It was a beautiful snowfield. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but white snow, pure whiteness stretching endlessly. The land, the vegetation, even the mountains and rivers seemed buried beneath it. Sunlight poured down, making the surface shimmer with a gentle silver wherever it touched. He could not remember ever seeing so vast an expanse of snow.

After his appreciation of its beauty came an almost incomprehensible chill. Every gust of wind chilled his bones and set his body shivering. Even breathing in made his lungs ache with cold, though they had become spirit organs.

Normally, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could easily repel all but the fiercest cold with the spiritual energy in their dantian. Moreover, with most of their body reconstructed from spiritual energy, they scarcely felt heat or cold. Yet the chill digging into his skin now was on another level.

'Cold enough for a Cultivator to feel it?'

First, he used Flame Release to send out fire and warm the air around him. At this rate, he might earn the disgraceful distinction of being a Foundation Establishment Cultivator who froze to death.

Yise realized something else and sighed faintly.

'The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is thin here.'

He could barely sense its flow, just as in an ordinary city inhabited by ordinary people. He gave a hollow chuckle, his escaping breath scattering into white mist.

Yise rose into the air on the Dream-Saving Cloud to survey the surrounding terrain. As he gained altitude, a far broader vista opened before him. Yet all that vast view held was more snow.

He extended his hand and cast the earth-attribute spell Earthen Wall over a wide area. The entire site of the teleportation formation rose upward. With the landscape so difficult to distinguish, he was leaving a marker he could easily recognize from afar when he returned.

'Most markers would just get buried in snow.'

The tremors in the earth sent wild animals darting in alarm from their hiding places beneath the snow. Every one of them had thick fur. Yise eyed those coats covetously for a moment, then shook his head. For someone who called himself a Daoist to indulge in needless slaughter because he was a little cold would be... embarrassing.

After considering which direction to take, he headed south. It was common knowledge that the farther north one went, the colder it grew. He reasoned that people would seek even slightly warmer places to survive.

WHOOSH!

The flying cloud began cutting through the air. Before long, however, Yise had to lower his altitude. Even traveling only a little above the ground exposed him to increasingly fierce, biting winds. But flying around on a cloud with flames spouting from his hands would make him look like an utter lunatic, wouldn't it? In the end, he decided to stay low and move as slowly as possible while repelling the cold.

'Qi Refining Cultivators couldn't travel at all in cold like this.'

A body that had not undergone complete bodily transformation surely would not last even a watch. It was a wonder anyone could live here in the first place. Could the teleportation formation have malfunctioned and dropped him in an uninhabited land? Yise felt it was a reasonable suspicion.

Fortunately, the scenery gradually changed as he flew onward. Other colors began appearing in the snowfield. There was still no vegetation, but at least he occasionally glimpsed the brown earth.

Yise pressed steadily onward. After three days, coniferous forests came into view. The bitter cold remained, but at least he no longer had to fend it off constantly.

When daylight came, his divine sense caught a pack of Demons creeping out. Dozens were crossing the snowfield together. They were a kind he had never seen before: human-shaped bodies that looked clad in thick pelts, monkeylike faces, and claws bristling from both hands.

He lowered his flying cloud and approached the pack, then stepped off the Dream-Saving Cloud and landed lightly in their midst. Every Demon turned to look at him.

"Eek! Eeeek!"

The nearest one bared its fangs and lunged.

Yise raised a hand and unleashed Wind Blade from the Wind-Breaking Qi-Shattering Art. Dozens of blades of wind scattered in every direction.

SWISH, SWISH!

The Wind Blades sliced precisely through the Demons' necks. Dark red blood sprayed across the white snow all at once.

'It works well in actual combat.'

Satisfied with an effect much like triggering the Needle-Firing Armor, Yise thought there could hardly be a better spell for dealing with numerous weak enemies.

He selected the largest Demon in the pack and began butchering it. Once he had treated its hide and draped it over his outer garments, the chill penetrating his skin eased considerably.

"That's better."

His gaze shifted to the skinned, frozen corpse. Was it a demonic beast? With a monkey's face, it probably ought to count as one.

He roasted the remaining meat whole on the spot, intending to warm his insides. Opening his mouth wide, he took a bite, then promptly spat the flesh back out. The furry monkey demonic beast tasted absolutely foul.

"Just left a bad taste in my mouth."

It reeked of a gaminess that seemed impossible to remove even by preparing it as immortal cuisine.

* * *

He continued south for several more days. At some point, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began flowing, little by little. Its overall concentration was lower than on the Eastern Continent, but it was enough to give him a direction.

Finding Cultivators was simple. Where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered, so did Cultivators. Just as fish appeared where water pooled, and moths flocked to a flame.

Sure enough, an enormous silhouette appeared beyond the snowfield. Something darker rose above the white landscape.

Its nature became clear as he approached: a simple fortification fashioned with earth and metal attributes. Yise cautiously approached and climbed onto the wall. A city spread out beyond it, the first human settlement he had encountered on the Northern Continent. It was too small to call a capital, yet too large to call a fortress town—somewhere between the two in scale.

Yet there were no gates, nor any sentries guarding the walls. There was something else odd, too. The instant he stepped onto the wall, the cold enveloping him vanished. Instead, he felt warmth against his body, almost like a balmy breeze.

Was there a formation encompassing the entire city? Yise silently gauged its scale for a moment, then gave a brief murmur of admiration. A formation this extensive would be difficult for even Daemudo or the Pill Refining Sect to establish on the Eastern Continent.

Yise immediately organized his plans. The final volume of the Twin Principles Reversion Art. Since its name clearly marked it as a cultivation manual, at least a few Cultivators on the Northern Continent ought to have heard of it. Yet it was a sealed cultivation method whose true nature no one could discern. It would have been treated as a nuisance, and there was a good chance that even its perceived value had faded over time. At worst, it might be lying around as a decoration in some obscure household.

Ultimately, there were two things he could do right now to find the Twin Principles Reversion Art.

One: search every bookshop on the Northern Continent.

Two: seek out high-ranking Cultivators who might know of an object from three hundred years ago and ask them directly.

The latter would be faster, but an outsider could hardly approach great Cultivators without introduction.

'... I'll have to hope the great Cultivators on this continent can be reasoned with.'

He took out a Spirit-Concealing Talisman to hide his internal reserves, then leaped lightly down to the nearest street inside the walls.

Despite the considerably warmer temperature within the formation, the people wore thick clothing. On the Eastern Continent, people generally clothed themselves in fabric or silk. Here, however, almost everyone was wrapped in heavy furs.

'Ordinary people and Cultivators mingle naturally here.'

The people on the street were a mixture of roughly one Cultivator to every three ordinary people. Presumably, the harsh environment limited habitable areas, while the poor conditions actually thinned the impure energy of ordinary people.

"Get your act together!"

The sound of a beating came from somewhere. A Cultivator was manhandling an ordinary person.

Looking more closely, he saw that ordinary people were treated much like livestock. Most walked with their heads lowered and backs deeply bowed, fearful of meeting a Cultivator's eyes. It was not uncommon to see them being beaten by Cultivators in the street. Some even carried Cultivators like oxen or horses, bearing them on shoulder-borne chairs—seats that carried people like palanquins.

He did not intervene. If that was the local culture, he intended to respect it for the time being.

"Excuse me."

He stopped an ordinary person to ask a question, but the moment he spoke, the person dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves, trembling all over.

"I-I'm sorry. Please spare me..."

They kept begging for their life without even saying what they were sorry for. They were in no state to answer questions.

Left with no choice, he addressed a nearby second-star Qi Refining Cultivator.

"Fellow Daoist. Might I ask you something?"

Speaking so politely to an early-stage Qi Refining Cultivator felt awkwardly embarrassing, but there was no need to reveal his realm—not until he had grown accustomed to this place, at least.

The Cultivator turned at the voice, his expression immediately tense and guarded, then scowled fiercely.

"What are you? An ordinary person? You dare speak to me with your head held high? Have you lost your damned mind?"

The Spirit-Concealing Talisman seemed to have caused a misunderstanding. Apparently ordinary people here were not even allowed to speak freely to Cultivators.

WHOOSH!

Even so, punching an ordinary person with spiritual energy like that would burst their head and kill them. Yise casually caught the incoming fist.

Apparently, the Cultivators here had stirred their Dao hearts into a bowl of rice soup and eaten the lot. Come to think of it, this was just the weather for a bowl of rice soup.

"You're awfully quick with your fists."

Unable to move an inch, the Cultivator flushed. Then, realizing Yise was no ordinary person, he looked flustered.

"How... A-are you a Cultivator?"

"I had reasons to conceal my internal reserves for a while. Can we talk now?"

"How am I supposed to trust someone who approaches me with his realm concealed...?"

Still wary, the Cultivator glanced around. He seemed to be looking for someone to call on for help.

Before the misunderstanding could deepen, Yise released his fist and watched him put some distance between them.

"Then I'll ask just one thing."

"... Go ahead."

"Is there a great Core Formation Cultivator in this city?"

As he asked, Yise cast the mind-reading art, enveloping the Cultivator.

"What kind of absurd question is that? I thought your face looked unfamiliar. Are you an outsider?"

What surfaced in the Cultivator's mind was denial. There were no Core Formation Cultivators here.

"So there aren't any?"

Yise immediately pushed aside the Spirit-Concealing Talisman's energy and released the spiritual energy of his Dharma-Transformed Dantian. The spiritual pressure of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator bore down on the man at once.

"...!"

An expression that all but screamed rose on the Cultivator's face. Cold sweat ran down him, and his hands and feet began to shake.

"F-f-f-Foundation Establishment..."

What was all the fuss about? Yise tilted his head and asked him,

"Feel like talking now?"

"Spare me, Senior!"

The Cultivator immediately fell flat, pressing his head to the ground.

Better schooled in respecting his betters than expected. Quite a well-mannered fellow. Yise kept that thought to himself.