After transmigrating, I made a name for myself through my culinary skills.

The hot spring pool wasn't shallow; when Ye Lan and the others stood up, the water level was still up to their chests. By then, their clothes were completely soaked, and they looked rather disheveled.

After Ye Lan emerged from the hot spring, she wiped the water off her face. The guards immediately placed their knives against her necks, threatening to draw blood if she moved even slightly.

This made Ye Lan stop making any rash moves. These guards were of lower cultivation than him, but he could sense that there were people here with higher cultivation than them. In addition, they were currently in a state of spiritual energy depletion, so protecting their own lives was the priority.

He turned his eyes and looked around, only to find that there were only the three of them, outsiders, in the milky white hot spring, surrounded by their guards, preventing him from seeing the outside world.

"Move aside so I can see."

Upon hearing this woman's voice, the guards surrounding them quickly moved aside, but the long swords pressed against their necks remained in place.

"Where did you guys come from?"

Ye Lan then saw the woman who had asked them the question, and also saw the scene outside. It was already March, but the surrounding area was still covered in snow, as if it had just snowed. He guessed that he was still in the Northern Continent.

The woman stood by the hot spring, wearing a red fox fur coat that covered her from head to toe. Her hair was loose and unbound, and her face was not decorated much, as if she had just come out of the water.

Jiang Ning cupped his hands in greeting and explained to the woman, "We are not assassins. I am Jiang Ning, a disciple of the Green Mountain Sect of the Southern Continent. These two are my junior brothers. We accidentally fell into this place while we were out training. We did not mean to disturb you. Please be kind and let us go."

After leaving Sang Yu's area, Jiang Ning's body was no longer restricted and he could move around. Just now, his hand was in the hot spring, and the water touched his wound, causing a stinging sensation. Then he felt something lick the wound, and the stinging sensation disappeared.

As he bowed to the woman, he took the opportunity to look at his palm; the wound had indeed healed.

"Which sect is the Green Mountain Sect?" The woman seemed to have heard something amusing. She parted her red lips slightly and said, "I can let you go, but do you know that trespassing in my palace is a capital offense?"

After she finished speaking, she glanced at the three of them. Although they looked like drowned rats, their faces were still pretty. The hot spring water was quite hot, and it made their faces a little red.

Regardless of whether they liked it or not, she continued, "Since you are all quite handsome, and it just so happens that my brother recently found me husbands, why don't you all stay and serve me?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot agree to this. I already have someone I love, and I will ask him for his hand in marriage when I return to complete the marriage ceremony. Please find someone else, young lady."

Despite being on someone else's turf, Jiang Ning remained relatively calm and politely declined.

Upon hearing her words, the woman frowned and looked at Ye Lan beside her. Ye Lan followed suit and quickly replied, "I also already have someone I love."

Jiang Nan was stunned when Ye Lan finished speaking. He hadn't expected these two to find a reason so readily. But he didn't say anything. The woman sneered and mocked, "It's your good fortune that I've taken a liking to you. You both say you have someone you love, but you're trying to fool me with the worst one?"

The worst one was Jiang Nan, who hadn't even had a chance to speak yet. They were just teenagers in their early twenties, and they couldn't stand this kind of treatment. Hearing what she said, Jiang Nan didn't care that they were on someone else's turf and retorted sarcastically.

Jiang Nan said disdainfully, "With your looks, you think you can expect us to serve you? Do you even deserve it? There are plenty of girls chasing after me, you wouldn't even get a chance to be in line."

"you!"

The woman was so angry she couldn't speak. In all her life, no one had ever dared to insult her like that, nor had anyone ever called her ugly. These people were so reckless.

Jiang Nan added fuel to the fire: "Who would dare marry a shrew like you? You probably can't find anyone to marry, so you ask every man you meet to marry you, right?"

Ye Lan, who was listening nearby, still mentally defended her a couple of times. Actually, the girl wasn't as ugly as he said. She had a classic oval face, fox-like eyes, and fair skin. In her previous life, she would have been considered a social media influencer, the kind who could debut as a celebrity.

But Jiang Nan is his friend. He certainly wouldn't boost someone else's morale and diminish his own.

Ye Lan wondered if they would be able to get out alive after Jiang Nan finished cursing. She prayed for their lives in her heart.

The woman blushed with anger, but finally recovered and retorted, "I don't even look at you! Compared to your friend, you're practically a freebie!"

"You're not even good enough for me, who's being given away for free!"

These words made the two people next to him feel guilty; Jiang Nan was really getting more and more sarcastic.

This woman was clearly no match for Jiang Nan in verbal sparring, but if she couldn't out-argue him, couldn't she resort to violence? After all, these people were already in her hands.

She looked at the three men and said, "I was taking a bath here, and you barged in for no reason and saw me naked. If word gets out, won't that ruin my reputation? You don't have to marry me, but you have to take responsibility for my reputation. Or I'll kill you all?"

Hearing this, Ye Lan just wanted to cry foul. They had fallen directly into the water, which was almost up to their shoulders. The water was milky white and steaming, and they hadn't seen anything at all!

Jiang Nan was starting to feel a little scared, but he didn't show it on his face. He looked like he was going to his death bravely: "A scholar can be killed but not humiliated!"

In reality, Jiang Ning was secretly estimating when his spiritual energy would be able to leave this place. Soaking in this hot spring, his spiritual energy recovered very quickly.

"Heh, you'd better keep your mouth shut tomorrow." The woman said, then ordered the guards, "Throw them into the imperial prison."

Jiang Nan tried to resist, but the woman ordered someone to tie them up with ropes. They didn't know what was binding them, but the more they struggled, the tighter the ropes became.

A maid kindly reminded him, "Don't struggle. This is the Immortal Binding Rope. If you struggle any longer, it will dig into your flesh."

Jiang Ning, who was standing next to him, also advised him: "Don't be impulsive."

Jiang Nan looked at the two of them as if they were unfaithful men, and Ye Lan explained, "Staying alive is the most important thing."

Ye Lan felt a little regretful about leaving the hot spring. They had also sensed that the hot spring recovered its spiritual energy very quickly, which was why they had been standing inside. Ye Lan thought that it wouldn't be too late to find a way to escape after Xiao Bai recovered in his space.

While Jiang Nan and the woman were arguing, Jiang Ning felt something cool and refreshing touching him, and he immediately put it into his spatial storage.

And so, Ye Lan and the other two were tied up by the guards. After they were taken out of the hot spring, the guards noticed that their clothes were dripping wet, and they thoughtfully used their spiritual power to dry them.

On the way to the imperial prison, Jiang Ning secretly asked the guard who escorted them in, "Brother, may I ask what this place is?"

This guard was the one who used his spiritual power to dry their clothes. He looked a bit simple-minded, but he didn't dare to tell Jiang Ning directly. Instead, he said, "Let's wait until the princess forgives you before we talk about it."

Seeing that he couldn't get any answers, Jiang Ning started asking other questions: "Is that woman your princess?"

The guard said, "Yes, the princess is a very kind person. She will release you once she calms down."

Jiang Nan thought to herself, "That's bullshit. If she really cared, she would have let them go instead of threatening them to become her husbands."

Jiang Ning continued, "What is the princess's name?"

The guard stopped talking, clearly afraid of saying too much and letting something slip.

Ten minutes later, the three of them were sitting together in the Heavenly Prison. The guard even loosened the binding ropes on their bodies. The Heavenly Prison had restrictions on cultivators, so they were allowed to sit together without fear of them escaping.

This is the first time these people have been to jail, and it's a novel experience for them, even though it's one they don't want.

Freed from their restraints, they tried to open the cell door, but a voice came from the side: "Stop struggling, you can't open this prison."

Jiang Ning tried, but found that he really couldn't open it, so he stopped struggling.

It was clear that there were more than just the three of them in this prison. When the person who had been talking to them stopped responding, he asked again, "Hey, newbies, what did you do to get here?"

Jiang Nan, unable to stay idle, started chatting with him: "He didn't do anything wrong, but he was captured and brought here to be the princess's husband. He didn't agree, but he still came in."

"Is it Princess Yunzhi or Princess Yunxi?"

Jiang Nan: "Are there so many princesses here?"

The man laughed upon hearing his words and asked, "You're not from Yunxia Kingdom, are you?"

"Indeed not."

"No wonder you don't know that Yunxia Kingdom currently has only two princesses."

Jiang Ning joined the conversation, asking him, "We don't know which princess it is either. Which princess do you think is the easiest to talk to?"

"The one who's easy to talk to is probably Princess Yunzhi."

The man next to them was obviously very bored and kept chatting with them, trying to get information out of them. Jiang Ning and the others found out where they were. They were in Yunxia Kingdom, which was far away from Wuya City. They wondered if Su Bo could find this place.

Thinking of her friends, Ye Lan couldn't help but worry and whispered, "I wonder how Su Bo and the others are doing."

Jiang Ning stopped talking to the older brother and comforted him, saying, "They should still be safe. If there is any danger, they can directly summon the head of the Su family. Besides, Sang Yu is mindful of the Su family's power and may not take action against them."

“Our Green Mountain Sect isn’t necessarily weaker than the Su family, yet he still attacked us.”

When Jiang Nan was chatting with her older brother, she could hear what they were saying, and occasionally she would turn around and quietly pour cold water on their enthusiasm.

"I guess it's because we have something he wants here, and he wants to get rid of us without anyone knowing."

Ye Lan felt that Jiang Nan's words made sense, but he didn't want his friends to lose their lives because of him. He sighed and said, "I hope they can leave Iceland safely."

Jiang Ning also said, "Well, hopefully Sang Yu's spiritual power won't recover so quickly. That way, with the help of the mercenary group, Su Bo and the others can hold out until the Su family head arrives."

In fact, Jiang Nan was wrong. Sang Yu only wanted to get rid of the three of them and did not want to confront the Su family.

The reasons he dared to attack them were twofold: firstly, the Green Mountain Sect was far from the Northern Continent; secondly, they had gone down to the bottom of the lake alone with him, and he could simply find a reason for their deaths at the hands of a spirit beast. However, the Su family was in the Northern Continent, and any incident involving the Su family would definitely be thoroughly investigated.

In Iceland, after Sang Yu came out, the Su family head also came out of the time portal. Sang Yu was glad that she hadn't made a move.

Seeing that his friends hadn't come up with him, Su Bo anxiously asked Sang Yu, "Where are Jiang Ning and the others?"

Sang Yu glanced at him and replied, "There was an ice snake down there. I couldn't beat it, so they were all wiped out. Only I managed to escape."

Su Bo's eyes reddened: "You're lying!"

"If you don't believe me, go and see for yourself. The person I was supposed to protect is no longer here. You can go back to wherever you want. This deal is a failure." After saying that, Sang Yu ignored their reaction and left.

Seeing that he had actually left, Su Bo was about to jump to the bottom of the lake to see for himself: "I don't believe they are really dead."

Su Bo was emotionally unstable, and the head of the Su family stopped him, saying, "I'll go down and check on him."

“Grandfather, I’ll go down with you.”

"Don't make trouble."

In the end, the head of the Su family went down alone, while Su Ye and Nangong Yue stopped his brother.

When the conversation turned to the prison, everyone fell silent again after Jiang Ning finished speaking. Jiang Nan had no interest in chatting with the older brother anymore, and he didn't respond even when the older brother called them several times. The older brother got bored and stopped talking.

Jiang Ning suddenly thought of something and used his divine sense to check his space. He was shocked when he looked at it.

What he had just put into his spatial storage was actually a small snake. This snake had also eaten all the spiritual herbs and pills that he hadn't properly stored in his space. When he looked in, he happened to see the snake let out a burp.

Jiang Ning scooped the small snake out. It was only two fingers wide and felt icy cold to the touch, like touching a block of ice. Its color was exactly the same as the previous ice snake.

The three people sat together, looking at the small ice snake in the middle of them. Jiang Nan poked it with his finger: "Is this the same ice snake as before?"

"Right, but it looks different."

This ice snake not only shrank in size, but its icy jade-colored eyes also gained pupils, making its entire gaze more lively. It blinked at them, appearing soft and adorable.

"Its cultivation level seems to be lower than before."

"It's estimated that his cultivation level regressed after being beaten by Sang Yu."

“I had a wound on my hand before, and it felt like something licked it and it was healed. I guess it was this thing that licked it.”

Thinking of the pills and spiritual herbs that it had just eaten, even though Jiang Ning was so wealthy, he couldn't help but feel heartbroken. Fortunately, he had sold a lot of them before, and he had given all the spiritual herbs he picked to Ye Lan. He had also sealed the other important pills in jade bottles so that it couldn't eat them. Otherwise, he would have wanted to cry.

Having been eaten so much, Jiang Ning was unwilling to suffer a loss. Having experienced the ice serpent's formidable strength, he asked, "I want to take you as my spirit pet. Are you willing?"

The ice serpent nodded as if it understood him.

It licked Jiang Ning's palm again, but didn't get any blood, and seemed a little disappointed.