Book 1: Skydream Iceworm

Chapter 2.1: Skydream Iceworm

Huo Yuhao was still young, after all. After only a brief moment of astonishment and nervousness, his mood changed into that of excitement. He’d finally arrived at his destination after so many days of travel. When he thought about obtaining a soul ring for himself, so that he could truly become a soul master, he felt his blood boil. Although he was only eleven, he’d already bitterly cultivated for over five years, just for the sake of today.

In his excited state, he unconsciously increased the speed of his steps. The speed of his advance towards the Great Star Dou Forest was also slightly fastened.

A slightly strange feeling suddenly appeared in his mind as he advanced forward. Huo Yuhao then felt a slight stabbing pain in his eyes, causing him to unconsciously move soulforce to his Spirit Eyes.

A weak stream of air spiralled around Huo Yuhao’s eyes, and he seemed to see a shadow flash across the left side of the road in front of him.

As an extremely rare spiritual-type mutated martial soul, his Spirit Eyes had a very strong ability to sense danger. The feeling of immediate crisis Huo Yuhao felt caused his senses to immediately sharpen. He rapidly lowered his body to the left, and used his right hand to quickly unsheathe the White Tiger Dagger from his waist.

A black figure flashed past the area he’d previously been at. The area where it had pounced was almost within Huo Yuhao’s reach, which immediately allowed him to clearly see what it was.

It was a baboon that was roughly one metre tall. Its body was covered in light brown fur, and its eyes were brown in colour. It had two arms that were oddly long, and sharp fingernails on its claws. Its canine teeth were exposed from its lips, and a savage light was present in its eyes. It immediately let out a low roar towards Huo Yuhao since it had failed to hit him. It then powerfully stamped its hind legs, once again pouncing towards Huo Yuhao.

Although his Spirit Eyes didn’t have an accommodating soul ring, its fundamental ability was still fairly good. After he’d poured his soulforce into his eyes, the pouncing baboon’s movements became much slower in his eyes. Huo Yuhao, who had previously dropped to the ground, rapidly rolled to the right. He then sprung up and tumbled a few steps backwards, whilst simultaneously raising the White Tiger Dagger before him.

The clear sounds of his nervous heartbeat echoed out, and his breathing had clearly become rushed. This was the first time in his life that he’d encountered a soul beast’s attacks. The palm he was using to hold the White Tiger Dagger had already been covered in sweat, and his expression had also turned somewhat blank, because he didn’t know how to react.

After the baboon missed two attacks in a row, it seemed to become enraged. Its upper body rose up, and it used its fists to vigorously beat on its chest, letting out a roar. At the same time, it suddenly opened its mouth towards Huo Yuhao. It immediately spat out a ball of white light, which went directly towards Huo Yuhao.

Even though Huo Yuhao had no experience, he was still able to see that his opponent was a soul beast now. There was still a certain distance between where he was and the Great Star Dou Forest, which was the reason why he hadn’t been prepared at all. With his current level of cultivation, it was very possible that he would suffer a calamitous fate if he were to be struck by that white ball of light.

At that moment, Huo Yuhao’s mind had already become blank. The ball of white light didn’t seem very fast when he looked at it through his Spirit Eyes, but in reality, it would arrive in the blink of an eye.

Whilst spitting out the white light, the baboon had also pounced towards Huo Yuhao at an extremely quick speed, a savage light in its eyes.

Huo Yuhao had already lost the ability to think due to his nervousness. When the white light reached him, he subconsciously followed his instincts and brought the White Tiger Dagger in his right hand up, striking the white light head-on.

A strange scene appeared at this moment. By the time the white light had collided with the White Tiger Dagger, the baboon had already arrived, and had extended its long arms in front of it, slashing towards Huo Yuhao’s shoulders with its sharp claws.

Since the battle had reached this point, Huo Yuhao’s fate seemed to already be sealed. Was he really going to perish under this soul beast’s claws?

The baboon clawed Huo Yuhao’s shoulders, and made use of its sturdy body and the momentum from its charge to flip around midair, in an attempt to fiercely throw Huo Yuhao downwards.

In the same moment that it reached Huo Yuhao and attempted to throw him down, a white light flashed past its body. Its body seemed to stiffen for a moment, and Huo Yuhao was flung outwards instead of being smashed into the ground. On the other hand, the baboon rolled on the ground for a little while, before ceasing any further movements.

“Peng—” Huo Yuhao’s body collided with a nearby tree trunk, then slid down. Everything in front of his eyes turned dark, and the violent spike of pain instantly caused him to lose his ability to breathe.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao’s appearance truly looked quite miserable. There were long wounds on his shoulders, and his jacket had nearly been torn apart.

However, he still managed to awaken from his empty-minded state amidst the violent pain. His gaze subconsciously shifted towards the baboon that lay unmoving on the ground.

A faint white light had appeared over the baboon. It slowly and gradually began to condense into a white halo above its body. The halo wasn’t clear, and the light was also only faintly discernible. However, this still made Huo Yuhao gape at it.

Soul ring? This is a soul ring? Huo Yuhao was so excited that his body trembled slightly, and the wounds on his body didn’t seem to hurt that much anymore.

He'd only learnt the most basic meditation technique within the Duke’s Mansion, yet he’d heard far, far too much about soul beasts and soul rings. Almost every single guard within the Duke’s Mansion would bring up the topic frequently, but this was the first time that he’d personally seen one.

Could it be that it’s already dead? Huo Yuhao thought blankly to himself. A soul ring would only appear when a soul beast had died! But, how had it died?

His Spirit Eyes’ ability appeared at this moment, causing his memories to surge through his mind like a tide.

The white light that the baboon had released had struck the White Tiger Dagger, however as soon as that happened, the White Tiger Dagger had suddenly emitted a light, unexpectedly absorbing all of the white light. This was also the factor that altered the most crucial moment of the battle.

According to the baboon’s instincts, a weak human like Huo Yuhao would definitely lose all of his combat power after being struck by its soul skill. Then, he would lose at least half his life from being fiercely smashed to the ground. However, it never thought that its soul skill would be subconsciously neutralised by Huo Yuhao’s White Tiger Dagger. When it flipped its body in order to throw Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao had instinctively swung his hands upwards, causing the White Tiger Dagger in his right hand to naturally slash upwards as well.

Originally, the White Tiger Dagger’s length hadn’t been long enough to reach the baboon that had already soared into the sky. However, the White Tiger Dagger suddenly released a foot-long blade of light in that instant, which swept across the baboon’s body. It seemed to have turned the white light it had previously absorbed into a sharp blade. Although Huo Yuhao was unable to clearly remember where the dagger had struck due to his blank mind, something had definitely happened. That blade of light must have definitely slashed the body of the baboon.

I actually won? Huo Yuhao gazed at the white soul ring, but the excitement in his heart gradually faded. Soul rings were necessary items for soul masters to advance in rank. However, not all soul rings were suitable for soul masters to absorb. Only a soul ring that had a high compatibility with the soul master’s martial soul could be absorbed, for the best results.