Meng Hongchen Absorbs the Ice Marrow

"Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow? Well, this is it."

By the spring at the bottom of the well, when Meng Hongchen asked about the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, Xia Yu removed the bracelet from his right hand and handed it to her.

"Th-this bracelet is the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, the highest-grade ice-attribute heavenly treasure?"

Meng Hongchen blankly accepted the ice crystal bead bracelet, her eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.

She truly had not expected such a top-tier ice-attribute heavenly treasure to look so utterly ordinary.

No, calling it ordinary was giving this bracelet too much credit.

It was completely unremarkable, no different from those common glass beads.

Forget the abundant spiritual energy of heaven and earth supposedly contained within heavenly treasures—Meng Hongchen could not even sense the slightest energy fluctuation from the ice crystal bead bracelet.

Its exceedingly mundane appearance was simply worlds apart from the heavenly treasures she knew.

Given that, her doubts were perfectly understandable.

"This bracelet really is Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, but it is currently sealed."

Xia Yu had anticipated Meng Hongchen's reaction, so he did not pay it much mind. Instead, he explained why the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow had taken the form of a bracelet.

If he had not constantly supplied soul power to maintain the seal and suppress every energy fluctuation from the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, how could it possibly have become so ordinary?

Sure enough, not long after leaving Xia Yu's hand, the completely suppressed energy fluctuations of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow began to leak out once more.

Along with a faint blue-white glow, a subtle yet supremely icy aura slowly emerged, sweeping through the surrounding area.

Buzz!!!

The instant she sensed that extreme aura, Meng Hongchen's Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul was stirred and manifested on its own.

Desire—an incomparable desire!

Faced with the energy aura of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, the Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul displayed an overwhelming craving.

That craving even affected Meng Hongchen herself, giving her the instinctive urge to swallow the bracelet whole on the spot.

Fortunately, she was rational enough to remain clear-headed. She was not swayed by that sudden impulse and did not react in any inappropriate way.

"Brother Yu, I believe this bracelet is Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow now, but how do I use it?"

There was no need to guess. Just from the Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul's reaction, Meng Hongchen knew that the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow would be of immense benefit to her.

She even had the feeling that this Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow might allow her Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul to undergo a transformation.

Although she could not yet tell whether that feeling was true, it did not stop her from urgently wanting to know how to use the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

"How to use Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow... Let me think of the method most suitable for you."

The original story did contain methods for using Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow. The simplest was to eat it, just as Skydream Iceworm had done.

However, that method was not worth recommending. Skydream Iceworm had managed to consume the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow without dying only because it had been lucky.

If other soul beasts or soul masters tried to imitate Skydream Iceworm without some special ability, they would undoubtedly be courting death.

Did they think the title of "highest-grade ice-attribute heavenly treasure" was merely for show?

Its frigid power was even more terrifying than Ultimate Ice. If one could not withstand it, one would truly die.

So Xia Yu would certainly not make Meng Hongchen consume the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

Then, if he wanted her to safely absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, the only method he could refer to was the one Snow Empress had used to help Huo Yuhao absorb it.

Back then, Snow Empress seemed to have first refined the essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, then gradually infused it into Huo Yuhao's body.

In the end, Huo Yuhao compressed it within his body, allowing him to slowly absorb it and increase his cultivation.

How should he put it? That method was safe and efficient, and it could easily be replicated.

Its only drawback was that the refinement rate was relatively slow, but that could be completely ignored.

After all, Meng Hongchen did not possess the ability to rapidly refine and absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow in the first place.

"Meng, listen to me. In a moment, I'll help you absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow. You must focus completely. No matter what happens, you cannot panic..."

Now that he had found a way to use the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, Xia Yu simply decided to have Meng Hongchen absorb a portion of it beside the spring.

This place already had the cultivation environment he had created earlier. It could not have been more suitable.

"Ah, I'm absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow now?"

Hearing Xia Yu's words so suddenly, Meng Hongchen was somewhat dazed.

She had been coveting the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow and wanted to see whether it could truly bring about a transformation in her Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul.

But strictly speaking, it had only been a spur-of-the-moment thought. She had never actually considered absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow right there.

In her view, the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow was, after all, the highest-grade ice-attribute heavenly treasure. Absorbing it surely required all sorts of preparations in advance.

If she absorbed it rashly, perhaps the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow's effects would be weakened, or some accident might even occur.

There was nothing wrong with Meng Hongchen's thinking. It was entirely reasonable.

What she did not know was that aside from the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Cavern, the area around this spring was already the most suitable place to absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

As for preparations, those were no issue. They could simply be made on the spot; it was not difficult.

Very soon, with Xia Yu's help, Meng Hongchen had finished preparing to absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

She sat cross-legged with a solemn expression inside a Soul Tool Formation, surrounded by fiercely burning Ghostly Frost Flame...

"Pay attention. I'm starting!"

Seeing that Meng Hongchen was ready, Xia Yu immediately began.

With a thought from him, the seals on three ice crystal beads of the bracelet were released.

Once the seals were undone, the three pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow seemed to come alive. They emitted a faint glow while slowly pulsing around Meng Hongchen.

Yet Xia Yu paid no attention to that. He only continued channeling his soul power and Ghostly Frost Flame, intent on fully drawing out the power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

Boom!

Under Xia Yu's control, the three pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow soon bloomed with dazzling blue light, spewing forth incredibly dense heaven-and-earth essence of Ultimate Ice.

"Is this the true power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow? It's amazing!"

The moment the power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow was activated, Meng Hongchen immediately felt the space around her turn thick and heavy.

She did not even need to do anything. The surging heaven-and-earth essence of Ultimate Ice continuously seeped into her body of its own accord.

Stimulated by the essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, the soul power and Martial Soul within her body also began to circulate madly at an unprecedented speed.

Before long, Meng Hongchen felt that the Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad Martial Soul inside her body was undergoing an intense transformation.

With the help of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, the ice-attribute power it contained rapidly swelled.

Once it expanded to a certain extent, it compressed in reverse. After compressing to a certain point, it expanded and swelled again...

This cycle repeated itself without end.