Ice cavern prison
The woman in black threw back her head and howled.
Dark brown branches pierced out of her shoulders and back. Her flesh swelled continuously, and her once-human form rapidly twisted.
Only gold and red remained in her eyes.
Reason and fear had long since vanished.
What stood before Lin Yuan now was no longer a Soul King, but one of the Abominations, ruled by the power of Abundance.
Lin Yuan watched the branches growing wildly from her body, his gaze darkening slightly.
"Someone is exploiting the power of Abundance."
To refine the power of Abundance into medicine and make Soul Masters mutate in such a short time, there had to be a fully established organization behind this.
Spirit Hall had to be informed of this as soon as possible.
"Roar!"
The Abomination of Abundance pushed off with all four limbs, blasting apart the snow beneath it.
Flailing its branches, it smashed through the trees in its path and lunged at Lin Yuan.
"Die!"
Lin Yuan stood where he was, the Imperial Bow already drawn.
His third Soul Ring lit up.
"Third Soul Skill, Soul Lock."
Whoosh!
An azure arrow shot from the bowstring.
The abomination swung its arm, trying to smash the arrow.
But the arrow's light changed direction in midair, evading its arm and piercing its chest.
Squelch!
Azure light erupted.
Chains of The Hunt extended from the arrow wound, binding the abomination's limbs and torso.
Thud!
Its massive body slammed heavily into the snow.
The abomination struggled madly, the branches on its back lashing at the chains.
The power of Abundance was also repairing its wounds at an accelerating rate.
Yet whenever a newly grown branch touched the chains, it rapidly blackened and withered.
Lin Yuan took an iron arrow from his quiver and nocked it.
Azure power of The Hunt gathered along the shaft, gradually compressing at the arrowhead.
The arrow pointed straight between the abomination's brows.
The mindless monster suddenly paused for an instant.
Life's instinct in the face of death made it sense danger.
"Roar!"
The abomination began struggling violently again.
Several chains snapped in succession.
Its branches stabbed into the ground, dragging its body backward.
"Now you know fear?"
The smiling mask floated beside Lin Yuan.
"Weren't you trying to eat him just now?"
Lin Yuan did not respond.
His fourth Soul Ring abruptly lit up.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Heavenfall Arrow."
The Imperial Bow thrummed.
Dazzling azure light enveloped the iron arrow.
Lin Yuan released the bowstring.
Boom!
The arrow left the string, turning into an azure meteor.
The abomination had only just broken free of the final chain when the arrow's light pierced between its brows.
Squelch!
The monster's body abruptly froze.
Azure cracks spread down from its skull, covering its entire body.
The branches stopped growing.
Its vigorous signs of life rapidly faded.
Thud!
The abomination fell into the snow.
Its flesh and branches gradually turned into gray-white dust, scattered by the cold wind.
Only a dark golden fragment of a pill's shell remained on the snow.
Lin Yuan stored the shell fragment in his Soul Tool.
This was evidence that the power of Abundance had appeared on the continent.
He took out another ordinary iron arrow and infused a message into it.
Abundance has emerged.
Something has changed in the Far North.
Lin Yuan drew the Imperial Bow and fired southward.
Whoosh-
The iron arrow shot high into the sky, becoming an azure star trail that raced toward Spirit Hall.
The presence of The Hunt would resonate with the Imperial Bow Token.
As long as Xue Qinglan handed the token to the local Spirit Hall Branch, Spirit Hall would receive the warning.
Having done all this, Lin Yuan extended his Hunting Sense again.
The evil presence to the north was still there.
And it was even stronger than before.
"Still going?"
The mask followed beside him.
"There might be even more monsters ahead."
Lin Yuan stepped into the wind and snow.
"Then I'll kill them all."
Two hours later, Lin Yuan stopped before a glacier.
Within his Hunting Sense, large amounts of Soul Power and signs of life lay hidden beneath the ice.
The ice wall ahead appeared intact, but the snow in one spot was slightly darker, with faint traces of heat seeping through the cracks.
There were six Soul Power fluctuations near the entrance.
Four people were out in the open, and two were hidden.
Lin Yuan crouched low, and the Imperial Bow silently materialized.
Four iron arrows were nocked on the bowstring.
Whoosh!
The wind and snow masked the sound of their flight.
The four Soul Elders at the entrance were struck simultaneously and fell into the snow one after another.
The two Soul Ancestors above the ice wall had only just noticed something wrong when Lin Yuan charged over.
One arrow pierced an eye socket.
Another iron arrow shot into a mouth, pinning the last man to the ice.
Not one of them sounded an alarm.
Lin Yuan searched them for the keys, lifted the animal hide covering the entrance, and entered the ice cave.
Soul Guidance Lamps on either side gave off a dim green glow.
The passage had clearly been excavated by hand, and both the floor and the ice walls had been reinforced with metal supports.
The deeper he went, the warmer it became instead.
The smell of medicine mingled with the stench of blood, making him nauseous.
Beyond the first turn, two Evil Soul Masters were walking toward him.
"Why have those guys at the entrance gone quiet?"
"Slacking off again, probably."
"Once this batch of pills is finished, the Furnace Overseer might reward us with one."
"You'd still dare take one?"
The other man lowered his voice.
"Most of the people who took the pills before turned into monsters."
"That's because they couldn't withstand the sacred power."
The speaker's face was filled with fanaticism.
"As long as we succeed, we'll have undying bodies."
"Severed limbs will regrow, and we won't die even if our hearts are pierced."
"That's true immortality."
The two rounded the corner.
Lin Yuan emerged from the shadows.
Squelch! Squelch!
Two iron arrows pierced the backs of their heads.
He pushed open the wooden door of the hidden room beside him and dispatched the Evil Soul Masters on watch with another two arrows.
Wires on the hidden room's wall connected to an alarm mechanism.
Lin Yuan cut the metal wires, then opened the logbook on the table.
It recorded the effects of different batches of pills.
First batch: ten subjects took the pills.
Seven died, two lost their reason, and one completed the mutation.
Second batch: twenty subjects took the pills.
Eleven died, eight mutated, and one retained partial reason.
There were no names in the records.
Only numbers.
Lin Yuan stored the logbook in his Soul Tool and continued onward.
Before long, the passage split into three.
A large number of weak signs of life were gathered to the left.
Strong fluctuations of Abundance emanated continuously from the central passage.
Lin Yuan headed left first.
At the end stood a heavy iron door.
Two Soul Ancestors guarded it.
"When are we dealing with that lot inside?"
"What's the hurry? The Furnace Overseer is still refining medicine."
"What about those little girls from Skywater Academy?"
"Medicine refined from ice-attribute Martial Souls works better, so naturally we're saving them for last."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two Soul Ancestors fell at the sound.
Lin Yuan took the keys and unlocked the iron door.
Beyond the door was a spacious ice chamber.
Nearly a hundred civilians were crammed inside, including merchants, hunters, and residents of nearby villages.
Most were injured, their expressions numb.
In a corner of the ice chamber, several female teachers from Skywater Academy shielded more than a dozen children behind them.
Hearing the door open, one of the teachers forced herself to her feet.
"Who are you taking away this time?"
"I'm not an Evil Soul Master."
Lin Yuan entered the ice chamber.
"Shui Yunlan sent me to rescue you."
At the sound of their vice dean's name, the teachers stirred.
"The vice dean is still alive?"
"She has already returned to the encampment to seek help."
Lin Yuan asked:
"Can you still fight?"
The teacher shook her head.
"We were fed Soul-Dispersing Medicine. We can't gather Soul Power for now."
"And there are so many of them."
"You can't possibly rescue this many people alone."
Lin Yuan swept his gaze over the ice chamber.
Letting them out now would only alert the entire stronghold.
He handed the keys and the medicine bottles he had found to the female teacher.
"Check whether any of the bottles contain an antidote."
"No one leaves without my signal."
The female teacher still wanted to dissuade him, but Lin Yuan had already turned and walked out of the ice chamber.
The iron door closed again.
He returned to the junction and looked toward the central passage.
The Imperial Bow within him was vibrating continuously.
That presence did not belong to an ordinary abomination.
It belonged to a true creation of Abundance.
Lin Yuan tightened his grip on the Imperial Bow and stepped into the central passage.
Meanwhile.
At the Spirit Hall Branch on the outskirts of the Far North.
Shui Yunlan and Xue Qinglan hurried over with everyone from Skywater Academy.
The moment the two stepped into the branch's main hall, a burly middle-aged man strode out to meet them.
He was the master of the local Spirit Hall Branch, a Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
At the sight of their injuries, the branch master's expression changed.
"Vice Dean Shui, Teacher Xue?"
"Didn't you lead your teams into the Far North for training? How did you end up so badly injured?"
Shui Yunlan dispensed with pleasantries and spoke directly:
"We were ambushed by Evil Soul Masters."
"Several teams from Skywater Academy were attacked. Several teachers and students were abducted, and their captors have already moved deeper into the Far North."
The branch master's expression immediately grew grave.
"How many Evil Soul Masters are there, exactly, and how strong are they?"
Shui Yunlan shook her head.
"We can't determine that yet."
"There was a Soul Saint among those who attacked us, but we don't know whether they have anyone stronger deeper in the Far North."
Xue Qinglan then took out a dark-gold token.
"The young man who saved us gave me this."
"He told us to bring the token to the nearest Spirit Hall Branch."
Shui Yunlan added:
"He has already gone after them alone."
The branch master took the token.
Shaped like an arrowhead, the token was dark gold throughout.
A Six-Winged Angel emblem was engraved on its front.
On its back was a cyan-blue longbow, with a star adorning the center of its bowstring.
The instant he saw the token clearly, the branch master's pupils contracted sharply.
"This is..."
He held the token in both hands, repeatedly checking its markings as his expression swiftly shifted from surprise to solemnity.
The Imperial Bow Token!
The Great Enshrined had personally ordered its forging, and it was the only one in all of Spirit Hall.
Seeing this token was equivalent to receiving a written order from the Worship Hall.
Every Spirit Hall Branch had to act immediately on messages conveyed by its bearer, without delay.
The branch master abruptly raised his head.
"What was the name of the person who gave you this token?"
"Lin Yuan."
Xue Qinglan answered:
"Around fourteen or fifteen years old. His Martial Soul is a longbow."
Hearing that name, the branch master's expression changed again.
"Where has he gone now?"
Shui Yunlan looked north.
"He went after those Evil Soul Masters alone."
"All we know is that there are quite a few of them, and they very likely have another stronghold deep in the Far North."
The branch master turned at once.
"Pass down my orders!"
"Assemble every Soul Master of Soul Ancestor rank and above in the branch, and send an emergency message to the nearby branches and Spirit City at the same-"
Before he could finish, the Imperial Bow Token in his hand suddenly began to vibrate.
Humm-
The cyan-blue longbow on the back of the token lit up with a faint glow.
Almost simultaneously, a shrill whistle tore through the air from afar.
Everyone abruptly looked up.
A cyan-blue star trail tore through the wind and snow, hurtling through the air from outside the city, straight toward the Spirit Hall Branch!