There are a few reasons as to why a group of soul masters is needed when hunting a soul beast. The first and big reason is that soul beasts are incredibly strong, especially those above 1,000 years old. Throughout history, only a Soul Sage has the qualifications to hunt down soul beasts on their lonesome.
The second reason, is that most soul beasts aren't always solitary creatures. Especially when they're in a forest, numerous other types of soul beasts live and wander around. So if they encounter multiple soul beasts at once, it would be extremely difficult for a single soul master to handle them all. Having a group of soul masters allows for efficient coordination and teamwork to take down multiple soul beasts simultaneously.
Even for Huo Yuhao's abilities, taking on a group of soul beasts from 8-10,000 years of age would be quite... challenging to say the least.
"Huu..." Huo Yuhao let out a cold, frosty breath. His Sharingan eyes focused and determined as he faced two large soul beasts before him, completely towering over his body. They were ten thousand year old soul beasts.
Ice and snow completely covered the area, and a large crystal dome covered the area where Tang Ya was quietly recuperating, protecting her.
Numerous bodies of soul beasts laid unconscious around them, ice completely covered their bodies and slowly killing them.
After Huo Yuhao had encountered them, he had courageously charged at them with valor. He wanted to test out the prowess of the Frostbane and unsurprisingly, the powers of ice and snow quickly overwhelmed most of the weaker soul beast in an instant, turning them into ice sculptures and died.
However, the other soul beasts weren't so easily culled. They were much stronger and managed to fight back against Huo Yuhao. Their attacks were fierce and powerful, making it difficult for Huo Yuhao to defend himself and counterattack.
Realizing that he was at a disadvantage, Huo Yuhao quickly used Snow Dream to trap some of them into an infinite loop of events that entraps their consciousness, leaving their bodies vulnerable.
However, the two remaining soul beasts are powerful enough to resist the effects of Snow Dream. They continued to launch relentless attacks on Huo Yuhao, their claws and fangs tearing through the icy battlefield.
Huo Yuhao's eyes narrowed as he focused his soul power, activating his Ice Empress' Armor. A surge of cold energy engulfed his body, enhancing his defense. He launched a series of lightning-fast slashes at the two soul beasts.
One of the soul beasts, a large serpent with red fiery wings and sharp talons attached at the top of each wing, lunged at Huo Yuhao with incredible speed. It dodged his slashes effortlessly and struck back with its claws aiming for his chest.
While the other soul beast, a large black and white furred wolf with a sharp bone-like horn protruding from its head. The light around its body seemed to dim and its blood-red eyes focused on Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao reacted quickly, his Sharingan quickly analyzing the flying serpent's movements. He anticipated its attack and shifted his body just in time, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike.
Using the momentum from dodging, Huo Yuhao reversed his grip on Frostbane and unleashed a series of powerful slashes towards its body, aiming for its vulnerable spots. The serpent let out a furious roar as it felt the icy cold blade cut through its scales, causing blood to gush out.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes and moved to the left, dodging the deadly claws of the wolf that came out of a dark-blue portal. It growled, angry for missing, and turned to slash at Huo Yuhao with strange claws that had a black aura.
Huo Yuhao merely waved Frostbane and created a wall of extremely thick ice.
'Teleportation and darkness infused claws, space and darkness elements? What kind of wolf type soul beast is this? None of the available books I've read in the academy have mentioned such a soul beast. It seems like I'll have to use more of my strength,' Huo Yuhao thought to himself.
'But the most troublesome opponent here is that serpent soul beast,' He glanced at the writhing flying serpent, squirming from the ultimate ice essence entering its body and affecting it.
'Red Flying Serpent King, a ten thousand year soul beast that's extremely dangerous due to its sheer size, explosive flames and venom that can easily kill a thousand men in an instant. They're mostly infamous due to their final form, hundred thousand year old Quetzalcoatl. They're much more terrifying and could easily destroy multiple cities. Fortunately they have a low fertility rate so there have only been a couple Quetzalcoatl spotted in the last couple years.'
Huo Yuhao smirked, 'The perfect fourth soul ring for Teacher Ya.'
As the ice wall blocked the wolf's attack, Huo Yuhao took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. He channeled his soul power into Frostbane, causing it to emit an intense cold air. With a swift motion, he slashed at the wolf, aiming for its weak points.
The wolf let out a howl of pain as the icy blade cut through its fur and flesh. It retaliated by summoning a powerful wave of darkness and space elements, trying to engulf Huo Yuhao.
But Huo Yuhao executed a series of handseals in one hand and his body exploded into a puff of smoke, replaced by a wooden log.
Meanwhile, the serpent, enraged by the injury Huo Yuhao inflicted upon it, unleashed a blast of fire towards him that distorted space and a purple mist emanating from its scales exploded forth to attack him from all sides.
The wolf, seeing the purple mist, growled and manipulated space around it so it wouldn't be affected by the poisonous mist.
Seeing the exploding flames and poison heading towards his direction, Huo Yuhao was calm. It was mostly because of the reassurance he was told by Ice Empress.
'Unless the fire is also at the pinnacle level, it can't harm you. And as for poison, hmph! If I had an ordinary Ultimate Ice, you would've been long dead. The snake had been secreting poison from the start, it wouldn't have done much for soul beasts but for humans it would've been deadly. However, my Ultimate Ice not only freezes but also expels any toxic elements. I'm a scorpion for Ice God's sakes!'
With that in mind, Huo Yuhao surged more of his Ultimate Ice, releasing a powerful wave of cold energy that covered his body. Without any hesitation, he took a step forward and ran towards the Red Flying Serpent King with his Frostbane at his side.
The Red Flying Serpent King let out a loud hiss of disbelief, confused as to how the human was alive and coming straight at him, it flapped its wings and tried to retreat when two ice spikes shot up from the ground and impaled its wings, preventing it from escaping. It thrashed around in agony, unable to free itself.
Huo Yuhao took advantage of the serpent's immobilization and activated his Sharingan, channeling his soul power into them. His eyes glowed with an icy golden light as he stared at the serpent.
A moment later, the serpent's movements slowed down and its fiery aura weakened. Huo Yuhao's Sharingan had casted a genjutsu on it, making it fall unconscious.
"Sleep tight for now, snake. Unfortunately for you, I still have great plans for you."
"But you, on the other hand." The Frostbane on his hand shifted.
The wolf felt a chill run down its spine as it sensed the power emanating from Huo Yuhao. It quickly retreated, knowing that it was no match for him.
The dark-blue portal opened again as it attempted to escape, but Huo Yuhao was faster. He dashed forward, his movements fluid and precise, and slashed at the wolf's vitals with Frostbane.
The wolf tried to kick the seemingly fragile crystal sword but it was of no use and it let out a loud yelp of pain, feeling like it hit steel.
Don't let its seemingly fragile appearance fool you. Frostbane is made with the foundation of a ten thousand year old soul bone, a material that's seemingly almost indestructible, and fused with numerous other high quality ores that's compatible to increase the user, Huo Yuhao, soul power and internal flow; ice and snow powers, and also made it heavy and hard.
Not even a full blown attack of an average Titled Douluo could do anything to it.
(AN: I'm just basing the indestructible part of when that thousand year skull bone Tang San got after he used Yama's invitation on that one guy and only the soul bone remained intact. And that I haven't remember in the story that says a soul bone could be destroyed so...)
The wolf was quickly bisected from the crotch to its head, its body falling to the ground in two pieces. It let out a final whimper before going completely still. A black soul ring then began to form above its corpse.
Huo Yuhao stood there, his breathing heavy but his eyes filled with triumph. He had successfully defeated two ten thousand year old soul beasts, a feat that was considered impossible for most soul masters.
Back in the Extreme North, he could easily kill a small group of ten thousand year soul beasts but that was only because of his Ice God Legacy's suppression towards ice-type soul beasts.
"Heh, but I still managed to kill one and incapacitated another while also taking down a group high level thousand year soul beasts quickly." Huo Yuhao grinned and held up teh Frostbane, admiring it's beauty and power. "And that's all thanks to this weapon. Is this considered rank 7 soul tool? Or a rank 8? I did use high quality materials, but I did use a rank 7 soul array to make it..."
As Huo Yuhao muttered, he waved his left hand and the Frostbane disappeared into his palm. It was made out of a soul bone after all, a rare external type, he left that function in on the weapon.
"C'mon, follow me snake. I can see Teacher Ya is about done." Huo Yuhao walked towards the crystal dome, where Tang Ya was still recovering. The ice and snow-covered area around them slowly began to melt as Huo Yuhao's aura of cold subsided.
As he approached Tang Ya, Huo Yuhao could see that she was starting to regain consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the light.
"Teacher Ya, how are you feeling?" Huo Yuhao asked softly, concern evident in his voice.
Tang Ya slowly sat up and looked at Huo Yuhao, a small smile forming on her lips. "I'm alright. Thanks to your quick thinking and the protection of the crystal dome, I was able to recover without any further injuries. How– What is that?!"
Huo Yuhao's eyes twinkled with pride as he recounted the intense fight with the small group of thousand year soul beasts and two ten thousand year old soul beasts.
Meanwhile, Ye Guyi was still unconscious atop the trees on a ice-made hammock.
.....
AN: Time for Tang Ya's revenge to truly start on next chapter. Btw, gimme those stones!!
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