White Clothes Untouched by Worldly Dust, Yet Asks Heaven Whether Freedom Is Possible

Zhou Qiubai held it in his hand and infused it with Soul Power, his eyes instantly lighting up.

A Storage Soul Tool!

The space inside was not large, only about five square meters, but it was enough.

There were some miscellaneous items inside, several changes of clothes, some medicinal herbs, and...

A tattered booklet.

Zhou Qiubai opened the booklet. It recorded how to cultivate by drinking blood and how to refine Blood Slaves.

He read a few pages, his brows knitting tighter and tighter, before finally burning it.

"Something this harmful can't be left behind."

Yang Guyun nodded and pointed at the ring. "Do you want this?"

Zhou Qiubai froze. "Brother Yang doesn't want it?"

"I already have the jade pendant." Yang Guyun said calmly. "This one is for you."

Zhou Qiubai looked at the ring, then at Yang Guyun, and suddenly smiled. "Then I won't stand on ceremony."

He put the ring on his left index finger. It fit perfectly.

He infused it with Soul Power, familiarized himself with the space inside, then began putting things into it.

Finally, he looked at Yang Guyun. "Brother Yang, give me back the things I left with you."

Yang Guyun removed the jade pendant, infused it with Soul Power, and took out Zhou Qiubai's stored belongings one by one.

Zhou Qiubai accepted them and placed them into the ring.

When the final item had been stored away, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," he said sincerely.

Yang Guyun shook his head. "It was only right."

The two carefully inspected the scene once more. Only after confirming that nothing had been missed did they leave.

By the time they walked out of the courtyard, the horizon had already begun to pale.

Voices had begun to rise in town, but no one dared leave their homes yet.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun quietly left White Stone Town and continued east.

Along the way, Zhou Qiubai played with his newly acquired ring, in high spirits. "Brother Yang, would you say this counts as upholding justice and making a fortune on the side?"

"It does." Yang Guyun rarely went along with him.

"Then should we do this a few more times?" Zhou Qiubai said half-jokingly.

Yang Guyun glanced at him and said softly, "Up to you."

The two exchanged smiles and continued on their journey.

Nearly a month passed.

"Brother Yang, North Wind Town is up ahead." Zhou Qiubai raised a hand toward the cooking smoke in the distance. "We can ask around about the Ice-Sealed Forest, and while we're at it... get something hot to eat."

Yang Guyun rose from beneath the tree. The Returnless Spear on his back glinted with a trace of chill beneath the sunlight.

"The last time you said 'while we're at it,' we ended up provoking that group of noble guards."

His voice was calm, giving away no emotion, but anyone could tell how helpless he felt.

Ever since he had begun traveling with Zhou Qiubai, he seemed to have been fighting nonstop.

Or rather, not them—Zhou Qiubai. Did he have some sort of constitution that attracted trouble?

Wait...

It really did seem that way.

The number of fights he had been in these past few days exceeded all the fights from the previous few years combined.

Zhou Qiubai smiled and patted the White Clothes at his waist. "Wasn't that exactly what you wanted? Thirty-seven Soul Masters, the strongest at level forty-eight, and you took on nineteen by yourself!"

"You took on eighteen," Yang Guyun corrected him, the corner of his mouth seeming to lift slightly.

"That's why I left the last one for you to break through!" Zhou Qiubai blinked. "A level-forty Soul Ancestor. Congratulations, congratulations, though you haven't found your Soul Ring yet."

The tea stall beside the official road steamed with heat. Zhou Qiubai lifted the coarse cloth curtain and walked in, ordering two bowls of rough tea and several steamed buns.

"Shopkeeper, how far is the next town?" Zhou Qiubai broke open a steamed bun and asked casually.

The tea stall owner was a lean old man in his fifties. As he wiped the tables, he answered, "It's quite far. Follow the official road for eighty li to Black Stone City. After passing Black Stone City, go another three hundred li north and you'll reach the Ice-Sealed Forest. But you two mustn't go there."

"How so?" Yang Guyun raised his head, his brows slightly furrowed.

The old man lowered his voice, seemingly afraid of being overheard. "Ordinary people can't enter the Ice-Sealed Forest. Even if they do, it's a world of ice and snow inside, and the Spirit Beasts are terribly fierce. Every year, quite a few Soul Masters die in there..."

He sized up their clothing. "You two look like Lord Soul Masters yourselves, but you're still so young. Why go to such a dangerous place?"

Zhou Qiubai smiled and placed a Silver Soul Coin on the table. "Thank you for the warning, sir. This is for the tea."

The two rose and left the tea stall, setting off once more.

The official road gradually grew desolate. The farmland on both sides had turned into wasteland, while distant mountains rose and fell, their peaks already dusted with snow.

"The Ice-Sealed Forest..." Zhou Qiubai unfolded a crude map he had taken from the Evil Soul Master in White Stone Town. "According to the markings, we still have five days to go."

Yang Guyun nodded, his gaze falling on the storage ring on Zhou Qiubai's left index finger. "Is that ring easy to use?"

"More than easy!" Zhou Qiubai stirred his Soul Power, and a copper coin sprang from the ring, spinning over his fingertips. "Five cubic meters. More than enough for all our belongings."

The two walked in silence for a while until a fork appeared ahead.

One road continued north, and the sign read: [Black Stone City, Eighty Li].

But clearly, neither of them was the type to follow the usual path.

Zhou Qiubai looked toward the narrow road to the northeast. "It's a bit of a detour, but quieter."

"Alright."

The narrow path wound into the mountains, with pine forests growing denser on both sides.

At noon, they found a stream in the woods and decided to rest briefly. Zhou Qiubai took out dry rations to share, while Yang Guyun went to fetch water.

Zhou Qiubai scooped up water to wash his face. Just as he was about to rise, his ears suddenly twitched.

A faint sound of metal scraping came from somewhere nearby.

Zhou Qiubai's eyes sharpened, and he quickly gave Yang Guyun a look.

Yang Guyun nodded slightly, the Returnless Spear already in his hand.

The two silently slipped into the woods. The source of the sound seemed to be coming from a mountain hollow half a li away.

Five carriages formed a semicircle, noble family crests branded onto their shafts.

More than twenty Soul Masters dressed as guards stood with blades in hand. In the clearing, a group of ragged prisoners were chained together in a line.

"Behave yourselves!" A scar-faced man cracked his whip, lashing it viciously across the back of a boy who tried to struggle. "Move again, and you won't get dinner tonight!"

The boy let out a muffled groan, clenching his teeth without making another sound.

Behind him stood a girl of fourteen or fifteen, gripping the corner of his clothes tightly as tears welled in her eyes.

Scarface sneered coldly. "You've got some backbone. Too bad once you reach the Northern Border Mine, even the toughest bones will have to kneel and dig."

"Boss, this batch is good quality." A tall, skinny man came over, his gaze greedy. "Especially those young ones. Sell them to those lords as servants, and we can get thirty percent more."

"What's the rush? Send them to work in the mine for half a year first. We'll grind the wildness out of them before deciding." Scarface swept his gaze over the crowd. "Have they all been checked? No Soul Masters among them?"

"Three times. The Soul Power testing stone didn't react at all. They're all commoners."

"Fine. Rest for a quarter of an hour, then get moving. We need to reach the handover point before dark."

The guards scattered to rest. Some took out waterskins and drank, while others leaned against the carriage wheels to nap.

The chained people curled up on the ground, their eyes hollow.