Brother Tian Meng, Your Ice Ice Is About to Be Stolen by That Kid Xue Chen! (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Even if Sky Dream Ice Worm ultimately refused to become my wisdom soul ring, with Aunt Ice in the picture, helping a lost child like me find the way out should be a mere trifle, right?

"Right! That's the plan! Courtesy first, force later... wait, no, that's not it—polite negotiation!"

Xue Chen made up his mind, and his mood instantly lightened.

He looked at Sky Dream Ice Worm's adorably naive sleeping face again, his gaze shifting from initial vigilance and calculation to something far more eager.

Xue Chen walked up to Tian Meng, watching the chubby white worm snoring like thunder, completely unresponsive to his approach.

He couldn't help but reach out a finger, gently poking the creature's round, bouncy head.

"Hey... Brother Sky Dream... wake up!"

His fingertip met a cool, elastic texture, but Sky Dream Ice Worm only smacked its lips unconsciously. The snoring paused for half a second before resuming its rhythmic "hoo... ru..."

"Tsk, sleeping this soundly?"

Xue Chen raised his voice, calling out a few more times and even patting its body, but it was like throwing a stone into the ocean.

Xue Chen was at a loss, so he thought for a moment and decided to try a physical wake-up call.

Fine, blue lightning began to coil around his hands.

He pressed his hands, now crackling with thunderous power, against Sky Dream Ice Worm's cool, smooth skin.

"Zzzzt—"

Blue lightning danced across the worm's white, chubby body.

Its massive frame twitched visibly, several segments curling and stretching unnaturally.

The eight and a half gold patterns on its body glowed faintly, but... its eyes remained tightly shut, and its snoring merely became irregular, showing no sign of waking up at all.

"Damn it, not even this wakes you up?"

Xue Chen pulled his hands back, staring at the still-slumbering Sky Dream Ice Worm, feeling speechless.

Just how deep into the absorption of Profound Ice Marrow must one be to become this dull to external stimuli?

He circled the ice platform twice, eyeing the soundly sleeping Tian Meng, when a brilliant idea suddenly popped into his head.

A sly smile spread across Xue Chen's face. He leaned in close to the ear almost buried in Sky Dream Ice Worm's fat face, took a deep breath, and whispered in a tone filled with temptation and urgency:

"Brother Sky Dream! Wake up! Your Bingbing is here to see you--!!!"

The sentence seemed to carry magical power. "Bing... Bingbing?!"

The deafening snoring stopped abruptly!

Seeing the effect was significant but lacked staying power—as Sky Dream Ice Worm just flopped over and fell back into a deep sleep—Xue Chen rolled his eyes and decided to use a stronger dose.

He puffed up his lungs and shouted with all his might:

"Brother Sky Dream! Wake up! Your Bingbing is about to be snatched away by a kid named Xue Chen--!!!"

The words struck like a thunderbolt, hitting Sky Dream Ice Worm's most fragile nerve!

"Who?! Who dares to snatch my Bingbing?!!!"

Sky Dream Ice Worm's body stiffened, then it sprang up violently!

Its eyes widened instantly, filled with incredulous terror and overwhelming jealousy!

It didn't even have time to see its surroundings; its massive body, propelled by the sudden movement, tumbled right off the smooth ice platform!

"Thud!"

With a dull sound, the chubby white worm hit the floor of the ice cavern.

It lifted its head, dizzy and disoriented, and found itself face-to-face with Xue Chen, who had leaned over to get a better look, the two of them staring at each other in wide-eyed shock.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

The next second—

"A ghost--!!!"

Sky Dream Ice Worm let out a shrill scream, recoiling violently and curling up behind the nearest piece of Profound Ice Marrow.

Xue Chen was left bewildered by the overreaction. He subconsciously touched his own face, wondering, "Am I really that scary-looking?"

He felt that while he wasn't exactly a peerless, beautiful boy, he was at least decent-looking; surely not enough to scare a person... ah, no, a worm, like this?

"Brother Sky Dream? Brother Sky Dream?"

Xue Chen tried calling out, keeping his tone as friendly and harmless as possible.

Hearing the call, Sky Dream Ice Worm cautiously poked its head out again, staring intently at Xue Chen, muttering in a state of lingering fear:

"A human??? Did I see wrong?"

It blinked hard, confirming that it was indeed a human child before it.

But... that wasn't right!

As a being whose spiritual power was unrivaled across the continent, Sky Dream Ice Worm's perception far exceeded the norm.

After the initial shock, its vast spiritual power instinctively caught onto something deeper within Xue Chen.

It was an intangible pressure originating from the very source of life, from the depths of the bloodline, making even its soul—a soul belonging to a soul beast with nearly nine hundred thousand years of cultivation—tremble!

"This can't be! How is this possible?!!" Sky Dream Ice Worm wondered aloud.

Great confusion and lingering fear made its speech somewhat incoherent:

"That's not right... that, that fear stemming from the bloodline... and that face... it can't be!!!"

It stared fixedly at Xue Chen, its eyes filled with immense questioning and suspicion, as if it had seen something that absolutely should not exist here.

Xue Chen felt thoroughly uncomfortable under its gaze, while simultaneously developing a strong curiosity about Sky Dream Ice Worm's words.

Bloodline fear? A face?

"Brother Sky Dream, what are you saying? What bloodline fear? What's wrong with my face?"

Xue Chen took a step forward, attempting to get a clear answer.

"Don't come any closer!"

Xue Chen looked at Sky Dream Ice Worm's terrified appearance, feeling deeply puzzled, and thought to himself, Why is this sycophant so afraid of me???

Then, Sky Dream Ice Worm used its powerful spiritual energy to try and see through Xue Chen. That vast, intangible, and formless spiritual energy instantly enveloped and probed Xue Chen from the inside out.

However, when its spiritual energy touched the depths of Xue Chen's body, it felt as if it had collided with a chaotic fog.

After a thorough investigation, Sky Dream Ice Worm's small eyes were filled with immense confusion.

It retracted its spiritual energy, its worm-face etched with bewilderment, and muttered to itself:

"Strange... truly strange... The spiritual feedback clearly indicates a human brat with only around twenty levels of soul power!

Although his vitality is as vigorous as a young fierce beast, his soul power level cannot be faked..."

It shook its chubby head vigorously, as if trying to shake off the illusion that had made its soul tremble just a moment ago.

"Could it be that I've slept in this Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave for too long, absorbed too much energy, and started hallucinating?

Or perhaps... I perceived it wrongly while half-asleep?"

It finally arrived at a conclusion it found more acceptable:

"Yes, that must be it!

The energy of the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow is too pure; it's normal to have occasional hallucinations after absorbing too much... Right, it must be a hallucination!"

Thinking this, Sky Dream Ice Worm breathed a sigh of relief.

The massive gap in soul power levels allowed it to regain the sense of superiority and security befitting a soul beast of nearly nine hundred thousand years when facing Xue Chen.

The previous fear born of the unknown quickly dissipated.

It looked at Xue Chen once more, the suspicion and uncertainty in its eyes fading, replaced by a gaze filled with a measure of curiosity and scrutiny.

After all, for a human child to appear in this Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave in the Core Land of the Far North was, in itself, highly unusual.