"I'm going to the Frozen Wastes."
Half a month had passed since the alchemy competition with Ji Ying. During those days, Yang Kai had been continuously refining the Golden Armor Heavenly Book. One day, Zhu Qing came to find him and dropped those words without preamble.
Yang Kai was alarmed. "That place is forbidden ground. Even if you are a member of the Dragon Clan, you might not be able to return unscathed. What are you going there for?"
"You know why."
Yang Kai frowned, then understood what Zhu Qing had in mind.
The reason she wanted to go to the Frozen Wastes was simple — she wanted to retrieve her kinsman's remains. Earlier, when Li Jiao had revealed the origin of the Dragon Blood Flower, Zhu Qing's expression had been subtly off. The Dragon Clan member who had perished in the Frozen Wastes likely had some connection to her.
"Didn't Li Jiao say those bones had already turned to powder?" Yang Kai tried to dissuade her. "Going there would be pointless." Even though this girl had been pestering him nonstop lately and he wished she would get as far away from him as possible, he was genuinely worried about her going somewhere like the Frozen Wastes. A member of the Dragon Clan had already fallen there once — if Zhu Qing went now, she might well follow in her predecessor's footsteps.
"There's something else there," Zhu Qing said.
"What?"
Zhu Qing hesitated for a moment, then answered honestly. "The origin — the Dragon Clan's origin power. I need to go there and find my kinsman's origin power!"
That made sense. The Dragon Clan's origin power was the essence of a Sacred Spirit — there was no way it would simply vanish. Even if the bones had crumbled to dust, the origin power would still be there.
Yang Kai nodded. "Then go. But be careful. The Frozen Wastes are not a place you can just wander into freely."
Zhu Qing gazed at him quietly. "Are you coming?"
Yang Kai immediately rolled his eyes. "Absolutely not."
"Can't you come with me?" A flicker of disappointment passed through Zhu Qing's eyes.
Yang Kai snorted. "My strength is far too low. Going to the Frozen Wastes would be a one-in-ten chance of survival at best. If I went with you, I'd just be a liability."
The key point was that there was nothing in it for him. Why on earth would he run off to the Frozen Wastes?
Zhu Qing considered this seriously, then nodded. "You have a point. I was asking too much. In that case, I'll go alone." She paused, then added, "But you have to stay put here. Don't go running around."
Yang Kai let out a derisive laugh. "Why would I stay put? Once you leave, I'm heading out of the Northern Region right away. The seas will be wide and the sky high — there'll be no catching me."
Zhu Qing's face darkened instantly. "Then I'm not going."
Compared to her kinsman's origin power, keeping tabs on Yang Kai was far more important.
Yang Kai's mouth twitched. He could have slapped himself. He quickly straightened his expression and said, "I'm joking. Relax — I'll stay in Lingxiao Palace and wait for you to come back."
"You're not lying to me?" Zhu Qing stared into his eyes, as though trying to peer into the depths of his soul.
"What good would lying do you? There's plenty going on here at the Sect. This Palace Master is busy with a thousand affairs a day — when would I have time to run around?" Yang Kai replied with a straight face.
"Good." Zhu Qing nodded, reassured. Then she suddenly added, "Oh, right — I have a cultivation technique here. Try learning it. It's much better than whatever you were using before."
"A technique? What technique?" Yang Kai frowned.
Zhu Qing produced a jade slip and tossed it to him.
Yang Kai caught it and sent his spiritual sense inside. His eyes went wide in an instant. "Dragon Transformation!"
Zhu Qing explained, "I've seen you use a similar technique before — some sort of rudimentary Dragon Transformation. But that one was far too crude. This one is on an entirely different level. If you can master this technique, it should boost your combat power by at least twenty percent."
Yang Kai's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Zhu Qing smiled. "Do you think I'm like you, always lying to people?"
Yang Kai's face flushed slightly. He changed the subject. "How does Dragon Island even have a technique like this? The Dragon Clan only needs to channel their origin power to transform into their true dragon forms. What use would a Dragon Transformation technique be to them?" He was genuinely puzzled.
"Not everyone on Dragon Island is a member of the Dragon Clan. There are other kinds of beings there as well," Zhu Qing said, her tone leisurely. "You'll understand when you get there someday."
"We'll see about that." Yang Kai waved his hand and eagerly began studying the Dragon Transformation technique in the jade slip. If it was everything Zhu Qing claimed, mastering it would give his combat power a significant boost.
"Take your time studying. I'm leaving now." Zhu Qing said, turning toward the door.
"Don't die out there." Yang Kai suddenly looked up at her retreating back, his tone grave as he issued the admonition.
Zhu Qing smiled faintly, opened the door, and stepped out. A quiet sense of satisfaction welled up inside her. With this Dragon Transformation technique to keep him occupied, he should be distracted for a month or two at least. By then, she would surely have returned from the Frozen Wastes.
Outside the mountain gate, Zhu Qing transformed into a streak of light and flew northward toward the farthest reaches of the Frozen Wastes. Suddenly, she halted in midair and glanced back over her shoulder. She had the faint sense that someone was watching her.
Her gaze swept across the area — no one was there. She shook her head and departed at an even greater speed, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Ah." Back in his chamber, Yang Kai let out a sigh, a twinge of guilt gnawing at his heart.