The Extreme North Icefield, the world's end.

The wind is the sole ruler of this frozen wasteland.

As far as the eye can see, there is a pure, suffocating whiteness—the icefield stretches to the horizon, merging with the leaden gray sky.

This is the graveyard of elements, where nothing but wandering Cold Spirits exist, devoid of any other trace of life.

Yet, in this world of deathly silence, a group of Demons not native to this place survive through an ancient Underground City.

At this moment, on the icy surface, two figures are carrying a gigantic creature forward—a snow-white worm several meters long.

The two are clad in tough Armor made from Demon hides, tightly wrapped around their agile bodies.

Between the gaps in the armor plates, a faint blue glow flickers with their heavy breaths—a constant function of the Cold-Resistant Demon Pattern embedded in their flesh.

"Shou!" The voice of Qiong from behind is laced with excitement, "How long has it been since the tribe last hunted a Fenbufu Fat Beast of this size? We're really in luck!"

For once, a smile also graced Shou's face: "Looking at its size, its Cold Resistance must be at Level Eight. Once we let the elder infuse it into the 'Cradle', we can finally increase our new members!"

"Oh no!"

"What?!" Shou tensed instantly, reflexively grasping the handle of his Bone Spear.

"My horn... it pierced through! Ah, the bodily fluid is leaking out! It's so sticky and gross!" Qiong complained irritably.

Shou relaxed, glancing up to see the outline of their tribal settlement's massive ice-rock-built walls faintly visible through the blizzard.

"Hold on, we're almost there."

...

"What a huge Fat Beast!" The guard climbing down from the watchtower exclaimed as he struggled to push open the heavy ice-rock gates, staring in amazement at the two. "Shou, Qiong, you didn't go down to the lower layers, did you?"

"As if we could," Shou unloaded the heavy burden from his shoulder. "We don't have the ability to traverse the middle layers, it was pure luck that we ran into this one on the upper layers."

The guard clicked his tongue, his frost-coated eyebrows rising: "Tsk, that luck..."

"Stop chatting!" Qiong's frustrated voice came from behind, "Help me out! My horn's stuck!"

The guard leaned over to peek and saw Qiong struggling awkwardly to pull his head out from the worm's corpse, his horns completely embedded in the Fat Worm's plump flesh.

The guard stepped forward, grabbed the slick worm body, and yanked, separating the worm from Qiong, laughing, "Who told you to have horns even perkier than a mountain goat's and dare to head-butt this thing?"

"Mind your own business!" Qiong finally freed himself, disdainfully shaking the sticky liquid off his arms.

As other tribesmen arrived to take over the heavy prey, Qiong immediately dashed to the melting snow pool to clean up.

Shou wiped the frost off his face and headed alone to the "Cradle" entrance.

The so-called Cradle is the only black stone-built house in the tribe.

The thick stone door isolates the external harsh cold and desolation. Inside, the elder has painstakingly set up an Array, barely maintaining a small area dense with Magic Power and a comfortable temperature, serving as the place to nurture new life in the tribe.

A silent tribesman stood guard at the door. Seeing Shou approaching, he merely nodded slightly, stepping aside to clear the way.

Inside the stone house, the warmth and tranquility were pervasive, with a dry scent filling the air.

In the center of the floor, a complex Array composed of strange metal and luminous minerals emitted a soft, pulsing blue glow.

At the core of the Array was a half-human-height recess, currently piled with crystal fragments and powder.

Without pause, Shou walked straight to the edge of the Array. He unfastened the strap of his Leather Armor, revealing his chest covered in intricate Demon Patterns.

In the center of his chest, a pendant-sized deep blue crystal was embedded deep in the flesh, emitting a faint, rhythmic pulsing glow, with all the Patterns originating from it.

Shou took out a file, and with steady wrist movements, carefully scraped an extremely thin layer of stardust-like powder from the crystal surface and placed it into the recess.

Demons are not naturally born beings; they are a subordinate Race created by the former Demon King, not purely flesh creatures, and have no gender distinction.

Their reproduction method is like this—accumulating the minute essence powder naturally secreted by individual Demon Cores or the fragments of deceased kin's Demon Cores in a Magic Power-rich site.

New Demon Cores gradually coalesce and grow under the nourishment of pure Magic Power, eventually giving birth to new tribesmen.

"Can't you let me take a look?" Qiong's grumbling voice suddenly came from outside the room.

Unfortunately, the Cradle, being one of the most important places in the tribe, isn't open to just anyone, and the guard stood silently blocking Qiong's way.

"Qiong, stop fooling around." Shou pushed open the heavy black stone door, stepping out with the warmth from inside.

"I envy you, being able to offer dust!" Qiong immediately turned to him, speaking rapidly, "I'm not fooling around! It's the elder! He sent people to find you; the messenger searched the whole tribe for you, and I guessed you'd be here!"

"The elder's looking for me?" Shou frowned slightly.

"Yes! It's not just you; all the upper-level Warriors have been summoned to the main tent. The atmosphere seems off, but no one else knows what's going on." Qiong stepped closer, lowering his voice.

Shou's expression tightened. Without another word, he turned and walked briskly toward the main tent, with Qiong following closely like a shadow.

Shou glanced sideways at him, and Qiong immediately grinned, a little slyly: "Don't worry, I know the rules! I won't go in, just wait outside the tent."

Clearly intending to eavesdrop, Shou couldn't be bothered to expose his little scheme, simply withdrawing his gaze and quickening his pace.

...

"The Snake-men to the south have been recruited by the Empire! That area is vacant now; we should move in immediately!" A coarse voice erupted inside the tent, carrying urgent insistence.

"Move in? The southern tundra is just as harsh, biting the bones! Do the resources really surpass our neighboring Underground City?" The rebutter slammed the stone table, voice hoarse.

A third person stood abruptly, casting a long shadow under the flickering campfire: "Aren't you aware of the current situation in the Stone Castle Dungeon? Magic Power is dwindling, Demons are becoming scarcer, and it's hard to even hunt a Slime on the upper level! The Power holding the thing in the middle layer is also waning! Once this crumbling dungeon stops, those things will crawl out and we'll end up as their snacks!"

"He's right!" Another figure wrapped in heavy fur interjected, "Moving south, at least the wind doesn't cut the flesh! This way, we can relax the Cold Resistance Level requirements for the prey needed to nurture new tribesmen!"

Huo Yan, who had been watching coldly, suddenly sneered, sharp gaze sweeping over the Warriors advocating for southern migration: "Say all you want, I think you're just sniffing the Empire's warmth, wanting to wag your tails and beg for a stable meal!"

"Huo Yan! Say that again?!"

As Shou lifted the thick animal skin curtain to enter the main tent, this was the tense scene that greeted him.

The relatively small space was crowded with the tribe's core members, faces distorted by agitation or anger reflected in the campfire's light.

In a tribe of several hundred, including himself, there were only seven upper-level Warriors.

"Shou." A deep and aged voice came from the head seat, overriding the clamor.

The elder, wrapped in weathered furs, only had his eyes shining brilliantly in the shadows, "I've been told you hunted a mature Fenbufu Fat Beast. That's great... the Cradle, at long last, can shine again."

"Elder." Shou slightly bowed, his voice steady.

His gaze swiftly scanned every face in the tent, finally fixing on an empty seat next to Huo Yan, currently unoccupied.

"Where's Yao?"

As a newly rising generation, barely a century old and named with a single character like Shou, Yao was also an upper-level Warrior among the new generation and a future pillar of the tribe. His absence was particularly glaring to Shou.

"Yeah! Where did Yao go?" Someone immediately asked, voice filled with confusion.

"He's dead!" Huo Yan suddenly said.

"What?!" Exclamations and doubts erupted instantly, "An upper-level Warrior died! How could you not mention that from the start?"

Huo Yan remained unfazed: "This is exactly what I'm about to address. His death brought something more important than his life."

He glanced around solemnly and enunciated clearly: "His partner risked his life to bring back the news—we have found the location of Chis' brain, entrenched in the middle layer of Stone Castle Dungeon!"

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