Door to hell

The serpents spit out a purple liquid that fell on the ice floor and the snow. Upon contact with the snow, nothing happened, but the snow that had made contact with this same liquid was immediately corroded and turned into water, which soon disappeared without leaving a trace.

Seeing this, everyone instantly saw what could have been their fates had they remained in their previous spot.

After settling their breath, Bai Ming's trio remained still on this ice floor.

Meanwhile, Li Tian, Cui Rong, and Si Niang looked at Zi Yan with looks that seemed to say, "It was your bright idea which caused this."

Being subject of these gazes, Zi Yan's face darkened. He had also realized that the cause of this was his fight with the little beasts that had been hiding in the snow. To be more specific, the last one had let out a howl which spread throughout this land.

Everyone had not thought this would bring such danger. This negligence had nearly claimed their lives.

Zi Yan didn't know what to think of anymore. He had already been cautious enough, but death still came knocking on his door.

After a while Si Niang broke the silence.

"It seems they can't pass through the ice."

Although he said this, even he was not truly sure if this was truly the case. In his eyes, the ice was just like the ground they had been walking on. There was nothing special at all.

Had they not passed through this same ice? So why couldn't these serpents pass through it, too?

"I don't think so" Cui Rong rebutted.

Si Niang looked at her, hoping to hear her basing for such a claim.

"I am not sure, but I believe these serpents won't proceed further because of either two things" she added, looking at her clenched fist.

Si Niang still kept his attention glued on her, waiting to hear more.

"One, either this ice really is special in some way…" she said as she lifted her finger from her hand.

"Two, beyond this point, there is a danger lurking in the vicinity or behind these doors that even these serpents don't dare to provoke."

Even though she had said this. She had still withheld a lot of information.

As she said this last sentence, she and everyone else turned to look at the entrance. When they were running, they had not gotten enough time to properly look at this building.

Now that they were looking at it up closely, they couldn't help but wonder who the owner of this residence was. Its appearance was just so grand and imposing. It had a shiny blue surface. In this dark night, it emitted its own light, which shined radiantly and complemented the moonlight.

When they looked through the entrance, they couldn't help but take a few gulps. Given the size of this building, one would expect to see a grand hall and a lofty figure's servant greeting them, but they saw none of that here.

The inside was pitch black. They could not see anything, nor could they tell if there was anyone inside.

Bai Ming had even thought that whoever resided in this place was quite interesting, but seeing this, he couldn't help but think that he had made a misunderstanding about all this. 

Was their perception of reality wrong?

No one could answer this question, nor could they tell where the door led too. Perhaps it led to hell. None of them wanted to recklessly jump into this place, and so everyone just stood there rooted in place.

At this moment, the healer Chi Huo seemed to be caught up staring at the purple liquid that the serpents had spit out. He felt as if he was on the cusp of figuring something out. He kept his focus on the liquid, and soon he felt as if a barrier which had been obstructing him had been broken. He turned to look in the snow plains where the serpents stood.

"Don't tell me…"

He squinted his eyes, searching for the beasts Zi Yan had killed earlier. After searching, he saw one of the beast's corpses, which was a little over three feet away from the serpent's body, but the sight he saw shocked him.

The beast was not even touching the serpent's body, but it was silently disappearing, turning into a putrid liquid composed of bits of flesh. At this point, half of the beast's body had already been corroded away. He quickly notified the rest of the group to take note of this before the evidence disappeared.

After seeing this, Wu Zhengyi nearly screamed. Li Tian had to adjust his hands hold up the sleeping Mu Bai so that he wouldn't fall over. Cui Rong looked at Wu Zhengyi with an annoyed look that seemed to say, "Are you not a man?"

Even though she thought this, she knew that no one in the group would fare well with this.

It looked as if an invisible hand was silently wiping out all traces of the beast's existence, reducing it to rotten meat paste.

Chi Huo started laughing in a crooked manner. He held the hair on his head tightly as if he would pull it out. It was a mess. The rest of the people looked at him as if he were a mad man. It appeared almost as if he had lost his sanity.

Noticing their looks, Chi Huo looked at them with a complex look. He seemed to show pity and helplessness. 

Being looked at like this, Bai Ming and the rest could not understand why this healer was suddenly acting this way. Chi Huo knew they would not notice it unless he explicitly pointed it out. He pointed to the body that was near the serpent's corpse and asked them.

"Do you not see anything familiar about this?"

They did not understand, but they all looked to the beast and tried to see if there was anything that was worth noting. Although the snow obscured their sight, they could still see the characteristics of this formless hand wiping the beast's body.

Now, only a quarter of this beast's full size remained.

Gasp!

Everyone finally noticed something they had missed when they had looked before.

When one looked carefully, they could see the flesh and blood of the beast turn dark red with a hint of purple before melting away. They quickly associated this characteristic to a certain poison they had been trying to cure.