As Han Li's thoughts swirled, many cultivators around him had already begun to glow. Some wore warm sun jade pendants shaped like fire dragons hanging from their sleeves, others had crimson flame crystal silk belts around their waists, and still others were draped in white snow robes covered in spiritual patterns.

"Awoo..."

Accompanied by a wild beast's roar, a giant snow-white rhinoceros appeared from the swirling snow and wind. It shook its massive head, emitting a fierce aura.

The burly man with the crimson flame belt swayed and straddled the snow rhinoceros's back. He nudged it slightly with his legs, and the snow rhinoceros galloped off, charging towards the outside of the island.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

A series of ice cone shattering sounds rang out. The snow-white beast, carrying its master, charged straight into the sea. Its hooves stepped through the air as if flying, and it disappeared into the snow and wind in a short while.

The others also gradually summoned various exotic beasts such as snow eagles and ice foxes, riding them away.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight out of ten people present had left.

Lin Jiu scanned his surroundings before summoning his gold-patterned spirit boat once again. The three of them boarded it together and flew towards the ice and snow continent further north.

...

More than ten days later.

Above a frozen sea area, the wind and snow had just stopped, and a thick layer of leaden clouds still pressed down on the sky. Bone-chilling winds raged across the sea.

The gold-patterned spirit boat carrying Lin Jiu and the others was speeding towards this place from the distant horizon.

Inside a multi-storied pavilion, Han Li, dressed in a green robe, was sitting cross-legged on the bed in an inner room. Suddenly, he felt the spirit boat shake violently. He opened his eyes abruptly and strode out of the room.

He saw a huge black tentacle wrapped around the railing on the left side of the spirit boat, stretched taut, seemingly trying to pull the spirit boat down into the sea below.

Han Li went to the side of the slightly tilted ship and looked down along the black tentacle. He saw that a huge ice cave had been broken open on the sea surface, and a giant octopus covered in scales was extending half of its body out of it.

"Zee, zee, zee..."

Accompanied by a series of friction sounds, the octopus's tentacle wrapped around the railing tightened continuously, causing the entire spirit boat to shake violently and slowly descend towards the sea surface.

"Monster, prepare to die!" A furious roar rang out.

From the third floor of the treasure ship, a figure shot out, transforming into a golden light, flashed down, and instantly returned.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the tentacle wrapped around the railing snapped open inch by inch.

At the same time, the black octopus's body on the sea surface below exploded with a "bang," and countless dark blood splattered out, staining a large area of solid ice on the sea surface black.

Han Li watched this scene, his heart stirring slightly. The octopus monster below was only at the Grand Ascension stage, with limited intelligence. It was not difficult to kill it.

However, the scales on this beast were not ordinary. Being able to ignore its scale armor defense and kill it instantly was not a simple matter.

From this, it could be seen that Lin Jiu had most likely comprehended some law of speed or the law of gold, and his strength should not be underestimated.

...

In the blink of an eye, more than three months had passed.

A massive snow mountain range stretched across the southern part of the Darkfrost Continent. Its branch veins were distributed on both sides of the mountain range, looking like a giant frost centipede lying on the snow from high altitude.

Each branch vein had towering peaks that reached into the clouds. Most of the area was covered in ice and snow. Only in places where the ice cover had slipped could patches of mottled, exposed black rock be seen.

Above the peaks, the azure sky was as clear as if it had been washed. A round of white sun hung high in the sky, releasing gentle and warm light. However, there was not a trace of warmth in the entire world, and it still seemed extremely cold.

On the eastern section of a branch vein in the southern part of the mountain range, two solitary peaks stood more than a thousand feet high, like two silver swords pointing straight at the sky. The area sandwiched between them was a very deep valley.

Outside the valley was a vast snowfield stretching for thousands of miles.

In the snowfield, countless towering snow pines more than a hundred feet high grew densely. Most of them were buried beneath the accumulated snow, and only the parts near the top were exposed, but they were also covered in snow, forming towering white snow towers.

"Awoo..."

Just then, a series of muffled beast roars suddenly came from the snowfield outside the valley.

In the snow pine forest to the northeast, two fluffy pinkish-white ears suddenly poked out from the snow-covered ground. They stood up high and turned left and right a few times, then moved towards the direction of the valley entrance.

Wherever it passed, there were constant "rumbling" collision sounds. One after another towering trees collapsed, smashing into the snow and stirring up large patches of crystal snow powder. A deep, huge gully also appeared on the ground.

The closer it got to the valley entrance, the terrain seemed to be getting higher and higher. The true body of the pair of pinkish-white ears gradually emerged from under the accumulated snow.

It was pinkish-white all over, with reddish eyes and tall, erect ears. It was actually a giant snow rabbit more than ten feet tall.

The snow rabbit came to the valley entrance, kicked off its hind legs fiercely, and pounced forward with its front legs, suddenly lunging into the valley.

There was a loud "boom."

The snow rabbit actually seemed to have hit an invisible barrier, and was bounced back violently, falling upside down.

After flipping over, it suddenly became ferocious, the red light in its eyes growing even stronger. It let out a low growl, kicked off the ground with its hind legs, gathered its strength, and pounced towards the valley entrance with several times the force.

In the void within the valley entrance, a layer of faint golden light suddenly appeared, covered with dense runes and emitting a strong golden light. A strand of golden lightning as thick as a thumb suddenly flashed and struck the snow rabbit.

With a "bang!"

The snow rabbit was struck by the lightning and its body instantly turned into charcoal, exploding with a bang.

A burnt smell immediately permeated the air.

At this moment, three figures slowly emerged from the deep gully in the snow pine forest and walked towards the valley entrance.

The person in the lead wore a blue deer head mask, while the two people behind him wore ox head and rat head masks respectively. They were Han Li and the others.

"What do you two think, fellow cultivators?" Lin Jiu stopped in front of the valley entrance and turned to ask the two.

"Hehe, if I'm not mistaken, the formation set up here should be the Golden Peak Guarding Thunder Formation passed down from ancient times. The power revealed when the snow rabbit triggered the thunder formation just now is less than one ten-thousandth of the entire formation." Lin Shiqi’s small eyes darted around as he said with a smile.

"That's right, I also think it should be this formation. According to the previous observations from high altitude, the foundation of this formation should be on the two nearby peaks. There should be at least two spiritual treasures or more of golden attribute magic treasures placed on them. Moreover, the coverage area of this formation should also include the two peaks and the entire valley," Lin Jiu nodded, saying so.

Han Li frowned and remained silent, seemingly contemplating something.

"What's wrong, Fellow Cultivator Jiao Fifteen? Have you discovered anything unusual?" Seeing this, Lin Jiu asked with a flicker in his eyes.

"Although I have never seen the Golden Peak Guarding Thunder Formation that you two mentioned, I do know a thing or two about it. It is said that this formation is always known for its tenacious defense and heavy offensive power. Once triggered, it will release golden thunder all over the sky at the same time, with a power comparable to a small lightning tribulation. When the snow rabbit was triggered just now, the power of the lightning was not small, but it was very restrained, and it was impossible to see much power," Han Li said slowly.

"That's just because that snow rabbit was too weak to stimulate the full force of the thunder formation. Is there anything to be surprised about?" Lin Shiqi chuckled dryly, saying with some disdain.

"Then, according to you, what kind of formation is this?" Lin Jiu raised an eyebrow and asked Han Li.

"I have never encountered this kind of formation before, nor have I seen it in books. I don't know its name, but I just feel that this formation is not as simple as it looks on the surface," Han Li shook his head after thinking for a moment.

"Since you haven't even seen the Golden Peak Guarding Thunder Formation, don't make alarmist statements here. All you've said is useless nonsense," Lin Shiqi curled his lips and said.

Upon hearing this, Han Li was not angry. He just focused his attention on the formation and ignored him.

"Since Fellow Cultivator Lin Shiqi is certain that this formation is the Golden Peak Guarding Thunder Formation, is there any way for us to sneak into it without alarming the people inside the formation?" After hearing this, Lin Jiu said after a moment of silence.

Lin Shiqi gently stroked the cheek covered by the mask with one hand, and gently rubbed the other hand hanging on the side, saying:

"The Golden Peak Guarding Thunder Formation uses the two peaks as the formation hub and eighty-one Lightning Restraining Woods as the formation base. To break the formation in the usual way, you only need to find a flaw in either of these two places to dismantle the formation. But this time, we need to sneak into this formation without alarming the people inside the formation, so we must find a way to assimilate ourselves with the formation, so as to avoid triggering the thunder formation."

"If you want to assimilate with the great formation, you must change your own aura to the same golden attribute as the formation hub, or the same lightning attribute as the formation base, so as to integrate into the great formation and then enter the formation," Lin Jiu’s eyes lit up, adding.

"Hehe, this process must be extremely fast, completed in an instant, otherwise there is still a possibility of touching the great formation," Lin Shiqi glanced at Han Li and said with a grin.

"Fellow Cultivator Jiao Fifteen, if you have no other discoveries, let's act according to what Fellow Cultivator Lin Shiqi said?" Lin Jiu looked at Han Li and said.

"There is nothing wrong with the method that Lin Shiqi said, but the strangeness of this great formation lies in the fact that the release of lightning is very different from ordinary thunder formations. Its power of lightning is condensed and does not disperse, and its power is extremely great when it is suddenly released. If we enter rashly, I am afraid that the outcome will not be much stronger than that of the snow rabbit," Han Li said with a slight frown.

Upon hearing this, a trace of hesitation flashed in Lin Jiu's eyes.

In fact, his judgment on the thunder formation in front of him was similar to that of Lin Shiqi, so he was more suspicious than believing Han Li's words. If it weren't for the various rumors about Han Li in the alliance before, he probably wouldn't even have this trace of hesitation.