Since Du Gu Yan's third soul skill gave Du Gu Bo a taste of something exceptional, he decided her soul rings would no longer be chosen by chance.
A suitable soul ring is like sharpening a sword: essential for a soul master's power. While the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul may have conventional soul-beast choices mastered over generations, never innovating means never reaching new heights.
The same goes for the four single-attribute clans: they each have prescribed soul-ring paths, but without adaptation, breakthroughs remain elusive.
After Yun Yibai suggested several candidate soul beasts for Du Gu Yan, Du Gu Bo researched them and visualized how their skills might play out in battle.
The next day, the four left the city.
Du Gu Bo: "Since we've come this far, we must find the perfect one."
Because he'd already pledged the entire Po Zhi clan to Du Gu Bo, Yang Wudi had no objections.
The Extreme North is one vast tundra dotted with hills and valleys, but soul-beasts are relatively sparse compared to the Star Dou Forest.
Du Gu Yan: "We've only seen Snow Wolves so far. Beast diversity is much lower 'up here.'"
Yang Wudi: "The Extreme North covers a wider area and sustains fewer beasts under harsh conditions. We haven't come far, so our sightings are limited."
They pressed on. Soon they encountered soul beasts aged between hundreds and a thousand years—Snow Wolves, Ice Foxes, Cold Moon Rhinoceros, Snow Cloud Birds…
On day one, they reached a forest at the border between century- and millennium-level beasts and camped there.
Yang Wudi advised: "These dragon-subspecies often live in mountain streams, forests. We'll need to join Du Gu Bo's sharp senses—he can detect toxins in the air and locate the beasts."
The next day, following Yang Wudi's method, they found a 5,000-year-old Cretaceous Poison Lizard in an ice forest—but it wasn't strong enough, so they let it go. Du Gu Bo wouldn't settle for anything less.
They also spotted a 4,000-year-old White Spirit Ice Poison Dragon, but again too low-level.
…
On day eight, they reached a low valley in the central North, and Du Gu Bo suddenly halted.
Yang Wudi, Yun Yibai, and Du Gu Yan knew he'd discovered something: their eighth potential target in nearly three weeks.
Du Gu Bo, serious as ever: "This poison... smells familiar, yet alien—and extremely potent!"
Poison Lord Du Gu Bo knows.
Poison wafted from the frozen valley ahead. Yun Yibai noticed carcasses of some beasts—then followed the others as they leapt down into the ice basin.
Du Gu Bo could sense poison through living matter—his supreme skill.
Then came a succession of guttural "gu gu gu…" calls.
They'd entered a toxic zone, full of colorless, odorless venom—harmless to them because of the Youxiang Qiluo celestial herb's immunity effect, though Yang Wudi had also masked its scent.
"That sound isn't from a large soul-beast," Yang Wudi said. Du Gu Yan: "Sounds like frogs."
Yun Yibai: "We may have found our target soul beast."
Yang Wudi: "You mean Zhuqing Ice Toad?"
Du Gu Bo: "We'll know soon enough."
Thanks to the immunity, they moved silently like ghosts.
A few minutes later, they passed into an ice cavern, and the sounds were right beside them.
Hiding behind a frozen wall, they saw four ice-blue toads sitting on a frozen lake—except their eyes glowed fiery red.
"It's Zhuqing Ice Toad!"
Yang Wudi: "I thought they stayed only at the border regions—but this is still in the millennium-beast zone, right where humans meet the wild." Yun Yibai tried to clarify.
"But I think there's another reason!" Yun Yibai pointed upward—above the toads, sprouting from the cavern roof, was an ice-blue lotus.