The two women explorers, who claimed to be pure-blood half-dragon people, didn’t seem to have a good impression of mages at first, and it was quite obvious. However, after some interaction, they might have realized that our group had various quirks that suited their tastes. The initial rejection and indifference finally faded a lot. I also noticed that their feelings towards us weren’t genuinely hostile, just a simple lack of favor, which naturally made it easy to draw closer. This was a good development.

Honestly, I think I shouldn’t have pretended to be a mage from the start; any random identity like a road tripper would probably have been better...

I witnessed various interesting tools used by the natives of this world, including that rope they used to descend from the floating island. It turned out to be a living plant, but it was a man-made creature catalyzed through alchemy and Druid magic. According to Shajina’s introduction, such items are essentials for explorers and others who often work in the wild. After descending from the floating island, they cut off a freshly grown end of the rope, about ten meters long, then wrapped the break with a medicated cloth strip emitting a strong odor, coiling it back up into a bundle and placing it in their bag. They said that, in a few hours, the rope would regrow roots: unless used on sandy soil, the roots of this rope would grow strong enough to bear the weight of two or three adult men in heavy armor—a truly stunning magic creation.

Even though Sandora and Pandora evaluated its effectiveness as primitive, the creativity was still quite impressive.

The spot where the floating island landed was just next to the only major river on the vast grassland. Upon realizing this, Shajina and Sona didn’t hide their delight and immediately ran over to take a bath, replenishing their nearly empty water pouches. Consequently, they also attracted Qianqian and a few of the younger ones. Although I very much wanted to bathe with my wife, adding two half-dragon girls to the mix made it impossible. As a result, not only did Monina personally set up an invisibility barrier over the entire river, but Bingdisi also drove the only three adult men in the main party, including Uncle Kenser and 123, two kilometers away to a hill for tight supervision. I felt quite wronged: Uncle Kenser is a good old man, not to mention that even 123 is something of a gentleman at heart, so why the tight precaution? In the end, I was implicated too.

Bingdisi explained that her main target was me...

"Don’t think I don’t know that you’ve bathed with Dingdang several times, starting your hunting range from creatures just a few centimeters tall, with your sphere of influence encompassing all kinds of creatures, guarding against you is necessary," Bingdisi said this without the slightest guilt, even patting her chest at the end. "By the way, I need to be careful myself. Who knows, I might fall to you at some point as well. I’m still an innocent and pure girl..." I almost spat out a mouthful of blood: "Can you say that with your heart on your sleeve?"

Bingdisi patted her 32D, looked down, and gestured to that unscientific size: "My heart’s too far to reach." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

I hadn’t even reacted when Sister Jier suddenly looked down at her own chest, and by the time she raised her head, she was already full of indignation: "If I hadn’t died young, I could have developed more!"

I suddenly went ’oh,’ Bingdisi really is a spectacular oddity in the realm of shamelessness, her 32D directly decimating the flat landscape of Sister Jier. I sympathetically patted Ji Shanshan’s shoulder and consoled her: "No worries, at least this proves your heart is closer."

Ji Shanshan resolutely looked around at all of us: "I will find a way to free myself from your bondage one day..."

"Daddy, hug!" Suddenly a cheerful shout rang next to us, interrupting Ji Shanshan’s lofty aspirations. Little Baobao, still wet with fresh water, appeared before everyone, her hair still dripping as she burrowed into my arms. It seemed she had finished her bath and had enough fun with the water (the latter being the main reason). Ji Shanshan quickly rummaged through her personal space for towels, milk, and children’s skincare products (which I seriously doubted Little Baobao needed). Seeing this, I was convinced this fool was destined to be a nanny for life.

Two kilometers isn’t that far; Little Baobao must have used her mysterious talent to zip right over. We led the little one back to the riverbank, finding Qianqian babbling about something to two half-dragon girls who had peculiar expressions. Upon closer inspection, it turned out she was explaining the use of moisturizing lotion...

Qianqian is really a social butterfly who can effortlessly blend in with anyone. However, Shajina and Sona looked quite distressed, but Qianqian’s beaming smile left them no choice but to roll their eyes unamusedly. Luckily, our appearance finally shifted Qianqian’s focus. The hyperactive Beast Qianqian hung on my arm, swinging back and forth: "Ah Jun, Ah Jun, let me tell you, the water in the river is so cool, but it’s really comfortable!"

"We’re going to camp here, suit yourselves. The ancient garden holds no value for us," Shajina shook off the remaining water droplets from her hair. "It’ll merge with the Mother Continent here tomorrow—so you’re not planning to stay here, right? The ancient garden will merge with Dorim Lake in five days; is that your next stop?"

How would I know what Dorim Lake is... Uh, did she say this place will converge with the Mother Continent tomorrow? So soon?

I remember she mentioned something called the "Cycle Calendar" before. It seems to be how the locals here determine the timing of spatial convergence. If that’s the case, it makes things easier. By tomorrow, I’ll be in the same world as my sister and them, saving the trouble of figuring out the rules of time and space here. I glanced at Sandora, who grumbled with a spiritual connection, "Ugh, I actually already figured out the spatial structure of this place and found your sister’s actual coordinates. All that effort for nothing."

I thought to myself that Sandora’s efficiency was quite impressive. I smiled at her and said, "Never mind, let’s just wait one more day."

What Shajina meant by "camping" was really just a pretty rudimentary tent. It seemed like they could pull anything out of their massive backpacks. A large piece of roughly sewn coarse fabric, a bunch of ropes and wooden stakes, and some long, tough vines found in the nearby hills, all combined to make a tent that could shelter two people from the wind and rain. After setting up the temporary shelter, they cleaned the grass and wood on the ground in front of the tent and built a campfire, showing their adept skills: clearly, they’re used to living this kind of outdoor camping life, with seasoned skills and experience.

"Hey, aren’t you going to set up camp? Or are so many of you just planning to sleep out in the open?" Shajina saw our big bunch still idling around, with some playing cards on the grass, some leading a bunch of little ones running around, the remaining two or three watching her set up camp. She was at a loss, pointing to the sky where the sun was nearing the horizon, "Let me remind you, even though there are no fierce beasts in the ancient garden, it’s also very cold at night. You wouldn’t want the kids to freeze with you, would you?"

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, looking at us suspiciously, "By the way, it looks like you didn’t bring any luggage at all. How come travelers like you are empty-handed? Are you really travelers?"

I thought for a moment and cautiously asked, "Uh, have you ever heard of space magic?"

She was stunned, looking at me with great surprise, "Ah? So you’re adept in space magic? That’s pretty impressive, you must be quite famous, how did you become a wandering mage? Although I only heard about space magic, this kind of magic seems..."

"It’s good enough that there’s space magic," I was greatly relieved, thinking that with space magic in this world, a lot of things wouldn’t need explaining. Not caring what else she had to say, I turned and waved to Qianqian, "Hey girl, it’s getting late, prepare a place to stay."

I remembered that Qianqian’s personal space is as messy as my sister’s. From the perspective of ’three rooms and one living room’, this girl definitely stuffed her travel residence and something like a planetary colony cabin into that chaotic pile.

Qianqian was teaching Little Baobao how to weave garlands. Hearing me, she absent-mindedly waved to the distance. Then, in a dazzling white light, a silver-white giant appeared before our eyes, blinding everyone.

This thing stood several hundred meters tall, composed of a massive main building and several magnificent classical towers, all seamlessly integrated into a natural whole. The heavy, ancient walls were covered with everlasting snow, and blue mystical light flickered at each tower’s peak. At the top of the tallest building, a small crystal emitted the brightest glow, resembling a demon eye perched on the high tower amidst the misty blue light—it was identical to the Dragon God Castle where Lin resides but made of ice and snow.

...This was a "snow sculpture" that Pandora, that straightforward shorty, spent most of a day building when we went to the Divine Realm. For a while, it was placed in the Shadow City Suburb, but at some point, Qianqian stuffed it back into her personal space.

For a moment, you could hear a pin drop around us; everyone else and I were dumbfounded. Qianqian turned around, looking embarrassed, and shouted, "Oh no, I threw the wrong thing, I threw the wrong thing..."

Little Baobao cheered and ran towards the resplendent silver-white castle, beginning to focus on chiseling away at the bricks. I’m guessing she’ll be at it for a while, as the Extreme Cold Eye at the castle’s top makes this "snow sculpture" as solid as interstellar alloy; she probably won’t make a dent.

Shajina hadn’t finished her previous statement and was shocked for a good full minute. When she opened her mouth again, she managed to pick up where she left off, "It seems this kind of magic couldn’t possibly hold too much stuff... What is that thing!!"

This girl’s reaction seems rather slow.

"Tell me, in your worldview, can I explain this?" I candidly asked the half-dragon girl.

Sona and Shajina replied in unison: "No!"

"Oh, then I won’t explain it. You can just interpret it however you like."

The two half-dragon girls huddled together, backing up several steps, looking at us and the ice and snow castle with monster-like eyes. After a while, they once again spoke in unison: "How do we interpret it randomly?"

I held my head, overwhelmed, looking towards Qianqian, thinking that back then, it took Vanilla a week to understand what Earth was. How am I supposed to explain this magical phenomenon to two half-dragon people who have only heard of space magic? Their idea of space magic capacity doesn’t seem to exceed a 50L travel bag...

"No matter what, when you’re with these guys, you’re bound to encounter a moment of witnessing a miracle," Bingdisi went over and boldly patted the shoulders of the two half-dragon girls, "They’re always making a fuss. Don’t feel pressured; just consider it a wonderful journey of life, and if there’s a chance in the future, maybe this good guy will explain it to you. Don’t stand there foolishly—want to go inside?"

Sona blinked: "Go inside? Us?"

"Of course," Bingdisi said, as if she were the hostess of the ice and snow castle, completely unpressured, "There’s no problem inviting you to stay for a night, right? Otherwise, us staying in a castle while you set up a small tent and campfire for warmth outside, that’s really unreasonable."

I thought about that scenario: the wicked Empire nobles living in a grand, luxurious castle, looking down from the magnificent terrace, while there’s a worn-out tent on the weed-filled ground next to the castle. The two half-dragon girls wearing patched-up old leather clothes, shivering in the cold night wind, occasionally glancing at the castle emitting warm light, silently striking a match... Although I think something abnormal crept into the scene, the visual sense of it is indeed too strong...

"Please don’t feel bad!" I strongly invited Shajina and the others, "Choose any room you like in the castle!" The two half-dragon girls were startled: "Huh?" Then Shajina scratched her hair, her large lizard (or perhaps they call it a dragon tail?) tail unconsciously swiping the ground: "Uh, oh... Although we don’t understand what’s going on with you guys, but having a more comfortable place would be nice. Looks like we’ve really run into some remarkable people."

"Hey, Shajina, is this really okay?" Sona immediately whispered worriedly, her voice low but still heard by me, "These people look strange, and we can’t afford to offend someone with such a castle and magic!"

"Feels like if we don’t accept the invitation, we’ll offend them even more," Shajina also whispered back, her eyes stealthily drifting toward Bingdisi, the female hooligan exuding a natural rogue aura that wouldn’t dissipate.

"Alright, alright, after all, the castle is so big, one more person doesn’t matter—isn’t this the first time I’ve seen this ice castle since coming over?" Xiaoxue happily said, then turned and ran to push the castle’s big door, but after several attempts, the massive icy door wouldn’t budge. Lin Xue went over to check and waved at me: "Left for too long, frozen shut."

Me: "..." The ice castle shown on TV never mentioned this kind of situation!

I bet no fairy tale ever includes this kind of detail...

"No choice, after all, it’s made of ice, who would’ve thought of this initially," Bingdisi shrugged without concern, then took a few steps forward, twisted her body, and delivered a lash-like kick at the door. After a series of loud booms and the sound of shattering ice, the ice castle’s door was gone, "Is there a kitchen here? Probably not, we’ll light a campfire in the side hall then..."

Shajina shouted from the back, "Hey hey hey! You’re just going to smash the castle door like that?!"

I nodded heavily, "With us, it’s always moments of witnessing miracles—come on in."

Shajina and Sona cautiously followed us through the big hole at the entrance of the ice castle, after only a few steps, Sona suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said: "Wait! We probably can’t live in such a place!"

"Why?" I curiously looked at her, the half-dragon girl looked at me even more strangely, "You don’t know? Half-dragon people are cold-blooded creatures, in low temperatures they’re forced into hibernation... Uh, doesn’t seem cold inside here?"

I was stunned by the term "cold-blooded creatures," then casually replied: "Of course, you think we want to live in an ice cave? Inside this castle, it’s spring-like all year round. Because at the top of the castle, an Extreme Cold Eye acts as an energy core regulating the heat distribution here, only the ice itself maintains extreme low temperatures, everything else is at a comfortable temperature. Touch the surrounding ice if you don’t believe me, it’s actually not cold." I think even a random ice brick from this castle tossed into the Chinese Academy of Sciences would keep those old gents busy studying for seventy-eight years. Under the effect of that Divine Realm’s ice crystal, this castle defies physical principles to exist.

"Oh, that’s really amazing!" Shajina touched the pillar beside her, immediately showing a happy expression, stretching mightily, "Ah, so warm, feels like I’ve been revived all over again..."

Right at this moment, Sona, who was constantly observing the surroundings, suddenly exclaimed: "What’s that!"

Following her pointed direction, on either side of the castle’s corridor, nestled against the wall, are rows of niches containing many vivid snow sculptures. They all resemble little girls, and although, being just snow sculptures, their faces aren’t very clear, each one’s posture and stance are lifelike. These snow sculptures are standing, sitting, opening their arms as if about to flap wings, or lifting their skirts as if dancing; almost none has the same posture, such a collection of lifelike little snow sculptures arranged before the grand ice castle porch appears quite eerie.

"Oh, that’s my other daughter." I smiled, recalling Little Qijing’s lively demeanor. The Mercury Lamp on my shoulder casually added, "She’s my sister, but only a soul."

Shajina and Sona simultaneously shivered, glaring at us in fear, as if suddenly realizing they were deep in a terrifying trap, leaving me puzzled, "?"

"Turns out you’re an evil wizard! Do you experiment with girls’ souls? Turn them into magic puppets, or even snow sculptures? And after that, you still wouldn’t let them go?!"

Me: "..."

Can someone tell me what on earth is going on here!

(By the way, the comic version finally updated...)(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)