The Northern Frontier.
The Icebound Forest.
Blinding white and fathomless blue split the world into two extreme shades.
Towering ancient trees had long since shed their verdant green, transformed instead into a forest sculpted entirely from ice.
Boom—!
A white shadow flashed past, almost indistinguishable from the whirling snowstorm.
Only the ice shards crushed by the howl of the wind signaled that something was moving at extreme speed.
—Naturally, it was Li Zhexian.
After a year and a half of tempering, he was no longer the newcomer wandering the world, but a seasoned, top-tier mercenary of this frozen land.
His snow-skis slid nimbly past crystalline tree-branches.
Li Zhexian weaved at lightning pace through the labyrinthine forest of ice.
With every glide—
A faint creak sounded where his skis met snow, instantly drowned by the roar of the storm.
Moments later—
The target appeared.
It was an Ice Thorn Bear—one of the most infamous Spirit Beasts of the Icebound Forest.
Its body stretched three meters tall, white fur bristling with a row of crystalline spikes that gleamed cold and menacing.
Now, however, the massive beast was fleeing in panic, ragged breath exhaling clouds of mist.
At its neck gaped a wound deep to the bone, steaming in the cold as blood spilled down, instantly freezing into crystals of scarlet.
Li Zhexian's pursuit was soundless.
He made perfect use of the blizzard's roar, the rolling snowdrifts, and the jagged shadows of ice-rock.
Always keeping to the blind spot behind the beast's flank.
The distance between them shrank rapidly.
Roar—!
The Ice Thorn Bear suddenly stood up.
Its three-meter-tall body stirred up a violent snow wave.
Its beastly eyes were bloodshot—it could already sense the stench of death.
With a furious bellow, its forepaws slammed into the ground.
Crack—!!!
Spikes of ice burst from the snow in a deadly thicket, hurtling toward Li Zhexian like a storm of frozen spears.
He stepped, twisted, rolled—
each movement timed to the exact instant the spikes struck.
Icy spears shredded past the hem of his black fur cloak, detonating the snow in sprays of glittering shards—
but not a thread of his clothing was touched.
The distance closed to within two meters.
Li Zhexian's Spirit Power surged.
Two snow-pillars erupted underfoot, launching him skyward.
His right fist clenched tight, arm taut with bulging muscle.
Lines of ice-blue and fiery red flared across his skin.
At his knuckles, a power of frost and flame fused into one.
Boom—
A muffled detonation like a thunderous hammerblow.
The Ice Thorn Bear's thick neck exploded in a cloud of blood mist, instantly crystallizing into countless scarlet shards that tinkled down like hail.
Its massive head dangled by a mere strip of flesh, lolling lifelessly.
Li Zhexian stretched out his right hand, seized the beast's head, and landed smoothly on his skis.
He shook the blood from his fist, ignoring the Spirit Ring that rose shimmering from the corpse.
From afar, a mercenary whistle pierced the storm.
He hefted the bear's body, shrugged off his white camouflage, and shook out the black fur cloak on his shoulders.
His figure vanished into the swirling snow.
"Vice Commander Ji is incredible!"
"A four-thousand-year Ice-Thorn Bear!"
"Our squad's definitely taking first place again this time!"
Li Zhexian strode toward the encampment tents on the Icebound Forest's edge, uncorked a flask, and took a heavy swig.
He wiped his mouth, casting a glance over the fire where his men laughed and jeered—
But in his eyes flickered a trace of shadow.
A year and a half.
He had not rested for even a day, scouring mercenary taverns, black markets, and hunting grounds.
Yet, the news of the Ten-thousand-year Ice Marrow was still distant and trace-less.
Li Zhexian scooped up a handful of snow.
It crumbled noiselessly into dust between his fingers—
and vanished without leaving even a drop of water.
"Fortunately…"
"Over this year and a half, my cultivation has not faltered."
"Spirit Power has reached rank fifty. Perhaps it's time to venture into the true Extreme North."
The northern storm stretched boundless.
The so-called Icebound Forest was but the outer edge.
The true core of the Extreme North lay beyond—where eternal blizzards blinded the eyes and blurred the world.
He looked northward.
Heaven and earth blended in formless chaos.
As if within slumbered a terror capable of devouring all.
"Captain Ji!"
Oscar came running,
Only to slip just as he reached him—
"Argh!"
He clutched protectively at a thick slab of bear fat.
Struggling upright, he thrust it toward Li Ji.
"Captain Ji, have some meat!"
"Freshly cut, still hot!"
Li Zhexian took the slab of bear fat, bit into it, and washed it down with wine.
Oscar grinned sheepishly, scrambled up with hands and feet, and sat beside Li Zhexian.
A year and a half of wind and frost—
Had baked his once-fair face into a dark, cracked red, with a thick tangled beard plastered to his skin, making him look rougher than a mercenary himself.
Looking at the young man beside him in a black fur cloak,
Oscar's eyes flickered with genuine gratitude.
In this year and a half,
He had come to understand this "Captain Ji."
Cold on the outside, warm within.
A stern face, but a kind heart.
More than once, when death had been upon him, it was this man who dragged him back.
And he now understood why Captain Ji, at such a young age, had climbed step by step to the position of Vice Commander in this brutal mercenary world.
In Oscar's heart—
Li Ji was already a peerless prodigy, second only to that white-clad youth.
Gratitude, and admiration.
...
That night.
The Snow bear Mercenary Group camped on the edge of the Icebound Forest to rest.
Their mission: to hunt down a vicious pack of Snow Demon Wolves, which meant they would linger in the forest for quite some time.
Every night, there were always sentries to keep watch.
But tonight—
Li Zhexian found it hard to sleep.
He leapt onto the branch of a massive crystal tree, leaning silently against it.
Through sparse icicles, his gaze pierced toward the horizon, where brilliant auroras danced in the sky. One gulp of fiery wine after another.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and his gaze shifted down to the ground beneath the tree.
A middle-aged man bundled in thick white furs, a white felt hat on his head, trudged through the snow.
"Ji, your senses are sharp as ever."
The man looked up at the figure in the black cloak on the branch and chuckled:
"Can't sleep? Care for a drink?"
Li Zhexian dropped lightly to the ground.
"Sure."
This man was none other than the Commander of the Snow Bear Mercenary Group—Snow Bear himself.
The two walked to the campfire, roasting meat and drinking, exchanging idle words.
Snow Bear tore a sizzling hunk of meat and chewed noisily.
"Bringing you into Snow Bear was the best deal I've ever made in my life."
"Ji, with your talent, it's wasted here among mercs."
Li Zhexian lifted his flask, clinked it against Snow Bear's.
"Wasted or not, I find mercenary life suits me."
He took a drink, voice calm.
If not for the burdens on his heart, it would have been nothing but the truth.
Hunting, fighting, drinking deep, listening to the coarse mercenaries brag in smoky taverns—
There was a raw kind of pleasure in it.
Snow Bear chuckled and let the matter drop.
He had seen too many people.
He knew this young man was no golden dragon his little mercenary group could hope to keep forever.
After a moment of silence—
Li Zhexian spoke, breaking the crackle of the fire.
"Commander, have you ever been to the core of the Extreme North?"
Snow Bear froze mid-bite.
"Of course I've been."
He smacked his lips, staring into the firelight.
In his eyes, a far-off remembrance stirred, tinged with a tremor Li Zhexian could not fathom.
"Back then… I was just a scruffy young mercenary."
"Ji…"
His voice dropped low, as though afraid to disturb some slumbering terror in the endless snow.
"Have you ever heard… the legend of the Snow Lady?"
Li Zhexian's gaze sharpened. He was about to answer—
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
But in that instant—
The Icebound Forest began to tremble violently.
At first, a faint tremor, then greater and greater, as if some colossal beast turned over beneath the earth.
Snow cascaded from branches, icicles splintered and crashed down.
The camp erupted into chaos!
A piercing whistle split the night sky!
Li Zhexian and Snow Bear locked eyes, each seeing the same heaviness in the other's.
Like lightning, they and the other experts of the group vaulted onto the highest ice-crystal tree nearby.
Balancing on the trembling treetop—
Their gazes swept past the bizarre and motley Icebound Forest beneath the aurora and cast themselves towards the chaotic depths of the Extreme North.
They saw that in the wind-and-snow core area, an earth-shattering avalanche was happening on an ice mountain.
A white torrent roared as it poured down from the mountaintop.