When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
Xiao Xue's current feeling was precisely like this saying.
She only felt this sensation when she was withdrawing her soul power.
Now, if she tried to examine it closely again, her soul power was already insufficient, making it impossible.
"It shouldn't be an illusion."
Xiao Xue frowned slightly, thinking to herself.
"If the soul of that Nine-Headed Serpent hasn't completely perished, and what's more, at this depth, it can still be easily sensed..."
Many things that she couldn't figure out before suddenly became clear at this moment.
Seeing the unusual expression on her face, Medusa asked, "Xiao Xue, what's wrong?"
Xiao Xue snapped back to reality and looked at Medusa, "That guy down there doesn't seem to be completely dead."
"I was curious from the start how you, only at the peak of the Dou Huang level back then, were able to sense something below."
"Now, everything makes sense."
Xiao Xue looked at Medusa and spoke slowly, enunciating every word, "That Nine-Headed Serpent wanted to seize your body."
Hearing this, Medusa's expression changed drastically.
Xiao Xue ignored the pale-faced Medusa and continued speaking, "Or rather, it wanted to seize the body of a snake-type magical beast to save itself and escape the Ice Spirit Lake."
"And you just happened to be passing by."
"If you had truly been strong enough back then, or had been reckless enough to enter the Ice Spirit Lake directly, the 'you' standing here now wouldn't be you anymore."
Upon hearing this, Medusa looked down at the Ice Spirit Lake with a complex expression.
She had originally thought this was a great opportunity for herself; she never expected it to be merely bait.
If the Nine-Headed Serpent had seized her body, even her current self would have almost no ability to resist.
Even if she could fight the Nine-Headed Serpent's remnant soul, being trapped in the Ice Spirit Lake would likely lead to a grim outcome.
"Stop looking, there's nothing left to see."
Xiao Xue interrupted Medusa's brooding, "Looking now is pointless. Wait until you break through to the Dou Zun level, then you can come back and deal with it slowly."
Xiao Xue opened the system's [Map] and added a [Coordinate] at their current location.
She figured that in the original novel, Medusa must have also discovered this Ice Spirit Lake.
However, she spent several years being carried around by Xiao Yan in her soul form, and then she was busy managing the Yan Alliance, so she probably put it out of her mind.
After all, in the original novel, they traveled all the way from the Northwest Region toward the interior of the continent.
Later, Medusa even obtained opportunities in the Central Plains and with the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python tribe.
By the time she left the Northwest Region for the Central Plains, Medusa's strength was already formidable.
Therefore, a place in the north where she only suspected an opportunity existed was naturally ignored by her.
But things were different from the original novel now; Xiao Xue would never let go of a Nine-Headed Serpent's remnant soul, along with its essence blood and magical core.
When the time came, whether she gave them to Medusa or Qing Lin, they would all be top-tier treasures.
Thus, the remnant soul of the Nine-Headed Serpent beneath the Ice Spirit Lake had been duly noted by Xiao Xue.
In the end, Medusa reluctantly gave up the "opportunity" in the Ice Spirit Lake and asked Xiao Xue about their next steps.
Then, Xiao Xue took Medusa and began "treasure hunting" in the vicinity.
Although the things beneath the Ice Spirit Lake couldn't be taken yet, there were still many good items in the surrounding area.
After looking around some more, Xiao Xue found not only Ice Spirit Cold Marrow near the Ice Spirit Lake but also several stalks of Ice Spirit Flame Grass and other ice-attribute medicinal ingredients.
While she was at it, she also killed a few wild water-attribute magical beasts, gathered several water-attribute magical cores, and completed the ingredients needed to refine the Azure Lotus Pill.
She had long ago promised Ah Li that she would refine the Azure Lotus Pill for her.
Now that she had refined the Bone Chilling Flame and her soul power had reached the Great Perfection of the Mortal State, she naturally intended to fulfill her promise.
The ice plain was sparsely populated, so even the unusual phenomena caused by the completion of a tier six pill wouldn't attract too much trouble.
With the assistance of her Great Perfection Mortal State soul power and the Bone Chilling Flame, Xiao Xue successfully refined two Azure Lotus Pills using two Earth Flame Lotus Seeds and handed them over to Ah Li.
With the energy provided by the Azure Lotus Pills, Ah Li broke through from the peak of three-star Dou Zong to the early stage of four-star.
Afterward, Xiao Xue and Medusa returned the way they came.
There was no point in staying here, and continuing further north meant they would run out of places to go.
Xiao Xue and Medusa were currently located in the far north of the Dou Qi Continent.
However, the so-called far north did not mean this was the end of the continent.
In fact, north of the Ice Spirit Lake, past a mountain range and a short distance further, lay the Endless Sea.
The entire northern part of the Dou Qi Continent was surrounded by the Endless Sea.
No one knew where the Endless Sea actually ended.
Rumor had it that even a Dou Sheng expert, flying continuously, could not reach the end of the sea before their Dou Qi was exhausted.
—Is it possible that Dou Sheng experts don't fly, but simply tear open space to travel?
Therefore, rumors shouldn't be blindly trusted.
However, although Xiao Xue possessed a system, and the system included a [Map] function;
The area of the Endless Sea on the [Map] was a vast, gray expanse, making accurate positioning impossible.
Therefore, Xiao Xue, who only had the strength of a Dou Wang, would absolutely not venture there.
Who knew if there were Tier 8 or even Tier 9 magical beasts in the ocean? Like the Deep Sea Demon Whale King? (Just kidding)
In the original *Battle Through the Heavens* novel, the focus was constantly on exploring the interior of the continent, causing almost everyone to neglect the sea regions.
In fact, the number of high-tier magical beasts in the sea is far greater than on land!
Even though the land-to-sea ratio on the Dou Qi Continent is three to seven—three parts sea, seven parts land!
If they didn't encounter high-tier sea magical beasts, things would be fine, but if they did, it would be a huge problem.
She couldn't possibly use "water droplet + spiritual power" to duel a sea magical beast, could she?
Wait, this seems like a potential direction for development... If her strength became sufficiently high, perhaps she could create the "Droplet" from *The Three-Body Problem*!
If she could use the "Droplet" to form armor covering her entire body.
She could probably stand there and let Hun Tiandi strike her, or let Nihility Devouring Flame burn her, and still remain completely unharmed, right?
After all, this world already had people capable of creating nuclear bombs by hand and tearing open the void.
So, me creating a Droplet... seems quite reasonable?
However, Xiao Xue felt that for a single drop of water to achieve that legendary power,
She would probably need to possess ten, or at least nine, points of [Elemental Affinity] to make it possible.
Of course, it was only a possibility.
Right now, she was just an ordinary Dou Wang, still far from reaching that stage.
On the way south, Xiao Xue opened the system interface and located the hidden information coordinates related to the Chu Yun Empire:
—[Ghastly Poison City]
Since she hadn't gained any benefits from the Ice Spirit Lake, she hoped this [Hidden Information] prompted by the system wouldn't disappoint her.
What Xiao Xue didn't know was that countless experts in the Chu Yun Empire were gathering outside Ghastly Poison City.
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