Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Spinning Top, Explosive Warrior

Before leaving, Ah Yin smiled slightly at Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing before slowly disappearing.

Silence returned around the campfire.

The night wind blew, and the firewood crackled.

Ning Rongrong hugged her knees, remained silent for a while, and then suddenly whispered, "That Ah Yin... is indeed quite pretty."

Then Ning Rongrong added, "But it's not that pretty."

Zhu Zhuqing didn't speak, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Wang Teng shook his head, both amused and exasperated, and added another piece of firewood to the fire.

The orange-red firelight reflected on the three people's faces, casting long shadows.

A few insect chirps came from afar, and a shooting star streaked across the night sky, disappearing in an instant.

A figure stood quietly in a large tree a few hundred paces from the camp.

Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering in the night wind.

His gaze pierced through the night and landed on the warm campfire on the hillside, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

"It's so good to be young."

Dugu Bo muttered something under his breath, then his figure flashed and disappeared among the shadows of the trees, leaving only a faint scent of herbs in the night breeze.

Chapter 439 The Far North Ice Plains, Lungmen Stronghold

A week later, the three of them finally stepped onto the edge of the far north.

Saying it "stepped in" is not quite accurate.

Because when they arrived in the far north, the first thing they felt was not the change in the ground beneath their feet, but the wind.

The wind felt like it was blown out of an ice cellar, carrying tiny ice shards that stung my face.

Ning Rongrong shrank her neck, pulled her fur collar up, and muttered, "It's too cold."

Wang Teng glanced back at her and laughed, "This is nothing. It's ten times colder inside."

"Let's get used to it first."

They prepared thick clothing in advance, including fur coats, deerskin boots, mink gloves, and special windproof masks.

There are quite a few of these items stored in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's storeroom. They are all used by the sect's disciples when they go out for training, and they have excellent warmth retention.

Even so, when they actually stood on this icy wasteland, the chill still seeped into their very bones.

Even though all three of them were Soul Masters and could withstand the cold with their Soul Power, they were still cold.

Of course, since Wang Teng had taken the Ice-Fire Immortal Grass, he wasn't particularly cold.

However, in order to be like the two women, Wang Teng also wore thick clothes.

Standing in the wind and snow, the three felt that the scenery of the far north was completely different from the outside world.

Looking out, all that could be seen was a vast expanse of white, with the snowfield stretching to the horizon and merging with the gray-white sky, making it impossible to distinguish where the ground ended and the sky began.

Occasionally, a few black rocks would peek out from the snowdrifts, like ink drops on white paper, lonely and exuding an indescribable desolation.

In the distance, several ice peaks stood tall, gleaming with a faint blue light in the dim light, like the fangs of a giant beast.

Instead of venturing deeper, the three found a sheltered rocky hollow on the edge of the area and set up camp.

For the next two weeks, they would go outside every day, going further and further away and staying longer and longer, to allow their bodies to gradually adapt to the deadly low temperature.

Wang Teng was alright; the cold had the least impact on him.

Zhu Zhuqing could barely hold on. She was an agility-type Soul Master, with a flexible body and vigorous blood and energy. As long as she kept moving, she wouldn't freeze.

The one who suffered the most was Ning Rongrong.

Ning Rongrong is a support-type Soul Master, and her physical fitness is not as good as the other two. In the first few days, her lips turned purple from the cold, and her fingers were so stiff that she couldn't even release her Martial Soul.

"Rongrong, don't try to tough it out."

Wang Teng handed her his water pouch, which contained hot ginger soup that he had prepared beforehand, and said, "Drink some to warm yourself up."

"If all else fails, unleash your soul power; don't hold back."

Ning Rongrong took the water pouch, drank two mouthfuls, and then circulated her soul power around her body before her complexion gradually returned to normal.

Although her Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda is mainly for support, its soul power itself has the effect of nourishing the body, and when activated, it can effectively resist the cold from the outside world.

Zhu Zhuqing maintained her body temperature by moving at high speed. She ran back and forth on the snow, leaving a trail of footprints. When she got warm, she would come back to rest for a while, and when she got cold, she would continue running.

After half a month, all three of them had lost weight, but they were actually more energetic.

Ning Rongrong's lips were no longer purple, Zhu Zhuqing's movements remained as agile as ever despite the cold, and Wang Teng was full of energy.

They are now able to move freely on this ice field.

Now, let's get down to business—finding the stronghold of the Earth Dragon Gate.

Wang Teng pulled out a map from his pocket, which had been collected and compiled by the intelligence personnel of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School over several months.

The map shows the distribution of all known Soul Master forces in the far north, with the Earth Dragon Gate occupying only a small section with very little information.

"The Earth Dragon Gate has a stronghold in the far north; this is the only confirmed information we have."

Wang Teng pointed to a blurry location on the map and said, "But the intelligence didn't specify where it is or what's inside."

“I suspect this stronghold might be the location of their forbidden area, where the millennia-old Xuanbing marrow is hidden.”

"Is the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Mystic Ice Marrow there?"

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked.

"Just a suspicion."

Wang Teng put away the map and added, "You'll only know when you get there."

"If not, then we'll consider this a learning experience."

"If there is, then we'll think of another way."

So the three of them plunged into the vast ice field.

The search process was more difficult than expected.

The terrain in the far north is so complex it's a real headache.

On the surface, it appears to be a flat snowfield, but once you go inside, you'll discover that beneath the snow lie countless ice crevasses, underground rivers, and bottomless ice caves.

Sometimes when you step into the snow, it goes all the way up to your thighs, and there's nothing underneath, so you have no idea how deep it is.

Zhu Zhuqing, relying on her agility, walked at the front to scout the way. She was fast and quick-witted, and several times she bounced back the moment the ice shattered, saving herself and the people behind her.

The reason Wang Teng doesn't use a spinning top for investigation is because his martial soul has evolved to the point where it's become much larger and heavier.

Such a large piece of metal (the spinning top) could easily crush the ground on the ice.

And so, Wang Teng and Ning Rongrong followed behind, while Zhu Zhuqing scouted the path ahead.

The three of them moved forward slowly.

"careful!"

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly stopped and raised one hand.

Ning Rongrong and Wang Teng stopped immediately.

Zhu Zhuqing crouched down and used her short sword to clear away the snow in front of her, revealing a narrow ice crevice.

The crack was an arm's length wide, pitch black and bottomless, with ice layers at the edges as thin as paper, crumbling at the slightest touch.

"Let's go around it."

Wang Teng said decisively.

They had encountered ice crevasses like this dozens of times; some were narrow, some were wide, some they could go around, and some they had to jump over.

Once, they encountered a crevice more than ten meters wide. Ning Rongrong couldn't jump over it, so Wang Teng used his soul bone technique to fly and lift her across.

In addition, the weather is even more troublesome than the terrain.

The weather in the far north can change in an instant.

One moment the wind is calm and the next a fierce storm may break out, with snow falling and obscuring the sky.

When the blizzard came, visibility was less than two meters, and you couldn't even see the person standing on the other side.

The three of them had no choice but to hold hands and rely on the different abilities of Wang Teng's spinning top beast to sense their surroundings and move forward step by step.

Once, a blizzard lasted for three days and three nights, and they were trapped in an ice cave and couldn't get out.

Wang Teng released a spinning top, allowing his martial spirit to block the cave entrance and prevent the wind from getting in, while the sacred beast Flaming Bird released a small amount of heat to maintain the temperature inside the cave.

Ning Rongrong used the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's auxiliary soul skill to replenish everyone's stamina, while Zhu Zhuqing was responsible for keeping watch for any movements around them.

Although those three days were tough, the three of them looked after each other and nothing went wrong.

In addition to the weather and terrain, they also had to deal with the native inhabitants, namely the ice-type soul beasts, along their journey.

There aren't many types of spirit beasts in the far north, but they are all formidable.

The most common are ice scorpions and snow wolves. The former is small but highly venomous, while the latter appears in packs and will pounce on any living creature they see.

The three encountered no fewer than twenty attacks along the way, but fortunately they were all low-level soul beasts less than a thousand years old, which posed no real threat.

Wang Teng didn't even bother to lift a finger; he simply released the Shadow Bat. The little creatures moved swiftly and silently in the darkness, quickly scattering the snow wolf pack in all directions.

"The Shadow Bat really works."

Ning Rongrong couldn't help but laugh as she watched the snow wolf pack flee in disarray.

The shadow bat flew back to Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder and squeaked triumphantly twice.

Zhu Zhuqing reached out and stroked its little head, a slight smile playing on her lips.

And so, they searched and fought, and dodged as they went, and three months passed in the blink of an eye.

That evening, the setting sun dyed the snowfield golden red.

Wang Teng stood on an ice hill, gazing into the distance, when suddenly his gaze sharpened.