Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"father!"

……

"I'm so sorry, Yang Liu... I'm so sorry, Madam."

"I'm such a useless old man..."

He collapsed in the snow, tears streaming down his face.

If the child's mother were still alive, if the child's mother hadn't died...

—They definitely will scold me, won't they?

But that's the end of it.

The surrounding scenery gradually transformed into that cozy little home, with its wooden bed and stools—simple yet filled with happiness and contentment.

His wife, dressed in a stunning pale gold gown, sat smiling at the dining table.

His adorable daughter smiled, her eyes curving into cute crescents, kicking her toes and constantly acting coquettishly towards him.

The two women he most longed to embrace in his life were now standing before him.

He fell to the ground, laughing despite his bruised and battered body.

"Daughter, Madam, I've come to join you..."

As he said those words, he saw... his daughter and wife both shaking their heads.

Their faces were filled with meaningful smiles.

next moment.

boom! ! !

Dream shattered!

Everything in the world returned to its original state, and the cold and desolate Needle Snow Forest reappeared.

However, this time, what he saw was not a scene of despair.

"What's that? Is today a day for discounted barbecue wholesale? Meat is arriving one after another, but we don't see any vegetables or anything coming our way."

youth.

The young man, who was holding the tiger's head and kicking the stiff corpse over, looked helplessly toward where the man was.

Under the man's blank stare, he said something.

"Hey sir, would you like some all-you-can-eat barbecue?"

—These were the last words he heard before he completely lost consciousness.

38. The Inner and Outer Palaces

Hu Xiaolin stared at the skewered meat on the silver metal rack in his hand with a complicated expression. He still couldn't figure out what had happened.

First of all, there's the fact that I'm still alive—my meridians are atrophied, my spiritual roots are withered, my right hand is almost broken, and I've lost too much blood. If this happened to anyone else, they would have been lying in the ground long ago.

But that was the terrible state he was in before he fell into a coma.

When he awoke, he found himself lying on a thick, warm leather cushion. His body had received some degree of healing. Although his meridians were still atrophied, they were much better than before. Even the unstoppable bleeding from his right hand had been stopped.

Overall, he is still considered injured, but his injuries are not life-threatening.

The other thing is the matter of the tiger.

Because of his obsession with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hu Xiaolin memorized almost every piece of information about it, even the pattern of its fur.

When he awoke, what surprised him most was not the changes in his body, but the fur mat he was sitting on.

The pattern is obvious at a glance.

—It is the skin of a violent tiger.

Immediately afterwards, Hu Xiaolin smelled a wonderful fragrance that permeated his mind and spirit.

He turned his head and looked at the pieces of meat on the grill, realizing with a deep understanding that this was the last time he would see Violent Tiger.

It was actually baked?!

The person who handed the Tiger Roasted Meat to Hu Xiaolin was a gentle-looking young man dressed in white.

The scene from his memory resurfaced before his eyes. He vaguely remembered that the one who easily twisted off the tiger's head seemed to be this seemingly ordinary young man in front of him.

How could a single blow kill a tiger at the peak of the Transcendent God stage?

Even if that tiger was wounded, its power was still beyond what ordinary cultivators could withstand. The person in front of us has an extremely ordinary appearance, but his strength is probably no less than that of a Transcendent God.

Thinking of this, Hu Xiaolin put down the roasted meat in his hand and stared at Yun Ping.

"May I ask, sir... are you a monk from the Northern Ice Palace?"

"The Northern Ice Palace?" Yun Ping chuckled as he handed the roasted meat in his hand to Zhang Ruoxue beside him. She had been cultivating all night, and her stomach was already growling. "Sorry, I don't have much to do with the Northern Ice Palace."

"Not the Northern Ice Palace?" Seeing Yun Ping deny any connection to the Northern Ice Palace, Hu Xiaolin frowned immediately. "Could it be... a cultivator from another sect?"

"I guess so. I'm here on some business."

"Are we going to the Northern Ice Palace?" Hu Xiaolin blinked, looking at Yun Ping with some anticipation.

Yunping couldn't understand why the person in front of him had such an expectant look on his face, but he still answered honestly, "I really do need to go to the Northern Ice Palace."

Upon hearing Yunping's destination, Hu Xiaolin's usually indifferent and cold lips gradually curled into a smile.

He glanced at the azure sky; time had shifted from night to dawn. Due to the environmental characteristics of the Far Eastern snowfield, no sunlight shone down in this area.

"If you're going to the Arctic Palace, I should be able to help you."

"Give me a hand?" Yun Ping raised an eyebrow, showing some interest in his question. "How so?"

"It's like this, I used to have a daughter... she had some status and position in the Northern Ice Palace..."

When Hu Xiaolin's daughter was mentioned, his expression suddenly turned gloomy, as if a thick dark cloud was hanging over his head.

He told Yunping about his daughter's suffering and his pursuit of the tiger, and also mentioned his considerable reputation on the outskirts of the Northern Ice Palace—in order to gain Yunping's trust in him, someone they had only met a short time ago.

In the end, he suddenly knelt down in front of Yunping.

Yunping and Zhang Ruoxue, who was standing next to him, were both stunned. Neither of them expected that this middle-aged man with a weathered appearance would suddenly kneel down.

With grateful eyes, he looked at Yunping's astonished face, then knelt down deeply, striking the ground with his forehead.

"If it weren't for you... I might not have been able to kill that ferocious tiger and avenge my daughter even in death."

He kowtowed sincerely and earnestly.

“I, Hu Xiaolin, am a person who always repays kindness, but I have nothing right now. With your strength, I'm afraid I can't help you with your cultivation level. I can only repay your kindness in other places and in other ways.”

"Since you want to go to the Northern Ice Palace, I happen to have the means to enter the inner three palaces of the Northern Ice Palace. I hope I can help you out as a way of repaying your kindness."

Yunping could tell from these words that they came from the heart.

In other words...

In the split second that a question arose in her mind, Zhang Ruoxue seemed to read Yun Ping's mind, "Um, sir, please get up, I have something I'd like to ask you..."

Hu Xiaolin stared blankly at Zhang Ruoxue, then at Yun Ping, "And this is...?"

“My apprentice.” Yunping waved his hand. “Get up first and listen to her.”

"Ah... um... okay."

Hu Xiaolin finally stopped kneeling in that humble posture, and Zhang Ruoxue breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't bear such a grand gesture.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, glanced at Ye Yuchan and Lin Yuan who were still fast asleep, turned around and said to Hu Xiaolin, "Old sir, I'd like to ask you about what you just mentioned... the inner three palaces of the Northern Ice Palace..."

"Have you two never heard of the Northern Ice Palace?" Hu Xiaolin was taken aback. In his opinion, this was common knowledge. "The Northern Ice Palace is divided into the Outer Three Palaces and the Inner Three Palaces. The Outer Three Palaces are specifically for us independent cultivators without a sect. They are not much different from ordinary towns. The Inner Three Palaces are for the disciples of the Northern Ice Palace. However, some outstanding talents in the Outer Three Palaces will also be regarded as prospective disciples, that is, disciples of the Outer Palace."

“My daughter is an outer palace disciple… She originally had a very good chance of being promoted to the inner palace… I even found her a teacher…”

At this point, the atmosphere became awkward again.

Zhang Ruoxue wasn't stupid. Realizing that letting Hu Xiaolin recall things would only make matters worse, she quickly changed the subject: "No, no, sir, we know all that you're saying, but what I want to ask is..."

"Since when... even entering the Inner Palace requires certain conditions? Isn't it supposed to be a matter of simply announcing your presence and entering whenever you want?"

39. Titles are so troublesome

Hu Xiaolin slapped his forehead, realizing he had been confused. He then explained to Zhang Ruoxue, "It's like this: you are from an outside sect, so it's normal that you're not very familiar with the situation at our Northern Ice Palace."

"What does this mean? What has happened at the Northern Ice Palace?" Yun Ping's eyes narrowed slightly, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

"It can't really be called a sudden change, it's just a minor problem." Speaking of this matter, Hu Xiaolin himself was not very clear about it. "It's just that the Beibing Palace suddenly announced the closure of the inner three palaces for some reason, prohibiting outsiders from entering and insiders from leaving. It seems to be quite strict. People in the outer three palaces probably can't get in without using connections."

……

That's some interesting news.

The Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace wouldn't have sealed off the Inner Three Palaces without a reason. Considering what Xiao Hei had said earlier, Yun Ping guessed that something must have gone wrong inside the Northern Ice Palace.

The source of this problem is very likely the Silver Cold Snow Ice.

But almost a day has passed, and Lin Yuan's meridians have not experienced any further disorder, and her double pupils remain stable.

Does this mean the crisis is over, or was it just a false alarm?

Yunping didn't know.

However, the situation at this moment can only be described as stable, not safe.

If Yunping doesn't find Yin Hanxuebing and confirm her safety, he will never be able to put his mind at ease.

However, judging from Lin Yuan's appearance, there shouldn't be any problems in the short term—although the girl is still asleep.

Seeing Yun Ping and the others fall silent, Hu Xiaolin immediately spoke up, "My benefactors, since you were sent from an outer sect, you probably don't have a place to stay in the Northern Ice Palace, right? My humble abode may be small, but it can at least provide a place to rest. You see..."

This means that Yunping and the others are invited to stay at his place.

What Hu Xiaolin didn't know was that his thoughts were completely unnecessary. Ye Yuchan had previously amassed countless gold and silver treasures in the Blackwater Abyss's treasury, amounting to at least a million gold coins. These gold coins would be enough to bring rain to the Northern Ice Palace, so why would they worry about finding a place to stay?

However, Yunping appreciated Hu Xiaolin's kindness.

He was actually a little worried that if he went to the Northern Ice Palace, someone might covet Yuan'er's double pupils. If she stayed in a restaurant where her records could be easily checked, she might suffer some hardship. He knew nothing about the situation inside the Northern Ice Palace, so hiding in Hu Xiaolin's house to gather information was the best course of action.