The Far North Pledges Its Allegiance

On the day Nan Feng went to the Far North, a light snow fell in Heaven Dou City.

Ye Lingling stuffed two newly refined heart-protecting pills into his arms, saying that the Far North was so cold that even Foundation Establishment Perfection couldn't withstand the daily freezing temperatures.

Bibi Dong hesitated for a long time at the entrance of the Tower Spirit Space, but in the end, she didn't follow. She only said one sentence.

Come back soon.

Her ears were red-tipped as she closed the door.

Shifang wanted to go with them to get grilled fish, but Old Huai slapped him on the back of the head.

"They're out on business, why are you joining in? Doesn't the tower need guarding?"

Nan Feng traveled alone.

By Shrinking the Ground to an Inch and taking a hundred steps in one step, it only took half a day to travel from Heaven Dou City to the Far North edge.

The further north you go, the stronger the wind and snow become. When you reach the Extreme North Core Circle, all that remains is a vast expanse of white, making it impossible to distinguish east from west.

He unleashed his Primordial World Immortal Power to explore the way through the wind and snow. The golden immortal light shone like a warm lamp amidst the swirling snow, and the cold mist automatically dissipated wherever it passed.

A row of icicles hung from the ice wall at the entrance to the Ice Valley, their varying lengths refracting a bluish-green light in the aurora borealis unique to the Far North.

Before the Nan Feng even got close, a bright green shadow darted out of the Ice Valley.

Ice Empress stood at the valley entrance in human form. His short hair was loose and draped over his shoulders. He held an empty sake jar in his hand, and his expression was somewhere between "You've finally come" and "Who cares if you come?"

"The wine you brought last time, we finished it all a long time ago." Ice Empress slammed the empty jar down at Nan Feng. "How much did you bring this time?"

Nan Feng took out two jars of Huo Wu liquor brewed by Huowu from the Tower Spirit Space, handed one over, and placed the other on the ground.

"Shifang also asked me to bring three grilled fish, but they'll probably be frozen solid by the time they get here."

Ice Empress took the wine jar, weighed it in his hand, and his expression softened considerably.

He still wouldn't let it go.

"Shifang's grilled fish skills haven't deteriorated, it's just that he talks too much."

She turned and walked into the valley, then turned back after a couple of steps and added another sentence.

"Snow Empress is making tea inside, don't dawdle."

The depths of the Ice Valley weren't much warmer than the outside, but the wind and snow were mostly blocked by the ice walls on both sides.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of icy velvet, making a creaking sound with every step.

Snow Empress sat beside the ice table, her long, silvery-white hair reaching her waist, brewing tea with the cold spring water of the Far North.

Steam rose from the teapot spout, condensing into small wisps of mist in the cold air.

She saw Nan Feng walk in, stood up and bowed slightly, her movements as light as snow falling on ice.

"They've arrived."

Snow Empress's voice, like her personality, is pure and clear.

"You're here." Nan Feng sat down across from him at the ice table.

Ice Empress sat casually next to him, already having broken the seal on the sake jar and poured himself a bowl.

Snow Empress poured him a bowl of tea as well, and as she pushed it towards him, she said, "Ice Empress has been asking every day for the past few months when you're coming."

"I told her that if she really couldn't wait, she could come to Heaven Dou City to find you herself, but she said she couldn't leave the Far North."

Ice Empress almost choked on their sake.

"Snow Empress, whose side are you on?!"

"I'm on the side of telling the truth." Snow Empress picked up her teacup, took a sip, and smiled slightly.

Nan Feng chuckled, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

The tea brewed from the frigid spring in the Far North was icy cold on the palate, but it warmed the stomach. It met the Primordial World Immortal Power in the meridians, and it was surprisingly comfortable.

"Let's get down to business."

Nan Feng put down his teacup, glanced at Ice Empress, and then at Snow Empress.

"Before I left last time, I mentioned the matter of the Far North Immortal Alliance officially merging into the Immortal Dao. Have you made up your minds about it?"

Ice Empress put the sake bowl down on the table, his playful expression vanishing.

She glanced at the Snow Empress. The Snow Empress nodded, and only then did the Ice Empress speak.

"It's decided. From today onwards, the Far North Immortal Alliance will officially merge into the Immortal Dao."

"Both the Ice Jade Immortal Scorpion Emperor and the Ice Heaven Immortal Snow Empress have stabilized at the God Level. From now on, the Snow Empress and I will take turns keeping an eye on the Abyssal Rift in the Far North. You just need to come and reinforce the seal every few years."

Snow Empress added from the side.

"There are many Soul Beast in the Far North, most of which lack intelligence, but there are also a few groups that can speak."

"I've discussed it with the Ice Empress. After merging with the Immortal Dao, the Soul Beast in the Far North will also follow the rules of the Immortal Dao Alliance: no indiscriminate killing, no crossing boundaries. People from the Immortal Dao Alliance who come to Soul Hunting in the Far North must first inform us."

The Nan Feng nodded.

"That makes sense. I'll send a message to the Immortal Dao Alliance. You're in charge of things in the Far North; just let me know about major issues."

Ice Empress snorted.

"You've certainly washed your hands of it cleanly."

"The capable should do more." Nan Feng looked at her with a smile, "When has your Ice Empress ever cared whether others are involved or not?"

Ice Empress glared at him, but didn't argue, and picked up the sake bowl to take another swig.

After finishing their conversation, the three of them sat around the ice table, drinking wine and tea.

By the time Ice Empress had drunk his third bowl, he became noticeably more talkative and started recounting the events of the past few months in the Far North.

Although the northern rift had been contained, wisps of black smoke would still occasionally emerge. She and the Snow Empress took turns keeping watch at night. Once, she was so tired that she dozed off on the ice peak, almost letting three Icefield Wolf sneak into the Ice Valley.

Those three wolves almost devoured the ice lotus that the Snow Empress was raising.

Snow Empress refilled the tea beside him, occasionally adding a comment.

"I froze those three wolves at the valley entrance and kept them as ice sculptures for three days."

Despite his flat tone, Ice Empress's ears turned red.

Nan Feng listened to their back-and-forth conversation, she suddenly realized that although the Far North was cold, the two of them seemed to be having a lively time in the Ice Valley.

"Oh, right."

Ice Empress put down his sake bowl, became serious, and stared intently at Nan Feng with his emerald green eyes.

"Your Three Lights Divine Water... can you still condense it, right?"

"Yes. The Nine Heavens Treasure Pearl is still spinning; it can condense, but it's slow."

Ice Empress and Snow Empress exchanged a glance.

Snow Empress put down her teacup, her voice still the same, but much more solemn than usual.

"Although my and Ice Empress's Martial Soul have stabilized at the God Level, the cold poison deep within the Far North Origin has not yet been completely cleared."

"The hidden injuries accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation cannot be healed by our own ice-type power."

"Your Three Lights Divine Water contains the Sun Essence and the Star Marrow. If a drop could be dripped into the Far North Origin, the cold poison should be completely eradicated."

Ice Empress added a comment.

"If you can't bear to part with it, then forget it, we'll think of another way."

"What's there to be reluctant about?" Nan Feng stood up and dusted off his clothes. "Lead the way."

Deep within the Ice Valley lies an icy spring, its opening no bigger than a bowl, its water so clear it's almost blue.

At the bottom of the spring lies a layer of deep blue-green cold marrow, something that the power of the Far North Origin had accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years.

Nan Feng squatted beside the spring and drew out a drop of the Three Lights Divine Water that had just condensed from the Nine Heavens Treasure Pearl.

The golden liquid trembled on my fingertips before dripping into the center of the spring.

The moment the golden light entered the spring, the entire icy spring glowed.

The deep blue-green marrow churned up from the bottom of the spring, enveloped in golden light, and spun three times.

The color changed from deep blue to turquoise, and then from turquoise to a bluish-gold with golden veins.

Ice Empress stood to the side, staring at the spring, muttering to themselves.

Nan Feng heard clearly; she was counting.

When they counted to the seventeenth, a thumb-sized ice crystal emerged from the spring. It was entirely bluish-gold in color and contained a very thin wisp of dark purple mist.

"They're out!"

Ice Empress grabbed the ice crystal, crushed it, and threw it on the ground.

The dark purple mist had barely dissipated when it was swept away by a gust of icy wind from the Snow Empress.

Ice Empress patted the ice shards off his hands, turned to look at Nan Feng, his bright green eyes shining brightly.

She opened her mouth, her lips moved, then closed, then opened again.

In the end, he swallowed his words, turned his head to look at the spring, and pretended to be studying the new color of the cold marrow.

Snow Empress, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it any longer.

"Ice Empress, didn't you just say you were going to talk to him and make things clear?"

"I didn't say that! Who said that!"

Ice Empress is furious.

"You talked to me all the way from the valley entrance, saying that you should thank him properly when the Nan Feng comes."

Ice Empress's ears turned bright red instantly, as strikingly red as the aurora borealis in the Far North.

She glared at Snow Empress, then turned and glared at Nan Feng, finally taking a deep breath and standing straight in front of Nan Feng.

His voice was much lower than usual, and his speaking speed was also much slower than usual.

"Nan Feng."

This was the first time Ice Empress had called him by his name. Before, it was always "you," "hey," or "that guy."

Nan Feng stood up straight and looked at her without interrupting.

Ice Empress looked into his eyes and said earnestly, "Thank you."

After saying those three words, the tips of her ears were still red, but her eyes didn't look away.

Nan Feng nodded.

"You're welcome."

Ice Empress let out a breath, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and turned to grab the sake jar to pour himself another bowl.

After she drank it, she returned to her normal tone.

"Alright, alright, the important business is done. When are you leaving?"

Tomorrow morning.

"Then let's drink more tonight. Snow Empress will make tea and I'll drink alcohol. You can do as you please."

Ice Empress patted the ice table.

Snow Empress chuckled and poured Nan Feng another cup of tea.

Nan Feng looked at the two people. One had short, bright green hair and was drinking heartily from a wine bowl, while the other had long, silver-white hair and was pouring tea.

The Far North is likely to become increasingly lively in the future.

The next morning, when Nan Feng left, Ice Empress stood at the entrance to the Ice Valley, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

"Bring more wine next time you come."

She quickly added a sentence.

Be careful on the road.

Snow Empress stood beside her and handed her a small bag of ice crystals.

"Here's Far North Cold Marrow. Take one when it's hot; it's better than your Heart-Protecting Pill."

Nan Feng took the ice crystal bag and stuffed it into the Tower Spirit Space, then waved to the two of them.

He Shrinking the Ground to an Inch, taking a hundred steps in one stride, and disappeared into the wind and snow.

After walking quite a distance, he vaguely heard the voice of Ice Empress carried by the wind behind him.

"Snow Empress, what are you laughing at! I'm not blushing! It's the wind!"

Nan Feng didn't turn around, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

He took out the message token belonging to the Holy Mother White Lotus and glanced at it.

The silvery-white token glowed hot in the Far North wind, with a line of the Divine Realm script floating on it.

He made a quick assessment and realized it was probably the Law Enforcement Hall urging the Holy Mother White Lotus to reply.

Nan Feng stuffed the token back into the tower and quickened his pace.

It was already evening when we returned to Heaven Dou City.

Bibi Dong stood at the entrance of the Pagoda God Temple, waiting for him, holding a cup of tea in her hand.

Seeing him walk over, she shoved the tea into his hand.

"Ye Lingling said you must not have eaten well these past few days in the Far North, so she asked me to save some food for you. The fish Shifang grilled is keeping warm in the kitchen."

Nan Feng took a sip of tea and followed Bibi Dong into the hall, when suddenly he said something.

"Old Huai, make a note of the official merger of the Far North Immortal Alliance. Add a note to the Immortal Dao Alliance's register later."

The Old Huai poked its head out from inside the tower.

"Got it. But don't worry about the booklet yet."

"The summons from the Law Enforcement Hall rang twice more while you were away; I didn't deactivate it."

Nan Feng paused for a moment. Bibi Dong also stopped and turned to look at him.

"Why is the Law Enforcement Hall in such a hurry?"

Nan Feng retrieved the communication token from the tower.

The silvery-white light on the token's surface had turned pale red, flickering in the twilight.

Old Huai frowned.

"The red light indicates urgency. The Law Enforcement Hall is probably getting restless."

Nan Feng turned the token over to look at the cloud pattern on the back and found that there was an extremely fine golden line in the middle of the cloud pattern.

The golden pattern stretched from the center of the message to its edge.

He had never seen this golden pattern before, nor had the Old Huai.

"This thing... isn't a communication token from the Law Enforcement Hall."

Old Huai's voice deepened.

"The golden markings are the symbol of the Divine Realm Hub. This one has been switched."

Nan Feng tightened his grip on the token.

Bibi Dong stood to the side, her gaze fixed on the golden patterns, and said something.

"These patterns... I've seen them before. On the murals depicting the Rakshasa God's lineage."