Hearing Qin Han Chu’s telepathic message, Hou Chen and the other five immediately understood its intricacies.
No wonder Qin Han Chu and the other two had emerged from the fifth Ice Palace so quickly; they had changed the rules.
Seeing Qin Han Chu and the other three flying towards the sixth Ice Palace, Hou Chen and the other five hurriedly followed.
The others were not fools either. When they saw Hou Chen and the other six enter the sixth Ice Palace, they too had a realization.
Hundreds of people surged into the sixth Ice Palace together.
Within the sixth Ice Palace, a terrifying behemoth loomed like a mountain peak.
A terrifying aura of the mid-stage Immortal Venerable emanated from it.
"Attack together!" Before Qin Han Chu and the other three could make a move, the cultivators who followed behind them swarmed towards the behemoth like a swarm of locusts.
Qin Han Chu and the other three, as well as Hou Chen and the other six, remained still, wanting to assess the strength of this formation spirit.
Rumble...
At that moment, the sky and earth changed color, and countless golden spikes rained down from the sky.
These spikes carried an incredibly terrifying power; each ice spike seemed capable of severely injuring an ordinary Immortal King realm cultivator.
Immediately after, the situation on the scene proved Qin Han Chu's thoughts correct.
Bang...
In mere moments, a cultivator's defense was shattered, and he was then severely injured by the golden spikes.
Witnessing this, most cultivators no longer dared to hold back.
Everyone unleashed their respective abilities, forcefully resisting the ice spikes from the sky.
Qin Han Chu activated a mid-grade Immortal artifact shield.
The shield radiated light, blocking the spikes from the sky.
The spikes continued their assault, and by this time, some had already been killed by them.
This was only the sixth Ice Palace, yet it was this terrifying.
"Attack together! If this formation spirit isn't killed, none of us will survive."
With one person's roar, everyone launched their attacks towards the behemoth.
Qin Han Chu and the others also attacked the behemoth amidst the chaotic battle.
After all, the formation spirit was not a true immortal beast, and under the siege of hundreds of people, it was finally destroyed.
Although the formation spirit was destroyed, the cultivators present also suffered heavy losses.
In this battle, over twenty Immortal Kings were lost, and dozens more were seriously injured to varying degrees.
Just then, the reward for the sixth Ice Palace appeared.
A mid-grade Immortal artifact materialized in the void.
"A mid-grade Metal element Immortal artifact! I'm taking it!"
"Who do you think you are? You want to claim the treasure we fought for together with a single sentence?"
The battle that had just concluded reignited, spurred by the mid-grade Immortal artifact.
Qin Han Chu and the other three disdained this mid-grade Immortal artifact, so they did not participate in the scramble and left directly.
After leaving the sixth Ice Palace, the four of them found a spot to recuperate.
In reality, they had not suffered significant losses; their recuperation was merely a ruse.
"The rewards for the seventh Ice Palace are likely to be high-grade Immortal artifacts, but there's no need to compete with these people for now," Ancestor Baili said.
Dragon Lord: "These Ice Palaces are just battlegrounds designed to make cultivators slaughter each other. I find it somewhat unsettling."
"I feel the same way!"
"Based on the current situation, the formation spirit in the eighth Ice Palace will be at the peak of the Immortal Venerable realm."
"To succeed, at least two hundred Immortal Kings will be lost."
"The remaining people will surely fight to the death for the Immortal artifact." Ah Xiang said.
"Following this logic, the eighth Ice Palace should reward a top-grade Immortal artifact?"
"Even for Immortal Gods, they wouldn't have too many top-grade Immortal artifacts, right?"
"If the eighth Ice Palace is a top-grade Immortal artifact, then what will the ninth Ice Palace reward?"
"I think the seventh and eighth Ice Palaces will still offer mid-grade Immortal artifacts!"
"There's no need for us to get involved in the commotion." Qin Han Chu speculated.
Dragon Lord nodded: "I agree with Han Chu. There's no need for us to go in and compete; we can just wait outside and watch the show."
"Then we won't participate."
After more than an hour, the people from the sixth Ice Palace finally emerged.
By now, these people must have reached some sort of agreement, otherwise, it wouldn't have ended so quickly.
After these people appeared, they went directly to the sixth Ice Palace.
"You're not going in?"
Seeing Qin Han Chu and the other three standing still, Hou Chen asked curiously.
"We don't want to participate anymore. If you want to go, you can try," Qin Han Chu said directly.
"The final rewards will be decided through auction."
"Going in can still yield benefits," Hou Chen said.
Qin Han Chu shook his head: "We want to cultivate here. You do as you please."
Seeing that Qin Han Chu and the other three were resolute in not joining, Hou Chen and the other six rushed into the Ice Palace.
Five hours later, the group that had entered earlier finally reappeared.
Qin Han Chu glanced around and noticed that dozens more cultivators had died.
Originally four to five hundred people, now only over three hundred remained.
This time, they did not rashly enter.
Everyone gathered together, seemingly discussing something.
"They're planning to form a formation and use it to fight the formation spirit once inside," Ah Xiang said.
Dragon Lord: "That's likely the case. If they remain disorganized, they'll probably lose a hundred people this time."
As the four were communicating telepathically, the people not far away turned their gazes towards Qin Han Chu and the other three.
"Commander of the Three Armies, aren't you joining?"
"We just obtained a high-grade Immortal artifact, and the eighth Ice Palace might contain a supreme-grade Immortal artifact."
The previous group did not recognize Ah Xiang; it was likely Hou Chen who had mentioned Ah Xiang's strength.
In this situation, the more cultivators joined, the greater the chance of victory.
For this reason, they wanted to entice Qin Han Chu and the other three to join.
"We don't want to take risks; we'll just wait here to leave," Ah Xiang said.
"The path of martial arts is to defy heaven. How can you be so timid?"
"If you four join, our chances of winning will definitely be greater."
"At most, we'll let you four have a larger share of the benefits." Another person persuaded.
"No need to persuade us further; we won't participate," Dragon Lord said.
"You don't want to participate, you want to reap the benefits without lifting a finger, don't you?"
At that moment, a cultivator stepped forward and reprimanded them.
Hearing this cultivator's reprimand, everyone looked at Qin Han Chu and the other three with sudden understanding.
They all felt that this person's words made sense; Qin Han Chu and the other three were likely waiting for most of them to die before emerging to pick up the spoils.
"Commander of the Three Armies, is this your true intention?" the middle-aged man who spoke wore a black robe, and he questioned coldly.
"Your imaginations are truly vivid," Ancestor Baili said.
"You have no other choice now."
"Either join us, or we will have to kill you first."
"We don't want to fight to the death only to have others reap the rewards." The man in the black robe snorted.
"Well said. You now have only two paths."
"Either join us, or become our enemy."
For a moment, Qin Han Chu and the other three became the target of everyone's attention.
Qin Han Chu and the other three exchanged glances. They had not expected things to escalate to this point.
Although the four of them were formidable, they could not defeat these more than three hundred Immortal Kings.