The eldest sister just wanted to give up, while the spirit swords vied to recognize her as their mas

Yun Fuzhao finally reached the extremely cold land before descending the mountain.

Perhaps because her cultivation had reached the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, her sword-riding speed had increased considerably.

Despite being described as an extremely cold place, this place is lush and green, and further in, there is a small lake.

The only thing that could be described as extremely cold was this bone-chilling air.

Yun Fuzhao circulated his spiritual energy to resist the cold and continued to walk in. The trees here were tall and thick, almost blocking out the sky and preventing any sunlight from getting in.

The surroundings were silent, but Yun Fuzhao's expression was tense.

Jiaoyu noticed her emotions and climbed onto her shoulder, placing her four paws on it.

From the moment it took this form, it stopped eating spirit beasts below the sixth rank, as eating them would not help its growth.

The growth process of dragons has never been recorded, so Yun Fuzhao has no idea how many beast cores it needs or when it will grow to adulthood. This is also her first time raising a dragon, and she needs to learn everything through trial and error.

The further you go in, the more thorns you'll find.

She carefully avoided it, but then she heard breathing sounds in her ear.

Yun Fuzhao's heart skipped a beat; there were living creatures here.

She pulled out Wuji and slowly walked towards the source of the breathing sound.

"call out--"

A dagger grazed her cheek.

Yun Fuzhao's pupils contracted as he met the gaze of the blood-soaked man leaning against a tree.

Isn't this man the demon she saved before?

The other person clearly recognized her too, their eyes wide with surprise.

His calves were entangled in black and red thorns, the sharp thorns piercing his flesh, and blood gushing from the wounds.

Yun Fuzhao never expected to run into him here again. Both times they met, he was in such a sorry state.

"If you don't want to die, stand there and don't move. These thorns are alive."

Hearing this, Yun Fuzhao noticed that the thorns wrapped around his calves were still tightening.

At this rate, this person's calf will most likely be broken.

[Song Manzhu, Team 1 of the Yun Family: Taking him along might be a great help.]

Yun Fuzhao: [Understood.]

She was very familiar with this process.

[Yun Family Brigade 3rd Guard He Yu: You can try your Blazing Flame.]

Thorns are also plants, and they are incompatible according to the Five Elements theory. You could try using fire.

She walked forward, and flames spread from beneath her feet, causing the thorns that had silently approached her to scatter in fright.

Yun Fuzhao half-squatted, his palm hovering above his calf. The scorching flames rushed towards the thorns wrapped around them, and the thorns ran away as fast as mice that had seen a cat.

"Alright, take this pill."

She tossed him a healing pill.

Fearing she might be in danger, the powerful beings showered her with elixirs along the way.

Que Chi caught it, looking at her suspiciously, "A poison pill?"

"Yes, a poison pill, would you dare to eat it?"

With his suspicions dispelled, Que Chi swallowed it whole. The wounds pierced by the thorns healed rapidly.

Que Chi asked, "What is your purpose?"

There's no such thing as a free lunch; all aid comes with an ulterior motive.

Yun Fuzhao glanced at him; he couldn't discern this person's cultivation level or strength. The standards for judging strength differed between the Ghost Clan and cultivators…

Seeing that she remained silent, Que Chi decided to repay her in the way of the Ghost Clan. He took out a dagger and expressionlessly cut his wrist.

The bright red blood oozed out like a small mountain spring.

Yun Fuzhao was startled; the strong smell of blood assaulted her nostrils.

"what are you doing?!"

Que Chi extended his wrist forward, "I don't like owing people. You saved me twice, this is a return gift."

Who would use blood as a return gift?

[Song Manzhu, Team 1 of the Yun Family: The blood of the Ghost Clan is a great tonic for Ghosts, while for humans it has the effect of strengthening the body and prolonging life.]

[Hmph, so you demons cultivate by devouring the blood of your own kind?]

[Yun Family Team 1, Song Manzhu: Lower-level players provide healing to higher-level players.]

Yun Fuzhao clicked his tongue, it sounded like a vampire.

She raised her hand, and the wound healed. It was then that she noticed the hideous scars, large and small, on his wrist.

"You don't want it?" Que Chi looked surprised. He was afraid that Yun Fuzhao didn't know how precious his blood was, so he emphasized, "Only ghosts can drink my blood."

He had only said three words when he realized he had almost exposed his identity.

Yun Fuzhao knew what he was going to say in the second half of his sentence, because Song Manzhu had mentioned his identity before.

"No, don't cut it. It'll waste my pills."

"Then what do you want?"

“I,” Yun Fuzhao paused, “I’m looking for someone here, so you can look after me.”

Que Chi: "How could there possibly be anyone here?"

"do not you?"

"..."

Yun Fuzhao stood up. "I am."

Que Chi walked shakily behind her, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

“Yun Fuzhao”.

"You recognize me?"

Que Chi chuckled, "Your bounty posters are plastered all over the cultivation world."

"Wow, so you're here to hunt me down?"

"...I'm not that free."

The two chatted back and forth, and soon they reached the depths of the forest.

As they walked, Yun Fuzhao realized something was wrong. She stopped Que Chi and asked, "Did you hear anything?"

"what?"

Just as Yun Fuzhao was about to speak, the ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked open, like a giant mouth opening with lightning speed, swallowing the two of them whole.

They were falling, and Yun Fuzhao stepped on Wuji and pulled Que Chi up with ease.

It was pitch black, and they couldn't see anything. A powerful suction force kept pulling them down.

Yun Fuzhao asked, "What brings you to this extremely cold land?"

Que Chi replied, "Find a medicine."

How much do you know about extremely cold places?

"...I don't know."

Okay, let's take it one step at a time.

I don't know how long we fell, but finally a faint light appeared in the pitch black place.

Yun Fuzhao ignited a flame the size of a fist, its eerie blue light barely illuminating the path ahead.

Ice, ice everywhere.

As Yun Fuzhao walked on the ice, a chill ran from her tailbone to her cerebral cortex. She subconsciously looked down and met the gaze of a pair of enormous beastly eyes.

She was startled.

He stepped back and bumped right into Que Chi.

Que Chi grunted, "You—"

Yun Fuzhao felt a chill run down his spine and turned his head, saying, "Look down there."

Que Chi looked at it and a chill ran through him.

Beneath the ice, there were actually huge corpses of spirit beasts frozen in place.

They are very well preserved; if you look closely, you can even see their glossy fur.

Jiaoyu cheered and jumped off Yun Fuzhao's shoulder, excitedly scratching at the ice with her four paws.

Jiaoyu is picky about food and won't eat anything below the sixth rank. Does its excitement mean that all these spirit beasts are at least the sixth rank?

Que Chi saw Yun Fuzhao trembling with fear, and recalled the look she had given him earlier, like a frightened little animal, looking pitiful.

He coughed and said, "If you're scared, hide behind me—"

Before he could finish speaking, the frightened man let out an excited howl and pulled out his Wuji sword, frantically chiseling at the ice.

Que Chi: "..."

Suddenly, the empty ice surface was filled only with the screeching sounds that made one's teeth ache.