That morning, Xu Zhengyang wore a very ordinary gray cloth outfit and carried all sorts of things, preparing to leave Dongyang City.
Xu Zhengyang was now nine years old and stood 1.7 meters tall, with firm muscles all over his body and short hair. His prolonged forging lately had turned his skin bronze, and he was brimming with strength.
Judging by his appearance, Xu Zhengyang now looked entirely like a warrior rather than a Soul Engineer or a Soul Master.
Xu Zhengyang had made other preparations for the journey as well. To train his body, he had forged a hundred kilograms of weights to wear all over himself, including a sixty-kilogram breastplate and four arm guards weighing ten kilograms each. Drawing on his experience on Blue Star, he had modeled these weights after gold-thread soft armor, casting countless small rings from precious metals and linking them together so they could be taken apart easily at any time.
Under his parents' watchful eyes, Xu Zhengyang left Dongyang City step by step.
His destination this time was the Ice Sea to the northwest.
Dongyang City lay at the far northwestern edge of the entire Sun Moon Empire. The city stood near the Ice Sea, both to guard against attacks by Soul Beasts from that direction and to obtain considerable Soul Beast resources from the sea.
The Ice Sea was very unusual and did not count entirely as an ocean. Its surface was covered in thick floes, and it consisted of seawater and floating ice together.
This made it difficult for ships to navigate, leaving the Sun Moon Empire unable to launch large-scale strikes against the Soul Beasts on the Ice Sea. There were both sea Soul Beasts and land Soul Beasts there. Some of the larger floes in particular measured several kilometers or even tens of kilometers across, with land Soul Beasts living on them.
Xu Zhengyang had long since prepared for this training journey to the Ice Sea.
Ever since he had begun forging, Xu Zhengyang had clearly felt a powerful, scorching energy within his body. This energy did not seem like fire-attribute energy, but rather somewhat resembled supreme Yang energy, fierce as a tiger.
And as he came into contact with fire, this scorching Qi grew increasingly powerful, until even his blood seemed about to boil.
Xu Zhengyang knew that if he wanted his strength to break through again, if he wanted to grow stronger, he had to find a place of extreme Yang or extreme cold to cultivate. Only then could he temper his body better.
On the other hand, after all these years of cultivation, coupled with this past year of forging, Xu Zhengyang's control over the fire attribute seemed to have improved considerably as well. Even the Purple Emperor Heaven-Destroying Dragon had grown from its original form of around one meter in length to over three meters, and faintly emanated purple flames.
Carrying a hundred kilograms of weights and wearing simple, unlined clothes, Xu Zhengyang walked slowly across the ice.
Whenever he encountered open water without ice, Xu Zhengyang took out a small boat made using Soul Tools and continued onward aboard it.
This Soul Tool sailboat was over eight meters long and could be propelled by Soul Power. It was a Class 5 Soul Tool, with protection against wind and waves. At full power, it could reach a hundred kilometers per hour, but with Xu Zhengyang's current Soul Power, it could only reach fifty kilometers per hour, which could be considered extremely slow.
He traveled for an entire day. During that day, Xu Zhengyang did not see many sea Soul Beasts, but the temperature of the Ice Sea was considerably lower than he had imagined. It could even be called bone-piercingly cold.
It was precisely this bone-piercing wind and icy seawater that made Xu Zhengyang feel the ceaseless heat within his body grow more intense. This, too, constantly tempered his body.
For some time afterward, Xu Zhengyang kept traveling northwest, like an ascetic monk, and like a solitary wayfarer.
He spent practically every day walking without stopping. When he encountered low-level Soul Beasts, Xu Zhengyang's desire to fight would rise, and he would battle them. If he encountered high-level Soul Beasts, however, he left as quickly as possible.
There were few Soul Beasts on the floes, but the Ice Sea itself held all kinds of Soul Beasts, such as Sea Krill that darted about very quickly, as well as seals, sea lions, and the like. They were not particularly powerful in battle, but their numbers were immense.
Soul Beasts in the sky were more numerous, including seagulls, albatrosses, and the like. Their attacks were not particularly fierce, but they were extremely fast and difficult to detect in this unusual environment.
At night, Xu Zhengyang switched on a lighting Soul Tool and sat on the ice to meditate.
Under the stimulation of the ice and the bitterly cold air, his body's heat seemed to contend with the cold, instead growing even more intense, while his bearing became more masculine as well.
As for food, besides the dry rations he had prepared long ago, he killed one or two weak sea Soul Beasts during the day and carried them on his back as he traveled, only lighting a fire to roast and eat them at dusk.
In just half a month, Xu Zhengyang had grown considerably thinner. On the one hand, life was scarce on the Ice Sea's floes, especially with no trace of plant life. On the other, his body had to fight the cold with all its strength, consuming enormous amounts of energy.
Moreover, he had to keep fighting sea Soul Beasts along the way and could not relax at any time. The slightest lapse could draw attacks from bird Soul Beasts.
It was under these cold, lonely conditions that he lost a full three and a half kilograms, but his combat experience grew richer instead, and even his agility and vigilance improved to some extent.
One night, while Xu Zhengyang was meditating in the cold wind, his eyes suddenly snapped open. He sensed what seemed to be a hint of unusual danger nearby.
But when Xu Zhengyang carefully examined his surroundings, he found nothing amiss on this floe, which measured over three kilometers across. There did not seem to be any Soul Beasts nearby.
Just then, Xu Zhengyang abruptly leaped up and swiftly dodged to the side. Sure enough, a small Soul Beast about a meter long appeared where he had been.
This Soul Beast was snow-white all over, with extremely sharp claws. Only its eyes were black. It was extremely fast and kept circling, seemingly considering how to deal with the enemy before it.
Surprise appeared on Xu Zhengyang's face. "Interesting. A Polar Ice Fox nearly a thousand years old. Looks like you've taken me for prey."
The Polar Ice Fox was exceedingly cautious. After its first strike missed, it swiftly put distance between them, like an agile hunter.
Xu Zhengyang fixed his eyes on the Polar Ice Fox before him as Soul Power rapidly gathered in his hands. Soon, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear formed in his grasp, but he made no move, his nerves taut.
Fox-type Soul Beasts were among the most intelligent of all Soul Beasts. Although their combat strength was average, they were certainly the most troublesome hunters among Soul Beasts. Xu Zhengyang knew very well that the Polar Ice Fox before him had set its sights on him. There was no way he could leave without killing it.
But the Polar Ice Fox was extremely clever. It was surely looking for an opening in his defenses. At the slightest lapse on his part, it would definitely strike at his vitals.