Embryo (Part One)

Two hundred miles outside the Far North, in a snow-covered town, stood Ju Zi Barbecue.

Inside, the room was bright and spotless. Ju Zi sat by the window, propping her rounded chin on her pink right arm. Her fair little feet swung beneath the chair as her quiet eyes followed the drifting snowflakes outside, unfocused.

Snowflakes settled on the windowsill, piling up until a thin layer of white frost covered the spot she had just cleaned yesterday.

The shop wouldn't open until evening, and there were still several hours to go.

She had just finished meditating and cultivating, and now she was terribly bored. Suddenly, she thought of how she would be leaving here for Mingdu in a couple of days.

Her delicate fingers tapped unconsciously on the tabletop.

Everyone said Mingdu was the largest city on the continent, bustling and fun, with so many people.

The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy she would be attending was the empire's top academy, full of nobles and children from prominent families. She wondered if her future classmates would look down on her for coming from the countryside.

That Xu Lanqing seemed to be a noble's son too. She hoped the others would be as easy to get along with as he was.

The girl's thoughts were a tangled jumble.

Reluctance, confusion, anticipation, curiosity, excitement.

She felt all sorts of things at once.

Just then, something seemed to flash in the distance.

The sudden light was so intense that, despite being extremely far away, it drew Ju Zi's attention.

Her fingers slowed their tapping as she turned her gaze in that direction.

She saw a blazing white ball of light shining in the distance. It was shaped like a semicircle, slowly spreading outward and eclipsing the setting sun.

The brilliant light was blinding. After one glance, Ju Zi couldn't help turning away, unable to look at it any longer. She used her Soul Power to soothe the stinging in her eyes.

What was that?

The very next moment, the earth trembled faintly. Then a rumble like muffled thunder rolled toward them, and the whole town began shaking violently.

Ju Zi felt dizzy. Everything in the room rattled with loud bangs and fell to the floor. Dust and small stones shook loose from the ceiling.

"Crash—"

Outside, the sound of shattering windows and snow sliding from rooftops filled the air, mixed with panicked cries.

She had never seen anything like this. Catching sight of the empty space beneath the table, she immediately crawled under it and huddled against the wall, as if that might make her feel safer.

Had the gods grown angry?

Then she thought of Xu Lanqing. He had gone to the Far North to obtain a Soul Ring, hadn't he? She couldn't help worrying. It was so terrifying outside. Could he have died?

She had only met him once, but he had left a good impression. And she could tell he wasn't like those people who always looked at her with disgusting expressions. His gaze had been clear, without a hint of malice, and even a little friendly. She had no idea why.

It just went to show how important first impressions were. Of course, it helped if you were handsome.

At any rate, she still didn't want him to die.

The shock waves from the explosion gradually faded.

The world of snow and ice had vanished without a trace, leaving nothing but black scorched earth, barren and lifeless.

Jing Hongchen and the others looked grim.

It wasn't because anyone had died. Though they were in a sorry state, disheveled and covered in wounds, none of them were life-threatening. They would recover after resting for a while.

What troubled them was that they couldn't sense Xu Lanqing's location. They could only be sure that he had been teleported away before the explosion.

He had been sent more than a thousand miles away in an instant, and at random. If he was still within the empire, that would be fine. But if he had landed deep in the Far North, wouldn't that be like serving himself up as an after-dinner treat for the Soul Beasts?

"We have no choice but to split up. We must find His Highness as soon as possible."

Jing Hongchen handed the others three white Soul Tools, similar to the one he had used earlier. "As long as you're within a thousand miles, this will let you sense the one His Highness is carrying."

Ye Yulin sighed. "It's the only thing we can do. Let's hope His Highness is blessed with good fortune..."

Elsewhere.

The Titan Snow Ape and the Ice Bear King stopped pursuing the Evil Soul Masters. The earth-shattering explosion had made them instinctively turn to defend themselves. Nangong Wan and Youming Douluo, meanwhile, had escaped at the cost of severe injuries.

Their snow-white fur had turned charred black, and the air seemed to carry the smell of roasting meat.

"When did humans create such powerful weapons?"

The Titan Snow Ape was shocked. He had to admit that this had changed his view of humanity, which had always seemed weak.

If seven or eight of those weapons were brought to bear, even he wasn't sure he could withstand them head-on.

He began to worry. Humans already had weapons like these. What would become of the Far North in the future...?

Deep in the Far North.

A beam of emerald light shot into the sky, its glow spreading across the azure heavens. A terrifying, savage majesty followed, and every nearby Soul Beast bowed low.

A bewildered voice murmured from within the pillar of light, cold as ice.

"The Titan Snow Ape and the Ice Bear King seem to be over there. What exactly happened? How could there be such a massive surge of energy?"

It hurts.

That was all Xu Lanqing could feel at that moment.

As soon as he was teleported, he fell into darkness. He felt as if his whole body had been torn apart, and the pain was so intense that he couldn't move or even take a deep breath.

What kind of lousy bead was this? One teleportation had nearly killed him with pain. It deserved a terrible review.

After a long while, he finally came around and opened his eyes, only to find himself still in deep darkness, unable to see a thing.

He panicked a little. Even at night there should have been some light. What kind of place was this?

"Phew..."

Xu Lanqing took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He waited a little longer.

Once the pain had eased a little, he began to feel the cold seeping into him. His body shuddered involuntarily.

He barely managed to circulate the Soul Power he had left and took a few luminous pearls from his Storage Ring.

Their faint glow lit up the surroundings. Xu Lanqing found himself lying on a sheet of ice in a cramped space. There were two deep, dark passages, one ahead of him and the other above his head. He had no idea where they led.

It looked like a fissure beneath the ice.

But the important thing was that he could feel cold here.

He had an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul. Ice and snow should have felt warm to him, yet now the cold pierced him to the bone.

The farther one went into the Far North, the lower the temperature became. Even the Soul Beasts here dared not enter the very center.

He had to be near the core, if not right in it.

What a run of bad luck.

He had been told he would only be teleported a few hundred miles. The distance between the outskirts of the Far North and its core had to be at least a thousand miles, didn't it?