"Plop!"
With a light sound, a hand suddenly burst out from beneath the thick snow. Following that, Huo Yuhao's bare body slowly crawled out.
His muscles weren't particularly robust but were very streamlined. His jade-like skin, upon emerging from the snow, emitted a unique sheen.
Slowly opening his eyes, Huo Yuhao's gaze flashed with two different colors. First, an icy white, then a vivid green, finally settling into the multicolored glow of his second martial soul awakening.
A strange scene unfolded. The snowflakes falling from the sky began swirling around him within a three-foot radius, forming a small snow tornado centered on his body.
Huo Yuhao clenched his fist tightly and swung it forward. The massive burst of air instantly swept up the snow on the ground in front of him.
A dazzling, radiant blood-red soul ring rose from beneath his feet, with four faintly glowing golden lines on it.
The combination of red and gold colors shone brilliantly against the snowy expanse. A primordial aura seemed to emanate from him, spreading in all directions.
"You did it, Yuhao! My efforts weren't in vain!" Tianmeng's joyous voice sounded.
"However, Yuhao, your current cultivation level is still low. Although your body has been strengthened far beyond your cultivation level, you still can't utilize the Ice Empress's soul ring and soul bone powers. But as your cultivation grows, the abilities the Ice Empress bestows upon you will surely surprise you."
Huo Yuhao's soul power had now reached level twenty-eight, almost at the brink of level twenty-nine. However, his physical strength had already reached the high tier of a Soul Elder, if not equivalent to a Soul King.
Normally, Huo Yuhao would be considered heavily skewed in his abilities. But the advantage is that he could attach higher age soul rings to his martial soul, which would greatly benefit his future development.
"Yuhao, with your current physique and your powerful Flame Jue cultivation technique (Burning Technique), you should be able to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring for your second soul ring of the Flame God Eye martial soul," Tianmeng Iceworm said. "I recommend you absorb the soul ring of one of my kin for your second soul ring. This way, I can customize a particularly useful second soul skill for you."
Huo Yuhao nodded lightly. Yes, the mimicry soul skill was indeed a powerful tool for him. However, in the original story, Huo Yuhao often used this skill to bluff others, which seemed somewhat inappropriate.
After all, imitating the aura of other strong individuals could only work once, and it would be discovered afterward. But according to his plan, this soul skill had much broader practical uses in actual combat.
After nodding, Huo Yuhao walked over to a small wooden sign nearby, first putting on a thick layer of clothing.
Then he picked up the Xuan Heavy Ruler and cleared away the snow covering it, revealing Yu Tao's frozen figure beneath.
A flash of light from the black, ancient-looking ring on his finger caused countless tiny sparks to drill out from Yu Tao's body and be retracted into the ring. At this moment, Huo Yuhao used his Flame Jue soul power, pressing his hands against Yu Tao's back to help him circulate his blood and restore his vitality.
"Mmm..."
Without the icy power of the Bone Spirit Cold Fire, Yu Tao quickly regained his soul power with Huo Yuhao's help. However, his eyes still showed confusion, filled with clarity and foolishness.
"What happened?"
Yu Tao shivered, then his Soul Douluo-level soul power surged through his body, instantly dispelling the surrounding cold.
He stood up abruptly, scanning his surroundings, and saw Huo Yuhao wrapped up like a dumpling in thick clothing.
"Young master, what happened?" Yu Tao scratched his head and asked.
"I don't know. I just remember a strong chill sweeping over my body, and then I lost consciousness." Huo Yuhao pointed to his thick clothes. "I woke up earlier than you, so I broke the ice layer and woke you up."
"I see." Yu Tao fell into confusion, having no memory of the recent events, but Huo Yuhao's explanation seemed reasonable to him.
"The Extreme North is indeed a place full of dangers, with even such paranormal events happening," Yu Tao said with some fear, shrinking his neck. "Young master, this place is too dangerous. We should leave quickly."
"Leave? Have you forgotten why we're here?" Huo Yuhao gave Yu Tao a stern look. "We're here to find a ten-thousand-year ice worm soul ring. Once we do, we'll head back to Shrek City."
"A ten-thousand-year ice worm? Are there such high-level ice worms?" Yu Tao stared at Huo Yuhao in disbelief.
"Yuhao, let me out! I want to challenge this idiot!" In the spiritual sea, Tianmeng's angry voice rang out.
Huo Yuhao quickly calmed the furious Tianmeng, then casually brushed off Yu Tao's concerns. The two of them headed in the direction indicated by Tianmeng in the spiritual sea.
For his own kin, Tianmeng seemed to have a unique tracking method and quickly found the traces of a ten-thousand-year-level ice worm.
After walking for a while, both Yu Tao and Huo Yuhao noticed a series of footprints in the snow on their path.
"Someone's here?"
Huo Yuhao and Yu Tao exchanged glances, both concealing their auras as they cautiously moved forward. In the desolate Extreme North, human footprints were rare, making it uncertain whether they were friend or foe.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual detection range was nearly three hundred meters now. As he released his spiritual probe forward, he detected an intense battle happening ahead.
"Ice Reflection!"
A girl in white shouted, and two identical images of her appeared on the crystalline ice surface.
Facing her was a giant bird with icy white wings, over three meters long, surrounded by swirling snowflakes.
Huo Yuhao recognized it as a Frost Dragon Bird, a rare soul beast in the Extreme North. Although a bird, it had a trace of ice dragon blood, making it very powerful. Judging by its size, its cultivation was at least ten thousand years.
The Frost Dragon Bird let out a terrifying screech and struck at one of the girl's images with its sharp beak.
However, the targeted image vanished, revealing itself as a decoy, while the girl's real body had repositioned. Not only did she avoid the beak, but she also teleported behind the bird.
Her thin sword transformed into countless sword shadows, aiming at the dragon bird's wings. The foot-long sword energy shimmered and emitted a series of puffs in the air.
Yet at that moment, the Frost Dragon Bird's eyes flashed with cunning. It had identified the girl's true location and attacked the decoy deliberately to lure her closer.
The dragon bird lifted its head and let out a long cry. The snow surrounding its body flew out, forming a prison of ice and snow that trapped the girl.
"Ah!"
The girl screamed, struggling to break free, but to no avail. Her cultivation was still inferior to the Frost Dragon Bird's, and falling into its trap left her with little chance of escape.
Just when the girl was on the brink of despair, a clear voice echoed from a distance.
"Beast, let go of that girl!"