Arriving at the Far North Land

Three days later.

Far North Land.

"Far North Land, forbidden zone for humans. Soul beasts roam here. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous!"

Looking at the warning sign similar to those in the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment.

The distance was nearly eight thousand li. In the original story, Huo Yuhao had relied on his own two legs, traveling at full speed for eight days.

Yet now, it had taken only three days to get from Shrek City to the Far North Land.

What had made that possible?

The power of money!

Bei Bei had emptied his Small Treasury and directly hired two Agility Attack System Soul Ancestors. The two Soul Ancestors carried him and Huo Yuhao all the way to the Far North Land.

Bei Bei was now settling the remaining payment with the two Agility Attack System Soul Ancestors.

The two Soul Ancestors who had taken the job were brothers.

It was obvious that the two of them had mixed feelings about this business deal.

Agility Attack System Soul Ancestors like them usually handled rush deliveries of precious supplies or important letters—valuable fresh foods that spoiled easily, fruit, love letters, and the like. Their fees were not outrageously high, but they certainly were not cheap either.

They were personal errand runners for noble lords.

This was their first time taking on an express passenger delivery job.

What proper Soul Master took the freight route?!

Still, for the sake of the Gold Soul Coins, the Soul Ancestor brothers showed excellent professionalism. They carried Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao all the way to the Far North Land.

It was just that their rates were calculated by weight.

There had never been a passenger delivery service before, you know? They could only charge according to the standards for transporting fresh goods.

Whenever he recalled being made to step on a scale before departure, Huo Yuhao's face darkened.

Were they weighing pigs!?

And the journey itself had not been comfortable either.

To reach their destination as quickly as possible, couriers like these would not leisurely run along the main roads. Instead, they took shorter routes through wilderness and forests.

They were certainly faster, but their safety was not necessarily guaranteed.

After all, they had passed through quite a few forests along the way, where they might run into soul beasts.

Fortunately, the Soul Ancestor brothers were experienced veterans. Their route choices had been safe enough that the four of them encountered no major dangers, and the journey had been eventful but ultimately uneventful.

The reason Bei Bei had chosen such a wild method of travel without fearing trouble on the road was naturally because he knew Xuan Zi was following behind them. In a sense, he was a pioneer in the industry.

The problem was that while Bei Bei got there quickly, Huo Yuhao was feeling rather miserable.

In three days, Huo Yuhao had not managed to cultivate to Rank 20!

Fortunately, reaching Rank 20 was not essential.

"Well, it doesn't really matter. After all, Ice Empress is going to sacrifice herself to my Second Martial Soul and help it awaken. With Ice Empress's Soul Bone, my Soul Power can rise to Rank 20 as well. We can deal with everything else later. First, I'll secure the guaranteed reward," Huo Yuhao thought.

In the original story, Huo Yuhao had come to the Far North Land at Rank 20 in order to obtain the Second Soul Ring for his Spirit Eye Martial Soul and gain the Simulation Soul Skill.

Without the Simulation Soul Skill, Huo Yuhao would not be able to openly use his Second Martial Soul. Otherwise, the moment he used a soul skill, the color of his soul rings would be exposed. Any Soul Master would know something was off about him and want to test him out a little, probing his true capabilities.

Moreover, Huo Yuhao had still been studying at Shrek Academy then, so his time had not been his own.

But now, Huo Yuhao could do things the other way around. He could first accept the sacrifice and raise his strength, then go obtain the Simulation Soul Skill.

There was no need to worry about time. When the moment came, he only needed to find an opportunity to shake off Bei Bei.

The only question was whether Ice Empress would accept the "negotiation" between Huo Yuhao and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm as she had in the original story. In truth, calling it a threat would have been more accurate.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was already beside himself with excitement.

"Brother Hao goes to war, not a blade of grass survives! Bing Bing, Bing Bing, my Bing Bing, hehehe..."

"Brother Sky Dream, act normal. You're scaring me."

"Brother Hao, what are you afraid of? It's not like I'm going to screw you!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said lewdly.

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly. "No, I'm afraid you won't be able to take the blow when the time comes."

"Huh?"

"Don't forget, Ice Empress likes Snow Empress. You've read the original story too. The current situation may not unfold the same way it did there."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Fake news!"

The blow was too great. Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had begun denying reality.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had sunk.

Huo Yuhao gave a wicked smile.

At that moment, Bei Bei finished paying the balance and returned to Huo Yuhao's side.

"Little Brother Huo, sorry to keep you waiting. Let's enter the Far North Land."

"Alright, Brother Bei Bei."

At some point, Huo Yuhao's face had returned to its innocent, guileless smile.

As they entered the Far North Land, Huo Yuhao glanced back in the direction behind them.

A violent phantom of a Godly Taotie Bull was glaring menacingly at the two Soul Ancestor brothers who had received the remaining payment but had yet to leave.

The effects of the Voodoo Doll had begun to take hold.

While resting along the way, Huo Yuhao had secretly worked on the Voodoo Doll. Since he had no chance to go out and buy needles, he used his Ice Attribute power to condense ice needles and stab the doll with them.

All of the doll's acupoints along its meridians had already been pierced once.

Naturally, it had not caused Xuan Zi any tangible harm.

But its effect on his fortune had already begun to show.

The phantom of Xuan Zi's Godly Taotie Bull had grown somewhat frenzied, as though it had nowhere to vent the violence in its heart, yet it had not lost control. This was probably the limit of the Voodoo Doll's effect on Xuan Zi.

I wonder how long this will last. And whether it'll have any other effects on Xuan Zi. Huo Yuhao calmly withdrew his gaze and placed himself in front of Bei Bei protectively.

After Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei entered the Far North Land, the Soul Ancestor brothers who had brought them there exchanged a look. A vicious glint appeared in the younger brother's eyes as he raised a hand and drew it across his throat.

The two had not left after receiving the remaining payment because they had other ideas.

Murder and robbery were hardly uncommon.

Bei Bei's disregard for their thoughts had led them to mistake him and Huo Yuhao for inexperienced rookies.

Rookies like that were the easiest targets.

Moreover, Bei Bei had boldly paid a hefty sum, causing the two to misjudge just how much wealth he possessed.

Over the course of the journey, the Soul Ancestor brothers had also figured out Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao's situation. Bei Bei was still recovering from serious injuries, while Huo Yuhao was merely a pathetic level-fifteen nobody.

There was no chance of anything going wrong.

However, the elder brother quickly shook his head and let out a long breath.

"That older youth is wearing Shrek Academy's uniform. Whether it's Shrek Academy itself or whatever other backing those students might have, neither is something we can afford to provoke."

"But, Big Brother..."

"No buts! We brothers would rather run errands for others because we wanted an honest living, didn't we? Skimming a little off those nobles is enough in ordinary times. If we're going to murder and rob people now, we might as well have become bandits from the start!"

"Alright."

The younger brother was persuaded and realized that greed had clouded his judgment.

Only then did the elder brother let out a sigh of relief.

But at that moment, a cold snort suddenly exploded beside their ears, making their insides tremble with fear and their minds go blank.

Then, both of them spat out large mouthfuls of blood.

An icy voice sounded beside their ears. "For the sake of the fact that you did not lay a hand on anyone from Shrek, get lost!"

The Soul Ancestor brothers were instantly horrified.

There had actually been a Shrek expert following them in secret!

And the other party had severely injured them with nothing but a voice. This was absolutely not an expert they were qualified to face.

If you had an expert following you, why did you hire two Soul Ancestors like us to be your pack mules?

The elder brother was the first to recover. He immediately pressed his younger brother down and made him kowtow once in the snow.

"Thank you, Senior, for sparing our lives! We brothers will forever remember this kindness!"

Only then did the elder brother drag away his younger brother, who was still frozen with terror, and flee in a sorry state.

Only after the two had left did Xuan Zi's figure silently emerge, though the killing intent on his face was becoming difficult to suppress.

"Any stray cat or dog dares to entertain improper thoughts about Shrek's people!"

"People like that truly infuriate this old man!"

The phantom of the Godly Taotie Bull grew even more frenzied.

Like a burning flame doused with gasoline.

Waaah, waaah, waaah~