man who loves you to do so.”

What?

“How do I get him to help me?”

Big gold rooster pondered for a moment before he said, “I guess it can be done with a hug.”

My face twitched in annoyance. Why am I wasting time with this guy right here?

Right, talking about time...

I said urgently, “I don’t care what you’re planning to do with me. Please just tell me the way to that icy ricer. I have to go to that demon palace. This young man whom you like here, he’ll die if he doesn’t go there.” I exaggerated on purpose this time.

Big gold rooster looked a little shaken by this. He’s probably someone who’s easily convinced.

“Fine, I’ll tell you then. But you’ll really be my ice sculpture once you come out of there, right?” Big gold rooster asked with a face full of innocent naivety.

I smiled, nodding profusely. “Definitely. You’re free to order me around.” Yeah right, let’s see if you’re even able to locate me after that.

“Then I’ll bring you guys there. But I can only bring you somewhere close by, since I’m not able to go near that icy river.”

“Release my arms first.” I signaled to my frozen arms.

Big gold rooster regarded me with a look of disdain. “I’m helping you because of this young man, you annoying girl.”

“Okay, okay, okay, big gold... Oh no, big brother. You’re the best. Come on, release me.” I smiled at him while I stole a glance at that sleeping individual on the ground. Helping me because of this young man? That young man is sleeping like a pig here...

After my arms were released, I walked over and kicked Nie Zun. “Hey, get up. We have to go.”

There was no response.

“Hey, get up. Stop playing dead.”

I still did not get a response.

Fine.

I bent down and reached for his waist, looking for Piercer.

As expected, he opened his eyes at the very moment I touched him. “You’re molesting me.” Why are there so many retards around me today?

I kicked him again. “Do I even have the time to molest you? Get up quickly. We have to go.”

“Where to?” Nie Zun yawned.

I rolled my eyes at him as I wondered to myself, where should I say we’re going?Would he come with me if I say we were heading for the demon palace? I guess not, since he came out from there originally, and he finds it boring. Thus, I said, “We’re going to look for the exit.”

Nie Zun finally got up at this, though he still looked as lazy as ever.

Big gold rooster suddenly spoke. “The exit? Then you can’t go to that icy ricer. It’s really far from the exit.”

It’s to lure Nie Zun there, okay? I stared at big gold rooster, signaling for him to shut up.

He kept quiet as he saw my expression.

Nie Zun didn’t seem to mind what big gold rooster said as he stood up lazily, saying, “Let’s go.”

Big gold rooster seemed to really like Nie Zun, and he hopped after Nie Zun upon seeing him get up.

He hopped back onto that icicle and went back to that one-legged position. He seemed to wobble quite a bit, but he managed to stay on top.

“Oh, right.” Big gold rooster glanced at me. “Did you meet white swallows on your way here?”

“Huh, what are white swallows?” I asked in confusion.

Big gold rooster scratched his head. “They’re faceless monsters who only have one mouth and who like to crawl on the floor.”

He was referring to those things which followed us all the way before we reached the fog.

I nodded. “Yes, we’ve seen those things. Why is that?”

Big gold rooster glanced at me. “What a dumb girl. You don’t even know that your MF had been absorbed.”

“What. What are you talking about?”

Big gold rooster performed a pirouette. “Those monsters are known for sucking up MF in the Split Zone. The best way to counter it is not to talk to them. How many times have you spoken to them?”

I spoke once to the first one, and I spoke twice to the second one. “About three times.”

“Then you’re finished. They’d have absorbed a lot of your MF,” big gold rooster said.

Absorbed my MF?

But I didn’t feel my MF being drained even when I tried activating it, and it didn’t feel any different even when I touched my split symbol.

This isn’t important right now. I looked at big gold rooster. “Leave it, it’s not important right now. You’d better bring me and your new friend to that place.”

Big gold rooster clapped his hands.

Pch, pch.

Two icicles rose up from the ground.

“Step on these and come with me.” Big gold rooster seemed to float away as he said that.

Can we really step on them?

Well, let’s just do it if big gold rooster tells us to...

Nie Zun looked rather excited at this...

I realized it wasn’t difficult to balance myself with MF when I stepped on the icicle. It turned out to be pretty fun.

Big gold rooster might have noticed the smile that appeared on my face as he asked, “How is it? It’s fun, isn’t it? Little girl, you’ve been here for too long and you’ve forgotten how to have some fun. You were pulling a long face, looking just like a bittergourd.”

Nothing good comes out of that mouth of his.

Following his example of using MF to drive the icicle, we reached another glacier very quickly.

“I’ll open the door for you.” Big gold rooster jumped off his icicle suddenly.

I was suspicious of this. Open the door? What door?

I realized that there might be a door on the glacier as big gold rooster jumped off and walked over to the foot of the glacier.

I guess anything is possible within the demon cave. The glacier in front of us was just like the one we saw previously. It looked white and translucent, and we couldn’t really see what was inside it.

My perspective on glaciers has changed totally. In fact, my perspective towards many other things have changed ever since I’ve arrived in the Split Zone. Nothing was impossible here in the Split Zone.

Big gold rooster bent down in front of the glacier, placing his palms against the ground as he seemed to chant a series of unintelligible words.

The ground then shook below us.

I immediately felt something amiss, probably because I’ve been fighting too much lately.

But my intuition proved right when the ice below us collapsed suddenly.

I tried to grab hold of Nie Zun, but there was no way to stop ourselves from falling.

Both of us started falling through the broken ice.