Frozen Forest

"Ice Heaven Frost Sword-Ice Heaven Concentrated Spirit."

A streak of sword Qi flashing with icy-blue light swept out from the Tianshuang Frost Qi in Yu Tianshuang's hand. Bone-chilling cold could faintly be seen swirling around the flying sword Qi.

"Whoosh!" The icy-blue sword Qi sped toward the Poison Miasma Giant Serpent with a sound of rushing air. The ground, flowers, and grass between Yu Tianshuang and the serpent froze at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In an instant, the icy-blue sword Qi struck the Poison Miasma Giant Serpent. The fan-shaped cloud of green poisonous mist spewing from its mouth froze along with its body, forming a serpent-shaped ice sculpture. A cluster of ice blossoms about three meters across then erupted behind it.

As the Poison Miasma Giant Serpent before him, five meters long and twenty centimeters in diameter, turned into an ice sculpture, a deep-yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from its corpse, marking the end of its life.

Yu Tianshuang withdrew the Frost Qi in his right hand and gazed at a small city on the distant horizon.

I'm almost out of Sunset Forest. I can already make out the outline of Heaven Dou Imperial City.

According to the map, after leaving Sunset Forest, I can travel north for another two days and pass through the outskirts of Heaven Dou Imperial City to reach the outer edge of Frozen Forest. Frozen Forest is full of ice-attribute Soul Beasts. Should I hunt an ice-attribute Soul Beast for its Soul Ring and break through to the next realm?

Although I've stayed near the outskirts while crossing Sunset Forest, I've hunted quite a few high-age Soul Beasts over the past few days. Judging by the deep-yellow color of the Gale Twin-Headed Wolf's Soul Ring the other day, it should have been close to becoming a thousand-year Soul Beast. Today's Poison Miasma Giant Serpent was about the same age. According to Grandpa, my eldest uncle's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul says the optimal age for a Soul Master's First Soul Ring is 463 years, and hunting a Soul Beast around 463 years old would be as easy as turning over my hand.

Then I'll spend another two days here. After all, once I get to Blue Tyrant Academy and finish enrolling and all the other odds and ends, I can't expect an academy teacher to help me hunt for a Soul Ring before I've even attended a single class, can I? Rather than waste that time, I might as well hunt for my First Soul Ring myself and then go study at the academy. Once I've finished the enrollment formalities and other trivial matters and studied for a while, my Soul Power should be close to breaking through to rank 20. Then I can ask an academy teacher to help me hunt for my Second Soul Ring.

Having made his decision, Yu Tianshuang put away the map and continued north.

Two days later, at the outskirts of Frozen Forest.

Looking at the forest before him, covered in pristine white snow, he saw that everything in sight seemed wrapped in a layer of silver. It was utterly unlike the life-filled green of Sunset Forest. The trees, flowers, grass, and ground here were all silver-white, as though he had arrived in a kingdom of ice and snow.

According to my eldest uncle's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, both Plant-type Martial Souls absorbing the Soul Rings of animal-type Soul Beasts and animal-type Martial Souls absorbing plant-type Soul Rings are possible. Although I don't know whether this theory has been put into practice, since my eldest uncle is still alive and well, his theory should at least be correct.

What Yu Tianshuang didn't know was that the major sects and clans, as well as Spirit Hall, had known this theory ages ago; they simply hadn't made it public. His eldest uncle had seen this information in Spirit Hall and immediately claimed it as his own, as though he had found a priceless treasure. With the help of Bibi Dong, who had been the saintess at the time, in promoting it, the theory had come to bear his eldest uncle's name.

After walking forward about five hundred meters, Yu Tianshuang suddenly stopped.

There's movement underground. Yu Tianshuang hurriedly used Ice Shadow Seven Star Steps to move aside.

"Thud!" With the sound of earth breaking, a huge scorpion patterned in emerald green and icy blue burst out of the ground where Yu Tianshuang had stood.

The scorpion was half a meter wide and one meter long. Its body was two colors: icy blue and emerald green. The front of its body had four overlapping layers, each a little over half a foot long, with its head on the foremost layer. Its mouthparts were icy blue, and hexagonal protrusions covered the four-layered front half of its body.

These protrusions densely covered its front half and its six long legs. Its two front claws were each half a meter long and likewise covered in icy-blue, diamond-like hexagonal protrusions. Only the pincers at the very front were a dangerous emerald green, like its mouthparts. Its eyes were yellow and hexagonal. Unlike the many-jointed tail of an ordinary scorpion, this Ice Jade Scorpion's long tail had only five segments, all the same shade of emerald green. The segment closest to its upper body was the widest, and they grew narrower toward the rear.

At the last segment was a hooked tail, also covered in diamond-like granules. The stinger at its tip was icy blue; the entire tip of the hook was icy blue and gleamed like a mirror. Its two huge pincers and the icy-blue armor covering its back showed how dangerous this Ice Jade Scorpion was. The stinger at the end of its long, hooked tail swayed back and forth, looking extremely dangerous.

Ice Jade Scorpion. This Ice Jade Scorpion is about 1,500 years old. Run. Whether I can beat it or not, there's no need to fight.

"Ice Shadow Seven Star Steps!" Icy mist swirled around Yu Tianshuang's feet. As he stepped through the seven-star pattern, his figure suddenly became elusive and illusory.

Using the surrounding trees, Yu Tianshuang gradually widened the distance between himself and the Ice Jade Scorpion with Ice Shadow Seven Star Steps.

The Ice Jade Scorpion that had attacked Yu Tianshuang clearly had no intention of letting the food at its mouth get away. Its two huge icy-blue pincers flashed, and an ice wall abruptly appeared in front of Yu Tianshuang. It was five meters long, wide, and high, and two meters thick.

With his escape route blocked, Yu Tianshuang immediately chose another path. The Ice Jade Scorpion's two pincers flashed again, and an ice wall appeared on either side of him, completely sealing off his escape.

Looking at the three ice walls, which clearly couldn't be broken with a single blow, Yu Tianshuang stopped using Ice Shadow Seven Star Steps.

A thousand-year Soul Beast is equivalent to a human three-ring Soul Elder. Normally, a Soul Scholar like me, who hasn't even obtained a single Soul Ring, couldn't possibly defeat it. But I possess the Cold Jade Ice Heart Pavilion's top-tier inheritance. Besides, an ordinary thousand-year Soul Beast has only one skill, and this Ice Jade Scorpion's skill is that ice wall. So, since you won't let me leave, I'll stay.