Time passes unnoticed in the mountains.
The time of cultivation was indescribably boring. Shen Hanyu inexplicably entered a strange state where his perception and spiritual power were infinitely amplified, extending outward. His consciousness was extremely clear and remained active for a long time without the slightest feeling of fatigue, yet his body had fallen into a deep sleep.
If someone were to look inside Shen Hanyu's body at this moment, they would be astonished to discover that his soul power was flowing through his limbs and bones peculiarly, finally slowly converging into his dantian.
As a result, the energy demand increased more than just a little. The energy scattered in the surrounding heaven and earth was constantly being absorbed by Shen Hanyu and the Cold Heaven Spear beside him.
The scattered energy in the world was completely insufficient to satisfy Shen Hanyu's enormous appetite. In just a few days, it could no longer meet his needs.
Tianmeng was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan but didn't dare to disturb Shen Hanyu easily. He could only continuously supply Shen Hanyu with pure and vast energy.
Every other day, he carefully examined Shen Hanyu's body but never found anything wrong. Only the opponent's soul power and spiritual power were continuously growing, even reaching a near-frenzied state.
This was undoubtedly a strange opportunity. After Tianmeng gradually realized this, he simply used his spiritual power to completely conceal the surroundings, preventing any external factors from disturbing Shen Hanyu.
The Cold Heaven Spear constantly emitted a faint glow, with subtle fluctuations drifting through the space. Cold energy flowed freely along the spear's body, and even the fiery red curve couldn't help but flicker with weak red light from time to time. A trace of scorching fire-attribute energy continuously collided with the ice attribute, eventually merging into one. The spear's body and blade were also constantly breaking and reshaping.
Tianmeng watched with a heart-pounding feeling. Once a human soul master's martial soul is shattered, the soul master would suffer immense backlash, and in severe cases, it could even endanger their life.
During this period, Shen Hanyu's martial soul had been shattered and reshaped more than ten times. There was even one instance where it directly broke into fragments before slowly reforming.
Yet, as the master, Shen Hanyu remained seated on the stone slab as if in meditation, emanating faint soul power fluctuations. His purple-blue long hair was covered with a thin layer of frost, and its color was constantly changing, gradually shifting toward a deep blue.
Tianmeng used his spiritual power to probe the two colliding and merging energies on the Cold Heaven Spear, and after a moment of shock, he concluded:
Shen Hanyu and his Cold Heaven Spear were currently in a special phase!
To put it simply, this was the second awakening of his martial soul!
In the soul master world, there were many precedents for second awakenings. For example, if someone awakened an Explosive Bear martial soul and absorbed a powerful earth-attribute soul ring or various earth-attribute herbs, it could trigger a benign mutation in the martial soul, adding earth attributes and turning it into an Earth Explosive Bear martial soul...
This would complete the evolution from an ordinary martial soul to a high-level beast martial soul or even a top-tier beast martial soul. Such cases were rare in the soul master world, but still had many recorded precedents.
Shen Hanyu was in such a situation now. His Cold Heaven Spear was ice-attribute, yet for some reason, there was a fire-attribute energy within his body that was no weaker than the ice-attribute energy. Although these two energies had achieved a delicate balance, they remained like a time bomb inside Shen Hanyu's body.
The ice-attribute martial soul couldn't bear this violent fire-attribute energy. Shen Hanyu's current situation was that he was constantly using his own energy to suppress or even fully control this energy, which was why his martial soul had been breaking and reshaping during this time.
In fact, Shen Hanyu had discovered this problem long ago and knew exactly when these two energies had entered his body and parasitized his divine body and martial soul.
A trace of energy from the two Dragon Kings of the Dragon Clan was enough to trip Shen Hanyu up!
But if Shen Hanyu could find the right solution, whether this was a stumble or an opportunity remained to be seen...
...
When Shen Hanyu woke up, his expression wasn't great. His soul power had reached the peak of level 59, just one step away from breaking through to become a Soul Emperor.
Holding the Cold Heaven Spear, the cold yet scorching sensation made his expression worsen.
"Tianmeng, how long has it been?"
Tianmeng was stunned for a moment before quickly replying:
"Hanyu, it's been over a month since you entered this state."
Shen Hanyu nodded and, after a long pause, said:
"There's a problem with my body. This fire-attribute energy comes from a divine being. It seems I accidentally absorbed it while refining the immortal herb, and it's from your soul beast's divine being…"
"I've fully refined and mastered the ice-attribute energy during this time, but this fire-attribute energy seems to have a unique connection with the ice-attribute energy. I can't control or subdue it. I need something to bear it…"
Tianmeng was silent for a moment before saying:
"Hanyu, I won't hide it from you. After I sacrifice myself, I can provide you with a blank martial soul of ice or spiritual attribute, but you know fire attributes clash with me, and I've never encountered this situation…"
Shen Hanyu retracted the Cold Heaven Spear and punched the rock wall beside him with terrifying force, instantly shattering it and leaving countless cracks.
After a while, Shen Hanyu let out a heavy sigh, rubbed his aching temples, and said:
"Fine. For now, I need to elevate my ice attribute to the level of ultimate ice. This time, the Cold Heaven Spear's ice attribute has taken another small step, but it's still stuck outside this barrier. I need to plan for my sixth soul ring soon. The soul ring I can absorb now is probably around seventy to ninety-five thousand years. A hundred-thousand-year ring might be troublesome, but with your help, I'm confident."
Tianmeng nodded and said:
"It's incredibly difficult for ordinary attributes to reach the ultimate level, but for a freak like you, Hanyu, it's not a big problem."
"As for your sixth soul ring, I know of a soul beast called the Fallen Sea Demon in the deep abyss of the sea on the outskirts of the Far North. They are a subordinate race of sea demons and possess the ultimate ice attribute. Their clan even has spiritual attributes not inferior to ice. Most importantly, these soul beasts don't live in groups. They are naturally fallen and arrogant, disdaining to associate with other soul beasts, unlike ordinary mermaids or sea demons…"
"I can use my spiritual power to control it, and you can take the chance to kill it and obtain the soul ring. In this world, except for that big-eyed beast that can go toe-to-toe with Di Tian, no soul beast can surpass me in spiritual power!"
Shen Hanyu nodded, patted Tianmeng's small head on his shoulder, and said:
"Thanks, Tianmeng. I won't let this small trouble stop me. Give me time, and I'll take you to pursue that elusive immortality and godhood."
Tianmeng nodded solemnly. In some ways, he and Shen Hanyu were already connected in heart and mind. He unconditionally believed in the partner he had chosen, even if that partner wanted to defy the heavens…