White Mountain Peninsula lay 1,300 kilometers northeast of the Imperial Capital. Its highest peak, Great Snow Peak, rose no less than 2,000 meters, its summit covered in snow all year round.
The middle of the mountain range was likewise blanketed in white, but it was not snow. It was a mineral layer formed from sulfur spewed up from underground. Volcanoes and snow-capped mountains should never have existed upon the same mountain, yet Great Snow Peak on White Mountain Island was precisely such a contradictory existence.
It was now the last ten days of October. In the continent's northernmost regions, the sun set before five, and goose-feather snowflakes drifted down across the entire peninsula.
The snowflakes fell into the broadleaf forest on the ground, melting into liquid within seconds and dropping into a pond below.
"Splash~"
Sensing the disturbance on the water's surface, a scaled head emerged from the pond. He sniffed at the scent in the air, then sank back down to sleep.
The Merfolk Naga warrior, more than five meters long from head to tail, turned about in the deep pool. He swam into an underwater passage, continued for another kilometer or so, then surfaced in another pond.
Compared to the lake beneath the forest, the cave before him was like a palace.
The cave stood no less than fifty meters high, with clear signs of artificial excavation all around. Apart from the pond used by the Merfolk warriors to come and go, there were at least ten more ponds on the ground, each over twenty meters in diameter.
White mist curled through the cave, and the temperature inside was especially pleasant compared to outside.
"Tao'ola, is there a problem outside?" A voice came gasping from the deepest part of the cave.
The Naga warrior said respectfully, "Master Yalanzhuo,