The cold wind, carrying goose feather-sized snow, violently whipped against Wang Lin's face.
No expression could be seen on his face, but his pair of gray eyes held a trace of helplessness.
A full five days had passed, and the old Black Dragon still hadn't given up on searching for Huo Yuhao.
He had dragged Wang Lin along to wander in this extreme northern ice plain for five days.
During this time, he had caught Huo Yuhao's trail a few times, but Huo Yuhao had always managed to escape.
Now, Wang Lin held Skydream's exoskeleton shedding in his hand and really wanted to tell Long Xiaoyao that Huo Yuhao had already left the extreme northern ice plain.
But Wang Lin couldn't say it, because this news was told to him by Electrolux in his mind.
In Electrolux's senses, the fragment of his divine consciousness in Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Sea had left the Far North this morning.
It was heading south, clearly returning to Shrek Academy.
Compared to the original work, Huo Yuhao was quite a bit more miserable.
The 400,000-year soul ring belonging to the Ice Empress failed to be absorbed several times due to the interference of the old Black Dragon, eventually dissipating between heaven and earth.
Clearly, Fate protected him from Long Xiaoyao's dark hand, yet it made him lose a 400,000-year soul ring.
However, Wang Lin felt fortunate that he was never discovered by Huo Yuhao from beginning to end, and Long Xiaoyao took all the enmity.
Otherwise, given Huo Yuhao's personality, he would inevitably harbor resentment towards Wang Lin.
Although Wang Lin could indeed be blamed for this, after all, if he hadn't wanted to come to the Far North for a soul hunt, Long Xiaoyao would likely not have appeared here, and Huo Yuhao wouldn't have been targeted by Long Xiaoyao.
But in the end, it could only be counted as Huo Yuhao's bad luck. After all, he, the little butterfly, already existed.
The wind raised by the butterfly's wings would inevitably affect this world. Even without him, Huo Yuhao might have been targeted by others.
No one could say for sure. Wang Lin didn't care; he just felt a bit regretful about that 400,000-year soul ring.
However, over these five days, Wang Lin had been studying the Skydream Ice Silkworm's exoskeleton shedding that he had managed to snatch. He also discovered the shedding's special nature.
"Little Linzi, you said that inputting soul power into it could allow it to fuse with you?"
Long Xiaoyao looked at Wang Lin, who was holding Skydream's shedding, doubtfully.
"Yes." Wang Lin nodded. Soul power surged within his body, releasing from his palm, and slowly flowed into the shedding.
Shoo!
A faint white light lit up. The part of the shedding touching Wang Lin's palm actually began to slowly fuse; accurately speaking, the shedding was integrating into Wang Lin.
Long Xiaoyao's eyes widened immediately: "You, brat, you struck gold! This is an external soul bone independent of the human skeleton!"
"External Soul Bone!?" A truly surprised look appeared on Wang Lin's face at this moment.
He knew about external soul bones. Tang San's Eight Spider Lances and Huo Yuhao's Dark Golden Dreadclaw Right Palm Bone were all considered external soul bones.
However, both of those were part of the human skeleton, just not part of the six major soul bones.
But the shedding in his hand was not bone. Could it also be considered an external soul bone?
Long Xiaoyao noticed the doubt on Wang Lin's face and explained.
"A Soul Master normally has six soul bones, namely the skull bone and spine bone of the body skeleton, and the left and right arm bones and left and right leg bones of the limb skeleton."
"The human body has a total of two hundred and six bones. Apart from the six soul bones mentioned above, soul bones from other parts can all be called external soul bones."
"Legend has it that besides human bones, there are two extremely special external soul bones. One is a heart soul bone called the Heart of the Ocean, rumored to be produced only by the Golden Bloodline of the Sea Princess clan."
"The other is a vertical eye soul bone called the Evil Eye, a special soul bone produced by the Evil Eye Tyrant."
"Rumored?" Wang Lin caught the keyword. Long Xiaoyao nodded and said in a deep voice.
"Yes, rumored. These two soul bones have not been verified because both the Golden Bloodline of the Sea Princess clan and the Evil Eye Tyrant are extremely powerful soul beasts. Their racial leaders, the Sea Princess and the Evil Eye Tyrant Lord, are top-tier powerhouses."
"Even I am not confident in defeating them. Naturally, no one would offend them for a vague rumor."
"Then does this count as an external soul bone?" Wang Lin raised the Ice Silkworm shedding in his hand.
"It counts if you can fuse with it, and it doesn't count, as it's not bone; it's more like skin."
Long Xiaoyao clearly couldn't be certain. He took the shedding, tensed all his muscles, and pulled hard.
Snap!
The shedding was instantly stretched open, but there were no signs of tearing at all. After confirming the material was sturdy enough, he stuffed the shedding back into Wang Lin's hand.
"As far as I can tell, this is likely a special external soul bone similar to the Heart of the Ocean and the Evil Eye. Haven't you noticed the similarity between this shedding and the Heart of the Ocean and the Evil Eye?"
"Similarity?" Wang Lin was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "They are all produced by mental attribute soul beasts?"
"Exactly. Both the Sea Princess and the Evil Eye Tyrant are mental attribute soul beasts. And the Ice Silkworm, though weak, is a genuine mental attribute soul beast. Hurry and try fusing it."
Long Xiaoyao urged.
"Why don't you try, since you snatched it?" Wang Lin felt that Long Xiaoyao was trying to fool him.
"Heh, you brat! I snatched this precisely for you. Hurry up and try fusing it. This shedding was left by the Ice Silkworm on that kid, whose cultivation exceeded one hundred thousand years."
As Long Xiaoyao spoke, he reached out directly to pull at Wang Lin's clothes. "This old man's cultivation won't benefit much from fusing with this. Could I possibly harm you?"
"Stop it, Master, I'll do it myself. I'll fuse it, but what are you taking my clothes off for?" Seeing Long Xiaoyao starting to peel off his clothes, Wang Lin immediately began to resist and struggle.
"Nonsense. If you want to fuse it, of course you need to take off your clothes completely. As this old man estimates, this external soul bone should be skin. How can you fuse it with clothes blocking the way?"
Long Xiaoyao let go of his hand and waved it. Black light flashed. An invisible transparent shield surrounded Wang Lin, isolating the surrounding wind and snow.
"Alright then!"
Wang Lin said helplessly and began to take off his clothes. Soon, he was completely naked. Stepping on his clothes, he shivered as he looked at Long Xiaoyao.
"Take off the underwear too. There's no skin on your butt, right!" Long Xiaoyao glanced at Wang Lin and said in a deep voice.
Although Long Xiaoyao had blocked the wind and snow, the surrounding temperature was still not something Wang Lin could endure. He quickly took off his underwear and said tremblingly.
"The shedding, Master!"
Enveloped by the cold temperature, Wang Lin's entire body was frozen red, like a cooked shrimp.
Long Xiaoyao's old face smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum. While handing the shedding to Wang Lin, he teased.
"What's there left to cover when it's already shrunk from the cold?"
"You try it!!!"
Wang Lin immediately glared with wide eyes and shouted loudly. He snatched the shedding, and soul power instantly surged from his body into the shedding.
Swish!
A faint white light lit up. The shedding seemed to melt, transforming into a ball of white flowing light that slowly enveloped Wang Lin's entire body.