Chapter 1651: Desert Sea

“Really?”

Qiwa looked up suspiciously.

Ye Qing said coldly, “You don’t have a choice, do you? You can only believe me!”

Qiwa unconsciously shivered at that. “Okay. I’ll take you there. You will let me go after we find the place.”

“Good. You should’ve just agreed from the beginning.” Ye Qing gave Qiwa’s head a rub and, hey! It felt pretty good!

“Let’s go...”

Ye Qing continued to drive the horse carriage to the north. It wasn’t long before a massive city appeared before his, Feng Qingyou, and Qiwa’s eyes.

The city was tall, vast, and magnificent. As it was forged from ice, it looked sparkling and translucent, pure and limpid. Despite its grandiose size, it was also exquisite and elegant. The two styles blended together perfectly to create a magnificent spectacle.

To be honest, it was quite stunning to find such an impressive-looking city in this mostly uninhabited snowland.

This was the capital city of Snowa, the Snow Capital.

Although Snowa was called a country, it actually had a loose structure and a small population. It had only one city, and it was the Snow Capital before their eyes. Most of the citizens of Snowa were living in this city.

The large majority of the citizens of Snowa boasted white skin, white hair, and ice blue irises. They were extremely beautiful and possessed a cold aura. They were clearly distinguishable from non-natives.

Another person might find it difficult to infiltrate Snowa. However, this was all too easy for Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou. They easily entered the city after disguising themselves with a secret art.

At their level, no one could see through their disguise unless they wanted to be seen through. Not even the queen of Snowa, a Sage, would be able to identify them.

There were two reasons why they came to Snowa. One, they wished to witness the unique customs and practices of Snowa for themselves and grow their experience. They were passing through anyway, so why not? Two, they were here for the Snowstorm Silver Owl.

The Snow Capital raised a kind of Stranger called the Snowstorm Silver Owl. A Disaster-class Stranger, it was so fast that people claimed it could travel hundreds of kilometers in an instant.

Although Snowa only had one city, its territory was endlessly vast. The weather got worse, the natural disasters grew more frequent, and the Strangers and Anomalies became more dangerous the further north one traveled. Although few things could threaten them at their level, it was still a waste of time and energy to deal with them.

It was a different story if they had a Snowstorm Silver Owl though. As its name implied, the Snowstorm Silver Owl was born from snowstorms. They naturally possessed the power to control snowstorms from birth. In fact, the faster the wind, and the greater the snowfall, the fast the Snowstorm Silver Owl would be able to travel.

Therefore, a Snowstorm Silver Owl would allow them to ignore the harsh weather of the northern region and swiftly pass through Snowa’s endlessly vast territory.

Of course, a Snowstorm Silver Owl had its weakness. Without wind or snow, it would fly slower than even an ordinary bird.

A Snowstorm Silver Owl was extremely rare. It was quite difficult to find them in the wild. Luckily for them, Snowa raised plenty of Snowstorm Silver Owls.

As mentioned before, all Snowa citizens had Stranger blood in them. They were naturally experts at taming and raising Strangers. The Snowstorm Silver Owl was one of those Strangers. The citizens of Snowa often used them for travel.

Of course, a Snowstorm Silver Owl was precious even in Snowa. Only a powerful or influential person could afford them. Most of them were controlled by the queen.

They had saved the Left Counselor and eliminated the Water Demon Ape for Snowa. Had they accepted Xue Qiurong’s invitation, they could have easily borrowed a Snowstorm Silver Owl from the queen. Unfortunately, they had turned her down.

There were two reasons why they had turned Xue Qiurong down. One, it was because they weren’t in the mood to socialize, not to mention that they weren’t planning to stay in Snowa for long. By luck, they had obtained critical information regarding the location of the evil suppressing spiritual treasure. Naturally, they should head over and confirm it as soon as possible. The longer the delay, the bigger the likelihood that something might go awry after all.

And two, they already knew a way to obtain a Snowstorm Silver Owl.

Prior to their departure, Princess Royal Furi had given them a token of trust. They were supposed to use it to find a woman named Xue Rushuang. She could lend them a Snowstorm Silver Owl.

Who was Xue Wushuang? She was the wealthiest woman in Snowa and one of its most influential. Rumors said that her wealth was on par with the queen of Snowa herself, and she was so well respected that she could enter forbidden areas in the palaces freely and not salute the queen as was customary.

Naturally, Xue Wushuang owned a lot of Snowstorm Silver Owls.

As for how Princess Royal Furi and Xue Wushuang met, that was another story. To summarize, Princess Royal Furi once saved Xue Wushuang’s life, so Xue Wushuang gave her a token. It was a token that allowed Princess Royal Furi to ask for anything and everything from Xue Wushuang. Naturally, borrowing a Snowstorm Silver Owl using this token was nothing at all.

That was why Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou were in no hurry to search for Xue Wushuang. They had time to enjoy a little tour as well.

And so the duo toured around the Snow Capital for a bit. They experienced the local customs and practices, tasted the local delicacies and wine, and enjoyed its unique sceneries and spectacles. It was quite the fun experience.

Surprisingly, despite being situated in a bitterly harsh land and boasting a small population, Snowa was anything but barbaric, poor, or uncivilized. On the contrary, they were as prosperous as wealthy lands such as Qi and Chu. This was especially true during the night when the hustle and bustle reached its peak.

Besides that, Snowa’s isolation from the world meant that they weren’t infected by the troubles, intrigues, and deceptions that plagued most foreign lands. Despite being Strangerkin, the citizens of Snowa were mostly pure and innocent, peaceful and happy.

To be honest, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou would not mind staying in the Snow Capital for some time at all if not for the fact that they had important matters to attend to.

After staying in the Snow Capital for a day and replenishing their food and wine, the duo paid Xue Wushuang a visit directly and borrowed a Snowstorm Silver Owl from her. Then, they left the first thing in the morning.

With a Snowstorm Silver Owl to carry them, it took them only ten hours or so to pass through the seemingly endless snow ridges and mountains, barren lands and sheer cliffs.

As soon as they cleared the snowy lands, the mountains disappeared, and the wind and snow ceased completely. Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou were now looking at a desert.

Logically speaking, deserts were usually found in extremely dry places. This desert should not exist as it was located right next to a snowy realm where water was plentiful. In reality, the desert did not just exist, it was as wide as the eyes could see.

The desert was the famous Desert Sea.

It was said that in ancient times, a great war between the gods and the demons damaged the earthly veins and spiritual qi of this land. As a result, the environment changed drastically and created this unnatural desert.

It was impossible to say if this rumor was true or false, but it was undeniable that the Desert Sea was extraordinarily dangerous. It was one hundred percent a forbidden zone of death.

Every other place to the north including Bei Yuan boasted some life no matter how harsh the environment was. However, the Desert Sea was different. Not a speck of life; not even a Stranger could be found in the Desert Sea. It was a true forbidden zone of death.

It was because there existed two anomalies in the Desert Sea.

The first anomaly was its strange temperature. During the day, the Desert Sea was ice cold. The temperature could drop as low as minus two or three hundred degrees Celsius, freezing into soil and stone into powder. But at night, the Desert Sea would become so hot that the temperature could reach over three to five hundred degrees Celsius and melt metal.

Two, the Desert Sea was devoid of any spiritual energies. Without spiritual energies, no plant could grow in the Desert Sea. Nothing with spiritual energy existed in the Desert Sea, much less things like food or rainwater.

All these factors combined turned the Desert Sea into a lifeless zone of death.

Naturally, crossing the Desert Sea was no easy matter.