In front of Lin Mu laid a rather familar object. It was pale white in color and had glowing blue lines that went along the spiral on its body.
"Isn't this the… Glacial Snail Shell?" Lin Mu recognized.
Lin Mu had found another snail shell such as this back in the Kong plane. But that was much smaller and was in the depths of an icy cold lake. Which now that he thought of it, had similar characteristics to this.
Just to be sure, Lin Mu pulled out the small glacial snail shell and took a look at it.
"Now I'm sure… they are the same." Lin Mu confirmed.
Though the large shell in front of him was many times bigger than the one in his hand. The shell was almost like a small hill and was about thirty meters tall. It was perhaps the biggest one he had ever seen.
Additionally, the chill that was emanating from this shell was many times colder than the shell in his hand. It was also constant, unlike the intermittent chill of the shell in his hand.
"So this place was really a glacier that has existed for a long time. Perhaps when this world was still intact because, if I recall correctly, Glacial Shell snails live underneath large glaciers. And this is certainly one." Lin Mu said after thinking for a bit.
"You are correct. It seems like this might be the reason why this place is still frozen, unlike the rest of the world fragment." Xukong spoke.
"Mmhmm… though it makes me wonder just how did this snail get so big?" Lin Mu questioned. "Do they increase in size as their cultivation bases grow too?" he wondered.
"That's right. Though this one is a little too large for a normal Glacial Shell Snail even for a high cultivation base." Xukong replied. "Hmm… I think we might have come across a Glacial Shell Snail Queen."
"Oh? So it's their leader?" Lin Mu said.
"Rather… their mother. Though it can also be termed as their leader I suppose. The Glacial Shell Snail's are born from a single queen as it lays millions of eggs at once. A single Glacial Snail Queen can potentially control an entire polar ice cap of a world." Xukong explained.
"Whoa… if it can do this then its cultivation base might also be high right?" Lin Mu asked.
"Indeed. A queen of this size should be… at the peak of Immortal Ascension realm perhaps." Xukong answered, shocking Lin Mu.
"This… this is a peak Immortal Ascension realm being?!" Lin Mu was stunned.
He had not expected to see that today. Even if it might just be the remains of one.
"It's strange to see a being that strong dead…" Lin Mu muttered.
He approached the shell and probed it with his spirit sense. Even his spirit sense felt cold upon getting closer to the shell and he could also feel a pressure from it. Lin Mu's spirit sense reached the shell and touched it before passing into it.
But when it did, Lin Mu was surprised.
"ITS NOT JUST A SHELL!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
Xukong was a bit surprised too and checked what Lin Mu saw.
"Oh? It actually has all its flesh intact… or rather, frozen." Xukong saw. "The unique characteristics of the Glacial Shell Snail have prevented the flesh from ever decomposing." He analyzed.
Lin Mu knew that a find like this was absolutely unique and coming to the world fragment was the right choice.
"It's a shame that I can't use it though." Lin Mu said, recalling that the Glacial Shell Snail was a beast of the Extreme Yin water attribute and wasn't good for his body.
"No… you can use it." Xukong said, surprising Lin Mu.
"What? How?" Lin Mu asked hurriedly. "Like… won't it harm me?"
"The Extreme Yin Water element is mostly in the Shell. I said that because you only had the shell back then. But in this case… there is the flesh too. You can consume the flesh. It doesn't have the same level of Dao Traces in it, so should be fine for you." Xukong replied. "Additionally, your body has gotten stronger than before too." He added.
Hearing this, Lin Mu's eyes lit up, and he knew exactly what he should use it for.
"Can I use it for further refinement of the body?" Lin Mu asked with great hope.
"Hmm… you can indeed use it. The shell would have been too volatile, but the flesh should be fine. If you're prudent with it, you might be able to use the energy in the flesh and refine your fourth treasured organ. You won't even need a technique for it since the energy in the flesh is already refined by the beast." Xukong said after analyzing all factors.
"GREAT!" Lin Mu said excitedly. "Just this alone is worth the entire trip!"
With how big the Glacial Shell Snail queen was, Lin Mu was sure that the energy within it would be enough to give him a good push. He was already at the Shell completion stage of the Dao Shell realm and was spending his time in expanding the shell since he had a while to from his Dao embryo.
Lin Mu's goal was to expand his shell till he comprehended enough to form a Dao Embryo that could be of any form. Lin Mu didn't aim for anything particular but was guessing that it would be either related to the Sword Dao or the Earth Dao.
As long as one was formed, he would be able to progress to the Dao Treading Realm. And that would allow him to grow stronger and kill all his enemies that he did not want to exist anymore.
But for a Dao Embryo to form, it would take a while and Lin Mu didn't know just how long that would be. Instead of just waiting for that, if he could further his Five Treasures Realm cultivation, Lin Mu would greatly like that.
After all, it would be a concrete increase in his strength.
Lin Mu walked forward and placed his hand on the Glacial Shell Snail queen.
~KACHA~
But as soon as he did, he found the armor of the mortal strengthening scripture shattering in a moment.
"What the!?" Lin Mu was stunned and pulled his hand back immediately.
"Dead or not, that is still the remains of a peak Immortal Ascension realm being. Even if its Nascent soul has dissipated by now, the powers hidden within its body are more than enough to harm you.
You will have to suffer a bit to store it." Xukong chimed in.
"Of course… but this much damage is fine. I've dealt with worse." Lin Mu said with a firm voice.
He placed his hand back on the shell and felt it losing heat. Even with the protection of his metallic skin and flesh, he still felt the chill permeating his body. Frost had already condensed on his hand and was climbing up his hand the longer he placed it on the Shell.
"Let's get this over with." Lin Mu said as he triggered the ring to store the shell.
This actually took him quite some effort, as there was some resistance from the remains. It was almost like it was alive, but Lin Mu knew it was the Dao Traces that were making it difficult
It was a bit similar to when he had held the Remnant Dao Crystal that he had given to Xiaobao. There was a similar resistance back then too. But this one was much stronger.
~huu~
Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu exerted more power and finally stored the entire Glacial Snail Shell Queen into the ring.
"HAA… Haaa… Haaa…" Lin Mu exhaled and let out big clouds of fog.
"That was far more exhausting than I ever expected…" Lin Mu said, finding that he had exhausted nearly thirty percent of his entire spirit Qi stores from his Dantian.
The ring had sucked it all up in less than a few seconds. Which only proved just how complex this task was.
"Normally you shouldn't even be able to touch a being of that level, so some price is to be expected. Even with the power of that ring." Xukong spoke.
"Yeah… at least we now have it." Lin Mu replied with a smile.
But a few seconds later, his smile turned still and his brows furrowed.
"Hang on… that strange energy.. The waves are still present." Lin Mu said, after sensing.
He closed his eyes and checked again, finding that the Energy waves were actually coming from deeper in the abyss.
"It was actually not from the Glacial Shell Snail?" Lin Mu was surprised.
He had fully expected that them to be coming from the snail as the energy waves were indeed stronger here. But after storing it away, he could tell more waves coming from deeper.
"The shell was probably concentrating the energy waves and passively absorbing them. Making it seem like they were coming from here." Xukong suggested.
Lin Mu nodded his head and left the cave, entering the abyss again.
"Looks like our journey has not ended yet." Lin Mu muttered before plunging into the darkness again.
He didn't know what waited for him in the depths, but was looking toward to it.
Minutes passed by and Lin Mu kept on falling.
Eventually, he felt like the surroundings had started to widen as he didn't feel any walls in the range of his spirit sense.
And about a minute later, Lin Mu finally felt solid ground underneath him!
