She Wanted to Go Too

Shui Yue'er clutched her head and bared her teeth in protest. "Sis, if you keep knocking my head, I'm really going to turn stupid. If I fail my exams then, it'll all be your fault!"

"And you two have been glued to each other every day lately. If I didn't overthink it, then there'd really be something wrong with my brain."

Shui Bing'er shook her head helplessly, deciding not to keep entangling herself in this topic with her sister and her bizarre train of thought.

"Xue Wu, there's something we need to tell you."

"The class monitor is about to break through?" Xue Wu asked bluntly.

"Mm. How did you know?"

"I guessed. Didn't expect to guess right."

"Mm, you guessed correctly." Wu Changkong nodded. "We just went to speak with our homeroom teacher and the dean. It's all been arranged."

"We'll set off for the Far North tomorrow morning to hunt his fourth Soul Ring."

"The dean will lead the team herself. She asked me to bring you along as well. Your Snowforged Silken Dance is ice-elemental, so the environment of the Far North will benefit you. Besides, your Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Bing'er needs to be refined through actual combat."

"The Far North?!" Shui Yue'er said indignantly. "Why am I not included? I want to go too."

"We're not going there to have fun." There was a hint of helplessness in Shui Bing'er's voice. "And even ordinary Soul Masters can't endure that place. What could a level twenty-eight agility-attack type like you do there? If we run into danger, I'd have to split my attention to protect you."

"But I need experience too! Why can Xue Wu go when I can't?"

Xue Wu pinched her chin and analyzed the matter with a serious expression. "I think the dean's reasoning goes something like this... Shui Yue'er, level twenty-eight, water element, agility-attack type."

"If she goes to the Far North, she'll freeze into an ice pop before even reaching the Glacier Belt."

"Combat strength approximately equal to zero. Liability rating approximately maxed out. Overall assessment: not worth it."

"Who are you calling a liability?!" Shui Yue'er glared at Xue Wu with bared teeth.

"You, obviously. Otherwise, why weren't you included?"

"You..." Shui Yue'er was left speechless, because Xue Wu really wasn't wrong.

Seeing the two of them about to come to blows, Wu Changkong shook his head and explained on the dean's behalf. "Maybe it's because the place where I'll be hunting my Soul Ring is rather dangerous, so you weren't invited."

"How dangerous could it be?"

Xue Wu put an arm around her shoulders. "Enough, you bitter woman. Just wait at the academy for our news."

After school, Wu Changkong, Shui Bing'er, and Xue Wu, along with Shui Yue'er, who had come to join the excitement, headed toward the dean's office.

When they pushed open the dean's office door, Shui Qinghan and Lan Xiaoyue were already waiting inside. A map lay spread across the desk.

"You're all here." Shui Qinghan raised her head, sweeping her gaze across the four of them before lingering on Shui Yue'er for a moment longer.

Shui Yue'er immediately shifted half a step behind her sister in guilty embarrassment and softly said, "I'm just here to listen in."

Shui Qinghan said nothing more. She merely shook her head slightly and pointed at the map with her teaching whip. "From the academy, we'll first head north to Northguard Pass."

"Northguard Pass is the northernmost border fortress of the Heaven Dou Empire. It's also the final supply point before entering the Far North."

"Beyond Northguard Pass lies the Far North Plateau. Changkong, your first three Soul Rings were all hunted there, weren't they?"

"Yes." Wu Changkong nodded.

Shui Qinghan's teaching whip slowly moved upward across the map, passing over the Far North Plateau and entering a vast region marked in pale blue ink.

"This Glacier Belt already falls within the Far North."

"The temperature remains below minus forty degrees Celsius year-round. Even Soul Masters can't withstand that cold."

"So before setting off, we must buy enough cold-weather clothing, rations, charcoal, and firestones. You can't buy those things in the Far North. If you forget anything, once you're out on the ice fields, you won't even have a place to cry."

"Auntie," Shui Yue'er asked, thoroughly puzzled, "why do we have to go so far away?"

"Aren't there plenty of Thousand-Year Soul Beasts on the Far North Plateau?"

"Changkong hunted his first three Soul Rings on the plateau. Wouldn't it be enough to hunt a seven- or eight-thousand-year Soul Beast there this time? Why do we have to go somewhere cold enough to freeze people to death?"

"Because Changkong wants to hunt a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."

"Ten-ten-ten-ten-thousand years?!"

A fourth Soul Ring at the ten-thousand-year level—what did that mean?

Wu Changkong hadn't even broken through to Soul Ancestor yet, but he was already asking for a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast. This was no longer a matter of whether he was talented or not. He was outright stomping the conventional theories of the Soul Master world into the ground.

Seeing her sister look as though her soul had been shaken out of her body, Shui Bing'er recalled having the exact same reaction in the office earlier.

She reached out and rubbed her sister's head. "That's why Auntie told you not to go. The Far North Glacier Belt stays below minus forty degrees year-round. As a water-elemental Soul Master, your perceived temperature there would be another ten degrees lower, and your Soul Power would be consumed at more than twice our rate."

"And if we encounter a blizzard, it'll be even worse."

At that, Shui Yue'er finally lowered her shoulders and drooped her head. "Fine, fine. I won't go."

Lan Xiaoyue chuckled from the side, then turned to Shui Qinghan. "Qinghan, do you really not need me to come with you?"

"Dealing with a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast may be easy for you, but the Far North's terrain is complicated and its weather unpredictable. If you run into a blizzard or a beast horde, an extra person means extra support."

"No need. Though it's been several years since I last went to the Far North, I spent more than half a year in the Far North Glacier back then. Every route is etched into my mind."

"Besides, if I'm not at the academy and neither are you, who'll handle things if something happens here?"

Lan Xiaoyue nodded and did not press further.

With the strength of an eighty-sixth-level Titled Douluo, the Frost Luan might not be able to walk sideways through the Far North Glacier Belt, but she could at least protect a few children.

"Alright, go out now and buy the cold-weather supplies and rations I just mentioned."

Wu Changkong nodded. "Alright, let's go."

Two days later, early morning.

Everything was ready... everyone had two sets of thick winter coats, along with plenty of compressed flatbread and jerky. The charcoal and firestones had been packed separately in waterproof oilcloth bags.

The sun had only just risen in the east when the four of them stood on the stone steps outside Skywater Academy's main gate.

Wu Changkong raised his eyes toward the northern horizon.

From here to the Far North Glacier Belt was at least a thousand li. He hadn't given much thought to how they would travel.

Running for several days and nights was no different from taking a walk for him, and he could cultivate along the way as well—killing two birds with one stone.

After adjusting his belt, he turned to Shui Qinghan and asked, "Dean, how are we setting out?"

"Of course, we'll fly. There are hundreds of li between the academy and Northguard Pass. Traveling on foot would take at least three days, while flying will get us there in one."

Xue Wu asked, "But we can't fly, can we?"

"Bing'er and I both have the ability to fly. Xue Wu, I'll carry you. Bing'er, you'll carry Changkong."

Wu Changkong was stunned. Shui Bing'er was going to carry him while flying?