The next morning, at the supply camp's management office.

The fat manager in charge of registration didn't even lift his eyelids, casually swiping Su Ming's token.

"Warehouse Bing cleanup completed. Fifty Military Merit points have been credited. Next."

Su Ming received the token with both hands, a humble smile hanging on his face. "Thank you, Manager."

He turned and walked out, his steps light and brisk.

"Is this kid an idiot?" The fat manager glanced at Su Ming's retreating back, muttering to the attendant beside him. "Picking through trash for seven days, only got fifty Military Merit points, and he's as happy as if he found treasure."

Su Ming walked out the door, hearing the discussion behind him, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing even wider.

Sunlight spilled onto the mottled city wall of Iron Wall Pass, somewhat glaring.

He squinted, looking at the towering formation pagoda piercing the clouds in the distance.

Only he himself knew that the youth who had been picking through the garbage heap had, last night, already grasped in his hand a thread capable of prying open the fate of this mighty fortress.

...

At midnight, Iron Wall Pass lay prostrate in the darkness of the Northern Border.

This was the "Celestial Pivot Position - Mystic Ice Platform," the formation core farthest from the heavens and with the most intense cold energy within the entire mountain-protecting grand formation.

Underfoot, the Mystic Iron floor tiles were inscribed with formation patterns that were no longer the common crimson or golden yellow, but shimmered with a ghostly blue glow, almost sickly pale.

That glow was not static, but pulsed like breathing, contracting and expanding in sync with the twinkling of the stars in the sky.

Su Ming tightened the fur at his collar, exhaling a white breath.

The white breath had just left his mouth by three inches before transforming into fine ice crystals, falling onto the formation plate with a "shasha" sound.

"This damn place, you'd need to bring a stick to knock it free even to take a piss."

In his Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu huddled his neck, grumbling.

Su Ming didn't respond, his gaze fixed intently on a secondary node beneath his feet.

It was the diversion channel of the "Ice Condensation Formation."

In theory, this place should maintain a constant flow of liquid spiritual energy year-round, channeling excess cold, baleful energy out of the formation. But at this moment, a thick layer of white frost had formed at the bend of that diversion channel. The originally smooth flow of spiritual energy, reaching this point, had no choice but to become sluggish and slow, emitting a faint "crack crack" sound.

If left unattended, within three hours, this node would overload due to blockage, triggering a chain reaction.

"Blocking is inferior to guiding."

Su Ming crouched down, not pulling out a fire talisman to forcefully roast it like a conventional Formation Master would. Using fire in such an extreme cold place was asking for death—under the drastic temperature change, the embrittled formation foundation would instantly shatter.

He extended the index finger of his right hand, its tip not touching the layer of frost, but hovering half an inch above it.

Within the Qihai of his Dantian, that pool of dark blue heavy water spiritual liquid slowly rotated.

An extremely fine, extremely resilient strand of water-attributed spiritual energy flowed out along his fingertip.

That strand of energy was like a nimble little snake, silently burrowing into the cracks of the white frost.

Not to melt it, but to "assimilate."

Su Ming closed his eyes, sensing the internal texture of the hard ice layer.

Under the permeation of the "Like Water Art," the originally rigid ice crystal structure began to loosen, enveloped and disassembled by that highly resilient water spiritual energy, ultimately transforming into a semi-fluid mixture of ice and water that slid down along the diversion channel.

"Splash—"

An extremely faint sound of flowing water rang out. The previously sluggish formation node instantly cleared, the ghostly blue light becoming stable and bright once more.

"Interesting."

A hoarse voice came from behind, sounding like two pieces of coarse sandpaper rubbing together.

Su Ming turned his head and saw an old soldier wrapped in a thick bear-skin coat leaning against a wind-sheltering stone pillar, holding a chipped wine pot in his hand.

This old soldier's face was covered with purplish-red scars left by frostbite. His left eye was ash-white, clearly lost on the battlefield. He was the veteran night watchman on duty with Su Ming tonight, surnamed Liu. Everyone called him Old Liu.

"Most people, when they come up and see this ice lump, their first reaction is to roast it with fire or chip at it with a chisel." Old Liu took a swig of strong liquor, his one good right eye squinting slightly as he examined Su Ming's finger. "Using water to dissolve ice, that kind of skill, only you youngsters from the sects can think of it. Though troublesome, it doesn't damage the formation foundation."

"You flatter me, Senior." Su Ming stood up, brushing the ice fragments from his clothes. "This junior's spiritual root leans towards water, and this is the only clumsy method I know."

"Clumsy methods are good." Old Liu grinned, revealing a mouthful of broken, yellow teeth. "Here at Iron Wall Pass, clever methods often get you killed quickly. It's the clumsy ones that let a man live a few more days."

Having said that, he paid Su Ming no further mind, shrinking back into the shadow behind the stone pillar, continuing to drink his wine intermittently.

Su Ming also didn't say more, turning and walking back to his main control position.

He sat down cross-legged. Just as he was about to take advantage of this rare high-level formation core environment to contemplate the "Star Attraction Lines" he had obtained from the bronze fragment, the modified "warning plate" tucked at his waist suddenly vibrated faintly.

The vibration was extremely slight. If Su Ming hadn't been maintaining the "observation micro state," he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Hmm?"

Su Ming's pupils contracted slightly.

The water ripple patterns on the warning plate were rippling towards the northwest direction.

No spiritual energy fluctuations?

In an instant, hundreds of types of demon beast data from the Iron Wall Pass compendium flashed through Su Ming's mind, finally settling on one creature.

Frostwing Demon Bat.

This type of demon beast was born in the extreme cold ice caves of the Northern Border. Its wings were made of translucent cartilage and ice membranes, allowing for completely silent flight and perfect camouflage within the night and cold winds. They loved to ambush formation cores at midnight, and the ice spikes they spewed could instantly pierce through three layers of leather armor.

"Old Liu!"

Su Ming called out in a low voice. The sound wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable chill.

The old soldier in the shadows snapped his eyes open. The original dullness in his single eye instantly vanished, replaced by a wolf-like alertness.

He didn't ask why, immediately throwing away the wine pot, drawing the standard-issue long knife stuck in the snow with a backhanded motion. With a rolling motion, he hid behind a piece of cover.

Just as he concealed himself.

"Whoosh— whoosh— whoosh—"

Sharp, piercing sounds of something cutting through the air suddenly tore through the silence of the night.

Dozens of ice spikes, thick as a child's arm, poured down from the pitch-black night sky like a torrential rain, smashing violently onto the Mystic Ice Platform.

"Clang clang dang dang!"

The ice spikes struck the Mystic Iron ground, exploding into countless shards. Two of them landed precisely where Su Ming had been standing moments before, embedding three inches into the stone, their tail feathers still trembling violently.

"Squeak—!"

Immediately after, a grating, teeth-aching shriek sounded.

Over twenty grayish-white shadows dove down from the night sky. Using the Starlight as cover, they plunged directly towards the operating formation core.