Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow

It seemed this Underground Ice Cave was located along the coast of the Extreme North Land.

Only then did Xia Liang remember that he and the Shui Family's Soul Hunting Team had traveled north by ship from Silvis City along the coast to reach the Extreme North Land.

The directions of south and north were opposite.

In other words, drifting south along this sea would lead toward the southern part of the continent.

As if remembering something, Xia Liang's hairs stood on end. An Underground Ice Cave that had collapsed into a huge hole, and heading south from the Extreme North Land along the sea to reach the continent? In Unrivaled Tang Sect, the million-year Soul Beast Sky Dream Ice Silkworm seemed to have gone through something similar, didn't it? Could this Underground Ice Cave be Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's nest?

After sweeping his gaze around, Xia Liang found no ice silkworm-type Soul Beasts.

Before entering the ice cave, the four Gastlys and the Black-Purple Ghost Fire had already conducted a thorough search. There were no Soul Beasts here at all.

If there had been a Soul Beast, the four Gastlys and the Black-Purple Ghost Fire would have been scattered long ago. They could not have returned safely to report back.

"What's that?"

Xia Liang suddenly noticed traces on the icy ground to his front left, as though something heavy had pressed against it.

Only upon approaching did he discover that the marks on the ice were four meters wide and seven meters long.

Along those seven-meter-long marks were faint lines spaced a meter apart, resembling the segmented shape of bamboo.

These seven-meter-long marks should have been the body outline left by some kind of Soul Beast pressing against the ground.

If his earlier judgments were correct, then this Soul Beast had to be at least seven meters long.

The width of the body-outline marks happened to match the width of the countless holes within the ice cave. It seemed those holes had been dug by this Soul Beast.

The Soul Beast Knowledge Xia Liang had accumulated during three years of training with the Mercenary Group finally came in handy. He was almost certain that the Soul Beast which had left those marks on the ice had to be either a centipede or an ice silkworm.

It might have remained in the same position for a long time, leaving such a clearly visible body outline in the ice.

Combined with his earlier speculation and the evidence of the Soul Beast's shape, these body-outline marks had most likely been left by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm while it slept.

Xia Liang looked toward the ten-meter-wide hole in the rock wall ahead. If this Underground Ice Cave was Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's nest, then Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had already traveled south along the coast through that massive hole.

The original story had mentioned that Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fled south to the continent after being hunted by the Ice Empress. Yet after arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest, it had unfortunately been treated as a tonic by the Fierce Beasts.

At that thought, greed flashed in Xia Liang's eyes. Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was a million-year Soul Beast with both ice and spiritual attributes. If a Soul Bone dropped from it, there was a very high chance it would be a million-year spiritual-type Head Soul Bone.

Unfortunately, he was still far too weak. How could he dare enter the Star Dou Great Forest to compete with Fierce Beasts for the opportunity presented by this million-year Soul Beast?

He should stay grounded and first take the opportunities within his reach.

Led by the four Gastlys, Xia Liang retraced his path and returned to where he had first entered the ice cave.

Here, strips and chunks of Ice Crystal Stone were piled beneath the surrounding rock walls.

If this ice cave was Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's nest, then these Ice Crystal Stones might not have been some special ice-attribute forging material, but Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow.

According to the original story, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had attained such cultivation by consuming the massive amount of Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow inside the ice cave, eating and sleeping as it did so.

Those holes had been dug by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in search of Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow.

Judging by their appearance, the Ice Crystal Stones piled beneath the rock walls here all looked newly formed. They might have condensed only recently from extreme cold energy accumulated over ten thousand years, which was why Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had not eaten them all.

Walking beneath the rock wall, Xia Liang picked up a stone that contained a faint glow and felt an intense power of ice.

If the effects of the Milk Hot Drink had not still been active, his hand would have been frostbitten the moment he touched the stone.

Among the great number of Ice Crystal Stones piled before him, those emitting especially powerful cold air should have been Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow.

It was said that even Huo Yuhao, who possessed an Ultimate Martial Soul, had to be careful with the ice energy contained in Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow. The freshly formed Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow before him was not as overbearing as the legends described, so its effects would likely be weaker.

Xia Liang pulled the Three-colored Ring from within his thick cotton clothes and, following his intuition, stored the colder stones one by one inside it.

The Skeleton Martial Soul did not possess an ice attribute, so perhaps it could not absorb Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow to increase its cultivation like Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

However, if he consumed an Ice-Fire Immortal Herb and gained a physique with Ice-Fire Immunity, he should be able to withstand the icy power of the Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow and refine it into his own energy.

If he cultivated according to his current plan and achieved his expectations, his Undead Attribute would certainly advance into an Ultimate Attribute in the future, and his Skeleton Martial Soul would become an Ultimate Martial Soul as well.

In the original setting, Ultimate Martial Souls cultivated as slowly as a turtle between Soul Power Levels thirty and seventy.

This Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow might be an excellent resource for helping him swiftly break through Soul Power Levels in the future.

Half an hour later.

To avoid missing anything, Xia Liang simply stored all the surrounding stones in the green compartment of the Three-colored Ring. He did not count them, nor did he know how many pieces of Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow were among them.

No matter what, finding a left arm bone, a top-grade Ring Soul Tool, and so much Ten-Thousand Year Icy Marrow meant this expedition into the Extreme North Land had not been in vain.

After hiding the Three-colored Ring inside his cotton clothes, Xia Liang came to the cliff's edge. He discovered that another cliff stood fifty meters to the left of this one? He had the four Gastlys fly down the bottomless cliff to scout the path. About five minutes later, the four Gastlys died during their descent after being eroded by the cold air.

Xia Liang realized that the effects of the Milk Hot Drink were still active on him. By all rights, the four Gastlys should have retained its cold-resistant effect as well.

Yet they had frozen to death.

This was clearly because the cold air beneath the cliff was far too frigid and contained excessively powerful Ice Attribute Energy.

Lowering his head to gaze into the bottomless cliff, Xia Liang had the illusion that a bottomless abyss lay below, perhaps concealing some treasure or ancient ruin.

The Extreme North Land had legends of the Ice God.

The Three Kings of the Extreme North might all have been descendants left behind after the ancient Ice God favored certain Soul Beasts.

Unfortunately, with his current strength, exploring beneath this cliff was far too dangerous.

The remaining Milk Hot Drink could no longer support any further expenditure.

He should leave as soon as possible.

Having made his decision, Xia Liang summoned four new Gastlys and, with their help, flew out of the ice cave.

By the time he returned to the Ice Castle, it was already six in the morning.

The sun rose, the snowstorm stopped, and bright sunlight shone everywhere as dawn arrived in the Extreme North Land.

All the Gastlys and the Black-Purple Ghost Fire turned to ashes beneath the first rays of morning sunlight.

He was not worried about the Shui Family searching him. The Three-colored Ring had already been hidden in a crack that only a Gastly's ghostly traits could enter. He only needed to retrieve it later when he found the chance.

Xia Liang tugged up his pants, pretending he had just returned from relieving himself. After greeting the Shui Family Soul Masters standing watch outside, he entered the Ice Castle to continue sleeping.

He had already told the Shui Family's Soul Masters that, in order to summon higher-quality ghost fire to help search for Soul Beasts and to protect the privacy of his Soul Skills, he would go out at night to conduct ghost fire summoning rituals and chant Soul Curses.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Shui Family Soul Masters standing watch, Xia Liang's return from outside meant he had been carrying out his work despite the risk of being ambushed by Soul Beasts.

This Soul Master from the Speed Reach Mercenary Group was truly dedicated.

"＼(`Δ')／."

Several days later.

Night.

Outside the Ice Castle, heavy snow whirled through the air.

"Found it!" Xia Liang suddenly shouted at the Shui Family members.

Upon hearing the good news, the Shui Family Head was even more anxious than Shui Bing'er herself. He asked, "Is it an Ice Scorpion King? How many years of cultivation does it have? Where did you find it?"

"My apologies. This is my first time encountering a Soul Beast like the Ice Scorpion King. It is difficult for me to determine its cultivation from its appearance alone. Shui Family Head, you will need to confirm that personally. There is only one Ice Scorpion King found so far, and it appears to be alone. This Black-Purple Ghost Fire will lead you to its location. If you think its cultivation is suitable, capture it and bring it back. If not, I'll search other areas of the Ice Plain."

After saying that, Xia Liang had the Black-Purple Ghost Fire fly to the Shui Family Head's side.

Before others, he had not evolved the Black-Purple Ghost Fire into a Gastly.