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Extreme North Land.
Located in the northern border of the Heavenly Soul Empire, known as a forbidden zone for humans, filled with various powerful ice-attribute soul beasts, and cold that ordinary people cannot withstand.
Yuwen Tuo's true destination this trip was precisely here!
His goal, like Huo Yuhao's, was also the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North.
As the saying goes, cultivation relies on striving!
Yuwen Tuo walked amidst the snowy plains. Protected by his Fire Martial Soul, the cold winds of this Extreme North Land weren't enough to harm him yet.
Before setting out from the academy, he had also borrowed a storage-type soul tool from his disciple Cao Jinxuan. The food and water currently inside the soul tool were enough for him to last over half a month.
Closing his eyes and sensing slightly, he felt the trace of aura he had previously left in Huo Yuhao's soul tool, thereby pinpointing Huo Yuhao's location.
He had arrived quickly, one step ahead of Huo Yuhao. At this moment, Huo Yuhao should have just entered the Extreme North Land not long ago, not yet having encountered the Ice Empress among the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North.
Yuwen Tuo also had no choice; the Ice Empress resided in the deepest part of the Extreme North Land. Only the Skydream Iceworm had the chance to lure her out.
He planned to intervene after the Skydream Iceworm persuaded the Ice Empress, intercepting the Ice Empress. But it wasn't just about simply obtaining a Soul Ring; he intended to use a technique from the Guigu Dao Arts to make the Ice Empress his backer.
Although Yuwen Tuo didn't dislike Huo Yuhao, becoming enemies with Huo Yuhao in the future was likely unavoidable. Because he would definitely fight Shrek in the future, and Huo Yuhao would definitely protect Shrek. At that time, a battle between the two would be inevitable.
Since they were destined to be enemies, he didn't mind becoming enemies ahead of time.
Although Huo Yuhao had two powerful souls within his body, they currently couldn't easily use their own power, at most utilizing Huo Yuhao's Soul Power.
But Huo Yuhao's Soul Power, no matter how exquisitely those two used it, the total amount was fixed, just that little bit. The Xuanyuan Sword had a very special ability; just that bit of Soul Power was completely useless against Yuwen Tuo.
According to Huo Yuhao's travel speed, reaching the depths of the Extreme North Land would require at least another two or three days.
Well then, he couldn't waste these few days either.
Randomly finding a cave, Yuwen Tuo consumed a Soul Ascension Pill.
The medicinal power of a Soul Ascension Pill could raise a Soul Master's Soul Power equivalent to advancing from Rank 30 to 31.
Currently, Yuwen Tuo was at the peak of Rank 30. The medicinal power of this pill wouldn't manifest immediately. Yuwen Tuo's goal was to use the power of a Soul Ring to rapidly refine the medicinal power and enhance his Soul Power.
Although the Extreme North Land was a paradise for ice-attribute soul beasts, it wasn't entirely devoid of Soul Rings suitable for fire-attribute power here.
For example, after searching for half a day, the creature Yuwen Tuo finally found appeared before his eyes.
"Heh heh, found it!" Yuwen Tuo smiled, looking at the giant bird ahead.
During the six years confined in the academy, he had nothing to do. To pass the time, he asked Ling Luochen to help him find soul beast illustrations. Shrek wasn't stingy with a little theoretical knowledge; he had basically read through all the soul beast illustrations in the academy. The current Yuwen Tuo could completely be considered a scholar in the field of soul beasts.
Based on the desired soul beast's habitat, appearance time, and different living habits at different age years, he precisely located the soul beast he wanted.
The soul beast before him was named Ice Fire Profound Phoenix (Bing Huo Xuan Feng). It was an ice and fire dual-attribute soul beast, possessing a trace of phoenix bloodline, considered quite decent among soul beast ranks.
It normally lived in two places: one was the Extreme North Land, the other was a volcano, respectively training its fire and ice dual attributes.
The ice and fire attributes within its body weren't perfectly balanced and often became imbalanced. If one wanted to hunt it when its fire attribute was strong, then one should search in the Extreme North Land. Conversely, one should search near a volcano.
This might sound backward at first listen, but actually, a Profound Phoenix appearing in the Extreme North Land indicated its fire currently overpowered its ice, thus needing the Extreme North Land's aid to regain ice-fire balance. Appearing near a volcano meant its ice overpowered its fire, needing the volcano's power to regain balance.
Meaning, the Ice Fire Profound Phoenix before him was precisely in the state where fire overpowered ice, perfectly suitable for Yuwen Tuo.
Moreover, its age year just right met Yuwen Tuo's satisfactory standard – over ten thousand years.
When its ice and fire were imbalanced, its strength would be greatly weakened, making the timing for hunting just right.
Although this was only the third ring for his fire-attribute power, it was actually Yuwen Tuo's fourth ring overall. Don't forget, the Xuanyuan Sword itself came with a Soul Ring.
At this moment, he had absolute confidence in absorbing this ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. If he waited until returning to Shrek, they would at most give him a thousand-year one.
If he could have come out earlier, his first ring would also have been a thousand-year one, not a mere eight hundred years.
"First Soul Skill, Flame Slaughter Blade! Second Soul Skill, Starfire Sky!"
A ten-thousand-year soul beast's strength wouldn't lose to a Soul King among Soul Masters, equivalent to two rings higher than Yuwen Tuo.
Against such an opponent, Yuwen Tuo wouldn't be careless in the slightest.
Spreading his flame wings, Yuwen Tuo directly slashed upwards with his blade.
Seeing this, the Ice Fire Profound Phoenix folded its wings, protecting itself. Yuwen Tuo's blade struck the wings, surprisingly leaving not even a trace.
"Heh heh, the rumors are indeed true. Other phoenixes possess formidable life force, but you alone excel in defense," Yuwen Tuo smiled. "Then today, I shall break your surface with a single point!"
This time, Yuwen Tuo didn't plan to use the Blazing Saber Technique. Not because he couldn't, but in this ice-and-snow environment, the Blazing Saber Technique lacked power.
Unless it was the highest realm, the Samsara Prison-Breaking Stance, which could cause small-scale weather changes even in the Extreme North environment, creating scorched earth. But Yuwen Tuo's current power level was insufficient to unleash that slash.
He could only rely on speed to fight evasively, using extremely exquisite saber techniques to continuously attack the same spot. By relying on continuous attacks, sooner or later, he could break through this Ice Fire Profound Phoenix's defense.
The Ice Fire Profound Phoenix's body was huge, its attacks wide and sweeping. Before it, Yuwen Tuo was practically ant-sized. But precisely because of this, Yuwen Tuo's mobility was much greater than its.
After all, it was just a ten-thousand-year soul beast with not much intelligence. No matter how wide its attacks swept, lacking technique, how could it possibly hit Yuwen Tuo, whose speed was increased by fifty percent?
Ding ding ding...
Yuwen Tuo dodged left and right, then counterattacked, continuously striking its right wing fifteen times. No matter how strong the defense, being continuously attacked in the same spot inevitably leads to injury.
The Ice Fire Profound Phoenix was enraged! Its left and right wings suddenly turned red and blue respectively.
The Ice Fire Profound Phoenix has three major abilities. The first is its indestructible defense.
The second is its signature skill, Dance of Ice Flames. The Profound Phoenix, through the dance of its wings, can create vortices formed from the fusion of cold air and flames. That special cold fire, when unleashed, penetrates everywhere. Those hit by it have their bodies frozen by cold air, unable to move, while internally burning like raging fire, their organs incinerated.
At this moment, the Ice Fire Profound Phoenix used precisely this move.
Yuwen Tuo smiled faintly. "Cold fire, huh? Been a while since I saw this kind of special flame. However, it's useless against me. Let me show you the true secret of the Ultimately Pure Fire."
"Flames, rise!"
With a wave of his right hand, a fiery tornado surged towards the sky, fiercely colliding with the Ice Fire Profound Phoenix's Dance of Ice Flames!
Ultimately Pure Fire – according to the understanding of people on the Douluo Continent, it was indeed a Martial Soul most afraid of contamination. But according to the understanding of people from the Xuanyuan Sword world, it was precisely the power least afraid of being affected.