The Martial Soul Skeleton, in Douluo Continent's Bone-Changing Susanoo

Chapter 26 Exploration in the Far North

In the original setting of the novel "Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect", the Ice Jade Scorpion clan is indeed the strongest ice-type soul beast in the far north besides the Snow Emperor. They generally live in the core area of ​​the far north and often go to the outer area to forage because they like to eat weak ice silkworm-type soul beasts.

Perhaps that's why the ancestors of the Shui family encountered it in the outer region, so they named it the Ice Scorpion King and included it in the Shui family's inherited soul beast chart.

Other soul master families probably don't know about the existence of soul beasts like the Ice Scorpion King.

"Staying in the far north for too long will inevitably attract the attention of powerful soul beasts. That's why we chose your Speedy Mercenary Group in order to find the Ice Scorpion King more safely and quickly."

At this point, the Shui family looked at Xia Liang with burning eyes and said, "Young friend, I've heard that you are one of the few summoning-type Soul Masters on the continent, possessing the ability to summon strange ghost flames. You can easily find various Soul Beasts through these ghost flames. I just wonder, how long can these ghost flames sustain your search under the corrosive cold of the far north?"

"My will-o'-the-wisp can only be used at night." Xia Liang smiled awkwardly. "Patriarch Shui, it's daytime now, so I can't summon it."

Upon hearing this, the head of the Shui family was startled. "Why didn't you say so earlier? We've wasted a whole night!"

"No," Xia Liang said. "Since last night, I've already dispatched a large number of will-o'-the-wisps to scout the surrounding area. There's no ice field within a ten-mile radius, nor any trace of the Ice Scorpion King you mentioned. So, we can continue for another ten miles. Tonight, I'll send the will-o'-the-wisps to search for the soul beasts. What do you think?"

"Ten more miles ahead?" Gazing ahead at the vast expanse of white snow, the Shui family head hesitated. He had come to find a soul ring for his daughter, not to seek death.

If they venture any deeper and are noticed by the powerful soul beasts of the far north, the Shui family will be doomed.

But since we've already come all this way, how can we give up halfway?

"Alright. Then let's go another ten miles." The head of the Shui family asked very seriously, "Young friend, your will-o'-the-wisp should be able to withstand the erosion of the cold air of the far north, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to detect anything last night."

"After consuming the hot drink made from the Milk Martial Soul, the ghost fire I summoned also gained the ability to resist the cold. As long as they drink the hot drink on time, they can sustain them through a night of searching for soul beasts. During the day, for safety's sake, we can retreat ten miles to rest."

After listening to Xia Liang's arrangements, the Shui family head pondered for a moment before nodding.

And so, the group traveled another ten miles, and a Soul Saint once again used the surrounding snow to condense an ice castle with a diameter of twenty meters.

After entering the castle and having dinner, it was already evening.

There is a difference between night and day in the far north.

The howling wind and snow already obstructed visibility, and at night, it became even more difficult to see.

This is one of the reasons why Soul Masters dare not set foot in the far north.

When vision is impaired, one can only maintain mental awareness for extended periods, which can easily lead to mental fatigue and even conditions like snow blindness.

Outside the Ice Castle.

The Shui family head and Shui Bing'er stood together, looking at Xia Liang with puzzled expressions. They all wanted to see how this rare summoning-type soul master on the continent would summon the ghost fire that could find soul beasts.

To conceal his undead nature, Xia Liang deliberately released his first soul ring under the watchful eyes of everyone, and made a summoning gesture with his left hand in front of his chest and his right hand pointing to the sky, while muttering a spell that sounded like a soul incantation.

As the dark purple ribs covered his entire body, the first spirit ring lit up, and the right arm that grew from the skeleton martial spirit also made a pointing gesture to the sky.

Just then, countless dark purple ghost flames lit up in rows above the pitch-black sky and quickly scattered in the wind and snow.

Gazing at the countless dark purple will-o'-the-wisps flying in all directions, the Water Clan Head asked somewhat uncertainly, "Is this enough?"

Xia Liang shook his head. "Just now, only fifty will-o'-the-wisps flew to various places to search for soul beasts. Some of them may have been shattered by the soul beasts or dissipated naturally, so I need to create more. But I'm running out of soul power."

"It's alright, we'll help you." The support-type Soul Saint and the food-type Female Soul Emperor used their respective healing-type Soul Skills on Xia Liang.

It took three minutes for my soul power to be fully restored.

Xia Liang continued to create blackish-purple ghost flames, sending them to the Ice Plains to search for the Ice Scorpion King, while also secretly having them carefully search for soul bones or other wild resources in each area.

In the predation and fighting between spirit beasts, one of them will inevitably die.

There is a chance that soul beasts will drop soul bones when they kill each other.

With over 100,000 years of history, the far north is rarely visited by human soul masters, so if you have a soul bone, you're sure to find one, and you might even find some precious relics of deceased soul masters.

Scavenging—that's why Xia Liang decided to venture into the far north.

Two hours later.

The number of black-purple ghost flames sent out to search for soul beasts has approached two thousand. The Shui family members dare not venture further into the icy plains of the far north and can only stay in the Ice Castle to await news.

Some of the Shui family's Soul Masters were chatting and laughing inside the castle, while others were playing cards.

The head of the Shui family sat cross-legged in a corner, meditating and cultivating using the ice-attribute energy contained in the far north.

Xia Liang always stayed by Shui Bing'er's side. They were only two or three years apart in age, so they had more to talk about as young people.

Through chatting, it was discovered that Shui Bing'er's third soul ring should be obtained from the Frozen Forest, which is a soul skill called Ice Resistance Ring.

However, after the Suda Mercenary Group gained a high reputation and credibility, the Shui family patriarch changed his mind and decided to ask the Suda Mercenary Group to help him find soul beasts like the Ice Scorpion King in the far north.

Upon learning this information, Xia Liang realized that his intervention had already had some impact on the characters and plot mentioned in the original work.

Three years ago, I used a lot of nonsense theories to exchange for a copy of the Soul Beast Manual with Yu Xiaogang.

It was assumed that Yu Xiaogang had discovered that those theories were nonsense, but unexpectedly, just a year ago, the Spirit Hall released a report on Spirit research.

Yu Xiaogang, the theoretical master who once published the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls, has republished a new set of Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls and used examples to prove the theory of Martial Soul Mimicry, which states that plant-based Martial Souls can also absorb animal soul rings.

In addition to some theoretical empirical evidence, Yu Xiaogang's ten core competitive advantages of the new martial soul also involve the concept of explicit martial soul bloodline and the existence of martial soul as a weapon beast.

Perhaps only Xia Liang knew that these concepts were actually made up by him three years ago, which led to the plot where Yu Xiaogang released his new theory at the Spirit Hall.

Now, thanks to her, the Speedy Mercenary Group exists, and because of the Speedy Mercenary Group, Shui Bing'er has the opportunity to absorb the soul ring of the Ice Scorpion King, a soul beast that is suspected to be of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan.

If she can truly absorb the Ice Jade Scorpion's soul ring, then Shui Bing'er's strength will become even greater than in the original story.

She herself will transform from a control-type Soul Master into a dual-type Soul Master of both control and offensive capabilities.

(End of this chapter)