Chapter 403 - 402: Deep into the Arctic, a Unique Paradise

Normally,

Whether it be spiritual beasts or demon beasts, even common beasts would not carelessly eat anything unfamiliar unless they were starved to the point of life and death.

This is a beast’s innate survival instinct.

In a natural world filled with unknown dangers, being rash is not a virtue; caution is the key to survival.

Because once they get a stomachache or poisoned, what likely awaits them is death.

Ya’er dares to eat anything she catches.

And she eats a lot...

Truly a peculiar valor!

Watching Ya’er, who looked a bit shy, Li Jing and the other two sincerely admired her.

Through her, the three discovered Ya’er’s uniqueness and a key detail.

She lived and grew up in the Northern Polar Region.

She should be familiar with most things in this Earth Realm.

Following her instincts, she could find or even taste many unfamiliar things, even substances that could enable spiritual beasts to shapeshift.

Without a doubt, Ya’er has a talent for "foraging".

At the same time,

There might have been some changes in the Northern Polar Region.

The environment here is harsh, and lurking ghostly evil beasts.

The native living beings must constantly guard against the attacks of ghostly evil beasts to survive, and occasionally, human adventurers would arrive to hunt these ghostly evil beasts.

Due to these influencing factors,

without going deep, Li Jing and the others could also understand that this place would produce some valuable spiritual objects.

The more dangerous, the more human-beings avoid the place, the easier it is for precious spiritual objects to emerge.

This is a universal truth.

However, under fixed conditions, the output is also relatively fixed.

Perhaps, sometimes some unique spiritual objects unfamiliar to native beings of the Polar Region would appear, but to say many would emerge at once, that is entirely impossible.

Unless there were some special circumstances, such as significant changes in the environment and other conditions.

The east of the Northern Polar Region is worth visiting.

After exchanging a glance, Jiang Yini whispered,

"Where should we go next?"

Upon hearing her words, Liu Sisi turned her head, looking to Li Jing for a decision.

After some consideration, Li Jing looked at Ya’er, saying,

"Ya’er, do you want to go back and see your tribe?"

Upon hearing this, Ya’er quickly shook her head.

"I don’t want to."

?

Li Jing frowned.

He didn’t expect Ya’er to be so adverse to returning to her tribe.

Li Jing asked this because he thought the little guy might miss home and planned to go west first.

Both Liu Sisi and Jiang Yini were also slightly puzzled by Ya’er’s reaction.

Seeing the three had curious looks, Ya’er pouted.

"There’s only a little to eat in the tribe, not enough to share, and the current cat king doesn’t like Ya’er. Otherwise, Ya’er wouldn’t need to forage alone."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing and the others were all half in doubt.

This was not because they didn’t want to believe Ya’er.

It’s just that she was clearly a gluttonous little cat and probably sneaked out because of her cravings.

As for the cat king disliking her and such, it would have no impact on her life in the tribe.

Why were Li Jing and the others under this impression?

The reason is simple.

Ya’er is a small female cat.

For communal beasts, aversion to males is common.

Especially in some tribes where only the "king" has mating rights.

Even in tribes that advocate "freedom of love", having fewer males equals fewer competitors.

On the contrary,

Whatever the type of tribe, the presence of females would never be resisted.

Because an additional female means the future possibility of an additional harem, contributing to the possibility of lineage continuation.

However, now that Ya’er was reluctant to go back, Li Jing and the others certainly didn’t insist on going to see.

Without much thought, Li Jing said,

"Alright, then we’ll head west."

With that, he smiled at the corner of his mouth.

"Ya’er, lead the way for us. Take us to the place where you were foraging before you were captured."

Although Ya’er is somewhat scared of Li Jing, she’s very obedient and nodded in agreement.

Having received a response, Li Jing smiled.

"You seem to be good at discovering danger and spiritual objects. If you find anything along the way, remember to tell us immediately."

"Okay,"

Ya’er agreed.

.....

Having decided their course, the four of them set off immediately.

Because it was a four-person journey, Li Jing once again displayed his own special skill, using Spirit Soldier Break to create a Spirit Soldier house for them to travel by Sky Control.

As it is now,

his Spirit Soldier house had gotten a lot more stable and did not simply collapse or explode.

On the other hand,

if it did explode, the explosion would be far more devastating.

However, that’s a small issue.

When it’s about to explode, they just need to switch to a new one.

Compared to the past, Li Jing, who had already stepped into the Seventh Realm, had an entirely new understanding and control over his magic skills, allowing him to easily grasp when the house created by Spirit Soldier Break was on the verge of collapse.

For the sake of exploration, Li Jing commanded the house to move at a relatively slow pace.

The task of observing the surroundings was assigned to the two women and the small cat.

As for Li Jing, he started to refine the Immortal sniper artifact that Jiang Yini had asked him to craft in advance.

Li Jing was known for keeping his promises.

If he agreed to do something, he’ll definitely do it.

At this moment in the Northern Polar Region, he didn’t need to worry about attracting unnecessary attention by cultivating a lot of Thunder Element Spirit Energy.

In fact, he deliberately made quite a ruckus.

His goal was simple: to attract as many Ghostly Evil Beasts as possible.

He couldn’t bother looking for Ghostly Evil Beasts that were hidden beneath the snow and ice.

Killing one or two wasn’t all that interesting.

If he could stir up enough noise to attract a group of them, he would be more than happy.

What disappointed Li Jing was...

After nearly two hours of traveling, the journey was unnervingly quiet, with no sign of any Ghostly Evil Beasts popping up.

However, his Artifact Refinement was going smoothly.

According to the blueprint provided by Jiang Yini.

In just two short hours, Li Jing had crafted most of the components required for assembly.

Despite numerous failures and substandard components, his Heaven’s Creation Skill for Artifact Refinement was incredibly efficient.

Jiang Yini watched in awe as Li Jing’s refining process was accompanied by flashes of lightning and roars of thunder, turning the sky of the Northern Polar Region completely dark.

An Artifact Refinement Skill that could cause such phenomena was something she had never seen before.

She had never heard of an Artifact Refinement Skill that could produce artifacts so quickly and casually.

But, when something incredible happened to Li Jing, she was no longer surprised.

Seeing that Li Jing had begun to refine the things she needed, she simply gave him the spare Spiritual materials she had "purchased" from Tuo Divine Country, in case he ran out of materials.

The journey continued in silence.

After nearly another hour.

With her usual high alertness, Ya’er suddenly spoke up,

"Dad, we’re almost there."

Li Jing, who had just crafted a component that didn’t meet the requirements and was about to put it in his Little Universe as a piece of trash, was slightly stunned at her words and exclaimed,

"Are we there already?"

In response to his question, Ya’er said,

"Although the polar region occasionally sees humans hunting Ghostly Evil Beasts, they never dare to venture deep into it. We Golden-eyed Cats are the same. Unless we are on the brink of starvation, we would never go into the deep parts of the polar region either."

Hearing this, Liu Sisi’s eyes fluttered and asked curiously,

"So, what’s in the deep part of the polar region that the Golden-eyed Cats living here dare not venture into rashly?"

"Lots and lots of Ghostly Evil Beasts," Ya’er replied.

Li Jing’s eyes lit up at these words.

He could not ignore the mention of a large number of notorious beasts.

Looking at Ya’er, Li Jing was elated.

"You girl, why didn’t you mention such an important thing sooner?"

Seeing this, Ya’er whimpered and shrunk into Jiang Yini’s arms, who had been holding her as a warm teddy bear all the way, and mumbled in a aggrieved tone,

"Dad, you didn’t ask, did you?"

Before she could finish, Jiang Yini clicked her tongue and shot back,

"Is this such a big deal? Why are you being so mean to a child?"

Liu Sisi also frowned and chimed in,

"Ya’er is still young, and she hasn’t been in human form for long, so her mentality isn’t fully mature."

Seeing the two women arguing in defense of each other, Li Jing opened his mouth in mute silence, feeling unjustified.

By the heavens, when did he ever get mean?

He was clearly excited!

Looking at the two women acting like protective calves, Li Jing knew it was pointless to continue the topic and said,

"First, we’ll go to the place where Ya’er was captured by the Da Xia people to take a look, and then find a place to take a temporary rest. It’s getting dark. We’ll spend the night here. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll go alone to explore the deep part of the polar region and come back for you guys after getting a rough idea of the situation."

Li Jing had always been known for his "adventurous spirit", which Jiang Yini and Liu Sisi were both aware of.

At the same time, the two women also understood that it would be inappropriate for them to accompany him into the deep part of the polar region.

However, Jiang Yini had a different opinion on Li Jing’s proposal,

"I have no objections to you going alone to explore the deep part of the polar region, but Sisi and I can’t just sit around doing nothing."

After saying this, Jiang Yini added,

"We’re here with you to find opportunities to break through our current realm, and we need to be challenged. It’s not right to always be under your protection. If you’re not here and we do nothing, it defeats the purpose of coming to this Secret Realm."

Out on this trip, Liu Sisi had always been obedient.

Whatever Li Jing said, she backed.

Originally, she didn’t express any opinions.

But after hearing what Jiang Yini said, she felt that it made a lot of sense and added,

"Yini’s right, we can’t always rely on your protection. When you’re not here, we need to have something to do."

Seeing the two women speak up, Li Jing didn’t object.

He respected their opinions.

Moreover, Jiang Yini was not wrong.

If they were always under his protection, then the two women wouldn’t gain anything from this journey.

After a brief thought, Li Jing looked up and said,

"Alright, when I leave for the polar region, you two can explore the surroundings of the spot we decide to stay at. The area around the location where Ya’er found the Spirit Fruit that allowed her to transform is bound to be extraordinary. There might be other hidden treasures, as well as factors that make it slightly different from the overall environment of the polar region. You should try to figure it out."

"Deal."

Jiang Yini nodded in approval.

Liu Sisi also nodded and added,

"We both have Talismans you crafted which will undoubtedly give us an edge against Ghostly Evil Beasts. But you going into the deep part of the polar region poses many uncertainties. You should take Ya’er with you during this trip. She’s familiar with the environment, and she can help you a lot."

Without waiting for Li Jing’s response, Jiang Yini reluctantly said while holding Ya’er,

"Sisi is right about this. We can take care of ourselves, but it’s not certain if we can do the same with Ya’er. When it comes to taking care of a child, it’s best left to you."

After hearing the two women’s words, Li Jing sensed a valid point and looked at Ya’er, who was looking at him timidly. He chuckled helplessly and said,

"I’m okay with what you two suggested. But Ya’er’s opinion of me..."

"What about it?"

Liu Sisi smiled and said,

"Ya’er doesn’t dislike you. She’s just a little scared. This is a good opportunity for you two to bond."

As she spoke, she turned her gaze to Ya’er,

"Ya’er, you should have no problem going with dad, right?"

Hesitant at first, Ya’er nodded to Li Jing, retracting her gaze to look at Liu Sisi.

Seeing her nod, Li Jing remained silent.

They walked a little further.

Under Ya’er guidance, Li Jing maneuvered the Spirit Soldier house to land at the base of a snow-covered mountain.

Upon landing, Jiang Yini spoke up.

"Ya’er, is this where you were caught?"

"Umhmm."

In response, Ya’er, with her plump little hand, pointed towards the higher slopes of the snow mountain.

"There’s more tasty things on the mountain. Ya’er was caught by human cultivators before I had the chance to climb the mountain."

Upon hearing this, all three of them were taken aback.

There are still a lot of tasty things on the mountain...

In other words, there must be good things on the mountain that Ya’er couldn’t eat in time.

Without much thought, Li Jing said.

"Let’s go up the mountain and take a look."

"Sure."

Liu Sisi nodded.

Jiang Yini reluctantly put Ya’er down, who had been keeping her warm the whole way, and ruffled her small head.

"Ya’er, lead the way quickly. Let’s go up the mountain to find delicious things."

The phrase "delicious things" seemed to flip a switch in Ya’er.

The little girl nodded quickly, transformed into her more familiar Spiritual Cat form, and with her short legs barely visible under her fluffy fur, she darted up the mountain with a "swoosh".

The speed at which she moved impressed all three of them.

Indeed, good food was the driving force for foodies.

Seeing the pristine snowball-like Ya’er blending perfectly with the snow, leaving behind a long trail of adorable paw prints as she went straight up the mountain, Li Jing and the others did not hesitate to chase after her by using the Sky Control skill.

Although Ya’er ran instead of using the Sky Control, the speed of the little guy running through the snow was not slower than an ordinary Four Realm practitioner using Sky Control.

Following Ya’er, the three of them quickly reached the middle part of the mountain.

At the middle range of the mountain, Ya’er stopped.

Li Jing, Jiang Yini, and Liu Sisi also halted in mid-air.

Seeing Ya’er stop on the side of the mountain, sniffing about with her golden pupils contracting and expanding constantly, and spiritual Qi seeping out from her body, the three of them kept silent.

Obviously, Ya’er was using some talent of the Golden-eyed Cat to locate spiritual objects rather than simply searching for food like ordinary wild beasts.

In no time, Ya’er’s spiritual Qi receded. She started climbing up a little with her paws. When she got close to some rocks hidden in the snow, she took a sniff.

Then, to their delight, she turned back.

"Dad, Mom! Godmother! There is delicious food here!"

These three calls made Li Jing frown.

"Dad, Mom."

And then...

"Godmother?"

Feeling awkward, Li Jing twisted his head to look at Jiang Yini. Just when he was about to remark on this, Ya’er suddenly started scratching at the snow with her two paws at an incredible speed, leaving numerous afterimages.

Jiang Yini and Liu Sisi found this little creature adorable, but were surprised at the speed of her claws.

Before they could express their amazement, Ya’er dive into the hole she dug.

Seeing this, the three of them landed.

They had barely settled down when Ya’er popped her head out of the hole, a green Spirit Fruit dangling from her mouth. She dropped it and dove back into the hole.

Seeing that Ya’er had left to retrieve more fruits without saying a word, the three of them chuckled and turned their attention to the Spirit Fruit.

While Li Jing and Jiang Yini didn’t notice anything unusual, Liu Sisi expressed surprise.

"This Spirit Fruit seems to be the Heart-quenching Fruit that can transform Spiritual Beasts into human form after eating it."

The two turned their heads in unison, and Jiang Yini asked.

"Sisi, you recognize this Spirit Fruit?"

"Yes."

Liu Sisi responded, saying.

"Not that I recognize it, it’s just familiar. Yuran wanted to turn Stinky Tofu into a human form and had looked up what could help Spiritual Beasts transform on the internet. But, because the items were too expensive and she thought changing Stinky Tofu’s form might not live up to her expectation, she didn’t make a purchase. I was with her at the time and saw this Heart-quenching Fruit, which was the most expensive but also the most effective."

While speaking, her story goes on.

"The Spirit Beast would forcibly transform after consuming the Heart-quenching Fruit, and their form would be controlled to appear under ten years old. Since the fruit targets a wide audience and can let almost impossible-to-transform Spiritual Beasts complete their transformation, the Heart-quenching Fruit sells for about 500 million yuan a piece. This was before Spirit Crystal Bank was introduced, now it should be around 50,000 spirit crystals."

"That expensive?"

Jiang Yini widened her eyes.

Li Jing was also somewhat surprised.

Fruits rushing towards the value of 50,000 spirit crystals are quite common.

The value of Spirit Fruits mainly depends on the effect.

Not to mention 50,000 spirit crystals.

If the effect is good, there are Spirit Fruits worth 500,000 spirit crystals.

But, the use of Heart-quenching Fruit is to induce transformation in the Spiritual Beasts.

This effect is meaningless to people who don’t raise Spiritual Beasts or don’t want their Spiritual Beasts to transform.

The selling point is that the form will be controlled to appear under ten years old.

After all, people in the current world are demanding more and more strict standards.

In the corresponding group of people, the market for the Heart-quenching Fruit is large.

But it’s also limited to the corresponding group of people who need it.

If it is a known Spirit Fruit in this world, regardless of whether it was produced in the Secret Realm or originally existed in this world, there will definitely be plenty of them on the market.

Yet it sells for 50,000 spirit crystals?

Just as the two of them were amazed, Liu Sisi said.

"The Heart-quenching Fruit is produced in the Secret Realm, but it has been successfully cultivated in this world. We, Longyu, have Spirit Pet merchants who cultivate Heart-quenching Fruit, however, the yield of these fruits is relatively low."

Having said this, she seemed puzzled.

"According to what I saw when I was with Yuran, the growing conditions for this Heart-quenching Fruit are extremely harsh. Firstly, it needs to be in an environment where spiritual Qi is abundant, and it has to be in a greenhouse at over 40 degrees, otherwise it can’t bloom or bear fruit."

Li Jing was slightly stunned upon hearing her words.

"Over 40 degrees? Not below zero 40 degrees?"

"Correct."

Liu Sisi nodded.

"Sisi, are you sure you didn’t recognize it wrongly?"

Jiang Yini made a sound.

"Tell the truth, I’m not sure either. I’ve only seen it in pictures."

Liu Sisi responded, bending over to pick up the fruit that Ya’er had dragged out to look at, and said,

"But from the looks of it, it should be right. This is undoubtedly the Heart-quenching Fruit."

"This..."

Jiang Yini’s expression changed and she said,

"So, you mean, the Heart-quenching Fruit shouldn’t be produced in a place like the Northern Polar Region at all, not to mention this fruit is buried under the snow, could it be a mutated Spirit Fruit?"

"That could be."

Li Jing entered the conversation and went on,

"But it’s also possible that there’s a separate realm within the snow accumulation on this mountainside."

"A separate realm?"

Jiang Yini was puzzled.

While the three of them were talking, Ya’er poked her head out again from the hole with another Spirit Fruit in her mouth.

Seeing the little one about to go back into the hole without saying anything, Li Jing, with quick reflexes, grabbed her by the top of her head and pulled her out.

???

Ya’er, who was suddenly caught.

Being held by Li Jing, she dared not move, but weakly called out.

"Daddy?"

"You’ve been busy finding good things to eat."

Li Jing smiled and asked,

"Ya’er, tell me, is there a separate realm behind the snow on this mountainside? A place with a much different climate than the polar region and that’s suitable for living in?"

"Yes, there is."

Ya’er nodded and explained,

"It’s quite warm inside, a forest."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing raised an eyebrow.

Liu Sisi and Jiang Yini looked surprised.

A forest hidden inside a mountainside of the snowy mountain?

This is not as simple as a separate realm...

There can be oases in a desert.

As long as there is enough water.

But an environment like a forest can’t exist in the Northern Polar Region.

What the two women thought of, Li Jing had also realized. He turned to look at them,

"Sisi, Yini, you two Sky Control and back off a little."

They nodded at his words and moved back in tandem using Sky Control.

Seeing this, Li Jing casually put Ya’er on his head and told her,

"Lie down and stay still, hold on tight."

Ya’er was afraid of Li Jing, but she was also very obedient.

Upon hearing his command, she immediately lay down, using her little paws to grab his hair and secure herself.

Li Jing didn’t mind having his hair grabbed. He raised his foot and stomped it down with full force.

This stomp, he used all his strength.

Just how terrifying was the impact brought by Li Jing’s full-force stomp, with his physical strength that could squash a Seventh Realm Monster?

"Boom!"

There was a loud noise.

The entire snowy mountain shook three times.

The mountain where Li Jing had stepped instantly collapsed.

The accumulated snow on the high mountain slid down in large pieces.

The landslide and avalanche occurred simultaneously.

Li Jing, who caused all this, immediately took out a Spirit Soldier, holding Ya’er and using Sky Control to rise into the air.

The mountain landslide and avalanche were nothing for him to fear.

But, there was nowhere to land below.

The massive landslide and avalanche, like a natural disaster, arrived quickly and left quickly.

In just a short while.

The broken pieces of mountain and heavy snow had fallen to the foot of the mountain.

The whole snowy mountain was shrouded in thick dust.

Li Jing and the others couldn’t see what was inside through the dust, but during the landslide and avalanche, they clearly saw some of the falling rocks and snow disappearing when they reached the spot where they had been standing, as if swallowed up by something.

Dumbstruck by this scene, Liu Sisi asked in disbelief,

"Hubby, what is this...."

Before Li Jing could say anything, Jiang Yini’s eyebrows danced,

"If everything goes as expected, it should be a realm within a realm. The rocks and snow that disappeared earlier must have fallen into a spatial passage, leading to another space."

"Most likely."

Li Jing confirmed.

Just as he was about to take a closer look, a chilling howl suddenly echoed from the polar region behind him.

The three of them froze at the sound, simultaneously turning their heads.

The sky in the distance was a patch of gray darkness.

Those were obviously unnatural dark clouds, rapidly rolling in from all directions, with something lurking within them.

"Dad, those are Ghostly Evil Beasts!"

Ya’er, lying on top of Li Jing’s head, quickly warned.

"The entire sky has changed; there must be a lot of them, and they’re powerful!"

Li Jing couldn’t be happier upon hearing this.

He didn’t care about whether they were strong or not.

Even the strongest Yin spirits could be overpowered by Yang Thunder.

The key was their numbers.

The unusually calm journey so far had almost made him restless. Now that the Ghostly Evil Beasts had finally been lured out, he was relieved.

Without any hesitation, he lifted Ya’er off his head, passed her to Liu Sisi and reassured her before leaving,

"Don’t be scared, I’m here."

As he spoke, he gave Liu Sisi a look to take care of Ya’er, then his figure turned into a lightning bolt and flew straight towards the incoming dark cloud.