Inside the cave, a perfectly spherical flame barrier emitted a faint icy white light.
Within the barrier, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on an ice-blue lotus platform. He seemed to be in a state of profound unconsciousness, while the Profound ice-cold flame flowing through his meridians suddenly began to operate along the route of the Burning Technique.
At this moment, the mysterious ice-cold flame coursed through his meridians, and the toughness of these meridians had already far surpassed their strength before he devoured the strange flame.
The muscles beneath Huo Yuhao's skin were rapidly being strengthened. Although they didn't become as bulky as those of muscle-bound men, a latent explosive power was now subtly gathered in the bends and stretches of his arms.
His skin, shedding rapidly like that of a molting snake, revealed new skin underneath that was as tender as spring tofu. However, this new skin's defense and sensitivity to external energies were several times greater than before.
Utilizing the power of the Profound ice-cold flame, Huo Yuhao was refining his body to near perfection. The combat power that this new body could unleash was far superior to that of his previous one.
In the context of an online game, Huo Yuhao's body might be seen as continuously flashing the "Enhance +1!" indicator.
After strengthening Huo Yuhao's body both inside and out, the Profound ice-cold flame, having no one to control it, turned its attention to the nearly depleted soul power within Huo Yuhao's meridians.
The previously scarce black soul power was completely devoured by the mysterious ice-cold flame, like an eagle catching a rabbit. Subsequently, the mysterious ice-cold flame released strands of pure icy white gaseous energy into Huo Yuhao's meridians.
This icy white energy circulated once through Huo Yuhao's meridians following the route of the Burning Technique, transforming into Huo Yuhao's soul power.
At this point, Huo Yuhao's Burning Technique soul power had changed from black to icy white. After all, the Phoenix Evil Flame was merely a beast flame, vastly inferior to the god-created heavenly fire, the Profound ice-cold flame.
The newly formed icy white soul power was much thicker and, although still gaseous, its quality far exceeded that of the soul power before devouring the strange flame.
Once the icy white soul power filled Huo Yuhao's meridians, the lazy Profound ice-cold flame ceased generating energy.
It swam slightly, then headed towards a small gray dot at the center of Huo Yuhao's dantian, as if it had found its favorite toy.
The small gray dot at the center of his lower dantian floated in place. Within the dot lay an endless dark depth, as if another space was hidden at the end of this darkness, looking extremely mysterious.
The mysterious ice-cold flame hovered around the gray dot, appearing very curious yet hesitant. It vaguely knew that if it touched this gray dot, it would lose its permanent freedom.
After some contemplation and recalling the familiar Ice God aura on Huo Yuhao's body, the mysterious ice-cold flame hesitated for a moment before releasing a strand of its flame tail towards the gray dot.
At the moment of contact, the light within the gray dot rapidly extinguished, a terrifying suction force erupted, and the mysterious ice-cold flame was sucked in. Subsequently, Huo Yuhao's body fell into complete silence.
This small gray dot was the essence seed that Yao Lao had earlier shot into Huo Yuhao's body.
The final and most crucial step in refining an strange flame into a fundamental fire seed was to forcibly press the mysterious ice-cold flame into the space formed by the essence seed. Only by fully absorbing the Profound ice-cold flame into the essence seed for refining could it be considered perfect!
However, this time was different. The exotic flame had a spirit and it chose to merge with Huo Yuhao on its own. Due to the influence of contract magic, some strange changes seemed to occur within Huo Yuhao's body.
"Crack…"
The icy white barrier, like shattered porcelain, suddenly sprouted countless cracks. Then, with a violent explosion, it completely dissipated.
On the ice-blue lotus seat, the completely naked youth sat cross-legged. His slightly closed eyes trembled and then slowly opened.
Two icy white flames suddenly rose from his pitch-black eyes and then disappeared, turning back into a dazzling multicolored light.
Standing up, Huo Yuhao stretched his body slightly, emitting a series of crisp popping sounds. Looking at his crystal clear and delicate white skin, Huo Yuhao helplessly shook his head and quickly found a set of clothes to put on.
Seeing Yao Lao's somewhat puzzled expression, Huo Yuhao recounted everything that had happened earlier, including how the Profound ice-cold flame helped him convert his soul power and then voluntarily entered the essence seed to be absorbed.
"To think it happened like this, you are truly fortunate to receive the Ice God's legacy, and that person's contract magic is indeed remarkable," Yao Lao nodded.
After this experience, most of Yao Lao's suspicions about Electrolux had dissipated. From the current situation, it appeared that Electrolux genuinely had intentions to protect Huo Yuhao and harbored no other motives.
"By the way, where is he?" Huo Yuhao naturally referred to Electrolux.
"His spiritual power was greatly depleted and he has returned to your spiritual sea to fall into slumber," Yao Lao said. "Once we leave and find the Snow Condensation Flower to refine the Soul Nourishing Elixir, it will help him restore some of his strength."
Huo Yuhao nodded and then said, "Teacher, although my soul power hasn't broken through due to not yet obtaining a soul ring, it should have reached the level of twenty-six or twenty-seven. If I devour another strange flame, wouldn't I be able to directly break through to Soul Elder?"
"What are you dreaming about?"
Yao Lao gave Huo Yuhao a sidelong glance and could only sigh inwardly, comparing oneself to others could indeed be frustrating.
He pursed his lips and said, "The benefits brought by refining an strange flame are long-term and latent. As your control over them becomes more proficient over the years, the benefits will grow. That is to say, during the initial period after refining, there won't be any dramatic increase in strength. What you're experiencing is considered extreme good luck."
"I see." Huo Yuhao nodded.
"What level has the Burning Technique reached?" Yao Lao eagerly asked, rubbing his hands together.
"Hehe, thanks to the contract magic, the Profound ice-cold flame showed no resistance when I devoured it," Huo Yuhao teased, seeing Yao Lao's impatience. He quickly added before getting hit.
"Intermediate Black Level!"
Hearing this, Yao Lao was slightly taken aback, then nodded in relief, the weight in his heart gradually easing.
He had feared that the Burning Technique was a lie and couldn't evolve through devouring strange flames.
With his mind at ease, he smiled and said, "Not bad. Although advancing the technique between levels requires immense energy, this seems not too difficult for strange flames."
"Hehe, teacher, the surprises are just beginning!" Huo Yuhao chuckled, his eyes flashing with a white flame.
Then, a creature with silky white fur, resembling a fox, suddenly appeared on Huo Yuhao's shoulder.
This creature's body was ablaze with fierce white flames, yet these flames, despite their intensity, didn't harm Huo Yuhao at all.
"This is…" Yao Lao exclaimed, "This is the Profound ice-cold flame?!"