A peaceful night passed. Early the next morning, Wei Xuan and Jing Hongchen awoke, packed up their tents, washed briefly, and after a simple breakfast, resumed their search for a suitable soul beast.
To increase their chances, the two ventured deeper into the Extreme North.
As they advanced, the strength of the soul beasts they encountered rose sharply — they were now coming across thousand-year-level beasts.
Wei Xuan extended the range of his divine sense once more, covering a radius of one and half kilometers. Countless soul beasts appeared within his mind's eye, and several among them met his standards — one or two even stirred the impulse to claim their rings.
"These people really are following me," Wei Xuan thought grimly. His divine sense had not only detected soul beasts but also those six Soul Engineers who had been tailing them from a safe distance.
If last night's discovery might have been coincidence, today confirmed his suspicion beyond doubt. Those six were here for him — otherwise, they wouldn't be shadowing their every move.
His eyes shifted slightly, and within moments, a plan formed in his mind.
"Hall Master Hongchen, do you have any detection-type Soul Tools on you?" Wei Xuan asked casually.
Jing Hongchen stopped in his tracks, glancing at him curiously. "You don't mean to tell me you want me to use one to help you find soul beasts, do you?"
Wei Xuan smiled approvingly. "Exactly. The soul beasts here all have white fur, blending perfectly with the snow. It's hard to spot them with the naked eye. Using a detection-type Soul Tool would make our search much more efficient — it could cover a wider range and save us time and effort."
Jing Hongchen's eyes widened, his expression turning comical. "You had that idea and didn't say it earlier? If I'd known, we might've finished this yesterday instead of wandering around aimlessly!"
Wei Xuan chuckled awkwardly. "It only just came to me."
"Hah, you brat…" Jing Hongchen couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. He himself felt a bit foolish — how had he forgotten such a basic solution? A Level 9 Soul Engineer, forgetting about detection-type Soul Tools — unbelievable.
"My focus has always been on offensive and defensive Soul Tools," he said lightly. "Detection types were never my area of study."
Wei Xuan simply stared at him, expression calm but clearly waiting for the inevitable follow-up. Based on how Jing Hongchen reacted, there was no way he didn't have at least something on hand.
Feeling that look, Jing Hongchen sighed and decided to stop playing coy. "Alright, alright. I can't craft Level 8 or 9 detection tools, but making a simple one wasn't beyond me. I built one a while back, just for fun."
He reached into his storage ring and retrieved a small, white, half-ellipsoidal metallic device, roughly the size of a palm.
Wei Xuan blinked. "That's the detection Soul Tool?"
Its design was… underwhelming, to say the least.
Jing Hongchen, however, beamed with pride, pretending not to notice Wei Xuan's doubtful look. "Indeed. Thanks to my improvements, its size has been reduced severalfold — compact, easy to carry, and highly effective. Don't underestimate it because of its appearance."
"It can ascend up to seven hundred meters and scan a range of two kilometers in diameter. Plus, its small size and white color make it almost invisible against the sky — even a Titled Douluo wouldn't notice it without using spiritual power. Impressive, right?" he said, hands clasped behind his back, chin tilted slightly upward.
"What level is it?" Wei Xuan asked casually.
At that, Jing Hongchen froze. His proud demeanor crumbled. With an awkward cough, he muttered,
"Level doesn't matter. What matters is that it works."
He poured Soul Power into the device to activate it.
Normally, a detection Soul Tool contained a storage array for Soul Power, preloaded for instant use. But since Jing Hongchen hadn't used this one in years, it was completely depleted and needed a manual recharge.
Wei Xuan watched him with an amused half-smile until Jing Hongchen, flustered, turned away to avoid his gaze.
The truth was embarrassing — the mighty Hall Master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall had only ever produced a Level 4 detection Soul Tool. Saying it aloud would ruin his reputation.
"I'll definitely study detection-type crafting properly once we return," Jing Hongchen thought, cheeks burning.
Wei Xuan soon stopped teasing him and stood silently beside him as he worked.
It took Jing Hongchen barely ten seconds to fill the device with Soul Power. A matching handheld controller appeared in his left hand, allowing him to guide it.
Under his control, the small device rose swiftly into the air — within moments, it reached its maximum height of seven hundred meters.
The feed from above flickered onto the controller's small screen. Like an all-seeing eye, the detection Soul Tool projected a live panoramic view of the two-kilometers radius around them.
Jing Hongchen's expression was relaxed at first, and he even smiled as the two sat on a nearby rock to watch. Together, they scanned for soul beasts suitable for Wei Xuan.
But then his smile froze. His eyes locked onto several strange flickering points on the screen.
"What's this?" Wei Xuan asked, feigning curiosity. He pointed directly at the glowing marks he already knew were there.
Jing Hongchen didn't answer right away. His brows furrowed as he stared toward the direction of those lights — to the left-front, where the snow stretched endlessly.
"Hall Master Hongchen, did you find something?" Wei Xuan asked after a pause.
Jing Hongchen's tone turned icy. "I found a few… rats. Not sure yet whether they're dangerous. We'll observe for a bit longer."
The metaphor was clear enough. Wei Xuan understood perfectly.
"Then we should move," Wei Xuan suggested calmly. "If those rats follow us, we'll know their target is us."
Jing Hongchen looked at him with newfound respect. The boy's insight was impressive. "Alright, let's go."
They began walking again, all the while observing. Jing Hongchen watched the light points through his control screen, while Wei Xuan tracked them effortlessly through his divine sense — far sharper than any machine.
After half an hour, Jing Hongchen's expression darkened. There was no longer any doubt.
"They're hostile," he said coldly.
"Are they from the Heavenly Soul Empire… or elsewhere?" His voice was low and heavy with suspicion.
Wei Xuan's tone was calm but meaningful. "Which seems more likely to you, Hall Master — the former, or the latter?"
Jing Hongchen's silence said it all. Only two powers knew of their journey: the Sun Moon Empire's inner court and the Heavenly Soul Empire through whose territory they'd passed. But the latter would hardly send assassins for no reason.
That left only one possibility.
"Unbelievable… Someone within the empire actually dares to assassinate me," Jing Hongchen muttered, his voice cold enough to freeze the air. His aura flared — colder than the surrounding snow.
"Uh…" Wei Xuan gave a wry look and said quietly, "Hall Master Hongchen, is it not possible that they're here for me?"
In truth, that seemed far more likely.
His so-called brothers — princes of the empire — came to mind. Though he'd kept his distance from them, Wei Xuan had seen enough of human nature in his past life to read them clearly.
On the surface, they were cordial, brotherly, and refined. But beneath that veneer was ambition and venom. The moment the throne was mentioned, familial affection became worthless.
The Second Prince, Xu Tianran, had lost his legs to the First Prince's schemes. The younger princes were plotting against both. The phrase brothers at war could not describe them better.
It was precisely to avoid such infighting that Wei Xuan had chosen to live at the Illustrious Virtue Hall, showing no interest in royal politics.
But even neutrality invited danger. His brothers would never let a potential rival live peacefully. These assassins were surely sent by one of them.
Jing Hongchen blinked, then frowned. "For you? You may be a prince, but you have no power base. Who would—"
He stopped mid-sentence, realization dawning. His expression turned grave.
"My brothers are anything but harmless," Wei Xuan said coldly, his eyes glinting.
He was not one to suffer quietly. If someone dared to send killers after him, he would not hesitate to return the favor.
"What audacity," Jing Hongchen growled. "Once we capture them, I'll see to it that we learn who sent them — and when we do, even if he's a prince, I'll see him ruined."