354 Frozen Thoughts (1/2)

The tunnel that Raven chose had an upward slope. He continued walking until he eventually reached the end, arriving at another open space and seeing five more tunnels.

Raven chose the middle tunnel and found himself on an upward slope once more. He once again ended up at an open space with five more tunnels but this time, something was different.

*Whew*

As Raven exhaled, he saw that his breath had turned into white mist as soon as it left his mouth. He wasn't bothered by the coldness of this place at first but as he moved from room to room, the temperature is constantly dropping.

This scenario occurred five more times until the moment Raven was expecting, finally arrived.

*Rumble*

The whole tomb trembled, snowflakes fell from the ceiling and cracks started appearing on the floor. Raven sighed and watched how his breath turned into white mist. He then shook his head and sat on his knees.

The rumbling around him intensified but instead of searching for a safe place to hide, Raven decided to remain calm since he already had an idea of what's going to happen. He took out an hourglass and placed it beside him. He then closed his eyes and waited for the moment to come.

*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*

Out of nowhere, the winds inside the tomb kicked in and the temperature started dropping at a dangerous pace. Raven dropped all of his defenses down and allowed the winds to assault his entire being.

While it doesn't make sense why would a fearsome gale of frost occur inside a closed space, no one's in the position to question it since he's also intruding the tomb of an Emperor.

The freezing winds blew non-stop, and Raven did nothing to protect himself from it. His body instinctively shivered as he felt the biting cold assaulting his body. He sank into a deep meditation and let everything happen naturally.

As time went on, Raven's body was freezing in a visible pace. Frost started accumulating on his body and his complexion was turning paler and paler. Eventually, he was completely frozen from head to toe. His heart stopped beating and his blood was completely frozen solid. Any human touch would literally cause him to become snowflakes, that's how vulnerable he is right now. Eventually the freezing winds stopped and everything sank back into silence, only there's one more ice sculpture inside the tomb.

It was safe to say that Raven's in a cryostasis right now. He's not really dead, but he absolutely could not move or even defend himself right now.

With the permission from the Ice Emperor himself, the Everlasting Snow Sect placed an Ascension Platform in this tomb, giving anyone who comes here a chance to join their sect should the pass a certain trial.

Once a day inside the tomb, an ancient art will be casted. This art will cause everything inside to be frozen from inside out. This Ancient Art is named Breath of Absolute Frost, and is one of the most prized possession of the sect.

This art is not meant to kill any trial challenger, it is a test. This art will freeze them for a period of time, which depends on how long they have stayed inside the tomb. After the Freezing Period is over, the tomb will enter a Thawing State, and this is when the trial challenger will be thawed and would be able to move once again.

The Breath of Absolute Frost is not meant to be resisted. It doesn't matter how much resisting a trial challenger does, the breath won't stop until they're frozen. Resisting will only cause them to be exhausted since they will just be delaying the inevitable, plus their are also taking risk of actually dying since exhaustion will cause them to become unconscious, and once they embraced the sweet touch of sleep, they'll never wake up.

Staying active inside the tomb for one day to one week, will cause them to be frozen by the art for a whole day. One week to less than a month, they'll be frozen for an entire week. More than a month to less than three months, they'll be frozen for two weeks. More than three months to less than six, they'll be frozen for an entire month. More than six months to less than a year, they'll be frozen for two months.

Staying active for more than one year inside the tomb, will cause the challenger to be frozen for six months straight.

Which means that Raven could move just fine for a whole day, but once the day is over he'll freeze. He then had to wait until he's thawed to move again, this is the cycle for the first week. Next week, he'll be able to move for a whole day, then freeze for an entire week, wait until he's thawed and move again.