Beside a ruined stone pavilion sheltered from the wind, five or six Dou Wangs and Dou Emperors huddled around a fire, warming themselves and toasting dry rations as they chatted with spittle flying.
"If you ask me, the person who wiped out Ice River Valley must have been a grand elder the Pill Tower had kept hidden for centuries!"
A middle-aged man with a full beard swallowed his dried meat and slapped his thigh hard.
"Just think about how many people those bastards from Ice River Valley offended in the Central Plains! But who would dare march straight in and flatten their stronghold, apart from the Pill Tower and those superpowers in the Central Region?"
A thin young man beside him immediately snorted and retorted:
"Oh, give it a rest. A grand elder? Even your great-uncle's tall tales aren't that ridiculous."
"I was escorting cargo for a caravan outside Tianbei City at the time. I saw a rift open in the sky with my own eyes!"
"The one who attacked wasn't some white-haired old man at all. He was a young gentleman around twenty!"
The bearded man widened his eyes and snapped:
"Twenty? Has the wind and snow frozen your brains, boy?"
"Ice Venerable was a genuine Four-Star Dou Zun! With that formation and Tian Shuangzi backing him up, even a Five-Star Dou Zun might not have escaped unscathed!"
"Reaching Dou Ling at twenty would mean smoke was rising from your ancestral graves! A twenty-year-old Dou Zun? You might as well say he was a reincarnated Dou Di!"
The thin young man flushed red to the neck in agitation and sprang to his feet.
"Why would I lie to you? The Han Clan in Tianbei City is spreading the news everywhere!"
"That gentleman flew into a rage over the Han