Before Departure

After following Wang Yan's instructions to fill out the application form, Bai Cai left the simple office and headed for the first-year cafeteria.

Unlike the bare-bones freshman cafeteria, the first-year cafeteria already had plenty of tables and chairs, and students were allowed to pack their meals to go.

Shrek Academy's group classes covered only cultural subjects. In fact, most students didn't stay in their dormitories to practice.

The Mimicry Cultivation Grounds weren't just for show. Unless there were no spots available, students who practiced behind closed doors in their dormitories were a rare sight.

Besides offering takeout, the first-year cafeteria even delivered meals, catering specifically to the Mimicry Training Grounds and other cultivation facilities.

Of course, such attentive campus services came at a steep price. There were fewer spots in the Mimicry Cultivation Grounds for outer-court students than inner-court students, and fewer for lower-year students than upper-year ones.

There were roughly three ways to obtain a spot in the Mimicry Cultivation Grounds.

First, students selected as core disciples were given a spot by the academy, free of charge.

Second, students who excelled in competitions or assessments could earn a temporary spot as a reward.

Third, students could purchase a spot with Gold Soul Coins or rare treasures.

If the Mimicry Cultivation Grounds were like this, the academy cafeteria was hardly going to fall behind.

Top-tier dishes, painstakingly prepared with the meat of high-level Soul Beasts and precious medicinal herbs, cost over twenty Gold Soul Coins on average. Ordering them to go or having them delivered doubled the price.

The first-year cafeteria buzzed with activity. Students were celebrating their success in the freshman assessment all around them, while Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao had already been waiting for a long time.

With six dishes and three bowls of soup, Xiao Xiao sat to Bai Cai's left and Wang Dong to her right, drawing envious looks from everyone.

Now that her true sex had been exposed, Wang Dong had given up pretending. Aside from still dressing like a boy, she spoke and acted more like a girl her age.

The academy's higher-ups pretended not to notice, the teachers looked the other way, and rumors swirled among the students. Wang Dong seemed completely oblivious and continued living in Dormitory 106.

Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong chatted and laughed. Bai Cai cheerfully ladled herself some soup and began enjoying the expensive top-tier dishes.

The meat of high-level Soul Beasts was difficult to prepare. Unless a huge amount of Soul Power was used to break down the fascia and sinews, dishes made from it would taste like chewing wax, with the texture of rough leather.

Most ingredients used in top-tier dishes were the essence of thousand-year Soul Beasts and the meat of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. That gave some idea of the chef's skill: they had to be at least a high-level Soul Ancestor.

The head of Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was only a low-level Soul Ancestor, while Farnos City's lord was merely a high-level Soul Ancestor.

The fact that a first-rate expert from a third-tier city in the Star Luo Empire had the same Soul Power cultivation as an unremarkable back-of-house chef at Shrek Academy showed just how deep the academy's roots ran.

What did one need to prepare to head to the Extreme North to obtain a Soul Ring?

A tent, sleeping bag, bedding, food, drinking water, beast-repellent powder, and snake-repellent powder.

The Blue Ring had a storage space of only one cubic meter, too small to hold all the supplies. Bai Cai had no choice but to stack some of them on her dormitory bed.

"Xiao Bai?"

After finishing her Mimicry Training, Wang Dong happily returned to the dormitory, only to see Bai Cai clearing off her bed. Her powder-blue pupils suddenly widened and went dull.

She abruptly locked the dormitory door, then approached Bai Cai from behind and asked expressionlessly, "Where are you going?"

"The Extreme North."

Bai Cai was busy organizing her camping gear, completely immersed in the joy of soon heading to the Extreme North to obtain a Mirror Shadow Beast Soul Ring.

Fortunately...

Wang Dong let out a sigh of relief and asked with concern, "To get your Second Soul Ring?"

"That's right." Bai Cai sat on the bed, with dried food and a water canteen scattered on either side.

Even after reorganizing everything several times, the tent, sleeping bag, and bedding filled the one-cubic-meter storage space to the brim, leaving no room for food or water.

"Take this with you."

Wang Dong removed the Sea Blue Bracelet from her left wrist and handed it to Bai Cai. She reminded her seriously, "Remember to come back soon."

After stepping out through Shrek Academy's rear gate, Dean Yan Shaozhe, disguised as an ordinary passerby, watched as Bai Cai boarded a private carriage alone. They left Shrek City one after the other.

The process of obtaining a Soul Ring was itself part of the training. Before they reached the Extreme North, Yan Shaozhe wouldn't show himself to rescue Bai Cai unless her life was in danger.

After leaving Shrek City, Bai Cai paid the carriage fare and waited for the driver to leave. Then she cautiously summoned Ralts.

The little creature with blue hair perched on Bai Cai's left shoulder. Confusion surged from it, wrapping around them both and forming a streamlined Psychic Shield that covered their entire bodies. Then they slowly rose into the air and sped across the cloudless sky.

Bai Cai and Ralts landed from time to time to rest, restoring their mental strength while correcting their course and planning their route anew.

On the first day, the temperature dropped noticeably. Bai Cai had no choice but to wrap herself in a quilt while flying. Confusion could block the biting wind and powerful air currents, but it couldn't keep out the plunging temperature.

On the second day, the grass had withered yellow and snowflakes swirled through the air. Bai Cai stopped in a nearby town to buy a thick winter coat, then gradually lowered her flying altitude to conserve mental strength.

On the third day, water froze as soon as it spilled, and every breath turned to snow. Bai Cai had reached the Northern Frontier of the Heaven Dou Empire, the Extreme North of the Douluo Continent.

The Northern Frontier Topographic Map she had bought in a city along the way was mostly blank. It didn't mark the location of the Ice-Sealed Forest.

As the wind and snow blurred the world around her, Bai Cai wrapped her thick coat tighter. Dean Yan Shaozhe suddenly appeared, his blazing light illuminating the surroundings and bringing warmth.

"The Ice-Sealed Forest is a hunting ground for high-level Soul Masters. Ordinary people wouldn't last a night there, which is why it isn't marked on the Northern Frontier map."

"Come with me." Yan Shaozhe gently placed a hand on Bai Cai's shoulder. His warm, gentle Soul Power shielded her and drove away the cold.

Yan Shaozhe's martial soul was the Radiant Phoenix, whose innate attributes were light and fire—elements that countered most Soul Beasts in the Extreme North.

After a difficult journey of four or five hours, Bai Cai followed Yan Shaozhe to a stand of cold pines. The snow-covered forest stretched as far as the eye could see, with a towering Snow Mountain rising in the distance.

"Beyond that Snow Mountain is an ice plain. This area happens to be where Mirror Shadow Beasts appear. We're looking for one with seven to nine hundred years of cultivation, so all we have to do is wait patiently."

"Mirror Shadow Beasts have mirror-like scales all over their bodies and can change color at will. They can reflect most long-range offensive Soul Skills."

"A century-old Mirror Shadow Beast grows up to two meters long. A thousand-year-old one exceeds four meters, and a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast grows more than six meters long."

Yan Shaozhe looked up at the sky. The Extreme North had short days and long nights, so they should prepare early.

"I've heard that Bai Cai is very skilled at surviving in the wild."

"Well, it's time to put you to the test."

He gently pressed a hand to Bai Cai's shoulder, lending her a surge of gentle Soul Power. In a flash of swirling snow, Yan Shaozhe vanished without a trace.

The wind howled, cold enough to pierce the bones. Ralts immediately raised a Psychic Shield to block out the snow and wind.

"Shelter, water, food."

Bai Cai rubbed her right wrist. The Sea Blue Bracelet flashed, and an iron shovel appeared, landing on the snow.

Ralts guided the shovel with Confusion, digging through the snow until it hit the hard, frozen ground below.

The cold pines in the Ice-Sealed Forest grew slowly, and their trunks were less than two people's arm spans around. They were too small to hollow out for shelter.

Felling too many cold pines would anger the Soul Beasts nearby. So the shelter had to be built either into the rock or underground.