Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Now that Fruna essentially had free reigns to guide the group, she had quickly led them out of the path of the Misty Haze Pits.

After a moderate amount of time of walking, they were now on an expansive blue icy road filled with actual crowds of people!

As they came to this point, Darcel and Aniela took notice of the drastically changing scenery while they talked with Fruna.

While they walked up to this point, the duo more clearly saw how things worked in an unending snowy land.

Numerous blue icy roads trailing into the snowy ground were at every corner Darcel and Aniela's eyes could see. Moreover, these roads all have twist and turning paths that stretch far out in the Plunged Tundra.

Zero Spirit Monsters appeared on these roads, and the humans here were now plentiful. But, while observing the humans walking around here, Darcel and Aniela manage to pick up on a consistent oddity.

Barring the fact that everyone they saw all wore heavy layer clothes to counteract the heavy weather. There was a precise noticeable bar that was set for anyone traveling on these icy roads.

The absolute weakest here only had amounted up to the peak True Soul Core realm.

And every peak True Soul Core cultivators were traveling in packs; there wasn't a single lone adventurer in that realm.

However, for Innate Core cultivators, it was a toss-up for them.

They either travel in packs or were lone adventurers that looked highly skilled to be traversing alone.

It was quite a curious sight for Darcel and Aniela. Considering the fact that in the Blessed Spirit Province, they would rarely see Innate Core powerhouses walking around so casually.

Hell, if they weren't in the Zakira Academy, peak True Soul Core cultivators' appearances weren't as abundant as those on these icy roads.

Although the thing is, Darcel and Aniela couldn't see why for such a specific standard.

As they walk towards Fruna's town, neither Darcel nor Aniela notices anybody being aggressive or bandit-like. Everyone simply stayed in their own lane and groups, barely having any interaction with each other.

Even as Darcel and Aniela themselves were just mere first layer link True Soul Core cultivators, nobody passed them a passing glance.

Furthermore, the chilling weather here didn't affect Darce and Aniela at all now.

With the abilities granted by the True Soul Core realm, Darcel and Aniela were like fish in waters being more in touch with their souls.

They could now even unconsciously release just a very tiny portion of their pure black flaming essence in their souls.

And that tiny portion of black flaming essence easily tore off any cold that attempted to penetrate their bodies. Despite the snowy scenery, Darcel and Aniela felt like they were just in an average warm day.

With her rising curiosity growing as they observe more and more humans walking down these numerous roads, Aniela decided to ask Fruna,

"Everyone sure is prepared and powerful. But….not even some powerful expert leading a group of Nascent kids or something? There just has to be a specific reason why, right, Fruna?"

Towards her inquiry, Fruna slightly smiled and explained, "Of course you two wouldn't be affected at all. But really, the reason you won't see anyone below the peak of the True Soul Core realm has to do with the weather. There's an old, long-running theory that's been around for as long I've been around about the Icy Cloud Province. Do you two believe these kinds of myths and vague theories?"

Darcel and Aniela took a look over to each other then.

With all they experienced so far, surely they wouldn't hear something that would be so outrageous. So Darcel simply nodded his head, saying, "Sure, why not. Some theories and myths hold some truth to them."

"Well, you see, cultivators and even Mage's alike crafted a theory together. Somewhere deep inside the wild Snowy Plains, there's an infinite power source that's continuously spewing out Ice Qi and permanently affecting the environment of the whole Province. And while nobody could confirm for sure. What is confirmed without a doubt is that if you're not powerful enough to resist the Qi here, your body and soul will permanently freeze over. Quickly though, people were able to gather that being a peak True Soul Core was the base limit to traverse through the Province."

Hearing all of this, Darcel and Aniela quickly took in the mass sum of information. Now it was making sense why even Innate Core powerhouses bundle up in layers of clothes.

Still, Aniela had another question popping in her mind and had then spoken up to ask, "Mnnh….so that would mean the towns and Cities here are a safe haven from the cold?"

"Exactly. In actuality, compared to all other Provinces, even the first ranked one. Our Province has the most small towns and abundances of Cities. Every town or City has been specifically crafted to fend off the deadly freezing cold." Fruna continued on to explain.

During her talk, a thought popped into Darcel's mind.

He began to recall one of Vice-Principal Zelle's lessons. She mentioned the ninth-ranked Province alone is at least several hundred thousand kilometers long.

And climbing the ranks of the Provinces, they only continue to overly increase in their size and expansion.

"Just, how's a power source like that even possible to exist? This Province is more than hundred of thousands of kilometers long. Surely that kind of power source can't stay a myth for long."

"Well….this theory is just something that was passed down for generations. Possibly ever since the first batch of people roamed this World. Yet, even experts from the first ranked Province couldn't find a trace of this power source. All we do know is the Qi here is vastly more deadly than the other Provinces."

There was one link that Darcel and Aniela's mind went to hearing everything is supposedly shrouded in mystery.

One translucent Spirit girl named Sariel; out of everything, they could directly confirm that Sariel is connected to the World in some profound deep way.

But this was information Darcel, and Aniela obviously could only ponder on to themselves or with each other.

"Oooh….I didn't expect for this Province to have such an intriguing back story. Oh? Hey! Is that Mawold Town?" Aniela pointed out as her eyes squinted forward towards buildings scraping the skies.

Though as she pointed it out, she and the others took notice of the lack of people surrounding them now on this road.

A singular wide icy road led towards each town, and two roads split off from each town road and led into other areas.

And on the road leading to Mawold Town, there wasn't anybody trying to go on it. But there were cultivators going on the splitting roads that led somewhere else than Mawold Town.

"Ah….that is indeed our Mawold Town," Fruna confirmed Aniela's word though she had creased her eyebrows a bit.

From six feet behind them, Robert, Reyney, and Hurey all breathed a huge sigh of relief seeing home come so soon, not really putting the oddity of lack of people in their minds.

"For a small town as you called it Fruna. This place is pretty luxurious."

Darcel remarked as the scale of this 'town' reminded him of Necrotic City. He could already see tall towering blue buildings split into the sky, all spouting rich icy designs.

Although, coming from cultivators and Mage's, Darcel and Aniela couldn't say they were too shocked. The only noticeable peculiar oddity was the lack of people leading up to Mawold Town.

"Hmmm….is this a reclusive town? There isn't a single person leaving or going into it?"

Aniela question since while they walked down this path, it still was only their group of six.

Promptly then, Fruna, Robert, Reyney, and Hurey got a familiar worrying feel stirring around in their guts.

"No….it's not. Let me walk a bit ahead; I have a feeling for what's about to come up."

Fruna spoke and had then quickly walked a few steps ahead of the ground. Under her leadership, the group promptly sped up the pace and swiftly arrived near the expansive Mawold Town.

Seeing it up at close truly showed the more Ice beauty of the town. There were beautifully designed large ice-blue walls covering the town and a massive open gate that led into the town.

Darcel and Aniela remarked in their minds that this place has a welcoming presence that invited people to go in.

Quickly though, their and Fruna's group attention was shifted from off the buildings.

Up ahead, they could make out seven human figures standing at the entrance of town. Four were blocking the town entrance while the other three didn't try to force their way.

A gruff voice slithered into Fruna's group as they approached close to them.

"As I already said. If none of you can't fork over the crystals, then piss off from here!"

As Fruna's group approached the town, they all got a good look at just who was blocking the entrance and being aggressively demanding.

And once seeing just who it was, apparent dread swirled in Fruna, Robert, Reyney, and Hurey's eyes.

The four men blocking off the entrance were all tall and robust looking. They all donned the same outfit, consisting of a high-quality silver, blood-red mix design armor.

The armor all looked luxuriously polished and excellently made. Just with a single glance, one can tell the armor didn't affect their movement at all and gave them a higher defense than a cultivator's regular bodily defense.

In all four of those men, hands were long, intimidating looking silver hammers.

And at the tip of their hammers, a bright blood red color dye there further accentuating their daunting vibes.

Although, the most intimidating aspect of these men was the fact they were all seventh rank Innate Core powerhouses!

And in front of them were two men at the fifth rank of the Innate Core realm and one mysterious hooded girl also at the fifth rank.

Darcel, when he could finally make out the people there, his attention was immediately captured. Nobody, not even Aniela right next to him, felt their attention capture like Darcel did.

Only his eyes directly fell on the hooded girl, and right when he looked straight at the hooded girl, she had also snapped her head right towards Darcel.

As a familiar sensation course in Darcel's soul, while he looked at the girl, Darcel had to remark that the hooded girl was quite the hidden beauty.

Though her clothes did cover some of her body figure, he was able to make out most of it.

No matter what, Darcel could make out she had a bewitching curvaceous figure that was nearly a perfect figure eight. Her breasts couldn't be contained and are quite large, being comparable to melon sizes.

Briefly, Darcel could make out her backside, and he could also see her behind was large and plump, perfectly filling out her hooded robes.

And under the hoodie, Darcel could vaguely make out her face.

She had a small cute nose, bright, alluring cherry red lips, and beautiful creamy skin. As their attention locked on to each other, they both momentarily forgot about the tense situation going on around them.

However, with Aniela, she watched on with a curious expression, her attention being squarely on those strange silver armor men.

Suddenly one of the fifth rank Innate Core men began talking.

"Tch! Are you three supposed to be the master of town? Even so, isn't your price to get in a little steep!"

The four silver armor men jeered at the fifth rank Innate Core man and didn't budge an inch.

"So what if the price is a little expensive? Do you have another way of going into the town that doesn't involve getting through us?" The silver armor man in the middle spoke, disdain filling up his eyes.

Right then, Fruna's group was mere meters away from the scuffle.

And while Fruna was dreading this encounter, it doesn't mean she'll sit by and let this damn group do what they want!

Boldly Fruna strolled up the silver armor men, immediately gaining their attention. Apparent heat entered the men's eyes and Fruna's eyes as their gazes crossed.

"You silver hammer barbarians are trying to start this crap again?! You know damn well your group doesn't run this town, so get out of our way!"