Douluo Continent.
The Far North, within the mixed zone.
"Roar—"
A low beast roar echoed through this world of only ice and snow, adding a faint trace of life to this barren land.
A huge figure came charging from afar, with howling winds wherever it passed, ice and snow parting to the sides like shattered waves.
This was a peculiar soul beast, with four legs and a body nearly six meters long! Its sharp claws seemed capable of tearing through space itself, its entire body covered in snow-white crystals, and a very long tail adorned with colorful gems, dazzling and eye-catching. The ferocious beast's head was now contorted in agony and terror, appearing even more bloody and twisted.
This was unmistakably a 12,000-year-old Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast!
A nearly extinct super soul beast with dual ice and water attributes! It is said that during the prosperous era of its race, there was even a Beast Emperor over 600,000 years old in the clan, who not only mastered the ultimate ice but once dominated the entire Far North for hundreds of thousands of years. Unfortunately, because its race was too powerful and domineering, it was besieged by all the clans in the Far North, nearly leading to its extinction.
The 12,000-year-old Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast before them was already a rare and powerful soul beast in the world. With its top-tier dual ice and water attributes and formidable physique, it could even escape from some 50,000-year-old powerful soul beasts. Yet now it was being hunted so miserably, which was truly astonishing.
With a sharp piercing sound through the air, the Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast seemed greatly startled, its pace quickening further, blood spilling freely like it cost nothing, staining the pure white snow.
Only as the distance closed could the source of the piercing sound finally be seen clearly.
It was actually a spear entirely ice-blue in color, as clear as crystal!
The spear emanated a smoky blue glow, its shaft covered in various strange patterns, retaining a breath of utmost purity and coldness.
The spear had a blade on only one side, but the blade was extremely long, occupying nearly a quarter of the entire spear. The blade emitted an ice-blue mist, as if it could freeze all sins in the world.
At a position slightly above the middle of the spear's handle, two ancient and powerful characters could be faintly seen, Cold Heaven!
The Cold Heaven Spear streaked through the air at high speed, and wherever it passed, it seemed as if even the air was suppressed by the extreme cold and incomparably sharp spear light, losing its original luster.
With a painful beast cry, the enormous Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast crashed to the ground, while the Cold Heaven Spear, its tip stained with traces of blood, firmly pinned it to the snowy ground, rendering it immobile.
From the wind and snow not far away, a youth slowly walked over, his gaze playfully fixed on the still desperately struggling Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast, a hint of dangerous killing intent in his eyes.
The youth stood tall and straight, with a face like fine jade, a pair of purple-blue pupils quite divine, mysterious like the deep sea yet filled with endless secrets.
He stood proudly in the wind and snow, wearing a white mink velvet robe, his long, purple-blue hair casually draped behind him, dancing in the wind without a hint of disarray.
Upon closer inspection, the youth's handsome and elegant features were like the masterpiece of a sculpting master, his noble and handsome temperament radiating from within, making one involuntarily feel admiration and affection toward him.
Shen Hanyu casually beckoned, and the Cold Heaven Spear uprooted itself, transforming into a stream of light that returned to his hand, as if fusing directly with him.
Looking at the Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast struggling bitterly on the ground, Shen Hanyu sneered, then thrust his spear directly into its brain, ending its life completely.
As vast energy slowly gathered, it finally condensed into a black soul ring above its corpse, emanating a terrifying aura.
Shen Hanyu sighed softly, then sprinkled stimulating powder around to repel soul beasts, sitting cross-legged on the spot to begin absorbing this black soul ring.
......
Five hours later.
Shen Hanyu's figure reappeared in the midst of the swirling wind and snow, the biting cold wind howling, snowflakes brushing across the face, actually causing a faint sting.
"It seems another blizzard is coming."
A low voice sounded, and Shen Hanyu continued walking without pause toward the city on the outskirts of the Far North, where he had a temporary residence.
"Heh, who would've thought that after transmigrating, I'd still have to risk my life cultivating every day. This is even more tiring than working as a mercenary during summer vacation..."
Shen Hanyu muttered complaints under his breath while taking out a piece of dried meat from his soul guide, eating it with some snow.
The mixed zone, as the most complex area in the middle of the Far North, was truly a mix of all sorts, ranging from ten-thousand-year soul beasts to ten-year soul beasts that might appear here, and with good luck, one could even find traces of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts deep in the mixed zone.
After eating and drinking his fill, Shen Hanyu casually wiped his mouth, took out a map made from soul beast hide to check, confirmed the approximate distance, and then put it away.
His figure then swiftly vanished, heading toward the human city a hundred miles away.
...
Tianbing City.
As the first line of defense against the soul beast tides from the Far North, and also the largest city within a thousand miles nearby, its ice-and-snow-covered walls were nearly thirty meters high, with an astonishing thickness—even running carriages on top wouldn't be difficult.
The city not only housed six thousand permanent troops from the Heaven Dou Empire but also a specialized soul master team, with the strongest reaching the Soul Sage level and the weakest at Soul Elder, making it quite powerful.
Shen Hanyu paid three copper soul coins to enter the city smoothly, then headed straight toward the eastern part of the city, entering a luxuriously decorated hotel. After casually chatting a few words with the front desk, he went directly to the top floor and entered his room.
The room's furnishings were understated yet luxurious, with complete facilities, living up to its terrifying price of dozens of gold soul coins per night.
Shen Hanyu heavily collapsed onto the soft white bed, letting his body be enveloped by the plush sensation to relieve the pressure and immense exhaustion from his recent outing.
The low temperatures in the Far North's mixed zone required even Soul Emperors to take precautions to remain safe, and adding the nearly half-month battle with that Mysterious Sea Crystal Beast, it was a tremendous test of willpower and mental strength.
In the end, he won, and the opponent became his fourth soul ring, a stepping stone on his path to the pinnacle—this was the result Shen Hanyu wanted.
Recalling eleven years ago, he was still living on a blue planet, an orphan who, short on money during university summer vacation, was tricked by his good buddy into becoming a mercenary abroad. Unexpectedly, he was a natural genius for this path, gaining some fame in the circle within two months.
But just as the vacation ended and he prepared to return home, a tomahawk missile suddenly turned the abandoned building where their group was camped into rubble, and he himself was likely blown to pieces.
When he opened his eyes again, he had directly transmigrated into a national anime he watched in his previous life, "Douluo Continent," and became the older brother of a supporting character from the Tianshui Team, Shen Liuyu. Not only did he have both parents, but his family was also quite renowned in a small local city.
Such a starting point didn't fit a protagonist's setup, but Shen Hanyu had no complaints about it. He just lived leisurely as usual, occasionally looking after his cute little sister, and the days passed happily.
Who knew that at age six, during martial soul awakening, he would awaken a peculiar long spear and possess innate full soul power, a top-tier talent.
This nearly made his parents in this life overjoyed enough to hold a grand banquet to celebrate, but fortunately, they remained rational and didn't tell anyone, not even the Spirit Hall, which was very sensitive to geniuses, noticing any abnormality.
Simply put, this genius in the current world was known only to four people.
Shen Hanyu counted as one, his parents as two, and the barely considered a little girl, Shen Liuyu, as one.
All in all, exactly four people, and since they were family, there was no worry about leaks, saving a lot of trouble.
Because he strongly resisted the so-called soul master academies, Shen Hanyu simply broke through to Great Soul Master at home, left a letter, rolled up tens of thousands of gold soul coins, and ran away. He just wrote a letter home every month, enjoying his freedom.
After all, having a transmigrator attend a so-called soul master academy with a bunch of kids would truly be wrong for Shen Hanyu, this handsome guy with the intelligence of a modern university student.
Of course, that was all in the past.
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ps: New novel. The truth is, I'm not sure if this novel has already been uploaded, because when I searched on Webnovel, I couldn't find it. Let's give it a shot. I hope