Chapter 34 The Core Area of the Far North: Hunting the Ice Kirin!
The wind cut across the vast land like a knife.
As the emerald green light of the Poison Immortal dissipated, Liu Yuan's feet finally touched the thick snow.
With the Level 98 Super Douluo leading the way at full speed, the journey that originally spanned half the continent was completed in just seven days.
At this moment, what appeared before Liu Yuan was a silver world that was both extremely pure and extremely cruel.
The far north, the outskirts.
Looking out, the distant, undulating mountains are all covered in silver, and the glaciers reflect a mirror-like cold light under the weak sunlight.
The temperature here has dropped to around minus forty degrees Celsius. Every breath feels like swallowing ice crystals, and my lungs ache slightly.
Liu Yuan subconsciously tightened his clothes. Even with his body tempered by the "Secret Technique of the Body," he still felt a bone-chilling cold in the face of such extreme natural power.
"Don't look at me, I'll use my soul power to defend myself."
Poison Undying stood with his hands behind his back in the wind and snow, his body devoid of any soul power fluctuations. The icy winds, strong enough to freeze a Great Soul Master, quietly dissipated when they approached within three inches of his body.
He glanced at Liu Yuan sideways, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable sternness.
"This is also a form of cultivation. If you can't even withstand the cold air on the outside, your martial spirit will be frozen and cracked once you enter the core area."
Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan immediately composed himself.
He took a deep breath, his double pupils narrowed slightly, and the soul power within his body began to circulate like a rushing stream. A faint red light covered the surface of his skin, forcibly forcing out the cold air that had invaded his body.
The master and apprentice walked slowly and steadily northward through the knee-deep snow, one after the other.
As altitude and latitude increase, the environment becomes increasingly harsh.
The wind howled, the swirling snow reduced visibility to less than ten meters, and the temperature plummeted to a level that would make even a Soul Master feel despair.
When Liu Yuan felt his eyebrows and eyelashes covered with thick ice crystals and his soul power began to stagnate, Du Busi, who was walking in front, finally stopped.
"Alright, if we go any further in, your small frame won't be able to handle it."
With a wave of his right hand, Du Bu Si instantly unfurled an extremely refined emerald green soul power shield, enveloping Liu Yuan within it.
In an instant, all the wind, snow and cold were shut out, and the inside of the protective shield was warm as spring.
"Thank you, Master." Liu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly adjusted his breathing.
"The real battle is yet to come. The Ice Qilin is an auspicious creature and the proud king of the polar regions. Finding it will depend on luck."
...
Half a month passed quietly in this desolate, snow-covered forbidden zone.
The process of finding the Ice Kirin was far more tedious and difficult than Liu Yuan had imagined.
They traversed the perpetually frozen ice plains, crossed treacherous snow-capped mountains, and even brushed past several ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts on the edge of the far northern core area.
However, the icy blue figure described in that "Secret Codex" never appeared.
"Master, could it be that thing has really disappeared?" Liu Yuan sat on the ice rock, his double pupils scanning the distance, his eyesight already at its limit.
"If those mythical beast remnants were so easy to find, they wouldn't be called Qilin." Although Du Busi said this, a hint of anxiety appeared in his eyes.
Just as the two were about to change their location and continue their search, Liu Yuan's body suddenly trembled, and the two pupils in his double pupils overlapped instantly, staring intently at an icy valley a thousand meters away.
"Master! Look!"
At the mouth of the valley, which was covered by a blizzard, a dreamlike stream of ice-blue light flashed by.
The creature resembled a divine deer, but was more agile and majestic, with a single, crystal-clear horn on its forehead and its entire body covered in ice-blue dragon scales that resembled works of art.
With each step it takes, an ice lotus formed from condensed cold mist appears beneath its feet, sacred and aloof.
Ice Kirin!
"You actually managed to catch me, kid!" Poison Undying's eyes lit up, then he raised an eyebrow and his divine sense swept over the area like a tide.
At this moment, Liu Yuan also made a judgment through the insight of his double pupils, and his voice carried a hint of regret that he could not hide:
"Judging from the color of its scales and the degree of refinement of its soul power fluctuations... this ice unicorn's cultivation level is probably around 20,000 years."
Twenty thousand years.
According to common knowledge in the Soul Master world, the maximum lifespan of the third Soul Ring is usually around two thousand years.
Even though Liu Yuan has the advantage of having a physical martial soul, which allows him to absorb a higher limit, absorbing 20,000 years' worth of martial souls... that would be practically suicide.
"What a pity, it's too old." Liu Yuan sighed.
"What a waste!"
Poison Undying suddenly turned around, gave Liu Yuan a sharp rap on the head in a huff, his tone laced with arrogance.
"Do you think all the high-grade soul beast meat I've fed you these past few months, the secret medicines I've prepared, and the body-strengthening pills I've given you were just for feeding dogs?"
"Is the 'Body Body Secret Technique' that you practice every day meant to make you follow the same step-by-step path as ordinary Soul Masters?"
Liu Yuan was stunned.
Poison Undying stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes flashing with a kind of crazy yet confident light: "Liu Yuan, you better listen to me."
"Your double pupils are already a top-tier quality in the mental realm, and your mental strength has long since reached the Soul King level."
"After nearly half a year of baptism by my Body Sect, your physical strength has been greatly enhanced!"
"If I had only brought you here to get a spirit ring that's a few thousand years old, why would I have made this trip myself?"
"In my plan, your third spirit ring must be at least ten thousand years old! This twenty-thousand-year-old ice unicorn is just the right age!"
Twenty thousand years, just right?
Liu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then a surge of extreme joy and pride welled up in his heart.
Since Master, a level 98 Douluo, said it's possible, then it definitely is!
"Go, find a sheltered spot in the back and wait there. I'll show you how to bring this beast back to you!"
As soon as Du Busi finished speaking, he vanished from the spot.
The next second, a deafening roar came from the distant icy valley.
The ice unicorn felt an unprecedented threat. It raised its head and roared, and the ice-blue scales all over its body instantly lit up. An extreme chill turned into a blizzard, trying to block the green light.
Although this ice unicorn only has 20,000 years of cultivation, as recorded in the "Secret Manual," its physical body, enhanced by its powerful bloodline, is extremely terrifying, and its combat power is enough to crush ordinary soul beasts with 30,000 to 40,000 years of cultivation.
But against the indestructible poison, such resistance seemed somewhat futile.
"Main Body—Suppress!"
The sound of the poison not dying exploded like thunder in the polar region.
Liu Yuan saw from afar that his master hadn't even activated his martial soul; he had simply relied on his extremely domineering physical soul power to shatter the glacier within a radius of several hundred meters with a single palm strike.
No matter how the Ice Qilin charged and roared, it could only gradually exhaust its strength in front of that towering Super Douluo.
"When will I be able to be that powerful?"
Watching Poison Undying's almost brutal fighting style, Liu Yuan felt an unprecedented longing.
This is a true Soul Master! This is a true powerhouse!
One force can overcome all laws. No matter what kind of divine beast bloodline you have, you must bow down before me!
A moment later, Du Busi carried the barely breathing Ice Qilin, whose bones were mostly broken, back to Liu Yuan as if it were a kitten.
"Finish him off, the rest is up to you." Poison Undying clapped his hands, looking as relaxed as if he had just come back from a walk.
Without hesitation, Liu Yuan took out his dagger, aimed it at the exposed throat of the Ice Qilin, and stabbed it fiercely.
Buzz—!
A deep, serene, and endlessly oppressive black soul ring slowly emerged from the sacred light and shadow of the Ice Qilin, pulsating endlessly around Liu Yuan's body.
A ten-thousand-year-old soul ring!
Liu Yuan took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, and his double pupils erupted with both crimson and deep color.
"Whether it works or not depends on this!"
The subsequent absorption will be the final hurdle that determines whether he can truly undergo a complete transformation.
(End of chapter)