Underground Ice Cave

As Xia Liang examined the three colored compartments of the Three-colored Ring, his eyes filled with curiosity. He knew from the original story that Soul Tools capable of storing living creatures existed, but this was the first time he had heard of a Soul Tool that could store food-type Soul Skills.

The Three-colored Ring had three different colored compartments: red, green, and yellow.

The green compartments were all used to store food. Did that mean only the Storage Space in the green compartments could preserve food for extended periods? Did the remaining red and yellow compartments have different storage effects as well? "Heh heh." Gastly suddenly let out an eerie, chilling cry. It wanted to convey that, aside from this Three-colored Ring, the other three Gastlies had found an extremely hidden ice cave somewhere on the Ice Plain.

And more than a hundred zhang beneath that ice cave, there was a large pile of strangely shaped Ice Crystal Stones.

They were very likely some special kind of ice-attribute forging material. Selling them to the Blacksmith Association would definitely bring in quite a bit of money.

With that in mind, Xia Liang took out the Silver Bracelet he had hidden beneath a giant boulder and put it back on his left wrist. He then transferred the left arm bone he had just obtained into the Three-colored Ring and tucked the ring inside his cotton-padded clothes.

One was in the open, while the other was hidden. That way, even if the Shui Family searched the Silver Bracelet, he would not have to worry about exposing the left arm bone.

"Heh heh."

After letting out two strange cries, Gastly flew toward the vast expanse of white snow ahead.

Xia Liang followed closely behind.

About half an hour later.

Led by Gastly, he arrived at the location of the ice cave.

However, the first thing that entered his sight was a glacier hundreds of zhang tall.

Thirty meters up the glacier was a vertically split ice crevice.

Soul Beasts were all enormous and could not pass through such a narrow crevice. But Gastly possessed ghostly traits and had no physical body. Not only was he immune to most physical attacks, but he could also pass through any kind of obstacle at will.

That was why he knew an ice cave was hidden inside the crevice.

Since Xia Liang could not pass through the ice crevice like Gastly, how could he enter the ice cave?

After thinking for a moment, Xia Liang decided to destroy the crevice. If he turned it into a large hole, would he not be able to get inside? His Skeleton Martial Soul appeared, and his First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring lit up at the same time.

Xia Liang leaped five meters into the air, then slammed the ten-meter Skeleton Arm against the ground. Using the force of pressing down on the ground as propulsion, he immediately shot up to a height of thirty meters.

At the same time, the Skeleton Arm pressed against the ground vanished. A new Skeleton Arm then grew from the right side of the Ribs.

Enhanced by Iron Bone, his Second Soul Skill, the Skeleton Arm became a Giant Bone Hand wrapped in countless blood-and-qi iron wires. Its fist, like an iron claw, struck with full force and smashed heavily into the ice crevice ahead.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

He continued leaping while controlling the Giant Bone Hand to strike.

Only after the tenth blow did the ice crevice thirty meters above collapse with a crash, caving in to form a hole two meters wide amid a thunderous roar.

A freezing gale surged wildly out from the hole and blew Xia Liang away.

The four Gastlies simultaneously clamped their mouths onto the clothing on Xia Liang's back, finally stabilizing him in midair.

It was only in the next second, after the ice crevice had collapsed into a large hole, that Xia Liang discovered the crevice was actually more than a meter thick.

One had to know that ice condensed from the frigid energy of the Extreme North Land was far harder than the ice created by ordinary ice-attribute Soul Masters.

If not for the one-hundred-percent strength boost of Netherworld Transformation, his First Soul Skill, combined with the hardness enhancement of Iron Bone, his Second Soul Skill, the Giant Bone Hand might not have been able to shatter an ice crevice over a meter thick in just ten strikes.

It seemed the enhancement effect of Iron Bone, his Second Soul Skill, was quite good indeed.

After receiving his instructions, the four Gastlies floated forward together, carrying Xia Liang into the large hole filled with howling winds.

Once inside the hole.

When Xia Liang raised his head into the gale and looked ahead, the sight before him could only be described as spectacular.

Ahead lay sheer cliffs, with wind and snow swirling through the air, giving the impression that this was the very end of the far north.

The four Gastlies placed Xia Liang at the edge of the cliff. Then, one after another, they flew down into the bottomless abyss.

A long while later.

Several rhythmic strange cries rose from beneath the cliff. It was Gastly's signal that the way was safe.

It seemed there were no Soul Beasts beneath the cliff. Since the frigid energy below could not kill Gastly, it meant it could not kill Xia Liang either.

At that moment, a bone-piercing chill seeped into him.

Xia Liang noticed that his body was gradually stiffening and his mind was beginning to go numb. These were signs that the cold had invaded his body.

Had the effect of the Milk Hot Drink worn off?

Anxiously, Xia Liang took the magatama-shaped container from the Silver Bracelet and drank three mouthfuls of Milk Hot Drink. Only then did the frozen sensation in his internal organs abruptly fade, replaced by warmth.

Nourished by the Milk Hot Drink, the blood in his body began to boil again, and the flesh on his face, which had frozen into ice, quickly returned to normal.

Xia Liang gasped heavily as though he had narrowly escaped death.

The stronger the Ice Attribute Energy contained within the cold, the faster it consumed the Milk Hot Drink. It seemed the drink's effect was not fixed at six shichen.

If he did not carefully calculate how long the Milk Hot Drink would remain effective, then with even the slightest carelessness, the surrounding cold would freeze his flesh and blood into ice, bringing his life to an end.

There was still one-third of the Milk Hot Drink left. It should be enough to last until he finished exploring the ice cave beneath the cliff.

Having made up his mind, Xia Liang jumped off the cliff ahead. Only after falling three hundred meters did he see the ground below.

His Skeleton Martial Soul appeared.

Just before he hit the ground, Black-Purple Ribs covered Xia Liang's body. All the impact from the fall was offset by the Black-Purple Ribs, and after rolling several times across the ground, he got up completely unharmed.

After walking forward a hundred meters, the complete appearance of the ice cave finally unfolded before his eyes.

Xia Liang could clearly see that the rock walls on all four sides had frozen solid. Beneath the left and right walls were several large holes, which likely led to other areas.

Near the large hole in the left rock wall lay piles of Ice Crystal Stones of varying sizes.

Every one of these Ice Crystal Stones emitted a pale blue glow, illuminating the ice cave brightly.

Led by the four Gastlies, Xia Liang passed through the large hole in the left rock wall and found himself before an open patch of ice spanning a hundred meters in diameter.

And beneath the rock wall on the right was another opening as large as the previous one.

It looked like the openings had been dug out by some kind of Soul Beast.

The opening was two meters high and four meters wide, which should have been the size of that Soul Beast.

"Heh heh."

After crying out twice, the four Gastlies flew toward the opening on the right. They had already searched the place carefully; if there had been any Soul Beasts, they would have discovered them long ago.

Still, the gloomy, freezing surroundings gave him an eerie, hair-raising feeling.

For safety's sake, he still had to remain on guard.

Xia Liang summoned his Skeleton Martial Soul, and Black-Purple Ribs covered his entire body. Only after raising his vigilance to the utmost did he cautiously enter the opening on the right.

About ten minutes later.

He had no idea how many openings he had passed through. This Underground Ice Cave was like a massive maze, and there was simply no end in sight.

Fortunately, before passing through each opening, he could leave several clusters of Black-Purple Ghost Fire behind as markers. Otherwise, he would not have dared venture deeper so rashly.

When he reached the center of an icy expanse within the cave, Xia Liang looked ahead. His breathing suddenly stopped, and his pupils involuntarily widened.

There was a large hole in the rock wall ahead, ten meters in diameter and five meters high. It might have formed due to melting and collapse within the glacier, or it might have been the work of a Soul Beast.

A bone-chilling gale blew in through the ten-meter-wide hole, creating the ice, snow, and swirling blizzard within the cave.

Standing before the opening, Xia Liang discovered that outside it lay an endless expanse of azure sea.