860 Snow Road City
Alex and the other four flew in the True rank boat, surrounded by white snow that was marred crimson by the setting sun.
It didn't take long for the sun to set around these parts. Sun would usually set even as fast as 4 pm in the afternoon because of some of the tall peaks around here.
Alex scanned the area as they flew. There were leafless trees and frozen boulders, yet there was not a single sign of human life anywhere.
Alex looked to his left, the east, where storm clouds were starting to move into their location. Within the hour, they were going to have to fly through a snow storm if they were lucky.
If not, it would be a blizzard, or even worse, an ice storm with pieces of ice falling sideways so fast that most self-tempering realm cultivators wouldn't even be able to come out unharmed.
From what he had heard, even early True realm cultivators didn't dare walk out in an ice storm because of how quickly it chipped away their Qi, leaving them with nothing but artifacts to protect themselves.
"How much longer?" Alex asked Fan Yanshi. They had only left about an hour or so ago, so they shouldn't have come much further, but if possible, he would want to escape the storm, just for the sake of the people behind him.
"Hmm, I think we are a third of the way there," Fan Yanshi said. "We will know if we see the villages around the Rockless peak."
About 10 minutes later, Alex saw a small hill that was completely submerged in the snow with a massive icicle stuck at its center.
He saw small sets of villages around the place that fully embraced the winter.
"Are they cultivators? How do they survive?" Alex asked.
"Oh, merchants walk through these paths from time to time to get to and from the sect. They pass through here and sell what they can to these people," Fan Yanshi said.
Alex looked at the village with no possible source of income and wondered just what they could even do to earn money for themselves. In fact, he was so confused that he asked.
"You see that peak over there?" Fan Yanshi pointed way beyond the village. "There's a glacier that flows down from there. It's opened up the path and allows these people to dig into the earth around here and bring it out."
"Surprisingly, there are a lot of golds and silvers underneath those glaciers, which they craft into jewelries and sell for a living. If that wasn't the case, they would have already moved onto warmer locations for sure," Fan Yanshi said.
"Ah," Alex understood and kept looking around.
"Are there no beasts around here?" he asked.
"There are, but not very dangerous ones. If you want to find dangerous True beasts, you will have to either go all the way to the north where they live in the tall mountains or to the south where it's very warm and comfortable for them to live," Fan Yanshi said.
"I see, so there is no danger of beasts here, huh?" he understood.
They continued flying, passing past many villages and even a few smaller cities. Apparently, they were going to a major city in the south that sold everything they wanted, so they wouldn't have to worry about not finding what they wanted.
Alex liked it better that he was going somewhere he could easily find what he wanted.
The group kept flying as the storm got even closer.
"We would have to find shelter in one of the villages along the way if we didn't have the boat. You really have been quite the help, brother Yu," Fan Yanshi said.
"Don't count on that yet, we still have to outrun the storm," he said.
About half an hour before they reached the city, the storm caught up with them, but fortunately, it was only a snowstorm.
Heavy snow fell on them, covering them up even when they were traveling on the boat very fast. However, fortunately, they didn't get blasted by heavy winds, or that would cause more problems than anything.
"Are you not feeling cold, brother Yu?" Fan Yanshi asked. The group in the back were already feeling the chill enter their body despite their cultivation base, and somehow Alex wasn't showing any signs of it.
"Oh no," Alex shook his head. "This black robe of mine was something my mother bought for me at quite a steep price. It blocks off a lot of heat and cold."
"Is that so? Maybe we should buy something like that too," Fan Yanshi mused to himself.
"We don't have the budget for that," Fan Li said from the side, barely managing to keep her teeth from cluttering as she spoke.
Alex chuckled whenever the husband was chided by his wife. Suddenly, he saw something in the distance.
A bright yellow light shone in between the snowstorm. Whisker who was in his robes focused to try and see what it was, but before he could tell, Fan Yanshi had seen it too.
"Woah, that's the Snow Road city. We're here already?" he asked in surprise. The snowstorm was beginning to pick up, but they had already made it.
"What is that yellow light? Is that coming from the city?" Alex asked. Whisker was still incapable of showing him images from long distances clearly.
"That must be the barrier formation," Fan Yanshi said. "They activated the city barrier to stop the snow storm most likely."
"Ah, that makes sense," Alex said.
The storm picked up even further, slowly changing from a snow storm to a blizzard. However, the group didn't care as they were here and had landed.
The boat stopped in front of the city, and the 5 of them got off immediately and ran to the city gates.
There were no massive walls here that surrounded the city as there would be in the Western continent. Instead, the city was just a bunch of buildings clustered in a location, not unlike the cities back in his home.
The guards took the 5 of them in without even checking them just to get them away from the snowstorm. As soon as they got in, the group felt the incredible warmth of the city radiating around them.
"Is that formation or is there a volcano around here?" Alex asked. He looked around, but the large buildings stopped his view of the surrounding. Even if there was nothing, the snowstorm and darkness probably wouldn't let him see anything.
"I believe it's the formation," Fan Yanshi said.
After paying a small fee for entry, Fan Yanshi directly went to the market to buy everything that was on the list the four of them.
Alex followed them and walked through the city. Despite it being nighttime, the city was ablaze with light from all around, and the stores were all open.
Alex could feel cultivation bases of every kind walk past him. Most of them were Self-Tempering realm to his surprise, but a good chunk of it were also True realm cultivators.
Alex tried to feel for Saint realm cultivators, but he simply couldn't. Even if they did walk the common road, they most likely restrained their cultivation base to the point where someone like Alex would have an extremely hard time looking through their concealment.
Another thing that took Alex's attention was a group of people he saw from time to time. They wore robes of royal blue color and were True realm cultivators that walked around with spears in their hands.
They were the only ones that Alex could see that were openly walking around with weapons.
When he asked Fan Yanshi about them, it turned out that they were the guards of this city, and were most likely disciples belonging to the Heaven's Frost sect, the ancient sect that governed the State of Xue.
Not long after, they arrived in a massive building that sold almost everything a mortal or a low-level cultivator would need.
It reminded Alex of the store back in DawnSpring city where he had acquired his pill-making technique and his fake arm.
Seeds, spices, minerals, talisman papers, inks, formations plates, ingredients, cosmetic items, clothing items, and every other little thing that was written on the list as to be bought here.
As the group started looking for it all, Alex needed to go out on his own to look at the various things in the city.
"Brother Fan, how long do you think it will take for you to be done with the purchases?" Alex asked.
"Hmm, I can't be sure, brother Yu. Why do you ask?" he asked.
"I was thinking of going around the city to look at various things and see if I can buy some things with the little money I have," Alex said.
"Oh, uhh… how about you wait for us by the northern gate after you are done? Or we will wait for you after you are done," Fan Yanshi asked.
"That works fine for me," Alex said. "See you tomorrow morning then."
With that, he walked out of the store and left. Alex walked through the streets while thinking in his mind where exactly it was that he wanted to go.
There were a few things he needed for sure. For example, if he could, he would want to buy some beast cores around here.
"No, that has to be the first place," Alex thought and started looking for it. Not long after, he arrived in front of what he was looking for.
A bookstore.
