Douluo Continent: My name is Lu Mingfei, and my martial soul is Lu Mingze.

Two weeks.

Lu Mingfei has been in the far north for two whole weeks.

He was lying in a snowdrift, his face buried in the snow, looking like a frozen salted fish. His clothes were soaked through by the wind and snow, his hair was covered with frost, and his breath froze into ice crystals on his eyebrows.

"Lu Mingze." His voice was muffled and indistinct in the snow.

"Um?"

"You're a fucking liar."

Lu Mingze's voice rang in his mind, tinged with laughter: "Brother, you've said that at least eight hundred times. Can't you come up with something new?"

Lu Mingfei rolled over, lying on his back, looking at the gray sky.

Snowflakes fell on his face, but he didn't care; they were already numb from the cold.

"Where's the great opportunity you were talking about? Huh? Where is it?" He stretched out a hand and gestured around haphazardly.

"Look at this place for yourself. It's nothing but snow and ice, nothing but snow and ice, not a single hair on the ground. I've been walking for two weeks and haven't even seen a single footprint of a soul beast."

That's because you're unlucky.

"I'm unlucky?" Lu Mingfei sat up, looking incredulous.

"When have I, Lu Mingfei, ever been lucky? You've known me for so long, have you ever seen me have any good luck?"

Lu Mingze paused for a second, then said sincerely, "It seems there really isn't."

"That settles it then!" Lu Mingfei lay back down. "You know I'm unlucky, yet you still brought me to a place like this. Do you want me to die here?"

"Brother, if you really die, I won't live either. Would I joke with my own life?"

Lu Mingfei snorted: "That's hard to say. You little devil, who knows what you're up to?"

"I swear to God," Lu Mingze's voice sounded particularly innocent, "I've been incredibly good to you."

Lu Mingfei closed his eyes: "Come on, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Let me get some sleep."

"Don't fall asleep, bro, if you fall asleep you really won't wake up again."

"If I can't wake up, I can't wake up. Anyway, there's no point in living in this godforsaken place."

Despite saying that, he still opened his eyes.

In reality, he was just complaining.

Over two weeks, they traveled north from Shrek City, crossing the borders of the Empire and entering the far north. The further north they went, the colder it became, the stronger the winds, and the fewer people there were. Eventually, even the official road disappeared, leaving only a vast expanse of snow-covered plains.

But Lu Mingfei did not freeze to death.

Not only did he not freeze to death, his soul power also increased rapidly over the past two weeks.

It has risen to level 20.

What does level 20 mean? It's the threshold for a Soul Master to obtain a second Soul Ring, which was an unattainable dream for Lu Mingfei before.

Lu Mingfei had been in the outer courtyard for so long, but his soul power was as slow as a tortoise, completely stagnant.

After spending two weeks in this freezing cold, I actually broke through.

He himself couldn't understand it.

"What exactly are those two Words of Power you gave me?" Lu Mingfei suddenly asked.

"The Imperial Flame and the Bronze Throne," Lu Mingze said.

"The Flame of the Sovereign is a fire-based incantation that generates heat within your body to resist the extreme cold. The Bronze Throne is an incantation that strengthens your physical body, allowing it to withstand harsher environments. If it weren't for these two incantations, you would have frozen solid on your first day here."

Lu Mingfei raised his hand and looked at his palm.

He could feel a warm current flowing slowly within his body, spreading from his chest to his limbs. The outside temperature was below minus forty degrees Celsius, but his core body temperature remained at a normal level.

This is the effect of Junyan—well, it's temporarily being used as a heat preservation device.

As for the bronze throne, he himself had his own experience with it.

After walking for two weeks, trekking for more than ten hours every day, he would have collapsed long ago.

Although I'm still tired, my body recovers much faster than before.

"Did you create these two spells yourself?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I guess so," Lu Mingze said.

"After your soul power breaks through level 20, I will be able to unlock some new abilities for you, such as the Sovereign Flame and the Bronze Throne."

"So, every time I break through to a higher level, you'll give me a few more Words of Power?"

"That's how it is in theory."

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "Alright, you're not entirely useless after all."

Lu Mingze's voice carried a hint of amusement: "Brother, are you praising me?"

"I'm not praising you, I'm just stating a fact." Lu Mingfei closed his eyes. "Although you're a little rascal, at least you didn't let me freeze to death here."

"elder brother."

"Um?"

"I'll remember what you said."

Lu Mingfei didn't respond.

The wind whistled past my ears, and snowflakes landed on my face, feeling cool.

He was in a daze, and his consciousness began to blur.

Just then, Lu Mingze's voice suddenly became urgent.

"Brother, someone's here."

Lu Mingfei didn't move.

"Brother, someone's really here."

Lu Mingfei still didn't move.

"Brother! Did you hear that? Someone's coming!"

Lu Mingfei rolled over impatiently: "Can't you just shut up for a minute? This godforsaken place isn't a soul in sight, where would anyone come from?"

"It really is! Right to your right!"

"There is snow on my right."

"Behind the snow!"

"There's still snow after snow."

"Can you please open your eyes and look at me!"

"I won't look."

"Take a look!"

"No--"

"Just one look!"

Annoyed to no end, Lu Mingfei sat up abruptly, opened his eyes, and blurted out, "Lu Mingze, do you have—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

His mouth was still open, but the sound was stuck in his throat and couldn't come out.

Because there really was something in front of him.

not human.

It's a scorpion.

A huge, ice-blue scorpion with its tail held high.

The scorpion was bigger than him, its pincers gleamed with a ghostly blue light, and the cold glint of its stinger made Lu Mingfei's scalp tingle.

It stood quietly in the snow, its deep blue eyes staring at Lu Mingfei as if he were a moving piece of meat.

Lu Mingfei's brain froze for a full two seconds.

Then his body moved before his brain did.

Lord Flame, open.

A burst of crimson flame erupted from his body and blasted directly at the scorpion.

Flames exploded in the snow, and the melting snow turned into steam, which rose up in a flash, turning the surrounding area into a white fog.

At the same time, the bronze throne was instantly activated, and a faint bronze luster appeared on his skin.

The Kamaitachi opened its mouth, taking in all the sounds around it—the sound of the wind, the sound of falling snow, the sound of billowing steam, and the sound of the scorpion's pincers gently clattering.

Using the recoil from the flames, Lu Mingfei staggered back seven or eight meters, landing on the snow. He assumed a fighting stance, staring intently at the plume of steam.

My heart was pounding like a drum.

My hands are shaking.

My legs were shaking too.

But he gritted his teeth and didn't run away.

It's not that I don't want to run, it's that my legs are too weak to run.

Holy crap, this scorpion is huge! It's terrifying!

The steam slowly dissipated.

The icy blue scorpion remained standing still.

There wasn't a single scorch mark on its shell.

When Junyan's flames hit it, it was no different than if he had just breathed on it.

Then the scorpion spoke.

"Not bad." Its voice was unexpectedly cold, like the sound of ice cubes colliding.

"The flame quality is very high, and the enhancement effect is also decent, but the damage is a bit low. The soul power is too weak; it feels like a tickle when it hits me."

Lu Mingfei was stunned.

This scorpion is evaluating his words of power.

A scorpion was commenting on him.

And he explained it quite professionally.

"Brother." Lu Mingze's voice rang in my mind, carrying a feeling of trying hard to suppress a laugh.

"Let me introduce you. This is the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, one of the three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, with a cultivation of nearly 400,000 years."