Informing the Northernmost Point of the Map (Seeking Recommendations ʕ ᵔᴥᵔ ʔ)

Unfortunately, no one answered Yan Hongchen. He was left sitting alone on the bed, wondering if he had not fully woken up yet.

But on second thought, Yan Hongchen suddenly had an idea. The dream itself was a perfect excuse. If he said he had dreamed of a place and seen certain things, his family might find it strange, but they would not necessarily investigate too deeply.

The world of soul masters was already filled with all kinds of bizarre phenomena. Having a prophetic dream was not all that outrageous, and this excuse had never failed to serve its purpose.

With a plan forming in his mind, he knew he first had to verify whether the map was real. Only after proving one thing could he gradually pursue the other opportunities.

Jing Hongchen should have a map of the Extreme North Icefield. Even if it was only a rough chart, it would be enough to compare with what was in his mind and see whether it matched reality.

If enough of it matched...

Then this matter had to be taken seriously.

Yan Hongchen lay back down and closed his eyes. He did not have any more dreams that night, sleeping soundly until dawn—until someone knocked on his door with earthshaking force.

"Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!"

The knocking went on without pause, carrying the unmistakable attitude of, "If you don't open the door, I won't stop."

Yan Hongchen frowned. Annoyed, he scratched at his hair with his right hand, pressing his fingers hard against his scalp in an attempt to wake himself up.

Still groggy, he sat up, planted his bare feet on the floor, and staggered toward the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." He pulled the door open a crack, only for Xiao Hongchen to shove it wide open. "What time is it? You're still sleeping?"

Seeing Yan Hongchen's bleary-eyed appearance, he could not help laughing. "What, were you out stealing last night?"

Yan Hongchen did not answer. He merely rubbed his eyes and gave a vague "Mm."

Xiao Hongchen knew Yan Hongchen was a little muddle-headed when he had just woken up, so he did not mind. He simply said, "It's already noon. Get up and eat."

With that, he turned and left. After taking two steps, he looked back. "Oh, right. Grandpa seems to be here too. Clean yourself up before you come out. Don't go out looking like that."

Yan Hongchen nodded and shut the door. He stood there leaning against it for a while, fragments of the dream still lingering in his mind—the snowfield, the lightning tribulation, that snow lotus, and that map.

He closed his eyes and tried to recall the map's details. They were still there. The rough locations of mountains, rivers, icefields, and snowy valleys, along with the flower marker, remained vividly imprinted in his mind.

Yan Hongchen washed up, fixed his hair, changed into clean clothes, and headed out.

In the dining room, Jing Hongchen sat at the head of the table with a teacup in hand, while Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen were eating lunch.

Yan Hongchen took his seat, and Jing Hongchen casually served him a bowl of porridge. "Didn't sleep well last night? Your eyes look a little puffy."

"I'm fine." Yan Hongchen lowered his head and drank some porridge. "I had a dream. After waking up, I couldn't really get back to sleep."

"A dream?" Jing Hongchen's gaze fell on him. "What sort of dream could toss you around like this? Children shouldn't overthink things."

Yan Hongchen paused. This was an opportunity, but he did not speak immediately. Instead, he took another sip of porridge as though organizing his thoughts. After a moment, he slowly said, "I dreamed of a place. It was very cold, covered in snow and ice."

Jing Hongchen raised a brow but said nothing, waiting to hear more.

"In the dream, I saw a woman surrounded by countless bolts of lightning," Yan Hongchen continued. "The lightning was too powerful. She couldn't endure it, and in the end, she fused with a snow lotus."

At this point, he raised his head and met Jing Hongchen's eyes. "Then a rough map appeared in my mind, with the location of a flower marked on it."

The dining room fell silent for a moment.

Xiao Hongchen stopped moving his chopsticks, while Meng Hongchen looked up. Both of them turned to Yan Hongchen.

Jing Hongchen set down his teacup, his voice calm. "A map?"

"Yes." Yan Hongchen nodded. "It's very clear, like a terrain map of some place. I don't know whether it's real or fake, but it's in my head, and I can't shake it off."

Jing Hongchen fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "Interesting. There are precedents of soul masters having prophetic dreams."

"Especially after awakening, when mental power is active, they may occasionally receive certain... inexplicable things. But something as specific as a map is rare."

"Could it be because of his martial soul?" Meng Hongchen suddenly asked. "Doesn't Little Brother's Phantom Water Spirit Toad have a spiritual attribute? Maybe it sensed something."

"That's possible." Jing Hongchen glanced at Yan Hongchen. "Little Yan, what state is your martial soul in now?"

Yan Hongchen pondered for a moment, then closed his eyes and sensed the condition of his martial soul. He answered truthfully, "The Phantom Water Spirit Toad martial soul isn't doing well. It may need a few more days to recover. I can't summon it."

This time, he was telling the truth. Yan Hongchen could sense that the martial soul origin of the Phantom Water Spirit Toad was somewhat weak, to the point that he could not summon it at all!

Jing Hongchen found Yan Hongchen's martial soul rather unusual. After all, it was another species he had never seen before. He lifted his teacup, took a sip, and asked, "Can you draw that map?"

Yan Hongchen froze for a moment, then nodded. "I should be able to."

"Then draw it." Jing Hongchen put down his teacup. "Whether it's real or fake, draw it first and we'll see."

He looked toward Yi Hongchen. "Our family has maps of the continent. They're rough, but they should be enough for comparison. If it really matches a certain place..."

Jing Hongchen did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was already obvious. If it truly matched, then this was not something as simple as a dream.

After the meal, Jing Hongchen took Yan Hongchen to the study, with Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen following along to take a look.

With paper and brushes prepared, Yan Hongchen closed his eyes and reviewed the map in his mind. The contours of the mountains, the direction of the rivers, every marking—it was all as clear as if it had been carved into his mind.

He opened his eyes and began to draw. At first, his strokes were somewhat awkward, but as he continued, his hand grew steadier. Lines spread across the paper one after another, and markings appeared one by one—snowfields, ice valleys, mountain ridges, rifts...

Finally, Yan Hongchen drew a flower in the most conspicuous location. "Done." He put down the brush and stepped back.

Jing Hongchen stepped forward and lowered his head to examine the map. His gaze swept over each location as he compared them with what he knew, only to discover that this was a map of the Extreme North Icefield!

"This place..." Jing Hongchen pointed at one of the markings on the map. "If I remember correctly, it's the Abyssal Ice Rift, one of the most dangerous regions of the Extreme North Icefield."

"This is a map of the Extreme North? It's very dangerous?" Yan Hongchen looked up.

"Yes, the Abyssal Ice Rift is a massive fissure in the ice sheet, bottomless, with streams of frigid air rising from it all year round," Jing Hongchen explained.

"Soul beasts rarely go near it, because once they fall in, there is basically no chance of survival."

Yan Hongchen looked at the flower he had drawn. It was right beside the Abyssal Ice Rift.

"The location of this flower," Jing Hongchen suddenly said, "if matched against the map, should be an ice valley at the edge of the rift. The records for that place..."

He paused, then looked at Yan Hongchen with a deep gaze. "Are blank."

The study fell silent at once!