Ice Emperor Hai Bo Dong

After contacting the Nalan Family shop in Mo City, we followed the Shop Manager through the city. After several twists and turns, we stopped before a store called "Ancient Map."

I glanced at the entrance, where four or five burly men stood with fierce expressions. One look was enough for me to determine that they were guards.

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't remember that old guy hiring guards.

Shaking my head, I took Yun Yun, Mo Wang, and the Mo City Shop Manager into the store first. The interior was plainly decorated, yet it carried a touch of antique elegance.

The soft glow of two Moonlight Stones illuminated the small shop clearly. Wooden shelves lined both sides, looking rather old and riddled with wormholes.

Maps were piled atop the shelves—old and new, torn and tattered—all heaped together in complete disorder. No wonder business was so slow; there were only four customers, three men and one woman, in the store.

These four customers did not seem to be here to buy maps either. They were all gathered before the counter, watching an old man draw a map.

I shook my head. Better handle the important matter first—I remembered that there was a fragment of the "Purifying Lotus Demon Fire" map here?

After searching through the shelves for quite some time, I looked at the fragment in my hand with delight. After carefully comparing it to my memories, I found it identical to the fragment in my Ring of Holding. It really was a fragment of the "Purifying Lotus Demon Fire" map!

I forcibly restrained my smile, though my hand still could not help gently stroking the map fragment. Still, I did not dare simply stuff it into my Ring of Holding. Who knew whether that old man was watching?

Holding the fragment, I approached the counter. The old man's beard and hair were completely white, yet his withered hands remained steady and strong.

His back was hunched, and his seemingly cloudy eyes were fixed intently on the paper atop the counter. Stroke by stroke, he drew the twisting lines of a map.

"What a pity, what a pity. Has a hero grown old? A hero has indeed grown old!"

With my hands behind my back, I let out a long, leisurely sigh.

A mighty Dou Emperor had surely lived a life of magnificent highs and lows. Yet who could have imagined that this Dou Emperor would lose his dignity in his twilight years and come to this tiny Mo City to make a living selling maps?

"Master Ice does not like to be disturbed while drawing maps, so please leave."

After saying that, I stared directly at Hai Bo Dong, wanting to see his reaction. Yet before Hai Bo Dong could speak, the woman in front of me spoke first.

She wore a fitted crimson dress, exquisitely crafted and luxurious enough to suggest an impressive background. Turning around, she frowned slightly with her willow-leaf brows and looked at me with displeasure from her rather handsome face.

Then, while the other three men swept their gazes over the woman's seductive, curvaceous figure, their eyes revealing admiration and lust, they cracked their knuckles and surrounded me with malicious smiles.

"Kid, didn't you hear Ling Lin? Get the hell out already!"

I froze for a moment, glanced at the three men before me, and shook my head. Thinking that simps deserved no good end, I gave the Shop Manager a meaningful look.

The Shop Manager understood and stepped forward, producing a token with a genial smile. "I am the Shop Manager of the Nalan Family shop in Mo City. This is our Young Master."

"Little ones, no matter who you are or what background you have, I advise you... not to bring trouble upon your families."

"The... the Nalan Family..."

The three men's expressions changed drastically as they stared helplessly at the woman. They were merely young masters from minor families; faced with a colossus like the Nalan Family, they had no idea how to respond.

The woman was surprised as well, but her background was clearly superior to those of the three men, and she had seen more of the world.

She quickly regained her composure, sized me up twice, and snorted. Raising her chin proudly and revealing a stretch of snow-white neck, she said, "The Nalan Family? Nalan Yanran and I are good friends too. There are plenty of young masters in the Nalan Family. Which one are you?"

Yanran Jie's good friend?

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. She was quite pretty. Under normal circumstances, I might have been interested in chatting with her, but I was handling important business now. Where would I find the time to entertain her?

I turned toward Hai Bo Dong. The old man had stopped drawing maps and was looking at me, but his gaze was utterly indifferent, as though he were looking at some random passerby.

A brilliant smile quietly appeared on my face. I strode forward, bowed, and said, "Nalan Ye, grandson of Nalan Tie of the Nalan Family, pays his respects to Senior."

Hai Bo Dong lifted his eyelids, thought for a moment, smacked his lips, and said, "Nalan Tie? Don't remember him..."

The smile on my face stiffened. Nalan Tie was my biological grandfather, a Seven Star Dou Ling and a powerful expert renowned throughout the Gamma Empire.

But before this old guy, he was probably just an insignificant nobody unworthy of remembering...

My face felt a little awkward. Turning to glance at the three men and one woman, I shouted, "Mo Wang, escort these four little ones out. I have important matters to discuss with Senior!"

The woman named Ling Lin was about to say something, but Mo Wang's Da Dou Shi pressure bore down on her. Her face paled, and she immediately dared not speak further, hurriedly leading the others out of the store.

Before leaving, however, she turned back and glared fiercely at me. "Nalan Ye, right? I'll remember you. Hmph, I'll definitely tell Yanran Jie about what happened today!"

I shrugged, not caring in the slightest. I turned and invited Yun Yun, who had been quietly watching from the side, over. Pointing at Hai Bo Dong, I smiled. "Senior, do you know who this elder is?"

Yun Yun's eyes shifted as she looked at Hai Bo Dong. She had probably guessed vaguely. I laughed heartily and said, "That's right, Senior. This is the Ice Emperor who once shook the land—Senior Hai Bo Dong!"

Yun Yun's expression turned solemn. After carefully examining the unremarkable old man before her, she bowed and said, "Yun Yun greets Senior Ice Emperor."

"So it is the Yun Lan Sect Master..."

Although Hai Bo Dong had secluded himself here, he knew who the current Yun Lan Sect Master was. He turned to Yun Yun, and his gaze deepened.

He seemed to be looking at Yun Yun, but his eyes had long since drifted elsewhere. Perhaps through Yun Yun, they had crossed twenty years of time and landed upon the era when he had been at his most glorious!

His expression shifted repeatedly. Only after a long while did he let out a quiet sigh and ask, "Yun Shan... is that old guy well these days?"

Yun Yun nodded. "Thank you for your concern, Senior Ice Emperor. My master is well."

"Well?"

Hai Bo Dong repeated the words, then burst into wild laughter, his face almost crazed as he cursed, "So that means that old guy never broke through to Dou Zong?"

"Back then, that old bastard acted so arrogantly, but in the end, even at his age, he is still trapped at the Dou Emperor realm, unable to break through!"

Yun Yun's expression darkened somewhat as she said softly, "Senior, how could Dou Zong be so easy to break through into?"

But Hai Bo Dong had no intention of saying more to Yun Yun. After thoroughly mocking Yun Shan, he turned directly toward me, his expression hardening as he said coldly, "Little brat, this old man has lived in seclusion here for over twenty years, yet today you have disturbed me. You... what is the purpose of your visit?"

Faced with a Dou Emperor's fury, I did not care in the least. Spreading my hands, I looked straight into Hai Bo Dong's eyes and chuckled. "Senior, I came here for an Exotic Flame—the 'Azure Lotus Core Flame.'"