"Aren't you cold?" Feng Xiaotian asked.
"I'm Ultimate Ice attribute user, how could I be cold?" Shui Bing'er glanced at him, "And you?"
Feng Xiaotian rubbed his hands together. "It's alright, it can hold up."
Shui Bing'er didn't say anything, but she slowed her pace slightly, keeping almost synchronized with Feng Xiaotian's rhythm.
Feng Xiaotian noticed this small detail, and his heart skipped a beat, but he didn't point it out.
In the evening, they stopped to rest in a small town. The town was small, with only one main street, a few shops, and an inn.
Feng Xiaotian booked two rooms and had a hot meal downstairs. The two of them didn't talk much at the table, but the atmosphere was very natural, as if they had walked together many times before.
The next day, we continued north, and the temperature dropped even faster. A thin layer of frost began to appear on the road, our breath turned into white mist, and the wind whipped fine ice particles across our faces.
Feng Xiaotian circulated his Soul Power to resist the cold, but his Soul Power was consumed faster than expected—an indescribable sense of oppression permeated the space, as if the entire space was repelling the incoming Soul Power.
Shui Bing'er, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. The deeper she went into the north, the more natural her cool and aloof aura became. Her feet made a slight, crisp sound as she stepped over the frost, and every step was steady and firm.
"How's your Soul Power depletion?" Shui Bing'er asked him.
"It's alright, but the energy is draining faster than I expected," Feng Xiaotian said honestly. "The wind here is a bit strange; it carries a... indescribable force, making my Soul Power circulation a little sluggish."
"Hmm." Shui Bing'er nodded. "The ice element here is much denser than outside, which might suppress your Wind Attribute. And you're carrying a bag right now, even if it's just for show, it's still a burden."
She glanced at the small bag on Feng Xiaotian's back, then at the bulging bundle on her own shoulder, and said, "There aren't many people on the road now, so why don't you pack everything up and travel light? It'll make things easier for you."
Feng Xiaotian paused for a moment, then smiled, "Okay."
With a flick of his Soul Power, his small bag transformed into light and disappeared into the Mustard Seed Storage. He then reached out to Shui Bing'er, "Give me yours too."
Shui Bing'er handed over the luggage, which Feng Xiaotian put into his ring. He patted his empty hands and said, "Now I'm really traveling light."
With her shoulders no longer bound, Shui Bing'er's steps were indeed much lighter.
Feng Xiaotian glanced at her. "By the way, how are you feeling now? Is your Soul Power draining away quickly?"
" My Soul Power wasn't used up much, I feel very comfortable."
When Shui Bing'er uttered the words "very comfortable," she herself paused slightly. She rarely used the word "comfortable" to describe her feelings, but here—
In this increasingly cold world, she truly felt a sense of security that seeped into her very bones.
The Martial Soul flowed quietly within her body, like a fish that had sunk into deep water and finally returned to its own territory.
Feng Xiaotian didn't press further, but quickened his pace. "Let's go then. Once we're somewhere comfortable, don't complain that I'm holding you back."
"No," Shui Bing'er said calmly, and followed.
The two walked for most of the day, and as darkness began to fall, thick clouds appeared on the horizon ahead.
These weren't ordinary clouds; they were the kind of grayish-white, extremely low-hanging snow clouds, like a huge curtain hanging down from the sky, covering the entire northern sky.
Beneath the snow clouds, one can vaguely see undulating white outlines—those are not mountains, but glaciers.
Feng Xiaotian stopped and gazed in that direction, a slight warmth rising in his chest.
He thought he was just tired from traveling, so he didn't pay much attention. But after walking a few steps, the heat became more and more obvious, as if something was gently tapping on his Martial Soul — the Gale Twin-Headed Wolf stirred within him for a moment, then calmed down.
"What's wrong with you?" Shui Bing'er noticed his unusual behavior.
"It's nothing." Feng Xiaotian rubbed his chest. "It's probably because we're getting close to the Far North; my Martial Soul is reacting a bit."
Shui Bing'er glanced at him but didn't expose him. She herself felt a strange, inexplicable stirring within her, which became increasingly clear as she approached the snow-covered clouds.
She had a vague feeling that the "answer" she had been searching for was somewhere deep within this glacier.
They didn't speak again, but continued walking side by side towards the snow cloud.
As darkness fell completely, the blizzard arrived.
Without any warning, the wind was normal one moment, but the next second the north wind suddenly roared, carrying fist-sized chunks of snow that slammed into them.
Feng Xiaotian immediately activated his Soul Power to protect himself, but the wind was too strong, making him unsteady on his feet, and his vision was blurred by the snow.
" Bing'er!" he called out, his voice ripped apart by the wind.
Just as he was about to force his way to Shui Bing'er's side, a cool, clear wave of Soul Power spread out from his side.
When the blizzard reached a radius of three feet around Shui Bing'er, it suddenly quieted down—not lessened, but rather as if it had hit an invisible wall, and all the snow and wind slid away along her sides.
Shui Bing'er stood there, surrounded by a faint icy blue halo. The blizzard swirled around her, as if it had encountered one of its own kind.
Feng Xiaotian was stunned.
Shui Bing'er herself was taken aback, looking down at her palm. The icy blue aura wasn't something she had actively released; it was her Martial Soul operating on its own.
She didn't mobilize her Soul Power at all; it was the Ultimate Ice that resonated with the environment of the Far North on its own after sensing it.
"You..." Feng Xiaotian wanted to say something, but didn't.
Shui Bing'er looked up at him and held out her hand. "Come closer, or you'll get cold."
Feng Xiaotian wanted to say, "I can handle it myself," but he swallowed the words back.
He walked to Shui Bing'er's side and entered the area of that icy blue halo. The raging blizzard was instantly shut out, and his ears finally quieted down.
Shui Bing'er didn't withdraw her hand, and Feng Xiaotian didn't back down. The two stood just half a step apart in the icy blue halo, listening to the blizzard roaring outside.
After an unknown amount of time, the wind stopped.
The snowstorm dissipated as suddenly as it had arrived. A gap opened in the clouds, and moonlight slanted down, illuminating the snow-covered ground in front of the two of them.
Where the moonlight fell, in the distance, a massive glacial mountain range stood majestically, its entire body silvery-white, like a sleeping ancient beast.
Feng Xiaotian gazed at the glacial mountain range, a surge of heat rising in his chest, even stronger than before. The Gale Twin-Headed Wolf growled within him, and he could almost feel his Martial Soul wanting to burst forth.
Shui Bing'er also gazed at the same mountain range, and the icy blue aura around her trembled slightly, as if a string on a musical instrument had been plucked.
The two turned their heads at the same time and looked at each other.
They saw the same shock in each other's eyes.
"What's there?" Shui Bing'er asked.
"Hmm." Feng Xiaotian clenched his fist. "Let's go take a look."
They walked through the moonlit snow towards the glacial mountain range, leaving behind two parallel lines of footprints as they headed north.