He pressed his lips together.
Yu Shuangbai felt conflicted.
With no one to rely on and only a low-quality Ice Lizard Martial Soul that had awakened with innate Soul Power of rank three, he couldn't even apply to the clan for help hunting a Soul Ring.
He had no choice but to risk his life and come to the Far North alone to obtain a Soul Ring.
But now, he had suddenly discovered...
His Martial Soul wasn't some low-quality Ice Lizard.
It was the legendary Ice Dragon King Martial Soul!
Its quality was even higher than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, the hereditary Martial Soul of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!
After all, as one of the Dragon God's nine children, the Ice Dragon King was a genuine god-level being.
The Ice Dragon King Martial Soul should naturally be a god-level Martial Soul, too!
Life's ups and downs truly were heartrending.
And...
Yu Shuangbai felt that his Martial Soul seemed to be more than just the Ice Dragon King.
He touched his forehead.
Beneath his hair, a crescent-shaped mark flickered in and out of view.
"Child, why are you alone in the Far North?"
After resolving Yu Shuangbai's problem, Snow Empress raised a question of her own.
It was obviously strange for a human child of just over seven to appear on the icy plains of the Far North.
Yu Shuangbai hesitated.
In the end, he chose to tell the truth.
After hearing his story, the two Empresses understood why he had come alone to the icy plains of the Far North.
"Tsk. I thought you humans were all supposed to stand together. Doesn't sound like that's the case."
Ice Empress scoffed.
In the end, humans were no different from Soul Beasts like them.
The strong still preyed on the weak, and the weak were still weeded out.
As for Yu Shuangbai coming to the Far North to hunt Soul Beasts, neither of them felt strongly about it.
Soul Beasts had never been united.
The food chain meant that some Soul Beasts were born to hunt and eat others.
As long as their own people or someone they knew weren't involved, the Ice and Snow Emperors couldn't care less whether other Soul Beasts lived or died.
After all, Soul Beasts fought one another constantly in the Far North.
Yu Shuangbai fell silent, making no effort to argue with Ice Empress.
"From now on, stay by my side and cultivate."
Snow Empress said with a faint smile.
Her voice was calm, yet carried an authority that brooked no refusal.
Yu Shuangbai nodded.
He knew he wasn't strong enough to have a choice.
Whatever Snow Empress's reasons for keeping him, at least for now, she meant him no harm.
As for what came later, he would deal with it when the time came.
He could only take things one step at a time.
Snow Empress arranged a room for Yu Shuangbai.
Calling it a room was a stretch. It was a small space partitioned off inside the residence she shared with Ice Empress, enclosed by an ice wall Snow Empress had just created with her ice power.
It was extremely bare.
There was only an ice bed that Snow Empress had conjured.
An ordinary human would never have been able to live in such conditions.
The extreme cold alone would have been enough to make anyone turn back.
But Yu Shuangbai, with his Ice Dragon King Martial Soul, didn't mind.
The cold of the Far North, which made countless Soul Masters shudder, barely affected him.
To him, it was no different from an ordinary human standing in the warm spring air.
As for the other amenities, they were far inferior to anything in the human world.
But Yu Shuangbai didn't care about that either.
His expectations for comfort were extremely low now.
As long as he had somewhere to stay and could quietly improve his strength, he was already content.
Sitting cross-legged on the ice bed,
Yu Shuangbai calmed his mind and quietly sensed the changes in his body.
His once-frail body, weakened by years of malnutrition, was gone.
His blood surged with vigorous vitality, surpassing even that of noble disciples raised from childhood on precious medicines and spiritual treasures.
He raised a hand.
Ice-crystal scales covered his arm, and dragon horns emerged.
An ice-blue Soul Ring slowly rose.
Looking at the crystalline ring, which had appeared from who knew where, Yu Shuangbai focused his thoughts and activated it.
The ice-blue Soul Ring burst into dazzling light.
He lifted his palm slightly and moved his fingertips.
Several crystalline Ice Roses suddenly took shape in the air.
Their petals were as thin as cicada wings, their veins clearly visible, each one reflecting a cold, sharp gleam.
Yu Shuangbai flicked a finger. The Ice Roses seemed to come alive, trailing pale-blue streams of icy air as they flew toward their prey along bizarre arcs.
They didn't strike at vital points. Instead, they circled elegantly around the ice rock ahead, their spinning petals scattering visible flakes of ice crystal.
The temperature was so low that it could freeze blood instantly.
The first rose silently burst apart.
Ice crystals sprang out like vines, quickly climbing and spreading across the ice rock until they pinned it firmly in place.
Then came the second, the third...
As if they had received the emperor's final command, all the roses transformed into sharp blades of ice, piercing through the rock with elegance and merciless precision.
The ice rock instantly shattered.
Ice crystals scattered across the ground.
Ice Crystal Rose.
The name of the skill appeared in Yu Shuangbai's mind.
This was the First Soul Skill granted to him by the ice-blue Soul Ring.
A damaging Soul Skill that leaned toward control.
For a Soul Master who had only just obtained his First Soul Ring, its power was already quite impressive.
It was even on par with the pure offensive Soul Skills of some Power Attack System Soul Masters at the same level.
But...
Yu Shuangbai narrowed his eyes.
Why did this skill feel so familiar?
He tried to recall, but couldn't for the life of him remember where he'd seen it.
Never mind.
After thinking for a while, he still had no clue.
Yu Shuangbai simply gave up trying to figure it out.
He didn't know where that sense of familiarity came from, but at least the skill was undoubtedly useful.
He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, entering meditation.
A moment later, he opened them again.
His expression was delighted.
Fast!
It was unbelievably fast!
Feeling the rate at which Soul Power was growing inside him, Yu Shuangbai could barely contain his joy.
Since awakening his Martial Soul,
he had cultivated almost without rest.
But after nearly two years, he had only just managed to raise his innate Soul Power from rank three to rank ten.
That was anything but fast.
In fact, calling it slow would have been an understatement.
But now, after only a short while of meditation,
Yu Shuangbai could feel that the rate at which his Soul Power grew had changed beyond recognition!
If his Soul Power had once grown at the pace of a snail,
now it surged forward like a cheetah, incomparable to before!
That feeling of making a thousand miles' progress in a single day filled Yu Shuangbai with immense delight.
Since transmigrating, this was the first time he had finally felt hope for the future!
Was this the change brought about by his Martial Soul's transformation?
At that moment, Yu Shuangbai truly felt the vast gap between a top-tier Martial Soul and a low-grade one.
No wonder nearly every renowned powerhouse on the continent had a high-quality Martial Soul.
In this world, a low-grade Martial Soul left almost no chance of becoming powerful!
Yu Shuangbai closed his eyes again and resumed meditating, losing himself in his rapid progress.
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