The Iceberg Topples
Eight Soul Rings hovered behind Mu Xuansheng.
The pressure of a Soul Douluo filled the entire ice passage.
Lin Yuan had less than forty percent of his Soul Power left, and wounds covered his body.
Yet Mu Xuansheng did not attack immediately.
His gaze fell on the Imperial Bow, greed filling his dark golden pupils.
"Capture him alive."
"I want to refine medicine with his blood."
The remaining Evil Soul Masters quickly spread out, cutting off Lin Yuan's retreat.
Mu Xuansheng raised his withered palm.
The phantom medicinal cauldron behind him trembled gently.
"Third Soul Skill, Hundred Medicines Meridian Seal."
Gray-green mist poured from the medicinal cauldron, spreading rapidly along the ice passage.
Wherever the mist passed, dense wood grain appeared across the ice.
Lin Yuan held his breath, turned, and charged toward a side passage.
"Trying to leave?"
Mu Xuansheng thrust out his palm.
Gray-green Soul Power formed a massive palm print that blasted toward Lin Yuan's back.
Hunting Sense caught the direction of the attack.
Lin Yuan stamped his foot and darted sideways along the ice wall.
Boom!
The palm print grazed his shoulder and shattered an ice pillar ahead.
The impact hurled Lin Yuan away.
He forcibly twisted in midair, releasing three iron arrows at once.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Before the three Evil Soul Masters guarding the junction could react, the arrows pierced their throat, heart, and brow respectively.
Lin Yuan did not pause after landing, immediately charging into another passage.
"After him!"
The remaining Evil Soul Masters followed close behind.
Mu Xuansheng walked unhurriedly at the rear.
This stronghold had been maintained for years, its internal passages crisscrossing in every direction, yet it had only one exit.
Lin Yuan had already been driven deep into the ice cave.
His Soul Power was still being steadily depleted.
In Mu Xuansheng's eyes, capturing him was only a matter of time.
Several Evil Soul Masters charged out ahead.
A black chain shot toward him along the ice, while two others swung their blades, attacking from either side.
Lin Yuan leaped up.
The black chain swept beneath his feet.
While still in midair, he had already drawn the Imperial Bow.
"Star Chaser."
A blue-green streak of arrow light passed through the gap between two ice pillars and pierced a Soul Ancestor's chest.
Without losing momentum, the arrow pinned another person behind him to the ice wall along with him.
Lin Yuan landed beside a slanted ice pillar.
His right hand brushed lightly across its surface.
A wisp of blue-green Soul Power silently sank into the ice.
"Over there!"
Three Evil Soul Masters charged up from behind.
Lin Yuan turned and fired an arrow.
The arrow struck the ice wall, changed direction, and pierced the leading man's temple from the side.
Just as the other two were about to scatter, Lin Yuan charged between them.
The Imperial Bow swept across.
Bam!
One man's throat bones shattered.
The other had barely raised his dagger when Lin Yuan seized his wrist.
Crack!
His wrist snapped.
Lin Yuan snatched the dagger away and drove it backhanded into his heart.
The two bodies fell together.
Mu Xuansheng's voice came from farther back in the passage.
"Fine archery."
"But how much longer can you last?"
Gray-green Soul Power rose from the ground.
Dozens of vines broke through the ice and reached to coil around Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan leaped up.
The vines followed close behind, sealing off every side.
His third Soul Ring lit up.
"Soul Lock."
A blue-green arrow struck the ice pillar ahead.
Chains of The Hunt burst from its tip, binding the incoming vines tightly.
Lin Yuan ran along the chains, broke out of the encirclement, and turned into another passage.
As he passed an ice pillar, he silently left another wisp of Soul Power behind.
One.
Two.
Three.
Lin Yuan kept retreating.
Whenever he passed a massive ice pillar supporting the cave, he hid a small amount of Soul Power inside it.
Mu Xuansheng merely assumed he was fleeing for his life.
The remaining Evil Soul Masters converged from the various passages to cut him off.
"Block the way ahead!"
"Don't let him near the exit!"
Two Soul Kings appeared ahead.
One had a long, scale-covered whip as his Martial Soul, while the other held a curved hook in each hand.
Lin Yuan did not slow down.
The long whip lashed through the air and wrapped around the Imperial Bow.
"Got it!"
Delight appeared on the whip-wielding Soul King's face as he forcefully yanked the Imperial Bow toward himself.
Lin Yuan charged forward with the pull.
He arrived before him in an instant.
Bam!
His knee slammed into the Soul King's chest.
Bones cracked.
The Soul King flew backward, his body bent double.
Lin Yuan gripped the Imperial Bow again and sent an arrow through the underside of his jaw.
The arrowhead pierced his skull.
The hook-wielding Soul King had already lunged at him from behind.
The two curved hooks slashed toward Lin Yuan's neck and abdomen respectively.
Lin Yuan turned sideways to evade the first hook.
But the second left a savage wound across his abdomen.
Blood quickly stained his robes red.
The hook-wielding Soul King closed in again with a vicious grin.
"You've got no strength left!"
Lin Yuan raised the Imperial Bow.
The bowstring hummed softly.
The hook-wielding Soul King's pupils contracted, and he immediately dodged sideways.
Yet Lin Yuan had not fired an arrow.
He stepped closer and kicked his opponent's knee.
The hook-wielding Soul King lost his balance.
An iron arrow stabbed into his eye socket.
Squelch!
The arrowhead pierced the back of his head.
Another Soul King fell.
Lin Yuan pulled out the iron arrow, his breathing growing heavier.
He had less than twenty percent of his Soul Power left.
He did not stop, continuing to retreat deeper into the ice cave.
Along the way, he silently left Soul Power marks inside one ice pillar after another.
Before long, Lin Yuan returned to the central ice chamber.
Dark green flames still burned in the pitch-black pill furnace.
At the center of the formation, the Ambrosial Arbor fragment radiated pale golden light.
The Abominations of Abundance bound in iron chains roared incessantly.
As soon as Lin Yuan stepped into the ice chamber, the surrounding stone doors slammed shut one after another.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The remaining Evil Soul Masters poured out from different directions, completely sealing off his retreat.
Mu Xuansheng walked slowly into the ice chamber.
Not a speck of dust stained his dark green robes.
Eight Soul Rings pulsed up and down.
"After running for so long."
"Finally out of roads?"
Lin Yuan leaned against an ice pillar and raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Mu Xuansheng stared at him, the greed in his eyes growing ever stronger.
"I am Mu Xuansheng."
"The Medicine King Holy Church's Northern Region Furnace Keeper."
"The power within you can suppress the Sacred Tree."
"It is precisely what the Holy Church has been searching for."
He raised his right hand.
The phantom medicinal cauldron behind him slowly rotated.
"Submit to the Holy Church."
"Reveal the source of this power."
"I can spare your life and make you a medicine slave."
"As long as you cooperate with refining medicine, you could even live longer than most Soul Masters."
Lin Yuan wiped the blood clean from the corner of his mouth.
"In your dreams."
The smile slowly disappeared from Mu Xuansheng's face.
"Then break his limbs."
"Take him back to headquarters for a leisurely interrogation."
The surrounding Evil Soul Masters advanced at once.
Yet Lin Yuan slowly relaxed his grip on the Imperial Bow.
Mu Xuansheng frowned slightly.
"Giving up?"
"Who said I was going to run?"
Lin Yuan raised his right hand.
He pressed his index and middle fingers together.
The entire ice cavern suddenly trembled slightly.
Mu Xuansheng's expression shifted.
Dots of cyan-blue light lit up one after another on the ice pillars Lin Yuan had touched along the way.
One.
Ten.
Dozens.
Densely packed Soul Power marks covered the entire stronghold.
They extended from the outer passages all the way to the central ice chamber.
Mu Xuansheng finally understood Lin Yuan's plan.
"Stop him!"
Lin Yuan brought his two fingers together.
"Explode."
Boom!
The first ice pillar exploded.
Immediately afterward, the second and third burst apart at the same time.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Cyan-blue Soul Power erupted throughout the ice cavern in succession.
The massive ice pillars supporting the iceberg shattered one after another with thunderous crashes.
Cracks spread upward from underground, instantly tearing through the entire glacier.
Huge sheets of ice fell from the cavern ceiling.
"Madman!"
"He's going to destroy this place!"
The Evil Soul Masters descended into utter chaos.
Some rushed toward the exit.
Some tried to protect the pill furnace.
Others were crushed into bloody pulp by falling blocks of ice before they could even flee.
Mu Xuansheng roared.
His Seventh Soul Ring suddenly lit up.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Medicine Cauldron Avatar!"
An enormous dark-green medicine cauldron enveloped his entire body.
Boom!
An ice sheet dozens of meters thick smashed into the medicine cauldron.
The dark-green light shook violently.
Mu Xuansheng's legs sank into the ground, and blood spurted from his mouth, but relying on his Soul Douluo cultivation and Martial Soul Avatar, he forcibly withstood the first wave of the collapse.
The other Evil Soul Masters had no such strength.
Screams rang out one after another.
Soul Ancestors, Soul Kings, and even the Abominations of Abundance chained around the formation were completely buried beneath the constantly falling ice.
Flesh and chains were crushed together.
The entire northern stronghold became a tomb in an instant.
Lin Yuan was likewise trapped inside the central ice chamber.
He had barely any Soul Power left and could not possibly withstand the iceberg's collapse.
The smiling mask floated to his side.
"You've really gone big this time."
"If you don't do something soon, you'll really be flattened into a meat patty."
Lin Yuan looked at the ice falling overhead.
"Lend me a little power."
The smile on the mask suddenly widened.
"Hahahaha!"
"You finally asked of your own accord."
"Then Aha will grant your wish!"
The white mask pressed against Lin Yuan's face.
Interwoven red and white light suddenly surged out, completely enveloping his body.
The next moment, huge sheets of ice crashed down.
Solid ice dozens of meters thick completely engulfed Lin Yuan.
Terrifying pressure squeezed in from every direction.
The red and white light shook continuously, yet it kept the force capable of crushing flesh and blood outside throughout.
Lin Yuan did not escape.
Instead, he fell underground along with the collapsing ice.
"Now this is interesting."
Laughter echoed in his ears.
Meanwhile, Mu Xuansheng's Medicine Cauldron Avatar was already covered in cracks.
More ice was falling.
Yet he did not look for an exit. Instead, he abruptly turned his head toward the Ambrosial Arbor fragment at the center of the formation.
The formation was breaking apart.
Streaks of pale-gold light surged out through its cracks.
"The Sacred Tree!"
Madness flashed in Mu Xuansheng's eyes.
Braving the falling ice, he leaped toward the Ambrosial Arbor.
The instant his palm touched the Ambrosial Arbor fragment, the surrounding formation patterns shattered completely.
Boom!
Without the formation's suppression, the power of Abundance accumulated within the Ambrosial Arbor suddenly erupted.
A pale-gold pillar of light burst through the ice chamber.
The dense presence of Abundance spread wildly along the glacier's cracks, instantly surging into the depths of the Far North.
The next moment, an even larger sheet of ice came crashing down.
Mu Xuansheng and the Ambrosial Arbor were engulfed together.
Rumble-
The entire iceberg collapsed completely.
An earth-shaking roar spread throughout the outskirts of the Far North.
The enormous glacier split down the middle, and thousands upon thousands of tons of ice and snow tumbled down.
The northern stronghold vanished completely.
Every last Evil Soul Master was buried beneath the ice.
Only two faint signs of life remained in the deepest part of the iceberg.
One was protected by a shattered dark-green medicine cauldron.
The other was enveloped in red and white light.
Dozens of li away.
Inside a cave abode sealed by ten-thousand-year-old ice.
Upon an ice-crystal throne, a white-haired woman slowly opened her eyes.
As she awakened, the snowflakes drifting through the abode instantly froze in place.
She raised her eyes and looked in the direction from which the power of Abundance had come.
A cool, clear voice rang out in the abode.
"What is this power?"
Outside Spirit City.
A figure sped over from the distance.
Her speed grew slower and slower, and the Martial Soul phantom behind her flickered violently.
Just as she reached the air above the city gates, her last trace of Soul Power was completely exhausted.
The woman fell from midair and slammed heavily into the ground before the gates.
The Soul Masters guarding the city paled and quickly gathered around her.
She was a six-ring agility-attack Soul Emperor.
Her Soul Power was exhausted and her breathing weak, yet she clutched a dark-gold token and a cyan-blue arrow in a death grip.
The token was shaped like an arrowhead.
A Six-Winged Angel was engraved on the front, while the back bore a blue longbow.
When the Soul Masters guarding the city saw the token clearly, their pupils suddenly contracted.
"The Imperial Bow Token!"
The woman raised her head with difficulty and held out the token and arrow.
"Abundance has appeared in the world..."
"Something has happened in the Far North..."
"Report this at once!"
Her words fell silent.
Her eyes closed, and she lost consciousness completely.