"The cold spring's temperature actually rose!"
In the cold spring beneath the ancient well, a graceful figure was slowly diving downward, her face full of surprise and confusion.
As head of the Shui Family and dean of Skywater Academy, Shui Lingyao had only reached the cultivation of a level seventy-six Soul Saint thanks to this cold spring.
Moreover, the cold spring was what gave Skywater Academy the confidence to nurture its talented Soul Masters.
Thus, the unusual change in the cold spring drew her particular attention.
Fortunately, she had come early to cultivate today. Otherwise, she would not have noticed it.
"The temperature really has dropped a lot. I couldn't reach this depth at all before," Shui Lingyao said, studying her surroundings, secretly on guard.
A layer of Soul Power had condensed into a shield around her, continuously weakening the cold outside.
She was about to reach the limit of how deep she could dive. To go farther, she might have to wait for the cold spring's temperature to drop a little more.
"Hm? A cave abode!"
Shui Lingyao looked at the pitch-black cave abode ahead, immediately surprised.
She did not enter. Instead, she casually sent a beam of blue light into it, using the light to see what was inside.
But it was completely empty!
"Nothing here...?" Shui Lingyao was a little disappointed. Her gaze drifted deeper down, her eyes full of curiosity.
As long as the temperature continued to drop, she would be able to go down and investigate.
For the cold spring to possess such a vast amount of ice-attribute energy, something had to be hidden below, most likely an ice-attribute supreme treasure.
"No, wait. There's something..."
Suddenly, Shui Lingyao's pupils contracted. She sensed something unusual in the water's current. Something was swimming rapidly upward.
But before Shui Lingyao could react, a powerful spiritual attack struck, knocking the level seventy-six Soul Saint unconscious on the spot.
The unconscious Shui Lingyao slowly sank toward the depths. Her Soul Power shield dissipated on its own, and the cold began to invade her body.
Although her Martial Soul was ice-attribute, if cold at such a low temperature invaded her body for too long, she would inevitably suffer frostbite.
Just as Shui Lingyao was about to sink to the bottom, a figure caught her in time.
It was none other than Beiming Yuan.
As Beiming Yuan caught Shui Lingyao, the Snow Empress and Ice Empress also appeared beside him.
"Take her up. The longer she stays here, the more harm it'll do to her body," the Snow Empress said expressionlessly, glancing at Shui Lingyao in Beiming Yuan's arms.
The Ice Empress studied Shui Lingyao's face and was slightly surprised. "She's quite pretty."
Although Shui Lingyao was already in her thirties, her face looked no different from that of an eighteen-year-old woman. She had blue hair and blue eyes, delicate features, and a graceful figure...
"Let's go."
Beiming Yuan swam upward with Shui Lingyao in his arms, the two women following behind.
Before long, the three broke through the surface.
"Mm..." Shui Lingyao's clothes were soaked, and the chill of a light breeze made her instinctively curl up against Beiming Yuan.
Beiming Yuan raised an eyebrow. With a thought, he removed the water element from Shui Lingyao's clothes, then laid her on the ground.
Afterward, Beiming Yuan, the Snow Empress, and the Ice Empress rose into the air and disappeared.
Not long after the three's presences vanished, Shui Lingyao woke up on the ground. At first, she looked bewildered, then she abruptly sat bolt upright.
"That person just now was..." Shui Lingyao instinctively checked her body. Only after finding herself unharmed did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Although she had passed out, she had not fallen into a deep coma. The other party seemingly had no killing intent and had only made her lose consciousness briefly.
Thus, she could sense a little of what had happened.
A man had carried her up through the water and even removed the water from her clothes!
A trace of his presence lingered on her clothes. It was faint, but she had committed it to memory!
High in the sky, Beiming Yuan and the two women sped onward. Rather than return to the Far North, they continued deeper into the Heaven Dou Empire.
"Xiao Yuan, where are we going next?" the Ice Empress asked, looking at Beiming Yuan.
"The capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City," Beiming Yuan said.
Now that he had secured the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave, it was time to consider the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Unfortunately, he knew little about Immortal Herbs. Even if he could recognize a few from memory, he did not know how to consume them.
On the continent today, only Tang San, who had transmigrated here, Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan, and Chrysanthemum Douluo of Spirit Hall should be able to recognize those Immortal Herbs.
But the route through Yang Wudi was much like the route through Tang San: neither was likely to work.
Tang San was more like a "fortune plunderer" representing the Divine Realm, while Beiming Yuan was the Douluo Plane's "chosen bearer of fortune" and could also be regarded as the World Will.
He and Tang San were destined to be at odds, as were he and some of the people around Tang San.
In the future, he would also need to slowly reclaim fortune from those people, so the route of "befriending Tang San to obtain Immortal Herbs" definitely would not work.
That left only the route through Chrysanthemum Douluo.
He could not attack Spirit Hall for the time being, so he could only find another way.
"Xiao Yuan, is going to Heaven Dou City also the World Will's guidance?" the Snow Empress asked.
"Mm."
Beiming Yuan nodded.
He needed a reason for knowing about the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave, and the World Will's guidance was the best one.
Moreover, he could use the World Will as an excuse for all his actions in the future.
He called it an excuse, but it was not really one.
After all, the "abuse" he would inflict on others in the future really was connected to the World Will.
"Xiao Yuan, I think the World Will treats you too well. Could it have taken a liking to you?" the Ice Empress could not help teasing him.
"Perhaps."
Beiming Yuan smiled.
He himself was the "World Will," so saying he had taken a liking to himself did not seem wrong either.
"Xiao Yuan, you're so narcissistic." The Ice Empress gave Beiming Yuan a pretty roll of her eyes.
"I call it confidence."
"Hmph, it's narcissism."
Flying through the air, the two began another round of bickering.
The Snow Empress shook her head helplessly. Taking advantage of the pair's "intermission," she cut in and asked, "Xiao Yuan, what are you planning to do in Heaven Dou City?"
"Plot against someone." Beiming Yuan smiled. "More precisely, I should say I'm planning to obtain something through that person."
"What is it?"
"Heaven's secrets must not be revealed."
"You're being mysterious again." The Snow Empress and Ice Empress were both speechless, but they did not press him further. Instead, they gave Beiming Yuan another look.
Beiming Yuan wore white robes. He was young and handsome, with a slightly scholarly air, and there was a certain mysterious charm to the way he kept them guessing.
Heaven Dou City, the Heaven Dou Grand Hotel.
Beiming Yuan and the two women had arrived in the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire several days earlier and checked into the city's most luxurious hotel.
Over those days, Beiming Yuan accompanied the two women around Heaven Dou City during the day, and at night he discussed cultivation with the Ice Empress.
As for whether those discussions were proper? They certainly were not!
After the two had been improper a few times, however, they did discover something proper: when they did that, they cultivated a little faster than when they simply slept in each other's arms.
After discovering such a proper benefit, Beiming Yuan and the Ice Empress naturally could not stop themselves.
However, while they were having a good time, the Snow Empress was not.
They had agreed that the three of them would cultivate together, but unexpectedly, the Ice Empress was planning to keep him all to herself.
"Bing'er, you've changed."
The Snow Empress sat on the sofa, staring straight at the Ice Empress across from her, whose cheeks were still faintly flushed. There was something meaningful in her gaze.