Avalanche

It felt something tiny and sharp burrow deep into its mouth, followed by searing pain!

It was as if countless red-hot needles were wildly churning and tearing through its throat, tongue, and deep palate!

The pain sank into its bones, making its entire skull convulse!

"Awooo—!"

The Ice Dragon let out a distorted wail, its massive body rolling and struggling violently in midair!

It frantically shook its head, trying to spit out the foreign object in its mouth, but the Dragon Whisker Needles had already embedded themselves deep in its flesh. The more it struggled, the more fiercely the curled needles tore at it!

Now!

A cold glint flashed through Jiang Bai's eyes. He clenched his right hand in the air as blazing fire-element Soul Power surged together, condensing into a gigantic crimson-gold flaming sword!

"Slash!"

He stomped the ground hard, shooting into the sky like a cannonball!

Holding the flaming greatsword high above his head, he swung it down viciously at the Ice Dragon, which had lost its balance from the agonizing pain, with a howl that tore through the air!

The Ice Dragon wanted to defend itself, but the agony in its mouth slowed its reaction by several beats.

It barely raised a dragon claw and hastily condensed an ice shield.

"Crack—!"

The flaming greatsword struck the ice shield, shattering it at once!

The blade's momentum did not diminish as it slammed into the base of the Ice Dragon's left wing!

"Splat!"

Dragon scales shattered, and flesh split open!

"Roar—!!!"

The Ice Dragon let out a piercing scream. Its left wing drooped uselessly, its posture completely thrown off as its massive body plummeted toward the ice below!

"Boom!!!"

The Ice Dragon crashed heavily into the forest of ice pillars at the edge of the frozen lake. It broke seven or eight enormous ice pillars before finally coming to a stop, sprawled amid ice chips and shattered frost. Its left wing was twisted at an unnatural angle, blood mixed with ice fragments constantly spilling from its mouth. Its dragon eyes were filled with pain, fury, and—an incredulous terror.

It could not understand why this seemingly tiny human possessed such terrifying power.

And what exactly were those golden needles that had burrowed into its mouth?

Jiang Bai slowly landed, and the flaming greatsword dispersed.

He walked before the Ice Dragon and looked down at the massive creature sprawled on the ground.

The state of Three-Dragon Possession slowly faded.

Crimson-red, earthy yellow, and jade-green light flew out from his body and landed on the ground, transforming back into three dragon beasts that surrounded the Ice Dragon in a triangular formation.

The Ice Dragon struggled to raise its head. It looked at the human before it, then at the three dragon beasts around it, and a trace of confusion flashed through its pupils.

It sensed the aura of its own kind from those three dragon beasts, yet there was something different about them.

Jiang Bai spoke directly, his voice calm and clear. "Sacrifice yourself to me. You can retain your soul and continue living. You may even cultivate faster than you do now."

The Ice Dragon released a low dragon cry tinged with pain.

I am a noble Ice Dragon, a pure-blooded dragon! How could I submit to—

"You have no choice."

Jiang Bai's voice turned cold.

"Either sacrifice yourself now, or—I pierce your heart with one sword. At least a sacrifice will spare you the pain before death."

The Ice Dragon fell silent.

Struggle and unwillingness flickered in its dragon eyes, but even more than that—fear of death.

At that moment, the three dragon beasts let out low growls at the same time, transmitting information to the Ice Dragon through their spiritual power.

The Ice Dragon's expression gradually changed from initial resistance to shock and uncertainty. Finally—a trace of hesitation appeared.

But then again—

If—if what these three dragon beasts said was true—

If sacrificing itself would not mean true death, but merely existing in another form, while allowing it to keep cultivating and perhaps even break through the ten-thousand-year threshold faster—

Then it seemed—perhaps it was not entirely unacceptable?

After all, compared to actual death, this was already the best possible outcome.

The Ice Dragon's gaze moved back and forth between Jiang Bai and the three dragon beasts as it struggled for a long time.

In the end, it closed its eyes and released a long dragon cry that sounded like a sigh.

It accepted its fate.

It opened its eyes and looked at Jiang Bai. The unwillingness and fury had vanished from its dragon eyes, leaving only the calm of resignation.

Then, it slowly mobilized all the remaining Soul Power and life force within its body.

The sacrifice began.

The Ice Dragon's enormous body began to radiate a gentle ice-blue glow.

The light grew brighter and purer. In the end, its entire dragon body transformed into countless motes of light, like ice-blue stars filling the sky as they slowly drifted upward.

At the spot where the dragon body had completely vanished, a deep purple Spirit Ring slowly rose.

The Spirit Ring floated before Jiang Bai, then slowly descended and encircled the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, becoming its fourth Spirit Ring.

Jiang Bai immediately sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, beginning to absorb it with all his strength.

The absorption process went more smoothly than expected.

The Ice Dragon had sacrificed itself willingly. Its soul essence actively merged with him, and the Spirit Ring's energy was exceptionally gentle.

Combined with Jiang Bai's powerful physique tempered by ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber, the entire absorption process encountered almost no obstacles.

Two and a half hours later.

Jiang Bai slowly opened his eyes.

A flash of ice-blue light passed through the depths of his pupils.

He had succeeded.

He raised his right hand, and with a thought—

The crystalline Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda appeared in his palm.

The pagoda had four levels. The first three flowed with crimson-red, earthy yellow, and jade-green light respectively, while the fourth level now emitted a pure ice-blue radiance.

"Come out."

Jiang Bai spoke softly.

The fourth level of the pagoda blazed with light, and an ice-blue streak flew from within, landing on the ground.

The light faded, revealing the Ice Dragon's figure. It looked exactly as it had before, though its ice-blue dragon eyes held less brutality and pain, and a little more intelligence and—curiosity?

It lowered its head to inspect its own body, then raised it to look at Jiang Bai and let out an exploratory low growl.

"How is it? I didn't lie to you, did I?" Jiang Bai said with a smile.

The Ice Dragon nodded.

It could feel that it had indeed retained all its memories and intelligence, while its body had returned to peak condition.

Moreover—the dense energy within the pagoda's space, an environment suited to cultivation, gave it a faint premonition that it might not be long before it broke through nine thousand years and charged toward the ten-thousand-year threshold!

"From now on, you're Fourth." Jiang Bai gave it a simple title.

The Ice Dragon tilted its head. It seemed dissatisfied with the name, but it ultimately nodded and accepted it.

It seemed somewhat "shy," or perhaps simply unaccustomed to interacting with a human on equal terms.

After all, in its understanding, dragons were proud and humans were insignificant.

Now, it had suddenly become a human's "Spirit Ring" and had even been given such a casual name—

The Ice Dragon flicked its tail, transforming into an ice-blue streak as it voluntarily returned to the pagoda's inner space. It needed time to adjust to its new identity and environment.

Seeing this, the Earth Dragon and Wind Dragon looked toward the Fire Dragon and gave it a meaningful look. Hang in there. We'll leave this to you!

Then they too transformed into streaks of light and returned to the pagoda's inner space.

They truly could not endure this freezing environment any longer.

Fire Dragon:

It was cold too!

But its master was still outside. It could not just run back inside as well, could it?

Jiang Bai noticed the Fire Dragon's discomfort and smiled as he stroked its slightly dim scales. "You've worked hard, Eldest."

"After a while, we'll go somewhere. I guarantee your cultivation will soar. At the very least, you'll break through ten thousand years. If you're lucky, even one hundred thousand years won't be impossible."

The Fire Dragon's eyes lit up at once, and its previous exhaustion and discomfort seemed to lessen considerably.

It rubbed against Jiang Bai's hand and let out an eager whimper.

"Let's go. We'll leave this place first."

Jiang Bai leaped onto the Fire Dragon's back. "The Far North is not a place to linger. If we attract something even more troublesome—"

"

Before he could finish speaking—

"Rumble rumble rumble—!!!"

From deep within the Xueling Mountain Range in the distance came a dull roar, as though the earth itself were splitting apart!

Immediately afterward, the entire ice plain began to shake violently!

Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the ice beneath Jiang Bai's feet. In the distance, great masses of accumulated snow and ice rock began breaking away from the icy peaks and sliding down!

"What's going on?!"

Jiang Bai's expression changed.

The Fire Dragon also raised its head alertly, its crimson-gold dragon eyes fixed on the direction from which the sound had come.

Then, they saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives!

At the summit of the thousand-meter-high Xueling Main Peak, the thick layer of snow accumulated over many years began to slide slowly, as though an invisible giant hand had given it a hard shove!

At first, only fine snow grains rustled down. But in an instant, the collapsing snow layer became a white torrent bursting through a dam, gathering into snow waves several zhang high that blotted out the sky!

The snow waves carried millstone-sized chunks of ice rock, broken ancient trees that required several people to encircle, and countless uprooted ice pillars as they crushed toward the place where they stood!

An avalanche!

One of the most terrifying natural disasters in the Far North!

And judging from its scale, this was absolutely a massive avalanche!

Everything in its path would likely be completely buried, even soul beasts!

"Eldest! Take off—!!!"