The Outer Region

The next day, just before dawn.

The edge of the Far North.

Snowflakes still drifted down in swirling flurries. Soft sunlight shone through them, yet it brought not a trace of warmth to this world of bitter cold.

At that moment, Xu Lanqing was being carried by Jing Hongchen on a Flying Soul Tool, drifting leisurely a few meters above the ground.

He had originally been walking on the ground, but one step had plunged half his body into the snow. He lacked the strength to skim lightly over the snow without sinking, so he had no choice but to do this.

Without enough strength, he couldn't even get inside. For the first time, Xu Lanqing had felt the power of nature. Compared with the might of heaven and earth, an individual was truly insignificant.

"Your Highness, this is only the outermost snowfield. Once we go farther in, the temperature will drop even lower, and the snow will freeze solid as soon as it hits the ground. Then you'll be able to walk on it."

Jing Hongchen explained with a smile beside him.

At that, Xu Lanqing felt even more dejected. Without someone carrying him, he reckoned he wouldn't even know what had killed him. It only strengthened his resolve to become stronger. Only strength in his own hands could make him feel safe.

However, as he watched the snow swirling all around them, Jing Hongchen looked a little puzzled. Wasn't this snowfall unusually heavy?

He had never been here before, so he didn't know whether this was normal.

"Hey, Zheng, have you been here before? This snow's coming down pretty hard."

"No. Who comes to a godforsaken place like this for no reason?"

Zheng Zhan strode along with ease. The snowflakes evaporated in a haze of vapor before they could come within three meters of him.

He glanced up, unconcerned. "It is pretty heavy, but it's only snow. So what if there's a lot of it?

"Stop being so suspicious all the time. Even if there's danger, with the strength of us Titled Douluo, we'll sense it in advance."

True enough. Maybe he had been overthinking it. He had been under constant, covert surveillance before, but after they reached the town, that feeling of being watched had disappeared. He couldn't help but wonder about it.

Still, no one could have caused such a heavy snowfall. If it were man-made, they wouldn't have been able to hide the fluctuations in Soul Power.

As for Soul Beasts, he had considered that possibility too. But the stronger a Soul Beast was, the closer it would be to the core region of the Far North. Besides, Soul Beasts had an intense sense of territory and would never casually trespass on another Soul Beast's land.

In an outer region like this, the odds of encountering a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast were about as high as winning the lottery.

What Jing Hongchen didn't know, however, was that the Far North differed from other Soul Beast forests: under the leadership of Snow Empress, the foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, its inhabitants were exceptionally united.

For the rest of the time, Xu Lanqing and the others searched the Outer Region for Soul Beasts.

"Strange. Why are there so few Soul Beasts here? We've been looking for ages and have only found this one."

They were standing in front of a white tiger, which was enveloped by a powerful pressure.

The tiger was two meters long and snowy white from head to tail. It lay in the snow, its body twitching uncontrollably. The snow behind it had turned yellow-brown. It had been so frightened that it had lost control of its bowels and bladder.

"Too bad. It's not old enough—barely over a hundred years."

Zheng Zhan shook his head. "Let's go look somewhere else. The sooner we find one, the sooner we can leave. This damn weather's getting worse—the snow keeps getting heavier."

As he spoke, he withdrew the pressure. After confirming the tiger's Soul Ring wouldn't suit Xu Lanqing, he chose not to kill it.

Over the ten thousand years since then, the Soul Master World had developed an unwritten rule: if a Soul Beast wasn't suitable for you, you should avoid killing it whenever possible.

Ten thousand years ago, humans had been vastly outmatched by Soul Beasts. But as time went by, the number of human Soul Masters had grown, and more and more Soul Beasts had been hunted for their Soul Rings.

At this rate, after ten thousand years, the number of Soul Beasts had dwindled far below what it once was.

If this continued, and there was no other way to solve the problem of Soul Rings, would Soul Masters one day become a thing of the past?

Faced with this looming concern, humanity had naturally formed this unspoken rule.

Jing Hongchen nodded and continued carrying Xu Lanqing forward.

Strangely, even after they had gone far away, the White Tiger remained sprawled on the ground, not daring to move.

Something was off. Even if there were relatively few Soul Beasts in the Far North, there shouldn't be this few.

Hearing Zheng Zhan's remark, Xu Lanqing glanced at the White Tiger. He also sensed that something was wrong.

"Lan Qing, be careful. The ice element here is unusually active."

Electrolux's voice suddenly sounded from within the Sea of Consciousness.

Ever since sealing the Golden Dragon King's God Core, Electrolux had expended too much of his divine consciousness. He would occasionally fall into a deep sleep to recover it. Having just awakened, he immediately sensed something amiss outside and spoke up to warn Xu Lanqing.

Xu Lanqing, riding on the Flying Soul Tool, froze for a moment. He glanced at Jing Hongchen and Zheng Zhan, and when he saw they hadn't noticed anything, he closed his eyes and pretended to rest, sinking his consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness.

"Teacher, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"

Xu Lanqing was in a foul mood. Had he awakened Conan's protagonist aura or something? Trouble followed him wherever he went.

Electrolux continued, "Those two men can't detect it because their spiritual levels are too low. I'm different. I have divine consciousness. Though my power is weaker than theirs, this is a difference between two levels. Divine consciousness is divine consciousness, and mortal spirits are mortal spirits—the difference between heaven and earth.

"So I can sense that someone is controlling the blizzard outside. Or rather, it might not be a person, but a Soul Beast, as your world calls them.

"It has cleverly borrowed the power of this ice-and-snow-covered world. Its Soul Power has blended into the surroundings, and it must have absolute control over ice and snow as well. That's why those two men haven't noticed it."

Xu Lanqing swallowed. Of course, the consciousness he had formed within the Sea of Consciousness had no saliva, but he still felt utterly screwed.

When had a luckless guy like him ever been this lucky? Somehow, he always managed to run into everything.

"So what do we do now?"

"Are you stupid? We run, of course! You haven't entered the core of its territory yet, so hurry and run. You might still make it in time. Someone inside the territory is keeping it occupied."

"Who'd be kind enough to help us?"

Xu Lanqing froze again, then slapped his right fist into his left palm as understanding dawned.

"Someone must have provoked the Soul Beast here, and we just happened to get caught up in it. I knew I couldn't be unlucky forever."

Xu Lanqing hurried out of the Sea of Consciousness and said urgently to Jing Hongchen, "Hallmaster Jing, we need to go. Get us out of here right now."

Jing Hongchen looked at him in confusion. Though he didn't understand, he still turned back.

Just then, Jing Hongchen and Zheng Zhan abruptly turned to look ahead, their faces full of caution.

A dark figure burst through the curtain of snow, growing larger by the moment. Zheng Zhan stepped forward, a huge silver-white shield appearing in his hand. Nine Soul Rings rose around him—he had already entered Martial Soul Possession.