Of course, the Far North still held opportunities Yang Xingchen could use at present. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and the like could wait.
During his first two years in the Far North.
After learning that his opportunity lay on the outskirts of the Far North, Xiao Bai did not return home. Seeing this, Yang Xingchen promptly latched onto her.
What a joke! With a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast as his bodyguard, he, Yang Xingchen, could swagger sideways across the outskirts of the Far North!
At first, Xiao Bai was not particularly willing to have Yang Xingchen follow her, but out of respect for the Snow Empress, she could hardly drive him away.
Later, as they spent time together, Yang Xingchen and Xiao Bai discovered that they suited each other's tastes. On top of that, there was their connection through the Snow Empress.
Thus, at Yang Xingchen's suggestion, the human and bear formed the Treasure Hunting Squad, working together to search the outskirts of the Far North for opportunities suited to them.
Whenever the Snow Empress sensed an opportunity through Heaven and Earth Yuan Power, Yang Xingchen would sit on Xiao Bai's shoulder, and they would race over to snatch it.
At first, the Treasure Hunting Squad lacked coordination. Every time they arrived, other Soul Beasts or Soul Masters had already taken the opportunity.
Once they developed enough coordination, Xiao Bai handled traveling and driving away competitors, while Yang Xingchen pointed the way and collected the opportunities.
Yang Xingchen breezed past level thirty, absorbed the Soul Ring Cangyuan provided, and obtained his third Soul Skill, Heavenly Tendril Wave · Meteor Fishing.
With Yang Xingchen's current strength, his fishhook could transform into thirty silver-blue hooks of light when he used the Soul Skill.
Yang Xingchen could use his first Soul Skill on any creature caught by those hooks of light, hooking out the target's highest attribute.
During his third year in the Far North.
After traveling across most of the Far North's outskirts, the Treasure Hunting Squad finally found opportunities suited to them.
Beside a frozen lake, Yang Xingchen and the others found a mature ten-thousand-year Ice Crystal Orchid and three pieces of thousand-year ice marrow.
Xiao Bai immediately consumed the ten-thousand-year Ice Crystal Orchid and began working toward breaking through the two-hundred-thousand-year bottleneck and facing the two-hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation.
Yang Xingchen, meanwhile, used the thousand-year ice marrow to temper his body with ice once a day. After finishing, he would take out the Space-Time Fishing Rod and fish in the frozen lake.
Perhaps his luck had arrived, for Yang Xingchen not only caught several pieces of hundred-year whale rubber, but also fished up a Soul Tool.
Only after reading the instruction manual that came with the Soul Tool did Yang Xingchen learn that the boots in his hands were a Level 4 Soul Tool named Wind and Thunder Cloud Treading.
The boots contained wind-attribute propulsion arrays and lightning-attribute power-storage arrays. By injecting Soul Power, he could rely on the arrays to accelerate instantly and even fly briefly.
The fly in the ointment was their poor stability during flight, and the power-storage arrays needed a short cooldown after use.
During his final two years in the Far North.
After spending over a year, Xiao Bai finally finished refining the ten-thousand-year Ice Crystal Orchid and successfully broke through the two-hundred-thousand-year bottleneck. Only the lightning tribulation remained.
Unsure whether her Xiao Bai had relied on the Ice Crystal Orchid to survive the two-hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation, the Snow Empress proposed meeting Xiao Bai's mother again, just in case.
Since Xiao Bai was involved, neither Snow Empress dared to be careless. They spent a full month merely discussing countermeasures, then another few months making preparations.
In Yang Xingchen's eyes, however, this was a good thing. The Heaven and Earth Yuan Power in the Snow Empress's palace was extraordinarily dense.
Yang Xingchen cultivated right up until the day Xiao Bai took the initiative to summon the two-hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation.
Only then did Yang Xingchen learn how vicious the curse the Dragon God had placed on Soul Beasts before his death truly was. Tribulation clouds shrouded everything within a five-li radius of the Snow Empress's palace.
With Ice Bear King Xiaobai's two-hundred-thousand-year cultivation, he could stand still and let a level-ninety-five Power Attack System Titled Douluo attack him, and he might not lose so much as a hair.
Yet under the two-hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation, wounds covered large swaths of his body after he endured just two or three bolts. Within moments, blood stained his silver-white fur red.
By the time the two-hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation had completely passed, the two-hundred-thousand-year Ice Bear King Xiaobai, so imposing just moments earlier, lay sprawled helplessly on the ground, blackened from head to toe.
Fortunately, the ten-thousand-year Ice Crystal Orchid Xiaobai had refined earlier took effect, successfully dragging him back from the line between life and death.
As soon as the Ice Crystal Orchid took effect, the Snow Empress and Xiao Bai's mother joined forces to gather Heaven and Earth Yuan Power from across the entire Far North around Xiao Bai.
With the ten-thousand-year Ice Crystal Orchid and the help of her two mothers, the wounds on Xiao Bai's body healed at a rate visible to the naked eye, and her presence gradually stabilized.
"Sorry, Xingchen. This bear can only take you this far. There are human settlements up ahead, and Mom told me not to go near them."
Looking at Yang Xingchen after setting him down, Xiao Bai scratched her cheek a little sheepishly.
Even though Xiao Bai now had two-hundred-thousand-year cultivation, her mother still did not want her appearing frequently in human sight.
Xiao Bai's mother understood that once enough people learned of Xiao Bai's existence, powerful Soul Masters would surely succumb to temptation and come to hunt her.
A large proportion of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts that had died in the Far North had met their end because humans learned of them, drawing groups of Titled Douluo to encircle and hunt them.
"It's fine, Xiao Bai! The next time I come to the Far North, our Treasure Hunting Team will get together again!"
Yang Xingchen naturally understood Xiao Bai's mother's intentions. Two fists could hardly contend against four hands.
Once human Soul Masters learned of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Da Ming and Er Ming's fate would await it.
After watching Xiao Bai leave, Yang Xingchen used Satiated Frost Heart Peering as he walked forward, making sure no Soul Masters or Soul Beasts lay in ambush around him.
"Xingchen, what are your plans next? There aren't many opportunities suited to you left in the Far North."
"This empress's third seal has already reached the hundred-thousand-year level. Even with Cangyuan sharing the burden for you, your body's strength still falls short."
The Snow Empress had barely ever left the Far North. When it came to opportunities elsewhere that could strengthen the body, she knew nothing at all.
Half of the ten-year agreement had already passed. Could Yang Xingchen truly manage to withstand the seventh seal in the five years remaining?
"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, of course! All these years in the Far North, I haven't consumed a single heavenly treasure, all for the sake of that place!"
Yang Xingchen naturally understood that without more Soul Spirits to share his burden, all he could do was keep strengthening his body.
There were only so many ways to improve physical strength: consuming immortal herbs, absorbing Soul Bones, and training to the limit.
As for elemental body tempering and body-tempering cultivation techniques, Yang Xingchen could not obtain them anytime soon, so they were outside his considerations.
"Let us hope this so-called Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is as miraculous as you say. Otherwise, this empress will have no choice but to take you out to sea to seek opportunities."
The continent's opportunities were limited. If they truly encountered some heaven-defying opportunity, there would most likely be a crowd of Soul Masters or Soul Beasts fighting over it.
The sea, however, was different. With an area far surpassing the continent's, the number of opportunities it held absolutely exceeded those on land.
With the Snow Empress's cultivation, she could snatch the vast majority of those opportunities for Yang Xingchen.
"The sea? Snow Empress, you're not joking, are you?"
Suspecting he had misheard, Yang Xingchen hurriedly questioned the Snow Empress again. He felt that she did not understand how terrifying the ocean was.
"The sea has more Soul Beasts at the hundred-thousand-year level or above than Star Dou Forest and the Far North combined."
"With this little body of mine, wouldn't going out to sea just be delivering them a snack?"
Unlike Tang San, Yang Xingchen did not have the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud's protection. If he really encountered the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, he could only wait to die.
"Rest assured, this empress won't send you to your death. Besides, going out to sea is a last resort."
Although he had not dispelled the Snow Empress's idea of going out to sea, it was not as though there was no room for a turnaround.
As long as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well delivered, Yang Xingchen would not have to put himself through a trip out to sea.
Several months later, Yang Xingchen finally made it from the Far North to Sunset Forest.
"Snow Empress, sorry for the trouble, but please sense where the ice-attribute Heaven and Earth Yuan Power is dense in Sunset Forest."
The Heaven and Earth Yuan Power at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would definitely differ from that of other places, especially its ice-attribute Heaven and Earth Yuan Power.