Chapter 453 428: Testing the Blade's Edge

In the Seven Treasures Tower, Steward Liu said regretfully, "Sir, I'm afraid we do not have any Thousand-Year Thunderstruck Li Wood in stock. We have some that are a hundred years old, but I imagine you wouldn't be interested in those."

Compared to the widely used Peach Wood, Li Wood was much rarer as a Spiritual Material. A piece that was a thousand years old, possessed spirituality, and had been struck by lightning was even rarer.

The main issue was that while thousand-year-old wood was easy enough to come by, finding a piece that had been struck by lightning was difficult.

However, Steward Liu's service was truly thorough. Although the Seven Treasures Tower didn't have the Thousand-Year Thunderstruck Li Wood, she later brought over the tower's Treasure Master. She asked him to consult their record scrolls of Spiritual Materials to help Song Ciwan locate any Thunderstruck Li Wood.

The search took nearly an hour, and Song Ciwan waited patiently the entire time.

Finally, Steward Liu emerged holding a Jade Scroll, her face beaming. "Sir, I have good news," she said cheerfully. "East of Yu State, the Luo River flows. Three thousand li from the end of the Luo River, there is a mountain range called Thunder Strike Ridge."

"On Thunder Strike Ridge, anything that manages to survive invariably carries the thunderstrike attribute. You might be able to find Thousand-Year Thunderstruck Li Wood there!"

The Nine Provinces Universe was vast and abundant in resources.

It was home to countless unique places. Without access to well-informed sources and extensive geographical knowledge, an ordinary person could never know of them all.

In any era, knowledge and information were precious. The information Steward Liu had given him made Song Ciwan feel as if a door to a new world had just opened.

'It seems that if I need information in the future, I can just go to the local Seven Treasures Tower.'

The Seven Treasures Tower also sold books, things like the *Nine Provinces Chronicles*, which came in entire sets. There was quite a variety.

In the end, besides the Thousand-Year Thunderstruck Peach Wood, Song Ciwan also bought over twenty books, a pile of Two-star and Three-star Level Spiritual Materials for Alchemy, and an Alchemy Furnace Cauldron of the Lower Grade Treasure Level.

He also purchased a brand new Earth Level Spirit Beast Bag for the Big White Goose. An Earth Level Spirit Beast Bag was better at nurturing a Spirit Beast and offered very strong protection as well.

Including the ninety thousand Primordial Pearls for the Thousand-Year Thunderstruck Peach Wood, his purchases totaled one hundred forty-six thousand, three hundred Primordial Pearls.

It was a true lesson for Song Ciwan in how wealth comes quickly and goes just as fast.

As he kept buying things, Song Ciwan even began to wonder if he'd made a mistake by selling only three Soul Cleansing Pills.

After all, he still needed more Primordial Pearls for the Heaven and Earth Scale to perform designated trades.

'Who knows if the one hundred fifty-thousand-some Primordial Pearls I have left will even be enough.'

Of course, even though he had these thoughts, Song Ciwan had no intention of selling any more Soul Cleansing Pills at the Seven Treasures Tower in Jiangling City, no matter how short on Primordial Pearls he was.

He packed everything up, having bought all he needed, and finally left, laden with his purchases.

After leaving the Seven Treasures Tower, Song Ciwan headed straight out of Jiangling City.

Heavy snow blanketed everything inside and outside Jiangling City. In this vast, white-clad world, Song Ciwan walked on, the snow crunching under his feet.

He didn't use any lightness techniques like Snow Stepping Traceless. Instead, like a mortal, he trudged through the snow toward the horizon.

Toward the distant mountains, the distant waters, the distant ice and snow, the distant spring, and the distant clamor and solitude.

The only thing that set him apart from a mortal was his incredible speed.

Amidst the vast expanse of ice and snow, mountain folk warmed themselves in their villages, birds nested for the winter, and insects and snakes lay dormant underground. But the black-clad youth with a long saber on his back walked alone through the snow.

The youth walked from where the snow fell thick and fast to where it drifted down sparsely.

He walked from the faint light of dawn until dusk settled all around.

Suddenly, the path ahead was cut off. A great, frozen river stretched across the vast mountain wilds, encircling and cutting off a mighty city in the distance.

The river's surface wasn't a smooth, mirror-like sheet of ice. Instead, it was covered in ice flowers with razor-sharp petals!

The ice flowers, crowded tightly together and blooming upside down, filled the entire river's surface. They radiated a bone-chilling cold that grew even more profound and frigid as evening fell.

A single glance was enough to instill the feeling that this river was impossible to cross!

Song Ciwan opened the *Chronicles of Strange Places in the Nine Provinces* that he had just acquired and found a description of this great river: the Jing River!

This was the Jing River, the largest river in Jingzhou.

The strangeness of the Jing River didn't lie in the fact that a Dragon King lived in its lower reaches.

In fact, which major river in the Nine Provinces didn't have a Dragon King?

Every single one did!

It was just that under normal circumstances, a Dragon King would not reveal itself to mortals. When common people traveled the rivers, those who believed in the Dragon Kings would perform various rituals, while those who didn't would simply pay them no mind.

With the Court keeping watch, Dragon Kings generally wouldn't stir up trouble wantonly, bringing harm to others and themselves.

The Jing Water Dragon King, however, was in a particularly stifling situation, as it could only operate in the lower reaches of the Jing River. It could not venture into the upper or middle reaches!

It turned out that the middle reaches of the Jing River, especially the section five hundred li from Jiangling City, contained a peculiar cold energy.

This cold energy could not only freeze a person's physical body but also their thoughts and even their Divine Soul!

In summer, no birds would fly over it, and no fish lived in its waters. In winter, humans and animals couldn't get close, for to do so would surely bring disaster!

After reading this, Song Ciwan knew he had two choices: cross the river at its lower reaches or its upper reaches. In short, he had to bypass this middle section of the Jing River.

Of course, he could also choose to fly, ascending to an altitude of over ninety thousand li.

At that height, the cold energy from the river below would no longer be able to affect him.

Or, he could be stubborn and test it out, to see if his current Power was enough to withstand the strangeness of the Jing River's middle reaches!

Song Ciwan had no intention of testing it. He simply admired the frozen river from afar for a moment, then turned and began walking upstream along the Jing River.

He had only taken a few steps when suddenly, a massive snow dragon erupted from the snowy ground ahead!

The snow dragon coiled and tumbled, kicking up blade-like snowflakes as it charged violently toward Song Ciwan.

Its force was so immense and its speed so great, it could be likened to a meteor striking the earth or a mountain-collapsing tsunami.

At the same time, an indescribably strange, restrictive power descended silently around Song Ciwan.

The invisible force bound him, attempting to hold him motionless for the snow dragon's impact!

In that hair's breadth of a moment, just as the snow dragon was about to strike, Song Ciwan stood his ground and softly uttered a single word: "Suppress!"

BOOM!

A phantom image of the Black Tortoise flashed into existence behind him. With the head of a snake and the body of a tortoise, it rose up like a mountain.

In an instant, it shattered the invisible force that had bound Song Ciwan. A sound, both tangible and intangible, echoed in the air—a soft "POP"—as if something had broken at that very moment.

At the same instant, the charging snow dragon slammed into what felt like an impossibly majestic mountain.

The mountain was so immense and unyielding that even with the snow dragon's overwhelming baleful energy, it couldn't be moved in the slightest.

This was the Xuanwu Mountain Observation Seal!

The moment the snow dragon shattered, countless snowflakes scattered like shards of jade, and a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air from ahead: "AHH!"

And from within the hazy, swirling snow, a figure came tumbling out.