Confrontation

Snake Spear Douluo's Titled Douluo-level perception spread out in every direction from him like an invisible giant net.

Within several miles, not a single soul beast's aura could escape his senses.

He walked forward at an unhurried pace, as though treading a path visible only to him.

Xue Qinghe followed behind him, his steps composed.

After roughly a quarter of an hour, Snake Spear Douluo's pace suddenly slowed.

He raised his right hand and made a gesture.

Xue Qinghe stopped, reaching out at the same time to press a hand onto Li Hanche's shoulder.

The three stood behind a low snow ridge. The wind blew from behind them, carrying their scents to the rear so they would not alert the prey ahead.

Li Hanche followed Snake Spear Douluo's gaze.

Beyond the snow ridge lay a relatively open snow valley. Low ice hills stood on either side, while the middle dipped inward, forming a natural sheltered hollow.

The snow at its bottom had been trampled into a complete mess, exposing the gray-black frozen earth below.

The frozen ground was covered in deep claw marks and impact craters. Several thick icicles had been snapped cleanly in half, their broken ends still hanging with fresh ice chips.

Two soul beasts were locked in confrontation.

The one on the left resembled a giant wolf, but it was several times larger than an ordinary wolf, standing a full meter and a half at the shoulder. Its entire body was covered in snow-white fur, save for its four dark-blue paws, as though it were treading atop four balls of ghostfire.

Its upper lip curled back, baring two rows of pale fangs. A low growl rolled from its throat, and with every breath, two streams of white frost mist billowed from its nostrils.

Nether Ice Wolf.

One of the finest among ice-attribute soul beasts. Judging from its size and soul power fluctuations, it had at least fifteen hundred years of cultivation.

The one on the right was an even larger bear-shaped soul beast, its body covered in coarse white short fur. The hide around its shoulders and back was as thick as a layer of armor.

Its forepaws were exceptionally huge, each as broad as an adult's chest. Five grayish-white bony claws extended from each paw, digging deep into the frozen earth.

Two clusters of dark-green light burned in its eye sockets. There were no pupils—only cold, pure savagery.

Ice-Armored Dire Bear.

It cultivated both ice and strength attributes. Judging from its size and the length of its bony claws, this one was around two thousand years old.

Between the two soul beasts lay a corpse so torn apart that its original form was no longer discernible.

This was likely what they were fighting over—food, or territory. In the Far North, those two things were often one and the same.

The Nether Ice Wolf moved first.

Its body dragged a white afterimage across the snow, its four dark-blue claws trailing four streaks of light as it raced forward.

It did not pounce head-on at the Ice-Armored Dire Bear. Instead, it circled around from the flank, its pale fangs aimed at the most vulnerable spot on the dire bear's neck.

The Ice-Armored Dire Bear reacted far faster than its bulk suggested.

Its right forepaw swept out fiercely, five grayish-white bony claws carving five cold flashes through the air.

The Nether Ice Wolf's fangs bit down on the bony claws, producing a teeth-grating screech of metal scraping against metal as sparks flew in all directions.

Borrowing the force, the ice wolf leaped backward, its four paws plowing four deep furrows through the frozen earth.

The dire bear's left paw came crashing down right after it, like a small mountain bearing down from above.

The ice wolf dodged again. The enormous bear paw slammed into the ground, blasting a half-meter-wide crater into the frozen earth as shattered ice and chunks of frozen soil scattered everywhere.

The two thousand-year soul beasts tore into each other. Crisp clashes of bony claws and fangs, the dull booms of bear paws striking the ground, and the deep roars rumbling from the ice wolf's throat echoed through the snow valley.

Every attack struck for a vital point; every dodge skimmed the edge of death.

This was the law that had remained unchanged in the Far North for countless centuries: live, or become a corpse upon the frozen earth.

Li Hanche watched it all, then drew a deep breath.

Martial Soul Possession.

Ice-blue light exploded from the palm of his right hand.

The light swiftly spread across his entire right arm, then extended outward, condensed, and took shape.

A seven-foot-two-inch spear appeared in his hand.

The spear's entire body seemed forged from dark ice. Ice-blue patterns stretched from its butt to its tip, while the ice-blue gem at the pommel slowly revolved. Within it, the faint phantom of a dragon could be seen swimming through the wind and snow.

Dark Nether Ice Soul Spear.

The instant he gripped the shaft, an icy, familiar aura surged into his body through his palm.

The soul power of Frost Heaven Record began circulating rapidly through his meridians, producing a strange resonance with his martial soul.

The ice-blue patterns on the spear lit up in response, gleaming with a faint, chilling radiance beneath the gray-white light of the Far North.

At the same time, his feet adjusted their stance.

It was not deliberate. His body was instinctively seeking a posture better suited for exerting force and moving.

His entire body shot forward, charging straight toward the two soul beasts at the bottom of the snow valley.

In the span of only a few breaths, his speed climbed to a level that made both people behind him raise their brows.

The Nether Ice Wolf was the first to sense the danger.

Three bloody scratches from the Ice-Armored Dire Bear's bone claws still marked its neck, but the wolf tribe's instincts made it whip its head around at once. An ice-blue point of light rapidly swelled in its ghostly green pupils.

It abandoned its struggle with the dire bear, its four paws kicking hard against the ground as its body slid sideways.

It was already fast. But Li Hanche's spear was faster.

The Dark Nether Ice Soul Spear carved an ice-blue arc through the air, the sound of its tip ripping through the air like a thin sheet of ice being violently crushed beneath a foot.

The Nether Ice Wolf's sidelong body stalled slightly in midair. It glanced back, and its pupils abruptly contracted. That ice-blue point had not pursued the direction in which it dodged, but had instead intercepted the spot where it was about to land.

Prediction.

The spiritual perception tempered day and night by the Mind-Clarity and Nature-Seeing Art displayed its worth at this moment.

The spear tip and wolf claw collided with a thunderous crash in the snowy valley.

A moment before landing, the Nether Ice Wolf forcefully twisted its body, sweeping its right foreclaw sideways. Its dark-blue claw blade met the Dark Nether Ice Soul Spear's tip head-on.

A piercing metallic clang exploded, ice shards and sparks spraying out at once.

Li Hanche felt an immense force travel up the spear shaft, numbing the web between his thumb and forefinger and jolting him three steps back.

His boots plowed two shallow furrows through the frozen earth.

The Nether Ice Wolf had not come away unscathed either.

At the point where its prized dark-blue claw had been struck by the spear tip, the ice-blue sheen had dimmed, and a faint crack had appeared on its surface.

After landing, it did not immediately pounce. Instead, it lowered its body, its four claws digging tightly into the ground. Its ghostly green eyes stared fixedly at the biped before it, one not even as tall as its legs, while a low whine of confusion and wariness rumbled from its throat.

The Ice-Armored Dire Bear also noticed this uninvited guest.

It was not as cautious as the Nether Ice Wolf—or rather, its mind was still stuck at the level of, "Anyone on my turf gets slapped to death."

Its bear paw swept toward Li Hanche like a door panel, carrying a reeking gale with it.

Li Hanche's spiritual power covered the entire battlefield. He bent his knees slightly, his whole body like a bamboo stalk pressed into a bow as he suddenly compressed downward.

The enormous bear paw skimmed past the top of his head, its gust of force blowing the hair before his forehead back flat.

At the same time, the spear in his hand flicked upward from below, its tip stabbing straight at the patch of soft flesh beneath the Ice-Armored Dire Bear's armpit, where no bone armor covered it.

The angle of this thrust was viciously tricky.

The armpit was one of the few places on the Ice-Armored Dire Bear's body not covered by bone armor and thick hide, and also a fleeting weak point exposed when it swung its paw.

Li Hanche seized that opening. The spear tip pierced flesh, sinking three inches in.