A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5852

Night had fallen over the ice plains as the three arrived in the depression encircled by the three massive ice peaks. The sky held no stars, only auroras flowing like colored rivers across the dark heavens, casting a strange, eerie light over the frozen expanse.

At the center of the depression lay the Blood-Soul FrostPool, about thirty meters across, its waters dark red and eerily still, exuding both icy chill and the metallic scent of blood.

Beside it, the Thousand-Year Frostblood Lotus swayed in the cold wind. Its nine crystalline leaves gleamed like red rubies, while the deep-red bud pulsed with life, ready to bloom at any moment.

The forbidden protective array loomed over the entire depression like an insurmountable chasm. The ice-blue light curtain was inscribed with ancient, intricate runes. From it hung chains tipped with ghostly ice beasts, radiating a pressure that made the soul tremble.

And behind the array—farther into the ice peaks—stood the palace, an imposing cluster of ice-crystal buildings. Its scale defied description, silent under the night sky and the dancing auroras.

The palace was not a single structure, but a sprawling city of ice. The main hall soared a thousand meters high, carved from millennia-old ice and core-cold jade, reflecting the aurora's beauty while radiating an icy, sacred authority.

Smaller halls, towers, and bridges circled it like planets orbiting a sun, connected by stairways and suspended walkways, forming a breathtaking yet perilous ice-crystal city.

Faint blue lights flickered inside, and powerful auras seemed to drift invisibly. The entire complex exuded an ancient, lofty, and unassailable aura, like slumbering ice deities.

"Finally..." Vermilion said, gazing at the lotus with a mixture of desire and anxiety. The protective formation before them, the palace behind—retrieving the herb was still fraught with danger.

Clara gripped her sword, whispering, "Sir, the array..."

"We must first find a way to break it," Jared said, eyes fixed past the pool and the array, on the distant palace. "And the key must be inside the palace."

After a brief pause to recover, the three began their approach. The closer they got, the more overwhelming the palace's grandeur and oppressive aura became.

There were no walls around the palace—only towering ice-crystal barricades, each high, sharp as blades, engraved with defensive runes radiating icy refusal.

The only entrance was a huge ice-crystal arch. On either side stood tall statues of ice guardians, spears at the ready, giving the illusion they might spring to life at any moment.

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