“Miss Hua Jian, you seem to be in a good mood?”
“Oh? Is it that obvious?”
The conversation between Hua Xinrui and Hua Jian caused Xia Jing, who was cultivating nearby, to open her eyes slightly.
After taking a closer look, Xia Jing reached the same conclusion as Hua Xinrui.
“She really is happy.”
Although Hua Jian had been relatively relaxed the past two days, the corners of her mouth hadn’t lifted as much as today.
The only explanation was that she was genuinely happy now.
Thinking about what Hua Jian had done today, Xia Jing felt her happiness was justified.
After being separated from a close friend for so long, how could Hua Jian not be happy when they reunited?
“Then let’s just say I’m happy. What about you two? Any gains today?”
Hua Jian had accompanied Qian Feixu to visit Linglong, while her two little followers were assigned other tasks—to scout out the various situations in Frozen Winter City.
Now was also the time for her to gather the spoils of her own sweep.
“We took a lap around the outer city. Nothing unusual found in Frozen Winter City for now. It’s been calm lately,” Hua Xinrui said.
There was no sign of an impending storm.
Though traces of the Magic Path could be found, they were all minor skirmishes.
Even the Red Flower Building knew about their existence.
“The Magic Path members in the city are just spies, only responsible for gathering intelligence. No big fish.”
Their identities had been fully uncovered by Wanhuagu, but Wanhuagu hadn’t handed them over to the Qian Family.
Even if they were partners, there was no need to spill everything they knew, right?
“So, what have they been up to lately?”
“Investigating information about that Secret Realm. Tianmomen is very interested in the newly appeared Secret Realm. Their agents in the city have been probing for its location and details through various means.”
This made sense.
After all, the Qian Family had discovered the Secret Realm and called in Wanhuagu and Yaochi to mine it together.
If the Qian Family had already scouted it themselves, why would they let two other factions join in and share the spoils?
Especially Yaochi—they had come all the way from the Central Continent, with even Saintess Linglong leading the team personally.
It showed how much they valued this Secret Realm.
With all these factors combined, Tianmomen wouldn’t believe the Secret Realm didn’t hold something valuable.
“So, what exactly is inside that Secret Realm?” Hua Jian looked at Hua Xinrui.
Hua Xinrui spread her hands.
She really didn’t know the answer to that question.
She was currently under Hua Jian’s command and didn’t know much about other matters within Wanhuagu.
Something like the Secret Realm was even less likely for her to know.
After all, theoretically, Wanhuagu itself couldn’t know what was inside the Secret Realm yet.
Their support team had only arrived two days ago and should be just entering the Secret Realm for exploration.
They probably hadn’t uncovered anything yet.
“I don’t know. If Miss Hua Jian cares, I could try asking that manager. She might know a little.”
That was the only option Hua Xinrui had.
In all of Frozen Winter City, there were far too few people she could ask.
All the Wanhuagu cultivators who were supposed to explore the Secret Realm were not in the city, so she could only try the manager in the building.
But in the end, this method proved ineffective.
The manager knew nothing when asked.
All she knew was that the Qian Family had been making big moves lately.
Beyond that, she was clueless.
By the time Hua Xinrui asked the manager, it was already the next morning.
After getting the disappointing answer, she followed Hua Jian out of the Red Flower Building.
Along the way, she relayed the information she had gathered while wondering where Hua Jian was taking them.
Hua Jian’s answer completely caught her off guard.
“To the Lidong Moat. Fishing.”
Hua Jian pointed at her new fluffy clothes and said cheerfully.
Fishing?
Was it really just fishing?
Were they fishing for normal fish?
Hua Xinrui was a bit suspicious.
She felt Hua Jian might be speaking in code.
But Hua Jian really meant simple fishing.
The matter of the Secret Realm had no leads.
It seemed Wanhuagu didn’t intend for her to be involved.
Plus, she couldn’t actively go play with Linglong, and Qian Feixu was probably being punished at the Qian residence.
So, she had nothing to do, right?
Since that was the case, why not try the winter fishing that Qian Feixu had enthusiastically recommended as a unique activity in Frozen Winter City?
Hua Jian was in a purely touristy mood.
If she had nothing to do, she’d find something to do.
When leaving the city, the guard at the gate asked where she was going.
Upon learning she was going to fish on the moat, the guard couldn’t help but give her a thumbs-up.
“Miss has the guts to go out in this terrible weather. Impressive.”
Hua Jian didn’t understand why the guard said that until she left the City Protection Array of Frozen Winter City and was slapped in the face by a biting wind as sharp as a knife.
The City Protection Array was bounded by the city wall.
Inside and outside the city were two completely different worlds.
Though there were temporary cold-proof arrays set up outside the wall, they were far too weak against the deadly weather of the northern border.
If Frozen Winter City was a relatively ordinary snowy landscape—more beautiful than cold—then outside the city was pure cold.
The wind howled.
The snow flew like knives.
Cultivators with slightly weaker strength would freeze into hard popsicles by the roadside after standing outside for long.
The fluffy clothes Hua Jian wore were prepared by Linglong, but they seemed too delicate against the northern wind.
Looking at the cultivators waiting in line to enter the city for inspection, some used Spiritual Power to keep warm, while others wrapped themselves in large animal hides as thick cotton coats.
All of them looked more suited to life in the northern border than Hua Jian.
Among these cultivators, merchants made up the majority.
It made sense—in such awful weather, only these people would leave the city and travel around.
Hua Jian even saw a cultivator pull a huge frozen spirit beast from their Storage Pouch, claiming they were selling it to a restaurant in the city.
Out of curiosity, she walked over and knocked on the frozen beast.
It was very solid—hard as stone.
“Little sister, don’t touch it randomly. We’re doing a security check,” the guard team circling the beast said helplessly to Hua Jian.
The advantage of good looks showed here.
If Hua Jian weren’t so cute, she might have been scolded instead of kindly advised.
“Sorry~”
Hua Jian clasped her hands together, flashing an adorable smile, and admitted her mistake very honestly.
Seeing that smile, the displeased cultivators and guards suddenly felt better and directly overlooked Hua Jian’s small fault.
Such was the sorceress’s method of manipulating hearts—terrifying and impossible to guard against.
After bluffing her way through with Wanhuagu’s methods, Hua Jian obediently went to the Lidong Moat to start drilling a hole and fishing.
On the frozen river, there were quite a few cultivators with the same idea as her.
Some were even led onto the ice by local guides.
The tourism industry in this world was surprisingly developed.
After all, these cultivators were like human airplanes—they could cross mountains and rivers by channeling Spirit Energy.
Frozen Winter City, the most famous city in the northern border, was naturally the top choice for cultivators curious about the north.
“The ice is pretty thick…”
Hua Jian placed her hand on the ice and began drilling a hole.
A vine grew from her palm, piercing into the ice and extending straight downward.
After going about four or five stories deep, her vine finally touched the water beneath the ice.
“You two, move aside. I’m pulling the ice out.”
Warning Xia Qin and Hua Xinrui to get out of the way, Hua Jian exerted force and yanked the large ice pillar, which she had cut and secured with her vines, straight out of the lake.
The commotion startled nearby cultivators.
A pillar of ice several dozen meters high, and a young girl like Hua Jian just casually pulled it out?
Looking at the vines wrapped around the pillar and its rough surface, Hua Jian had even used pure brute force to rip it from the entire lake.
Usually, cultivators used small tricks to drill holes—like burning with fire or using Water Element Spiritual Power to shatter the ice.
But Hua Jian, a Wood Element cultivator, using such a crude method to drill a hole, truly shook these cultivators’ worldview.
“What are you staring at? Train hard and you’ll have that much strength too!”
Hua Jian didn’t feel she had done anything wrong and glared back confidently.
You Ling Shi cultivators—you couldn’t do it, but that didn’t mean she, a Ling Wang, couldn’t.
As Hua Jian released her Ling Wang realm aura, the cultivators immediately withdrew their disrespectful gazes.
Ah, a Ling Wang expert—no wonder.
After that minor incident, Hua Jian followed the method Qian Feixu had taught her yesterday to set a net and start fishing.
But as she worked, she felt the method was far too inefficient.
Even though it was fishing, she could think outside the box a little.
For example, why not use her own vines?
With that idea, she dropped the inefficient fishing net and extended a vine from her hand like a fishing rod.
Then, a translucent thread hung down from the vine, sinking into the water.
Beneath the surface, where no one could see, the thread revealed its fangs.
It didn’t wait passively for fish to bite.
Instead, it actively hunted prey, piercing into their bodies and anchoring itself with barbs.
That way, Hua Jian could easily pull the “caught” fish to shore.
The moat did contain spirit beast fish of decent strength, but at most, they were at the Ling Shi realm.
Facing Hua Jian’s attack, these spirit fish had no resistance and could only surrender.
At first, the other cultivators on the ice were amazed by Hua Jian’s cheat-like fishing speed.
But as she caught more and more fish, they became completely numb.
When Hua Jian pulled a nearly ten-meter-long Ling Shi realm spirit fish out of the water, their expressions were as calm as a meditating old monk.
They were used to it.
It was normal for a great expert to have that kind of speed.
Nothing to envy.
Slamming the big fish, whose head had been pierced by the thread, onto the ice, Hua Jian looked at the day’s haul and nodded with satisfaction.
It took a bit of time catching them one by one, but she was just here for fun, not to drain the river.
“That’s enough. Let’s take these fish back…”
Hua Jian said as she looked toward the city gate.
Just then, a somewhat familiar figure in the distance caught her eye.
Strange.
The black-haired girl standing nearby, carrying herself like a wealthy young lady, looked oddly familiar.
After a few seconds, she recalled it.
Wasn’t this the Tianmomen Ling Wang she had met in that Saint Sect’s Secret Realm?
The one called Youye, maybe?
“Xinrui, keep an eye on her.”
Hua Jian lightly patted Hua Xinrui’s shoulder, pointed at the black-haired girl, and whispered.
Hua Xinrui, who was pondering how to handle Hua Jian’s catch, snapped to attention and looked toward the black-haired girl.
“Mm!”
She didn’t ask why.
If it was important, Hua Jian would tell her.
Since she didn’t say now, it meant it wasn’t yet time for her to know the truth.
“Xia Hui, we’re heading back.”
“Okay!”
…
Hua Jian didn’t know much about Youye.
They had only met once in that Secret Realm nearly five years ago, when Youye had mistaken her for a Wanhuagu cultivator.
Now, in Youye’s eyes, it probably wasn’t a mistake.
Hua Jian’s portrait was everywhere, so Youye must have seen it.
At most, she might be surprised by Hua Jian’s identity, but nothing else.
Thinking about it, maybe she could connect that Secret Realm to the Ascension Gathering and sigh that Wanhuagu was truly cunning, having planted such a long-term secret agent.
Youye appearing in Frozen Winter City now couldn’t be just for tourism.
Walking back to the Red Flower Building, Hua Jian muttered to herself.
“That girl must have a high status in Tianmomen. Back then, to rescue her, Tianmomen sent a Venerable.”
“If she were just an object, they could have left her in the Secret Realm. Why take the risk to retrieve her?”
Now Youye had shown up hidden in Frozen Winter City.
Anyone would suspect Tianmomen was up to something behind the scenes.
“Miss Hua Jian, should we tell the Qian Family about this?”
“Of course. Not just the Qian Family—I’ll tell Linglong too. I don’t believe they won’t care about this.”
Hua Jian snorted, indicating she wasn’t the type to hoard intelligence.