Chapter 40.2: Skydream, Ice Emperor
The pure white halo of light surrounding Huo Yuhao slowly began to change color, as his originally white soul ring gradually changed from white to pale gold, then from pale gold to bright gold. The golden luster coming from it was definitely much brighter any soul rings Huo Yuhao had seen in the past.
There were white ten year soul rings, yellow hundred year soul rings, purple thousand year soul rings, black ten thousand year soul rings, and red hundred thousand year soul rings. And yet, all of them would only be able to submit in front of the boundlessly imposing golden luster of this golden soul ring.
This… this was the true color of the Douluo Continent’s unrivalled, and only, million year soul ring! It was also the first time that the Skydream Iceworm had released the true color of its soul ring into the world.
The astonishing golden luster immediately caused a strange feeling to rise in Huo Yuhao’s heart.
One day, I will no longer let the Heavens cover my eyes—where I will no longer let the Earth bury my heart. I want everything in the world to submit to me, just like that man who could grasp the sun and moon in each hand, and could pluck the stars from the sky.
At that moment, not only did the Skydream Iceworm show how powerful he was, he’d even buried a seed of faith inside of Huo Yuhao’s heart; the faith that he could become the sovereign of the entire world. This was the first time that Huo Yuhao had a dream even loftier than his wish for revenge.
As if he could sense the change in Huo Yuhao’s mental state, the Skydream Iceworm seemed gratified. Right! Since he’d been able to become the main body for a million year soul beast, there’d be a day where he would become the true master of the Skydream Iceworm. If he didn’t have any lofty ambitions, wouldn’t he that be akin to covering a precious pearl with a layer of dust?
Golden balls of light began to emerge from Huo Yuhao’s forehead. As each golden ball left his body, Huo Yuhao began to feel more and more hollow. By the time the ninth ball of light had left his body, he’d even begun to feel somewhat tottery.
In the beginning, the Skydream Iceworm had entered his body with a total of ten balls of light. This was the Skydream Iceworm’s spiritual origin, as well as the nucleus of its strength. Now that nine balls of light had left his body, only one ball of light—the one that Huo Yuhao had already absorbed—remained within his body. That was the only connection left between Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Iceworm.
The nine golden balls of light slowly descended from the air. Once the first ball of light had landed on the snowy ground, the second ball landed on top of it. The other seven balls followed suit as they stacked on top of each other. Afterwards, the total volume of the nine balls of light gradually began to decrease, while the golden light that they were emitting became increasingly tangible. At that moment, Huo Yuhao was clearly able to sense how strong the Skydream Iceworm was. It had such a terrifying amount of spiritual power that it could even cause a meteorological phenomenon.
Once the nine golden balls of light had finished stacking atop one another, they gradually began to form a shape. Unexpectedly, they solidified into the shape of a golden man made of light. More astonishingly, its appearance was completely identical to Huo Yuhao. Even the golden clothes it wore were identical to Shrek Academy’s uniform. Huo Yuhao didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh when he saw this.
Once the Skydream Iceworm’s spiritual body had taken shape, he sent a thought outwards with his spiritual force, “Ice Emperor, I know that you’ve already sensed that I’m here. I, Skydream, have come to take my revenge. Do you dare to come out and meet me?”
As soon as the Skydream Iceworm had begun speaking, an unfathomably strong wave of spiritual power had instantly covered Huo Yuhao’s body, thus shielding his presence within the ice house.
However, the Skydream Iceworm and Huo Yuhao were still a single entity. Because of that, Huo Yuhao could still tell what was going on outside via the Skydream Iceworm’s spiritual power after he came in contact with it. When the Skydream Iceworm enlarged the range of his spiritual power, he was still able to sense every single detail within a thousand meters. However, the more magical thing was that, this time around, his perception had entirely replaced his eyes. He could truly see everything outside through his perception, not just shapes.
After finishing his sentence, the Skydream Iceworm quieted down. However, the golden luster his body emitted continued to shine brightly. The bright golden light he was emitting was extraordinarily clear within the pure-white world. Black clouds began to appear in the air as the sky grew darker and darker, which caused the atmosphere to become increasingly grave. However, the golden luster emitted from the Skydream Iceworm’s body remained as brilliant as ever beneath the dusky sky.
The Skydream Iceworm didn’t seem to be worried at all as he quietly stood there. The violent winds continued to thrash about around him, but he stood there mightily, unmoving.
Huo Yuhao was able to sense all of this. However, in an area outside of the range of his perception, an innumerable amount of soul beasts had scattered in all directions, terrified.
There was a chance that the Skydream Iceworm wouldn’t even be able to defeat a ten thousand year soul beast in direct combat. However, there wasn’t a single soul beast on the entire Douluo Continent that could contend with him in terms of pure spiritual power.
The Skydream Iceworm’s biggest problem lay in its bloodline. Even though he’d cultivated for a million years, in the end he was still a low-ranked Iceworm. With a background like this, even though he’d been able to become stronger due to the constant evolutions he’d undergone, and had obtained an enormous amount of energy due to the Ten Thousand Year Ice Pith’s unceasing nourishment, he had become akin to a mountain full of treasure; he had treasures, but he didn’t know how to use them. If you were to describe it in soul master terms, he was an expert who possessed a terrifying amount of soul power, yet didn’t have any soul rings or soul skills.
When there was a large gap in cultivation between him and his opponents, he could still rely on the absolute strength of his spiritual power to defeat them. However, when he met an opponent that possessed at least a certain level of strength, he would be completely out of luck. Regardless of how strong his spiritual power was, if he didn’t have a way to concentrate it into a terrifying spiritual skill, his killing power would always be limited. After becoming Huo Yuhao’s million year soul ring, he’d become extremely envious of the four soul skills that Huo Yuhao had received. Only, the Skydream Iceworm was someone who’d always cared about face; he ‘d never admit how envious he was.
If, when the Skydream Iceworm had had a tyrannical million year cultivation level, he’d only had a single soul skill, almost every single soul beast on the Douluo Continent wouldn’t have been able to pose a threat to it.
At this very moment, he’d released all of his spiritual power. It extended out and covered basically everywhere that he wanted it to. A third of the Extreme North’s core regions, at the very least, had been encapsulated within his Spiritual Detection.
Although the Skydream Iceworm appeared extremely carefree on the surface, his current actions were definitely not simple at all, as he hadn’t used his own aura to release his spiritual power. At the very least, soul beasts that were unfamiliar with him definitely wouldn’t think that this was something done by someone who possessed no attacking skills at all.
The Skydream Iceworm had used his terrifying spiritual power to imitate the aura of a certain soul beat that lived within the Extreme North. Faced with this aura, the other soul beasts didn’t dare to have any thoughts of resisting at all. This was the aura of the leader of the Extreme North’s Three Emperors. This was the aura of the soul beast who possessed a cultivation of five hundred thousand years along with its noble bloodline.
Furthermore, he’d purposely evaded the territory of the leader of the Extreme North’s Three Emperors. Due to his meticulous control over his Spiritual Detection, he wasn’t scared of being discovered by the person he was imitating. As such, the soul beasts in the area that he’d wanted to intimidate had immediately scuttled away after being frightened. They simply decided not to bother him and Huo Yuhao anymore.
On the other hand, the second-ranked Ice Emperor who he was looking for was also encapsulated within the range of his spiritual power. Having known him for a long time, the Ice Emperor naturally wouldn’t mistake his aura for someone else’s. Besides, he’d also said such unbridled words.
With the Skydream Iceworm’s understanding of the second-ranked Ice Emperor, he believed that it would definitely come. This was because he himself was an extremely beneficial supplement that would tempt all soul beasts. Furthermore, this Ice Emperor was a soul beast whose cultivation exceeded the three hundred thousand year rank, yet couldn’t break through the four hundred thousand year barrier.
The Ice Emperor understood himself well, and understood the Ice Emperor just as well. At that time, the Ice Emperor had nearly died not long after its cultivation had broken through to the three hundred thousand year rank. Currently, it probably wasn’t too far away from reaching the four hundred thousand year rank. Previously, when breaking through to the three hundred thousand year rank, the Ice Emperor had said that it had reached its limit. Moreover, it had injured its origin energy, thus making it impossible for it to reach the four hundred thousand year rank. The only way that it could break free of its fetters was for it to absorb the Skydream Iceworm’s enormous yet pure energy. If it were to do this, it would even overtake the first ranked Emperor in one fell swoop.
The Skydream Iceworm’s only stroke of luck was that the first ranked Ice Emperor wasn’t aware of his existence. Otherwise, he believed that it would have definitely caught him—even when he was still in the Great Star Dou Forest.
Having been lured by something related to its survival, the Ice Emperor had no other choice. It definitely wanted to come, and it definitely would come. When the Skydream Iceworm was clearly able to sense its aura, a crafty smile appeared on his face.
Time continued to pass second by second, but the Skydream Iceworm didn’t seem to be panicked at all. Even though it was hard for the hiding Huo Yuhao to endure his stiffening body, he didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly, just in case. He wasn’t sure when the so-called Ice Emperor would appear, but this was undoubtedly a life-and-death trial for both him and the Skydream Iceworm. He still wasn’t sure what the Skydream Iceworm was relying on in order to kill a super-expert like the Ice Emperor, who even Titled Douluos were terrified of.
As Huo Yuhao continued to wait in his shelter, he felt his heartbeat slowly speeding up. At the same time, he felt both anxious and afraid, as his body began to stir with excitement. Just as this began to occur however, he suddenly felt the outside world change.
The originally pitch-black sky suddenly shook violently, and immediately afterwards, a jade green light instantly appeared in the distant northern horizon.
In the blink of an eye, the dusky sky had turned a penetrating yet alluring jade green. This touching shade of color made it seem like the aloof sky had suddenly turned into an enormous jade green gem. In an instant, the originally oppressive aura within the sky had vanished into thin air.
When the jade green light entered the Skydream Iceworm’s thousand meter range, Huo Yuhao finally become able to sense it. He couldn’t help but inhale a deep breath of icy air. It’s coming, it’s really coming.
“Skydream, you’re actually still alive. It’s no wonder that you’re the longest-living soul beast from our Extreme North.” A crisp voice rang out in all directions. The appearance of this voice was followed by a terrifying sound wave. The snow on the ground instantly rose by three meters as the sound wave struck it, akin to a wave suddenly passing through an ocean. Only the hundred meters around the Skydream Iceworm’s body remained calm, as it had been protected by the enormous spiritual power coming from his body.
“Ice Emperor, you haven’t died yet, so why can’t I be still alive? Don’t you remember what I said that year? ‘If I don’t die, there’ll be a day when I’ll become your partner.’” The Skydream Iceworm’s voice suddenly turned gentle. This somewhat overly-sentimental voice even gave Huo Yuhao a few goosebumps.