Opportunity Secured

This voice appeared in Jiang Yue's mind without any warning. Even the Maple Leaf City Lord standing before him showed no reaction at all. Seeing Jiang Yue awaken, the city lord was overjoyed and clearly did not seem to have heard the voice, as though it had only been Jiang Yue's hallucination.

As a Soul Master with a Mental Attribute, and one who had just successfully absorbed a Thousand-Year Soul Ring beyond his level, Jiang Yue's spiritual power was still abundant. He could say with complete certainty that the voice he had just heard was not an auditory hallucination. It had truly existed.

Just as he was about to ask the city lord whether he had heard anything, Jiang Yue suddenly realized that the words from before sounded rather familiar. The question he wanted to ask caught in his throat, and he could not make a sound.

Those familiar lines... could it be...

At the thought of that possibility, Jiang Yue's entire body trembled slightly with excitement.

After considering every other possibility countless times in his mind, Jiang Yue finally settled on the most likely explanation, the one that best matched the current situation.

There was no mistake. In the Star Dou Forest, someone capable of transmitting thoughts telepathically, with such a shameless voice and such familiar lines, could only be that fellow, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

Originally, Jiang Yue had planned to follow the original timeline and wait until Huo Yuhao entered the Star Dou Forest before seeing whether he could obtain the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. He had even considered all sorts of possibilities beforehand.

What he had never expected was to encounter the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm during this hunt for soul beasts.

Still, it made sense. After reaching a Million-Year cultivation and growing a tenth golden stripe, gaining strength comparable to an ordinary combat-type Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had concealed its aura and escaped Di Tian and the others.

There were still three or four years before the original plot began. It was perfectly normal for the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to appear here now.

From the looks of it, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had likely decided to choose Jiang Yue.

That made everything feel unreal to Jiang Yue. This was simply a windfall from the heavens. He had searched high and low without success, only to find it without any effort at all.

Just as Jiang Yue was about to search for the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's hiding place, the Maple Leaf City Lord, who had been standing there, suddenly became vacant-eyed. He looked as though he had turned into a Walking Corpse.

Immediately afterward, the patch of ground behind Jiang Yue began to shake violently without warning. The earth rapidly bulged upward, as though something beneath it was about to burst through the soil.

Before long, the ground could no longer withstand the upward force of the object below, and cracks spread across its surface. The central fissure quickly widened, and platinum light along with threads of icy cold air burst out from within.

When the crack reached more than five meters across, the platinum light finally revealed its true form. An enormous, plump, round head poked out from the fissure, its body wriggling as it approached the seemingly startled Jiang Yue.

A Million-Year Soul Beast, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!

Seeing that it truly was the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Jiang Yue nearly jumped up and cheered!

Seeing Jiang Yue so astonished, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt extremely satisfied.

That's right, that's right. Be amazed by Brother Sky Dream's grand entrance!

After waiting for a while, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt that it should explain the situation to the human before it as soon as possible. Whether judged by human standards or soul beast standards, the other party was only a child. Its entrance had simply been too stunning. If it did not explain things quickly and frightened its future host, leaving him with a poor impression, that would be disastrous.

Thus, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately raised its upper body and tried its best to appear friendlier. However, its movements looked awkward no matter how one looked at them. At the same time, its voice appeared in Jiang Yue's mind once again.

"Stunned? Were you frightened by Brother Sky Dream's entrance and mighty presence? Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Brother Sky Dream bears you no ill will. I absolutely won't hurt you or that fellow behind you."

"Let's follow your human customs. Brother Sky Dream will introduce himself first. I am the embodiment of heroism and chivalry, a soul beast with both wisdom and beauty, the king among soul beast kings, an unparalleled expert cultivated for a million years, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm who set the longevity record for Douluo Continent."

"Are you surprised that Brother Sky Dream has lived for a million years? Feel honored. After all, you are currently the only living person to have seen Brother Sky Dream."

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm kept flaunting the few achievements it could boast of. If Jiang Yue had not known the fellow's experiences inside and out, he might truly have believed that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm before him was some powerful ferocious beast.

A Million-Year cultivation was simply too intimidating. Even Di Tian, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King and the number one ferocious beast on the continent, had only cultivated for eight hundred thousand years.

Judging by cultivation alone, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Million-Year cultivation could no longer merely be described as intimidating. It was practically a living legend.

Not to mention written records, even the legends about Tang San, the Sea God, only mentioned that he had absorbed a differently colored god-level Soul Ring. The human world seemingly had no concept of a Million-Year Soul Ring at all.

"Ahem, back to business."

Perhaps because it had not received the cheers it had imagined, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm noticed Jiang Yue's gaze and felt as though it could hide no secrets before this human child.

Not wanting the atmosphere to remain so awkward, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's tone became extremely solemn. Clearly, it was about to reveal its plan to become a Wisdom Soul Ring, assist a human in becoming a god, ascend with him to the God Realm, and achieve immortality.

"Listen up. Brother Sky Dream is going to become your Soul Ring, an unprecedented Soul Ring with intelligence."

"I'll explain the details later. You'll understand better after everything has settled. Relax. Brother Sky Dream will be gentle. I definitely won't hurt you."

After glancing toward the depths of the Star Dou Forest, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately refocused on Jiang Yue. It then wriggled its body forward until its head touched Jiang Yue's forehead.

In an instant, bone-piercing cold spread through Jiang Yue's entire body. He felt that not only his body, but even his thoughts had been frozen rigid by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's low temperature. He could not think at all. His body and consciousness were completely separated.

Though it was not a particularly powerful pure ice-attribute soul beast, with its Million-Year cultivation, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's ice attribute had come infinitely close to an ultimate attribute.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's pale white body gradually became illusory and began pouring into Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit. Invisible spiritual power spread outward from its body, covering a hundred li in the blink of an eye.

At that moment, this region of the Star Dou Forest covered by spiritual power became terrifyingly silent. Every living thing, including flowers, grass, and trees, seemed to have been frozen in place by someone pressing pause, falling into a stupor.

That spiritual power caused them no harm, and they would retain no memory whatsoever of this period.

As the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's body vanished, the ten golden stripes on its body floated into the air as though they had come alive. Then they settled around Jiang Yue and gradually sank into his body.

Within the Sea of Spirit, what had originally been a world composed entirely of silver and blue now held more than just the enormous Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword piercing through heaven and earth. After the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fused with Jiang Yue, ten massive spheres of light hung above the Sea of Spirit like ten suns, adding another layer of platinum to it.

Having just entered Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had not yet figured out why Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit had already expanded so greatly, nor why there were two swords here, when the entire Sea of Spirit began to boil violently.

The Sea of Spirit, originally illuminated platinum by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's origin power, was dyed gray-black.

Outside, at the very moment the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Jiang Yue began to fuse, the sunlight seemed to vanish completely for an instant. After a thunderous boom, an immense pressure that made one unable to breathe descended from the heavens.

The sky was torn apart, opening into a void. A wisp of gray-black airflow that looked incomparably damaged and as though it might disperse at any moment emerged from the opening into this world.

Drawn by the tremendous disturbance from the fusion of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Jiang Yue, the gray-black airflow shot straight toward the back of Jiang Yue's head.

"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck stars from the sky. There is no one in this world like me! I never expected that this old man would retain a wisp of remnant soul."

"What is this situation?! Did Di Tian come after me?!"

Having just fused with Jiang Yue, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm saw the absurd changes in the outside world and instinctively assumed that Di Tian had discovered it. He had come personally to capture it and drain the last remnants of its ice-attribute and Mental Attribute origin Soul Power.

In the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's understanding, only Di Tian could create such a scene. Even Snow Empress in the Extreme North could never have accomplished what had just happened.

After its PTSD reaction weakened slightly and its tense mind relaxed, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally let out a breath. Based on its perception, that aura definitely had not belonged to Di Tian.

Seriously, that scared this worm to death!

Wiping away nonexistent cold sweat, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally calmed down enough to inspect Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit.

"Where are this little fellow's memories?"

Looking around, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had no time to care about the gray pearl. Its first priority was to locate and inspect Jiang Yue's memories. It had to determine what kind of person Jiang Yue was. If he turned out to be a bad person, it would have to consider using the backup plan.

The Silkworm Shedding was the only thing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had left. Put plainly, it was merely a layer of its skin.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had not produced an External Soul Bone, nor even a conventional Soul Bone. In exchange, its Million-Year Soul Ring could provide four soul skills, a blank ice Martial Soul, and origin power capable of raising ten Soul Rings by one hundred thousand years.

That Silkworm Shedding was no ordinary thing. Aside from resisting extreme cold and capturing the Ice Empress, its more important function was to give the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm a second chance to choose.

However, changing hosts came at a price. Apart from its soul, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could not take anything with it.

Unless it reached the final moment, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was unwilling to use its last resort.

Yet no matter how it searched, it could not find any of Jiang Yue's memories. Just as it began to grow restless, it noticed the two enormous swords standing within the Sea of Spirit.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm approached the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword. Only then did it sense spiritual fluctuations belonging to Jiang Yue from the two swords, and it instantly realized that Jiang Yue's memories were inside them.

It concentrated and was just about to read those memories when both swords erupted with streaks of sword light. The entire Sea of Spirit was churned by the endless sword shadows bursting from the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword, raising enormous waves and violent winds.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt somewhat indignant at the sight. They were merely two unknown swords. It was a Million-Year Soul Beast. How could it allow these two things to block its path?

Just as it was about to forcibly inspect Jiang Yue's memories, the sword light locked onto it. A sense of foreboding rose within it, as though the moment it made any further move to invade Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit, the two swords would erupt.

Though the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was weak and had little combat power, surviving would not be a problem. Yet if it acted, Jiang Yue's Sea of Spirit would most likely shatter and disintegrate completely. Jiang Yue would die, while it could survive with its Million-Year cultivation, but it would have to quickly find another host. At the same time, it would be unable to reclaim things such as its spiritual origin, and in the end, both sides would only suffer.

The more it tried to inspect Jiang Yue's memories, the clearer that dangerous feeling became. After weighing the pros and cons, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could only helplessly give up on examining Jiang Yue's memories for now.

There was no other reason. The current situation simply did not permit it to act forcefully. The only one whose interests would suffer from that would be itself.

It had finally encountered a genius with a Mental Attribute. Mutual destruction was not what the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wanted.

Of course, part of the reason was that Jiang Yue was not even eight years old yet. A child like that could at most be a little mischievous. How bad could he possibly be? Could someone so young really risk his life fighting others?

Impossible. No normal child could do something like that, right?

In the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's eyes, Jiang Yue was still a child whose temperament had yet to settle. It believed that under its guidance, Jiang Yue would certainly become a powerful man who valued loyalty and affection!

Sensing that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's intrusive intentions had vanished, the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword finally quieted down. The sword light winding around their blades disappeared, as though it had never appeared at all.

After waiting for quite some time, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally saw Jiang Yue appear within the Sea of Spirit and immediately moved toward him.

The moment Jiang Yue opened his eyes, he saw a fat worm extremely close to him. He was genuinely startled and instinctively slapped it.

Smack!

"Ah—!"

The crisp slap and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's scream echoed through the Sea of Spirit at the same time. The entire worm was sent flying, and after landing, it was utterly dumbfounded, unable to understand why it had suddenly been slapped.

Only after delivering that slap did Jiang Yue realize what he had done. Then, incredibly, he saw... resentment on a silkworm's face?

"Too miserable! Brother Sky Dream is truly too miserable! Brother Sky Dream fused with you out of kindness, yet you slapped me! And so hard! Are you jealous of Brother Sky Dream's looks?"

"Uh, sorry. You were just too close, and I didn't react in time. I slapped you on instinct."

"Sorry, but shouldn't you explain exactly what is going on? Why did you appear in my Sea of Spirit?"

After apologizing, Jiang Yue immediately displayed the qualities expected of an excellent actor and put on a wary expression.

Jiang Yue knew that the fact he knew the future course of events absolutely could not be exposed. Although what he did would influence future developments, the broad plot could still serve as a reference.

The value of information and knowledge in a world like this needed no explanation.

Hearing the vigilance in Jiang Yue's words, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm no longer cared about the pain in its face. It immediately came to Jiang Yue's side and began explaining the situation.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm briefly told Jiang Yue about its growth experiences and its plan to become a god. Jiang Yue, who had long known all of this, also revealed the appropriate expressions at the right moments.

"That's roughly the situation. Now, shouldn't you introduce yourself? We'll be partners who share life and death from now on. Brother Sky Dream can't know nothing about you, can I?"

Hearing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's words, Jiang Yue froze slightly. He realized that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had not seen his memories.

That was good. Jiang Yue was unsure whether his memories from his previous life would be seen. This situation could not have been better.

"My name is Jiang Yue. I'm an orphan. My Martial Souls are the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword. There, those are the two swords over there."

Jiang Yue pointed at the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword within the Sea of Spirit as he introduced his Martial Souls to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

"Innate Full Soul Power. I'll be eight in another two or three months. As for my level, I'm already a Soul Grandmaster. We'll be partners from now on, so please take care of me, Tian Meng."

"It's Brother Sky Dream! Fine, call me whatever you want. But you're actually a Twin Martial Souls wielder? Is Brother Sky Dream lucky or unlucky here?!"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt speechless. Not only had it encountered a Mental Attribute genius, but he also had Twin Martial Souls. This greatly weakened its usefulness.

Twin Martial Souls required eighteen Soul Rings. That alone demanded considerable physical strength. If another Martial Soul were added on top of that, just how powerful would his physique need to become in the future?

Furthermore, adding another Martial Soul to a body whose Martial Souls had already reached balance was no different from pouring oil on a fire.

"You're talking about that blank ice Martial Soul? I don't think it's necessary. No matter what, a Martial Soul formed after birth can't compare to one possessed from birth, can it?"

Thinking of Huo Yuhao's absurdly amusing ultimate talent in the original story, Jiang Yue became even more convinced that a Martial Soul formed after birth could not compare to an innate Martial Soul.

Besides, if he truly wanted to turn that blank ice Martial Soul into a real Martial Soul, then it had to be Ultimate Ice. The answer to everything in this era was ultimate attributes and Mental Attribute Martial Souls, perhaps with a Body Martial Soul added in.

Mental Attribute Martial Souls were powerful because of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, the greatest opportunity of the Unrivaled Tang Sect era. Ultimate attributes, meanwhile, were simply powerful because of their raw stats.

But did Jiang Yue truly need an ultimate-attribute Martial Soul?

Ultimate-attribute Martial Souls were indeed powerful and had extremely high raw stats, but were the Unfeeling Sword's stats low? The Unfeeling Sword could ignore defense!

The Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword had both stood at the pinnacle even in the era of Douluo Three, an age filled with monsters and freaks. In the era of Douluo Two, they would only display even greater dominance.

Not to mention that Jiang Yue also possessed the absurd, absolutely effective self-Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Emotion Shakes Heaven.

Speaking purely of Martial Souls, not even the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, ranked seventh among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, could compare. Even if Snow Empress, ranked third, personally became a Martial Soul, her value would absolutely still fall short of the Unfeeling Sword.

The reason was simple. Ultimate-attribute Martial Souls had high stats and great power, but their cultivation speed between levels thirty and seventy could only be described as crawling like a turtle.

But the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword did not have that problem. These two Martial Souls had mechanics when mechanics were needed, raw stats when raw stats were needed, and no major flaws. How could ultimate Martial Souls compare?

Put simply, the Passionate Sword and Unfeeling Sword were super Martial Souls with the strength of ultimate Martial Souls but without their flaws. The choice was obvious.