The sudden closeness made Ji Yutang’s heart skip a beat, followed by a rush of embarrassment and annoyance.
She instinctively reached out to push Li Jingyu away, but the other moved even faster, pulling back in the blink of an eye and raising her eyebrows at her.
Ji Yutang was left with nowhere to vent her frustration, clutching the handkerchief tightly and glaring angrily at Li Jingyu before turning her head away, looking instead toward the “coast.”
Where the sea met the sky, there was nothing but rolling waves and endless white snow.
Only when they truly got close to the shore did the vague outline of towering city walls come into view.
Climbing out of the “round boat,” Ji Yutang set both feet on the snowy ground and let out a long breath.
The biting wind howled past, sharp as a blade; if she hadn’t already built her foundation, she might not have been able to withstand the fierce gales of this snowy plain.
“There’s a city up ahead.
That should be Xuanming City, where the human cultivators live.” Ji Yutang pulled a tattered map from her sleeve, frowning as she spoke.
The map was crude, and the endless white snow offered no landmarks.
The only reason she could say this was because there was only one human city in the North Sea, a resting place for passing cultivators.
As for the Beihai Demon Cultivators, they could show up anywhere.
Aside from the Dragon Palace of the dragon clan, what other buildings could there be?
“Let’s go check it out, then.” Li Jingyu crossed her arms, the smile at the corner of her lips calm and indifferent.
In a place crawling with demons, sticking together with fellow human cultivators was the obvious choice.
Ji Yutang gazed into the distance for a while, then started walking forward.
The city walls looked close from afar, but in reality, there was still a long way to go.
The two of them trudged through the snow for more than half an hour before finally reaching the city gates.
Staring at the three bold characters “Xuanming City,” Ji Yutang let out a long breath, but before she could approach the moat, a barrier blocked her way.
“Who comes to my Xuanming City?” A few breaths later, the projection of a Daoist appeared in front of Ji Yutang.
Ji Yutang glanced at Li Jingyu, who had no intention of speaking, then raised her sleeve and bowed.
“The two of us have come from Jiuzhou, hoping to train in Xuanming City of the North Sea.”
The Daoist gave Ji Yutang a sidelong look and tossed a jade slip into her hand, saying coldly, “These are the rules of Xuanming City.
Read them yourselves.” With that, he didn’t spare them another glance and his image faded away.
Ji Yutang was filled with suspicion as she focused on the jade slip, and soon a string of words appeared before her eyes.
Her expression grew increasingly grim.
Just as Li Jingyu was about to ask what was going on, Ji Yutang suddenly said, “The Beihai Demon Cultivators have gone mad.
Xuanming City has new rules—any cultivator entering the city must hand over a token to prove they have no ties to the Beihai Demon Cultivators.” There were plenty of Beihai Demon Cultivators that could serve as such a token, but they either had achieved the Dao of immortality themselves or had powerful backers.
Killing one would only bring endless trouble.
Li Jingyu thought for a moment, then replied, “Then let’s not enter Xuanming City.”
Ji Yutang frowned.
“The Beihai Demon Cultivators were already dangerous, and now that they’ve gone mad, isn’t that even scarier?”
Li Jingyu raised an eyebrow.
“So what do you plan to do?”
Ji Yutang said, “I need external medicines for my dragon cultivation.
Whether or not I have a token, I’ll have to face them anyway.” She looked calmly at Li Jingyu and added, “You came to the North Sea for your own reasons, didn’t you? Now that we’ve arrived, this is a good place to part ways.”
Li Jingyu stared steadily at Ji Yutang, not responding.
The water technique she practiced was called “Primordial Abyssal Divine Water,” a Tai Shang lineage technique.
To advance it further, she needed to combine Xuanming Water, Bodhi Pure Water, and Three Light Divine Water.
She had come to the North Sea to obtain Xuanming Water, but there was no rush.
“With things so uncertain, having another person means more help.” She blinked and smiled.
“There’s no need for us to be so distant.
We can help each other out.”
Ji Yutang scoffed inwardly, though her face showed nothing.
She kept reminding herself not to trust her “fiancée’s” closeness again, or she’d just end up hurt once more.
But as long as she kept her heart guarded, she could get close to her “fiancée”—to get close, to humiliate her, and finally get her revenge.
She hid the emotions in her eyes and pointed to the Chi Dragon listed in the register.
“One of the external medicines.”
Most of the external medicines required for the “True Dragon Transformation Scripture” were the bloodlines of the dragon clan.
Using the true blood of her own kind would be even better, but true dragons were so rare they couldn’t withstand such brutal slaughter.
So the dragon clan had set a rule: no using their own kind for alchemy, or all Jiuzhou dragons would hunt the offender down.
But for those bloodlines that hadn’t become true dragons, no one cared.
“This dragon technique is pretty vicious.” Li Jingyu glanced at Ji Yutang.
“Aren’t you afraid of falling into the demonic path?”
“I cultivate the Moral Dragon Aspect.” Ji Yutang met Li Jingyu’s gaze and said slowly, “With the Daode Heavenly Book suppressing the dragon, I’m not afraid of the dragon nature rebounding.”
“I see.” Li Jingyu smiled and didn’t bring up the Daode Heavenly Book again.
Ji Yutang stared at her for a long time, trying not to miss any subtle change in her expression, but there was no reaction as she’d expected.
Wasn’t she after the Daode Heavenly Book? Ji Yutang wondered, but soon pushed the thought aside.
The Chi Dragon was one of the dragon breeds, closer to a true dragon than a serpent or flood dragon.
The Chi Dragon listed in the jade slip called himself “Li Dui Zhenren” and lived in the Icefield Snow Absolute Valley, one of the troublemaking evil dragons.
His cultivation was about the same as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, not hard to deal with, but he was backed by the Dragon Palace, so even though he caused trouble, few dared to go after him.
The Dragon Palace might be chaotic, but that didn’t mean all the true dragons were dead.
Outside Snow Absolute Valley, snowflakes fell thick as fists.
At that moment, two young Daoists were running through the falling snow, moving so fast they looked like a white rainbow piercing the curtain of snow.
Blinding white light radiated from their bodies, and before the demon cultivators lurking below could react, they were pierced through, leaving only a heavy scent of blood to be scattered by the cold wind.
Half an hour later.
Ji Yutang and Li Jingyu appeared outside Snow Absolute Valley, ready for a fight with demon cultivators, but to their surprise, they didn’t encounter any along the way.
Instead, the ground was stained with fresh blood, as if a battle had just taken place.
“These bloodstains look fresh.
Whatever happened, it wasn’t long ago.” Ji Yutang glanced at Li Jingyu and frowned.
“Did we get here too late? Did someone beat us to it?”
Li Jingyu frowned, noticing traces of Tai Shang techniques in the wounds on the demon beasts.
Who could it be? She thought for a moment, then turned to Ji Yutang.
“Should we still go in and take a look?”
Ji Yutang looked up at the towering ice spires and nodded.
“Let’s go.”
