Monster Paradise

Ice Blue Shelter was a grade-4 shelter.

The guardian here was a female ice dragon, whose combat strength had been maintained at ninth-rank true god-level for many years.

Although Ace Star, the headquarters of the shelter, was covered in ice all year round, it was much more prosperous compared to ordinary shelters.

There was no reason other than within the jurisdiction of the shelter lay an ancient battlefield ruin—Frost Territory.

In fact, most of the planets within jurisdiction of the Ice Blue Shelter were covered by ice and snow, which was mainly an effect of the frost aura that emanated from this ruin.

Although Ace Star experienced winter all year round, the largest market on the planet was bustling almost every day.

Light snow was falling from the sky, the market was gaily decorated, pedestrians wearing thick clothes stood shoulder to shoulder, and the vendor cries from various shops were endless.

Looking at the lively scene before him, Lin Huang felt like he had returned to Winter City in the gravel world for Chinese New Year.

“I wonder how Xin Er is now…” he could not help murmuring, “And Xiao Xuan…”

Lin Huang walked through the streets of the market with the two Sword Servants. The three of them also did what the locals did and wore thick padded jackets, not because they were cold, but to avoid unnecessary attention.

Because a large number of residents in Ice Blue Shelter were non-cultivators, they had to wear thick clothing to keep themselves warm in such severe cold weather.

Although cultivators were not afraid of the cold, if they did not wear winter clothing they would easily attract the attention of ordinary residents. Therefore, most cultivators who came here dressed like the locals.

Of course, there were also some cultivators who did not care if they were noticed by the ordinary people living in the shelter and still chose to wear thin clothes.

Lin Huang glanced around the market and noticed three individuals in unlined garments; one of them was a female cultivator in a short skirt.

Cultivators naturally did not see anything wrong with this but a few ordinary residents in the market murmured in undertones.

“It’s so cold out, isn’t that girl cold, wearing stockings?”

“She’s a woman—for the sake of beauty, what’s the cold to them?”

“Why do I feel that she really isn’t cold…”

Sword302 heard that and could not help glancing at Sword301 beside her.

This girl had originally also been reluctant to change her clothes when she arrived. She had only done so after Lin Huang had brought it up.

When she noticed the direction of Sword301’s gaze, Sword302 turned her head and glared at him.

To ease his embarrassment, Sword301 cleared his throat and turned to Lin Huang to ask, “Lord Swordmaster, are there any special places in this market?”

“Nothing special, it’s just a regular market,” Lin Huang explained with a smile, “The Frost Territory will only be officially opened in two days; we can take a short break during this time.”

“Frost City? The name of this ruin seems rather familiar…” Sword302 seemed to have remembered something.

“I know this ruin. This is a fragment left over from an ancient battlefield. It’s said to be the debris remaining from a battle between two lord-level powerhouses who specialized in frost attributes. There are a large number of frost spirits in it. I’ve been there before one million years ago or so, but I don’t remember seeing a shelter nearby. When I entered this ruin previously, its surroundings were desolate with no planets capable of sustaining life at all…”

“Ice Blue Shelter was established only 30,000 years ago. Ace Star within the shelter and several other planets around it were all transformed into livable planets by the sky dragon named Ice Blue,” explained Lin Huang, who had read up on the information about Ice Blue Shelter.

“Ahh, so that’s what happened…” Sword301 understood then.

“Do you have any other memories of this ruin?” Lin Huang asked Sword301 quickly.

Although he had already done his homework in advance and purchased information about the Frost Territory in the black market, Lin Huang still wanted to hear whether Sword301 had any noteworthy information.

“I don’t remember much about this ruin. I just remember that it was completely accessible at that time, and it could be entered by anyone below lord-level. I was a Heavenly God at the time. Before my turn, many heavenly god-level powerhouses had already gone in. From what I can remember, there does not seem to be anything particularly valuable in there. I only remember that there were heavenly god-level frost spirits; I even hunted down two of them.” Sword301 thought about it and gave his answer.

Sword302’s reply had little reference value for Lin Huang. He was too lazy to continue asking. “This ruin is now exclusively occupied by the Combat God Temple. To prevent the depletion of resources, the Lord of the Combat God Temple probably set some prohibitions in place. Now entry is restricted to those at heavenly god-level.

“Every sixty years, the Combat God Temple is opened internally for two months at a time. It is opened to the public once every 120 years, and only for one month at a time. During this period of accessibility, all organization members above grade-5 can use their identity tokens to enter or exit. Organization members grade-5 and below must submit an application to the Combat God Temple; they are only allowed to enter once their application has been approved.

“That’s why I urged the two of you to complete the reserve missions from Death Sickle over the last few days and get the Black Sickle identity tokens. Because the Combat God Temple only recognizes official identity tokens, it makes no difference if it is grade-6 or grade-7 organizations—even for those who are Combat God Temple members, they will not be able to enter this ruin with the identity token of a reserve.”

“Lord Swordmaster, do you have any missions for us when we enter the ruins?” Sword301 asked again.

“Both your missions are very simple—you will hunt monsters and obtain resources.” Lin Huang glanced at the two of them. “Although you are both under a state of restriction and your combat strength is affected by me, you don’t need resources to cultivate, but you do need money for your daily expenses.

“In the future, you will be responsible for your own expenses when you are back in the great world. You don’t need to tell me how many monsters you’ve hunted and how much money you sold them for. You can spend as much as you earn.” Lin Huang’s position on the Sword Servants was to let them fend for themselves. After all, it was unrealistic for him to support hundreds of Heavenly Gods on his own.

“If you really want to talk about specific missions… during your hunt, please observe whether there are Virtual God rank-9 level-4 monsters. If there are, don’t kill them, just let me know.”

“You mean, you want to hunt alone?” Sword302 asked immediately.

“That won’t do! At least one of us must follow you to ensure your safety,” Sword301 protested immediately.

“It’s not that you aren’t aware of my capabilities. In your current state, you won’t be of any use to me for enemies that I can’t cope with. It’s better that we hunt on our own so that everyone can get the maximum benefits from any resources.”

Seeing the two Sword Servants had more to say, Lin Huang continued.

“You two can follow me if you wish. But I need to set a rule—after the two of you exit the ruin this time, I won’t pay a single penny for either of you. You have to pay for meals and hotels. Whoever earns the money can spend it. You are not allowed to borrow from anyone! If I find out anyone is borrowing money, I will send them back to the Great Heaven Territory!”

“Then let’s hunt separately…” Sword302 immediately changed her attitude after hearing what Lin Huang had to say.

“Alright. After all, we have increased the financial burden on Lord Swordmaster these past few days…” Sword301 also gave up the fight.

“Relax, we don’t need to stay a full month in the ruins this time. I only need to hunt for a few Godheads. If it happens quickly, three or two days will be enough; if it’s slow, one week should be sufficient too. When I’m done, I’ll contact you both and we’ll leave together.” Lin Huang smiled and patted Sword301 on the shoulder.