Yu Xiaogang left the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan in despair.
Aside from a few people close to Yu Xiaogang, no one in the entire clan really cared. Even those who heard about it only sighed that the useless fool had finally left.
Although Yu Tianjue didn't care what happened to Yu Xiaogang, he still learned from Yu Tianheng that Yu Xiaogang had left.
At the news, Yu Tianjue let out a long breath of relief.
If that guy had stayed in the clan, Yu Tianjue would've been afraid he'd keep showing up at his door every few days, all for that so-called method of achieving a second Martial Soul evolution and mutation.
Thankfully, that drowned rat was finally gone.
Yu Tianheng was still worried that Yu Xiaogang might be bullied out in the world after leaving the clan... All Yu Tianjue could say was that Yu Tianheng was overthinking it.
Not long after leaving the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Yu Xiaogang would meet Flender and Liu Erlong, and the three of them would make a name for themselves as the Golden Iron Triangle. After that would come the forbidden, much-discussed romance between Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong, his sister.
Yu Xiaogang might have been a useless mess, but he certainly had a way with women.
Bibi Dong, Liu Erlong... Yu Tianjue could hardly imagine what on earth had attracted those two women to Yu Xiaogang.
But none of that had anything to do with him anymore, because he had now reached the outskirts of the Far North.
The Far North lay northwest of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's headquarters, with the Frozen Forest between them.
But when they passed through the Frozen Forest, Yu Yuanzhen didn't stop for even a moment. He went straight into the vast, treeless ice plain with Yu Tianjue.
Many ice-attribute Soul Beasts lived in the Frozen Forest as well, but compared with the Far North, it had far fewer species, and they were relatively weaker. There were hardly any powerful clans to be found there.
Only the Far North could meet their needs.
As far as the eye could see, everything was a vast expanse of white. The cold wind howled, yet Yu Tianjue didn't feel the slightest chill or loneliness. Instead, he felt a familiar sense of coming home.
After all, he'd lived for decades in the simulated world...
While Yu Tianjue looked around, Yu Yuanzhen watched him just as closely.
Perhaps because of his Martial Soul, Yu Tianjue showed no sign of discomfort and didn't seem to feel cold at all. On the contrary, he seemed completely at home...
Yu Tianjue's ability to adapt to his surroundings far exceeded Yu Yuanzhen's expectations.
Yu Yuanzhen grew rather interested. "Tianjue, you've studied a great deal of the clan's knowledge since childhood. Although your Martial Soul isn't the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, different paths can lead to the same destination. Tell me, what kind of Soul Beast would be best for your First Soul Ring?"
What kind of Soul Beast should he hunt?
Apart from special Martial Souls like the Rainbow Dragon, most dragon-type Martial Souls followed the fierce, aggressive Power Attack System path. Naturally, they tended to seek Soul Rings from similar kinds of Soul Beasts.
And as for the Far North's Soul Beasts suited to the Power Attack System... he knew them better than anyone.
"First, we should consider the Far North's ice-attribute sub-dragons, such as Frost Sub-Dragons and Cold-Spine Ice Dragons. Next would be Soul Beasts with immense strength, such as Ice Bears and Titan Snow Demons, whose bodies are exceptionally powerful."
Yu Yuanzhen nodded in satisfaction.
"You're right, but you've overlooked another top-tier Soul Beast."
As he spoke, Yu Yuanzhen paused, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Ice Jade Scorpions, top predators of the Far North. Their pair of icy pincers are their deadliest weapons. If we can hunt one for your Soul Ring, it should grant Xiao Hei a claw-type Soul Skill. And if we're lucky, this top-tier Soul Beast might even drop a Soul Bone."
???
An Ice Jade Scorpion for his Soul Ring again?
The moment Yu Tianjue heard those three words, he felt a deep, instinctive revulsion. In the simulation world, the Ice Empress had sacrificed herself to complete his final Soul Ring, but that had left him with a tremendous regret in that Simulation.
But on second thought, Yu Tianjue relaxed.
Ice Jade Scorpions lived in the Core Circle of the Far North, and rarely ventured into the outer regions. Even if a few occasionally chased Soul Beasts out there, surely they wouldn't happen to be at exactly the right age for him to absorb?
That would be far too much of a coincidence.
"Come on, let's look around first. In this vast ice plain, finding a Soul Ring suitable for you won't be easy."
In the Far North, Core Circle, Ice and Snow Palace.
The Snow Empress sat on a chair made entirely of ice, staring into space.
For the past few days, she had been having strange, inexplicable dreams, and they were always more or less the same.
In the dreams, she found a baby on the outskirts of the Far North who was about to freeze to death. She brought him back, cared for him, and raised him to adulthood, all in the hope of making him a god and changing her and the Ice Empress's fates.
Unfortunately, the ending was unbearably tragic.
To complete his divine trials, the Ice Empress chose to sacrifice herself to him. And to keep the Snow Empress alive, he chose to die in her arms, using the last of his strength to infuse her body with a trace of divine power he had mastered.
But the dream didn't end there.
She begged the Ice God to bring him back to life, but the Ice God said there was nothing she could do—even she had been moved by his actions.
With no other choice, she could only hold the human's corpse in her arms, heartbroken, and bury him amid the snow and ice. After that, all she could do was silently watch over the nearby grave every day.
With that trace of divine power he had infused into her body, her cultivation advanced rapidly, and she soon reached the eighty-hundred-thousand-year tribulation. Just as he had said before he died, the tribulation was no longer a problem for her.
In just ten thousand years, she broke through the nine-hundred-thousand-year mark and became a true top Ferocious Beast, capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Di Tian.
But she had lost everything.
She had lost the Ice Empress, and the company of the person with whom she had long since formed a deep bond.
The Snow Empress remembered every detail of the dream clearly. She remembered every appearance of the human she had named Tian Jue, from infancy and childhood through adolescence and youth, right up to when he died in her arms. She remembered everything that had happened between him, herself, and the Ice Empress—even the smallest details.
It had felt so real that it hardly seemed like a dream at all, but rather a story that had truly happened.
She was the Heavenly Snow Woman, a Soul Beast, and she wasn't supposed to dream as often as humans did. That only made the situation seem even stranger.
The Snow Empress even felt that this was guidance from the Ice God, whom she had always believed in. Because of that, she had made several special trips to the outer regions of the Far North to look for the baby from her dreams.
Unfortunately, in the end, she found nothing.