Searching for the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow

Dragon City, beside Earth Dragon Gate's cold spring.

After reaching an agreement with Snow Empress, Xiao Qiang and Snow Empress quickly arrived at Dragon City, where Earth Dragon Gate was located. As one of the two major sects in Dragon City, all it took was a silver coin to find a passerby who could point them in the right direction.

Once they had confirmed the route, a single Simulation Spirit Skill allowed them to enter Earth Dragon Gate unnoticed. After Xiao Qiang entered the sect, he merely used Mental Interference and Psychological Suggestion, and one of Earth Dragon Gate's disciples clearly explained where the sect's cold spring was located.

As for whether that disciple's later behavior might reveal something suspicious and alert Earth Dragon Gate's higher-ups to an intrusion, that was completely outside Xiao Qiang's considerations.

With Snow Empress's strength, let alone Earth Dragon Gate, even if Heavenly Dragon Gate and Earth Dragon Gate joined forces, it would not take her much time to wipe out both sects.

If Xiao Qiang had not wanted to avoid meaningless slaughter, and if he had not worried that Snow Empress appearing before the world would lead to a time-wasting siege, she could have directly forced Earth Dragon Gate's sect master to talk.

"Not bad. This Emperor can indeed sense an ice-attribute heavenly treasure beneath this cold spring. You have done well, human."

Snow Empress soaked her feet in the cold spring, enjoying the relaxation it brought, while Xiao Qiang stood atop a layer of ice and began freezing one vacuum ice sphere after another.

In the original story, Huo Yuhao did not come to this Earth Dragon Gate secret realm until after reaching seven rings. Xiao Qiang only had forty-eighth-level Soul Power now, so he could not hold his breath as long as Huo Yuhao. Before going down, he needed to prepare several hundred ice spheres filled with air, just in case.

After all, once he truly went down there, if he ran out of air for a while, Xiao Qiang could hardly expect Snow Empress to breathe some into him. The current Snow Empress was not the Snow Empress from Legend of the God Realm, and Xiao Qiang's relationship with her had not reached that point either.

Once he felt he had enough oxygen, Xiao Qiang looked at Snow Empress. "Snow Empress, I'm ready here. We can go down now."

After Xiao Qiang spoke, the two of them descended deeper into the cold spring.

The moment he entered the cold spring, Xiao Qiang released his Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul to withstand the increasingly intense chill. After all, in the original story, even seven-ring Huo Yuhao had to rely on his own Martial Soul and spirit skills to endure the cold here. Xiao Qiang, who was only level forty-eight and had not even reached the Five-ring Soul King rank, did not dare to be careless.

After diving to a certain depth, Xiao Qiang released Mental Probe and Mental Share to make up for the darkness at the bottom of the spring.

"Who would have thought that the first time I went diving in my life would be in a place where I can't see my own hand? This really feels awful." Xiao Qiang silently grumbled, then gradually expanded the range of his Mental Probe and saw the blue liquid below.

Without any hesitation, Xiao Qiang took out the tools he had prepared and collected some water from the spring eye. According to the original story, this water was nearly as cold as the cold spring within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Though Xiao Qiang did not know what use it might have later, there was no harm in taking some to keep on hand.

After using up several of the oxygen spheres he had prepared, Xiao Qiang finally found the protruding mechanism.

Thanks to Xiao Qiang's current Spiritual Abyss Realm spiritual power, anything he had seen before could be reviewed again in his mind whenever he wished.

Therefore, Xiao Qiang knew exactly how that mechanism worked. According to the original story, merely moving it required about forty percent of the Soul Power of seventy-fourth-level Huo Yuhao.

Xiao Qiang definitely could not lift such a mechanism right now. Fortunately, Snow Empress was beside him.

"Snow Empress, lift that protruding mechanism upward."

Snow Empress raised a hand and gave it a light tug upward. Xiao Qiang then found the indentation that had suddenly appeared on the stone wall opposite them and pressed it down hard. As faint click-click sounds rang out, Xiao Qiang signaled Snow Empress to press the protrusion back down.

Then the entire stone wall began to tremble slightly. Xiao Qiang and Snow Empress turned around to see a stone door, just large enough for one person to crawl through, quietly opening.

The moment the door opened, a massive wave of freezing air surged toward them. It was only because both Snow Empress and Xiao Qiang possessed Extreme Ice that they could withstand it; otherwise, that chill alone would have been enough to leave someone here forever.

"Snow Empress, the Ice Extreme Divine Crystals and Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow are in there. I don't need to tell you how much to take or how to take it. I won't go in with you. The cold in there is already beyond what I can endure. I'll wait here."

The original story had said that Huo Yuhao would have found the temperature inside the cave difficult to bear back when he first went to the Ice Spirit Cold Spring. At that time, Huo Yuhao was already a Five-ring Soul King, while Xiao Qiang was only a level-forty-eight Soul Ancestor.

Moreover, farther inside was a cold that even seven-ring Soul Sage Huo Yuhao had found difficult to resist. Although this cold was often Schrodinger-like, somewhere between freezing Huo Yuhao and becoming his aid, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

Snow Empress could enter alone and take everything away. This was also one of the reasons Xiao Qiang had sought her out so quickly.

This Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave, tailor-made for Huo Yuhao in the original story, was normally a place Huo Yuhao could only reach after obtaining Extreme Ice and raising his Soul Power to Soul Sage. When Huo Yuhao came here, both his Soul Power and Martial Soul had just met the minimum requirements to enter and obtain its resources.

Without Snow Empress, even a Titled Douluo would not be able to take away the slightest thing from this place. The extreme cold had crushed the hopes of ordinary Titled Douluo.

Snow Empress glanced at Xiao Qiang. Then a small piece of her dress hem tore free and flew toward him. After attaching itself to his body, it gradually formed a piece of cold-resistant clothing.

"Follow me."

"Alright."

The instant they entered the cave and saw the dazzling array of Ice Extreme Divine Crystals, Tian Meng and Ice Empress in the sea of consciousness were almost unable to close their mouths.

"Ice Extreme Divine Crystals! And so many Ice Extreme Divine Crystals! Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave—this must be the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave! Xiao Qiang, you actually really found it!"

Ice Empress spoke in astonishment. Although she had already held a certain degree of confidence in Xiao Qiang after he directly stated her and Snow Empress's problem, the moment she truly saw it, she still could not hide the surprise in her heart.

"Since he's the person I chose, his Fortune is naturally extraordinary."

Tian Meng spoke proudly. This time, Ice Empress unusually did not refute him.

"You really did do well in choosing a person. I originally had little confidence in becoming a god, but if Xiao Qiang can encounter a few more opportunities like this, then becoming a god can practically be said to be certain."

"Of course. The person I chose—you can rest assured."

Xiao Qiang: "..."