Chapter 123: Northern Frontier

Dragon City holds immense strategic significance.

Located at the northernmost edge of human activity, it borders the Extreme North, a soul beast habitat, making it a natural bridge for communication between humans and soul beasts.

Heading north from Dragon City, trees gradually thin out, turning into shrubs, and further ahead lies an endless, uninhabited tundra, where only the most resilient mosses and lichens can survive. Beyond that, temperatures drop even further, leaving nothing but vast, snow-covered glaciers—an area where fierce winds howl year-round, as sharp as blades. This is the core region of the Extreme North, an environment so harsh that even the most formidable beings struggle to endure.

Though the uninhabited Extreme North appears barren, its underground resources are exceptionally rich. Dragon City, in particular, sits atop a remarkable treasure—a never-freezing spring imbued with spiritual energy. Beneath it lies the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cavern, filled with countless stores of Profound Ice Marrow. Even rarer, the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal—an invaluable treasure on par with the legendary Life Gold—can be found within.

Years ago, Di Tian ventured deep into this ice cavern to investigate. Yet, even with his immense power, he dared not go too far—not because he feared the cold, but because the cavern itself was simply too fragile.

This ice cavern, displaced by tectonic activity to the relatively warmer border of the Extreme North, experiences a temperature difference greater than that between ice and boiling water.

The fact that the cavern has maintained its ultra-low temperature for so many years without losing its ice attribute energy is due to an extremely delicate internal balance.

After thorough evaluation, it was determined that unless one possesses the power of Ultimate Ice, any external energy could disrupt this balance, causing the ice attribute energy to leak and the Profound Ice Marrow's power to be wasted.

After careful consideration, the Beast God decided against forcefully extracting the Ice Marrow. Instead, the ice cavern was sealed away, to be utilized at a later time.

Perhaps this cavern is a fateful opportunity reserved for Huo Hua.

When Di Tian explored the depths beneath the never-freezing spring, he faintly sensed a mysterious energy—so profound that even he felt a tinge of apprehension. However, this energy was already very weak and could completely dissipate within the next few hundred or thousand years.

Di Tian speculated that this trace of mysterious energy was highly likely linked to a divine inheritance.

The human understanding of the world is ultimately limited, and countless hidden realms remain beyond the protagonist's view. The possibility of a divine inheritance in the Extreme North was entirely reasonable in Wang Rui's eyes.

In truth, Di Tian was unaware that Huo Hua was destined to inherit the God of Emotions' divinity. His agreement with Wang Rui and Skydream Iceworm's "god-making" plan was largely influenced by the presence of that lingering divine aura—it served as a reassuring confirmation.

With such treasures hidden beneath the surface, it was unwise to leave the never-freezing spring unguarded in the barren wilderness. If the human empires discovered these mineral deposits and claimed the area as their own, it would create major complications.

However, the Beast God's foundation lay deep within the Star Dou Forest. It was impractical to station soul beasts here for extended periods, nor could they extend the Star Dou Forest all the way to the Extreme North within ten thousand years.

The best solution, then, was to foster a human faction that was dependent on the Beast God and friendly toward soul beasts.

Wang Rui immediately thought of the original work's Heavenly Dragon Gate and Earthly Dragon Gate, the factions that controlled Dragon City.

Thus, he sought out the Nan Family.

The Abyssal Demon Dragon King, Zi Ji, personally approached the Nan Family's ancestors. She bestowed upon the most gifted child of the Nan Family a drop of true dragon essence blood, helping his Martial Soul evolve from Rouge Dragon into the far more powerful Rouge Abyssal Demon Dragon.

The first-generation patriarch of the Nan Family became a mighty expert in his own right. Under his leadership, the newly founded Dragon City attracted many soul masters with dragon-related Martial Souls. After all, this city had direct ties to the only two remaining true dragons in existence. It was only natural that Dragon City had a deeper understanding of dragon Martial Souls and knew how to help dragon soul masters advance further.

Later, the Yu Family voluntarily migrated to Dragon City, further strengthening this fledgling northern stronghold.

As for the Gongyang Family, they only joined Dragon City years later.

The Rainbow Dragon bloodline had come to Dragon City in search of a way to break the seven-ring limit of their Martial Soul. And indeed, they found their answer here—Rainbow Dragon Martial Souls were restricted to seven soul rings only because human eyes could perceive only seven colors of the rainbow. Once they acquired a broader perception beyond human vision, this limitation ceased to exist.

Eventually, the Rainbow Dragon lineage fully integrated into Dragon City, becoming the city's third major faction.

…This was why the people of Dragon City revered true dragons.

They believed that the path to strengthening dragon soul masters lay in shedding human limitations and fully transforming into dragons.

Dragon City worshiped dragonkind and maintained close ties with soul beasts. Many of its inherited Martial Souls had received guidance from Zi Ji. Given its remote location and heavy reliance on the Moonshadow Merchant Association for supplies, Dragon City had long since become a de facto allied city.

Wang Rui admitted that, back then, he had indeed instructed Zi Ji to share extensive dragon lore with the Nan Family's ancestors. He had deliberately guided Dragon City's soul masters into revering dragonkind—perhaps even fostering their faith in them.

He had his own selfish reasons.

Achieving godhood didn't necessarily require faith, but faith undoubtedly helped.

If soul beasts could one day break free from their inability to ascend to godhood, he hoped that his small, seemingly insignificant preparations would smooth the path for his loved ones.

But he had never expected things to spiral this far out of hand!

Wang Rui finally experienced firsthand how history could be wildly distorted through generations of retelling. Stories passed down by word of mouth gradually twisted into myths completely detached from reality.

Yet, he could still discern traces of truth in the legends that Gongyang Mo shared. The tales of dragonkind contained elements of Extreme North folklore as well as recognizable fragments of Douluo history.

For instance, the so-called Sea Dragon King slain by Tang San… wasn't that just the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, who sought to become a dragon?

Meanwhile, Gongyang Mo continued weaving dragon legends with such confidence that even true dragons themselves might not understand them. The children listening were completely captivated, while Wang Rui could only maintain a polite yet strained smile, reminding them that these stories were entertaining but not to be taken too seriously.

For example, the claim that the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King were an affectionate, incestuous couple—now that was definitely untrue!

…Though, in some ways, it wasn't entirely wrong either.

Regardless, there were only so many legends to share. The rest of their journey was spent alternating between playing card games organized by Wolf Xingying and cultivating their soul power.

The Moonshadow Merchant Association's convoy traveled swiftly. The scenery outside the carriage windows gradually turned desolate. By the afternoon of the third day, the trees had all become evergreen conifers.

By noon on the fourth day, the convoy arrived at Dragon City.

Dragon City was situated in the northeastern part of the Heavenly Soul Empire, at the northernmost edge of human civilization. Traveling southwest would lead into the Sun-Moon Empire, while heading further north for half a day would bring one into the Extreme North.

Here, temperatures were brutally low. Even in the warmest summer months, remnants of unmelted snow and patches of wet ice clung to the ground.

Its towering gray city walls were imposing, lined with powerful soul devices. From a distance, one could see low-level soul engineers bundled in thick coats, carrying buckets of anti-freeze oil to maintain the equipment.

Inside the city, the walls provided some shelter from the wind, raising the temperature slightly—but only just.

The convoy entered through the southern gate. Most residents wore thick fur-lined clothing, and due to the city's location at the border of two empires, its people displayed a wide range of skin tones. Even soul beasts could occasionally be seen walking openly alongside soul masters.

As the convoy stopped, a bitter cold wind greeted them.

"Damn, it's freezing," Jiang Nannan muttered, shivering.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuqing, holding Wang Rui's hand, remained perfectly warm under his fire-attributed soul power.

Gongyang Mo bid farewell to everyone and headed straight home, while Lang Xingying, ever the hospitable host, led Wang Rui and the others upstairs to rest.

"Xiaoqing, get ready. We still need to head further north. We're setting off tonight," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice echoed in Huo Yuqing's spiritual sea.