Far North

After leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Wu hurried onward for many days. At last, the landscape before her changed completely.

No longer was it a lush green forest. In its place stretched an endless expanse of pure white.

The sky was lead-gray, hanging so low it seemed ready to crush the earth. Icy snowflakes mixed with tiny shards of ice, swept along by the biting wind as it howled and swirled without end, letting out mournful wails like the cries of ghosts.

The ground lay buried beneath thick ice and snow, without a single trace of life. There were only rolling snowdrifts and the faint outlines of glaciers in the distance.

This was the Far North.

Xiao Wu stood at the edge of the snowy plains, wrapped in the thickest padded coat she had bought in the last human town she passed through. She was bundled up like an oversized ball.

Even so, the cold seeped in everywhere like icy steel needles, piercing through the thick cotton padding and striking straight into her bones.

She could not stop herself from shivering. Her teeth lightly chattered, making faint clicking sounds.

Her exposed cheeks and the tip of her nose were instantly frozen red, as though they would lose all sensation the next moment.

"Hey, Tian Meng!"

Xiao Wu called out irritably in her mind, her voice carrying a faint tremor from the cold.

"We've reached the Far North! Where do we go next?"

Within the Spiritual Sea, above the calm, rippleless surface, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's plump, pearly-white body floated lazily. Hearing her, he slowly turned over and blinked his tiny eyes, looking slightly lost.

"Uh... well..." Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice lacked confidence.

"As for exactly where to go, I... I'm not too sure either."

"What?"

Xiao Wu