The feeling of heat burning his internal organs was strong and violent. Suddenly, he felt a cold current inside his body as if he was gently holding his organs while the tree in his hands shone with a faint golden light.
Soon the heat gradually disappeared, leaving a comfortable warmth
Zhang Yong opened his eyes and took a look at his martial spirit
"It seems I succeeded, conflicting characteristics are really difficult to combine."
Naoto stood still and activated the second soul ability
A ball of flame came out from his left palm
"I seem to be able to control it."
Naoto made the fireball smaller and then larger and shaped it into simple objects such as a sword or spear and other objects
(Hack the host successfully, you have reached level 21)
"Although my physical fitness has increased after absorbing the ring, I don't think I can confront the thousand-year monsters."
Then Zhang Yong turned to the corpse of the mother bird, whose purple soul ring was about to disappear. Naoto went to the ring and looked at it.
"The ring will remain there if you put it in storage."
(Yes, and it will not disappear unless you leave it outside inventory for a long time. Time is suspended in inventory and nothing will change as long as you put it in it)
"Then I'll keep it for the little one."
Naoto placed the ring in storage and placed the sword as well
He searched for a new fishing area
-----------
Three days later, as the sun rose amidst the cold monsoon winds, three shadows in the sky were seen passing over the trees in white clothes. They quickly passed by. These were the soldiers of the Soul Hall after news had arrived of the disappearance of many Soul Beasts.
Below in the shadows of the trees, Naoto appeared in disguise:
"I think I exaggerated it."
"That's why I told you, you have to leave early if you want to get to the north early."
The voice spoke to Naoto in a warning tone
Naoto walked towards the exit of the forest, he had just annihilated an entire area of Spirit Beasts and due to the violent response of the energy he used, the Spirit Hall headed to the location to reconnoiter.
He went out to the nearby village and went to a store. He had bought a map and some food.
"Let's see, the far north is supposed to be next to the Ice Forest."
The far north was a harsh icy environment, but it was definitely the right place to raise Absolute Ice. The trip back and forth would take a month, but if it worked, he would become stronger.
He took steady steps on his way
After two weeks
In the north of the Doulo Continent, there was a zone forbidden to humans. The extreme cold weather made it difficult for humans to live in, as well as powerful ice-element spirit beasts.
"It's cold"
Zhang Yong walked alone, wrapped in his robe, in the middle of the snow, with his footprints behind him erased by the blizzard. He did not need to wear winter clothes since he had the ability to resist the cold, in addition to the absolute flame element that he possessed in his body. However, this did not prevent him from feeling chills. Instinctively
His steps were sinking into the ice, and the water he had in his backpack had completely frozen, leaving him nothing but ice to eat.
A giant white silhouette appeared amidst the snowstorm
"This monster is one of the Ice Titans, I need to get away quickly."
This beast was from one of the most powerful clans in the Northern Wilderness, a dangerous beast that could detect even distant objects. The robe holder could not hide Zhang Yong from him, but this also meant that he was close to his destination. Meanwhile, the person living in Zhang Yong's Spiritual Sea was watching. Everything is close, it is not his time yet.
The map guided Zhang Yong through directions, helping him avoid potential dangers, and for him there was only one straight path.
He had already entered the northernmost region and had penetrated into a desolate area
"Trade with me, Naoto."
The voice rang inside Zhang Yong's mind. Zhang Yong did not discuss the matter and exchanged with him. It was as if souls had exchanged places. Naoto's eyes changed color to a dark blood red.
He stood up in a straight manner, took out his martial spirit and took out his sword from the storeroom, releasing an aura of life force that covered the entire place, but unlike the pure life force he usually gave off, this energy had a kind of ominousness to it, it was black but more powerful than the original.
Zhang Yong was watching everything from his Spiritual Sea
"What is Yami doing?"
Zhang Yong had talked to the person inside his Soul Sea several times and decided to call him Yami, since his eye shape looked similar to that of a demon.
"I asked you to reach level 30, but what I originally aimed for was to increase the aura around the sword so that I could use it."
"but why"
"Wait and you'll see"
After more than a quarter of an hour
The sky and earth shook violently, and immediately a jade-green light appeared from afar on the horizon
'It deserves to be called the second strongest beast in the northern wilderness.'
Then the light appeared to move as if it were a bird. Then the pressure that had dominated the place disappeared. When it approached, the light stopped 10,000 meters away. Despite the distance, it was possible to feel the oppressive aura it was exerting.
"What are you doing here, human? Die and give me your life energy."
Thousands of spears appeared from the ground, like sharp snow mountains, heading quickly towards Yami. Yami did not have to move from his place. He simply used the second soul ring and created a wall of fire that completely melted the attack.
"Absolute Fire? You can actually resist my attack, interesting." A voice spoke from all directions like an echo, and it had a strong, cold aura.
"I'm here to get your soul ring."
Yami spoke with a smile on his face
"How dare you, human, challenge me?"
The Ice Empress launched a blizzard of ice needles towards Yami
"You do not have much time in this world. You probably have 10,100 years left in addition to your battle for positions."
Although the duration seemed long, it was short in the eyes of the Spiritual Beasts. The storm of needles stopped a millimeter away from him
"How could a human know about this?"
The voice spoke in the place, as if he knew what was on her mind, although he had guessed, he had hit the nail on the head. He had guessed that the reason for her inability to break through after ten thousand years was due to her internal injuries in the succession competition.
"You are looking for a source of life energy, so you headed here and released your aura so as not to allow any other monsters to come."
Yami spoke as he held the small Tree of Life in his hand
"This is the source of life energy, give it to me now."
The voice shouted angrily as it directed its energy at Yami
"Do you think I'll give it to you?"
Yami brought his fighting spirit back within him, then grabbed his sword and raised it towards the jade-green light as a sign of challenge.
"You are flirting with death, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces."
Then the sound disappeared, and after fifteen minutes a giant scorpion appeared, a meter and a half long or more, in two colors like ice and jade, with layers covering its body, each one larger than the previous one.
"Human, hand over that life energy and I may let you go."
The smile disappeared from Yami's face. He knew that the Empress could not defeat him or consume his body due to the absolute fire, so she started threatening. It was easy for Yami to expose her.
"I'm here for another reason."
Yami said as he slowly lowered his sword and leaned on it like a staff
The Ice Empress did not speak, after all this little boy with red eyes was incomprehensible to her
"I am offering to become an Intelligent Spiritual Ring, not only that, but I will help you reach the Four Hundred Year Cultivation."
Surprise was evident from the Empress' form. The term intelligent spirit ring was not only common, but it was also dangerous for spirit beasts.
"How dare you make that offer?"
"Empress, I understand that you do not trust humans, but think about your condition, with your current life you will not last long, so you have two options, either wait for a senseless death in the coming tribulation, as you have already lost the right to transform, or give it a chance and then you will live longer." If you reach the stage of immortality, you will become immortal as well."
"Khalida?!"
For some reason, the Empress was thinking about the matter. His words touched a chord in her heart. She really didn't have much time, especially with her injuries.
"How can I guarantee that you are trustworthy, human?"
"I will swear on my martial spirit, you can also prepare a giant army to kill me while I absorb the ring."
The Martial Spirit Oath was a dangerous oath, as it meant that the Martial Spirit would be destroyed and never come back, and absorbing a hundred thousand year old ring would already take a long time and a Spirit Master without protection at that time would be at risk of being killed.
"I will test you first to see the truth of what you say."
Yami succeeded in restraining the Ice Empress, which was different from the original novel, as he used what living creatures fear most, whether monsters or humans, which is death, after all who wants to give up a long life.
"Get what you have"
The Empress moved her comet tail and placed it next to Yami's neck
"There is no chance to back out, I will inject you with absolute ice for ten minutes, and you have to survive without absolute flame. If you do, I will accept it."
This move was dangerous, after all this was Absolute Ice vs. Absolute Fire, two opposing Absolute elements.
"I will repeat your question to you. What guarantees that you will not attack me to kill me within these ten minutes?"
"Great Ice God, I, the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress, pledge in my name that I will be stripped of all my power if I kill this human by myself"
Yami smiled calmly. Although this oath was strange, it was of great importance to the Spirit Beasts, and the phrase "by myself" had another meaning. If he died on his own due to his intolerance, the Ice Empress would not be punished, but this meant that she would not surprise him either.
"Start the injection"
The Empress hit Yami's chest, injecting him with absolute ice. Yami sat on the ground trying to use his features to absorb absolute ice. He could feel the ice penetrating his organs, then spreading to his bones, flesh, and veins and invading his being. This continued for a full ten minutes, even though Zhang Yong was watching. Everything but he felt everything too
Yami opened his eyes and looked at the empress in front of him
"Looks like I won"
Yami smiled as he looked at her with his bloodshot eyes
"Indeed, I keep my promise."
The Ice Jade Scorpion Empress closed her eyes as she awaited her fate
Yami grabbed his sword and cut off the empress's head with one blow, and immediately a blood red ring appeared. It was a hundred thousand year ring. Yami took out the contract card and placed it on the soul ring and its shape changed slightly. Then he sat on the ground and began to suck the ring.
As he absorbed it, he felt a cold that invaded not only his body but his soul as well. The feeling could be described as swimming in an arctic river. Even his mind was not spared. Zhang Yong felt coldness and goosebumps in his body as if he was freezing and on the verge of losing consciousness, and a feeling of numbness did not leave his face.
, Yami tried to use Absolute Fire not to relieve his symptoms, but rather Zhang Yong's condition in the Spirit Sea
He knew how important it was for Zhang Yong to survive, so if he used it on himself, the two elements would clash
Then suddenly his body began to swell as if it was about to explode
"now"
Yami gathered all the strength of his leaking soul and released it into the sky, making it glow green like jade as lightning and thunder struck the place
Zhang Yong opened his eyes and had regained control of his body
"What happened to Yami?"
Zhang Yong hurriedly entered his soul sea to check on him
When he entered, he found a body floating in the air, and next to him stood a beautiful woman wearing a jade green dress, and there were four lines of devilish patterns on each side of her captivating, silky white face. Her long, dark green hair flowed behind her back, but her snow-white skin seemed to be translucent
"You are the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress?"
"If you are the owner of this body"
The girl looked at Zhang Yong before her eyes returned to the floating body
"Yes, what happened to Yami?"
"He's in a deep sleep"
"When will he wake up?"
The Empress shook her head, indicating that she did not know
"Can I talk to you, Naoto?"
"Yes," he replied nervously
"Can you tell me your story?"
Zhang Yong told his story from his world to this world, and everything he went through, but he hid the fact that this world was just a story in his eyes. After all, the Empress might not believe it, and even if she did, it would be painful to believe that her existence was just ink on paper.
"So, it seems that you have come a long way, but you have to come back to reality. Go into my body and you will find a spirit bone. Take it and leave the area quickly."
"Why?"
"Since the elders of the tribe have noticed my disappearance, they will come looking for me."
Zhang Yong returned to his outer body and went to the nearby corpse and began searching. It was difficult to remove the skin, as it was still the body of a hundred thousand year old monster.
After several attempts, the outer shell was extracted and a spiritual bone was found, which was the spinal cord bone
He quickly put it in storage and started running
"I won't get away in time"
Then Zhang Yong had an idea. He took out his martial spirit and three spirit rings appeared behind him, two gold and one red. He used his new spirit ability to turn the area in a straight line into an icy land and then move upwards.
Zhang Yong rose above the floor and used the fire in both hands behind him and unleashed the ability of his second soul ring like an engine that sped up
He was skating on the ice at an insane speed and with the final rise it was as if he was flying through the sky. He could not use both at the same time due to the side effects.
He continued like this until he reached the end of the snowy area