Carried to Victory by Lin Ye!

"First Soul Skill—Ice Seal!"

Shui Bing'er swept her right hand outward, and an icy-blue glow flashed across the Ice Rock Python.

The next instant.

A thick layer of ice froze the Ice Rock Python solid.

Unfortunately...

The gap in their strength was too great.

The Ice Rock Python gave its body a slight shake, and the ice coating it shattered with a crack.

"Hissss!"

The Ice Rock Python lunged forward, tongue flickering.

Just then.

Lin Ye charged in from the side.

He swept the Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword across, sending a streak of sword energy into the Ice Rock Python.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

The freezing sword energy struck its hard scales, scattering a string of sparks.

A metallic clang rang out.

A clear sword mark remained on the Ice Rock Python's scales.

"Hissss!"

The strike had clearly enraged the Ice Rock Python.

It whipped around, sweeping its thick tail through the air.

Lin Ye saw it coming and dodged sideways.

With a dull thud, the ground where he had stood caved in half a foot deep.

He used that moment to quietly channel his Soul Power.

First Soul Skill—Ice Dragon Power.

Second Soul Skill—Ice Dragon Protection.

Lin Ye awakened his Ice Dragon bloodline. His strength surged severalfold in an instant, while ice crystals rapidly formed Ice Scale Armor over his skin.

He burst forward.

The Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword in his hand stabbed straight at the python's eye.

The Ice Rock Python had clearly anticipated it. As the blade approached, it snapped its eyes shut.

Clang!

The blade struck its tough scales.

Though the blow did not fatally wound the Ice Rock Python, it still cost the beast two scales.

"Hiss!"

The Ice Rock Python cried out in pain.

It swung its thick body around Lin Ye from the side, surrounding him in an instant and preparing to crush him in its coils.

In the blink of an eye.

Lin Ye was trapped in its coils.

A crushing sense of suffocation hit him.

Fortunately, Ice Dragon Protection absorbed most of the force. Otherwise, his bones would have paid dearly.

"Lin Ye!"

Shui Bing'er's heart clenched.

She immediately released her Second Soul Skill, Ice Ring Armor, adding another layer of defense around Lin Ye.

Shui Bing'er's help gave Lin Ye room to breathe.

"Third Soul Skill—Winter's Command!"

It was a remarkable skill.

Once activated, it gathered all the Ice Element within a hundred meters around him, boosting the power of every ice-type Soul Skill.

In other words...

Winter's Command was only as strong as its surroundings allowed.

And the Frozen Forest was the perfect stage for this Soul Skill.

In an instant.

Lin Ye felt the ice power within him multiply severalfold.

"Break!"

Soul Power burst outward.

He forced apart the Ice Rock Python's Death Entanglement.

"Fifth Soul Skill—Ice Dragon Abyss-Shattering Strike!"

The phantom Mystic Ice True Dragon behind him suddenly grew solid, then dove at the Ice Rock Python.

Dragon against snake!

The bloodline of one naturally suppressed the other.

And Lin Ye's Mystic Ice True Dragon bore the supreme Ice Dragon King Bloodline.

"Roar!"

The Ice Rock Python faced the diving dragon phantom.

Every instinct deep within it urged it not to meet the attack head-on, but to flee the pressure of the Ice Dragon King's bloodline.

"Third Soul Skill—Repelling Ice Ring!"

Shui Bing'er instantly sent an icy-blue wave into the Ice Rock Python's path of escape.

The wave exploded!

The Ice Rock Python was forcibly displaced fifty meters.

In an instant, the giant python was right back where it had started.

"Roar!"

The dragon phantom plunged past.

It plowed through the Ice Rock Python from head to tail.

Yes...

With no defenses up, the Ice Rock Python took the full brunt of it.

That thunderous blow left the Ice Rock Python half dead.

At the same time.

Lin Ye and Shui Bing'er exchanged a glance.

After their intimate exchange, their teamwork had grown noticeably smoother than before.

Even against a thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast, they handled themselves with ease.

"Fourth Soul Skill—Ice Phoenix Heart-Piercing Strike!"

Shui Bing'er spread her arms, her long icy-blue hair rising without wind.

The Ice Phoenix phantom became a beam of bitter cold, tearing through the air like a meteor.

With a piercing shriek, the beam hurtled toward the Ice Rock Python.

Shui Bing'er knew she lacked the strength to seriously injure it.

She deliberately made the attack loud and conspicuous to draw the Ice Rock Python's attention and give Lin Ye a chance to land a killing blow.

Lin Ye understood at once!

He stamped hard on the ground and leaped high.

The Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword shot toward the python's eye like lightning.

Pain pierced straight through its skull!

The Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword punched through its skull in an instant.

Driven mad by the agony, the Ice Rock Python thrashed wildly, trying to shake off that damned sword.

But... it was too late.

A current of extreme cold had already poured through the wound into its body.

And that was not all...

Lin Ye unleashed Ice Dragon Breath straight at the Ice Rock Python's head.

The overwhelming pressure of the Ice Dragon King crushed its last chance of survival.

The Ice Rock Python's meridians froze before their eyes, and the hard scales on its body gradually softened.

"Whew."

Lin Ye wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Only now could he finally let out a long breath.

After the battle.

He did not sit idle.

First, he thoroughly searched the Ice Rock Python's corpse.

Finding no Soul Bone, he looked just a tiny bit disappointed.

Still, he had not come away empty-handed.

The Ice Rock Python's gallbladder was a rare treasure that could nourish an ice-type Soul Master's Soul Power.

He removed it and handed it to Shui Bing'er.

Shui Bing'er asked in surprise, "For me?"

"Don't want it?"

Before Lin Ye could pull it back.

Shui Bing'er had already snatched it away.

Well...

She would be a fool to turn down something so valuable.

She simply had not expected Lin Ye to give her the gallbladder.

At that moment.

The surprise in her heart turned into joy unlike anything she had felt before.

After confirming there was no other danger in the ice cavern below, Lin Ye jumped down.

Then.

He saw four pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow embedded in the ice.

They were a lustrous white, like jade.

Pale-blue liquid energy slowly flowed through their translucent cores, gentle yet extraordinarily penetrating.

They were the source of the light he had seen from above.

Lin Ye pried the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow from the ice.

No...

To be precise, there were not four whole pieces, but only three and a half.

The Ice Rock Python had eaten half of one. Judging by the surroundings, it had already swallowed two more before that.

Lin Ye was glad he had arrived in time.

Otherwise, the Ice Rock Python would have swallowed these three and a half pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow too.

"Lin Ye."

"How is it down there?"

Shui Bing'er's voice came from above.

Though she wanted the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow too, she held back her urge to follow him.

She could not go down!

If something happened above, the ice cavern might be sealed in an instant.

She had to keep their escape route open.

"It's taken care of."

With that.

Lin Ye released his Dragon Wings.

One powerful beat carried him out of the ice cavern.

As he flew past Shui Bing'er, he wrapped an arm around her waist and soared upward.

"Ah!"

Shui Bing'er cried out instinctively, then covered her mouth.

She was flying?

It was her first time being carried into the air by someone.

"Is this that Soul Bone?!"

Shui Bing'er looked at the icy-white Dragon Wings on Lin Ye's back. Her eyes held surprise and envy, but most of all, happiness.

Lin Ye had told her the secret of the External Soul Bone the night before last.

"Mm!"

Lin Ye beat his wings and sped onward.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow was in hand.

What mattered now was leaving this dangerous place as quickly as possible.