Task Level: Legendary!

Xu Linjiu swiftly snatched the pitiful egg away from the evil Skydream Iceworm's mouth.

Honestly, though, given Skydream Iceworm's current state, even if it had the intention, it no longer had the ability.

"So it's actually a Pokémon Egg? I really have become a Pokémon Trainer now."

He held the icy egg in his palm, preparing to inspect its detailed information.

"Huh? Why can't I find anything?"

Xu Linjiu stared at the ice egg in his hand, utterly baffled.

Given the system's capabilities, there was no reason it should be unable to inspect its information!

At that moment, the Pokédex floating in midair sounded another system notification.

[System compensation has been distributed. A new mission is now being issued!]

[Mission: Ice Gift!]

[Mission Level: Legendary!]

[Mission Description: The Ice-type Pokémon Egg granted as compensation has not yet condensed into a physical form and is currently stored in the system space as a conceptual entity. The host must continuously provide the system with Ice-type energy in order to gradually bring it into form. The total amount of energy injected will determine the hatched Pokémon's species and potential. At most, it may become a second-tier Legendary Pokémon.]

[Mission Objective: Inject Ice-type energy into the Ice Egg (0/100000)]

[Mission Reward: Based on the final grade of the hatched Pokémon, distribute TMs and items of corresponding quality. If a Legendary-grade Pokémon is hatched, an additional chance to draw a Legendary-grade skill will be unlocked.]

"A second-tier Legendary Pokémon? What's that?"

Skydream Iceworm leaned close to the Pokédex screen in midair, then turned to Xu Linjiu and asked.

Put simply, second-tier Legendaries were what players commonly called minor legendaries.

While they were not as world-destroying as top-tier legendary beasts like Ho-Oh and Lugia, each minor legendary such as Raikou, Suicune, or the Regi Trio would absolutely count as top-level combat power if placed on the Douluo Continent.

"A second-tier Legendary Pokémon would be like a soul beast that could easily cultivate to a hundred thousand years. The outstanding ones could even become true gods."

"It can become a god?!"

Skydream Iceworm immediately perked up. "Ice-type energy? Isn't that easy? The cultivation I saved up over a million years... damn it, I sacrificed it all to you, kid!"

"It's fine. There's no rush. Let me first see how to obtain this Ice-type energy."

With that, Xu Linjiu closed his eyes, and his consciousness returned to his body in the real world.

The platinum-white soul ring beneath his feet lit up, while Skydream Iceworm's soul turned into a streak of light and flew to his side.

Xu Linjiu raised a finger, and an icy blue glow rapidly gathered at its tip.

His Pokédex Martial Soul automatically floated into the air. With a flick of his finger, an icy blue beam shot precisely into the Pokédex.

[Ding! Absorbing Ice-type energy!]

[Absorption complete! Current progress: 0.1/100000]

The moment Xu Linjiu saw that number, he fell silent.

His Soul King-level Ice Beam skill had only increased the progress of the Ice Gift mission by that tiny amount!

At this rate, if he relied solely on himself to force-feed it energy, he would have to use it a million times.

A million times.

Forget a Titled Douluo—even becoming a god might not be enough to finish it.

Retracting his Pokédex Martial Soul into his body, Xu Linjiu rubbed his brow. "All right. Looks like I'll have to think of something else."

Skydream Iceworm floated onto his shoulder and poked its head out. "So, you've got an idea?"

As for where he could get such a massive amount of Ice-type soul power, Xu Linjiu had already considered several places.

"On the entire Douluo Continent, I can think of only three places that can provide Ice-type energy on this scale."

Xu Linjiu raised one finger, sorting through his thoughts as he spoke. "The first is your hometown, the Extreme North."

At that, Skydream Iceworm's worm body visibly shuddered.

Xu Linjiu continued, "The Extreme North is the largest gathering place for Ice-type soul beasts on the continent. It has countless Ice-type heavenly treasures. The biggest reason you became a million-year soul beast was the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow there. But the problem is, that place is too dangerous."

His tone paused. "Not to mention the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North and those absurdly powerful soul beast clans, the hellish weather of the Extreme North itself would be enough to make us suffer."

"And the ice cave you stayed in back then had all its Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow sucked dry by you in one go. Finding another one would be like looking for a needle in the sea."

Skydream Iceworm nodded furiously, clearly still haunted by its former neighbors.

"The second."

Xu Linjiu raised a second finger. "One of the three legendary cornucopias, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."

"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well? Never heard of it." Skydream Iceworm tilted its head.

"That is where the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King, two of the Nine Dragon Kings, fell. It's filled with rare treasures of heaven and earth."

Xu Linjiu explained, "Especially the Extreme Cold Yin Spring within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. The chill rising from its springhead can freeze even soul power. It would be more than enough to fill the mission progress bar."

"But the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is currently the territory of Poison Douluo Dugu Bo. It's completely sealed off by poisonous miasma barriers, and with our current strength, we can't even get close to the entrance."

Skydream Iceworm grew anxious. "Then aren't the first two useless? What about the third?"

Xu Linjiu raised a third finger, his eyes carrying greater certainty. "The third target is the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave."

"The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave?"

Skydream Iceworm's eyes lit up. "You even know about such a treasure land?"

The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave was a land of ultimate Ice. It likewise contained vast quantities of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, as well as the accompanying Ice Extremity Divine Crystals.

It could be said that it had as much Ice-type energy as one could ever want. The only issue was that the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave's exact location lay within Dragon City of the Heavenly Soul Empire ten thousand years in the future. Yet in this era, it was hard to say whether that city was even called Dragon City.

The only clue regarding Dragon City at present was that it lay within the Heaven Dou Empire, near the Extreme North.

Furthermore, since Dragon City was under the control of the Heaven-Earth Dragon Gate in the future, it was highly likely that Dragon City fell within the sphere of influence of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan in this era.

"To find the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave, we'll have to investigate the northern border cities of the Heaven Dou Empire one by one. As for whether we can sense the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave..."

Xu Linjiu turned to Skydream Iceworm on his shoulder. "No one knows more about that than you, right?"

At once, Skydream Iceworm puffed out its round, snowy-white chest.

Though it was now merely a mass of spiritual energy, it could not lose in terms of presence.

"Of course! I slept on Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow for nine hundred thousand years. When it comes to sensing Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, if I rank second on the whole continent, no one would dare claim first!"

"All right. Then we'll be counting on you when we set out."

Just as Xu Linjiu was preparing to leave, Skydream Iceworm suddenly called out to him again.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't leave yet!"

"What now?"

"My shed skin! When I sacrificed myself earlier, I left a whole shed skin outside!"

"A shed skin?"

Xu Linjiu raised a brow.

He had nearly forgotten about Skydream Iceworm's shed skin.

The shed skin of a million-year soul beast might not compare to a soul bone, but it was still unquestionably a rare treasure.

If made into inner armor, its defensive power would probably be no worse than that of some ten-thousand-year soul bones.

And if he wanted to enter the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave, he might truly have no way to do so without this shed skin.

Xu Linjiu searched through the ruins for quite a while before finally spotting a mass of snowy-white shed skin beneath a boulder split open by lightning.

It was entirely white, gleaming faintly with silver light, thin and soft as gauze.

"Found it."

Xu Linjiu bent down to pick up the shed skin and dusted off the ash covering it.

It felt icy cool and smooth in his hand, light as nothing, yet exceptionally tough. He tugged on it hard, but it did not budge in the slightest.

"Of course. My skin isn't ordinarily tough."

Skydream Iceworm's tone was full of pride. "Keep it safe. Without my shed skin, the cold air in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave would freeze you into an ice pop in an instant."

Xu Linjiu nodded and folded the shed skin before storing it in his storage soul tool.