Chapter 10 Ice Blade Mantis, Where the Sword Points
At the edge of the Crystal Forest, the battle has reached a desperate point.
"Brother! Watch out!"
Iron Tiger let out a cry of surprise. Suddenly, the Ice Blade Mantis's sharp forelimbs changed their attack trajectory, and an "X"-shaped icy blade of energy bypassed Iron Dragon's shield and slashed towards his chest.
In-depth understanding
ice
umbrella
Tie Long's old strength was exhausted and new strength had not yet been generated. He could only watch helplessly as the deadly blade approached, and closed his eyes in despair.
"Thousand Manifestations Umbrella - Shield Form!"
Just at this critical moment, a silver figure descended from the sky with a whooshing sound.
"when--!!!"
A deafening clang of metal rang out.
In-depth understanding
ice
umbrella
Iron Dragon didn't feel the expected pain. He opened his eyes in surprise and saw a not-so-broad figure blocking his way. The large silver umbrella, like a wall of sighs, steadily blocked the Ice Blade Mantis's fatal blow.
Ice shards flew everywhere, and Ye Feng's feet sank three inches into the ground, but he remained motionless.
"If you don't want to die, step back and adjust!" Ye Feng shouted without turning his head.
"It's...it's you? Ye Feng?" Tie Long recognized the new student who had become famous at the Northern Academy, his eyes filled with shock. He never expected that the one who blocked this terrifying attack was actually a six-year-old child.
"And I'm here too!"
深入瞭解
冰
傘
Ye Shaotian followed closely behind. Instead of defending, he charged directly towards the flank of the Ice Blade Mantis.
"Take this! Frostbite Thrust!"
Ye Shaotian thrust his Frost Sword straight at the mantis's joint line, where its carapace was at its weakest point.
The Ice Blade Mantis was clearly enraged by these two unexpected "oddballs." It let out a piercing screech, abandoned the Tie siblings, and instead aimed its two massive ice blades at Ye Feng.
"Good timing!"
Ye Feng's lips curled up slightly, and with a sudden twist of the Thousand Chance Umbrella in his hand, the immense centrifugal force directly deflected the mantis's ice blade.
"Snap—"
The umbrella instantly folds up, changing its shape!
The spear has reappeared!
"Little Fatty, block its left wing! Iron Dragon, if you can still move, block one of its arms for me! Iron Tiger, if you have the chance, slash at the base of its wing with your knife!"
Ye Feng's voice was calm and powerful, instantly taking command of the battlefield. The Tie siblings instinctively moved according to his instructions, as if he were born to be the leader of the battlefield.
"Alright! Since Brother Ye has offered his assistance, I, Tie Long, am ready to risk my life! First Soul Skill—Iron Wall Charge!"
With a roar, Iron Dragon raised its shield and charged at the right side of the Mantis's ice blade like a bull, firmly blocking it.
At the same time, Ye Shaotian's Frost Sword created a large area of ice on the left, restricting the mantis's movement space.
The Iceblade Mantis sensed the threat and its wings vibrated wildly as it tried to fly away from the encirclement.
"Trying to run? Not so easy!"
Ye Feng's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and his spear was already poised to strike.
"Dragon Fang!"
A flash of cold light appeared first, followed by a spear thrust out like a dragon!
The spear pierced precisely the opening in the mantis's chest and abdomen as it attempted to take flight. A powerful shockwave erupted instantly, abruptly interrupting its takeoff and even causing its body to freeze for a second.
"Now! Iron Tiger!"
Without Ye Feng's prompting, Tie Hu, who had been poised to strike, let out a sharp cry and swung her long sword like a streak of light, slashing fiercely at the base of the mantis's wing.
"Snap!"
Its wings snapped off, and the Iceblade Mantis lost its balance, staggering and falling to one side.
"Little Fatty, the final blow is up to you! This is your spirit ring!" Ye Feng abruptly withdrew his spear and stepped aside to clear a path for Ye Shaotian to deliver the fatal blow.
Looking at the enormous creature before him, which had been severely damaged by the combined efforts of everyone, Ye Shaotian felt an unprecedented surge of excitement.
That was a thirst for power, an obsession with becoming stronger.
"Go to hell!"
Ye Shaotian gripped his sword with both hands and leaped high into the air. At that moment, his soul power erupted without reservation, and a faint layer of ice crystal sword energy condensed on the Frost Sword.
"Frostbite - Sky-Severing Slash!"
This sword strike, imbued with the sweat and effort of the past two months and his hopes for the future, slashed fiercely at the fragile neck of the Iceblade Mantis.
Pfft!
The enormous head rolled off, spraying blue blood onto the pristine white crystal tree, making it appear exceptionally alluring.
The Iceblade Mantis's massive body twitched a few times before finally ceasing to move. Points of yellow light converged, and a deep yellow spirit ring slowly rose.
"Huff...huff..." Ye Shaotian leaned on his sword, panting heavily, but a silly grin on his face. "Boss, I did it!"
"Well done." Ye Feng walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
Tie Long and Tie Hu also came over, their expressions complex, a mixture of relief at surviving the ordeal and admiration for the two boys.
Tie Long clasped his hands in a fist and bowed solemnly: "Brother Ye, we are deeply grateful. If it weren't for your help today, my sister and I would probably be dead here. We were the first to find this Ice Blade Mantis, but since you, Brother Ye, have put in so much effort, it should rightfully belong to you."
Ye Feng nodded without being polite: "This soul beast is indeed suitable for Shao Tian. However, we're not taking it for free. Here's a bottle of Soul Recovery Pills for you; it should be enough for you to recover from your injuries."
As he spoke, Ye Feng tossed over a bottle of pills he had looted from the Snow Demon Sect.
Tie Long accepted the pill, even more grateful: "Brother Ye is so righteous! In the future, if you need any help in Northern Border City, just come to the City Lord's Mansion and find me, Tie Long!"
"Let's skip the pleasantries, it's not safe here." Ye Feng glanced around. "Brother Tie, I'd appreciate it if you could help protect us. Shao Tian needs to absorb a soul ring."
"No problem! We've got your back!"
Ye Shaotian didn't stand on ceremony and immediately sat down cross-legged, beginning to draw upon the yellow spirit ring.
A 450-year-old Ice Blade Mantis is an extreme challenge for anyone taking their first spirit ring. However, given Ye Feng's successful precedent and Ye Shaotian's own superior spirit quality, the absorption process, though painful, did not pose a life-threatening danger.
Half an hour later.
A sharp, incomparably cold aura suddenly erupted from Ye Shaotian's body, instantly dropping the surrounding temperature by several degrees. The wild grass on the ground was instantly covered with a layer of white frost.
Ye Shaotian suddenly opened his eyes, as if a sharp sword flashed in his pupils. The Frost Sword in his hand emitted a crisp sword sound, and a deep blue pattern appeared on the originally silver-white blade, making it appear even sharper and more mysterious.
Yellow spirit rings pulsed beneath his feet.
"How is it?" Ye Feng asked expectantly.
Ye Shaotian stood up, his face beaming with excitement: "Boss, it worked! Soul Power Level 11! And my first Soul Skill..."
He turned around and swung his sword fiercely at a crystal tree in the distance, a tree so thick that it would take two people to hug it.
"First Soul Skill - Frosty Sword Qi!"
Without any fancy movements, with just a single swing, a crescent-shaped blue sword aura, three meters long, shot out from the sword in an instant. The sword aura sliced through the air with a piercing shriek, instantly cutting through the trunk of the large tree.
Without a sound, the sword energy dissipated.
One second later.
"boom!"
The upper half of the enormous crystal tree slowly slid down, the cut as smooth as a mirror, and covered with a thick layer of solid ice.
"Hiss—" Tie Long gasped, "Such powerful attack! Is this a ranged attack soul skill?"
Ye Shaotian smugly wiped his nose: "Not only is it a long-range attack, but this sword energy also has extremely strong cutting power and freezing effect. If you are hit, the wound will be frozen instantly and it will be very difficult to heal."
"Not bad, it's a top-tier soul skill," Ye Feng praised. With this skill, Ye Shaotian was no longer just a sitting duck in close combat, but now had a real means of dealing damage.
"Now that everyone has recovered enough, let's get down to business." Ye Feng pointed to the glowing altar in the center of the Crystal Forest. "Do you know what that thing is?"
Tie Long's expression turned solemn: "That's the legendary 'Tears of the Ice God.' It's said to only appear in the very core of the secret realm. My father told me that obtaining it would bring unimaginable benefits to an ice-attribute martial soul. But..."
"But what?"
"But there's a guardian beast there," Tie Hu interjected. "We caught a glimpse of it from afar earlier; it was… the remnant soul of an Ice Crystal Phoenix. Although it's just a remnant soul, its strength is probably close to that of a thousand-year-old soul beast. It's something we can't handle at all."
"The remnant soul of the Ice Crystal Phoenix?" Ye Feng frowned.
Even a remnant soul of a being with a thousand-year history is an insurmountable mountain for these children who have just obtained their first soul ring.
"But since we're already here, how can we not check it out?" Ye Feng looked at the alluring blue light, his adventurous spirit pounding. "Besides, I feel like my Thousand Chance Umbrella is reacting to that place."
From the moment he entered the forest, the Thousand Chance Umbrella in Ye Feng's hand trembled slightly, as if it had encountered something familiar.
"Brother Tie, why don't we join forces and give it a shot?" Ye Feng suggested. "If we get any treasures, we can distribute them as needed, or compensate each other with other resources later."
Tie Long pondered for a moment, looking into Ye Feng's determined eyes, and finally gritted his teeth: "Alright! Fortune favors the bold! If I don't go and see, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Since Brother Ye is so confident, my sister and I will risk our lives to accompany you!"
The four reached a consensus and formed a temporary team.
Ye Feng was in charge of both offense and command, Tie Long was responsible for defense, and Ye Shaotian and Tie Hu were responsible for flanking attacks and control.
When they carefully traversed the crystal forest and arrived at the altar, they finally saw the true face of the guardian.
It was a phoenix made entirely of ice crystals. Although it was only a little over three meters tall and not as tall as a real phoenix that could blot out the sky, the noble and aloof aura it exuded made people want to worship it.
It rested quietly on the altar, its eyes closed, as if guarding the "Tear of the Ice God".
"It really is a phoenix..." Ye Shaotian swallowed hard. "How do you fight this thing?"
"It has no physical form; it's an energy body." Ye Feng's Purple Demon Eye (though he hadn't fully mastered it yet, his eyesight was excellent) provided keen observation. "Energy bodies are most vulnerable to being worn down. Let's take turns harassing it; don't fight it head-on."
Just then, the Ice Crystal Phoenix suddenly opened its eyes.
What kind of eyes were those? No pupils, only endless wind and snow.
"唳——!!!"
A clear and melodious phoenix cry resounded through the sky, and a terrifying sound wave mixed with extreme cold swept across the entire square in an instant.
"Defend!" Ye Feng roared.
Tie Long immediately raised his shield to block in front of everyone, unleashing his first soul skill at full power. Ye Feng also opened his Thousand Manifestations Umbrella, standing at the very front.
boom!
The cold air slammed against the shields and umbrellas, and the four of them staggered back five or six steps before regaining their footing.
"Is this the power of nearly a thousand years?" Tie Long's face was pale. With just one roar, he had consumed one-tenth of his soul power.
The ice phoenix flapped its wings, and countless ice feathers fell like a rain of arrows.
"Spread out! Don't huddle together!"
Ye Feng shouted and moved like lightning, weaving through the rain of arrows. The Thousand Manifestations Umbrella in his hand constantly changed form, sometimes acting as a shield to block the ice feathers, and sometimes as a spear to pierce the phoenix.
"Thousand Chance Umbrella - Machine Gun Mode (Fake)!"
Although Ye Feng had not yet obtained a shooting-type spirit ring, he used the hidden weapon mechanism stored in the Thousand Manifestations Umbrella (which he secretly modified and added in the academy workshop, similar to the mechanism-type hidden weapons of the Tang Sect; although simple, it was superior in its surprise attack) to fire a volley of crossbow bolts made of refined iron at the phoenix.
Ding ding ding!
The crossbow bolts struck the phoenix, causing no real damage, but successfully arousing its hatred.
"Now! Shaotian, sword energy!"
"Here it comes! Frosty Sword Qi!"
Ye Shaotian unleashed a massive blue sword aura from the side, slashing fiercely at the phoenix's wing.
Phoenix, in pain, turned to attack Ye Shaotian.
"Your opponent is me!"
Tiehu also rushed forward, his long sword slashing with fierce wind.
The four worked together like precise gears, miraculously managing to restrain the powerful guardian beast.
However, the gap in strength is ultimately enormous.
As time went on, everyone's soul power was being depleted more and more, while the Ice Crystal Phoenix seemed to have inexhaustible energy, and its attacks became more and more fierce.
"No, my soul power is almost depleted!" Tie Long shouted, his shield already covered in cracks.
Ye Feng looked at the still energetic phoenix, his heart filled with anxiety. He had to find its weakness!
Just then, the Thousand Chance Umbrella in Ye Feng's hand suddenly emitted a burst of scorching heat, and a strange suction force came from the handle.
Ye Feng had a sudden inspiration; he sensed that the Thousand Chance Umbrella seemed to crave the power of this phoenix, or rather, something within the phoenix's body.
"Hold on for another ten seconds!"
Ye Feng roared and stopped dodging, instead making a crazy move.
He put away the Thousand Chance Umbrella, gripped the spear tightly with both hands, and poured all the soul power in his body, even the power of the recently fused Silver Ice Python Soul Ring, into the spear with all his might.
The spear hummed under its strain, its silver light blindingly bright.
"You beast, look here!"
Ye Feng leaped high into the air, soaring into the sky, reaching a height where he was level with the phoenix.
A hint of human-like contempt flashed in the eyes of the Ice Crystal Phoenix, and it opened its mouth to unleash an extremely cold breath.
"This is it!"
Ye Feng did not dodge. He forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, and his spear fell like a meteor, meeting the breath and piercing straight for the phoenix's brow—there was a piece of ice crystal with the darkest color there, which was its core!
"First Soul Skill - Dragon Fang: Explosive Kill!"
Boom!!!
Ye Feng's figure was swallowed by the white cold current, but at the last moment, everyone saw the silver spear pierce the phoenix's brow.
Time seemed to stand still.
The next second, the Ice Crystal Phoenix let out a mournful cry filled with resentment, and its massive body began to disintegrate, turning into countless blue light spots.
Ye Feng's figure plummeted from the sky and crashed heavily to the ground. The Thousand Chance Umbrella lay scattered to the side, its body covered in frost, its fate unknown.
"Boss!" Ye Shaotian rushed over like a madman.
Just then, the countless disintegrating blue light spots did not dissipate, but were drawn in by some force and surged wildly into the Thousand Chance Umbrella that had fallen to the ground.
The Thousand Chance Umbrella floated up automatically, its canopy opening, and a lifelike ice phoenix pattern appeared on its originally silvery-white surface.
On the altar, the "Tear of the Ice God" slowly drifted down, eventually hovering on the chest of the unconscious Ye Feng and slowly merging into his body.
An unprecedented aura of holiness emanated from Ye Feng.
At this moment, the ice and snow of the North seemed to bow down in respect to this young man.