Li Jin Wanted Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow
I've already gotten the Snow Empress, and the Ice Empress has come along with me too. This trip to the Far North was well worth it-everything turned out perfectly.
But if I could get something extra, that would be even better.
Ten thousand years from now, a city near the Far North called Dragon City will have a countless supply of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow hidden beneath it. That's a heavenly treasure for increasing cultivation. It ought to belong to me...
After returning to the Frozen Forest from the Far North, Li Jin thought it over and made a decision. He would pack up all the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow beneath Dragon City and take it with him.
He was already here, after all!
Naturally, he couldn't let an opportunity meant for him slip by.
Condensing Frost City!
This city lay near the Frozen Forest. It had earned its name because the temperature here was so low that even the air people breathed out could freeze into frost.
Carrying the Snow Maiden in his arms, with the Ice Empress following at his side, Li Jin left the Frozen Forest and stopped in Condensing Frost City for the time being.
He entered a restaurant and ordered a local specialty: three-delicacy stew in an iron pot. Tiger, bear, and venison simmered in the pot, flatbreads clung to its rim, and a charcoal fire burned fiercely beneath it as bubbles gurgled up through the stew.
Because the local temperature was so low, it was best to eat straight from the pot. Otherwise, the food would quickly turn cold.
Li Jin picked up a piece of tiger meat and chewed it slowly, turning his head to look at the street outside the window.
I don't even know where Dragon City is right now. It isn't on the map at all. Ten thousand years from now, Dragon City exists because of the Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Earth Dragon Sect. Perhaps, in this era ten thousand years earlier, that city isn't even called Dragon City.
Since things have come to this, I'll eat first. Once I'm full, I'll pick up a branch and throw it. Whichever way it points will tell me where to look for Dragon City.
As a spirit nurtured by heaven and earth, the Snow Maiden had little interest in ordinary food, even now that she had become a Martial Soul. She sat contentedly in Li Jin's arms, playing with the Ice God's Pearl.
Across from them, the Ice Empress was a little foodie. Her mouth was stuffed with meat, her eyes were shining, and she picked up food even faster than Li Jin.
"Human food-chomp, chomp-is pretty tasty-chomp, chomp..."
Just then!
A rumble sounded through the city, and the earth trembled. The great iron pot in front of Li Jin was about to go flying.
Fortunately, the Ice Empress acted in time, using her Soul Power to protect the great iron pot.
"What happened? Is someone fighting in the city?"
Li Jin put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up with the Snow Maiden in his arms. He activated his Purple Demon Eye, his eyes flashing brightly as he looked toward a certain part of the city.
Amid the violent tremors, a fissure roughly ten meters long and half a meter wide suddenly split open in the once-level street.
Fortunately, there were few people nearby, so no one was hurt or killed.
Waves of icy cold poured from the fissure, extremely similar to the primordial Qi of heaven and earth inside the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's shed skin.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had grown into a million-year Soul Beast only after gnawing through an entire ice cavern full of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow.
So the cold coming from the fissure was the presence of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow.
It looked like there was no need to search!
Li Jin had happened to come to Condensing Frost City today, and a fissure had happened to open in Condensing Frost City today.
"So that's it. Condensing Frost City is Dragon City, and Dragon City is Condensing Frost City!"
"Bingbing, stop eating. I'll take you somewhere with something better: ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow, all you can eat."
At the mention of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow, the Ice Empress's eyes went wide. She swallowed the piece of bear meat in her mouth and asked in disbelief:
"All the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow I can eat? You aren't talking nonsense, are you?"
Li Jin gave a mysterious smile and offered no further explanation. Holding the Snow Maiden, he left three Gold Soul Coins on the table, then turned and left the restaurant.
The Ice Empress wiped her mouth. She couldn't spare a thought for the meal now and followed Li Jin out.
They hurried to the scene!
A crowd had already gathered around the fissure. There were ordinary people and Soul Masters, as well as a squad of city guards maintaining order.
Although they didn't know there was ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow beneath the fissure, curiosity kept them from leaving.
Li Jin's eyes flickered when he saw this. He withdrew to a corner of the street and used his second Soul Skill, Spiritual Simulation, to conceal himself, the Snow Maiden, and the Ice Empress.
"Bingbing, it's all up to you now. The Ice Jade Scorpion Clan should be very good at digging, right? Dig a tunnel here, all the way to the space beneath that fissure. There's more ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow in there than we could ever eat."
The Ice Empress pursed her lips, clearly reluctant. She was the dignified Ice Empress, yet he wanted her to dig a tunnel. But at the thought of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow, drool trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"You'd better not be fooling me, or I'll be very angry."
Under the cover of Li Jin's Spiritual Simulation, the Ice Empress returned to her true Soul Beast form: an Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion one and a half meters long, covered in diamond-like hexagonal armor, with a pair of great pincers raised and her tail hook held high behind her.
She began digging on the spot, swinging her great pincers with a fierce rush of wind. Before long, she had dug a tunnel wide enough for one person to pass through.
Li Jin jumped in after her, carrying the Snow Maiden.
The Ice Empress dug ahead while Li Jin followed with the Snow Maiden in his arms. They made their way down the tunnel, and before long, they broke through into a vast underground space.
The temperature underground was extremely low, and a layer of frost covered both the ground and the rock walls. Unless an ice-attribute Soul Master had Soul Power at or above the Soul Saint level, they would be frozen into an ice sculpture within a few breaths.
That degree of cold was nothing worth mentioning to the Ice Empress or the Snow Empress, however, and the same was true for Li Jin, who had eaten ice and fire Immortal Herbs.
The Ice Empress was the first to enter the underground space. She swept her gaze around and immediately exclaimed in wonder:
"This is ice extreme divine crystal! So much ice extreme divine crystal!"
Li Jin and the Snow Maiden entered the underground space right behind her.
Looking at the ice extreme divine crystals embedded in the rock walls, glittering like crystal, his thoughts began to race.
"What a treasure! Ice extreme divine crystal is indestructible and incomparably sharp. If I forged it all into ice spikes and used them with my Spiritual Telekinesis, I could turn even a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast into a hedgehog."
"Snow Maiden, Bingbing, help me dig out all the ice extreme divine crystal now. It can only be mined after being softened with Ultimate Ice. Apart from you two, no one can dig it out."
The Snow Maiden's mind was still innocent and unformed, and she obeyed Li Jin's every word. As soon as she heard his instructions, she acted.
"Okay, big brother."
The Snow Maiden floated out of Li Jin's arms, holding the Ice God's Pearl in her two little hands. The next moment, a ripple spread outward with her body at its center.
Fierce winds rose and snowflakes fell, whipping into blizzards that swiftly swept through the entire underground space.
The power of Ultimate Ice entered the ice extreme divine crystals with the blizzards, and the crystals that had been firmly embedded in the rock walls immediately began to loosen.
Seeing this, Li Jin walked over and grasped a piece of ice extreme divine crystal. With a slight pull, he drew it out of the rock wall.
Seeing how obedient the Snow Maiden was, the Ice Empress ultimately chose to obey as well and began collecting the ice extreme divine crystals one by one. With her 390,000 years of cultivation, she collected them at an astonishing speed.