Invincible from Seeing the BOSS's Health Bar

It seemed that because they were getting close to the Northern Cold Lake, the demons that’d been attacking them constantly along the way were starting to disappear.

Daoist Qing Yan, who was riding at the very front, suddenly raised her hand and made a gesture; Fang Yu and the others behind her all reined in their horses and stopped.

”The demons active inside the Northern Cold Lake are stronger than the ones we met on the road. You need to be prepared.”

Daoist Qing Yan calmly gave her instructions, but Fang Yu and the others didn’t really take it to heart.

The skirmishes along the way weren’t even enough for someone like Luo Jianqing to warm up, and even for Fang Yu, they weren’t enough to get stuck between his teeth.

They hadn’t seen a single demon with more than fifty thousand HP the whole time; it was all small fry.

Daoist Qing Yan didn’t go into too much detail, she simply continued.

”Inside the Northern Cold Lake, there’s a special cold wind known as the Bone-Scraping Wind. The cold wind scrapes the bone, leaving nothing behind. It’s said the reason the Northern Cold Lake can always maintain such a special environment and continue existing as it is, is because of this special wind. This wind is extremely dangerous. Everyone must be careful and obey my orders. If our luck is bad and we encounter a Bone-Scraping Wind, gather around me at once, don’t delay.”

Obviously, this was the main reason Daoist Qing Yan had stopped everyone.

But as her voice fell, Fatty Jia just chuckled.

”Daoist, you’re underestimating us a bit, aren’t you? Just a mere cold wind—could that really take our lives?”

Fang Yu didn’t have a heart as big as Fatty Jia’s. ”Just a mere cold wind”? Even if it was just a breeze, as long as Daoist Qing Yan said there was a problem, he’d be the first to rush over and have the tall one hold an umbrella over him!

However, when Luo Jianqing’s somewhat icy gaze swept over Fatty Jia, Fang Yu suddenly frowned, faintly realizing something.

Fatty Jia… is he really that dumb? To say something like that…

”A mere Bone-Scraping Wind naturally won’t cost any of you your lives. After all, all of you were carefully picked out by Yunyun and me as powerful fighters. But our destination isn’t the little Northern Cold Lake. If we waste our time, energy, and even combat power in a place like this, that’s not what I want. Otherwise, Yunyun and I wouldn’t have bothered preparing so many artifacts to deal with all these harsh environments along the way.”

With these words, Daoist Qing Yan basically laid out the situation.

Clearly, the Bone-Scraping Wind of the Northern Cold Lake might not necessarily kill anyone present, but it would inevitably chip away at their combat strength.

And the purpose of this group wasn’t to come here and wrestle with a mere Bone-Scraping Wind.

Fang Yu and the others exchanged looks and all nodded slightly; they didn’t find anything wrong with Daoist Qing Yan’s arrangements.

Fatty Jia, however, looked a bit strange as he pressed on with a question.

”I wonder… if the artifact Daoist Qing Yan mentioned is that [Bright Flame Fire]?”

”…You’ll find out in a bit.”

Daoist Qing Yan flicked a glance at Fatty Jia, and even Fang Yu could tell that look carried a hint of warning.

To make Daoist Qing Yan, who’d been approachable and kind the whole way, show that kind of expression, Fatty Jia had clearly managed to annoy her a bit.

Fang Yu snickered to himself. He hadn’t liked Fatty Jia much from the start, and now that he saw him offend Daoist Qing Yan, of course he was gloating.

”Hyah!”

As the horses’ hooves rang out, Fang Yu and the others immediately followed.

This time, Daoist Qing Yan obviously slowed down quite a bit; she wasn’t sprinting at full speed, making it easier for everyone to close ranks and ride closer together.

Fang Yu figured she must be taking into account that they’d need to deal with the Bone-Scraping Wind later, so the closer they clustered, the more convenient it would be.

Otherwise, like back in Qiu Ni Forest, when the line got stretched out so long that they could barely see the leader’s shadow from the tail end, if the Bone-Scraping Wind hit, they wouldn’t even make it in time to seek shelter.

Thud thud thud!

The sound of hooves, which had been pounding over soft earth, turned a bit dull, as if they were striking frozen ground.

At the same time, when Fang Yu looked ahead, he saw the scenery gradually being coated in silver—it was the kind of scene you would only see in winter.

Even though they’d eased off the pace, the Black-footed Horses were still fast, and this half-transition landscape was quickly replaced by a proper snowy vista.

Clusters of weeds frozen into Ice Crystals, rows of snow-covered trees clad in silver, even his breath came out laced with chill.

His Black-footed Horse, though, seemed barely affected. Its breath was still coming out as pitch-black clouds of Qi, and despite its hooves pounding over the slick frozen ground, it moved as if on level earth, hardly losing any speed.

No wonder the gatekeeper had done his homework ahead of time and prepared such top-grade mounts. Even in a place this harsh, they could perform like this.

Fang Yu was starting to really appreciate this Black-footed Horse with its T1-tier demon-mount pedigree—he was liking it more with every stride.

”We’ve already entered the Northern Cold Lake’s territory. Everyone, stay close.”

Daoist Qing Yan finished speaking and didn’t pause at all, continuing to lead the charge straight into the ice and snow ahead.

Fang Yu and the others immediately followed, and the howling wind slammed into them head-on.

The icy wind whistled past, making Fang Yu feel much more awake.

The team thundered forward, the sound of hooves very conspicuous in this frozen world.

Rustle rustle rustle—

Fang Yu could hear something stirring nearby, a sound that hovered somewhere between near and far, tailing along behind the group.

If the team let the Black-footed Horses run flat out, they might be able to shake off whoever was secretly following them. But at their current speed, it wasn’t very realistic to lose their trackers.

Fang Yu glanced over at Feng Yahu beside him.

Perhaps because of what had happened in Qiu Ni Forest, that Old Witch clearly preferred to ride a bit closer to his side within the group.