The deflated cultivator refused to give up and vowed to turn the tables.

What kind of existence is a mid-stage Nine Star? Su Zinong was very curious. But the old man had already waved for the two to leave, so he didn't ask any further.

“My Heavenly Demon Sect has an elder who is at the early stage of the Nine Stars realm. In fact, he is my great-uncle. If it weren’t for him, my father might not have been able to secure his position as sect leader,” Ou Ruo said.

"Oh, have you ever seen him use his skills?" Su Zinong asked curiously.

“I saw him when I was a child. His whereabouts were unpredictable; no one in the sect knew where he was, he only showed up occasionally. It is said that his movement technique was as fast as flying, and his true energy attacks could reach ten zhang away. But these are just hearsay; I have not seen them with my own eyes,” Ou Ruo said truthfully.

"What are your thoughts on practicing martial arts? Do you have a goal of reaching a certain number of stars in this lifetime?" Su Zinong asked.

“Nine stars,” Aurora said. “Isn’t the highest level nine stars? My goal is naturally to reach that limit.”

“But I met an old immortal who said that someone had once cultivated to the tenth star level, and that was his ancestor.” Su Zinong said wistfully.

"Ten stars? Is it really possible for someone to reach ten stars?" Ou Ruo asked wistfully.

After packing up their tent and belongings, the two left and headed east along the coastline of the Ink Sea.

The place was deserted and uninhabited; Su Zinong had already taken off his mask.

"It's beautiful." Ou Ruo smiled brightly. "I could look at it for a lifetime and never get tired of it."

"Women have a natural attraction to men, but they get bored quickly and go looking at other handsome men," Su Zinong mimicked Ou Ruo's earlier statement.

“Women are less likely to be fickle,” O’Rourke concluded. “Maybe some are, but I’m certainly not.”

"Why are you so special?" Su Zinong couldn't help but ask. "Maybe you're the best of the best, falling in love with every girl you meet and then discarding the old ones like changing clothes."

"Do you have so little faith in me?" Aurora asked.

"It's not that I lack confidence in you, it's that I lack confidence in people." Su Zinong sighed inwardly.

Knowing that he was thinking of Qin Xiangxue, Ou Ruo walked to his side and leaned on his shoulder to comfort him.

Su Zinong turned his head to look at the woman next to him whose face was as white as snow, and felt a little warmth in his heart.

"This is the freezing punishment I'm giving you," Su Zinong said with a slight smile. "I didn't expect you to enjoy it so much. It seems my punishment has failed."

“Of course, this isn’t a punishment for me,” Aurora said with a smile. “So, are you going to punish me next? How about waterboarding?”

“That’s a bit unfair. After all, you only gave me lukewarm water. I can’t exactly throw you into the freezing waters of the Ink Sea, can I? What if you feel resentful and die unjustly, becoming a vengeful ghost that haunts me? That would be terrible!” Su Zinong said.

“Anyway, I’m still clinging to you now, so what difference does it make?” Ou Ruo said.

“Different, very different,” Su Zinong said. “By the way, besides that, I also need to press your acupoints.” Su Zinong started to scare her again.

"Oh, come on, hurry up! You've finally decided to touch my most lewd spot! I'm so happy!" Ou Ruo said with a laugh. Her laughter was so loud that the snow nearby slid down with a soft rustling sound.

Su Zinong smiled sinisterly, then moved his finger to the side and pressed on the acupoint on Ou Ruo's waist.

"Have a good laugh!" Su Zinong said, then casually sealed her internal energy to prevent her from releasing it herself.

"Hahaha...hahahaha..." Ou Ruo laughed incessantly, unable to stop. The snowbirds nearby, the snow bears in the distance, and the sea fish in the water were all startled by her laughter.

Su Zinong didn't let her laugh for long, only a quarter of an hour, before helping her recover and asking, "How do you feel? Happy now?"

"Oh, I'm so happy!" said Aurora. "You helped me release my pressure points beforehand, which shows that you have a soft spot for women. I'm so happy!"

“I’ll arrange water torture for you when we get back to the south,” Su Zinong said with a smile.

“Don’t forget that you barged in while I was taking a shower, which is why I arranged for you to be waterboarded. I never barged in while you were taking a shower, so you have no reason to arrange for me to be waterboarded,” Ono argued.

"That's because you trapped me and restricted my freedom, so I resorted to this desperate measure of barging in while you were taking a shower. Ultimately, it's your own fault." Su Zinong's words made a lot of sense.

"I never imagined you were such an irresponsible person. You barged in while I was naked, and not only did you look at me, but you also wanted to soak me in water! Humph!" Ou Ruo said, feigning anger.

Su Zinong ignored her and instead looked around, observing the surroundings to see if there were any other places with abundant spiritual energy nearby.

Looking around, they found nothing; the glittering objects were just a large pile of glacial ice blocks near the sea.

"May I borrow your precious sword?" Su Zinong called out, reaching out his hand.

"Hmm." Ou Ruo took out the sword and handed it over, saying, "You haven't returned that booklet and the black spirit stone to me."

Su Zinong pretended not to hear, drew his sword and cut a large chunk from the ice block. Sure enough, it cut through iron like mud and ice with ease, as if cutting tofu. He could do it with just a little internal energy.

Su Zinong cut the large ice block into smaller ice blocks and moved them to the shore. He then cut the smaller ice blocks into ice blocks that were two feet long, one foot wide, and half a foot thick, like large bricks.

Ou Ruo was curious and didn't know what the person was doing, but she helped move the ice blocks.

After working for most of the day, Su Zinong stacked up the ice blocks and actually built a round little ice house.

Ou jumped up and clapped her little hands vigorously. If she hadn't been wearing gloves, her little hands would probably have swelled up from clapping.

As darkness approached, Su Zinong lit a lamp inside the igloo. When Ou Ruo looked out, the igloo was crystal clear, and the flickering yellow light of the lamp made it look like a dream.

The igloo was lined with two layers of tarpaulin and animal hides.

It was much warmer inside the igloo than outside. The igloo only had a small, low door.

Su Zinong covered the low door with a cloth so that the cold wind could not get in, leaving only a small ventilation opening.

"We don't have to worry about being attacked by polar bears while we sleep!" Su Zinong smiled brightly, his eyes shining like stars in the sky. Tired from a long day, he ate some dried meat and lay down. Ou Ruo followed suit, very happy; it was her first time staying in an igloo.

"Ugh, it's so crowded! Don't push your way in any further. You have three feet of space over there, why don't you sleep there instead of squeezing me? I'm practically touching the ice, are you trying to freeze me to death?" Su Zinong shouted as he moved his body.

"Who told you to be so warm, haha." Ou Ruo said with a laugh, "I'm afraid I'll freeze to death if I roll around in my sleep."

The next morning, the two got up and began cultivating. Without the five-cornered altar, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was not as abundant.

Su Zinong took out a black spirit stone and asked, "Can I use this?"

"I knew you'd finally decided to do something bad after you kept it for two months without returning it! Fine, take it if you want!" Ou Ruo said through gritted teeth.

Su Zinong took out two of the four black spirit stones and began practicing them. Ou Ruo, standing beside him, noticed something strange. Why was Su Zinong practicing differently today? It was almost like he was practicing the Water Kidney Technique!

However, this black spirit stone is indeed more suitable for cultivating the Water Kidney Technique, allowing for twice the results with half the effort. And coincidentally, although there isn't a particularly dense amount of heavenly and earthly energy here, there is an extremely powerful cold energy, which makes cultivating the Water Kidney Technique incredibly fast.

"Hey, young master, why are you practicing with two pieces at the same time?" Ou Ruo asked.

"Don't say so much. This is the method I'll teach you to speed things up. Pick up the remaining two pieces and practice." Su Zinong instructed.

"You don't need to leave any for me. I told you I'd give them to you, so I'll give them to you. I have more." She took out four more black spirit stones. People from the Heavenly Demon Sect had a lot of black spirit stones.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Su Zinong picked up the other two black spirit stones and placed them on his feet, then began practicing again. He was actually using four black spirit stones to cultivate at the same time.

Seeing how fun it was, Ou Ruo began to cultivate using both hands and feet, just like Su Zinong, and her progress was unprecedentedly fast. With these four black spirit stones and the unique cold energy, one day of cultivation was no different from ten days of cultivation normally, and it wasn't much slower than at the Five-Cornered Altar.

The two would rest when they got tired of practicing, and occasionally they would take out the red spirit stones to practice their skills in order to combat the cold.

One morning, Su Zinong woke up and had just climbed out of the igloo when a gigantic hand slammed down on him with a "whoosh"...