I stood at the bow of the flying ship, looking ahead. The landscape was quite monotonous. An endless white wasteland, with occasional rocks and huge ice formations. We had been flying for three days, and the scenery had frankly bored me.
I agreed to So Yun's proposal without hesitation. Firstly, the words of the now-deceased Li about the beauty of that place were fresh in my memory. And secondly, the points. Ten points for each expedition participant, including travel days. I desperately lacked this virtual currency.
"Young Kai, aren't you cold?" Master So crept up behind me. She walked so quietly that sometimes I thought she wasn't touching the ground at all. Which is quite possible—a core-level practitioner can easily fly without techniques or other external aids.
"I'm a fire practitioner, what's frost to me?" I snorted proudly, teeth chattering. On the outer deck, by the way, there was no one—even Cold element cultivators preferred not to stand under the icy wind. I had to find a moment to extract a pill and a handful of spirit stones from the ring. And it seemed I was managing to keep my secret. Not without Sister So's help, of course.
"I've been to a hidden realm filled with fiery Qi just as this one is with icy," she suddenly said. "Alas, it was completely destroyed not long ago. A pity. Cultivation there would have benefited you."
"Speaking of which," I made sure we were really alone. "Won't you tell me about transitioning to the meridian sphere?"
"Oh, the transition to the meridian stage happens quite differently than... Wait, you're not trying to coax a technique out of me, are you?" she looked at me sternly.
"Me?! How could you think such a thing, Sister So!" I made an offended face.
"I'll pretend I believed you," she laughed. "Actually, a practitioner has several ways to open their meridians. The first is a special method of circulating internal Qi. Day after day, you must diligently meditate and direct your Qi to special spiritual nodes. This method is used by the majority."
"The second is using a special artifact. You kind of dissolve it with your Qi and thereby acquire its properties. It's a dangerous method, requiring enormous control and expensive resources. But as a result, the practitioner can literally adopt one of the artifact's properties. For example, I knew a girl whose skin couldn't be pierced by any sword. And she didn't spend any spiritual forces on it at all."
"The third is pills. And with all my love for alchemy, this method is one of the most dangerous. Many practitioners, in their attempts to gain power as quickly as possible, take various potions and pills and thereby ruin their potential. Many of them will never be able to increase their power again. And finally, some geniuses manage to combine all three methods."
"And how do you suggest I break through, Sister So? No artifacts, no fiery Qi... And you yourself didn't recommend pills."
"Secret," she smiled slyly. "It's too early for you to think about such things, your spiritual body still hasn't recovered."
On the fourth day, we finally arrived at our destination. The hidden realm of the Frosty Ridge turned out to be simply huge! Literally, a whole world. Or maybe it really is another world? More precisely, a planet? The stars in the sky are completely different from what I managed to memorize in the Phoenix sect, the sun is also different, as if slightly dimmer and smaller. Local practitioners didn't ponder much over this question. Well, or I didn't find any information. And considering how unwilling they are to share knowledge here, I'm betting on the latter.
"Don't lag behind, frostbite," Aina's voice brought me out of my thoughts. Yes, the girl was also participating in the expedition. There were about fifty of us in total, including Master So Yun. More simply wouldn't have fit. And of course, I was the only practitioner who hadn't reached the meridian level. Somehow even offensive.
The view before me was magnificent. Like a forest created by an artist from silver and aquamarine. Threads of celestial energy stretched along the white leaves, icy Qi flowed freely along the mighty trunks. And, despite all the oddities, the trees were really alive, not frozen ice statues as one might think.
"Is this the grove?" I asked the girl. Now all the disciples were crowded on the deck waiting for the imminent landing.
"What? No, this is the Silver Forest. There's a lot of useful stuff here too, but it's not the season now. The grove is over there!" she pointed in a direction. With my enhanced vision, I could make out a small patch with dark blue trees. And it looks like there are some fruits hanging on them. It seems they are our goal. The closer we flew, the more clearly I realized that I wasn't mistaken.
"Alright, we have seven days before this place is covered by a seasonal blizzard, and the Frost Plum fruits will disappear," So Yun stepped forward. "The minimum task is to collect a basket a day. If you don't manage—you don't get points for that day. If you do better—for each basket above the norm, you'll get ten points. Any questions?"
There were no questions. Honestly, I thought we were flying here for something else. I don't know, for mass meditation in a special place, or to understand the unity of Qi and life in all its forms and manifestations. But no. Ingredient collection. However, what else to expect from an alchemy master, right? And the baskets are not small. About twenty liters, I estimated. Although of course, no one here had heard of liters.
And just as I was about to grab one of the baskets, I was stopped halfway. The beautiful So Yun was sitting at a table right on the deck drinking tea, and three practitioners were standing next to her.
"Where do you think you're going, young Kai? Did you really think you'd get away with plum picking like these idlers?" So asked with sarcasm. "Meet your partners for this expedition."
"Ark Lin," stepped forward a guy as pale as death. He emanated a strange spiritual power, and had huge bags under his eyes. I had seen him a couple of times during the flight. He spent all his free time with a black-haired girl with unusual golden eyes. Yes, even now he was with her.
"Tia Lin," she nodded to me.
"Well, I hope you haven't forgotten me," Aina smirked.
"Kai Shen," I gave a ceremonial shallow bow, which I had managed to learn just a couple of days ago. The flight was boring, yes.
"Good, now that everyone's acquainted, here's your task. There's a tree not far from here. A special tree. I need to get its sap. Ark knows how to extract it properly, so follow his lead in everything. Your task is to guard him during this process."
"Thank you for your trust, Lady So," Aina smiled and glanced at me. "Of course, I don't question your wisdom, but are you sure about Kai? Maybe we should take someone stronger?"
"Oh, young Kai will surprise you. The creatures living near this tree, although they don't possess spiritual techniques, are extremely resistant to Qi techniques. Kai is perfect for this mission. If you succeed—you'll get two hundred points each and can skip the plum picking task."
"We won't let you down," we agreed surprisingly in unison. Yep, greed instantly defeated the voice of reason.
We were the last to descend to the ground. The flying boat remained hovering right next to the Grove. It will serve as our camp and sleeping quarters, as there were fully equipped barracks inside. The sect disciples had already begun collecting plums, and I finally could feel the surrounding spiritual background. It was unusual. In a good way unusual. It's even a pity that I can't cultivate icy Qi—the feeling around was too pleasant. Not the flowing power of that dragon and not the cold indifference of the Fort's surroundings. Rather a pleasant frosty freshness of a morning forest. I'm getting poetic. At this rate, I'll become a full-fledged cultivator.