In the far north, the Cold Law Sea.
Glaciers stretched for ten thousand miles, cold light congealing over them. Two women stood atop an ice peak. The bitter wind surged, yet could not stir so much as a corner of their robes.
One wore a plain dress, her features elegant, her skin fairer than jade. Holding a plum branch, she gazed down at the glaciers. She was Bai Xuan. Turning her head, she asked:
"Dragon maiden Luo An, may I ask when Senior Kui Dragon will attain Heavenly Drum?"
Beside her stood a dragon maiden in a frost-white court dress, her horns patterned like ice. Her expression was serene, her divine ability condensed around her, with faint thunderclaps stirring within it that seized the heart and soul.
Luo An possessed only one divine ability and little of Dragonkind's arrogance. Her gaze shifted as she replied:
"How would we know? Northern River possesses only the Dao treatise on Lightning Flash, the qi that carries lightning. What Senior Kui Dragon seeks, however, is Heavenly Drum, the sound of heavenly thunder. We cannot discern the changes."
"Thunder is a sound and a breath of qi, not heaven's wrath. The senior and Northern River's Dragonkind cultivate the true essence of the thunder Dao, close to nature itself."
Bai Xuan's expression shifted slightly as she looked at Luo An. Only two Purple Mansion dragons remained in Northern River: this dragon maiden and an old Dragon King who slept wounded and seldom emerged.
Among the surviving Dragonkind, Eastern Vast needed no mention. Mist Marsh, too, possessed magic treasures and a grotto-heaven. Even though they secluded themselves from the world, no one dared look down on them.
Northern River, however, had completely lost its Golden Core means. Over the years, its bloodline had dwindled until only a