Following the owl's directions, Harry walked into the depths of the Winter Fold Forest. The path indeed took him straight into the deepest areas, and Harry surmised it was towards where their clan lived.

Had lived.

After one day of walking, Harry covered about a fifth of the distance, and he stopped to rest. Though he was in areas with plenty of rich Wood Qi, he didn't dare stray too far from the path, lest he got lost in this giant forest. But even then, there were so many Earth Grade trees and Magic Plants along the way that Harry managed to fill up the first 1% of his Sea of Wood in just one day!

The trees weren't the only things to change. The further Harry walked, the more snow he saw. At first, it was just a few piles of it, scattered randomly about, small clumps of snow that had resisted melting. But as he continued, the clumps grew larger, turning into mounds and then finally, Harry found himself walking through a part of the forest where the ground was completely covered in frost.

The second day.

Harry spotted his first ever Heaven Grade tree. It was many miles away, but he could still see it – for it prominently towered over the treeline, like an adult in a crowd of children. His ability identified it as another White Bark Birch, the very first Magic Plant he had seen here. This one was just many times larger.

Though Harry was tempted to run straight for it, the rational part of him held himself back. The owl only showed him how to get to his destination, not a map of the entire forest. Even if he got to the tree, and actually managed to refine all the Wood Qi, there was a chance he'd get lost trying to return to his current path. At the very least, he would wait until after he took care of whatever the owl wanted him to do. The tree would still be there later.

Later that day, Harry stumbled upon a large snowbank – or at least, it was a snowbank until it rose up on four legs and shook the snow off its body – revealing the massive form of a white-furred bear!

It was at the high-level of the Qi Absorption Realm, at the very least. Perhaps it was even in the Core Formation Realm, but Harry didn't have time to consider that. The bear spotted him immediately and charged right at him. In response, Harry remembered what the owl had told him, and thrust the feather at the bear in desperation. To his great surprise, and relief, the bear stopped right in its tracks. It howled at the feather, roaring and baring its fangs, but not daring to come closer. Though Harry wasn't sure, he surmised the owl had done something to its feather to repel other Magic Beasts. Harry skirted around the bear and ran off.

Though he had a few close encounters like that, not all was lost. The deeper Harry went, the richer the Qi was. In the outskirts of the forest, the majority of the trees were just plain trees with little Wood Qi in it, and few were even Ordinary Grade. But now, every tree was Ordinary Grade, with even Earth Grade trees being fairly common. They became such a common sight that Harry no longer even felt any excitement from seeing one.

Harry walked all day with the Ring of Elements activated, sucking out all the Wood Qi in his path. The Ring of Elements constantly spun behind him, and dozens of streams of Wood Qi were entering his Sea of Wood at any given moment.

At the end of the second day, 2% of the Sea of Wood was filled. When Harry activated Strengthening Flesh, he felt his body turn incomparably sturdy. Even when he activated both Burning Blood and Rebirthing Muscle, and then punched himself as hard as he could, he couldn't injure himself. His defensive strength already greatly surpassed his offense.

And that was just 2%! His earlier estimates were correct. Once he filled up this entire sea, it'd take someone at the high-level of the Core Formation Realm to hurt him.

The third day.

It passed much like the second, only that more and more Earth Grade trees were appearing in his path. He could also see no less than five Heaven Grade trees off in the distance, but once again, Harry refrained from seeking them out.

Each of those Heaven Grade trees were simply massive, taller and wider than buildings. No matter how many times Harry looked towards those faraway trees, he just couldn't grasp their size.

And that was just the Heaven Grade – what about above? A Spirit Grade tree, if one even existed in the empire, just how enormous would that be? Harry still remembered the Spirit Grade flower the Exalted Cat once showed him – though it wasn't large, just bringing it out had changed their surroundings in a way even the biggest Heaven Grade plants didn't.

And above Spirit Grade… Harry was one of the few people to ever lay eyes on something like that. For he knew, above the Spirit Grade was the Profound Grade!

The block of wood Slughorn owned, which his ability identified as coming from an oak tree, was the Profound Grade! The amount of Wood Qi in that tiny block of wood was massive, like an ocean contained in someone's palm. Allowing his mind to daydream a little, Harry wondered if he'd ever meet Slughorn and see that block of wood again. If so, and considering his blazing fast refining speed, filling the Sea of Wood would be over in a matter of minutes.

The rest of the day passed without much fanfare. However, Harry did notice that the amount of snow was increasing. This section of the Winter Fold Forest was covered in it. There was at least three inches of it on the ground, slowing Harry's movements considerably. Every step he took crunched into the snow, leaving a trail of footprints behind. Harry used his Qi to cover them up, but the next morning, he found it was unnecessary. Overnight, it snowed again, adding another inch to the ground.

'It must be all the Ice Qi,' Harry supposed. Nearly all the species of trees here required Ice Qi to grow, according to his ability. The Magic Beasts he had encountered were similar. Possibly in the whole Scarlet Phoenix Empire, they could only have thrived in a cold location like this.

The Ice Qi caused the cold temperatures, which meant that even in the summer, the rain turned into snow. Thus, it snowed year-round in the Winter Fold Forest. And the more snow there was, the more concentrated the Ice Qi would become. It was an endless cycle.

At the end of the third day, the Sea of Wood had filled up to 4%.

4%! Just 4%, but Harry was besides himself with joy. He originally thought this would take months, but he actually completed it in days! And by his estimates, his defensive strength was already at the 9th level of the Qi Absorption Realm!

The fourth day.

There were so many Earth Grade trees now, literally hundreds of them whenever he swept his eyes across the forest, that he no longer felt any excitement or awe. Seeing his first Earth Grade tree was a joyous event – seeing his thousandth was rather lackluster.

But this multiple-day-long stroll through the forest had other benefits. For one, his mind now contained a dizzying amount of information about Magic Plants, though limited to ones that grew in the Winter Fold Forest. He knew more information than he could ever have wanted. How to recognize different species, how to cultivate them, how to determine their health, where they grew, and an assorted jumble of other random trivia that he filed away in his mind.

Not just that, Harry also learned an enormous number of pills and Alchemy recipes.

For most Ordinary Grade trees, perhaps they could only be used in one or two different pills. But for Earth Grade trees, they were evidently much more valuable, as their parts could be used as ingredients in at least five or six. Every time Harry laid his eyes on a new tree, a number of Alchemy recipes would also spring into his head.

Back in the Swan Sea Sect, Harry had done a little bit of research on becoming an Alchemist. He wasn't actually planning to become one, rather, it was more a general curiosity. An Alchemist's goal was to concoct pills, everyone knew that. But to become an Alchemist, pill concoction wasn't enough. There were three main skills Alchemists needed to know, and there was a corresponding test for each.

The first was Magic Plant identification. The Alchemist, or Alchemist-in-training, would be shown various Magic Plants and be asked to identify them. This was a grueling examination, as the number of Magic Plants that existed, just in the Ordinary Grade, numbered well in the thousands. It generally took years of studying to learn them all. Just this first test would eliminate 90% of people trying to become Alchemists.

Then the second test was pill identification. Similar to the first test, the Alchemist was shown pills, and asked to identify the pill, ingredients, and its effects. It was even more difficult than the first test, and eliminated the majority of people remaining.

Finally, the third test was actual pill concoction. As long as the Alchemist could successfully concoct the required pill, then they would pass. Once all three tests were passed, they were considered a true Alchemist.

Alchemists were also ranked. If they could identify enough Ordinary Grade Magic Plants and pills, and concoct enough Ordinary Grade pills, then they would be a 1-star Alchemist. If they could do the same with Earth Grade plants and pills, then they would be a 2-star Alchemist, and so on. At least, that was the system of the Alchemy Guild of the Scarlet Phoenix Empire.

Even outside the Scarlet Phoenix Empire, other empires had similar requirements. They may have had more tests, or perhaps stricter tests, but the fundamental three of Magic Plant identification, pill identification, and pill concoction never changed. It was like a worldwide standard, representing the absolute necessities of what an Alchemist needed to know.

Now that Harry thought about this, he realized that his ability was perfectly suited for the first two tests! If he actually sat for an Alchemy examination, though he would hopelessly fail the third test, the first two would be a breeze. With his ability... it was practically cheating!

That was why, the more Harry thought about his ability, the more convinced he became that it was about Alchemy. He still had no clue how he got it, or why he got it, but at least he had a direction to look in.

'Huh, maybe I'll become an Alchemist,' he even thought to himself. He would never have dreamed of such a career before, but it actually felt like a possible option now.

'The only thing I need to study is pill concoction. Even better, I have hundreds of pill recipes in my mind! I just need to buy a cauldron, get the ingredients, and then I can get to practice. I'd skip all that boring studying that other Alchemists have to do!'

'If I was an Alchemist, haha, I bet people would think twice before provoking me then,' Harry smirked to himself.

In the end, that was his reasoning for becoming an Alchemist. Others wanted the fame, or the prestige, or pull in the money that Alchemists could make. But Harry just wanted the status so people wouldn't dare to cause trouble for him.

By the end of the fourth day, Harry filled 7% of his Sea of Wood, and hundreds more pill recipes and plants were stored safely in Harry's mind.

The fifth day.

Earth Grade trees were so common now that they practically made up this area of the forest. The Ring of Elements never rested, constantly revolving, and with each passing second, drops of Wood Qi settled into his Sea of Wood.

By now, his defensive strength was definitely past the 1st level of the Core Formation Realm. Even though he was just at the 2nd level of the Qi Absorption Realm, even if someone at the 1st level of the Core Formation Realm attacked him, he would be unscathed. Such a thing was simply unheard of in the cultivation world.

This day, Harry spotted his first for-sure Heaven Grade Magic Beast. That bear from earlier, and other beasts he encountered, though they were large, they weren't necessarily at the Core Formation Realm. They could have been at the high-level of the Qi Absorption Realm for all he knew. But this animal in front of him – it was surely Heaven Grade.

It looked like a deer, except with humongous antlers, antlers that could have passed for small trees on their own. It had brownish-white fur, and stood on six muscular legs. It was tall enough to tower over the surrounding trees. When Harry saw it, he froze in his tracks and just stared.

'Caribou…' the part of his mind not in shock helpfully provided.

Harry stuck the owl's feather in its direction, but luckily for him, the giant Magic Beast didn't even glance at him. It dwarfed Harry the same way Harry dwarfed an ant – perhaps Harry was too small for it to even bother attacking. After all, a human wouldn't go out of his way to step on an ant.

'Strange though, why was that owl so small?' Harry couldn't but wonder. Everyone knew that as Magic Beasts cultivated, they got larger and larger. Just Heaven Grade beasts were huge, large enough to dwarf buildings. Logically, Spirit Grade beasts should have been even larger, but somehow, that owl was the size of a normal owl.

Now that he thought about it, the Exalted Cat was the same. It was no larger than a normal housecat. Perhaps, the Spirit Fusion Realm was an exception.

The sixth day.

Harry decided to take a risk, and wander slightly off the owl's path and into the depths of the forest. Harry was very careful to never stray far from the known path, and always left multiple markers around him, whether in the snow or carved into the trees, pointing to the way back. The risk paid off handsomely – he spent the sixth day sucking up all the Wood Qi he could find – and ended up with 18% of the Sea of Wood full!

Though the vast majority of his Sea of Wood was still empty, Harry wasn't complaining, not one bit. With the help of this owl's feather, he saved months of precious time.

The seventh day.

Harry noticed the power on the feather was weakening. Deciding to not take any more risks, Harry followed the owl's path to the end – and found himself staring at a scene of total carnage.

A fortified clearing had been constructed in the depths of the forest, hidden behind a thick grove of trees. The trees had been hollowed out, and evidently served as the homes of the owls. This place, easily defensible, was once the site of a powerful clan – but now, the fortifications were crushed, the trees toppled, and the clearing filled with corpses.

The Snowy Owl Clan was a small clan, with only a few hundred members, but all of them lay dead. Their bodies all bore clean but fatal wounds, the work of experienced hunters and killers. Clean, that was, except for their ripped open chests, where the Beast Cores had been mercilessly extracted.

Everywhere he looked, Harry saw piles of dead Snowy Owls tossed carelessly on the ground. Not a single one was spared, not even the Ordinary Grade beasts that weren't even the size of his head. As for Earth Grade beasts, there were nearly a hundred of them scattered across the grove of trees, and there were five enormous owls, which must have been Heaven Grade beasts, fallen in battle. They were the size of the surrounding trees, but they too lay dead in pools of their blood.

That owl Harry met earlier must have been the only one at the Spirit Grade, and the only one able to escape.

Neither it nor the hunters had exaggerated. Besides for the egg hidden in Harry's Space Ring, there was no more Snowy Owl Clan. It the extermination of a whole clan.

'This is the cultivation world,' Harry thought grimly. 'Nothing is permanent. Even a clan with a Spirit Grade beast can be destroyed.'

Until a couple days ago, he thought of the Spirit Fusion Realm as the peak of the empire, a level of cultivation that made one invincible. Once someone reached the Spirit Fusion Realm, there was nothing that could threaten him – or so Harry thought. Now, seeing this was like getting slapped in the face by reality.

The corpses here weren't limited to just the beasts. There were over 50 hunters too, also dressed in the same black clothing as the five he had met previously. Their corpses lay among the dead owls. They all held the same shaped daggers – though these didn't cause Harry any pain to his vision – and wore black masks that hid their features.

When Harry unmasked them, he was in for a surprise. He found both men and women, young and old, people of all sorts and stages of life. One person didn't look much older than he was, while another looked to be in his late 70s. Yet, both their blades were stained with blood all the same, proving they were part of the hunters.

None of the hunters had any personal or identifying belongings. There was no common trait among them, rather, each had an ordinary and unremarkable appearance. Harry could have walked past any of these people on the street and not given them a second glance, never imagining they were vicious killers. As for what sort of organization they formed, Harry had no clue. It was almost as if 50 random people across the empire had been gathered here to conduct a massacre.

The owls had fought bravely, but it wasn't enough.

Harry silently walked among the corpses, wondering just what that owl had sent him here for. Finally, when he walked past one of the few buildings that survived the destruction, he felt the feather in his hand vibrate, so he headed towards it. Based on the scratches and dents on the door, the attackers had tried to break through but were unsuccessful. Yet, when Harry neared it and held out the feather, the door opened on its own.

Finally, whatever power holding the feather together gave out. It collapsed into a shower of white dust that drifted onto the bloody red snow like snowflakes.

Hesitantly, Harry entered the room.

This room appeared to be a storage room. The first thing that caught his eye was the stone platform in the middle. It was an odd item – it rested alone in the middle, shaped in a square, with the picture of some kind of bird etched onto it. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought it might be a raven. The entire thing was painted blue, except the bird, which was brown.

Next to the platform, there was a stand with piles of scrolls, manuscripts, and in the center, a thick book.

Finally, the walls of the room were lined with shelves. Each shelf had many small cubbyholes in them, from which Harry saw glittering crystal-like things sparkling. When Harry walked over and touched them, a chilly feeling spread across his arm. He gasped.

Unless he was mistaken – each of these crystals were Natural Essences! And based on how cold they were to touch, they were full of Ice Qi. Now Harry understood why the owl sent him here, as these Natural Essences would be very useful when raising its child. From a quick feel of the Qi in this room, Harry could tell most were Earth Grade items, while the rest were Ordinary Grade.

There must have been hundreds of cubbyholes around the room, though many were empty. Harry quickly ran around, gathering all the Natural Essences he could. Despite all the empty cubbyholes, there were still so many Natural Essences that Harry wasn't able to fit them all into his Space Ring. Instead, he stuffed in as many Earth Grade ones as he could. Once this baby owl was born, it would have access to all the cultivation resources it could use.

After his Space Ring was packed to the brim, he turned his attention to the stand in the center of the room, specifically, the book on top of it.

'The Historical Record of the Snowy Owl Clan' Harry saw on the title. He flipped the book open, and with nothing better to do, began to read.

To his great surprise, the first entry was dated over a thousand years ago!

Our Snowy Owl Clan relocated to these lands, led by our founder and brave ancestor Hedwig...