Chapter 61
The dragon's roar, imbued with the aura of a divine beast, resounded in all directions.
Miao Ruijia and the others stationed in the border defense forces in Area S looked up in shock at the horizon.
A dragon's shadow flashed past and disappeared into the clouds.
"That was... Ice Soul Dragon?" The team members were all surprised.
"That's right, I heard it, it's a dragon's roar! The Ice Soul Dragon is still alive!"
Chapter 61
The biting wind blew against her face, and the hair on her forehead became messy and disordered. Xu Jintang gripped the dragon horn tightly, leaned down slightly, and lay on the dragon's head.
"Brother Long, I won't get thrown off, will I?" Afraid that the noise of the surrounding air currents would drown out her voice, she had no choice but to shout at the top of her lungs.
"If you hold on tight, I won't let you down," the reassuring voice of the Ice Soul Dragon rang out.
Xu Jintang gripped the dragon horn even tighter.
A person and a dragon traversed the towering clouds, while the scenery below rushed past.
Gradually, Xu Jintang became familiar with the speed and dared to open his eyes slightly to look around.
"I don't get dizzy flying like this."
Ice Soul Dragon: "Then I'll speed things up."
As soon as the words were spoken, the dragon charged forward at an even faster speed.
Xu Jintang felt his body suddenly pulled forward, and the surrounding scenery rushed past even faster.
From day to night, the crescent moon slowly climbed into the sky.
The Ice Soul Dragon gradually reduced its speed and landed in the Extreme Cold Forest.
Xu Jintang, who had dozed off midway, opened her eyes, dismounted from the dragon's body, and looked around. "Have we arrived?"
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus grows on the mountaintop, and it's estimated to be fully ripe by tonight. Those three Eighth Tier demonic beasts are all gathered there waiting."
"Then why don't we just go straight to the top of the mountain?"
The Ice Soul Dragon's eyes fell upon the cave opposite. "This cave used to be my home, and it contains some good things. Take what's here first."
Xu Jintang clapped his hands, stood still, and curiously looked around the cave. "The other monsters wouldn't have already taken all the good stuff inside, would they?"
The Ice Soul Dragon declared domineeringly, "My aura lingers here. Until this oppressive force completely dissipates, no demonic beast dares to venture into my territory."
Xu Jintang rubbed his hands together, a hint of anticipation rising in his heart. "Let's go see what good stuff we have."
A few minutes later, Xu Jintang swaggered into the cave.
The cave is very large, with many mysterious and ancient patterns carved on the stone walls. The further you go in, the cooler it gets.
Upon reaching the end, a huge circular ice pool appeared before us.
The water in the icy pool was a clear, icy blue, and the surrounding cold air emanated from it.
Countless ice-attribute spiritual plants with a faint glow also grow around it.
"This is..." Xu Jintang stopped in her tracks.
The Ice Soul Dragon had transformed into a miniature version and was perched on Xu Jintang's shoulder. It explained calmly, "This was originally just an ordinary pool of water. Later, because I bathed here for many years, the pool absorbed my ice-attribute energy and became an ice pool. At the bottom of this pool, there are many ice-attribute spiritual plants that have been nourished and grown by my power. You can take them with you later."
As expected of a divine beast, just by taking a bath, the pond turned into an icy pool, and it even managed to nourish a lot of ice-attribute spiritual plants.
Soon, Xu Jintang began digging out various rare spiritual plants from inside the cave.
The more she dug, the more horrified she became.
Each type of spiritual plant here must be of an auction-worthy quality to be placed in the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
Even if she doesn't manage to snag the Eternal Snow Lotus, she's still made a fortune this time.
After digging up all the spiritual plants inside the cave, Xu Jintang stroked his chin and stood in front of the icy pool.
"They can dig away this icy pool too?"
Ice Soul Dragon: "... That's unlikely. But if you can manage to snatch the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus later, you can use the power in this icy pool to help you absorb it."
"That's great, as long as we don't waste the resources." Xu Jintang was relieved to hear that the ice pool water was still useful.
She counted the spiritual plants in her bracelet's space; there were a total of fifty-eight kinds, more than a dozen of which were of the thousand-year-old quality, similar to the thousand-year-old snow lotus she had at the auction.
"Let's go, the ancient snow lotus on the mountaintop is almost ripe," Ice Soul Dragon reminded them.
Xu Jintang's thoughts returned to the present moment.
She quickly turned around and came out of the cave.
Once again, they mounted the Ice Soul Dragon and charged straight towards the mountaintop.
The quiet of the night.
At the summit of a snow-capped mountain in the Extreme Cold Forest, three Eighth Tier demonic beasts, now in their original forms, stood watchful around the soon-to-ripen snow lotus.
One of them, a humanoid archaeopteryx with giant wings, had a deep, dark green skin. Its pointed beak resembled that of a woodpecker, but unlike ordinary monsters, it could stand steadily on its two feet, just like a human.
Even more incredibly, this humanoid bird could speak human language:
"Brother Jin Gang, Sister Xue, I don't think it's good for everyone to fight to the death. If you ask me, why don't we divide this ten-thousand-year-old snow lotus equally? We can avoid a great war and still get our share of the snow lotus. Everyone will be happy."
The Vajra Giant Tiger four legs firmly planted on the ground, sneered, "Yes, we're all agreeing now, but once the snow lotus ripens, everyone will turn on us and tear each other apart. What's the point of all this pretense? It's better to just fight it out and let the winner take it. It's much better than some people playing tricks and trying to steal the snow lotus while the other two are fighting."
On the other side, a beautiful woman with a snake's body and a human form smiled, "Now that we've driven away all the other demonic beasts from our territory, it's just the three of us here. There's no need for any infighting. Whoever wins gets the Snow Lotus."
At that moment, a golden light emanated from the swaying snow lotus.
Immediately afterwards, a strange fragrance spread in all directions.
This is a sign that the ancient snow lotus is about to mature.
The medicinal effects of mature snow lotus increase several times over, enough to allow a Peak Eighth Tier demon beast to break through its bottleneck and directly advance to the Ninth Tier.
At that moment, the eyes of the three demonic beasts became exceptionally fervent, their gazes fixed on the snow lotus, revealing an expression of determination to obtain it.
"The three of you, it's been a long time."
An aged yet steady voice slowly echoed from the mountaintop.
The three demonic beasts froze for half a second, then, sensing the familiar aura of the ice dragon, they instantly retreated warily.
The three demonic beasts who were just arguing immediately retreated to a united front, their expressions filled with disbelief.
"It's the Ice Soul Dragon? How is it still alive!" The woman with the humanoid snake body raised her voice, her tone incredulous.
Ever since news spread last year that the Ice Soul Dragon was nearing the end of its life, all the high-level demonic beasts in the Extreme Cold Forest have been waiting for it to die.
No high-level demon beast would willingly submit to another.
They longed for the Ice Soul Dragon's passing even more than for humans.
"Who is it!" The Vajra Giant Tiger suddenly raised its paw and slammed it into the ground, a huge crack spreading from its paw, and the entire snow mountain began to shake violently.
The full-force attack from a Peak Eighth Tier demonic beast made Xu Jintang, who was hiding in the shadows, swallow hard.
The Ice Soul Dragon, formed from divine consciousness, soared into the sky, its roar, imbued with mental attacks, echoing throughout the entire Extreme Cold Forest.
In an instant, the low-level demonic beasts that had not yet run out of the forest trembled and stopped, all lying down and bowing their heads in the direction from which the dragon's roar came.
The three demonic beasts atop the mountain were also intimidated by the divine beast's aura, their bodies immediately stiffening, and they even subconsciously began to bow their heads in submission.
The bloodline suppression between demonic beasts is innate.
Even if the Ice Soul Dragon only has a wisp of divine consciousness left, they will still find it difficult to resist.
"I want this snow lotus." The Ice Soul Dragon hovered in mid-air, its icy gaze sweeping over the three demonic beasts opposite it.
The humanoid bird with enormous wings was the first to bow its head, kneeling on one knee in salute to the Ice Soul Dragon: "Yes."
Following suit, the other two bowed their heads and replied, "Yes."
At this moment, the ancient snow lotus has bloomed to its most splendid state, dazzlingly bright in the night.
The Ice Soul Dragon's immense spiritual power instantly reached out towards the Snow Lotus, pulling it from the ground.
Seeing the snow lotus snatched away like that, the three demon beasts were somewhat unwilling, but after the Ice Soul Dragon disappeared, none of them dared to say a word, and could only swallow their anger.
"Didn't they say many people were hunting it down? Yet it's still alive." After no longer sensing the ice dragon's aura, the woman with the humanoid snake body spoke coldly.
The Vajra Giant Tiger recovered from its earlier shock. "After all, it's Tenth Tier divine beast. It won't be so easy for humans to kill it."
"Now that things are over, I'll head back to my territory. We'll meet again next time." The Snow Scale Snake Woman, having had her snow lotus stolen, was clearly not in high spirits. After saying goodbye, she transformed into a serpent and quickly crawled towards the foot of the snow mountain.
Vajra Giant Tiger muttered speechlessly, "I hope we never get together again."
After saying that, it turned around, jumped up, and quickly ran towards the foot of the mountain.
He left only the humanoid bird behind, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes as he began to calculate.
He had just sensed that the Ice Soul Dragon's aura seemed much weaker than before, meaning that the Ice Soul Dragon was likely seriously injured while fleeing, and therefore had to risk returning to the Extreme Cold Forest to snatch this snow lotus to heal its wounds.
The Ice Soul Dragon at its peak was indeed terrifying.
However, if he is seriously injured, he might be able to fight if he catches the enemy off guard.
Thinking of this, the humanoid bird slightly curled its lips, quickly spread its wings, and flew towards the foot of the snow-capped mountain.
At this moment, Xu Jintang had just placed the snow lotus into the bracelet's space.
"Let's go to the ice pool," Xu Jintang said.
Ice Soul Dragon hesitated for a moment, "When we were snatching the snow lotus, that Green-Membrane Archaeopteryx seemed to be about to break through to the Ninth Tier. I'm worried that it will sense the change in my strength and guess that I'm not at my peak right now."
Xu Jintang had witnessed the strength of those three Eighth Tier demonic beasts firsthand; they were far beyond her current ability to resist.
After thinking for a moment, Xu Jintang decisively decided, "Then let's leave now. Anyway, we've already got the lion's share, losing the ice pool doesn't matter."
If we are too greedy and the three demonic beasts realize what's going on, it won't be worth it.