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About ten minutes later, just as the beast tide was gradually subsiding, a clear but intimidating cry suddenly came from the depths of the canyon.
The sound penetrated the icy fog and made people's eardrums tremble.
Xue Tianxing looked up quickly - he saw a blue-gold figure flapping its wings and flying out from the canyon. Its wingspan was nine meters long. Every feather seemed to be carved from blue-gold glass, with a faint ice-blue halo on the edges. When the wings flapped, tiny pieces of ice flames fell down, which was both cold and gorgeous.
"It's the Ice Flame Roc!"
Liu Tianfeng cried out in shock, his eyes wide with worry. "I didn't expect this thing to still exist in the Xingdou Great Forest... I thought it had long been extinct."
He carefully looked at the size of the Roc and said with a hint of regret in his tone:
"Looking at its wingspan, it's probably nine meters. I estimate it's over nine thousand years old, almost ten thousand... What a pity! If it were over eight thousand years old, it would be perfect for Tianxing's third spirit ring."
Flanders also smacked his lips, his face full of amazement:
"This one has the blood of the Phoenix! The ice attribute is mixed with light energy, it's very powerful! When I was young, I wanted to find one for my spirit ring. I wandered around the far north for a month without seeing any, and now I've encountered one here!"
Beneath the tree, the Ice Flame Peng bird had caught up with a slow-running Ten Thousand Year Old Ice Armored Bear. With a peck of its sharp beak, it pierced the Ice Armored Bear's head, then landed on the bear's corpse, slowly tearing at its flesh. Its blue-gold feathers shone coldly in the morning light.
Xue Tianxing didn't hear the word "what a pity" as his eyes were fixed on the big peng bird - the ice energy in its body was astonishingly pure and resonated faintly with the Ice Phoenix Martial Spirit, especially the arrogance that looked down on its kind, which was somewhat similar to the aura when he was possessed by the Ice Phoenix.
Xue Tianxing clenched his fists, his fingertips turned white from the force, and he had made up his mind: this is it.
No matter whether it is more than nine thousand years or eight thousand years, with the suppressive power of the Ice Phoenix Martial Spirit, it may not be impossible to absorb it.
Xue Tianxing looked at the blue-gold figure under the tree, the stubbornness in his eyes almost overflowing. He turned around and grabbed Liu Tianfeng's sleeve, and said to him in a voice with the earnestness unique to young people:
"Grandpa Liu, let me try! This Ice Flame Peng Bird is different—it has the blood of the Phoenix, and it resonates with my Ice Phoenix Martial Spirit. Moreover, its ice-attribute energy is very pure. I can feel it... My Martial Spirit recognizes it."
Liu Tianfeng's brows were twisted like a dough knot. He placed his big hand on the back of Xue Tianxing's hand, squeezing it so hard that it almost broke his bones. His tone was urgent and deep:
"You can't admit it! Tianxing, do you think I'm joking? Eight thousand years is the limit. I only dared to let you try because your Ice Phoenix Martial Spirit can suppress ice-attributed spirit beasts. It's been over nine thousand years, and you're just one step away from a ten thousand year spirit ring! The older the spirit ring, the more violent the spirit power riot. If you can't hold on, the spirit ring will backfire and your bones will be crushed by the spirit power!"
Liu Tianfeng became more and more anxious as he spoke, his eyes turning red:
"You are the root of the Xue family, Barak's hope, and your grandfather's child! If anything happens to you, how will I explain it to your father and your late grandfather?"
Flanders also chimed in, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose in anxiety, and he said to Xue Tianxing:
"Your Highness, Senior Leng Jian is right! How can a soul master rely on luck when absorbing soul rings? I've seen too many geniuses, just to gain a little bit of soul power, forcefully absorb soul rings that exceed their age limit, only to end up exploding or having their soul power completely wasted. With your talent, isn't taking it slow better than anything else?"
Xue Tianxing bit his lip and said nothing, but his eyes were fixed on the Ice Flame Peng Bird.
The bird of prey was slowly pecking at the remains of the ice bear. Its blue-gold feathers shone in the sunlight. Every time it flapped its wings, the ice energy in the air vibrated, as if greeting the Ice Phoenix spirit in his body.
Xue Tianxing knew in his heart that if he missed this one, he might not be able to encounter such a compatible soul beast again in the future - although the Far North is cold, it is likely that he will not be able to find another ice-attributed soul beast with phoenix blood even if he searches the entire continent.
Just as the stalemate was going on, the Ice Flame Peng Bird under the tree had finished eating its prey. It shook its wings and the feathers on its neck exploded, obviously ready to take off.
"Can't let it go!"
Xue Tianxing was anxious, and he quickly gathered a bit of soul power - he didn't dare to use all his strength, he just snapped his fingers, and a light blue soul power ray shot out, hitting the tail feathers of the Ice Flame Peng Bird.
With a "puff" sound, the soul power ray hit the feather, but not even a feather was knocked down. Instead, it was like a stone thrown into the lake, only causing a few ripples.
But this time, the Ice Flame Peng Bird was completely angered.
It whipped its head around, its amber eyes scanning the treetops. When it caught sight of the people hiding behind the branches, a deep growl erupted from its throat. Just a few humans, how dare you challenge it?!
In anger, it flapped its wings and several blue-gold ice flames shot over. The ice flames made a sharp whistling sound as they cut through the air. Wherever they passed, even the air was frozen into ice crystals, and they went straight to the giant tree where Xue Tianxing and his companions were hiding!
"not good!"
Liu Tianfeng's heart skipped a beat. Before he could figure out what Xue Tianxing was going to do, he saw Bing Yan rushing towards him. How could he have time to think about it?
He suddenly pushed Xue Tianxing behind him, raised his right hand, and the Frost Wind Sword instantly appeared in his hand - the sword body was emitting a biting coldness, and layers of ice patterns were condensed on the sword body. As he urged his soul power, a light blue sword energy "swish" slashed out.
"boom!"
The sword energy and the ice flame collided in mid-air, and the ice flame was split instantly, but most of the sword energy was also dissipated. The remaining aftermath caused the giant tree to shake violently, and the ice spikes on the branches fell down with a "clatter", hitting the ground and shattering into pieces.
Liu Tianfeng held the sword, his brows furrowed even tighter. He protected Xue Tianxing and retreated behind the tree trunk, lowering his voice and glaring at Xue Tianxing:
"You brat! What the hell do you want to do?!"
Xue Tianxing didn't look at him, but only at the Ice Flame Roc under the tree, which was completely enraged and circling, ready to attack again, with a gleam in his eyes:
"Grandpa Liu, now is not the time to talk about this—it's getting angry. We either kill it or it will hunt us down."
Just as he finished speaking, the Ice Flame Peng Bird attacked again - this time it did not shoot ice flames, but dived down directly, its huge wings slapping the treetops with a strong wind, and the blue-gold feathers on the tips of its wings slashed at the branches like sharp blades, and it seemed that it was about to break the whole tree in half!
Seeing this, Liu Tianfeng had no time to ask Xue Tianxing what he was thinking.
Just as Xue Tianxing expected, seeing that the Ice Flame Peng bird dared to swoop down to attack, Liu Tianfeng's eyes became fierce, and he rushed forward with the Frost Wind Sword in hand.
Although the Ice Flame Peng Bird had noble blood and could compete with ordinary ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts with its nine thousand years of age, it was still far behind when it met the eighty-nine-level Liu Tianfeng.