Chapter 226: Arriving at Ice Palace City
A month later, senior Niu took them out of the grassland space.
After recovering and double cultivating for several weeks, their cultivation was a little stable.
However, anyone could see that they had just broken through to the origin tempering realm.
"We will arrive in Ice Palace city in another day." Jiang Yue said.
As they neared Ice Palace city, they encountered many carriages on the road.
Some were luxurious and others were ordinary or dilapidated.
However, all the people they met carried a palpable sense of excitement.
"Do you think the Sea Cloud sect and master Yang have arrived?" Jiang Yue asked.
It had been a long time since he saw master Yang and he missed him a little.
Although Yang Xu was not his master, he was the closest thing they had to an elder in the Cangxing world.
Master Yang had taken good care of them and Jiang Yue respected him and liked him a lot.
"He didn’t reply to my last jade communication. If he hasn’t arrived yet, he should be close." Yu Nianzhen said and his lips curled in a small smile.
"I can’t believe he is at the top of the core formation realm category of the Casngxing ranking." Jiang Yue said and laughed heartily.
When he and Yu Nianzhen had nothing to do, they went through the list, trying to find the ranking of their acquaintances.
Unexpectedly, it was quite easy to find Yang Xu.
This was because he had a rare nine suns origin and his title turned out to be a direct derivation.
"Nine Suns master." Jiang Yue muttered.
"It’s a good title." Yu Nianzhen said and nodded.
"Either way, it’s good to know his origin has recovered more than expected. Otherwise, his cultivation wouldn’t directly rise from the peak of the origin tempering realm to the peak of the core formation realm."
"It’s good news." Yu Nianzhen nodded.
"If the ninth-ranked ’Ice Orchid Fairy’ on the origin tempering realm category is master Yang’s fiancée, she also did well." Jiang Yue said.
"It should be her."
"I also think so."
"It’s good that master has recovered a little but this may cause him trouble." Yu Nianzhen said and frowned.
His master’s injury was not ordinary and couldn’t be healed with ordinary healing treasures.
Now that his cultivation realm had improved, many would discover that something was off.
If the Cangxing ranking did not take place, Yang Xu could have hidden his recovery until later.
However, their plans couldn’t keep up with the changes and Yang Xu was exposed ahead of time.
"Let’s meet up first and then figure it out." Jiang Yue said.
"You are right." Yu Nianzhen rubbed his husband’s but couldn’t get rid of his worry.
He couldn’t relax until he met Yang Xu and confirmed that the other was alright.
"You are a mother hen." Jiang Yue said and laughed.
It was rare for Yu Nianzhen to care about someone and Jiang Yue couldn’t help but tease him.
"Would I have to worry if my master wasn’t so troublesome?"
Jiang Yue thought of the flamboyant Yang Xu and couldn’t help but laugh again.
"Rather than worry about him, you should worry about him."
When he heard that, Yu Nianzhen was immediately stimulated and looked at his husband.
"What’s wrong with you?"
"What happened to the rewards from the dao of heaven? Were we tricked?" Jiang Yue complained for the hundredth time.
Initially, they were too excited about the two lists that they ignored the missing rewards.
However, when the excitement dissipated a little, they remembered the promised rewards.
Unfortunately, there was no one to complain to.
"When we meet master, we will ask him about previous rankings. Maybe there is something we don’t know." Yu Nianzhen said and tried to comfort to reassure his husband.
His carefree XiaoYue had become addicted to treasures and spirit stones.
However, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t reprimand him because he was also the same.
Neither was willing to let go of any treasures and he was naturally unreconciled when he thought the dao of heaven had tricked them.
"There better be a good explanation for this. Otherwise..." Jiang Yue clenched his fist and glared at the sky.
He didn’t know if the dao of heaven was an entity that existed in the sky. However, people always looked to the sky when they thought about deities.
"Don’t worry, I will accompany you beat the dao of heaven when the time comes." Yu Nianzhen continued to soothe.
Jiang Yue finally calmed down but a little depression could be seen in his eyes.
"We have collected many treasures along the way. Don’t be discouraged by the lack of one treasure."
"Okay." Jiang Yue said and smiled.
With a sigh, he let the matter go and his face turned solemn.
"Azhen, have you felt it again?" He asked.
Yu Nianzhen frowned and closed his eyes.
He used his divine sense to examine his body and shook his head when he finally opened his eyes.
"I don’t feel anything."
"This matter is too troublesome." Jiang Yue frowned.
When Yu Nianzhen broke through to the origin tempering realm, he once again felt the presence of a beast contract.
However, the feeling disappeared soon after he breakthrough.
One month later, he still couldn’t figure out what kind of demonic beast he made a contract with.
"Senior Niu knows something." Jiang Yue sighed and looked at the bullock they were riding.
[Since senior Niu is unwilling to say anything, there must be a reason.] Yu Nianzhen transmitted.
"I know." Jiang Yue said.
However, he was still uneasy.
He didn’t know why a powerful creature would forge a contract in such a strange way.
Most importantly, he didn’t understand why it continued to hide.
Until he knew the answers to these questions, he couldn’t let his guard down.
"I didn’t feel any malice from the contract. It should be fine for now."
"You have to guard yourself no matter what."
"I know, don’t worry." Yu Nianzhen rubbed Jiang Yue’s hair and pulled him to sit in his arms.
"We are older than we were in our previous life." Jiang Yue suddenly said and Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but laugh.
"You are still as beautiful as you were when you were younger."
"You are also very handsome." Jiang Yue said and nestled closer.
In this way, the two travelled for a day and finally arrived at the city gate of the Ice Palace city.
The gate was a hundred metres wide and had four entrances.
The leftmost entrance was for cultivators and its opposite on the right was for ordinary people.
Next to the entrance for ordinary people, was a larger entrance for special guests.
Special guests included people from the city lord’s mansion, their guests, and delegates from other regions.
Other than the three gates was the widest fourth gate.
This gate was used by merchant caravans, and travel caravans that had more than three carriages in the procession.
"Ours is the leftmost gate." Jiang Yue said and frowned. It was already noon and all gates had long queues in front.
"We may not enter until evening." Yu Nianzhen observed.
"If we knew better, we should have arrived at a better hour."
"We are cultivators, do we still have to worry about the sun?"
Jiang Yue stuck out his tongue and snorted.
Yu Nianzhen chuckled and didn’t continue to tease his husband.
While talking, they moved along the line.
Just before dusk, they finally had their turn and stood in front of the gatekeeper.
"Temporary stay or permanent residence?" The guard asked.
After travelling through many cities, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were already used to this routine.
They expertly gave their details and grungily paid two hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones as an entry fee.
"It’s so expensive." Jiang Yue grumbled as they made their way through the main street.
"It can’t be helped. Too many cultivators have come to Ice Palace city. If we arrived a little later, we may have to pay more."
"I am worried about accommodation." Jiang Yue said.
The Ice Palace conference was only a week away.
At this time, most everyone had already arrived and the inns would surely be full.
"We plan to stay in the Ice Palace region for a long time and it’s not ideal to stay at an inn. Our best option is to rent a cultivation cave. If we can’t rent one, let’s find an open area and set up the ancient palace."
"Renting a cave should cost a lot of spirit stones." Jiang Yue said and sighed.
"We can only blame ourselves for coming later."
’You are..." Jiang Yue started and suddenly stopped.
He looked to the side and saw a girl walking towards them.
The girl looked around ten and was carrying a large coffin on her back.
’What’s this?’ Jiang Yue wondered as he looked at the coffin.
The coffin was covered in talismans and the people on the street were attracted by the stranger.
"Brother Yu, brother Yue." The girl called when she arrived in front of them.
