Zhangyang Village.
The arrival of Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan greatly excited and pleased Granny Yang and Yang Zhenzhen, who immediately brought out the most sumptuous food they had to entertain the two. However, the two did not accept, directly stating their intention.
"Granny, I see Nuan Nuan's spirit power has already reached level ten. We are here to take her to find her spirit ring, so we won't stay for a meal," Jiang Nannan said, a smile and relief on her face. The young girl still liked this little girl who was also called Nuan Nuan.
"Really! Thank you, big brother and big sister!" Yang Zhenzhen immediately shouted happily upon hearing this.
"This... Thank you so much, two adults!" The old woman's eyes welled up with tears of joy, and she spoke through both laughter and tears.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan did not waste any time, immediately taking Yang Zhenzhen to the Spirit Hunting Forest outside Falan City to find a spirit ring. Along the way, they specifically inquired about Yang Zhenzhen's cultivation. It turned out that the little girl had already reached level ten not long after they visited Zhangyang Village last year. By now, exactly one year had passed. During this year, the little girl Yang Zhenzhen had always kept Jiang Nannan's words in mind, never stopping her cultivation even when her spirit power reached a bottleneck.
They soon arrived at Falan City's Spirit Hunting Forest. The Spirit Hunting Forest is a relatively small Spirit Beast forest where all the Spirit Beasts are artificially raised, destined only to become spirit rings and food. The strongest Spirit Beasts in the Spirit Hunting Forest do not exceed a thousand years. Periodically, high-level Spirit Masters enter to clear it out, slaying or capturing any Spirit Beasts older than a thousand years.
At this moment, Zhu Ziyang and the other two arrived at the entrance of the Spirit Hunting Forest. Many Spirit hunting teams and commoner Spirit Masters were active here, all waiting for the forest's opening time.
Zhu Ziyang did not pay much attention to these people. Amidst their curious, perplexed, mocking, worried, and indifferent gazes, he walked towards the forest entrance.
At the forest entrance was a team of soldiers responsible for guarding the forest. The captain of the soldiers immediately stepped forward after seeing Zhu Ziyang and the other two, blocking them and saying, "No one is allowed to enter the forest without the City Lord's personal order!"
Zhu Ziyang did not speak, but instead directly pulled out a token. It was the symbol of an Inner Courtyard Disciple of Shrek Academy. With this symbol, one could freely enter and exit any Spirit Hunting Forest in the Three Great Empires. It was impossible for the soldier captain in front of him not to recognize it.
As expected, when the captain saw Zhu Ziyang's token, a fawning smile immediately appeared on his face, and he said, "It's actually a Spirit Master adult from Shrek Academy. I was ignorant and apologize for the disturbance!"
The soldier captain immediately signaled his subordinates to open the gate of the forest entrance, allowing Zhu Ziyang and the other two to enter.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan immediately led Yang Zhenzhen into the forest. They didn't want to waste time and wanted to quickly find a suitable Spirit Beast for Yang Zhenzhen, so they made no attempt to conceal themselves, flying openly above the forest with an extremely arrogant attitude.
Despite their arrogance, they were not careless in the slightest. Their gazes swept over every place below where a Spirit Beast might appear. Finally, by a lake, they found a Spirit Beast that was perfectly suited for Yang Zhenzhen in both attribute and age: a two-hundred-year-old Conductive Flying Mouse.
Yang Zhenzhen's Spirit is the Thunder Ray Moth, a common thunder-attribute Spirit Beast suitable for an attack system path. The Conductive Flying Mouse they found is also thunder-attribute, highly compatible with the Thunder Ray Moth, and possesses considerable combat ability. It should be able to provide Yang Zhenzhen with a decent Spirit Ability.
After selecting their target, they didn't hesitate. Zhu Ziyang was responsible for staying behind to watch over Yang Zhenzhen, while Jiang Nannan was responsible for taking down the Conductive Flying Mouse. A two-hundred-year-old small Spirit Beast wasn't worth both of them, two Spirit Kings, acting together. Jiang Nannan's movements were swift and clean. With a direct acceleration, before the Conductive Flying Mouse even noticed, she slapped it on the head, and the powerful spirit power fluctuation immediately knocked it unconscious.
Jiang Nannan, carrying the Conductive Flying Mouse, returned to Zhu Ziyang and Yang Zhenzhen's side, throwing it in front of Yang Zhenzhen and saying, "Nuan Nuan, do you remember what big sister told you on the way? Now it's up to you."
"Mhm! I understand!" Yang Zhenzhen's face showed determination. She took out the cleaver she carried close to her body. That's right, a cleaver. This was something Granny Yang had personally given to Yang Zhenzhen before they left, its purpose self-evident.
The little girl's movements were clean and decisive. With one strike, she ended the Conductive Flying Mouse's life. Her expression remained unchanged, as if she had done something trivial, which surprised Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan.
"Grandma's hands shake, so I cut all the vegetables at home," the little girl explained, her small face flushed, seeing their expressions and mumbling.
"Hehe, that's very impressive!" Jiang Nannan praised with a smile. "Come on, start absorbing your first spirit ring! You can do it!"
"Mhm!" Yang Zhenzhen's face was filled with excitement and anticipation. She immediately sat down on the ground as Jiang Nannan had instructed, and began to absorb the Conductive Flying Mouse's spirit ring.
Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan stood guard by Yang Zhenzhen, watching her absorb the spirit ring. Jiang Nannan's face showed concern. She fully understood the danger of absorbing a spirit ring for a Spirit Master. She wouldn't consider it a trivial matter just because she or people she knew had successfully absorbed spirit rings.
In fact, every year there are Spirit Masters who fail to absorb a spirit ring. In minor cases, their cultivation realm drops, and years of hard work turn to dust. In severe cases, their Spirit shatters, leading to death.
Fortunately, although Yang Zhenzhen took nearly six hours to complete the spirit ring absorption, she successfully refined the spirit ring, and her spirit power reached level 13. A year's accumulation had all transformed into a fruitful harvest.
The little girl was very happy, filled with laughter and excitement all the way back.
Upon returning to Zhangyang Village, Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan left Yang Zhenzhen at the village entrance. They chose not to go in, but instead directly told Yang Zhenzhen, "Zhenzhen, you must cultivate diligently. Strive to exceed level 15 spirit power before you turn thirteen. As long as you meet this requirement, then big brother and big sister will take you to Shrek Academy!"
"Mhm! Big brother, big sister, don't worry, Nuan Nuan will definitely cultivate diligently!" Yang Zhenzhen nodded seriously and said.
"Alright then, we're leaving!" Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan turned and departed.
Yang Zhenzhen stood at the village entrance, watching their retreating figures, her eyes gleaming with resolute light. She swore she would not let down Sister Nannan and Yang-ge's expectations!
——
By the time Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan returned to Anyang City, it was already the fifth day of the holiday.
Upon returning home, Zhu Ziyang set aside all thoughts and worries. The unprecedented state of relaxation caused him to sleep soundly until the afternoon of the next day.
After waking up, Zhu Ziyang did not linger at home but instead directly entered the Far North Ice Field.
Why did he enter the Far North Ice Field? The reason was simple: to completely refine the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon's first spirit ring.
Zhu Ziyang currently possessed six spirit rings: five for the Pacifying Life-Reaping Scythe and one for the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon. Of these, the five spirit rings of the Pacifying Life-Reaping Scythe had all completed their second refinement, thoroughly becoming his own. However, the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon's first spirit ring, a red spirit ring of up to one hundred ninety thousand years, had not yet been completely refined by Zhu Ziyang.
The life force contained within a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring was not something the previous Zhu Ziyang could easily refine. Even at the current stage, to steadily refine the life force within the spirit ring, he needed the help of opportune timing and favorable conditions. This was his purpose in entering the Far North Ice Field.
By utilizing the frigid environment of the Far North Ice Field to completely refine the Silver Dragon Wolf's spirit ring, a propitious beast of the Extremely North Land, Zhu Ziyang could be certain that the success rate of this approach would be as high as ninety-nine percent!
Therefore, without any hesitation or delay, after informing his parents and Jiang Nannan, he headed directly north and entered the Far North Ice Field.
The day after Zhu Ziyang entered the Far North Ice Field, a bright-eyed young man arrived at the outer perimeter of the Far North Ice Field. If Zhu Ziyang or Jiang Nannan were to see him, they would surely exclaim his name in surprise: Huo Yuhao!
Huo Yuhao looked at the vast snowfield ahead with great excitement and shouted, "Finally, I've arrived! Extremely North Land, here I come!"
The young man had been lured here by his Brother Tianmeng. A twelve-year-old boy completely failed to understand how suicidal it was for him to venture into the Extremely North Land alone. Or perhaps, he knew but had no other choice. The young man's desperate gamble was about to change his own destiny, and the destiny of the Extremely North Land.
A fated transformation was about to begin, an unexpected encounter was about to occur, and an unprecedented being was about to descend.