The gates themselves were made of pure sculpted ice. Portraying statues of dragons and phoenixes and demonic figures. All reaching to the center of the gate where there was a kiln that had a burning flame in it.
The entire gate looked like a piece of sculpted art that held a story behind it. And just as I got close enough the gate opened up allowing me to enter into the palace.
The inside of the palace was mostly made of pure ice. With the exception of some pieces of furniture that had frozen over.
Rotten carpets and broken chairs and stools lay all over the place.
The main hall leading forward had several dozen ice statues lined up perfectly. And taking a closer look you could see that the statues were the only thing that seemed to not be affected by the passage of time.
I didn't try and move forward as this is the most obvious of traps.
"Hello!"
I heard, which frankly almost freaked me out. How did someone sneak up behind me without me even realizing.
I slowly turned to see a young man standing a safe distance from me.
"I thought I'd be the first to get here. You must be the owner of that thing outside," He said.
"And what if I was?" I asked.
"Oh, nothing really, just that it was my first time seeing something like that. What was that, a ship? One that can fly?"
"What would that information gain you?"
"Ah, I see, I was rude then. My name is Law Tang, you can call me Law,"
"Call me Shen," I replied and turned to the hallway.
"You seem to be in a pickle, after all, not being allowed to use your own Qi is annoying," he said as he tried to move through the hall.
Just as he was about to take a step forward I grabbed him by the scruff of his clothes and pulled him back.
Several spears shot right through the place he was in a moment ago. If I hadn't pulled him back, he would have died there and then.
The look on his face was that of surprise at first then he turned and said, "You knew about that trap?"
"That does not look like the reaction of someone who just escaped death..." I said.
"Ah, it's because something like that wouldn't have killed me, but thank you for the assistance. Still, I'm surprised that there is a trap like that here."
"Why would you think that, this is a Black Flag mission, and unless my understanding is skewed I believe it is the hardest of the bunch," I said.
"Yes, but I thought that we'll get some sort of trial or difficult challenge at the end of this palace not at the start... and without using Qi I'd feel bad for other cultivators. They'll probably all die at this step," he said.
"You speak as if traps are of no consequence or bother to you," I said.
"That's because I'm different!" he said. Flashing me a grin that almost had me gag.
I frowned at the man, "If I didn't pull you back a second ago, you would have died, is that what you call luck?"
"It is indeed. But I'm a rather lucky man! The whole world seems to not want me to die for some reason, so no matter how difficult a situation or how tough, always something came up and solved it. Even when I was young."
'Seems like he is infected with the Main Character syndrome.'
"I don't really care, the mission says to clear the ice palace," he said as he held his bracelet forward. "So as long as we're both here and clear whatever hurdle, I'll be able to pass this test."
"Remember your words then," I said as I headed first.
I wasn't really worried about being backstabbed. It is indeed risky to leave a man who I can't even sense behind my back, however, as long as my Qi is still operating and protecting my body, I can't be affected by whatever he tries since he is in a 'mortal' state right now.
"Your ability to understand ice law is impressive," I said as I moved forward.
"What makes you say so?" he asked.
"The fact that your entire presence feels like a piece of ice. And that you're not currently freezing over."
"Oh, yeah, well, I can also attribute that to luck," he said.
"I see."
Soon we arrived to a wide opening inside the palace. It was a circular room that immediately closed on us the moment we were inside.
"I don't like this," I said as I looked around. There was nowhere to go or move. And in the center of the room was a large mirror made of ice.
Our reflections on it seemed a bit distorted as they didn't have any faces.
"You see that?" he said.
"I do have eyes," I replied. But something was different from our reflection.
I looked at Law, who was pointing forward at the mirror, but his reflection wasn't. No, his reflection began moving then was slamming against the other side of the mirror until it got out.
"I guess it's obvious what we should do," he said as his reflection charged at him.
The two of them began battling while I waited for my own reflection to come out.
"That's cheating!" he said as his reflection began using Qi based skills while he was dodging.
"That's one of my skills! Why are you using it!" he said as he ducked under an ice sword swing.
I frowned, if the reflections have our abilities...
I turned to see my reflection come out of the mirror. But just as it took a few steps forward. The reflection began shuddering and shaking, then suddenly it just melted over in a pool of dripping poison.
My bracelet immediately shined, "You have succeeded in clearing the second part of the trial, please proceed forward."
This was obvious. My Body's composition isn't simple. And it is being held by my own Soul. A body like mine without a powerful soul will definitely succumb to the poisons inside it.
The Poison God's Arts aren't arts for the body alone, they also help improve one's soul and make it a part of the art itself. One cannot function without the other. It is why I'm able to easily possess my second Avatar that also had destroyed meridians, since I'm using my own soul to supplement it.
If a clone of my body were to exist it also needs to have its meridian shattered and its whole cultivation started from scratch and needs a Poison Soul like mine to work. Recreating the body without the soul is nothing but a recipe for disaster.
Law looked at me surprised at what just happened. And just as he was about to speak, his reflection went for a wide sword stab. That second of hesitation was all it took for a man to lose his life.
But not in this case.
By some randomness, by some weird and strange stroke of fate, while the reflection was swinging the sword, it managed to trip itself. And not only did it trip itself it managed to land on the tip of the sword, piercing its own skull.
"Oh, I was wondering when my luck was going to kick in," he smirked at me as he showed me his bracelet also revealing that he passed this part.