"Where are you from? Not only have you run into our spirit vessel without apologizing, but you even ask us to clear the path for you?" A bit frustrated, Elder Moye released his aura and sent it over to suppress the chariot.
The silver chariot stopped once more, floating in mid-air. The chariot was over ten feet tall, twenty feet long, and its surface was shiny and inlaid with complicated seals. Several different Spirit Stones were placed in the seals to form formations, which was why it had been able to teleport just a few moments ago.
Although the chariot had come to a stop, the person inside didn't intend to show themselves at all. They even felt Elder Moye's attempt at suppressing them was a joke and didn't feel remorseful whatsoever. "An early-Foundation Stage dares to block the path of our Mo clan's chariot?" A cold laughter rose up from within the chariot, and their own aura was soon released to extend over the space.
"Mid-Foundation…." Elder Moye was taken aback, his expression suddenly falling. The other person's battle prowess was higher, so his desire to force an apology out of them had become less pronounced. He still felt just letting it go would leave things unsettled, however, so he paused for a moment before speaking up once more. "Would this be the Mo clan of the Hundred Mile Kingdom?" Elder Moye's tone had already become placating without desire to fight back. "Esteemed Daoist, it's best not to bully others like this. The purpose of our trip is to send our sect master's daughter to study under the Melodic Ice Palace's old senior Hu Qin. It is not wise to strain relationships between us!"
The Hundred Mile Kingdom was one of the smaller countries around Chufung. Its name of "Hundred Mile" was an apt one, but there were spirit mines all throughout its territory that made the kingdom's cultivators extremely wealthy. The Mo clan was one of the Hundred Mile Kingdom's largest and most well-established clans, with a rather potent battle prowess and stories of a Golden Core Stage elder overseeing them. The Mo clan wasn't something that could be looked down upon.
Furthermore, the Mo clan had a mid-Foundation Stage cultivator here right now. Elder Moye naturally didn't dare to make things worse, but simply allowing them to leave wouldn't look good either. For that reason, he'd decided to use Ying Qiaoqiao and the fact she would soon be joining the Melodic Ice Palace to try to frighten them with the old man Hu Qin's name.
A slightly surprised voice rose up from the chariot. "Nn? You're going to join the Melodic Ice Palace as well?" Suddenly, the doors opened and two silhouettes—an elder, and a white-robed youth standing on an ancient purple sword—flew out. The elder was in mid-Foundation Stage and clearly the person who'd released his aura earlier to suppress Elder Moye, while the youth himself was in Spirit Stage tier nine and also seemed to be rather extraordinary.
The youth atop the sword flew towards the spirit vessel and calmly asked, "Who is the one also seeking apprenticeship? Please do come out!"
Surprised, Elder Moye hastily dashed over and blocked their path. "What is the meaning of this, fellow Daoist?" he asked in an authoritative tone.
The mid-Foundation Stage elder smiled. "There is no need for you to fear. This is the Chosen One of our Mo clan, Mo Yang. He is also going to become a pupil of old man Hu Qin at the Melodic Ice Palace. Meeting his future shimei is merely giving his greetings!"
"What?" Elder Moye was astonished and his expression twisted in disbelief. This young man was going to study under old man Hu Qin at the Melodic Ice Palace as well? This was just too bizarre.
What kind of status did Hu Qin hold? He was the grand elder of the Melodic Ice Palace who'd been retired for nearly a hundred years. He'd only taken in a total of three students in all his life thus far, and it was a great fortune for Ying Qiaoqiao to be granted the
opportunity to study under his wings and become his forth student. Yet, who would have imagined there would suddenly be someone else who was going to become his student as well?
The youth smiled when he saw Elder Moye's disbelief. "I have the Black Ice Order to prove it!" He flicked his finger as he spoke, causing a translucent order plate to float up into the air before giving off a chilling aura. Elder Moye became even more confused when he saw this, because he'd seen this Black Ice Order before—it was indeed identical to theirs.
Amidst his confusion, Elder Moye turned to look at Ying Qiaoqiao inside the spirit vessel. Ying Qiaoqiao herself was being held in Fang Xing's embrace and was a little flustered; it wasn't until Fang Xing pinched her that she became aware of what was happening. Ying Qiaoqiao looked at Fang Xing with a light flush before calming herself and using Levitation to leap up onto Elder Moye's cloud. Once there, she took out her own Black Ice Order for them to see and gave a polite bow. "Qiaoqiao is pleased to meet Shixiong Mo."
Mo Yang's breath was stolen away for a moment when he looked upon Ying Qiaoqiao's beauty. "Such a beautiful little shimei!" He smiled before turning and nodding towards the mid-Foundation Stage elder. "Shimei, your spirit vessel is a little too slow; just how long would it take for you to arrive at the Melodic Ice Palace that way? Since we've met now, it is our fate; why not come onto my chariot? I shall take you there!"
Ying Qiaoqiao was a little startled by this. She naturally wouldn't step onto someone else's spirit vessel so casually. "No need."
Just as Mo Yang was about to continue urging, the mid-Foundation Stage elder suddenly spoke up in reminder, "Yang'er, the journey is more urgent!"
Stumped for words, Mo Yang smiled instead. "Yes, we cannot be slower than those people. In that case, I shall wait for you at the Melodic Ice Palace, Shimei." He cupped his hands and gave a slight bow before returning to his chariot, which abruptly dashed forward and turned into a ray of light.
"What's going on? This youth from the Mo clan is also going to become a pupil at the Melodic Ice Palace?" Elder Moye muttered to himself. His mind was full of questions as he returned to their own spirit vessel.
As for Fang Xing, something else had caught his attention. 'That pretty-boy said he 'cannot be slower than those people'. Are there actually more people?'
"Something is not quite right. We should hurry and get to the Melodic Ice Palace as well!" Elder Moye had also felt something was amiss, so he urged the spirit vessel to go forward at full speed.
After this event, Ying Qiaoqiao was too embarrassed to stay at the back of the ship. She smiled towards Fang Xing and said "Thank you for today!" before walking towards the cabins with a much lighter step than before.
"The process to become his student seems a bit strange…" Fang Xing muttered to himself before returning to the back of the ship. He hoped his plans to sneak into the Melodic Ice Palace wouldn't be disrupted by all of this, or else he'd be in some serious trouble.
The spirit vessel flew through the sky, traveling day and night without slowing down. They arrived at the skies above the Melodic Ice Palace half a month later, just three days before Ying Qiaoqiao was scheduled to become old man Hu Qin's student.
The Melodic Ice Palace was located above a snowy plains. Beneath it was an ancient mine of extreme Yin that emitted a chilling aura throughout the year, causing everything in a ten-thousand-mile radius to be covered in ice and snow. As for this ancient Yin mine, it was also a kind of high-quality spirit mine despite its extreme chill. The coldness contained cultivated strands of Qi that were able to suppress any distracting thoughts, making for an ideal location for cultivation practice. The Melodic Ice Palace wouldn't have chosen to form here otherwise.
It was afternoon by the time they came within a thousand miles of the Melodic Ice Palace itself. Two figures—a man and a woman—emerged from the icy cold and majestic winds, their voices audible even from afar. "Do you have the Black Ice Order? Are you someone who has arrived to study under the Melodic Ice Palace?"
Elder Moye came out of the spirit vessel. "It is the daughter of the Myriad Beasts sect master, Ying Qiaoqiao. She has arrived to join the palace."
The two Melodic Ice Palace disciples arrived in front of them in mere seconds, and Ying Qiaoqiao came out as well to hand over the Black Ice Order. After the two disciples checked the order, they gave her a cold look and explained, "The others who received the Black Ice Order should be arriving shortly as well. Our shifu has given the order that since we don't have enough cave estates within the Melodic Ice Palace, you shall all stay at the Cold Soul Valley until three days from now, when you shall meet the grand elder."
Surprised, Elder Moye cupped his hands and asked, "Dear fellow Daoist, have many people come for the same purpose?" In truth, of these two Melodic Ice Palace disciples, the older-looking one was Spirit Stage tier nine while the younger was only in Spirit Stage tier seven. Since they were still disciples of the Melodic Ice Palace, however, Elder Moye didn't dare to show any arrogance and spoke extremely politely.
The two disciples simply showed a cold smile when they heard this. "Did you think our grand elder made an exception to specifically take one of your Myriad Beasts people as his new pupil? You think too highly of yourself!" the older-looking one replied.
Elder Moye choked on his words and no longer asked any more questions. Of course, this was also because he'd found everything he'd wanted to know: there was indeed many people here for the same purpose. For some reason, Ye Gu'yin hadn't mentioned this at all during her time at Sea Beast City, which actually resulted in the Myriad Beasts Sect feeling like a bit of a joke.
The Ice Soul Valley was located between wild mountain ranges three hundred miles away. It was filled with snow and ice, but there were also hot springs within as well, and the fresh gras coupled with the steam made for a rather pleasant location. This was actually a hidden valley normally used as a vacation spot for the Melodic Ice Palace disciples, and so there was a small area of cottages standing elegantly within for that purpose.
Despite normally being used for vacations, it was now being used as a place to welcome all of the apprenticeship seekers, and a number of groups were waiting at the valley's entrance. They hadn't yet entered the valley for some reason and instead milled around in a single spot with their spirit tools set to the side and their guards scattered about in rest. When the people noticed the Myriad Beasts disciples arrive, they all raised their eyes in scrutiny.
"Hm? Another one? Who's this one?"
"There's a mark on their spirit vessel. Seems like a Myriad Beasts Sect disciple from the Bohai Kingdom."
"Heh, barbarians from the countryside. How rare for them to even be eligible to join the Melodic Ice Palace!"
Quite a number of people in the groups began to chatter amongst themselves. Elder Moye and Ying Qiaoqiao were visibly underprepared, and so they could only helplessly glance about when they saw this. Meanwhile, Fang Xing nearby was so annoyed that his teeth began to hurt. 'I ended up with a pair of dumb geese….'
Atop a low snow-capped peak close to the valley, three youths sat around a snow-white stone. On top of the stone was a steeping pot of pellet tea, three tea cups, and a game of Weiqi. Two of the people had been playing the game while one of them watched on, but one of the players—Mo Yang—smiled when he saw the spirit ship arrive. "The pretty little shimei from the Myriad Beasts Sect has arrived. I intend to go see her!"
The blue-robed youth playing the opposition smiled. "I advise you to not do so."
Surprised, the white-robed Mo Yang laughed. "Why not? I'm not trying to flee from playing this round with you. I will come back in a moment to continue our battle."
The blue-robed youth shook his head. "Have you not heard the news about the accident Fairy Ye experienced in Bohai? Even though all the bad deeds were perpetrated by that little devil named Fang Xing, it is still difficult for the Bohai Kingdom—who'd been the host—to escape from it unscathed. I can promise you the Melodic Ice disciples all have a bad impression towards the Myriad Beasts disciples, yet not only are you not staying away from them, you actually want to get even closer?"
Dumbstruck, the white-robed Mo Yang cupped his hands towards the blue-robed youth, "Thank you for the reminder!"