Crisis on the Icefield

He merely turned around and spoke in a tone so flat it was almost indifferent.

"The proof will be here soon."

The moment he finished speaking, a shrill wolf howl tore through the snowstorm!

"Awoo—"

From every direction, agile white phantoms burst from beneath the snow! Ice wolves! And they came in packs!

Each one was as large as a calf, their dark green pupils burning with bloodthirsty hunger.

"Enemy attack! Form up!"

Tu Feng's expression changed drastically. He roared, and his soul rings lit up at once.

The members of Light of Truth reacted swiftly, their soul power erupting as the glows of various martial souls burst across the pale snowfield.

But in the next instant, chaos broke out.

A defense-type soul master wielding a massive shield roared as he blocked the pounces of three ice wolves, but his huge body completely cut off a speed-type soul master's route for a thrust.

"You're blocking me, damn it!"

"Behind you! Watch your back!"

Another member nimbly dodged a wolf's claws, only to lure that ice wolf toward the support-type soul master at the center of the group, frightening him so badly that he nearly interrupted his soul skill.

It was a mess. A complete mess.

They were individually strong, all elites above the Soul Ancestor rank, but once gathered together, they were like loose sand, each fighting on their own. Their formation was scattered in an instant.

Slash!

One member failed to dodge in time, and his arm was torn open with a wound so deep the bone was visible.

The scent of blood completely ignited the wolves' savagery.

At the edge of the chaotic battlefield, Huo Yuhao stood quietly, like a statue.

Within his spiritual sea, [Thought Palace] was running madly at billions of calculations per second.

The entire battlefield had been deconstructed into a three-dimensional data model. Every ice wolf was a red data point; their pouncing trajectories, attack intervals, and even the frequency of the low growls from their throats were all quantified and analyzed.

[The wolf pack is charging in waves of three. The alpha wolf is directing them from the hill behind.]

[A defensive gap has appeared on the left flank. In three seconds, a member will be severely injured.]

[Analysis complete. Optimal breakthrough point: alpha wolf. Secondary plan: disrupt its command chain.]

Huo Yuhao did not move. He merely lightly tapped Lin Mu beside him.

"Lin Mu, strike that protruding ice boulder in the front left with your vines. Make it loud."

Lin Mu froze for a moment, but she still did as he said without hesitation.

"Watch the left!" she shouted, as though she had noticed something herself. Two tough vines lashed out like long whips and struck the ice boulder fiercely.

Crack!

Ice shards scattered everywhere.

The three ice wolves preparing to ambush from that direction were startled by the sudden noise, and their attack faltered.

That brief pause gave the member who had been about to suffer severe injuries a chance to breathe. He rolled away awkwardly, narrowly avoiding the fatal bite.

"That was close!" Cold sweat drenched him.

On the other side of the battlefield, Tu Feng was surrounded by five ice wolves and in grave danger.

"Captain Tu, the ice three inches beneath your feet is thin." Huo Yuhao's voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly to him.

Tu Feng instinctively stomped down hard with his battle axe.

Crack!

The ice beneath his feet shattered instantly, revealing an ice hole. An ice wolf that had been about to attack from below pounced into empty air and fell straight in!

A gap had opened in the encirclement!

Tu Feng seized the opportunity. With an angry roar, his soul skill erupted, and he instantly cut down two ice wolves, greatly easing the pressure on him.

He turned back to look at Huo Yuhao, his face filled with disbelief.

This guy... how was he like he had a third eye?

After that, Huo Yuhao's voice rang out across the battlefield in intermittent bursts.

"Rear right, watch out for ice spikes."

"You, the fat one—your soul skill will hit your teammates too."

"Don't chase that limping one. It's bait."

Every "warning" was like a stroke of divine inspiration, accurately predicting the wolf pack's movements and defusing crisis after crisis.

The members of Light of Truth went from initial shock, to doubt, to finally obeying his every word.

Without anyone realizing it, the battle had actually stabilized!

Mo Li stood among the crowd, watching the boy who had not moved a single step from beginning to end. His heart churned violently.

This kid wasn't guessing! He was commanding them! In a way no one could understand, he was directing the entire battle!

On the hill, the alpha wolf had clearly sensed that something was wrong as well.

It threw back its head and let out a piercing howl, ordering the pack to change formation and prepare for an all-out assault.

Now!

Within Huo Yuhao's sea of consciousness, an intensely cold spiritual force condensed to an extreme.

[Concept Armament: Low-Temperature Neural Interference]

This was not a soul skill. It fused the attribute of ultimate ice into a mental shock, using ultra-low temperatures to affect the transmission of bioelectrical signals on a microscopic level!

"Buzz—"

An invisible wave crossed the distance and precisely pierced the alpha wolf's brain.

The alpha wolf, which had been issuing orders, suddenly froze.

The world before its eyes abruptly began to distort. Its companions' howls became threatening snarls in its ears, while the once-clear command signals turned into a chaotic jumble of noise.

"Awoo?"

It issued the wrong command.

The wolves that received the order were bewildered. Part of the pack actually turned around and attacked their own flank.

The wolves' formation instantly fell into chaos!

"Opportunity!" Tu Feng's eyes lit up. Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime chance, he led the team in a countercharge.

The battle turned into a slaughter.

More than ten minutes later, the snow was covered with ice wolf corpses, and the air reeked heavily of blood.

Everyone was gasping for breath, but they had all survived.

They watched the boy slowly approach, awe, confusion, and shock tangled together in their hearts.

Huo Yuhao walked to the alpha wolf's corpse and crouched down, as though examining something.

"That formation just now was full of holes." Without turning his head, he said, "Heavy-armored soul masters form a triangular defense on the perimeter. Agility-attack types move between the points of the triangle to support them. Ranged attackers and support types stay in the center. Remember this formation. Next time, it'll keep you from bleeding so much."

His tone was calm, as if he were merely stating a fact.

But this time, no one dared to argue. Even Tu Feng silently nodded.

Huo Yuhao stood and closed his eyes.

The lingering energy after the battle made his spiritual perception exceptionally clear. To the northwest, the coordinates of that lazy yet enormous life aura had become even more precise.

He opened his eyes and looked at Tu Feng and Mo Li.

"Don't you find it strange?"

"These ice wolves are acting far too abnormally. Such a large pack, with such strict discipline, shouldn't be attacking tough prey like us in a blind frenzy."

He pointed northwest, in the direction of the Sky Dream Iceworm.

"I suspect something in that direction is strongly agitating them—a powerful energy source."

"Either it's a heavenly treasure capable of letting them evolve, or it's an even more terrifying existence that fills them with fear."

"Our target for this mission is most likely there."

Tu Feng tightened his grip on his battle axe and looked at Huo Yuhao.

"Advisor, give the order. We'll all follow you."

Huo Yuhao nodded lightly.

"Move out."