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, but the other person was quicker, retreating in the blink of an eye and raising an eyebrow at her.
Ji Yutang, with nowhere to vent her frustration, tightly clutched the handkerchief and glared at Li Jingyu before turning her head away to look towards the “coast.”
The sea and sky met, and apart from the surging waves, there was only a vast expanse of white snow.
It wasn’t until they got closer to the shore that the towering city walls’ vague outline became visible.
Climbing out of the “round boat,” Ji Yutang set her feet on the snowy ground and let out a long breath.
The biting wind howled like a blade, and if she hadn’t built her foundation, she might not have been able to withstand the fierce winds of this snowy plain.
“There’s a city ahead, it should be Xuanming City where the human cultivators reside,” Ji Yutang said, pulling out a tattered map from her sleeve.
The map was quite simple, with no reference points in the vast snowy plain.
She said this because there was only one human city in the North Sea for traveling cultivators to rest.
As for the Beihai Demon Cultivators, they could appear anywhere, except for the Dragon Palace city of the dragon clan, there were no other structures.
“Let’s go take a look,” Li Jingyu said, crossing her arms with a faint smile.
In a place where demon clans roamed, finding fellow human cultivators to band together was a wise choice.
Ji Yutang gazed into the distance for a moment before stepping forward.
The city walls seemed close in view but were actually still a distance away.
The two walked in the snow for over half an hour before finally reaching the city outskirts.
Looking at the three large characters “Xuanming City,” Ji Yutang let out a long breath, but before they could approach the moat, they were stopped by a barrier.
“Who comes to my Xuanming City?”
A few moments later, the projection of a Daoist appeared in front of Ji Yutang.
Ji Yutang glanced at Li Jingyu, who didn’t intend to speak, and raised her sleeve in a salute, saying, “We come from Jiuzhou, seeking to train in the North Sea’s Xuanming City.”
The Daoist gave Ji Yutang a glance and tossed a jade slip into her hand, saying indifferently, “These are the rules of my Xuanming City, see for yourselves.”
With that, he didn’t look at Ji Yutang again and dissipated his projection.
Ji Yutang was puzzled and focused on the jade slip, soon seeing a string of text appear before her eyes.
Her expression gradually turned grim.
Just as Li Jingyu was about to ask what was going on, she suddenly said, “The Beihai Demon Cultivators have gone mad, and Xuanming City has new rules.
Any cultivator entering the city must submit proof that they have no ties to the Beihai Demon Cultivators.”
There were many Beihai Demon Cultivators that could serve as proof, but they either had achieved human-immortal status or were backed by powerful beings, and killing them would bring endless trouble.
Li Jingyu thought for a moment and replied, “Then we won’t enter Xuanming City.”
Ji Yutang frowned, “The Beihai Demon Cultivators already represent danger, and now that they’re mad, isn’t it even more terrifying?”
Li Jingyu raised an eyebrow, “So what do you plan to do?”
Ji Yutang said, “I have external medicine for my dragon cultivation, whether or not there’s proof, I’ll face it.”
She calmly looked at Li Jingyu and added, “Didn’t you come to the North Sea for your own matters?
Now that we’ve reached the destination, we can part ways here.”
Li Jingyu stared at Ji Yutang without responding.
Her water cultivation method, fully named “Primordial Abyssal Divine Water,” was a technique of the Tai Shang lineage.
To advance it further, she needed to combine Xuanming Water, Bodhi Pure Water, and Three Light Divine Water.
She came to the North Sea to obtain Xuanming Water, but it wasn’t urgent.
“The situation is unclear now, having one more person is one more help,” she blinked and smiled, “There’s no need for us to be so distant, we can support each other.”
Ji Yutang secretly scoffed but didn’t show it on her face.
She kept reminding herself not to trust the “fiancée’s” closeness again, or it might end in another big blow.
But when she held her ground, she could approach the “fiancée,” to get close to her, to humiliate her, to avenge past grievances.
She hid the emotions in her eyes and pointed to the Chi Dragon on the list, “One of the external medicines.”
The “True Dragon Transformation Scripture” required external medicines mostly from dragon bloodlines.
Using the true dragon’s essence blood was better, but true dragons were rare and couldn’t withstand such brutal slaughter.
So, the dragon clan established a rule that no one could use their kind for medicine, and violators would be attacked by all Jiuzhou dragon breeds.
However, they didn’t care about those who hadn’t transformed into true dragons.
“This dragon cultivation has a lot of killing intent,” Li Jingyu glanced at Ji Yutang and added, “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’s backlash.”
“I see,” Li Jingyu smiled and didn’t mention the Daode Heavenly Book again.
Ji Yutang stared at her for a long time, not wanting to miss any subtle changes in her expression, but there was no reaction as she expected.
Was it not for the Daode Heavenly Book?
Ji Yutang wondered, her gaze shifting, quickly dismissing the thought.
Chi Dragon was one of the dragon breeds, closer to true dragons than snake jiao.
The Chi Dragon listed in the jade slip called himself “Li Dui True Person,” residing in the Icefield Snow Absolute Valley, one of the troublemaking dragons.
His cultivation level was equivalent to a foundation-building cultivator, not difficult to deal with, but behind him was the Dragon Palace’s influence, so even though he caused trouble, few targeted him.
The Dragon Palace was chaotic, but it didn’t mean all true dragons were extinct.
Outside Snow Absolute Valley, snowflakes fell like a battle.
At this moment, two young Daoists were running through the flying snow, moving so fast they seemed like a white rainbow cutting through the snow curtain.
Blinding white light emanated from them, piercing through the lurking demon cultivators below before they could react, leaving only a strong scent of blood dispersed by the cold wind.
Half an hour later.
Ji Yutang and Li Jingyu appeared outside Snow Absolute Valley, prepared for a fight with demon cultivators, but surprisingly encountered none, only finding traces of blood on the ground, as if a battle had taken place.
“This blood looks fresh, it happened not long ago,” Ji Yutang glanced at Li Jingyu and frowned, “Did we arrive too late, and someone beat us to it?”
Li Jingyu furrowed her brows, recognizing traces of Tai Shang lineage techniques on the wounds of the demon beasts.
Who could it be?
She pondered for a moment and turned to Ji Yutang, “Do you still want to go take a look?”
Ji Yutang looked up at the towering ice spikes and nodded, “Let’s go.”
