The young girl, trapped in a prison of ice and snow, had fallen into despair. Yet, unexpectedly, someone had come to rescue her from this frozen wasteland.
Huo Yuhao and Yu Tao walked slowly from a distance. The Ice Dragon Bird sensed the far superior aura emanating from Yu Tao and attempted to fly away with a flap of its dragon wings.
"My fifth spirit ring..." The girl grew anxious upon seeing this.
At this moment, she was unaware of Huo Yuhao and Yu Tao's intentions. Although Huo Yuhao had chivalrously saved her life, she felt embarrassed to ask them to help her kill the Ice Dragon Bird.
However, Huo Yuhao glanced at the girl and smiled. He waved at Yu Tao and pointed to the fleeing Ice Dragon Bird, saying, "Nani Zutto!"
"What nani?" Yu Tao was confused.
"Look at this bird, it's big and wide, like a punching bag, long and round. You've been frozen for so long, you can vent your anger on it, but remember not to kill it," Huo Yuhao laughed.
Yu Tao chuckled, lightly flexing his wrist. He wasn't very smart and couldn't fully grasp why Huo Yuhao wanted to befriend the girl, but he didn't need a reason. As the young master of the Body Sect, Huo Yuhao's wishes were Yu Tao's commands.
As a subordinate, there wasn't much need for thought. If you're not smart enough, just follow the orders of those who are, and you won't go wrong.
With a powerful leap, Yu Tao sprang into the air, lifting a cloud of snow. His jumping power was terrifying, nearly eight meters in a single bound, landing directly on the Ice Dragon Bird's back.
"You're the one who froze me, aren't you? Speak up! If you don't, I'll take that as a yes and beat you to death!"
Punch after punch, his strikes, enveloped in strong winds, pounded the Ice Dragon Bird's back, eliciting cries of pain. Yet, despite this, the bird couldn't defend itself or plead its innocence.
After all, birds can't talk.
Huo Yuhao shrugged, quickly moving to the spot beneath the girl still trapped in the ice prison. A blue light flickered in his eyes, and the ice and snow that made up the prison disintegrated, causing the girl to fall.
The girl wore a spotless white outfit, seemingly unbothered by the extreme cold of the northern ice plains, much like Huo Yuhao.
Her silver hair, pulled into a ponytail on the right side, framed a delicate face. Most striking were her eyes, a blood-red so intense they seemed ready to bleed.
Two yellow and two purple rings indicated a perfect spirit ring configuration. Behind her, a spirit figure appeared, a pure white frog with similarly blood-red eyes.
"Hi...thank you for saving me," the girl said, glancing at Yu Tao who was joyfully beating the Ice Dragon Bird.
"As fellow spirit masters, we should help each other. No need for thanks," Huo Yuhao replied with a smile.
Gone was the skinny boy who had escaped the Duke's mansion. Now, Huo Yuhao was handsome and bright, with a touch of ethereal elegance, surpassing 99% of his peers in looks.
But what captivated the girl most were Huo Yuhao's eyes, clear blue like the ocean, with subtle rays of light that seemed to reflect the universe.
"Hi, my name is Meng Hongchen. I entered the northern ice plains a few days ago to hunt for spirit rings."
Blushing slightly under Huo Yuhao's gaze, Meng Hongchen lowered her head a bit.
"Hi, I'm Huo Yuhao, also here to hunt spirit rings," Huo Yuhao nodded and smiled.
He had quickly identified Meng Hongchen from her eyes and the spirit figure behind her. There couldn't be another person like her on the continent.
Befriending Meng Hongchen would be highly beneficial for his future interactions with the Sun Moon Empire, and the advanced spirit tool technology of Mingde Hall was also very enticing.
"Why did you come to hunt spirit beasts alone in the dangerous northern ice plains?" Huo Yuhao asked.
The fact that a lady from the prestigious Hongchen family had to fight spirit beasts hand-to-hand hinted at trouble within the Sun Moon Empire.
"No, I'm here with my grandfather," Meng Hongchen shook her head, worry in her eyes as she looked into the distance. "When we entered the core area, we encountered an ice bear as large as a mountain. My grandfather fought it to protect me and sent me here."
"But after staying here for a while, I found this Ice Dragon Bird and tried to make it my fifth spirit ring..."
"So you tried to kill it for your fifth spirit ring but failed and nearly got killed instead?" Huo Yuhao quipped.
Meng Hongchen:
Speechless. No response.
The Ice Dragon Bird's cries grew louder as Yu Tao continued pummeling it. Finally, it fell to the ground, hoping someone would end its misery.
"Go absorb the spirit ring now, or it'll die," Huo Yuhao told Meng Hongchen.
"Thank you. I'll repay you for saving my life," Meng Hongchen said gratefully.
To have someone appear just in time to save her, defeating her enemy like a knight in shining armor—wasn't this like the prince charming from the novels she read?
Huo Yuhao might not have ridden a horse, but he was even more handsome than those fictional princes, making it hard for Meng Hongchen, a self-confessed face-con, to resist.
Watching Meng Hongchen finish off the Ice Dragon Bird, Huo Yuhao asked in his spiritual sea, "Brother Tianmeng, where's that ten-thousand-year Ice Silkworm you mentioned?"
"Yuhao, you have good talent, but your spiritual detection needs more practice," Tianmeng replied with a laugh. "Didn't you notice the movement underground?"
"The ten-thousand-year Ice Silkworm is twenty meters below you. The Ice Dragon Eagle was likely hunting it but got caught by you."
Huo Yuhao, slightly stunned, directed his spiritual detection downward. Indeed, he found an Ice Silkworm sleeping in a snow burrow beneath him.
What followed was simple. The Ice Silkworm tried to flee upon sensing Huo Yuhao's spiritual power, but it couldn't escape Yu Tao, a Spirit Douluo, who easily smashed the snow and caught it.
With a flash of icy white light from Huo Yuhao's eyes, a white flame erupted from his right hand. The Profound Ice Cold Flame, with its dual properties of cold and heat, swiftly destroyed the Ice Silkworm's life force.
He then sat cross-legged, beginning the process of absorbing the spirit ring alongside Meng Hongchen. Yu Tao stood by, ready to protect them.
Suddenly, a golden light flared in the distant sky, expanding and then contracting, revealing a figure.
The short but plump figure in a luxurious black robe with gold embroidery was none other than Meng Hongchen's grandfather, Mingde Hall's master, Jing Hongchen!