(A beautiful picture of Ling Luochеn)
Bang!
A somewhat muffled sound rang out across the snowfield, only to be swallowed almost immediately by the howling wind and snow.
"Ugh!"
Ling Luochеn grunted as a tremendous force struck her, sending her skidding more than ten meters across the ground before she barely managed to steady her footing.
"Damn it!"
Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Ling Luochеn wore an extremely grim expression on her bloodless face.
"Rooar!"
Hearing the roar beside her, Ling Luochеn's expression changed drastically.
With no time to worry about anything else, she watched the enormous beast draw closer and almost instinctively scrambled up from the snow, fleeing ahead.
"Frost Mammoths have always lived deep in the Far North. Why would one suddenly appear on its outskirts?"
"Moreover, this Frost Mammoth is probably over thirty thousand years old!"
Ling Luochеn was a Soul Master born in a tribe on the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Far North, and had only entered Shrek Academy through a chance encounter.
Having grown up on the outskirts of the Far North, she knew its environment very well.
She knew even better that thick-skinned, tough-fleshed Soul Beasts like Icefield Mammoths, second only to the Far North's three great races, should never have appeared on the outskirts.
"Damn beast!"
Seeing the Icefield Mammoth drawing ever closer behind her, a fierce look flashed across Ling Luochеn's cool, beautiful face.
"Third Soul Skill, Ice Prison!"
Ling Luochеn halted and raised the staff in her hand high, while the third, purple Soul Ring beneath her feet lit up.
Ice-blue light blossomed in her hand, and a wall of ice abruptly appeared beneath the Icefield Mammoth's feet.
In the blink of an eye, the ice wall had completely trapped the Icefield Mammoth in place.
"My third Soul Ring is only a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. It can't stop the Icefield Mammoth at all."
Ling Luochеn forced herself to muster another breath, preparing to escape while the Icefield Mammoth was trapped.
I have to hurry...
Bang!
The thought had only just occurred to Ling Luochеn, before she could act on it, when she heard a shattering sound behind her.
Almost simultaneously, what little color remained drained completely from her already deathly pale face.
"Pfft!"
Ling Luochеn spat out a mouthful of blood.
Even without looking back, she knew the Icefield Mammoth had broken through her third Soul Skill, and she had suffered its backlash.
Icefield Mammoths were strength-type Soul Beasts, and were prime examples of Soul Beasts with high attack and defense in the Far North.
Trapping an Icefield Mammoth over thirty thousand years old with a thousand-year third Soul Skill was impossible unless Ling Luochеn possessed an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul.
Ling Luochеn swayed, her knees buckling as she nearly collapsed into the snow, while the backlash from her Soul Skill completely drained the Soul Power within her.
"Rooar!"
Behind her, the Icefield Mammoth threw back its head with a long cry, and an enormous leg, so thick it would take two ordinary people to encircle it with their arms, came stomping down toward Ling Luochеn's head.
Am I going to die?
Watching the shadow draw closer and closer, the corners of Ling Luochеn's mouth twitched.
After so many years of painstaking cultivation, she had finally become an Inner Court disciple at Shrek Academy, only to end up dying here.
She could not accept it.
She truly could not accept it.
She still remembered the Inner Court's eldest senior sister telling her that as long as she cultivated diligently, she would surely become a Titled Douluo in the future.
She closed her eyes, her body curling into a ball almost instinctively in the face of her fear of death.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind seemed to sweep past Ling Luochеn's ear.
The anticipated pain of being crushed beneath the Icefield Mammoth's leg never came. Instead, Ling Luochеn felt as though she had fallen into a somewhat warm embrace.
"Big sister, you can open your eyes now."
Hearing that chuckling voice right beside her ear, Ling Luochеn hurriedly opened her eyes.
What greeted her was a boy who looked around ten years old.
The boy had exceptionally delicate features. Had it not been for the slight protrusion at his throat, Ling Luochеn would almost have mistaken him for a girl.
What surprised Ling Luochеn most, however, was that in this freezing land of the Far North, the boy wore only a thin white outfit, seemingly entirely unafraid of the cold.
[Congratulations to the host for successfully collecting and activating the A-rank goddess: Ling Luochеn!] [Congratulations to the host for receiving the activation reward: Cooking Mastery!]
Ling Luochеn?
Hearing the system notifications in his ears, Xue Chen's expression turned somewhat odd.
He had only sensed what seemed to be a disturbance here and come over to investigate.
He had never expected the person he casually rescued to be an Inner Court disciple of Shrek Academy, the very Ling Luochеn whose love for Huo Yuhao went unrequited.
Wasn't this world far too small?
"You..."
Ling Luochеn was just about to say something when her expression suddenly changed.
"Put me down! Hurry and leave!"
At her words, Xue Chen froze slightly, feeling considerably more favorable toward Ling Luochеn.
"That's an Icefield Mammoth over thirty thousand years old! Put me down and escape!"
Seeing Xue Chen merely staring blankly at her, Ling Luochеn's voice grew increasingly anxious.
In her view, there was no way this boy could escape the Icefield Mammoth's pursuit while carrying her, gravely injured as she was.
Her Soul Power was depleted anyway, and her injuries were serious. Why drag a kindhearted person's life down with her?
"It's fine. That Icefield Mammoth looks pretty docile to me."
Xue Chen gestured with his lips toward the Icefield Mammoth nearby.
Docile?
The corners of Ling Luochеn's mouth twitched.
You call the thirty-thousand-year Icefield Mammoth that nearly killed me docile?
Despite thinking this, Ling Luochеn still instinctively looked toward the Icefield Mammoth.
"Huh!"
The moment she looked, Ling Luochеn let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
The enormous beast that had chased her for dozens of li now stood with its four legs tightly clamped together and its long trunk drooping to the ground, its tiny ice-blue eyes filled with fear.
It even took two steps backward, shrinking its massive body as though wishing it could hide itself in the wind and snow.
Out of Ling Luochеn's sight, Xue Chen's right arm, which was wrapped around her, was giving off a gentle ice-blue glow.
The bones of Xue Chen's entire right arm had come from the Snow Empress's sacrifice, and the vast majority of her origin was sealed within them.
Which Soul Beast over ten thousand years old in the depths of the Far North could withstand the Snow Empress's presence?
The thirty-thousand-year Icefield Mammoth already possessed intelligence no inferior to a human's. Now that it sensed the Snow Empress's presence on this unfamiliar human, how would it dare continue acting brazenly?
"Hmph!"
Xue Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and tipped his chin toward the Icefield Mammoth.
As though it had been granted a reprieve, the thirty-thousand-year Icefield Mammoth immediately threw back its head and roared, then turned and raced in the opposite direction without looking back.
"This..."
Ling Luochеn stared blankly at the Icefield Mammoth, which looked as though it were fleeing, and for a moment did not know what to say.