radicalducati Chapter 20: The Insect Sleeps at Home, Trouble Falls from the Sky
Chapter 20: The Insect Sleeps at Home, Trouble Falls from the Sky
Xue Di stood there, a rare look of bewilderment on her face.
A hint of confusion flashed across her sculpted, snow-white face, as if she didn't know how to evaluate this soul beast that had been described as so "tragic."
[This is terrible... What's the difference between this and a mobile cultivation resource library?]
If they get caught by other spirit beasts, they'll definitely become blood bags!
Hyotei was taken aback at first, then tilted its head and began to ponder, its toes rhythmically tapping the ground.
Wait... this feeling...
Why do I seem to know about this soul beast?
[This looks familiar...]
Could it be that?!
Xue Di snapped out of her reverie and refocused her gaze on Zhang Qingxuan's face: "Mr. Zhang, is what you said true?"
"Absolutely true." Zhang Qingxuan nodded with a smile, his tone calm and unhurried.
"That was a Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm that got incredibly lucky and fell into an ice cave filled with ten-thousand-year-old profound ice marrow."
"According to my calculations, even if it hasn't consumed 990,000 years of cultivation, it still has at least 900,000 years of cultivation."
He paused, then slowly revealed his purpose: "I want it; I want it as my ninth spirit ring."
"Deduction?!" Upon hearing these two words, Xue Di's pupils contracted slightly.
Zhang Qingxuan said no more, and stretched out his right hand with his palm facing up.
The next moment, a black and white halo rose from his palm, rapidly spinning and spreading, eventually condensing in the air into a slowly rotating yin-yang symbol.
The black and white martial spirit slowly rotated in the void, exuding a mysterious and unpredictable aura.
"This is my second martial soul!" Zhang Qingxuan introduced calmly.
"It has a certain deductive ability and can deduce some small things."
Although this deductive ability has only recently awakened and its application is not yet fully refined, it is more than enough to impress people—or rather, to convince the Snow Emperor to believe in him.
Little Bai stared wide-eyed at the rotating yin-yang diagram, her little face full of question marks.
[What?! Young Master has a second martial soul?! How come I didn't know?!]
Xue Di stared at the mysterious martial spirit, a hint of shock flashing in her icy blue eyes.
She clearly sensed the profound truths of the universe contained within it; the interplay of black and white seemed to conceal the trajectory of the universe's operation.
"This martial spirit... is somewhat heaven-defying," she sighed inwardly.
Xue Di spoke again, her voice regaining its usual coldness: "Mr. Zhang, if what you say is true, I think the value of this Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm seems a bit too high."
"Not bad!" Zhang Qingxuan readily admitted, his smile deepening.
"If you can devour this Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, surviving the 700,000-year Heavenly Tribulation will be a piece of cake, but what about the 800,000-year Heavenly Tribulation? Can you still survive it?"
Xue Di paused for a moment, then said, "So, Mr. Zhang means..."
"I suspect that the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm didn't finish consuming all the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow in the ice cave; there should still be quite a bit left," Zhang Qingxuan stated his plan.
"As long as you hand over the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm to me, I will take care of all your and the Ice Emperor's Heavenly Tribulations from now on. The remaining Profound Ice Marrow will be enough to help you break through your cultivation realm quickly."
His gaze swept over the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress: "What do you two think? It's killing two birds with one stone."
Snow Empress fell into deep thought. Her long, silvery-white hair fluttered gently in the cold wind, and the snowflakes swirling around her spun at varying speeds, revealing the turmoil in her heart.
After a long pause, she nodded gently: "Okay, I agree to this deal."
Meanwhile, deep in the far north, inside a hidden ice cave covered by layers of ice.
A large, plump ice silkworm with nine golden stripes on its body, its entire body translucent and shimmering, suddenly awoke from its slumber and involuntarily shivered.
"Hiss—why do I suddenly feel a chill down my spine?" it muttered, scanning the ice cave with its mental senses.
"Something's not right... I'm an ice-attribute soul beast!"
"Why am I shivering!"
"Could someone be after my brother?!"
The ice cave was completely silent, with only the faint glow emanating from the millennia-old Xuanbing marrow. The surrounding ice walls were tens of feet thick, isolating all other auras from the outside.
The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm shook its round head, unable to figure it out. It wriggled its plump body, approached a piece of Xuanbing Marrow that was half a person's height, and "crunch" took off a small piece, chewing it with relish.
"Never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore. I'll eat and then go back to sleep..."
"Who would find this place, it's so well hidden!"
"Besides, how many people even know I exist!"
After saying that, it sighed contentedly, curled up into a ball again, and soon began to breathe evenly again.
…………
"Then how do we find it?" Xue Di asked a crucial question.
The far north is vast and boundless, with countless ice caves and grottoes. If one were to search them one by one, it would probably take forever to find anything.
Zhang Qingxuan turned his gaze to the Ice Emperor beside him, a meaningful smile playing on his lips: "That depends on Your Excellency, Ice Emperor."
"Bing'er?" Xue Di looked at Bing Di with some confusion.
Hyotei felt a little uncomfortable under their gazes and shifted her body slightly. "I... I do know of a Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, but I'm not sure if it's the one you're talking about..."
"That's it," Zhang Qingxuan said confidently.
"But when I first saw it, it only had 500,000 years of cultivation!" Ice Emperor shook her head in disbelief.
"Only tens of thousands of years have passed, how could it be that we've been eating for over nine hundred thousand years?"
"You underestimate the amount of Xuanbing Marrow stored in that ice cave," Zhang Qingxuan said leisurely.
"I even suspect that there may be Xuanbing marrow of 100,000 years old in the deeper part of the ice cave."
The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress were both stunned.
[How could this ice silkworm be so lucky?]
But then, as they looked at Zhang Qingxuan, who was smiling, another thought flashed through their minds:
No... I should say, it was just incredibly unlucky.
Meeting you was the greatest calamity of its life.
"Alright!" Zhang Qingxuan clapped his hands, pulling the two back to reality:
"There's no time to lose, you two should set off as soon as possible. How much Xuanbing Marrow you can obtain in the end depends entirely on when you find it."
The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress exchanged a glance, both seeing the same determination in each other's eyes.
【yes!】
Hyotei spoke first, their voice tinged with urgency: "I know the general location. Shall we set off now?"
"With Sister Xue's help, I'll be able to find it in a few years."
Xue Di nodded slightly, and a chill began to gather around her: "There's no time to lose, Mr. Zhang, let's go find it first."
"Wait!" Zhang Qingxuan called out to them, taking out a talisman from his robes:
"Take this with you. Tear it up when you find it, and I'll be there right away."
Xue Di took the talisman and felt its smooth texture; it seemed to contain some kind of spatial fluctuation.
She gave Zhang Qingxuan a deep look, said nothing more, and transformed into two streaks of light with Bingdi, instantly disappearing into the vast snowstorm.