Journey to the North

Ye Qing truly had no reason to keep refusing Xiao Qing. He had thoroughly experienced her madness, as well as the strength of this body. Xiao Qing's supple figure had also brought him many different pleasures. What ended it all was the punctual arrival of four in the morning.

"My lord, aren't we continuing?" A Spirit Beast's physique granted her formidable endurance. Perhaps the farming theory would meet its end with Ye Qing; at the very least, he would not become the ox that died from exhaustion.

Ye Qing pointed at the wall clock. "You don't need to go today. Get some proper rest." To be honest, it was the system that stopped him from continuing to indulge in this tender paradise. If he went on any longer, Self-Discipline No. 3 would activate forced control.

"Then goodbye, my lord. Xiao Qing will wait for you to return."

"Doesn't calling me 'my lord' feel too distant? Call me by my name."

"Brother Qing~"

"Brother Qing... sounds like 'love brother.' Not bad, actually."

Spring passed into autumn. Since then, the world seemed to have become much more peaceful. Ye Qing's quiet daily life continued, while certain subtle changes gradually took place. For example, during one morning training session, Xiao Wu encountered Er Ming, whom she had previously rescued. She also met Da Ming and became their Sister Xiao Wu.

For another, someone in a nearby city had been searching for a ten-thousand-year Nine-Section Jade, or a Spirit Master with a Nine-Section Jade. Yet they ultimately received no news whatsoever. The final result was that the Eldest Son of a certain Spirit Hall Branch Hall master died of Poison.

And recently, the Blue Silver Grass in the forest had been growing especially luxuriantly. Bi Ji said it was because the emperor of the Blue Silver Grass was about to awaken. Ye Qing felt that it was most likely Tang San's mother, Ah Yin. However, through Ah Rou, he had learned that figures of that level could not trigger quests, so he was not particularly interested.

Because he was about to take a long trip.

"You're going to the Extreme North? What's there to visit?" Di Tian was quite curious when Ye Qing came to ask how to reach the Extreme North. After all, it was nothing but a vast expanse of white, with nothing worth seeing in his eyes.

"I'm going to let the Spirit Beasts there feel the greetings and care of their fellow Spirit Beasts from the Star Dou Great Forest. I'll teach them that Spirit Beasts across the world are one family, and shelter the weak Spirit Beasts in need from wind and rain."

"Say something normal."

"I'm bored, so I'm taking a stroll over there."

Ye Qing was expressionless at the moment. He really was bored, but he had been forced into it. After obtaining the Shape Transformation method he had dreamed of, Ye Qing began to slack off. Aside from completing his daily tasks, he spent his time being lovey-dovey with Xiao Qing, and his desire for Self-Discipline Points had fallen sharply.

In the system's eyes, such behavior counted as passive Sloth and had already strayed from the system's original purpose. Thus, it planned to change Ye Qing's habit of wandering only around his own little patch of land and issued him a new quest.

Journey to the North:

Your range of activity within the Star Dou Great Forest is far too narrow. The world is so vast; you should go and see it. Express greetings from afar to the local Spirit Beasts, and make the Spirit Beasts of the Northland acknowledge your status as well.

Penalty for quest failure: One purchased memory will be reclaimed.

Had Ye Qing ever purchased memories in any area other than Shape Transformation? No. His Self-Discipline Points were not enough to buy anything else. Therefore, the system's punishment could be translated another way.

"You'll never become human in this lifetime."

Faced with such a threat, Ye Qing's choice was obvious. Wasn't that why he had come to ask Di Tian for directions?

"Keep heading north."

"And?"

"That's it. Why do you think it's called the Extreme North? Because it's at the very northernmost point. The area where Spirit Beasts gather is an ice field and the Great Snow Mountain. It's practically a forbidden zone for humans. When you notice an increase in ice-attributed Spirit Beasts, you'll be about there. And when you start feeling cold too, it means you're close to the central region. There's something produced there called Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow. That's good stuff too."

"I'll probably be gone for a while. Help me look after everyone at home."

"Don't worry. No one would dare act recklessly in your territory."

After bidding farewell to Xiao Qing and the others, Ye Qing set out northward. Xiao Qing had wanted to go with him, but Ye Qing had no idea what he might encounter on this journey, so he refused and told her to stay behind and wait for his return. He also instructed her to oversee Xiao Wu's daily training, tend to the crops in the courtyard, and so on. Even Di Tian could not stand listening to it any longer.

"Enough. There's nothing in that place that can threaten you. Go without worry. You don't need to worry about your family either. You should worry about whoever runs into them instead."

Half a month later, in the Extreme North, a merchant caravan struggled through a blizzard. Though the year-round bitter cold and the dangers lurking beneath the snow had turned this place into a human forbidden zone, human caravans still entered from time to time.

Human traces were scarce, but that also meant the things here were extremely rare to the outside world. If someone was lucky enough to find Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow, an entire family could enter the ranks of the wealthy from then on. Most members of the caravan were Spirit Masters, not merely to guard against Spirit Beasts and bandits; Spirit Masters were also better suited to such frigid conditions.

"Mr. Ye, Haoxue City is up ahead. We won't be going any farther, so we can only take you this far."

Haoxue City was called a city, but it was actually a camp built from ice and snow, a gathering place formed by humans piling up snow and pouring water over it. The people who stayed here were no different from those outside the Star Dou Great Forest. At their core, they were all the same. The caravan Ye Qing had traveled with sold daily necessities here before purchasing specialties from the ice fields.

"Thank you. Here's the fare." Afterward, Ye Qing headed alone into the depths of the ice field. He already had an idea of how to gain the acknowledgment of the Northland Spirit Beasts. Since he could gain status in the Star Dou Great Forest through a battle with Di Tian, the same applied here. He only needed to defeat the strongest one.

To prevent the Extreme North from being different from the Star Dou Great Forest, he had also prepared Plan B. Taking Bi Ji's method of gaining prestige as a reference, he intended to become a great philanthropist here. Replenishing Soul Power could solve most bodily troubles in this place. To Ye Qing, any problem that could be solved with Soul Power was not a problem.

The blizzard continued. The snow on the ground had already risen above his calves, and Ye Qing gradually ventured deeper into the snowy plains of the Extreme North. There, he encountered his first living creature.

"Hmph~ Hmph-hmph!" It was a wild boar with long fur.

"Human, hand over your food and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, I'll bury you in this snow."

"Even wild boars have learned to rob people now??" Ye Qing teased as he looked at the boar covered from head to toe in blue-white fur and sensed its cultivation of roughly thirty thousand years. He had not expected to encounter no human bandits along the way, only to first meet a bandit wild boar.

"Not bad. You can actually understand what Lord Gang Zong is saying. Those humans before didn't listen to reason at all, forcing me to fight them. Since you can understand, hand over the food and leave."

"Your name is Gang Zong?"

"Is there a problem? I'm in a good mood today. Hmph~ From now on, mention Lord Gang Zong's name and you can swagger around here."

"No, but let me ask you something. Those humans couldn't understand you, so why can I? Haven't you ever thought about that?"

The wild boar called Gang Zong seemed to realize the issue. "Could it be that you... No, no, impossible. You don't have the aura of those few."