So You're the One Who Hit My Husband?

They entered the Frozen Forest.

Shui Bing'er could still feel the energy of the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue coursing through her body.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue had tempered her bones, widened her Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and cleansed her Soul Power.

She felt a slight improvement in her mental perception, too.

She had to admit...

Whale Rubber really was good stuff.

The only downside was how hard it was on beds.

When she thought back to what had happened in the hotel room, embarrassment welled up inside her.

"According to the map..."

"We're standing right where the Shui Family ancestor found the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow."

Lin Ye looked around.

Apart from the slope marked on the map, there were only a few scattered larches nearby.

He knew without searching that there couldn't be any Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow here.

It was too warm.

If there were any here, the temperature would be at least another ten degrees lower.

"This is the place."

Disappointment showed on Shui Bing'er's face.

Her hopes had come to nothing!

This trip had been a complete waste of effort.

Well...

They had gained something.

She had confirmed that Whale Rubber could improve a Soul Master, and she had experienced it firsthand last night.

"Shui Bing'er."

"Forgive me for asking."

"Your ancestor didn't have an intellectual disability or bouts of amnesia, did they?"

Shui Bing'er's expression darkened. "Your ancestor was the idiot!"

Lin Ye had warned her that the question was rude, but that was far beyond rude.

"All right."

Lin Ye had only asked because he wanted to know whether the map was reliable.

As things stood...

There were only two possibilities.

The first was that the map had been drawn incorrectly.

The second was that they hadn't found the right place.

"What do we do now?" Shui Bing'er asked.

Well...

She remembered her father's advice: listen to Lin Ye more often.

"Let's trust the Shui Family ancestor one more time."

Keep searching!

Lin Ye decided to follow the slope north and continue searching toward the Far North.

Why the Far North?

Because the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow naturally occurred there.

If the Shui Family ancestor had found some in the Frozen Forest, another Soul Master might have dropped it here. More likely, some natural cause had brought it here.

In any case.

They couldn't go wrong by heading north.

"You're not planning to enter the Far North, are you?" Shui Bing'er asked.

After all.

That was forbidden territory for humans!

Any Soul Master who went in faced nine chances of death and one of survival.

"What have I done to make you think I value money more than my life?"

He wasn't that stupid!

With their current strength.

Even nine lives wouldn't be enough to survive a trip into the Far North.

"Pfft—"

Shui Bing'er laughed.

The two walked toward the Far North, chatting as they went.

The sun sank behind the western mountains.

Lin Ye chose a flat spot to make camp.

Barring any surprises, this would be his and Shui Bing'er's last night in the Frozen Forest.

Any farther north, and they would enter the Polar Day Zone.

Of course.

It was too dangerous ahead.

He had no intention of going deeper.

"Shui Bing'er."

"Hmm?"

"Should we take off our clothes to cultivate?"

"What do you mean?"

Shui Bing'er looked utterly confused.

What strange new trick had he come up with now?

Lin Ye explained, "I read about dual cultivation in an ancient text. Without clothes, Soul Power can flow continuously through the acupoints and skin instead of being absorbed or blocked by fabric. That means no loss during Soul Power transfer."

Shui Bing'er was speechless.

Was that really true?

She suspected it was another of Lin Ye's naughty ideas.

Still, it didn't matter.

They had already seen each other naked plenty of times.

So they got to it!

As before, each sent Soul Power into the other's body. After circulating once, it returned to its source at the same time.

The only difference today was that they were naked.

The results proved it.

Taking off their clothes did help.

But the improvement was so slight it was barely noticeable.

However...

The downside came with a bang.

Neither of them could hold back!

He and Shui Bing'er had sex in the Frozen Forest, where it was dozens of degrees below zero.

Luckily, they were both ice-type Soul Masters.

If they had been ordinary people.

Their privates would probably have frozen stiff.

That night.

Shui Bing'er made considerable progress!

The next morning.

The two set out again.

Lin Ye headed back as planned, though he took a different route.

"It's so cold."

Shui Bing'er crossed her arms and rubbed them.

She was an ice-type Soul Master, but that didn't make her immune to every degree of cold.

"Cold?"

Lin Ye felt nothing at all.

He had previously consumed the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, evolving his Profound Ice True Dragon Martial Soul to possess the Ultimate Ice attribute.

"Mm..."

"The air here is much colder than it was back there."

At those words.

Lin Ye's eyes lit up.

The sudden drop in temperature around them could mean the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow they had searched so hard for was nearby.

And even if it wasn't...

Something else had to be causing it.

Shui Bing'er noticed the change in Lin Ye's expression and caught on.

"Look... the slope!"

"There's a valley beneath it, too."

"It's exactly what's marked on the map."

Usually so composed, Shui Bing'er was so happy she nearly jumped for joy.

"I knew it."

The corners of Lin Ye's mouth lifted slightly.

They simply hadn't found the right place before.

And they weren't the only ones...

Members of the Shui Family had come several times without finding it, either.

Who could have guessed that the Frozen Forest held two nearly identical landscapes?

"What do we do next?"

Shui Bing'er remained firmly committed to following Lin Ye's lead.

"Dig!"

Lin Ye didn't mean hacking at the ice with a pickaxe. He meant blasting it with their Soul Skills.

"Fifth Soul Skill—Ice Dragon Abyss-Shattering Strike!"

"Fourth Soul Skill—Ice Phoenix Heart-Piercing Strike!"

They unleashed more than a dozen attacks.

The ice split open.

A shaft over a hundred meters deep appeared beneath them.

"Look!"

"That glowing thing."

"Is it Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow?"

Shui Bing'er was more excited than usual. Since meeting Lin Ye, she had never spoken so much at once.

She couldn't help it.

This was the first time she had found such a precious cultivation resource in the wild.

"It is!"

Lin Ye was certain now.

The speck of light at the bottom of the shaft was Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.

"Be careful."

"Treasure is often guarded by Soul Beasts."

A Soul Beast's sense of smell was often dozens, even hundreds, of times stronger than a Soul Master's.

If Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow could attract Soul Masters, it could certainly draw powerful Soul Beasts.

The words had barely left his mouth.

A white blur suddenly shot out from the depths of the shaft.

Lin Ye had no time to warn her.

He shoved Shui Bing'er aside, then crossed his arms in front of himself as fast as he could.

"Thud—"

A muffled impact rang out.

The blow sent Lin Ye flying more than ten meters.

The next instant.

A bone-white giant python appeared before them.

Its entire body was icy white, covered in thick, diamond-shaped scales.

Its forked tongue was like two short blades of ice, shedding a fine spray of ice chips as it flicked in and out.

Lin Ye recognized the enormous creature at a glance.

The Ice Rock Python!

At twenty meters long, this Ice Rock Python had clearly cultivated for over thirty thousand years.

"Lin Ye."

"Are you all right?"

Shui Bing'er's face was full of worry.

Only when she saw that Lin Ye was unharmed did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Then...

She turned toward the Ice Rock Python.

Killing intent flashed in her ice-blue eyes.

That damned giant python had dared to ram into her husband.

She was furious!