On a street in the border city of Trod on the ice plains, Fang Yuan walked slowly, wrapped in animal skin. Amid the snowstorm, his small figure looked fragile, almost like a homeless, pitiful child.
Trod is shrouded in cold all year round, with the average temperature remaining below 10°C. During winter, it often drops to -10°C or even -20°C, which is quite common.
Such temperatures are nothing to Fang Yuan, but since he's undercover, he must put on a show.
This is the first checkpoint into the ice plains. Like the Yan Kingdom, there should be a Grandmaster stationed here. Fang Yuan doesn't plan to alert the guarding Grandmaster and heads straight toward the capital of the ice plains.
As a border city, Trod shows signs of desolation and decay. There are hardly any pedestrians on the street, and the houses are dilapidated, their walls threatening to collapse from the corrosion of the wind and snow.
Fang Yuan even saw an elderly man frozen to death by the roadside. The man was completely naked, his clothes missing.
Before departing, Fang Yuan had gathered a lot of information about the ice plains. Like the Yan Kingdom, the ice plains operates under a monarchial system.
Here, cultivation resources are tightly controlled by powerful families, and ordinary people live in poverty, with no hope of ever improving their lot.
It seems that those in high positions, whether demons or humans, are all the same...
Wait a minute, didn't that mean he just insulted himself?
Fang Yuan shook his head. The current emperor of the ice plains is Ivan XVI, but it is said he has long been sidelined, a puppet with no real power. The real ruler of the country... is the Black God.
Fang Yuan didn't know much about the Black God. His level of mystery was comparable to that of the Yan Ancestor, and even his ally Namo had no idea about his background.
Just as Fang Yuan was thinking, a man suddenly blocked his path, holding a dagger and shouting angrily, "Robbery!"
Fang Yuan was taken aback. He looked himself over, and in his shabby appearance, he never expected someone would target him. "Come on, bro, I look this pitiful and you still want to rob me?"
Before coming here, Fang Yuan had already mastered the language of the ice plains with his "Good Person Sutra," speaking with a perfect ice plains accent.
The man clearly didn't realize that Fang Yuan was a foreigner. He continued yelling threateningly:
"Your animal skin looks fine, hand it over now, or I'll stab you!"
"Really? You're robbing me over this?" Fang Yuan sighed helplessly, a faint blue glow flickering in his eyes.
In an instant, the man's gaze turned hollow. He lifted his dagger and without hesitation, stabbed it into his own throat.
"Heh..." The man let out a painful grunt, then fell stiffly to the ground, blood quickly spreading across the snow.
[Helped to stop a criminal's intent, Good Deed Value +1]
"It's been a long time since I got a Good Deed Value increase..." Fang Yuan sighed, stepping over the man's corpse and continuing on his way.
Not far ahead, another figure sneaked over. Seeing that no one was around, he immediately stripped the man's body of all his clothes.
Fang Yuan, being new to the area, wasn't aware of the harsh conditions. In this freezing land, even a thin garment is a precious possession for the common folk.
Soon, a castle appeared in Fang Yuan's line of sight, towering into the sky. The black stone walls looked like a massive beast lying dormant in the snowstorm.
Compared to the low, dilapidated straw huts around, this castle seemed like it came from an entirely different, fairytale-like world.
However, Fang Yuan was soon distracted by a scene not far away. Three men in black armor were casually chatting as they walked toward the castle. One of them was carrying a young girl over his shoulder.
The girl's rough cloth dress was torn, exposing large areas of skin. She kept crying and cursing, wildly flailing her hands in the air.
A woman, seemingly mad, rushed up, grabbing the soldier's arm desperately. Her nails had dug into his skin, and she screamed in agony, "Please, gentlemen, I beg you, give my daughter back!"
"Bang!" The soldier kicked the woman to the ground, laughing cruelly. "You woman, don't you know you're going against Lord Yan? Going against Lord Yan means going against the state!"
"If it weren't for Lord Yan guarding the border, you people would have been killed by the Yan Kingdom's bandits by now. Today, Lord Yan took a liking to your daughter. It's your family's fortune. Why don't you thank him?"
Lord Yan... This name was like a mountain, pressing down on the woman's chest. But when she thought of her daughter, her courage overcame her fear.
Just as she was about to rush forward again, a young man suddenly stepped in front of her.
The young man casually raised his hand, and without any flashy effects, the expressions on the black-armored soldiers' faces suddenly froze. Then, their bodies shattered like blocks of wood, falling apart piece by piece.
The girl fell from the soldier's shoulder and was caught by the young man.
Looking at the handsome young man, the previously hysterical girl fell silent. The woman was also frozen in place, both of them stunned and speechless.
[Slayed several soldiers, saved the innocent girl, Good Deed Value +50]
Fang Yuan bent down, gently placing the girl on the ground. He then turned to the woman and asked softly, "Lord Yan... lives in the castle ahead?"
The woman instinctively nodded. "Yes…"
"I see..."
Lord Yan... Fang Yuan had some impression of this person. They had met once.
Given the other's grandmaster status, he likely wouldn't do something like forcibly taking a woman.
But that didn't stop his subordinates from using his name to commit crimes.
Originally, Fang Yuan had planned to quietly infiltrate the capital of the ice plains. But who would've thought that just entering this unfamiliar country, good deeds were coming his way one after another, and now even an elite enemy was spawning right in front of him.
It's impossible not to collect them!
However, this didn't conflict with his original plan. As a competent assassin, he needed to eliminate his target without anyone knowing.
If he took out all the enemies present, no one would know he had infiltrated, right?
No problem!
"Go home."
After telling the mother and daughter to leave, Fang Yuan simply stopped pretending. He casually ripped off the worn animal skin wrapped around him.
In an instant, a golden flash shot out, like lightning piercing through the clouds, racing toward the distant castle at incredible speed.
On the spot, the mother and daughter stood in the snow, staring at the direction Fang Yuan had gone, unable to come back to their senses for a long time.