"Raaagh!!" A deep ferocious roar came out of the mouth of a great beast, the ice and snow before it quickly congealed and turned incredibly hard, creating a gigantic iceberg that covered fifty miles of the white snowy plains.
The snow and mist surrounding the great beast dissipated, showing it to resemble a lizard, a salamander to be exact. Though instead of being usually small and with smooth scales, this one was 5 meters tall and 8 meters long; its tail was 3 meters long, its skin looked as hard and durable as granite and it emanated a terrifying chill that caused the surrounding snow to freeze and crack.
Its crystal blue eyes shone with a dangerous gleam as it glared at the figure standing on top of the iceberg it created.
"Damn! This guy was fast in letting out this gigantic piece of iceberg," The figure whistled, his voice laced with surprise. This was obviously Huo Yuhao.
"Well, it is at least a 10,000 year old Ice Dragon Salamander." Skydream's voice entered his ears, explaining what kind of soul beast he stumbled across. "Although its dragon blood is incredibly thin, to the point that if it mated with a non dragon-blood related soul beast that its offsprings wouldn't carry any dragon blood, it didn't just got its name from having dragon blood. Its Icy Breath that resembles that of a dragon spewing flames or other kinds of elements is what earned it the name Ice Dragon Salamander. Its icy breath can freeze anything it comes into contact with, and its thick, durable skin makes it nearly impenetrable."
Huo Yuhao hummed and asked, "Should I be worried?"
"Nah," Skydream waved its tail. "with just your second martial soul, you can easily tank its icy breath. And using your fire jutsus, you can cook this lizard by spewing fire into its mouth. Or use genjutsu on it, your choice of killing it."
"Hm. Is it suitable to become my second soul ring?"
Skydream shook his head. "No. Ice Dragon Salamanders don't have a lick of spiritual power."
Huo Yuhao frowned and jumped into the air, dodging another Icy Breath from the Ice Dragon Salamander. "Then no. Let's get out of here."
Just as the Ice Dragon Salamander was about to release another Icy Breath towards Huo Yuhao, the latter vanished out of thin air.
"Grrr...?"
The Ice Dragon Salamander let out confused growls as it scanned the area, unable to find any trace of Huo Yuhao. It sniffed the air and sensed a lingering scent of his presence, but it was unable to determine his exact location.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao found himself in another ice soul beast nest, but learning from his encounter with the Ice Dragon Salamander, he used the Ice God Legacy to blend himself with surrounding snow.
A few days had passed since he succesfully fused with Ice Empress; completing his second martial soul and gaining Ice God's Legacy, his strength and combat abilities had greatly increased.
His second martial soul alone gave him increased physical strength and absolute control over ice, which is something called an Ultimate Attribute; Ultimate Ice, that only the rarest of the rare soul masters have. And its soul skills have devastating offensive and defensive capabilities that even someone a ring or two above him wouldn't be able to take on.
But the biggest gain Huo Yuhao got from this trip was the Ice God's Legacy.
Although it was just a bone fragment from the Ice God and had at least 1% of power from said God, it was still something that belonged to a God that owned the Extreme North!
Just channeling around 20% of the God Bone's power into him from the seal in his left arm was almost enough to bloat his body from its energy and its sensory ability to reach the core region, which was a hundred thousand miles from his location!
As of right now, channeling only 10% of the Ice God's Legacy, his strength was doubled, immune to the cold temperature and ice attacks of 20,000 years old soul beast ice attacks, control ice and snow, and could sense any living ice soul beast within a few hundred miles.
The only problem he had with his sensory is that he couldn't tell what soul beast it was.
"Tch. We've been searching the land for days, are spiritual type soul beast that rare?" Huo Yuhao muttered to himself as he surveyed the nest he was in, observing the ice soul beast in it and asked Skydream. "Well? Is this one a spiritual type?"
"Huh. Never thought I'd see one here... Ah, no. This isn't a spiritual type. It's a soul beast that specializes in both ice and poison called the Red Eyed Ice Toad. They're known for–"
"Stop. If they're not suitable for me, let's just go find another soul beast." Huo Yuhao waved his hand, cutting off Skydream. He then used Body Flicker Technique and disappeared from his position, without the Red Eyed Ice Toad ever noticing him.
A bit miffed from being cut off, Skydream then said. "Well, we wouldn't have wasted days searching for one if we just went and hunted down an Ice Silkworm. My kin's Imitation soul skill would amplify your genjutsu."
Huo Yuhao indifferently hummed and replied, "Well, I would've if there was a ten thousand year old Ice Silkworm. But there isn't any, as you're the only one of your kind of the last few thousand years that managed to reach that level and go beyond."
"Eh..." Skydream was a bit embarrassed of his kind. They were just that weak after all, the lowest of ice soul beast in the Extreme North. It was a complete miracle and luck that he managed to reach a level near Divine status.
Huo Yuhao let out a sigh. "Is there really no other spiritual soul beast in this region? Do I really have to endanger myself and head back towards the core region?"
"No! No, wait... I know of a few spiritual soul beasts in this region, back then when I was here, and I just sensed one of them a few dozen miles to the southwest."
Huo Yuhao widened his eyes and smirked, speeding up his pace towards the southwest. "Lead the way then, Brother Skydream. Let's see if this spiritual soul beast can be my second soul ring."
A few minutes passed as Huo Yuhao followed Skydream's guidance through the snowy terrain. Eventually, they reached a small clearing surrounded by frozen trees. In the center of the clearing stood a majestic creature, covered in pristine white fur, with antlers on its head that sparkled like ice crystals.
"That's the Snow Deer King," Skydream grumpily whispered.
"Oh? By the sounds of it, you're not too thrilled about it," Huo Yuhao remarked, amusement evident in his voice.
Skydream huffed. "It's just... I had a bit of a run-in with the Snow Deer King back in the day while on the run from Bing'er. Son of a bitch thought I was easy food that would help him breakthrough to the hundred thousand year level."
"Hm? Wait, how old is this guy anyway? And what is its abilities?"
"Back then, it had just become 8,000 years old. And from the looks of it, it improved a bit and had broken through to the next level and became around 12,000 years old. And as for its abilities, it specializes in snow control and a hybrid spiritual attack that makes the target experience two timelines."
Huo Yuhao blinked and turned towards Skydream, completely stunned. "Um, what?!"
Skydream solemnly nodded. "Yeah, it's one of the reasons I hate interacting with this guy. Back then, he used this strange ability of his to make me experienced two timelines, in my mind, of battling him. In the first timeline, I won against him and fled. I continued on my way for a few years before I noticed that my spiritual power was slowly getting drained away."
"In the next moment, I found myself back facing the Snow Deer King. And in that timeline, he defeated me and tortured me for years. All of that happened in a matter of seconds in reality."
Huo Yuhao frowned anf retorted, "Wait, isn't it just a powerful time dilation illusion like the Tsukuyomi?"
Skydream bitterly smiled. "Basically, yeah. It's one of the reasons why I'm terrified of that old freak Ancestor of yours.
"Back then, if I didn't have a tremendous amount of spiritual power to help me escape his illusion and gave him a severe injury in return, I wouldn't be here."
His smile turned savage, his eyes burning. "So, how about it? Do you like him to become your second soul ring?"
"Of course!" Huo Yuhao grinned, dark tattoos began to appear on his left arm while ice pincers covered both his arms, a blood red soul ring covered his body.
"Didn't I promise you Brother when you became my first soul ring? I'll help hunt down the bastards that did you wrong, then make them my soul rings and soul bones."
Skydream felt his eyes become teary for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, that's the spirit! Go kill that fucker!"
"With pleasure," Huo Yuhao replied, a sinister smile on his face. His figure then vanishes from the spot.
The Snow Deer King was just majestically licking its paws when suddenly, it felt a chilling presence behind it. Before it could react, a freezing cold aura engulfed its entire body, causing its movements to slow down.
Huo Yuhao appeared right behind the Snow Deer King, his eyes glowing with a menacing light. He raised his arm, encased in ice pincer, and struck the Snow Deer King to the neck with a powerful blow, causing a painful crunch as the creature let out a pained cry. The force of the blow shattered the surrounding ice and sent shards flying in all directions.
Fun fact, activating the Ice God Legacy while using Ice Jade Scorpion Empress's first soul skill, Ice Empress' Pincers, would increase its power by 300%(or four times)! Making it easy for Huo Yuhao to tear through the Snow Deer King's flesh with ease, like a hot knife to butter.
The only reason why he didn't killed it in an instant was because he wanted it to drop a soul bone.
And one of the methods on making it drop one with a high rate is to make it feel so much resentment before its death.
The Snow Deer King, despite the sudden severe attack, quickly recovered and retaliated. With a bloody neck, it swung its antlers towards Huo Yuhao, unleashing a powerful gust of wind mixed with snow towards him.
However, Huo Yuhao raised his arms in response, creating a shield of ice to block the attack. The gust of wind and snow crashed into the shield, causing it to crack, but ultimately failing to break through.
Huo Yuhao smirked, his eyes filled with determination.
He didn't want to use his Sharingan for this entire battle. He wanted to properly test out the abilities he gained from the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress and the Ice God Legacy.
"C'mon, is that the best that you can do?" He taunted the Snow Deer King, who angrily growled in response.
Ten thousand year soul beast have an intelligence equal to young adults
Huo Yuhao used his Ultimate Ice ability to freeze the ground beneath the Snow Deer King, causing its movements to become sluggish. Taking advantage of this, Huo Yuhao swiftly moved around the creature, dodging its retaliatory strikes and delivering his own precise powerful blows.
With each strike, the Snow Deer King's strength weakened and its movements slowed even further. Huo Yuhao's ice pincers dug deep into the creature's flesh, causing it to let out agonized roars. Causing the snow around them to then gather around them like a storm.
Its ice blue, marble-like eyes shone with determination as rich undulations of spiritual power began to ripple around its body.
'This is...!'
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the sudden surge of spiritual power from the Snow Deer King. His vision begun to distort for a moment and he soon found himself standing before a completely restored Snow Deer King, the injuries he inflicted on it earlier were all gone.
'So this is that time dilated illusion attack?' Huo Yuhao thought to himself, his expression becoming serious. 'It's no wonder Brother Skydream was so wary of this ability.'
Everything felt so life-like, any of his senses didn't feel anything as if it out of the ordinary. Even his eyes didn't find anything different, and although he didn't use his Sharingan, his normal eyes had still been enhanced by his meticulous cultivation of the Purple Demon Eyes that he could see images crystal clear when they're a dozen meters away and see through low level illusions.
And because of that earlier distortion of his vision, anyone else would've shrugged it off and told themselves that the Snow Deer King had caused some sort of confusion skill and healed itself during that short time.
But thanks to Skydream's warning of its ability and his own experience of illusions, Huo Yuhao easily shrugged it off and charged at the Snor Deer King.
It was easily killed off, its head rolling off its neck, blood spilling out, and a black soul ring begun to slowly formed from its fallen corpse.
But Huo Yuhao knew that this wasn't the end.
"Brother Skydream, do you know how to end an illusion?" Huo Yuhao slowly asked, waving off the illusory blood from his hands.
"You either kill the caster from reality or..." Skydream replied, their connection still connected and hidden.
Huo Yuhao smirked, cocking back his left arm. His Ice God Legacy tattos glowing with a dark-blue light, the power of heaven and earth filled his body. "You punch your way out with overwhelming might."
He could feel the world around beginning to distort, the time flow around him beginning to restart.
Huo Yuhao concentrated his power, channeling it into his fist. With a burst of energy, he threw a powerful punch, aimed at nothing but the illusion itself.
As his fist collided with the illusion, the whole world seemed to ripple and distort. The illusion shattered as if it were made of glass, and Huo Yuhao found himself back in reality and reflecting the illusion, he had just punched the Snow Deer King straight to its face, splattering blood and brain matter all over.
Skydream smirked, his voice filled with excitement. "Now that's how you end an illusion! Good job, Brother!"
Huo Yuhao wiped the blood and brain matter off his hand, a satisfied grin on his face. "Thanks, Brother Skydream. Now, protect me as I absorb this soul ring."
"En." Skydream nodded, feeling incredibly joyous at this moment. After all, one of his enemies in the past had died! Although the Snow Deer King wasn't one of those bastards from the Great Star Dou Forest, he had still caused him some trouble.
Huo Yuhao approached the body of the Snow Deer King and watched as a black soul ring formed. He then analyzed the corpse and was astonished.
....
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