The destination for this trip was the S-Class danger zone, the Black Water Ice Prison. Ning Xuan sat in a carriage pulled by a Dragon Horse, an Exotic Beast unique to Extreme Cold City. The rest of the group used their own methods to keep pace with the carriage.

The carriage Ning Xuan rode in was shaped like a pumpkin, with a crystal window on one side that offered a view of the scenery outside.

Ever since leaving the safe zone, the outside world had been a vast, white expanse of ice and snow. Occasionally, strange-looking Exotic Beasts would block their path, and the mercenaries would swarm forward, quickly dispatching them.

After defeating an Exotic Beast, they would skin and butcher it on the spot, collecting any parts that could be sold for money. This was all considered their extra income, so the mercenaries were very motivated in their work.

Along the way, Ning Xuan witnessed many Exotic Beasts she had only ever seen on the Star Network or in books: the long-winged Lightning White Swan, massive black bears, and swarms of brown-and-black patterned snakes, among others. The Comprehensive Combat Power of most of these Exotic Beasts was below A-level. Except for the pack-dwelling brown-and-black patterned snakes, which caused them some trouble, the rest of the beasts all became the mercenaries’ spoils.

By the time the sky turned completely dark, Ning Xuan and her group had arrived at North City Town, a small settlement in the vast wilderness established by explorers for trading goods and resting.

There were many such supply points in the vast exploration zones. However, the lifespan of these outposts varied. If they encountered extreme weather or a powerful herd of migrating Exotic Beasts, a supply point could vanish in an instant.

Even for the outposts that managed to last a long time, the leadership changed frequently. In the exploration zones, might makes right; these places were ruled by the strong.

Because of its excellent geographical location, North City Town had not experienced any extreme weather in several decades. As a result, it had been around for quite some time, and its scale was much larger than the newly established supply points. To defend against Exotic Beast invasions, the town was surrounded by a man-made isolation zone dozens of meters wide. Within this zone was a wide trench filled with numerous large traps. It was clear that the town’s defenses were well-developed, making it a safe haven in the vast wilderness.

As they stepped through the town’s main gate, two guards were there to collect the entrance fee. The price was calculated per head: one thousand Extreme Cold City General Currency per person.

Based on the purchasing power of various goods, this was equivalent to about ten thousand Federation Universal Star Coins.

Both mercenary teams had been hired by Ning Xuan, so she was the one to pay their fees.

Seeing Ning Xuan pay the entrance fee without batting an eye, the mercenaries exchanged glances, all of them astonished by their employer’s immense wealth. Normally, they never stopped at North City Town precisely because the entrance fee was too expensive. They risked their lives on every mission for uncertain pay and couldn’t bear to spend their earnings in a place like this.

After entering the town, Ning Xuan’s group found an inn and booked three rooms: one for Ning Xuan and Chen Nan, and one for each of the two mercenary teams.

The inn offered food service, but Ning Xuan hadn’t expected to find such a uniquely flavorful meal here. She looked at the plate of palm-sized small fish, fried to a golden brown. With one bite, it was tender and crispy, its fragrance lingering on her palate. After she finished eating, a warm current flowed through her body, making her feel incredibly comfortable.

Delighted with the meal, Ning Xuan called over the inn’s waiter and asked if they sold these small fish. She wanted to buy more to eat on the road. She even considered staying at this inn again on her way back, just for this delicacy.

The waiter was very surprised to see the plate of fish. He pointed at it and stammered, "Ma’am, this... this isn’t something our inn serves! I’ll go get the manager right away!"

The waiter was gone for less than two minutes before he returned with the manager, a middle-aged man with small eyes. "This is a specialty from the Cold Spring thirty kilometers from here—the Cold Spring Moon Fish. Only the Town Mayor is able to catch them!"

"Ma’am, you must know the Town Mayor. That’s why he sent this dish over. It is our honor to have you stay at our establishment!"

Ning Xuan glanced at Chen Nan, who shook his head. He didn’t know the man. He had been to North City Town before, and no one had ever sent him fish!

"We don’t believe we know the Town Mayor here, but please thank him for his hospitality," Ning Xuan said. She glanced at the plate of fish, which she had already half-eaten. ’I can’t exactly return it now!’

’When we leave tomorrow, I’ll just have to leave a few of my more valuable medicines as a return gift. As for why some town mayor would send me fish for no reason, I don’t even know who the man is. How could I possibly guess what other people are thinking?’

While resting that night, Ning Xuan kept feeling as if someone was watching her. The gaze was intermittent and held no malice. She got up to check but found nothing out of the ordinary, and eventually, she fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, she wandered around North City Town. The shops here all sold local specialties from the surrounding region. She was surprised to find a mutated Wintergreen Vine that could be used in her modified Body Refining Potion. Judging by the color of the vine’s main stem—a pale gold mixed in with its greenish-white—it had to be at least a hundred years old. Ning Xuan bought the Wintergreen Vine, purchased some other local specialties, and left North City Town around 10 o’clock.

During the next leg of the journey, a young male mercenary from one of the teams kept taking advantage of moments when Chen Nan wasn’t looking to try and cozy up to Ning Xuan. Ning Xuan found the captain of his team and told him to get his man under control and to stop him from loitering in front of her.

After about three days of travel, they finally arrived at the Black Water Ice Prison.

Ning Xuan gazed at the seemingly endless, dark world before her. Though it was daytime, this land seemed to be shrouded in night. The black, icy water reflected onto the sky above, dyeing it a gloomy, dark hue.

Ning Xuan handed a stack of pictures to Chen Nan and had him distribute them. The pictures showed two plants, the Foggy Flower and the Blue Light Lotus, as well as a peculiar mineral, the Ice Crystal Phoenix Cry Jade. These three items were all needed for the Body Refining Potion and were Ning Xuan’s primary objective for coming here. As for the Ice Python that lived in the Black Water Ice Lake, it was extremely difficult to hunt, so Ning Xuan had placed it as the last priority. The Ice Python Inner Core was the final ingredient for the potion. As long as they found the other three items, the trip would not be in vain, regardless of whether they could hunt the Ice Python.

Before coming, Ning Xuan had scoured all sorts of data. Combining that with the records from those miscellaneous notes, she had learned the common distribution areas for these three items. The Blue Light Lotus grew in the shallower waters of the Black Water Ice Lake and would emit a blue glow under starlight. The Foggy Flower grew in the crevices of the rocks along the Ice Lake’s shore amidst the hazy morning fog. As for the Ice Crystal Phoenix Cry Jade, when the lake’s tide rose due to celestial influence, the jade would emit a sound like a phoenix’s cry.