Looking at the girl before him whose hands were already frozen by ice, Liu Bai couldn't help but feel helpless.
"Why didn't you put this spiritual beast essence into your Mustard Seed Bracelet?"
Although only the beast essence remained, a Heavenly Beast was still a Heavenly Beast. That terrifying icy cold still wasn't something an ordinary early-phase Divine Soul Realm cultivator could suppress.
But upon hearing Liu Bai's question, An Ran nearly burst into tears. She choked and said, "I did put it in, but it almost burst my Mustard Seed Bracelet, so I took it out again..."
As she spoke, she even deliberately showed the bronze-colored bracelet on her wrist, now covered in cracks, to Liu Bai.
Liu Bai was speechless.
It seemed that everything she owned was in that bracelet. Naturally, she couldn't afford to let it be destroyed, so her actions made sense.
He sighed, then raised his hand. A thick yellow-brown spiritual force immediately enveloped his right palm, and he directly took the spiritual beast essence from her hands.
"Defrost your hands first. If you leave them like that for too long, there'll be irreversible damage. I'll hold on to this thing for now."
An Ran had no objections to this.
The moment the essence entered his hand, Liu Bai sensed a terrifying cold spreading into his palm through his spiritual energy. Soon, the blood circulation in his entire right arm began to slow down.
Only now did he truly understand the horrifying chill of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk. Even his dense spiritual energy couldn't fully isolate the cold, so it was no wonder the Mustard Seed Bracelet couldn't withstand it.
However, Liu Bai was not An Ran. As the icy chill invaded, a white jade-like radiance suddenly surged from within his flesh and bones. That cool sensation instantly expelled the bone-piercing cold from his body.
A stream of blue mist was released from the pores of Liu Bai's right arm, and in an instant, he felt a gentle warmth flowing through his body.
Seeing this, a smile emerged on Liu Bai's face. He then sat down cross-legged, quietly waiting for An Ran to restore her frozen hands.
Just like that, the night passed without incident. As the morning sun rose once more, a golden ray of sunlight entered the cave where the two were resting.
Liu Bai slowly opened his eyes, just in time to see the girl before him also opening hers.
Who knows what crossed her mind, but her face instantly turned red, and she quickly looked away, trying to hide her flustered expression.
"Thank you," she said softly after a while.
Liu Bai didn't seem to mind. "It's nothing. If you're ready, go ahead and merge with this spiritual beast essence. After that, we'll go and see for ourselves the true form of that underground Heavenly Beast you mentioned."
At the mention of this, An Ran's expression turned serious. "Don't worry. I won't go back on my word."
She looked at the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk essence Liu Bai handed her, then suddenly said, "This beast was slain by you. The spiritual energy inside should be yours to absorb."
She was referring to the imprint. The spiritual energy within a Heavenly Beast essence was enough to raise Liu Bai's imprint level directly to grade seven.
Liu Bai didn't refuse. If he remembered correctly, imprint levels could be used as currency in the Northern Heavens Realm, so even though there was still time left in the trial, he wouldn't mind boosting his imprint level.
With a thought, a wisp of icy blue spiritual energy flowed out from the spiritual beast essence and was absorbed by the golden imprint on Liu Bai's forehead.
The next moment, a purple light burst from the imprint, transforming the gold into a shade of purple-gold, the symbol of a grade-seven imprint.
Seeing this, An Ran's eyes revealed a trace of envy, but she quickly adjusted her state of mind.
To be honest, without Liu Bai's help, there was no way she could have seized the essence of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk from Zhou Fan. So she was already more than satisfied.
Fusing with the spiritual beast essence wasn't particularly dangerous, but due to the hawk's power, An Ran took all necessary precautions. It still took her a full three days to complete the fusion.
During these three days, Liu Bai also examined the changes in his own cultivation.
At this moment, within his Qi Sea, the enormous spiritual wheel was slowly rotating, and seated atop that wheel was a small glowing figure in a meditative posture.
That was Liu Bai's Divine Soul.
Though the Divine Soul still appeared a bit blurry, through the spiritual glow, one could already make out its face, identical to Liu Bai's.
Merging his consciousness into the little Divine Soul, Liu Bai opened his eyes and found himself observing the entirety of his Qi Sea. This sensation was different from previous inner vision; it was a tangible "seeing" of his internal world.
Looking around, Liu Bai controlled his Divine Soul to fly up. Following the two distinct streams of spiritual power in the void, the scene changed in the blink of an eye, and he found himself in a brand-new space.
There, he saw a majestic yellow-brown mountain towering before him. Standing at its base, he felt as small as an ant.
"So this is the mountain formed by the Mountain God Art. Witnessing it firsthand is indeed awe-inspiring."
Unfortunately, his current cultivation art, the Blazing Sun Art, was only a low-level spirit-grade art, so it lacked the power to form a manifestation like this.
He shifted his perspective again and entered his Heart Aperture. Within it, he saw only a crimson spiritual wheel and couldn't help but feel a bit of regret.
"If I want a high-grade cultivation art, I'll have to find a way in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy…"
Time passed quickly. When An Ran finally exited her seclusion, Liu Bai noticed that the girl, already ice-cold before, now resembled an actual block of ice. A faint mist of blue frost surrounded her.
"She broke through to the mid-phase Divine Soul Realm? As expected of a Heavenly Beast essence." Liu Bai nodded in satisfaction.
After all, a spiritual beast essence carried a tremendous amount of spiritual energy. During fusion, the cultivator would naturally absorb it. In fact, if someone could fully absorb all the spiritual energy from a Heavenly Beast essence, breaking through to the late-phase Divine Soul Realm wasn't impossible. That An Ran only reached the mid-phase was actually on the conservative side.
"Let's head out," An Ran said, her voice now even colder.
It wasn't her true intent. The change in her temperament was merely a side effect of the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk's essence. Once she completely mastered the essence, she'd be able to control this cold aura at will.
While Liu Bai and An Ran were setting out toward that mysterious underground lair, a shocking piece of news spread throughout the Northern Heaven Realm.
Zhou Fan, King of the Zhou Clan, had led the entire Zhou Faction to besiege a Heavenly Beast. Just as they were about to succeed, they were ambushed by a mysterious spiritual array master, who not only stole the essence but also managed to escape. In the end, the attacker even detonated a Array, causing heavy losses to the Zhou Faction.
As the news broke, the entire Northern Heaven Realm was in an uproar.
Some couldn't believe it, some dismissed it with scorn, and some didn't care. But many others simply watched from the shadows, waiting to see how things played out.
After all, Zhou Fan wasn't just anyone. As the King of the Spiritual Road, he was truly one of the most outstanding geniuses among this year's examinees. Many people were happy to see such a genius take a fall.
Meanwhile, deep in the northwestern region of the Northern Heaven Realm.
This was a barren dark-brown mountain range. At this moment, deep within the mountains, hundreds of figures stood on various peaks, their eyes all fixed on the center of the range.
There, a massive gray bear was letting out a thunderous roar, releasing a wave of overwhelming spiritual pressure.
Judging from that spiritual pressure, the bear was actually a Heavenly Beast with power comparable to an early-phase Heaven Fusion Realm expert.
But unlike Zhou Fan's group siege on the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk, this Heavenly Beast had only a single opponent before it.
"That Rock Wilderness Rampaging Bear is about to fall. Did Boss really take down a Heavenly Beast all on his own?" a burly youth exclaimed in disbelief.
"Hmph, what's the big deal? You have to remember, Boss is the Spiritual Crown Holder of the Spiritual Road. His strength far exceeds those so-called kings. Slaying a Heavenly Beast is nothing to him..." someone nearby said proudly.
At that moment, the lone figure facing the bear suddenly erupted with terrifying spiritual energy. He slowly raised his right hand, and that originally fair and slender hand began to turn transparent.
Buzz.
Spiritual energy surged madly from all directions, pouring into the hand. Soon, glowing threads like jade marrow began to appear within the transparent hand, eventually filling the entire palm.
The hand now looked like a piece of flawless translucent jade, with luminous veins flowing within—stunningly beautiful.
"Spirit Jade Marrow Hand!"
The figure glanced at the giant bear with indifference, then gently pushed his now fully transparent and elegant hand forward.
Boom!
As his palm moved, a torrent of vast spiritual power burst forth like a flood. The earth before him was instantly torn apart, leaving behind a massive gash.
Whoosh!
A transparent palm imprint, nearly ten zhang in size, whistled through the air. Inside the imprint, jade marrow-like veins shimmered, radiating an air of deep mystery.
Wherever the imprint passed, everything in its path was reduced to dust. Even the air exploded under its compressed force, emitting sharp sonic booms.
The hundreds of people present could only watch as a massive chasm was ripped open in the earth, the end of which was exactly where the Rock Wilderness Rampaging Bear stood.
"Roar!"
The heavily wounded bear instinctively sensed the danger of the incoming imprint. It let out a furious roar and stood up on its hind legs. Massive amounts of earthen-yellow spiritual energy gathered into its paws, and it slammed them down onto the ground with force.
"Roar!"
Already covered in wounds, the Rock Wilderness Rampaging Bear naturally sensed the threat of the transparent palm imprint. It immediately let out a sky-shaking roar, reared up on its hind legs, and then boundless earthen-yellow spiritual energy surged into its two massive paws before it slammed them violently against the ground.
Rumble!
It was as if a dragon beneath the earth had rolled over. All those watching felt as if the mountain beneath their feet had turned into ocean waves, violently heaving and shaking. A huge crack spread rapidly from beneath the bear's feet and then, behind the figure in the air, a dozens-of-zhang-long stone spear suddenly burst forth from the ground.
Whoosh!
The stone spear pierced through the air, and even the space itself seemed to ripple like the surface of a lake brushed by the wind.
With such terrifying destructive power, if struck head-on, not to mention someone at the Divine Soul Realm, even a Heaven Fusion Realm expert would likely not survive.
But the figure's movement technique was truly terrifying. At the last moment, he narrowly dodged the lethal blow.
With the final strike missing, the Rock Wilderness Rampaging Bear also lost its last chance at survival.
Boom!
The transparent palm imprint crashed into the massive body of the Rock Wilderness Rampaging Bear, and at that moment, mountain ranges stretching for thousands of zhang trembled as if an earthquake had erupted.
The scene was eerily similar to what had just occurred earlier. Only this time, the one responsible was the small figure in the sky.
Everyone around could clearly see terrifying cracks spreading rapidly like spiderwebs from where the bear had stood.
Those present struggled to steady themselves, and every pair of eyes was locked on the giant form within the cloud of dust.
Rumble!
Within the swirling dust, the vague outline of an enormous dark shadow suddenly collapsed to the ground. Though the sound of it hitting the earth was much quieter than the cracking of the land, all the onlookers erupted in celebration.
"He did it! Boss really did it!"
Even though they had been full of confidence before, now that they truly witnessed it with their own eyes, they couldn't help but cheer loudly in joy.
To slay a Heavenly Beast with power comparable to an early-phase Heaven Fusion Realm as someone only in the Divine Soul Realm—such a heaven-defying feat. Besides their boss, who else in the entire Northern Heaven Realm could possibly accomplish it?
At that moment, the figure in the sky descended. It was a handsome youth clad in dark robes.
Although his face was slightly pale, his eyes still gleamed like starlight.
Unlike the excited crowd around him, this youth, who had personally slain a Heavenly Beast, wore an utterly calm expression, as if none of it had happened.
"Boss Li, you're amazing! As expected of the Spirit Crown Holder. That He Yao, Su Xuan, even that Shen Cangsheng—they're not even worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as you!" the burly youth ran over, speaking with undisguised excitement.
If Liu Bai had heard these words, he would surely have been stunned.
Because the names mentioned by the burly youth were all top experts from the Heaven Rankings of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy in the original work, and each of them was incredibly powerful.
And the only one who had once stood above all of them to claim the Spiritual Crown was none other than the second-ranked genius on the Heaven Rankings in the original, Li Xuantong.
That's right. Whether on the Spiritual Road or in the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, Li Xuantong had always been the top talent of his generation. It wasn't until one year before Mu Chen and his group entered the academy that Shen Cangsheng, who had remained dormant for two years, finally took action. With a single spear strike, he defeated Li Xuantong, taking the number one position for himself.
From that point on, Shen Cangsheng's momentum became unstoppable. He slew the Blood Dragon Demon Yu Yuan, hunted down the Sect Master of the Nine Yin Sect—one shocking feat after another unfolded before the crowd, fully establishing his reputation as the top cultivator of the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy.
In truth, it wasn't that Shen Cangsheng lacked talent compared to Li Xuantong in the beginning. It was just that his personality was cold and detached, not fond of speaking or socializing. He always preferred to act alone. After entering the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, he paid no attention to things like rankings and focused solely on cultivation. This was why many had initially overlooked him as being "unknown."
.....
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