January brought heavy cold and drifting snow.
The Heavenly Moat Mountains, already close to the Far North, became a pure white snowscape overnight.
Across a thousand mountains, not a bird took flight.
Naturally, the disciples of the Body Sect, who had always placed great importance on tempering their bodies, would not stay huddled beneath their blankets.
As the saying went, train through winter's coldest days and summer's hottest heat.
This was precisely the right season to hone their willpower.
On the training grounds, frozen slick with ice, many disciples sparred bare-chested. Their training method could only be called extreme-or, in short, beating each other up. Only this could train their bodies' resistance to blows to the fullest, after which they would soak in medicinal baths.
The Body Sect was the guardian sect of the Heaven Dou Empire. Every year, the Heavenly Soul Royal Family spent over fifty million Gold Soul Coins on cultivation resources alone, despite the sect having fewer than a thousand members.
Inside the sect's main hall, two figures sat around a stove, melting snow. This snow had been gathered from mountain spring water at the summit of the Heavenly Moat Mountains. It contained the world's primal energy and could be considered a natural treasure.
Watching the vortex above the bamboo house halfway up the mountain, Jinpeng nodded repeatedly. He had been over forty when he attained his title. Truly, every generation brought forth new talents to rule the land.
Du Busi poured Jinpeng a cup of tea and said slowly, "Any news of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts lately?"
Jinpeng raised his cup and tipped his head back to drain it, seemingly unafraid of the scalding tea, then let out a hiss.
He shook his head. "We've searched all of the Sunset Forest without finding a trace of a