“That’s right?” Jiang Mian clasped his hands together, looking at the empty snowy ground in front of him, and asked, “May I ask who you are?”
“You can call me Ice Empress.” A snowstorm tornado rose from the ground, and when the snowstorm dissipated, a beautiful woman with a cold, handsome face and a green dress appeared out of thin air. She carefully sized up Jiang Mian and the Emperor Ruishou beside him, and said indifferently, “Are you the Snow Empress’s nominal master?”
“That’s right.” Jiang Mian nodded and said, “Where is the Snow Empress now?”
“She was attracted by a spatial turbulence at the time, and when I went to investigate with her, I was accidentally sucked in,” the Ice Empress confessed, “At that time, the Snow Empress pushed me out and told me to wait for your arrival.”
“So that’s how it is.” Jiang Mian suddenly uncharacteristically asked, “You’re so honest with me, aren’t you afraid I’ll have ill intentions towards the Snow Empress?”
“I trust the person the Snow Empress acknowledges.” The Ice Empress pointed to the snowflake mark on Jiang Mian’s brow and said, “Since the Snow Empress is willing to leave a piece of her origin ice core with you, I can entrust my life to you.”
“Is the Snow Empress in danger?” Jiang Mian frowned slightly and asked in a low voice, “I didn’t bring many fierce beasts this time, do you need me to call more people over?”
“No need.” The Ice Empress shook her head and said, “This spatial turbulence is no small matter. The Snow Empress is not in danger for now, but we can’t figure out what that turbulence does, so it’s better not to call too many fierce beasts to help.”
“Alright.” Jiang Mian said, “Then please lead the way and show us where that spatial turbulence is.”
“If there is truly danger then, I will protect you with my life.” The Ice Empress said calmly, “This is my promise to the Snow Empress. I hope that in the future, you can lead her to a height that we Spirit Beasts can never reach in our entire lives.”
“Don’t worry, not only will the Snow Empress reach that height, but all of you will as well,” Jiang Mian guaranteed with a firm tone.
“Talk about it when you actually achieve it.” The Ice Empress clearly wasn’t falling for Jiang Mian’s grand promises. She said, “When I undergo my tribulation, just strike me with a few less bolts of lightning.”
“Definitely, definitely.” Jiang Mian laughed heartily, taking Ruishou with him to the spatial turbulence with the Ice Empress.
“There is indeed a strong spatial fluctuation. Could it be formed by the fall of an ancient Divinity in the past?” Jiang Mian stood on a mountaintop, looking at the constantly distorting environment in front of him, feeling a little surprised in his heart, “But why was it only discovered now?”
“This place only changed like this in the past few days; there were no changes before.” The Ice Empress explained, “The Snow Empress felt an anomaly and immediately invited me to investigate together. As a result, an inexplicable suction force tried to pull us in.”
“Seeing this thing, I’m also not sure.” Jiang Mian looked at the spatial turbulence, feeling a bit intimidated. He looked at Ruishou and said, “Nan Meng, can you try to contact Di Tian?”
“Di Tian and I have a connection, so it should be possible.” Nan Meng nodded and said, “I’ll try.”
“Good, do it quickly.” Jiang Mian frowned slightly. The reason he wanted Di Tian to come was that as a generation’s Beast God, Di Tian was powerful and knowledgeable, and he probably had some ways to deal with this spatial turbulence.
“Is this the Ruishou of the Star Dou Great Forest?” The Ice Empress looked at Nan Meng, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground calling Di Tian, and said with surprise, “No wonder I just felt my spirit power increase much faster than before.”
“Ruishou is closely related to Di Tian. Let’s wait for Di Tian to arrive before making any plans,” Jiang Mian said.
“Di Tian.” The Ice Empress frowned deeply. She didn’t have any issues with Di Tian. This Beast God and her Extreme North didn’t have much conflict, so the Ice Empress wouldn’t resist Di Tian.
If the Evil Eye Tyrant Master from Sun Moon Forest and Di Tian were to meet, the two of them wouldn’t be worthy of the titles of Di Tian and Evil Emperor if they didn’t fight to the death.
Of course, the Ice Empress felt that the Snow Empress would still help Di Tian beat up that Evil Emperor.
After all, both of them were from the Douluo Continent, and that Evil Emperor was from the Sun Moon Continent.
Just as Jiang Mian and the Ice Empress sat down to protect Nan Meng, the spatial turbulence behind them suddenly stirred. It opened without warning, and a surge of turbulence instantly erupted, sweeping over the three of them.
“Ah!” Jiang Mian was caught off guard, unable to even mobilize his spirit power to defend himself before being sucked in. “Ice Empress, you and Ruishou wait for Di Tian here. You must wait for Di Tian.”
“Brother Mian.” Ruishou suddenly opened her eyes. She flew up, wanting to follow Jiang Mian in. Fortunately, the Ice Empress was quick-witted and decisively hugged Ruishou, preventing her from being sucked into the spatial turbulence with Jiang Mian.
“The suction force has lessened?” The Ice Empress held Ruishou, releasing her spirit power to resist the suction. The first time they came, she and the Snow Empress combined their strength and still struggled to resist. How could she resist it by herself this time?
Could it be that the Snow Empress was Helping Hand her over there?
“What are you doing?!” Nan Meng watched helplessly as Jiang Mian disappeared. She immediately angrily rebuked, “Don’t you know Jiang Mian is the hope of the Spirit Beast Family? It’s bad enough you didn’t save him, but why wouldn’t you let me save him?!”
“Didn’t you hear what he just said?” The Ice Empress’s expression changed, and she said in a cold tone, “If you also follow him in, how will Di Tian be able to find this place?”
“Why couldn’t you pull him out?” Ruishou angrily demanded.
“This is his own plan!” The Ice Empress was clearly also somewhat angry. She said sternly, “Didn’t you see that he didn’t even resist?”
“What do you know!” Ruishou retorted angrily.
“You obediently wait here for Di Tian to arrive. This is his plan.” The Ice Empress said with a face full of indignation, “If you don’t listen and it causes both him and the Snow Empress to be unable to come out, I will make you pay with your life for the Snow Empress!”
“I want you to pay with your life for Jiang Mian right now!” Ruishou suddenly released her spirit power, and a sacred spirit power overwhelmingly pressed down on the Ice Empress.
“Want to fight?” The Ice Empress showed no mercy, also releasing her spirit power. Two energies capable of destroying heaven and earth clashed, as if the very World changed color because of them!
Ruishou was uniquely gifted, and her strength could not be judged by her age. Coupled with her attributes naturally restraining the Ice Empress, with this addition and subtraction, she actually had the momentum to suppress the Ice Empress.
However, the Ice Empress was in her own domain, surrounded by dense ice attributes, and with her 380,000 years of cultivation, the two Spirit Beasts were locked in an evenly matched struggle for a time.
If Jiang Mian saw these two guys fighting fiercely at the drop of a hat, completely disregarding saving himself and the Snow Empress, he would probably faint from anger on the spot.
“Ruishou, stop!” Di Tian’s voice rang in Ruishou’s ears. After she had contacted Di Tian earlier, Di Tian had been maintaining the connection. If not for that, he wouldn’t have sensed the conflict between Ruishou and the Ice Empress.
“You withdraw first.” Ruishou pouted and said, “If you withdraw your spirit power, I’ll withdraw mine.”
“You withdraw first, then I’ll withdraw.” How could the Ice Empress give in to Ruishou? She wasn’t some delicate queen.
Upon hearing this, Ruishou completely ignored Di Tian’s persuasion and released even more spirit power. The Ice Empress also refused to be outdone, and the two Spirit Beasts continued to bicker in the icy, snowy World.
Jiang Mian, inside the spatial turbulence, had no idea what was happening outside. He looked at the completely new environment in front of him, somewhat hesitant to move forward. But with no one beside him to protect him, he could only cautiously explore this space.
Moreover, ever since he entered, his connection with the Snow Empress had completely disappeared, as if there was some natural barrier in this space that directly severed his connection with the Snow Empress.
“There’s no mistake.” Jiang Mian felt the Divinity aura permeating the space. He immediately concluded that this must be an independent space formed after the fall of an ancient Divinity.
It was just that in the past few days, it had collided with this space on the Douluo Continent, and a gate leading into this space appeared in the Extreme North.
“My spirit power can still be used, but Xiong Jun and the others aren’t here, so it’s better to act cautiously.” Jiang Mian rubbed his brow, regretting a bit that he hadn’t brought Xiong Jun and the others along.
Originally, on this trip to the Extreme North, he had been thinking of spending some time alone with Ruishou to deepen their relationship, but he hadn’t expected to fall into his own trap.
Jiang Mian saw a village in the distance, so he thought of going into the village to inquire about news. After all, he was at least a Spirit King, and in terms of his raw strength, he wouldn’t be afraid even if he encountered a Spirit Douluo. Going to the village to inquire about news shouldn’t cause any accidents.
“Is this a bounty board?” Jiang Mian walked to the village entrance and found a large sign standing next to it, displaying various bounty notices.
“Search for Bone Spirit Flower, Bronze-level mission, reward three gold coins.”
“Kill the invading Cold Iron Raven, Silver-level mission, reward thirty gold coins.”
“Helping Hand Village Elder Wang find his lost dentures, No-level mission, reward one meal.”
“What level of Spirit Beast is this Cold Iron Raven that it can be worth so many gold coins?” Jiang Mian thought about the rewards given to Spirit Masters by the Spirit Hall. A Spirit Elder could receive one hundred gold coins a month, so this Cold Iron Raven was probably only at the Spirit Elder level.
Jiang Mian decisively decided to first go to the village to ask for information. What if this Cold Iron Raven was really exceptionally powerful, and he couldn’t complete the mission, thus causing an entire village to suffer.
“Elder, is this Cold Iron Raven powerful?” Jiang Mian saw an old man smoking a dry pipe by the village road, and he immediately went forward to ask.
“Cold what raven?” The old man narrowed his eyes and slowly exhaled a puff of dry smoke.
“Cold Iron Raven.”
“What raven?”
“Alright, you rest, elder.”
“Alright.”
Jiang Mian pursed his lips in annoyance, preparing to find another household to inquire about the situation. Just then, a gasp suddenly came from the entrance, followed by a burly young man holding the Cold Iron Raven bounty, walking in.
“Folks, I’m taking this bounty.” The young man was extremely large; Jiang Mian was about a head shorter than him.
“Friend, why are you cutting in?” Although Jiang Mian didn’t intend to accept the mission, he still pretended to be aggressive and questioned, “Don’t you know I was just about to accept this mission?”
“After killing the Cold Iron Raven, the reward is yours.” The young man was very generous. He wasn’t annoyed; instead, he said with a smile, “I just want to raise my rank.”
“Rank, what is that?” Jiang Mian was a bit confused. He immediately leaned close to the young man and whispered, “What is that?”
“Every Adventurer can take their bounty list to the Adventurers' Guild to raise their rank after completing a bounty mission.” The young man said, “The higher your rank, the more activities and status you can participate in.”
“Why does this sound so confusing to me?” Jiang Mian scratched his head and muttered, “After this Divinity fell, what exactly did his thoughts create in space?”
After every ancient Divinity fell, their physical bodies would perish, forming the kind of space Jiang Mian was currently in, and their spiritual thoughts would manifest all living things within this space.
Some Divinities might manifest vast territories of beautiful rivers and mountains, while others might only manifest a single mansion or a tavern; beyond these places, all you could see was chaos.
Therefore, this kind of God-Fallen Space was also called a Lesser World.
Apparently, the World created by this Divinity's thoughts was incredibly vast, even forming a complete system.
“Friend, I’ve decided you’re my friend,” Jiang Mian patted the big man’s shoulder and asked, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Kloss.” The big man smiled shyly, scratching his head. “When I kill the Frost Iron Raven, you can go to the villagers for the bounty.”
“I’m not doing it for money.” Jiang Mian shook his head, looking like someone devoted to public service. “I just can’t stand the hard lives of the people here and want to get rid of this menace for them.”
“Friend, you are so great.” Kloss’s eyes suddenly lit up. He looked at Jiang Mian with admiration and said, “Your Adventurers’ Guild rank must be very high.”
“Is a high rank very impressive?” Jiang Mian spoke nonsense with a straight face. “I just can’t stand those Adventurers who only pursue rank and don’t do practical things for the villagers. They are all extremely hypocritical. When we are Helping Hand the villagers, we should be single-minded and expect no reward!”
Damn, he clearly didn't have one. If Jiang Mian's rank was high, he would have shown it off long ago.
“Friend, your thoughts are truly profound.” Kloss said, feeling a bit inferior, “I was too shallow. May I ask your name?”
“Just call me Jiang Mian.” Jiang Mian smiled slightly and patted Kloss’s shoulder again. “Don’t worry, brother, I won’t let you face the Frost Iron Raven alone. How about I fight alongside you?”
“I couldn’t ask for more.” Kloss extended his hand and shook Jiang Mian’s. He grinned, “Indeed, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Friend, your body looks very frail, but your hand is so strong.”
Jiang Mian smiled slightly. Of course, he was a dignified Spirit King.
Having accepted the bounty, Jiang Mian and Kloss naturally received the “highest” treatment in the village, settling into a dilapidated shack at the entrance.
Do you really think the villagers are easy to fool? What if they were just Adventurers who came to join the fun, and after being fed and housed by the villagers, they just left? Where would the villagers go to complain?
So, without completing the bounty, Jiang Mian and Kloss had no source of income.
Jiang Mian lay on the bed made of straw, a thought nagging at him: He wondered what the flow of time was like here compared to the outside. What if time here passed very quickly, and when he got out, Zhuqing and the others were already old? What then?
If it was very slow, that would be good. Staying here for a year or half a year and only a day passing outside wouldn't be a big problem.
Jiang Mian was worried, but Kloss beside him was carefree. He didn’t think as much; he just needed to eliminate the Frost Iron Raven when it arrived, so he was currently sleeping soundly.
Jiang Mian stayed awake all night, unable to sleep. It was already dawn when Jiang Mian emerged from his cultivation state; after all, if he couldn't sleep, meditating to increase his spirit power could substitute for sleep.
“Brother Jiang Mian, it’s time to eat.” Kloss had already woken up. He had exchanged some labor for two cakes, barely enough to fill their stomachs.
“Thank you, brother, you worked hard.” Jiang Mian sincerely thanked him. He felt Kloss was truly simple and lacked the cunning of outsiders. Jiang Mian would definitely treat a friend like him with genuine sincerity.
“What was that cultivation method you were just doing?” Kloss asked curiously. “I’ve only seen Divinities cultivate like that.”
“There are still Divinities in this World?” Jiang Mian was surprised inwardly but pretended to know everything. “This is a cultivation method I researched myself, with some inspiration from Divinities.”
“You’re amazing.” Kloss’s eyes widened suddenly. He gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed, “Those Divinities can summon wind and rain. Since you know their cultivation method, can you also summon wind and rain?”
“How do you cultivate?” Jiang Mian asked in return.
“Just by tempering the body, of course.” Kloss said with a surprised expression, “Don’t tell me you haven’t tried it?”
So, people here don’t have Spirit Abilities; they all gain power by tempering their bodies. This approach isn’t like a Spirit Master, but rather very similar to a Spirit Beast!
Jiang Mian propped his chin, smiling slightly, “I tempered my body a few times when I was little, but I haven’t tried it since.”
“I see.” Kloss nodded. Just as he was about to show Jiang Mian his muscles, he heard a strong gust of wind howling outside.
A black raven, gleaming with cold light and metallic luster, appeared above the village. Relying on its strong physical body, it began to wreak havoc in the village.
“It’s our turn to go on stage.” Kloss pulled out two daggers from his pocket; these were his weapons.
Jiang Mian hadn't expected that a burly man would use such small and exquisite weapons.
Swish!
Kloss threw a dagger with his left hand, and it hit the raven with a bang, creating sparks from the friction, but it didn't cause any substantial damage to the raven.
“Its defense is that strong?” Jiang Mian looked at the raven, estimating its age. This Frost Iron Raven looked to be around three thousand years old, and its strength was already greater than most Spirit Elders.
However, it was very clumsy. Besides attacking with its physical body, it didn't seem to know any magical attacks, which truly opened Jiang Mian's eyes. After all, which Spirit Beast in the Douluo World didn't know some magical attacks?
Jiang Mian already understood that the difference between the space created by this Divinity and Douluo was that people and Spirit Beasts here relied solely on their powerful physical bodies, while people and Spirit Beasts in the Douluo World developed comprehensively in terms of morality, intellect, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor.
“Hit its eyes.” Jiang Mian stopped watching the show. He shouted loudly, “Kloss, its eyes are its only weakness.”
“I understand.” Kloss roared, his muscles tensing. He strode towards the raven, intending to engage in close combat with this Spirit Beast.
The raven flapped its wings and flew high, then suddenly descended, intending to use the downward force to directly ram Kloss.
Kloss took a deep breath and firmly clamped the Frost Iron Raven's wings with both hands.
“Magnificent.” Jiang Mian’s eyes widened. He picked up the dagger that had been bounced off and rushed forward. With a single stride, he leaped onto the raven’s back and plunged the dagger directly into its eye.
“Ow!”
The raven let out a painful cry and then fell silent.
“No wonder this thing is Silver-ranked.” Jiang Mian muttered to himself, “It can fly, and its physical body is strong. It really lives up to its price.”
If Jiang Mian had simply stabbed the dagger into its eye, it would not have been able to kill it completely. What truly killed it was the Hellfire Jiang Mian released through the dagger.
That flame did not show itself, but directly incinerated the raven's brain through its eye.
It was fortunate that Jiang Mian intervened; otherwise, with Kloss's pure physical combat method, he might not have been able to kill this raven.
But the outcome was good. Kloss dragged the raven, and Jiang Mian followed behind him. After receiving their money from the village chief, the two happily took the bounty slip to the Adventurers’ Guild to raise their ranks.
“What do you Adventurers mainly raise your ranks for?” Jiang Mian asked curiously. He felt Kloss wasn’t someone who pursued empty fame, so why was he so persistent about raising his Adventurers’ Guild rank?
“I don’t know about them, but I’m raising my rank for one person.” Kloss said with a serious expression, “Jiang Mian, please keep this secret for me, because it concerns that person’s life.”
“Kloss, since you trust me, I will definitely keep your secret.” Jiang Mian promised.
“Actually, I’m an orphan, and the reason I have my current strength is all thanks to an old man who taught me.” Kloss said directly, “He is very powerful, but he is sealed in a place, and only the Divinity’s Berry can save him.”
“What exactly are the Divinities of this World?” Jiang Mian couldn’t help but wonder. It seemed they weren’t as rare as the Divinities in the Douluo Continent.
Moreover, the sentient beings of this World were, in the end, merely manifestations of that ancient Divinity's thoughts. The so-called Divinities were nothing more than false gods created by those thoughts.
“Only by winning first place in the Brave Tournament will the Divinities give the first-place winner three Diamond-level quests. After completing the quests, I can make one request to the Divinities, which is how I’ll have a chance to obtain the Divinity’s Berry.” Kloss said, “Of course, one of the requirements to participate in the tournament is to have an Adventurers’ Guild rank of Gold-level.”
“I see.” Jiang Mian suddenly realized. The Divinities here were not only not rare, but they could also descend and bestow sacred objects upon warriors, which was quite interesting.
And he had just seen Kloss’s fighting style, and it felt like a brute-force fighting style, with no skill whatsoever.
So, could he also participate in the competition to understand the essence of this World, or perhaps, through the competition, see if he could find any trace of the Snow Empress?
Although doing so was a bit dangerous, Jiang Mian had to take the risk. He didn't know how powerful the Divinities of this World were, but judging from that Silver-level quest just now, they might be similar to a Titled Douluo.
After all, no matter how much the ancient Divinity's thoughts manifested, it was impossible for him to manifest an existence stronger than himself, right?
Moreover, Emperor Tian was already on his way. When Emperor Tian brought the Ice Empress and Emperor Ruishou with him, even if Jiang Mian turned this place upside down, no one would be able to threaten him!
Jiang Mian made up his mind to participate in the Brave Tournament. So, the most urgent task was to first raise his rank to Gold-level.
“Kloss, let’s go take on a big quest.”