Return Journey, A Chance Encounter with Fortune

Buzz!

As the Ice Jade Scorpion's soul ring was drawn over Meng Hongchen, a violent and majestic surge of soul power immediately rose from her body.

But before the violent soul power pouring from the soul ring could launch its assault, the compressed Essence of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow within Meng Hongchen's body began to take effect.

The moment the soul power from the soul ring encountered the Essence of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, it was instantly crushed with overwhelming force, obediently swept up by that essence power and merged into Meng Hongchen's soul power.

As for the soul shock contained within the soul ring, that was no challenge for Meng Hongchen either.

With a martial soul like the Frostflame Jade Toad, dealing with the resentment and lingering remnant spirit of a mere eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion was no problem.

Very quickly, Meng Hongchen settled every impact from the soul ring and entered the final stage of fusion and absorption.

This stage required quite some time. By Xia Yu's estimate, it would not be over in less than several hours.

So while Meng Hongchen absorbed and fused with the soul ring's power, Xia Yu began handling the corpse of that eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion.

As a top-tier soul beast with the Ultimate Ice attribute, the materials on its body were quite valuable.

Of course, its most valuable item was the eighty-thousand-year left arm bone it had produced.

Yes, perhaps because this eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion had died too miserably and harbored considerable resentment, it had produced a left arm bone.

Naturally, Xia Yu had no interest in this left arm bone.

Not to mention that he already possessed a two-hundred-thousand-year Golden Tortoiseshell left arm bone, even if he did not, this mere eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone would not have met his standards.

Unless it was at least one hundred thousand years old, there was no chance Xia Yu would absorb it.

After all, he would rather go without than settle for inferior goods.

Time slowly passed, and before they knew it, several hours had gone by.

Without any mishaps, Meng Hongchen successfully absorbed her seventh soul ring and became a level 74 Soul Sage.

"Brother Yu, I..."

Meng Hongchen opened her eyes, about to share her joy with Xia Yu, when a soul bone radiating bone-chilling cold was thrust before her.

"Ah, a soul bone? Did that eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion produce it?"

The moment she saw the soul bone, Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up, and a trace of longing flashed through them.

But in the end, she suppressed that desire, shifted her gaze away from the soul bone, and looked at Xia Yu.

"Brother Yu, this soul bone... you should absorb it. I think you need this soul bone more than I do."

Meng Hongchen was unexpectedly generous, directly offering the soul bone to Xia Yu.

"What nonsense are you saying, girl? I already have a left arm bone. How could I possibly absorb this soul bone again?"

Though he did not think much of this eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone, Xia Yu was still touched by Meng Hongchen's unhesitating willingness to give it to him.

As he spoke, he fondly rubbed Meng Hongchen's head, then showed her his Golden Tortoiseshell left arm bone.

Seeing this, Meng Hongchen said nothing further. Instead, she took the soul bone before her and stroked it with an entranced look in her eyes.

"Crystal clear, smooth to the touch, and there's even this inexplicable feeling of familiarity. As expected of my first soul bone—it really suits me..."

Only after caressing it for a long while did Meng Hongchen reluctantly press the soul bone against her left arm and begin absorbing the eighty-thousand-year left arm bone.

To be honest, Xia Yu was deeply puzzled by Meng Hongchen's sudden sentimentality.

He truly did not understand where she got so many emotional thoughts from.

This soul bone had come from the Ice Jade Scorpion she had personally killed. Wasn't it unsettling to be so reluctant to part with it?

If it had been him, aside from remarking that he was lucky, there would have been nothing else to say.

It was only a soul bone. To him, it had only two uses: absorb it or put it away for later use.

Buzz!

After becoming a Soul Sage, absorbing a soul bone became much easier.

This time, Meng Hongchen needed only an hour to finish absorbing the eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone.

With the soul bone's feedback and the fusion of the Essence of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, her soul power surged once more, directly rising to level 77.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow truly was incredible. Without the aid of its essence power, even after absorbing the soul ring and soul bone of an eighty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion, Meng Hongchen would have struggled to reach level 74.

But with the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, things were different. Simply merging with a portion of its essence power along the way had raised Meng Hongchen's soul power by three full levels out of nowhere.

Even Xia Yu felt a little envious at such heaven-defying results.

Unfortunately, he did not possess the Ultimate Ice attribute. He did not even have an ice attribute, so he simply did not meet the conditions to absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

Of course, it was not as though he could not forcibly absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, but that would be far more trouble than it was worth.

Did they really think the terrifying extreme cold within the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, even more frightening than Ultimate Ice, was just for show?

Perhaps the moment it entered one's body, before one could even refine it, the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow would freeze them solid instead.

"Eh, that's not right. I have the Ghostly Frost Flame. It may not be Ultimate Ice, but it's no less potent. I can completely take another approach."

Xia Yu had been regretting his inability to absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, but he quickly spotted a loophole.

That was his Ghostly Frost Flame.

He could completely use the Ghostly Frost Flame as a stepping stone to develop a safe and efficient method of absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

"Mm... now that I think about it carefully, this really might work. But now isn't the time to try it. I'll have to wait until we return to Radiant City."

After carefully considering it and deciding that his idea had great potential, Xia Yu's heart stirred with excitement.

But the timing was unsuitable, so he could only temporarily suppress the urge to test it on the spot.

This time, their trip to the Extreme North had taken more than twenty days in total, between obtaining the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow and hunting soul beasts.

They had to return now. If they delayed any longer, they would miss the Radiant City Tournament.

Without wasting another moment, Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen packed everything up and hurried at full speed toward the outskirts of the Extreme North.

Flying all the way, they soon left the core region of the Extreme North and entered its inner region.

Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen had originally intended to leave the Extreme North as quickly as possible, but who could have expected them to be so lucky?

They actually encountered the extremely rare phenomenon of a soul beast riot, and the cause of the riot was the emergence of a heavenly treasure.

As the saying went, heaven-sent gifts refused would bring punishment. Without the slightest hesitation, the two stopped immediately and joined the scramble for the heavenly treasure.

Could one imagine the scene of a Titled Douluo and an Ultimate Ice Soul Sage competing with a group of soul beasts that were tens of thousands of years old for a fortunate opportunity?

They swept through everything with irresistible force, crushing all opposition and treating every opponent as if they were nothing.

Xia Yu led Meng Hongchen in sweeping aside every soul beast, openly occupying the Ice Rift Valley where the heavenly treasure was located.

"What dense ice-attribute elemental energy, and there's such a pleasant floral fragrance too. It seems the heavenly treasure below should be some kind of plant spirit medicine, like a snow lotus."