Dragon City, Earth Dragon Sect

"Sunset Forest, Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well... What a pity. The timing wasn't right."

At the valley campsite, Xia Yu gazed toward the distant Sunset Forest, watching its core region for a long while with deep regret.

It was impossible for him to have no designs on the immortal herbs within the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well.

But he knew his own limits. Although his current combat strength surpassed that of the vast majority of Ultimate Douluos,

Xia Yu still had no confidence that he could emerge unscathed if he faced Tang San's divine sense.

Although Tang San's current title as a God King was unworthy of the name, and he could at most be considered a relatively powerful first-class god,

a god was still a god, not something mortals could compare themselves to.

Even a negligible wisp of divine sense was not something to provoke without spiritual power at the Divine Realm level.

That was why Xia Yu said the timing was unsuitable.

After being nourished by his Natal Soul Tool, his spiritual power realm had advanced another step and was now infinitely close to the Divine Realm.

Yet that single step of difference left Xia Yu able only to stare helplessly at a mountain of treasure.

All he could say was that life was unpredictable. Sometimes, fate was simply like this, always falling just a little short.

Just that tiny bit, yet it was an uncrossable chasm!

"Brother Yu, we should get going!"

Seeing that Xia Yu was still looking toward the distant Sunset Forest, Meng Hongchen could not help reminding him.

Before long, the two set off once more, flying north all the way.

Unknowingly, traces of white began to appear along the distant horizon.

Currents of cold air intertwined through the sky, carrying goose-feather snowflakes as they drifted down.

The Extreme North was already close at hand.

"Phew... Dragon City. We finally made it!"

At the edge of the Extreme North, where Dragon City stood, Meng Hongchen looked at the towering city before her with the urge to burst into tears.

It should have been only a few days' journey, but Xia Yu had insisted on stopping and going along the way. In the end, it had taken them more than half a month to arrive.

And that was not even the worst of it. With Xia Yu around, she had not had a peaceful journey either.

She was now travel-worn and utterly exhausted.

If possible, all she wanted now was to go to a hotel and get some proper rest by herself.

Yes, Meng Hongchen only wanted to rest alone now. She had no desire whatsoever to remain with Xia Yu.

For some reason, Xia Yu had been in a bad mood ever since they left Sunset Forest, and Meng Hongchen had suffered for it.

During the rest of their journey, the pressure on her had been pushed to the limit.

Every morning when she woke up, her entire body felt as though it had fallen apart, aching everywhere.

That sort of thing felt quite good, but he could not be such an animal about it.

Meng Hongchen had practically developed a psychological shadow from it.

At times, she had even entertained the thought of finding someone else to share the burden.

Her slender body truly could not keep going like this. Otherwise, she feared that one day she might die in bed.

"Come on. Let's enter the city and rest first. There's no rush regarding the Earth Dragon Sect."

Seeing Meng Hongchen's utterly exhausted state, Xia Yu felt rare guilt, and his tone could not have been gentler.

He really had gone too far during the final stretch of the journey. Otherwise, how could Meng Hongchen have become so tired?

"Hmph!"

Meng Hongchen gave Xia Yu a faint glance and snorted at him.

It was not as though she blamed Xia Yu all that much.

But not blaming him did not mean she had forgiven what Xia Yu had done.

It would not be so easy for Xia Yu to earn her forgiveness.

At the very least, he would have to let her enjoy a few more days of being treated with utmost tenderness and care.

That special feeling suited Meng Hongchen's tastes far too well. She truly could not bear to give it up.

As for Xia Yu, because he knew he was in the wrong, he did not fuss over Meng Hongchen's tsundere behavior and simply took her hand, leading her toward the city gates.

Soon, the two followed the crowd into Dragon City.

Dragon City truly deserved its reputation as one of the foremost great cities in the north of the Heaven Soul Empire. The lively atmosphere hit them the moment they entered.

But Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen paid no attention to the bustle and headed straight for a hotel.

Perhaps because of a habit formed earlier, the two of them tacitly chose a rather special sort of hotel.

As always, they booked only one room, and it was the rather suggestive kind at that.

"Why did you book this kind of room again? Let me tell you, I need to get some proper rest. Don't you dare try anything."

Only after entering the room did Meng Hongchen belatedly realize that she had forgotten her original intention of resting well.

But she did not think it was her fault at all and calmly pinned every bit of blame on Xia Yu.

If not for Xia Yu's day-and-night influence, how could she possibly have become like this?

So it was all Xia Yu's fault. It was all because of him.

"Alright, alright. I won't try anything. Didn't you say you wanted to rest? Why aren't you going?"

Xia Yu had no intention of arguing with Meng Hongchen. He had already decided that once she fell asleep, he would go to the Earth Dragon Sect and investigate the situation.

The original work stated that the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow was inside a well in the Earth Dragon Sect's rear courtyard.

But it did not mark the exact location, and that well seemed to have been sealed as well.

Therefore, Xia Yu felt it was necessary to investigate it first. Ideally, he needed to determine the well's location.

Otherwise, it would be ridiculous if he brought Meng Hongchen to the Earth Dragon Sect's grounds and then could not find the well.

"Hmph. Remember what you said. If you dare pull anything while I'm asleep, I'll snip you."

Even though Xia Yu had sworn that he would not try anything again, Meng Hongchen was still uneasy.

Before going to sleep, she did not forget to threaten Xia Yu, hoping to make him wary.

Little did she know that her threat carried no intimidation at all. Instead, it created a different kind of contrast.

If Xia Yu had not been considering her condition and the fact that he could not keep tormenting her,

then with that attitude of hers, he would have given her a thoroughly unforgettable lesson.

Time slowly passed.

Before long, faint snoring sounded within the room.

It was clear that Meng Hongchen really was exhausted, so tired that she had fallen asleep the moment she touched the bed.

Click!

Seeing that Meng Hongchen had fallen asleep, Xia Yu began acting according to his plan.

After leaving several layers of protection for Meng Hongchen, he departed the hotel and headed for the Earth Dragon Sect's grounds.

Thanks to his powerful spiritual power, Xia Yu's investigation of the Earth Dragon Sect was twice as effective with half the effort.

It had to be said that the Earth Dragon Sect's ancestors had some real skill.

Their seal on that water well was indeed uniquely ingenious.

No wonder that even after the Earth Dragon Sect fell in the original work, the well had remained unharmed despite the Sun Moon Empire army's carpet-like search.

If Xia Yu's spiritual power had not already been infinitely close to the Divine Realm, allowing him to sense the frigid power leaking from the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Cavern through fluctuations in the surrounding energy,

then even he would have needed to spend some effort finding that seemingly ordinary well.