Chen Tian and Teacher San looked at each other, then both turned their gazes towards the Valley of Cold Flames. They were currently in the icy part of the valley, but due to their Elemental Divine Bodies, they felt no discomfort.
Chen Tian looked at the Valley of Cold Flames before them and said, "Let's go! We need to reach the central area as quickly as possible."
"Okay!"
They stepped in. The valley was composed of mountains that were half ice and snow-white, and half fiery lava. Chen Tian and Teacher San stood in the icy half, observing the scenery.
The landscape was a breathtaking sight of snow-white, with the ground made of ice covered in layers of snow. The surrounding mountains and trees were lightly dusted with snowflakes, and their own bodies were encased in ice.
The translucent ice blocks, like crystal, clearly reflected their figures. They both gazed at the scenery.
Suddenly, Chen Tian felt a surge of premonition and a sense of alert. He instantly summoned his twin blades, and with two swift slashes, something seemed to be cut apart.
Chen Tian moved in front of Teacher San, who also became cautious and entered a ready stance.
Chen Tian sensed that he had just been attacked; otherwise, he might have been injured.
Chen Tian opened his Divine Eyes, scanning their surroundings. The attack had been invisible, imperceptible to ordinary people. If Chen Tian hadn't possessed his premonition, the sneak attack might have succeeded.
He was now using his Divine Eyes to search for the attacker, but suddenly his gaze shot up to the sky. Countless iron arrows rained down like a torrential downpour, accompanied by swirling ice streams, a true "storm of falling pear blossoms."
Seeing this, Chen Tian shouted, "Teacher San, defend quickly!"
"Understood!"
Teacher San reacted immediately, waving his hand to summon divine ice, which instantly coalesced into a massive purplish-blue shield in front of him. Chen Tian, meanwhile, was enveloped in a suit of divine ice armor. He observed Teacher San's shield and thought that it was quite good; elemental mastery, once copied, also copied its usage methods. Teacher San was no longer a concern.
Chen Tian then said, "Teacher San, keep them busy here. I'll go flush them out."
Chen Tian remained in his position, and Teacher San was taken aback. "Why aren't you moving?"
Suddenly, a series of clinks sounded from the divine ice shield. Teacher San was bewildered. There was nothing visible in front of him! What kind of attack was this, and where was it coming from?
Chen Tian's figure suddenly appeared in a dense forest covered in snow. His Divine Eyes still found no clues, and Chen Tian was puzzled.
What kind of monster was attacking that he still couldn't detect its presence?
"Wait, this situation is similar to what happened with the Fire Spirits!"
Chen Tian suddenly recalled something. His mind raced, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. He instantly summoned his golden-quality twin blades. The golden blades radiated immense power. The golden hilts were adorned with depictions of mountains and rivers, with a viper coiled around the grip and scales covering the blade tips.
With the twin blades in hand, Chen Tian unleashed a series of rapid slashes, targeting the snowflakes on the trees.
There was no falling snow in the sky, yet the trees were covered in thick, dense snowflakes. This was highly suspicious, especially since the Valley of Cold Flames was a place with no discernible wind direction.
Chen Tian, being adept in ice elemental principles, could perceive this. With no wind and no falling snow, why were the trees covered in white?
Soon, countless blade lights surged towards the snowflakes. Slowly, hints of smiling faces emerged from the snowflakes on the trees, coalescing into figures.
Chen Tian stared at the figures before him, dumbfounded. There were too many of them, an incomprehensible number, tens of millions. "Holy crap, did I stumble into their nest?"
A panel suddenly appeared before Chen Tian, and he was speechless. This had even triggered a trial quest!
What were the odds? But the sheer number was overwhelming. He needed to discuss with Teacher San and make a swift retreat.
However, the swarm of Snow Ice Elves clearly had no intention of letting Chen Tian go. The ground began to tremble as waves of them advanced.
The ground shook, and Teacher San hadn't even reacted. What was happening? What was going on?
With a face full of questions, Teacher San truly had no idea what had transpired, only knowing that Chen Tian had appeared before him.
Chen Tian then shouted, "Run, Teacher San, run!"
"What the hell, Chen Tian, what did you do? So many of them, can we even finish them all?"
"Run!"
Teacher San looked at the dense swarm behind Chen Tian, more numerous than a hive of bees, and immediately turned to flee. This was too many!
And each of them was level forty. This was suicide! Run!
Chen Tian reached Teacher San, who asked, "Chen Tian, what did you do? Did you raid their home or kill their kin? How can there be so many? No, this many still doesn't make sense!"
"Uh... I didn't do anything. I just triggered the trial quest for the icy valley. The trial quest is to kill all these tens of millions of Snow Ice Elves."
Chen Tian waved his hands helplessly. Teacher San was speechless. They had only just entered the outer area, and a trial quest had already been triggered. "Chen Tian, you're heartless!"
If he had known this would happen, he would have brought more people. No matter how powerful they were, they couldn't fight tens of millions, especially when their opponents were higher level.
Chen Tian looked exasperated. Although he could handle them alone, it would take too much time. Then, the two of them quickly exited the Valley of Cold Flames.
When Chen Tian and Teacher San emerged from the Valley of Cold Flames, the Snow Ice Elves seemed unable to leave the icy half of the valley and began to patrol.
Chen Tian and Teacher San collapsed on the ground, exhaling deeply. Teacher San patted his chest and said, "That scared me to death. Millions of them, even the two of us would need days to clear them all."
"And this is just the outer area, and you've already triggered a trial quest. Chen Tian, how lucky are you?"
The Valley of Cold Flames was divided into outer, inner, and core areas. Chen Tian's mission objective was in the core area. To reach the core, they needed to pass through the outer and inner areas.
In the game "Time Epoch," some maps have trial quests that reward players upon completion. Teacher San was genuinely surprised that Chen Tian had triggered a trial quest so easily.
This guy's luck was just too good!