Chapter 195

It seemed she sensed Mu Yi's murderous intent, and Xin Ya calmly took out a bag.

"I am indeed here to deliver a Wilderness Treasure to you; inside is the deal between my uncle and you. As for your reputation loss, I will compensate with two Wilderness Treasures. How does that sound?"

Weighing the bag in his hand, Mu Yi nodded; considering the quest chain, he could indeed let the other party go for now.

"State your terms, my time is limited; I cannot spend too much time on you!"

"I have told you before that Northland Winter Blood flows in my veins, my mother is of the Winter royal line; I want you to help me seize the Winter Claw from Winter!"

Xin Ya, clearly having thought it through, straightforwardly presented her own request.

"When the matter is settled, I will tell you a place that hides at least more than ten Wilderness Treasures!"

"Quest: Yearning for Freedom 2 — Winter's Treasure, has been activated!"

Quest: Yearning for Freedom 2 — Winter's Treasure

Recommended level: 15

Difficulty: Epic

Reward: Wilderness Treasure hidden location, Winter Tribe reputation, Kabe Xin Ya's friendship.

Requirement: Seize the Winter Claw.

But now, having seen Mu Yi's power, she wishes to use Mu Yi's strength to become the ruler of Winter.

Speaking, Xin Ya slit her own arm with a dagger, a trickle of deep blue blood oozed out.

He needs Wilderness Treasures, but that does not mean Xin Ya can command him with them.

In only three days, the party crossed a thousand li and reached the Northland.

"What is the Winter Claw?"

The ground had already begun to freeze; in the distance, the high mountains showed their peaks half‑covered by ice and snow, and the fur of the beasts encountered along the way grew considerably thick.

After the treatment ends, they will be sent back into the icy wasteland again.

Mu Yi glanced at the weapons in the exchange shop and, with a hint of indifference, said to Xin Ya, this is also his admonition.

A terrifying cold radiated from the blood; even a small amount of blood made one feel bone‑piercing chill.

"Let's go!"

Only sincerity can be exchanged for sincerity; after mingling long with Princess Liliana Brenda, Kaier and the like, he almost forgot that greed and selfishness are the norm, and beings like Holy Warrior are the exception.

Mu Yi skimmed the hint and noticed an extra plus sign on the difficulty, which made him wary.

"If I hadn't witnessed your power, how could I have birthed such ambition!" Xin Ya sounded resentful; once her goal was merely to become a pioneering lord and escape the so‑called marriage contract.

"What a peculiar bloodline!" Mu Yi squinted, "Your ambition is truly great!"

The biting cold wind brushed like a knife.

Mu Yi did not shove the soldiers into the Reincarnation Barrier; instead, he tempered them with the extreme cold, and only the exhausted soldiers were taken into the barrier for healing.

"Greed will ruin you!"

Mu Yi said nothing more, merely speaking calmly.

"The holy beast of Winter, a white dragon, was once sheltered by Winter and bound by a pact; one whose veins flow with Winter Blood can command it, become the Winter War Mother, and dominate all Winter tribes!"

As they gradually approached the icy realm, the temperature kept dropping.

Thanks to the Reincarnation Barrier, he can place the supplies the party needs directly inside it; otherwise provisioning over two thousand people would be a huge problem.

"Always feels like something's missing, lacking something?"

Mu Yi frowned; he did not avoid the ice and snow, but trained alongside his soldiers, using the environment to temper themselves, and employing trace amounts of Inner Qi to resist the cold.

He tried to have the soldiers acquire the Elite Talent representing the Frost series in the icy conditions, but no matter how hard they tried, they were always just short.

While Mu Yi was pondering, a group of figures suddenly appeared ahead.

They were all clad in fur coats, wielding weapons that emitted a blue glow.

"Kill!"

The leading hulking man rode a massive ice‑blue bear, his eyes flashing with madness; the Northland is no pleasant place—hunger and cold plague them and temper them, and Mu Yi saw that these people were all quite robust.

Otherwise they would not dare to come in such a clearly small number to ambush.

Without superfluous words, these Northland barbarians rudely launched an attack on Mu Yi's party, clearly wanting not only their food but also Mu Yi himself.

"Kill, leave none!"

Mu Yi is no saint; since you chose war, he will give you war.

Crimson light burst forth, and the warriors who had been struggling in the ice and snow instantly transformed into ferocious hungry ghosts, charging at the Northland brutes.

The battle lasted only a moment; the brutes were all cut down, the crimson ground was covered by ice and snow, and Mu Yi, expressionless, offered the brutes as a sacrifice.

This was already the fourth wave of barbarian ambushes they had faced since entering the Northland; some did it to survive, others out of sheer greed…

The moment they raised their weapons, Mu Yi no longer cared why they swung them.

Since they were prepared to kill, they must also be prepared to be killed.

They continued onward as if nothing had happened; after this battle, essentially all the soldiers had completed the Iron-blooded Slaughter Elite Talent.

Unlike the ice‑and‑snow Elite Talent Mu Yi hoped to forge, everything seemed to fall into place; Mu Yi sighed, realizing he truly was no genius, yet fortunately he was not left empty‑handed.

After gradually experiencing the process of training Elite Talents, Mu Yi had gained insight into training the Iron-blooded Slaughter Elite Talent, and the speed of future training would increase.

Faintly, Mu Yi heard some sounds and couldn't help but look up at the sky.

After the brutes, is it another Northland creature?

In a sense, the Northland is also part of the wilderness, only the environment is harsher.

"Roar!"

A roar sounded, and a silhouette streaked across the sky.

【Frost Sub-Dragon (Sub-Dragon), Challenge Level 14, Creature Level 17】

Mu Yi saw the true form of the silhouette, let out a sigh of relief, and the long journey finally ended.

Seeing this thing means they have already approached the center of the northern region, the area known as the Winter Claw.

The so‑called Winter Claw is a white dragon; although it is a shame of the Five‑Colored Dragon, a white dragon stuck at the Legend threshold is undoubtedly one of the strongest realm bosses in this public secret realm.

If it weren't for Mu Yi having the anti‑dragon special‑attack Dragon‑slaying Stone, he wouldn't have come to this wretched place; fighting a white dragon in this ice‑and‑snow landscape raises the difficulty by more than double.

Roar!

The frost Sub‑Dragon swooped down from the sky; this Sub‑Dragon species resembles a pterosaur from the dinosaur era, lacking the Dragon Scale of pure‑blood dragons and having only a layer of dragon skin, its defense far lower than that of pure‑blood dragons.

In this icy wasteland, it has likely ruled supreme for a long time; upon seeing Mu Yi and his party, it immediately treated them as prey.

Mu Yi drew the Dragon‑slaying Javelin; its effectiveness against dragon creatures is obvious— even a true Dragon cannot withstand such a strike.

"Roar!" The diving frost Sub‑Dragon sensed danger, wielding dual vibrations; a gust of raging wind and snow surged toward Mu Yi and his party, then it began to circle in the sky.

Dragon attacks are ferocious, but Mu Yi, who studied under the dragon‑slaying master La Ge Na, knows the general patterns of these dragon attacks.

Mu Yi enveloped the Dragon‑slaying Javelin with Inner Qi, preventing its aura from leaking; after the circling frost Sub‑Dragon realized it had been an illusion, it dived toward Mu Yi again.

The frost Sub‑Dragon's dive speed was extreme, but Mu Yi moved even faster; at the instant it dived, he hurled the javelin from his hand with a speed faster than thunder.

A whistling sound of breaking through the air rang out, mixed with wind and snow, as the noise shot toward the frost Sub‑Dragon; the Sub‑Dragon tried to stop, but the force of its dive was not easy to control.

The Dragon‑slaying Javelin pierced the frost Sub‑Dragon's wing in an instant; the power of the Dragon‑slaying Stone made the Sub‑Dragon feel as if struck by lightning, sending it crashing headfirst into the cold ground with a bang, gouging a large crater.

The Dragon‑slaying Javelin penetrated the frost Sub‑Dragon's wing, lodging between its bones, depriving the Sub‑Dragon of its ability to fly.

"First hundred squad, charge! Third hundred squad, throw attack!" Mu Yi ordered.

Cloud Energy surged upward, then pressed toward the Dragon like a massive net.

The frost Sub‑Dragon, unable to fly and scrambling up from the ground, reflexively exhaled a frost breath resembling dragon breath; however, whereas it could previously reach dozens or even hundreds of meters, now it dissipated after only a few meters.

The charging soldiers, who couldn't inflict any damage, instead had their gaping maws pierced by several javelins, wounding their mouths.

Just as the frost Sub‑Dragon was about to breathe again, having just opened its mouth, an ice giant descended from the sky.

"Shut your mouth!"

The ice giant, the incarnation of Cao Ming, clutched the frost Sub‑Dragon's gaping mouth tightly; Li Xian seized the chance, leapt from the ground, stepped onto Cao Ming's shoulder, and selflessly thrust his long spear into the Sub‑Dragon's eye socket.

"Bang!"

The agony‑driven frost Sub‑Dragon flung Cao Ming away and also knocked Li Xian back; even with the strength enhanced by the wilderness's secret guard, it was still a struggle against a Sub‑Dragon.

The surrounding soldiers surged forward, thrusting their weapons from all directions into the frost Sub‑Dragon's body; the Transcendent weapons in their hands easily sliced through the Sub‑Dragon's dragon skin, causing its blood to gush.

Yet even riddled with wounds, the frost Sub‑Dragon still bounded about, swinging its claws and tail, mercilessly flinging nearby soldiers; had its power not been suppressed by Cloud Energy, a single strike might have killed all the surrounding troops.

Dragon life force is extremely tenacious, and Sub‑Dragons are no exception.

Without a Dragon‑slaying Stone—a specialized dragon‑slaying weapon—it is hard to deal with these naturally powerful beings.

The ice giant, Cao Ming's incarnation, lunged again to suppress the frost Sub‑Dragon, while Li Xian seized the second Dragon‑slaying Javelin that Mu Yi had tossed and drove it straight into the Sub‑Dragon's skull.

The skull, which was supposedly so hard that even Transcendent weapons could not pierce it, became as fragile as tofu under the effect of the Dragon‑slaying Javelin.

The frost Sub‑Dragon, which had been struggling desperately, collapsed with a thud; despite its robust life force, once its brain was pierced, it died instantly, its corpse twitching a few times in place.

"Well done!"

Mu Yi felt gratified; after training this batch of soldiers, he finally had a sense of being a colonel—no longer needing to fight himself, merely commanding, he could annihilate the enemy with a smile.

He only needs to adjust the Cloud Energy, ensuring the soldiers unable to engage, and project their strength onto the front‑line troops with conviction, allowing him to cleanly kill the enemy.

Then comes the loot‑gathering phase; even Sub‑Dragons are full of treasure. First, skinning—the frost Sub‑Dragon's hide can be crafted into Transcendent armor; although there are no artisans yet, it doesn't stop Mu Yi from collecting the materials.

Next is the frost Sub‑Dragon's meat; ordinary people cannot eat this Transcendent creature's flesh directly, but once mixed with certain ingredients, it can be used to strengthen muscles and bones.

On the forums, this item is quite popular.

Mu Yi kept the frost Sub‑Dragon's heart, intending to make a blood‑circulating soup, which also serves as a medicinal dish for strengthening the body.

However, for Mu Yi it is essentially useless; his constitution, already amplified to a Transcendent state, treats ordinary things merely as a taste.

Mu Yi and his group are not skilled butchers; after half a day of disassembly they wasted a lot of material and could only regrettably give up, throwing the discarded parts into the Hell Path to burn—at least that preserves some utility.

As this portion of power was sacrificed by Mu Yi to the most contributive Cao Ming and Li Xian, both showed delighted expressions, feeling the strength of growth.

Especially Cao Ming; after receiving this power, his level at the top jumped to 12.

Li Xian also raised his level, but his aura clearly grew stronger.

According to Mu Yi's understanding, this post‑sacrifice power is like Universal Experience, usable to raise levels and also to upgrade Elite Talent ranks.

Just by looking at Li Xian, one can tell that these experiences are being used to fill the bottomless void of the Ten‑Skill All‑Rounder.

Having had the same experience, Mu Yi felt a pang in his liver; although the effect after mastering the Ten‑Skill All‑Rounder is powerful, the required accumulation is equally lengthy.

Slaying a Sub‑Dragon clearly boosted the team's morale, and Mu Yi could see obvious pride on the faces of the soldiers who had turned from marauders.

Obviously, dragon‑slaying makes them proud, even if it was only a Sub‑Dragon.

Mu Yi also did not crush their inflated confidence; maintaining this momentum, when they face the white dragon called Winter Claw, they might perform even better.