Book 1: Skydream Iceworm
Chapter 4.2: 'Thunderbolt' Bei Bei
Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao continued onwards, with one person talking and one person listening. Almost two hours unknowingly passed.
The large road had already disappeared, and their surroundings were now filled with dense forest. The air had turned fresher and cleaner, but there seemed to be a faint serious aura emitted from the depths of the forest.
“This is the general method used to cultivate this technique. As for the specifics, you’ll have to slowly get a feel for them after trying it out for yourself. If you have anything that you don’t understand, you can ask me.” Bei Bei said to Huo Yuhao.
“Thanks, eldest senior brother.” Huo Yuhao’s admiration towards Bei Bei had continuously risen while Bei Bei had been explaining everything to him; naturally, his respect for Bei Bei had grown as well.
At this moment, Tang Ya, who’d been walking in front, suddenly let out a cold snort. Her footsteps suddenly turned illusory, and her body instantly turned into consecutive afterimages as she pounced towards a large tree on the group’s right. The only thing that Huo Yuhao could faintly see was a few cold lights that flickered outwards. A Wind Baboon, similar to the one that had almost killed him previously, fell from a treetop.
Xiao Ya unhappily said, “These Wind Baboons are simply the most detestable creatures. Not only do they take the initiative to attack, they even launch sneak attacks.”
Huo Yuhao hadn’t used his Spirit Eyes earlier, so he was entirely unable to see how Xiao Ya had moved, “Teacher Xiao Ya, did you use a soul skill just now?”
Xiao Ya was slightly proud of herself as she replied, “It wasn’t a soul skill, but the synergy of our Tang Sect’s Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks and hidden weapons. Wasn’t it awesome? If you cultivate properly, you’ll also be able to use them together in the future.”
“Xiao Ya, careful.” Bei Bei’s expression suddenly changed. He suddenly raised his right hand and made an illusory grabbing movement towards Tang Ya. Clearly, they’d worked together frequently, as Tang Ya’s toes tapped the ground lightly, and her body flew up. She seemed to be weightless as she was pulled over by the absorption force exerted on her by Bei Bei’s hand.
A pitch black shadow instantly fell to the ground and let out a light noise. Following that, a strong sweet smell assaulted the senses of everyone present.
Huo Yuhao’s mind felt dizzy, but a wave of icy air instantly surged through his body, sealing his mouth and nose. An icy mist flew slightly outwards from Huo Yuhao’s mouth and nose, causing the sweet-smelling poison gas that he’d previously inhaled to be dispersed into the air.
An ice attribute? My second martial soul? Huo Yuhao immediately questioned the stream of icy air’s origins. However, he clearly hadn’t controlled it.
Just as he was beginning to feel pleased because of his second martial soul’s effects, Tang Ya had been pulled closer by the absorption force of Bei Bei’s hand. She used her right hand to press against Bei Bei’s shoulder, causing her delicate body to curl up and then flip around in midair to land behind Bei Bei.
Two light rings simultaneously rose up from Tang Ya’s legs, the bright yellow colours moving up and down in a rhythmical manner. Her two soul rings were unexpectedly of the hundred-year rank.
In that instant, long blue vines were rapidly released from Tang Ya’s body. One of them just so happened to wrap around Huo Yuhao’s waist, while even more dispersed into the distance.
However, compared to Tang Ya, Bei Bei, who was standing in front, shocked Huo Yuhao even more.
Up to this point, in his mind, this eldest senior brother of his was a gentle, scholarly person. He always wore a gentle smile when he was beside Tang Ya, and had an extremely approachable feel. However, at this moment, he’d changed into a completely different person.
When Xiao Ya had jumped over his head, a dazzling blue light had shone from in-between Bei Bei’s eyebrows. Following that, the blue light instantly expanded outwards from his eyebrows, and spread to his entire body. The fierce blue light resembled several small snakes as they exploded out, surrounding and moving all over his body. Except for the blue lightning symbol that had appeared on his forehead, only a single change had appeared on his body due to his martial spirit.
However, just this one, simple change caused Huo Yuhao to have a completely new understanding towards Soul Masters.
The part of his body that had changed was his right arm. His right sleeve had turned completely into ash due to the expansion of his right arm, which had suddenly increased in length by more than half a foot. His entire arm had become extremely thick, and was now covered in violet-blue scales. His hand had turned into a claw that was also covered with the same scales, while every joint in his hand had become extremely thick. The violet-blue lightning that circled his body gathered and separated unceasingly. However, his soul rings, two of which were yellow and one of which was purple, weren’t like those of an Soul Masters; they didn’t circled around his his right arm instead of his entire body, the place where the unusual changes had appeared.
These three rings signified that he was a Soul Elder. His eldest senior brother, who was only four to five years older than him, was unexpectedly already a Soul Elder-level expert, who was already above the rank of thirty! Furthermore, his soul rings were two hundred-year ones and a thousand-year one, which was the best possible combination.
For soul rings, white represented a ten-year soul ring, yellow represented a hundred years soul ring, purple represented a thousand year soul ring, and black represented something even higher, a ten thousand year soul ring. Besides these, if the mighty hundred thousand year soul beasts, such as the ones who’d persecuted the Skydream Iceworm, were turned into soul rings, they’d be red in colour.
Huo Yuhao had already asked them their ages. Bei Bei and Tang Ya were both the same age—fifteen. However, Bei Bei was slightly older, if you looked at the month that they were born in. Considering the fact that he’d reached the Soul Elder realm at such an age, and that he had three soul rings of this level, using the words ‘heaven’s chosen’ to describe Bei Bei couldn’t be any more suitable. If you looked at their cultivations, he’d clearly surpassed Tang Ya, who was only a Soul Grandmaster that was above rank twenty, despite being his master.
“Gua, gua...” After letting out this strange cry, the shadow that had landed on the ground instantly shot out, pouncing towards Bei Bei.
Bei Bei snorted coldly, and a layer of purple light appeared in his eyes. He placed his thick right arm in front of him horizontally, causing a web of lightning to immediately cover the space in front of him, which prevented the shadow from passing.
“Ka la—” Under the rumbling sound of lightning, the shadow rebounded backwards, while Bei Bei staggered three or four steps back at the same time. The expression on his face changed slightly; Clearly, his opponent’s strength had surpassed his prediction.
“It’s a Mandala Snake! Wah, it’s a thousand-year one too, this is too good! Bei Bei, I want this one.” Tang Ya wasn’t astonished, but instead happy as her lovable voice let out a loud cry.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao had also clearly seen the shadow that had ambushed them. It was a three-metre-long snake, whose entire body was pink. There was also a small protrusion on its forehead that faintly resembled a flower.
Bei Bei clearly didn’t share Tang Ya’s excitement, and instead had a serious expression on his face. Although he was already a Soul Elder-level expert, it was still hard for him to easily achieve victory over a thousand-year soul beast. However, the reason that it was possible for him to do so in the first place was because of his sufficiently strong martial spirit. If an ordinary Soul Elder were to see a thousand-year soul beast, the only thing that they could do was turn around and run.
“Xiao Ya, take care of Yuhao.” Bei Bei let out a low roar, causing the first soul rings on his right arm to flicker. Under the strong undulations of his soulforce, a foot-long violet-blue dragon claw condensed and shot out towards the Mandala Snake.
This was Thunderous Dragon Claw, Bei Bei’s first soul skill.
However, the Mandala Snake was extremely crafty. It had previously been entrenched in the ground, but it suddenly shot into midair the moment that Bei Bei’s attack activated. Its long tail suddenly whipped about in midair, immediately resembling a pink-coloured shadow as it pounced towards Bei Bei.
Bei Bei didn’t retreat, but instead advanced. He instantly leaned his body downwards, while using the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks to flash forward. The lightning dragon claw that had already flown out unexpectedly turned around in midair to pursue the Mandala Snake from behind. At the same time, his second soul ring lit up. Countless snakes of lightning suddenly expanded simultaneously, turning into lightning arrows that flashed through the air, forming a dense, thunderous web that tried to envelop the Mandala Snake.