After leaving Shrek Academy, Dai Youheng raced toward the Far North at his greatest possible speed, traveling day and night.
Soul Power surged ceaselessly within him, and the cultivation method he had obtained from that mysterious being circulated on its own. It not only supplied him with an endless stream of energy but also constantly tempered his muscles, bones, and physique.
He traveled at a relentless pace for several days. Only when his Soul Power was so depleted that he truly could not continue did he find somewhere secluded to briefly recover before setting off again.
In just a few short days, the lush plains and hills before him gave way to boundless snowfields. Bitter winds sliced past like knives, and the air was permeated with a pure yet brutally cold aura.
He had reached the Far North.
To Dai Youheng's own surprise, even after such an intense, long-distance dash, he still felt invigorated when he stopped. His heartbeat was steady, his breathing deep and unhurried, and his face showed no trace of exhaustion. Even the cold struggled to penetrate his body.
Unable to contain his delighted surprise, he said, "I never imagined I could come all the way from Shrek Academy to this bitterly cold place with so little rest and still feel this good. I'm neither flushed nor out of breath, and even the cold of the Far North doesn't seem to bother me much."
Within his sea of consciousness, the Snow Empress's cool voice rang out with a hint of admiration. "It must be the miraculous effect of that unnamed cultivation method in your mind. It is extraordinarily profound and seems to nourish the body with qi. The richer and purer your Soul Power becomes, the more strongly it feeds back into your flesh. As your Soul Power circulates, it constantly nurtures and tempers every limb, bone, and internal organ. At this rate, once you reach the rank of Titled Douluo, the sheer might of your physical body alone may well surpass even Beast God Di Tian of the Star Dou Great Forest."
She had lived for countless years and witnessed innumerable brilliant human prodigies and mighty Soul Beasts. Yet she had never heard of anyone whose Soul Power and physique grew together at such an astonishing rate as Dai Youheng's.
In her eyes, even without the enhancement from the ten-thousand-year whale glue, Dai Youheng's current physical foundation would make it effortless to add a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring to his Evil Shadow Demon Tiger.
However, what they were planning now was far beyond a mere Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
"Youheng," the Snow Empress said, her voice growing solemn, "our target this time is a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast. Remember, even the weakest hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast will possess combat strength no less than a human Titled Douluo, provided its species has any fighting ability at all. With your current strength, you would have no chance of survival if you encountered one alone. We must find my son Xiao Bai first. With him here, dealing with an ordinary hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast will be all but assured."
"Then how do we find him?" Dai Youheng asked, sweeping his gaze across the vast white ice fields before him, where danger lurked on every side. Finding one particular powerful Soul Beast in this immense, unfamiliar land would be like fishing a needle out of the sea.
"If I still had my original body, I could summon him with the dance and aura unique to the Heavenly Snow Woman lineage." A trace of helplessness entered the Snow Empress's voice. "But now, we can only try our luck at a few places he frequents. I will guide you while keeping you clear of the territories of some extremely dangerous Soul Beast populations in the Far North. Follow my directions closely, and do not act on your own."
"Understood. Sorry for the trouble, Sister Snow Empress!" Dai Youheng nodded solemnly. Having the Snow Empress, the former Lord of the Far North, as his guide was undoubtedly his greatest assurance of survival and freedom of movement here.
With a slight stir of his thoughts, the illusory image of an ice-blue pill radiating an extreme chill flowed within his body, quietly drawing forth the power of the Snow Soul Condensing Ice Pill. After he took it, the once bone-piercing winds around him immediately became as gentle as a spring breeze. The snowflakes dancing through the sky seemed to turn into friendly sprites, and even the abundant ice-aspected energy of heaven and earth in the air began flowing gently into his body of its own accord.
Here, as long as he took a Snow Soul Condensing Ice Pill to temporarily gain the ultimate ice attribute, the environment would not hinder him. Instead, he was like a fish returned to water, and this land of bitter ice and snow became his ideal Mimicry Training Ground.
Under the Snow Empress's precise guidance, Dai Youheng skirted one ice valley and abyss after another that exuded terrifying auras, eventually arriving in an unusual glacial region.
The terrain here was relatively flat, and hidden between the enormous glaciers was an icy lake that had not completely frozen over! Its deep waters glimmered with a faint blue light. Here and there, strangely shaped fish Soul Beasts, their bodies crystalline or covered in icy scales, could be seen swimming leisurely beneath the surface. They had clearly long since adapted to these extreme temperatures.
"This is the place," the Snow Empress said. "Xiao Bai is greedy for food, especially a few varieties of cold-water fish found only in this lake. Whenever he gets a craving, he often comes here to catch fish and treat himself. We'll find somewhere nearby to settle down and wait patiently. Since he likes this place, he'll come sooner or later."
Dai Youheng could not help chuckling. "So, Snow Empress, you really did raise a bear that catches fish. You get to have both the fish and the bear's paw."
He imagined Ice Bear King Xiaobai, endearingly clumsy yet immensely powerful, crouching beside the lake and scooping out fish. The picture amused him greatly.
A hint of laughter entered the Snow Empress's voice as well. "Naturally. Xiao Bai learned his cooking from me, and his grilled fish tastes quite good. Once he arrives, I'll have him grill some for you to try."
With their plan settled, they carved out a simple ice cave beneath a wind-sheltered wall of ice not far from the lake, making it their temporary dwelling.
Dai Youheng was in no hurry. He knew that hunting a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast was no easy undertaking, and patience was the first requirement.
He did not squander the time spent waiting. The pure, abundant ice-aspected energy of the Far North greatly benefited the circulation of his body-tempering cultivation method. Aside from necessary rest and keeping watch, he devoted almost every moment of each day to cultivation.
Inside the ice cave, Dai Youheng sat cross-legged as the cultivation method circulated through his body on its own at an unprecedented speed. His Soul Power flowed like mercury, heavy and condensed. As it passed through his meridians and acupoints, it continually seeped into and nourished every inch of flesh and every bone, producing a marvelous sensation of burning warmth and tingling numbness.
Beneath his skin, a faint layer of pale golden light shimmered, an outward manifestation of his flourishing vitality and steadily strengthening physique. He could clearly feel his defense, strength, speed, and even recovery steadily improving through this cultivation.
This cultivation method balances yin and yang. When it circulates, blood and qi surge like dragons, and its energy condenses into adamant force. If cultivated to its utmost, my physical strength might truly rival the divine Evil-Repelling Beasts of ancient legends. Delighted by the changes he felt within himself, Dai Youheng gave the method a name: Golden Vajra Evil-Repelling Body.
The name was straightforward and domineering, perfectly suited to the method's nature. In legend, the Evil-Repelling Beast was a great demon possessing boundless physical might.
Perhaps this cultivation method truly originated from such an unparalleled great demon and possessed a unique aura. Or perhaps, after Dai Youheng had circulated it for days on end, the accumulated fluctuations of the method had finally reached some critical threshold.
He was, day one this
As he once again immersed himself in deep cultivation, that pure, formidable aura spread faintly outward from him like ripples across water. Though weak, it carried an indescribable pressure born of its superior rank, penetrating the thick layers of ice and extending toward the deeper darkness below...
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