Northland's Fury: Ye—Se Zhuang—Qing

"My name is Gang Zong. I'm a member of the Polar Woolly Pigs. Unlike those stubborn, thickheaded members of my clan, I'm a clever Woolly Pig. But I never expected to run into such a tough opponent today."

The Polar Woolly Pigs were a Spirit Beast race of the Extreme North. Their bodies were covered in a layer of ice-blue fur, a vital protection for surviving on the frigid plains. Their pair of tusks were their primary weapons. With their own strength, they could use those tusks to smash through ice, overturn frozen soil, and search for food buried beneath it.

Polar Woolly Pigs usually lived in herds of several dozen. They had a varied diet and would not turn down weak Ice Silkworms, special plants, or even corpses. Their bodies stored large amounts of fat to carry them through the harsh blizzard season, when food was scarce. During this season, most Northland Spirit Beasts traveled less, and the Woolly Pigs were no exception. Most of them sought shelter from the wind, conserved their energy, and waited for the blizzard season to pass.

Humans had discovered this pattern. Although traveling through blizzards was risky, the dangers posed by Spirit Beasts were greatly reduced. As a result, quite a few merchant caravans crossed these ice plains during this season. Most did so to save on the cost of hiring Spirit Master guards, and Gang Zong had noticed that.

As a pig who stood apart from the herd, he naturally was not content to follow the same path as most of his kind. So, he chose to become a roadside bandit. If he did not get food, he would not let anyone pass.

After keeping this up for several years, the other members of his clan would grow thinner during blizzard season, while he put on weight. Before long, he was nearly the pig king. Unfortunately, even the best could slip up. Today, this pig bandit had failed.

Humans in the past could not understand his words, so he had needed to seek them out himself. This time, however, the person he encountered could actually understand his language. At first, he had not even realized it, until Ye Qing reminded him.

Anyone who could understand the language of Spirit Beasts was naturally a Spirit Beast. He certainly knew of humanoid Spirit Beasts: the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North—the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress, and the Titan Snow Demon King. Yet the human before him clearly did not carry even the faintest trace of a Spirit Beast's aura...

"Is this the aura you meant?" As he spoke, Ye Qing released the aura he had concealed. Once Ye Qing stopped hiding it, Gang Zong felt that terrifying presence as well. He felt that even the Snow Empress was not as frightening as the person before him.

One defining trait of Polar Woolly Pigs was their stubbornness. They would not give up until they achieved their goal. That was why Gang Zong's robberies had always succeeded: humans did not want to pick a fight with such a race. Yet it was also why Polar Woolly Pigs were not numerous. Even when they knew they were outmatched, they would still charge in headfirst.

Gang Zong considered himself a smart pig of the new era, so his choice was equally decisive. He dropped to his knees without hesitation.

"Actually, I was just passing by. Would you believe me if I said that?"

"I'll give you two choices. First, I turn you into a whole roast pig."

"Second one! I choose the second one!" Before Ye Qing could even finish, Gang Zong made his choice. For a pig, what could possibly be worse than becoming a whole roast pig?

"The second option is that this is my first time in the Extreme North, and I'm not familiar with the area. I need a means of transportation." Before Ye Qing had even finished speaking, Gang Zong's huge body had already scampered to his side. He then lay down on the ground. Though with those short little legs of his, it did not seem to make much difference.

"You should've said so earlier! I've lived here forever. I know the Northern Ice Plains and Great Snow Mountain like the back of my hoof. Just say where you want to go. Look at this fur, and all this fat—warm and comfortable to sit on. If you don't believe me, try it! There's definitely no mount in the Northland better suited than me."

Seeing Gang Zong slip into the role on his own, Ye Qing did not stand on ceremony. He flipped onto Gang Zong's back. It truly was especially broad and comfortable, and the fat beneath his hide made for the softest natural cushion.

"Go, Gang Zong. Use Extreme Frozen Prison."

Gang Zong's name reminded Ye Qing of a certain Winter's Claw war mother, and he felt like having some fun. He did not have a True Ice Lasso in hand, so he merely shouted the phrase casually. Yet he had not expected Gang Zong to actually spit a blast of frost energy forward, forming a frozen prison across the snow.

"My lord, didn't you say this was your first time in the Extreme North? How do you know we have this Spirit Skill?"

"...Don't worry about such minor details. Why are you called Gang Zong?"

"When I was young, I ate a small piece of Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow and underwent a bit of evolution. I gained the ability to harden my fur, so I was named Gang Zong. Where do you want to go, my lord?"

"Who is the strongest around here?"

"Of course it's Lady Snow Empress. Recently, Lady Snow Empress has been about to break through her six-hundred-thousand-year limit."

"Besides the Snow Empress?"

"Besides Lady Snow Empress, there are Lady Ice Empress and the Titan Snow Demon King. They are the three strongest beings in the Extreme North. However, the Titan Snow Demon King has never undergone a Heavenly Tribulation. Though his bloodline is powerful, he is still considered the weakest right now. I heard that Lady Ice Empress is pursuing Lady Snow Empress, but Lady Snow Empress only sees her as a friend." Ye Qing had merely asked one question, but Gang Zong poured out everything he knew like beans spilling from a bamboo tube. This was practically common knowledge in the Extreme North; all Spirit Beasts with somewhat higher cultivation knew it.

According to Ye Qing's plan, as long as he challenged the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress, the mission would be more or less complete. However, just as he decided to have Gang Zong lead the way, Gang Zong stopped.

"My lord, the White Hair Wind is coming. I can't tell directions apart in this kind of weather either. Let's wait until it passes before we continue."

"White Hair Wind? Isn't this blizzard already the White Hair Wind?"

"No, my lord. That is merely winter in the outside world. The White Hair Wind outside is simply normal weather here. Sense it carefully, my lord. Hasn't the wind outside become colder?"

"It has indeed... Are we close to the central region?"

"Not even close. When we speak of the White Hair Wind, we mean a storm carrying extreme cold. That cold storm is what we avoid. Falling into the Ice Abyss would be no joke. Aside from those humans, few Spirit Beasts dare venture out."

"What about you?"

"What you don't know, my lord, is that these humans discovered a safe route long ago. My location is right along the path humans must take. But my lord, I'm guessing you intend to find the Snow Empress and the others. In this weather, the road in that direction can kill you."

"Then we'll wait for it to pass. How long will that take?"

"About a day should be enough. My shelter from the wind and snow is nearby. Would you like to go there, my lord? The ice mountains around here are as hard as metal and stone. They simply can't be dug... dug open."

The moment Gang Zong finished speaking, Ye Qing casually blasted a huge hole into the mountainside beside them, large enough for him to roll around inside.

"Let's go. What were you saying just now?"

"Nothing..."

Gang Zong's thoughts changed as well. He felt that he might have accidentally latched onto an enormous thigh. The Ice Empress had her own race. Though the Snow Empress's race was scarce, she had a close relationship with the Ice Bear clan, the natural enemy of their Woolly Pig clan. The Titan Snow Demon King, meanwhile, was a loner.

After discovering how unusual Ye Qing was, Gang Zong gradually shifted from merely thinking about survival to thinking about how to become a proper leg accessory.