193: Journey to the North

The turmoil in the South Sea subsided with the collapse of the temple.

The Sea Clan Elder, leading the survivors, bowed deeply in the direction Li Dong had departed.

"Benefactor, this is the 'Deep Sea Cold Marrow' our clan has accumulated over ten thousand years; perhaps it will be of some help to your Dao."

Li Dong didn't even look back, merely waving his hand.

"No need, keep it to rebuild your home. That bit of divinity essence will be enough for you to digest for a while."

Despite his words, a jade box radiating bone-chilling cold, which had been forcibly shoved into his hand, remained with him.

The Sea Clan Elder watched the black shadow disappear into the horizon, complex emotions swirling in his murky, aged eyes.

This "benefactor" had never asked for their names from start to finish, nor had he made any demands, as if he were just passing through his own backyard and had casually pulled out an unsightly weed.

"Elder, he..."

"Remember, what we owe him is not a favor, but our lives." The Elder interrupted the young clansman, "Pass on my order: seal off this sea area. For the next hundred years, no one is to mention today's events."

Li Dong headed north all the way.

Crossing rolling mountain ranges and traversing vast plains, the moist and gentle water vapor in the air gradually vanished, replaced by dryness and harshness.

When the first snowflake landed on his shoulder, he knew he had arrived in the Northern Territory.

This place was completely different from Qingzhou and the South Sea.

The world was vast and boundless, and everything that met his eyes was endless white.

It was sparsely populated with few towns, and even the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth carried a cold, fragile texture that felt as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

On the "Hunting Ground Map" within his Sea of Consciousness, the light spot representing the South Sea had completely extinguished, while the light spot located in the Far North was now unprecedentedly active, like a frantically flickering cold star, emitting an energy fluctuation that made even his Perfect Dao Body feel curious.

It was a power mixed with divinity and the Law of extreme cold, purer and even more... dangerous than the chaotic ocean power of the South Sea.

"Interesting, a new flavor."

Li Dong muttered to himself, his figure flickering a few times in the wind and snow, and he was already deep within the Northern Territory.

He soon discovered something unusual.

The God Lord forces here did not build flesh-and-blood altars like in Qingzhou, nor did they construct bone temples like in the South Sea.

They seemed to treat the entire harsh environment of the Northern Territory as their own divine kingdom.

Deep below a bottomless natural glacial rift, Li Dong sensed the core of the spiritual anchor point.

It was a temple of ice and snow.

It was not carved by human hands, but a bizarre creation spawned by Divine Power, fused with ten-thousand-year black ice.

Countless runes made of ice crystals flowed along the inner and outer walls of the temple, drawing cold air from deep within the earth's veins, converting it into freezing Divine Power marked by the God Lord, and then spreading it throughout the Northern Territory.

Around the rift, some strange "people" were wandering.

Their skin was a bloodless pale, dim blue flames burned in their eye sockets, and the breath they exhaled instantly condensed into frost.

They were the fanatical believers of the Northern Territory, their bodies had undergone "ice-fication" mutations, and they moved silently, like ghosts in the snow.

A fanatical believer discovered a lost snow wolf; it merely extended its hand, and an ice cone shot from its palm, precisely piercing the snow wolf's skull.

Throughout the entire process, there was not a trace of emotional fluctuation.

Li Dong hid behind an ice cliff, his Spiritual Domain quietly expanding.

The strength of these ice-fied fanatical believers was generally stronger than their counterparts in Qingzhou and the South Sea, their movements were more agile, and the freezing effects attached to their attacks were extremely troublesome.

And in the deepest part of this ice and snow temple, a cold and powerful presence lay dormant.

It was a humanoid creature composed entirely of ice crystals, sitting quietly on the throne in the center of the temple, tightly connected to the entire spiritual anchor point.

He seemed to be the source of this endless wind and snow, and with every gesture, he seemed capable of manipulating the freezing Law of this world.

Nascent Soul Early Stage? No, the aura was even more condensed.

The Golden Core inside Li Dong's body began to vibrate restlessly, and the black mark on his forehead grew slightly hot.

His Perfect Dao Body developed an almost instinctive hunger for that unique, icy divinity.

It was like being used to eating seafood and suddenly smelling the aroma of grilled meat.

In his embrace, the "Deep Sea Cold Marrow" gifted by the Sea Clan also reacted, echoing from afar with the ice and snow temple.

The divinity core at his waist buzzed, and the golden runes on its surface began to deduce on their own, analyzing this brand-new power Law.

"Charging in directly, the chances of winning are slim."

Li Dong quickly calmed down.

This ice crystal agent was fused with the entire glacial rift; to act here was equivalent to being an enemy of the ice and snow Law of half the Northern Territory.

Just as he was preparing to withdraw first and seek another opportunity, the edge of his Spiritual Domain captured a different kind of aura.

In a sheltered mountain hollow far from the glacial rift, another small-scale conflict was taking place.

One side consisted of over a dozen ice-fied fanatical believers.

And the other side was a group of nomads wearing thick animal skins, their faces painted with strange oils.

They were fewer in number, only seven or eight people, but their fighting style was exceptionally fierce.

Leading them was a tall woman; she held no weapon, merely waving a staff made from the spine of a ferocious beast, chanting ancient and hoarse syllables.

With her chanting, the dead beast bones on the ground actually stood up one after another, turning into fearless skeleton soldiers, crazily tearing into the ice-fied fanatical believers.

Shaman faith?

Li Dong raised an eyebrow.

Unexpectedly, in this Northern Territory where the God Lord's forces almost completely dominated, there was still such a group of resilient "indigenous people" resisting.

Although they were at a disadvantage, that primitive power originating from their Bloodline and Soul had not been eroded by the God Lord's faith.

A young nomad's calf was pierced by an ice cone, and he fell to the ground.

Seeing another fanatical believer's ice blade about to chop off his head, a flash of determination crossed the eyes of the tall Female Shaman, as if she were preparing to cast some Spell of mutual destruction.

"Tsk, what a hassle."

Li Dong clicked his tongue.

The next second, his figure appeared in the center of the battlefield like a ghost.

He made no unnecessary movements, merely extending his right hand and gently clenching it towards the group of ice-fied fanatical believers.

Void Vortex.

In an instant, an invisible devouring force enveloped the entire field.

Those dozen or so fierce fanatical believers, along with the ice cones and ice blades they had released, were like beans thrown into a millstone; without even time to let out a scream, they were instantly decomposed, crushed, and transformed into the purest fragments of icy divinity, all of which sank into Li Dong's palm.

The wind and snow continued.

On the battlefield, only a pile of cold powder remained.

That group of nomads was completely dumbfounded.

The Female Shaman gripped her bone staff even tighter, looking warily at this suddenly appeared, thinly dressed "outsider."

Li Dong ignored them, merely opening his palm to feel that newly acquired, cold and delicious power, then put it into his mouth to taste it.

Hmm, mint flavor, crunchy.

He turned his head to look at the group of still-shaken nomads, revealing an expression he considered friendly.

"Shall we chat?"