"System, I remember that a million-year soul beast should have four soul skills, right? Huo Hang has four, so why do I only have two?" While satisfied with the power of the two soul skills, Zhao Ming was still somewhat confused.
"Nonsense. All four of Huo Yuhao's soul skills are spiritual-type, where are the ice-type ones? You're not a spiritual-type soul master, so of course, you can't inherit the soul skills associated with the primary attribute of the Ice Sky Worm," the system retorted sharply in response to Zhao Ming's question.
"But, you haven't exactly lost out. Although you can't inherit Tianmeng's spiritual soul skills, all of his spiritual cultivation is sealed within your body. As your cultivation grows, those seals will gradually break, enhancing your spiritual power. In fact, your Puppet Martial Spirit also requires strong spiritual power to function. Right now, you're fine, but when your cultivation reaches higher levels, and you control more puppets, you won't be able to manage without formidable spiritual power."
"Then what about the soul bone? Tianmeng was a million-year soul beast, so why haven't I seen even a soul bone?"
"Soul bones are a unique product, formed by the soul beast's soul power essence tempering its body over time. Tianmeng Iceworm was a rare delicacy, and Di Tian and the others continuously devoured his body's essence. Where would there be any chance for a soul bone to form? If there had been one, Di Tian and his group would have dug it out and eaten it already."
"Damn. Not even a soul bone, what a disgrace to million-year soul beasts." Zhao Ming's face darkened upon hearing the system's explanation.
But after thinking about it, it made sense. With Di Tian and the others' habits, they would eat anything with even the slightest bit of nourishment, leaving no opportunity for a soul bone to be nurtured.
Despite these thoughts, Zhao Ming was already very content with his harvest this time. This trip to the Extreme North not only granted him a new puppet, Tu Shan Yaya, but also a million-year soul ring and two powerful soul skills.
His strength had increased to level 21. According to Bi Ji, he would soon have a 570,000-year super beast as a subordinate.
Although Bi Ji wasn't a combat-type beast, her cultivation was high. She could easily crush an ordinary titled Douluo. More importantly, Bi Ji excelled at healing. In the Great Star Dou Forest, she was responsible for treating Di Tian and the other beasts. If Zhao Ming were ever injured, as long as it wasn't too serious, Bi Ji could heal him.
Slowly finishing his cultivation, Zhao Ming opened his eyes. In an instant, the surrounding temperature seemed to rise briefly, only to quickly drop again.
"My lord, did you succeed?" Seeing that Zhao Ming had successfully absorbed the soul ring of the Tianmeng Iceworm, Bi Ji hurried over. Zhao Ming's fluctuating black and white aura earlier had nearly scared her to death.
If anything had happened to Zhao Ming under her watch, it wouldn't be just Gu Yue Na's wrath she'd have to worry about—she wouldn't have forgiven herself either. Fortunately, Zhao Ming had succeeded.
"Have you been guarding here the whole time? There weren't any other soul beasts around, right?" Zhao Ming asked, noticing the concern on Bi Ji's face.
Having such care from a fierce soul beast made Zhao Ming feel rather pleased with himself.
Though Ah Yin and Xiao Wu were also hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, after their reincarnation, they no longer possessed their previous strength. But Bi Ji in front of him was a true powerhouse. Currently, humans hadn't explored the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest yet, and the only powerful soul beasts they knew of were the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python. Bi Ji and the others were likely known only to the higher-ups in the Spirit Hall.
Having such a fierce beast treat him with such care felt different.
"My lord, this is the outermost region of the Extreme North. There aren't any powerful soul beasts here," Bi Ji responded respectfully.
"Hmm, you've done well this time. What reward do you want?" Zhao Ming asked with a teasing tone, staring at Bi Ji.
"This…" Bi Ji hesitated. She vaguely understood what Zhao Ming wanted, and quickly replied, "It is my duty to serve you, my lord. How could I ask for a reward?"
"What if I insist on giving one?" Zhao Ming pressed further.
"This…" Bi Ji lowered her head, unsure how to respond.
"Forget it. I'll go find a soul beast to test my soul skill." Zhao Ming shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless. He was still young, not even a drop of strength left. Even with a delicate beauty before him, all he could do was sigh in longing. But looking wasn't bad at all; at least it was pleasing to the eye. Many wouldn't even get the chance to look.
Perhaps due to the ice energy now circulating in his body, Zhao Ming seemed to have developed some resistance to the frigid environment of the Extreme North.
Soon, Zhao Ming spotted a soul beast.
It was an ice wolf about a meter tall, covered in thick white fur, its green eyes gleaming with a fierce light. When it saw Zhao Ming, it growled lowly before lunging at him.
The moment it charged, Zhao Ming unleashed his martial spirit. A brilliant golden soul ring rose beneath him.
Zhao Ming immediately activated his first soul skill.
As the soul ring lit up, black and white beams of light shot toward the ice wolf.
When the energy beams entered the wolf's body, its movement halted abruptly. Its pouncing figure froze in midair before crashing to the ground, lifeless. The conflicting ice and fire energies had already ravaged its body.
After the ice wolf's death, a white soul ring with a faint yellow hue appeared. Clearly, this soul beast was approaching a hundred years of cultivation.
Judging by the damage, Zhao Ming estimated that even ordinary hundred-year soul beasts wouldn't be able to withstand this attack. This soul skill should also deal significant damage to weaker thousand-year soul beasts.
With a rough idea of the skill's damage, Zhao Ming then summoned his Puppet Martial Spirit. When he first acquired the Tu Shan Yaya puppet, his soul power hadn't reached level 20.
Now that he had broken through to level 20, the puppet had automatically become his second soul ring.
After releasing his martial spirit, two orange soul rings appeared beneath Zhao Ming.
As the second soul ring lit up, Tu Shan Yaya materialized before him.
Yaya wore a long blue robe, with a wine gourd hanging at her waist, and stood barefoot on the snowy ground. Despite her bare feet, she didn't seem to feel the cold.
Her long, dark brown hair flowed down to her waist, and her black eyes exuded an endless coldness. Her delicate features conveyed a noble, aloof demeanor.
A true ice-cold queen!
"Master," Yaya said as she approached Zhao Ming. Her voice reached him, though her lips hadn't moved. She was using a technique known as sound transmission, a skill common to her clan, the Tu Shan.
"From now on, don't use sound transmission without my permission. Got it?"
"Yes." This time, Yaya spoke aloud.
Now that's more like it!
When she spoke, she didn't seem quite as cold anymore!
Zhao Ming smiled, thinking of Hu Liena. Hu Liena's martial spirit was also a fox, but it was far inferior to Yaya's Nine-Tailed Sky Fox.
The next time he met Hu Liena, he could let Yaya take care of her!
---
𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚!
𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼:
• 𝘽𝙤𝙜𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙪
• 𝙅𝙘𝟭𝟮𝟬𝟮
• 𝘼𝙝𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙟𝙖𝙝
• 𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗯 𝗠𝗼𝗲𝗲
𝗔𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸:
• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝟴𝟱+ 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.
• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁-𝗢𝘂𝘁: 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩!
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀!
👉 𝙅𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙬: 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣.𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙊𝙛𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧