"Brother Tianmeng, are you awake?"
Smack! Smack!
Huo Yuhao asked softly, but his hands delivered two resounding slaps without hesitation. Deep within the spiritual sea, the slumbering Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was jolted awake, slowly regaining consciousness in a daze.
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm: System booting up…
Seeing Tianmeng's dazed look, Huo Yuhao sighed lightly.
If he had to wait for Tianmeng to wake on his own, who knows how long it would take. The blow from the Ice Empress' "betrayal" had hit Tianmeng hard, and given his inherently fragile will, his only option had been to hide from reality in slumber—hoping to escape this broken relationship over time.
But now, Yuhao had something urgent to ask. He had no choice but to forcibly wake Tianmeng up.
Still half-asleep, Tianmeng muttered instinctively, "Bingbing…"
SMACK! Another slap landed.
"Stop thinking about that damn Bingbing already! In the future, your big bro here will take you to the God Realm to chase after goddesses!"
Now fully awake after another solid hit, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm blinked as he registered Huo Yuhao's words.
"Brother Yuhao, are you serious?" Tianmeng asked reflexively, quickly covering up with a bashful tone, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not into goddesses—I'm just curious about the God Realm, that's all."
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Sure, I'll buy it. Barely.
He knew there was no way a few words would make Tianmeng let go of the Ice Empress just like that, so he didn't bother trying to talk him out of it. Perhaps one day, when Yuhao faced the Ice Empress himself and resolved things, Tianmeng could finally find peace.
Hopefully Tianmeng wouldn't go off the deep end like Bibi Dong once did, twisted by her obsession.
Once Tianmeng came fully to his senses, he noticed something different about Yuhao and gasped, "Brother Yuhao, what's going on with you?!"
"Oh, I dug up the Snow Empress' hundred-thousand-year Snow Lotus. This is what happened." Huo Yuhao replied nonchalantly.
"What?! Hundred-thousand-year Snow Lotus?! The same one the Snow Empress used for her rebirth in the original story?!" Tianmeng was utterly shocked. "You actually got the Snow Lotus? Did it become your second martial soul?"
"Of course not. I didn't treat it as a soul beast. Besides, the Snow Lotus doesn't have sentience—it couldn't serve as a soul for my second martial soul anyway." Yuhao explained.
"Fair point…" Tianmeng nodded slowly. "Still..."
"Tai Ku La!" (Slang for "Too cool!" in a stylized way)
Tianmeng burst out laughing.
Stealing from the Snow Empress' mouth.
Thrilling
"No wonder you're the one I picked!" he added with pride.
"Alright, let's move on from that. I want to ask you something about my second martial soul," Huo Yuhao said, steering the conversation.
"Sure thing, ask away!" Tianmeng straightened up, dropping his playful tone.
"Do you know of any promising centipede-type soul beasts in the Extreme North? And where they live?" Yuhao asked.
He had already chosen a centipede-type beast as the foundation for his second martial soul—but not just any centipede would do. He wanted one with high potential, something that would make his cultivation smoother.
Wandering blindly across the vast Extreme North wasn't a real option, so he turned to his native bug buddy for help.
Tianmeng thought seriously for a moment. His knowledge of the Extreme North wasn't limitless, but it was decent—he even knew a bit about the top three sovereigns of the region.
Sure enough, a few fitting candidates came to mind.
"Brother Yuhao, I can think of three types of centipede soul beasts that would suit you well."
"Oh? Which three?" Huo Yuhao asked with interest.
Tianmeng listed them off:
"First, the Icefield Centipede.
Lives on the ice plains. Ice attribute. Huge body, tough exterior, skilled at burrowing, but pretty rare.
Second, the Bramble Snow Centipede.
Lives in snowy forests. Dual attributes: ice and poison. Has a thorny exoskeleton and can disguise itself as a bramble thicket. Its thorns can also reflect damage. Quite rare.
Third, the Mutant Frost Centipede.
No fixed habitat. Also ice-poison type. Entirely snow-white. Rumored to possess dragon bloodline. I don't know much about it—extremely rare."
All three were rare but highly compatible with Yuhao's needs, especially since they shared the ice attribute.
Yuhao nodded in satisfaction. "No wonder you're the great Tianmeng—you really do know your stuff."
Tianmeng's tail swished proudly. "Of course! These three are all mortal enemies of the Ice Silkworm race! Of course I'd know!"
"…" Huo Yuhao was starting to realize why Tianmeng knew them so well.
Seriously, didn't the Ice Silkworms have too many enemies?
"So, which one are you going with for your second martial soul?" Tianmeng asked. "I'd recommend the Bramble Snow Centipede. They're easier to find in the snow forests, and with your abilities, tracking one down shouldn't be hard. Plus, they offer the extreme ice attribute and add poison as a bonus."
Yuhao smiled.
"My choice is obviously—"
"The Mutant Frost Centipede!"
"…Huh?" Tianmeng froze. "But Brother Yuhao, those are extremely rare!"
"But not extinct. And their potential is the highest, right?"
With even a trace of dragon bloodline, the potential for dragonification was real. How could he pass that up?
"You're not wrong, but…" Tianmeng still looked hesitant.
"I get it, Tianmeng. But if the best option exists, why settle for less?" Yuhao replied with a grin.
Tianmeng knew he wouldn't change Yuhao's mind. He sighed, "Honestly, I only know of the Mutant Frost Centipede—I've never actually seen one. I can't guarantee there are any left in the Extreme North."
"Don't worry. Remember the Qi-Sensing Technique? A unique species with a special bloodline might leave a trace in the luck and fate of the region. Finding it may not be as hard as it seems."
Yuhao's logic convinced Tianmeng.
"Alright, let's try looking then."
Yuhao smiled.
"Then let's move out, Brother Tianmeng."
Though the wind and snow in the Extreme North were still harsh, the earlier battle had settled. The ice sheets had stopped trembling.
The clash between Xuanzi and the Titan Snow Demon King ended with the latter retreating. After all, Xuanzi had fought like a madman, while the Titan King wasn't ready to throw his life away.
This time, the immovable met the reckless.
The Titan King wanted to flee—and Xuanzi couldn't stop him.
But Xuanzi, still full of pent-up rage, took it out on the soul beasts of the Extreme North, launching an indiscriminate slaughter.
This act enraged the region's other two sovereigns.
Sure, Xuanzi was powerful, but did he really think he could act with impunity in their domain?
The Ice Empress confronted him in fury.
She unleashed her domain—Frozen Eternity—followed by her signature attack—Wrath of the Ice Empress.
Fresh off a major battle, unable to sustain his martial soul avatar, and already slipping into madness, Xuanzi was nearly killed on the spot.
The extreme cold shocked his mind back to clarity, and he fled, barely escaping the Ice Empress' wrath.
She didn't give chase, choosing instead to aid the Snow Empress in tracking down the thief who stole her treasure.
But her decision didn't mean others were as forgiving.
The defeated Titan Snow Demon King heard of Xuanzi's massacre and was consumed with fury.
He didn't know what the Snow and Ice Empresses were up to, nor why they hadn't killed Xuanzi—but that didn't mean he would just let it go.
He couldn't beat Xuanzi, sure—but there were plenty of other humans to take it out on.
Thus, at his summons, powerful soul beasts under his command began gathering their tribes.
Other beast clans were drawn in too—including several hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.
A beast tide was about to erupt.
And the humans both inside and outside the Extreme North…
Still had no idea what was coming.
Huo Yuhao was absolutely right—finding the mutant Frost Centipede was even easier and smoother than he had anticipated.
With his Qi-Observing Technique paired with the Spirit Eye martial soul, Huo Yuhao essentially had full-map vision.
Don't ask how. Just know it's always on. Always.
The Spirit Eye martial soul gave Huo Yuhao powerful visual abilities. And as long as something was within his line of sight, he could use the Qi-Observing Technique to assess its fortune.
This time, his Spirit Eye martial soul had been further enhanced, boosting his visual capabilities and, by extension, his use of the Qi-Observing Technique.
Climbing to the peak of a tall iceberg, Huo Yuhao stood at the summit. The wind and snow could no longer block his vision, allowing him to see clearly.
Though he still couldn't make out many fine details, the most notable features were now completely visible.
As expected, Huo Yuhao spotted a vague silhouette of a centipede among the qi patterns of the Extreme North—not far from his location, right in this snowy mountain range.
Skydream Iceworm confirmed it too: that was indeed the mutant Frost Centipede.
Talking about this mountain range piqued Huo Yuhao's curiosity, and he asked Skydream about it. By observing the qi patterns of the three Great Kings of the Extreme North, Huo Yuhao could tell that this fairly expansive mountain range located in the core zone surprisingly didn't belong to any of the kings.
Skydream actually had an answer for that:
"Only beasts with a screw loose would want to live in a place like this. Life in the Extreme North is already tough enough. Who would come here looking for even more suffering? The soul beasts living here have been here for generations and have long adapted to this environment. Outsiders can barely survive here, let alone stay long-term."
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Fair point. That answer was too honest to argue with.
"But," Skydream added, "although no soul beasts from outside want to live here, some will enter to train and seek opportunities to grow stronger. This place is actually one of the more well-known training grounds and resource zones in the Extreme North."
This reminded Huo Yuhao of the bighorn soul beast killed by the Snow Empress. He couldn't help but sigh, "Seems there really are plenty of opportunities here. Even the three Great Kings come to seek fortunes~"
For most soul beasts, this place was a trial ground. But for the three Great Kings—whatever they wanted, no one else could hold on to it.
So there was no point in trying to conquer this territory. It was enough to raid it periodically.
Even so, not even the three Great Kings had fully explored the entire mountain range.
Possibly due to the harsh environment, the soul beast population density here was low despite the size of the region. There were virtually no large-scale soul beast clans here either. Instead, what thrived were soul beasts with rare and unique bloodlines.
Perhaps the area's isolation had preserved the primal environment and these rare species.
Among them was the very target Huo Yuhao sought—the mutant Frost Centipede.
With his Qi-Observing Technique, Huo Yuhao avoided danger, used a molted carapace to hide his presence, and made it to the territory of the mutant Frost Centipede without incident.
To his surprise, the creature lived inside a rather inconspicuous small iceberg.
Above the small mountain, a translucent silhouette of the Frost Centipede floated. Its faint golden qi was flowing toward the interior of the mountain, clearly indicating the centipede was hidden inside.
Huo Yuhao didn't charge in recklessly.
"Skydream, it's up to you now," he said, hiding just outside the iceberg.
"Don't worry, leave it to me~" Skydream Iceworm grinned confidently and emerged from the sea of spirit, immediately activating his soul skill.
Normally, Skydream could activate mental detection and other spirit-based skills independently, without exposing any soul rings. His detection range and accuracy even exceeded what Huo Yuhao could do alone.
But when Huo Yuhao joined in, their combined efforts could amplify the skill's power.
This time, Huo Yuhao didn't hold back. His Spirit Eye martial soul possessed him, and his first white soul ring appeared.
"First Soul Skill: Spiritual Detection!"
Together, Huo Yuhao and Skydream shouted, and the detection beam pierced the ice, probing deep into the mountain.
Soon, they saw what was inside.
The iceberg was hollow.
And within the hollow space, lay a mutant Frost Centipede over 200 meters long!
Just like Skydream had said, its body was completely snow-white.
Now seeing it for real, Huo Yuhao noticed how awe-inspiring its appearance was—it radiated a subtle pressure, had nineteen pairs of legs, and even bore a pair of wings as thin as a cicada's.
"So huge!"
"Wow!"
Both Huo Yuhao and Skydream gasped in unison.
"A centipede this massive must be pretty old." Huo Yuhao frowned after his initial amazement.
"Let's get out of here, Hao-ge. We should go look for the Thorned Ice Centipede first. Once we're strong enough, we can come back and consume its bloodline," Skydream suggested.
But just then, Huo Yuhao noticed something.
"Wait a minute, Skydream—don't you think something's off about this centipede?"
"Huh?" Skydream blinked, then focused his attention on the centipede. A moment later, he noticed it too—it had no signs of life.
"It's dead?!"
"That's right. This Frost Centipede is dead…" Huo Yuhao nodded, eyes thoughtful.
"Then we came all this way for nothing?" Skydream looked like he was about to cry.
"Skydream, didn't you notice? The silhouette of the Frost Centipede is still above the iceberg! If the soul beast had died, the qi-formed image would've vanished too," Huo Yuhao said, eyes glinting.
"In other words… there's another mutant Frost Centipede here?!" Skydream caught on.
"Exactly!"
Skydream intensified his spirit output, trying to use Spiritual Detection to find the second centipede.
But after scanning the entire mountain, he found nothing—though he did confirm that the internal cave wasn't naturally formed, but rather dug out by the centipede itself.
"Strange…" Skydream murmured.
"Skydream, scan the body of the dead Frost Centipede!" Huo Yuhao suggested.
"Got it!"
The detection beam shifted and slowly scanned the body inch by inch.
When they reached the abdomen, they found it.
Inside was a small, one-meter-long Frost Centipede—no wings, only ten pairs of legs. Clearly, it was a juvenile!
The little Frost Centipede clutched a pearl the size of an adult fist—pure white—and was slowly absorbing its energy.
The moment he saw the pearl, Huo Yuhao was reminded of a special soul beast from Douluo Dalu 1—the Ten-Headed Sun Serpent.
Why that creature?
Because it was also a mutant, and it had an inner core!
"Could that be… the Frost Centipede's inner core?!" Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up.
The situation now seemed clear. The adult Frost Centipede had died and left its inner core behind to nurture the young one.
Skydream also evaluated the juvenile Frost Centipede. "Hao-ge, that little guy's only about a hundred years old. It must have just been born recently."
"Skydream," Huo Yuhao said with determination, "that little guy lost its elder. Living alone is just too lonely. We can't let it go! Use Spirit Shock and reunite it with its elder!"
Skydream: "HUH???"
Attacking the young variant Frost Centipede posed no psychological burden to the Skydream Iceworm.
Survival of the fittest — that is nature's unchanging law.
Soul rings flickered.
The Skydream Iceworm and Huo Yuhao released a soul shock together.
For a mere hundred-year-old soul beast, resistance was utterly impossible.
Perhaps some soul beasts with strong bloodlines could fight ten-thousand-year-old ones even in just a hundred years, but that was purely in terms of combat strength. Unless a beast had spirit or soul-related attributes, its soul strength wouldn't differ much from a typical century-old beast — and even if it were stronger, the difference would be limited.
However, just as the attack landed on the young variant Frost Centipede…
The inner core clutched to its chest suddenly reacted, bursting out a spiritual wave that formed a mental barrier — blocking the soul attack from both Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Iceworm.
The inner core that the elder variant Frost Centipede left behind wasn't just a gift for its offspring — it was a protective charm!
"What? That's possible?" The Skydream Iceworm was deeply shocked.
But Huo Yuhao was more focused on something else. "The variant Frost Centipede has spiritual attributes?"
"I didn't know either. I only thought they had ice and poison." The Skydream Iceworm was clearly surprised.
Even the records passed down within the species didn't mention this.
But it was too late to say anything now.
The disturbance from the inner core made the young variant Frost Centipede alert. Like a startled bird, it decisively dug downward, trying to burrow through the corpse of the elder Frost Centipede.
Extending his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Iceworm sensed a tunnel beneath the elder centipede's body, one that reached deep into the ice — its destination unknown.
Clearly, this was an escape route the elder Frost Centipede had prepared for its offspring.
"Not good! It's trying to escape!"
Huo Yuhao quickly pulled out his White Tiger Dagger and began digging furiously at a weak point in the icy mountain.
The White Tiger Dagger really suffered — nearly ground down to black.
Finally, Huo Yuhao managed to dig out a small dog-sized hole and, abandoning all sense of dignity, crawled into the ice cave.
But when he reached the elder Frost Centipede's corpse, the little one had already escaped with the inner core. Its whereabouts were unknown.
"It's out of range of my spiritual detection," the Skydream Iceworm said dejectedly.
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "It's too late to chase it now."
They had been lucky to find such a rare variant Frost Centipede, but because of a moment's carelessness, it had slipped away.
"Sigh," the Skydream Iceworm sighed. "If only we'd gone in first, maybe we could've caught it."
But Huo Yuhao struck the elder Frost Centipede's body with the White Tiger Dagger. It rang out sharply against the exoskeleton but didn't even leave a scratch.
"With this corpse in the way, even if we'd come in earlier, it would've been tough to catch that little one. The elder protected its offspring to a ridiculous extent — even its body became a layer of protection." Huo Yuhao sounded frustrated.
If even the White Tiger Dagger couldn't leave a mark, there was no way Huo Yuhao could break through it. The little centipede inside would have had plenty of time to burrow out and escape through the tunnel.
"And even if we had stopped it, I might not have been able to subdue it," Huo Yuhao continued.
If the inner core kept protecting it from spiritual and soul attacks, he'd have been forced into close combat — and in that case, he might have had to run.
After all, Huo Yuhao only had the White Tiger Dagger and some battle memories inherited from Pudu Cihang to rely on.
He didn't know any melee combat skills!
Meanwhile, the young centipede definitely had great close-combat abilities — it had literally drilled through its elder's body and cracked its shell.
If it could break that armor, it could slice Huo Yuhao in half.
In a one-on-one, the little centipede could mess up countless times — but Huo Yuhao could only afford one mistake before he'd be toast.
Still, this all went to show how excellent the Frost Centipede species was.
Even though he failed to obtain the variant Frost Centipede as his second martial soul, Huo Yuhao was disappointed but not devastated.
You have to learn to take things in stride. Otherwise, even in death, you won't rest easy.
And if Huo Yuhao was good at anything, it was talking himself into feeling better.
No point dwelling on the past — better to look ahead.
Once he was done comforting himself, Huo Yuhao looked at the corpse of the elder variant Frost Centipede.
Time to loot the corpse.
Its flesh and materials were highly valuable.
But then — Huo Yuhao's eyes locked onto the corpse. He stared more intensely, his eyes gradually brightening.
The Skydream Iceworm noticed something was off and asked curiously, "Brother Hao, what is it? Did you find something?"
Huo Yuhao smiled mysteriously. "Brother Tianmeng, don't you think… this corpse is surprisingly fresh? Yep, must be thanks to the low temperatures keeping it preserved."
"Hao, what are you trying to say?" The Skydream Iceworm was confused.
"Don't you have any ideas?"
"What kind of ideas?"
"Take advantage of the freshness!"
"…What???"
The Skydream Iceworm was stunned.
…
What is a martial soul? How is it born?
Huo Yuhao didn't know.
But one thing was clear — the inheritance, awakening, and mutation of martial souls was definitely linked to bloodlines!
Martial soul users of the same type must share a common ancestor.
It's better proof of identity than a DNA test — and far more convincing.
Even if two people looked identical, different martial souls would prove they weren't the same.
And so, Huo Yuhao had a new idea.
"The corpse is so fresh — and more importantly, its bloodline is still intact. If I can acquire the bloodline of the variant Frost Centipede, I might be able to mutate my second martial soul into a variant Frost Centipede!"
"This wouldn't be the same as fusing it with a soul — instead, the mutation would come from bloodline power!"
The little one ran, sure — but if you're flexible in your thinking, there's always another way.
And this was it.
Even if a regular soul master had the idea, they wouldn't have the means. But Huo Yuhao did — within the memories of Pudu Cihang, there were several techniques to plunder bloodlines, including both demonic and monstrous cultivation paths.
The Skydream Iceworm was blown away. "Hao! Only you could come up with this kind of method. I provided you with a second martial soul — or more precisely, a martial soul source — and with your approach, there's definitely a chance to awaken the variant Frost Centipede as a martial soul!"
"But…" The Skydream Iceworm's excitement abruptly cooled.
"But what?" Huo Yuhao asked.
"Well… your second martial soul doesn't have a soul. Even if it mutates into a variant Frost Centipede, you wouldn't be able to use it normally."
Huo Yuhao didn't understand the full mechanics behind it, but he knew: the second martial soul needed a soul to function.
He smiled. "A soul, huh? Don't we have one right here?"
"Where?" The Skydream Iceworm looked around — then his eyes widened in shock as he realized Huo Yuhao was looking at him.
"Brother Tianmeng, mind relocating?"
The Skydream Iceworm: "…"
Before making his move, Huo Yuhao carefully set Beibei aside and cast a powerful sleep spell to ensure he rested soundly.
Only then did Huo Yuhao begin his plan.
To gain the bloodline of the Variant Frost Centipede, he needed to come into direct contact with its flesh and blood.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to practice any advanced bloodline extraction techniques, so he had to go with the simplest and most straightforward method—eating!
More precisely, he would use a method called "flesh devouring."
This was a bloodline-plundering technique from the demonic cultivation arts—an instinctive inheritance among many beast-type cultivators.
No training required. Once you had the bloodline, you naturally knew how to use it.
It wasn't even considered a technique, just a method.
That's why Huo Yuhao could immediately perform it.
The concept was simple enough that even humans could use it—though far less gracefully.
First, Huo Yuhao climbed onto the enormous corpse of the Variant Frost Centipede and crawled into its body through its mouth.
The corpse was over two hundred meters long, so its mouth was naturally large enough for Huo Yuhao to enter completely.
As he first slid in, it was a tight fit. The esophagus, surprisingly, still retained some elasticity, wrapping tightly around him as he crawled.
"Ugh~" Huo Yuhao couldn't help but groan aloud.
"Brother Hao, could you not make such weird noises? It's really awkward," Tianmeng Iceworm grumbled.
"Shut it! You try crawling in here and see how it feels!" Huo Yuhao snapped.
It was just a natural sound from being compressed by the inner passage, okay? What exactly was going on inside Tianmeng Iceworm's head every day?
He pushed forward through the tight esophagus until finally reaching the centipede's stomach.
It was quite spacious. Huo Yuhao looked around and noticed many frozen fluids inside the stomach—along with fragments of various creatures.
Unsurprisingly, the frozen liquid was stomach acid, but it had lost its potency by now.
Unfortunately, there were no soul bones or other surprises among the remains.
Even as a corpse, the centipede's carapace remained extremely tough—but its frozen internal flesh was not. Testing with his White Tiger Dagger, Huo Yuhao confirmed he could cut into the frozen meat.
He quickly sliced off a chunk of flesh, about the size of a finger.
"Whew~" He exhaled deeply, mentally preparing himself.
Once he confirmed the piece wouldn't choke him, he shut his eyes and placed the frozen flesh in his mouth.
It was rock-solid—he couldn't chew it—so he just swallowed it whole.
Gulp~
The frozen meat slid down his throat.
It was an unusual experience compared to regular eating. The discomfort made Huo Yuhao frown, but he endured. As the frozen meat entered his stomach, he immediately activated the power of the Demonic Buddha Technique to begin refining the bloodline energy within.
Only because of his unique physique, the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus within him, and his own cultivation level could he afford to consume raw, frozen meat like this without worrying about internal damage.
The essence of this technique was straightforward: swallow the flesh, use demonic energy to refine and absorb the embedded bloodline power, and slowly merge that power with one's own bloodline.
The Demonic Buddha Technique was perfectly suited for this as well.
Naturally, this method had major drawbacks.
Mainly—it was incredibly inefficient.
And when it came to bloodline inheritance, the gains were inconsistent.
Often, one could absorb the bloodline but not the inheritances or hidden powers within it.
Its only merit was how simple it was.
At this stage, Huo Yuhao didn't care about inheritances. Whether he gained them or not didn't matter. His goal was simple: acquire the bloodline and complete the mutation of his second martial soul.
A single chunk of flesh only contained a limited amount of bloodline energy, which Huo Yuhao quickly refined—then moved on to a second piece, then a third, then a fourth…
After devouring over a hundred chunks, Huo Yuhao lay flat on a slab of frozen meat inside the stomach, his eyes vacant and his stomach unnaturally bulging.
"Ugh… I can't eat anymore. Hic~"
At that moment, he finally understood what it meant when people said—humans have limits.
The meat he had swallowed didn't just vanish after he absorbed the bloodline energy. The remains still sat inside his stomach, waiting to be digested.
Though his body could resist the freezing temperature of the meat, it couldn't digest it any faster.
It felt like he had a pile of frozen bricks stuffed in his belly.
And despite all that, he had only consumed a tiny fraction of the centipede's flesh—nowhere near enough to complete the mutation of his second martial soul.
The Variant Frost Centipede was over two hundred meters long! There was still a massive amount of meat left to "taste."
"Tianmeng, let's go find the Thorn Snow Centipede instead. This one's beyond me," Huo Yuhao groaned, feeling like a helpless child. He simply couldn't handle this kind of… intensity.
Tianmeng Iceworm didn't have any better ideas and could only offer comfort: "Don't worry, Brother Hao. When we're stronger in the future, we'll come back and take the whole corpse with us. Then you can eat it however you want!"
"That's probably the only option," Huo Yuhao sighed, sitting cross-legged in the stomach as he resumed cultivating with the Demonic Buddha Technique, trying to speed up the digestion of the frozen meat.
Otherwise, walking with a belly full of icy bricks would be miserable.
He focused the technique on his stomach, stimulating its movement and gradually defrosting the meat to make it easier to digest.
But even this only improved digestion slightly—it didn't solve the fundamental problem.
Again, the issue was low efficiency.
"This really is a demonic beast's method. Just because a human can use it doesn't mean a human should. Beasts can swallow tons of meat in one go, and even plant-type beasts can use their roots to absorb bloodline energy like nutrients. But humans can't…"
"…Wait. Plants?!"
Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly shot open.
"Brother Hao? What's wrong?" Tianmeng asked, puzzled.
"Tianmeng! I think—I think we might still have another way!"
Huo Yuhao looked incredibly excited, but didn't explain. He immediately closed his eyes again, focusing inward.
Tianmeng could only sense that the power of the Demonic Buddha Technique was moving away from the stomach and toward Huo Yuhao's heart.
He watched in a daze.
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao's skin began to ripple, like something was trying to grow out of his body.
Squelch—!
The next second, a plant-like root tendril burst out from Huo Yuhao's chest!
"AHHH!! This is insane! Brother Hao, you're growing tentacles!" Tianmeng shrieked in terror, clutching his head.
Just as Huo Yuhao was about to show off his excitement, he was rendered speechless by the Iceworm's scream.
"Tianmeng! Calm down—it's the Snow Lotus's root, and it's under my control," Huo Yuhao explained helplessly.
To prove it, he made the root—which was protruding from his chest—form the shape of a heart.
Tianmeng: "This is blowing my mind… Absolutely blowing my mind…"
Honestly, Huo Yuhao himself hadn't expected it to work. It had been a sudden idea—but it had worked.
The Snow Lotus offered no resistance to his command.
And the root growing from his chest didn't cause him any pain at all.
Thanks to the lotus's powerful healing abilities—
Not a single drop of blood spilled!
The root was completely under Huo Yuhao's control. He licked the tip of the vine as it reached his mouth.
A smirk tugged at his lips. The Dragon King's grin.
"Humans have limits. So—"
"Go, Snow Lotus Root!"
The root shot forward. Though it appeared soft, it was sharper than metal, easily piercing into the frozen meat.
When Huo Yuhao used Snow Lotus to act just slightly, the ability Devour Flesh and Blood was pushed to its limit.
Don't assume Snow Lotus is weak just because it lacks intelligence and is a healing-type soul beast.
Do you even understand the value of a hundred-thousand-year-old Snow Lotus?
At this moment, Huo Yuhao once again felt the vast difference between a rural dirt path and an eight-lane expressway.
And all of this was felt through the Snow Lotus.
A faint mist of icy blue and blood-red was drawn out from the corpse of the mutant Frost Centipede by Snow Lotus's roots, then absorbed into Huo Yuhao's body.
The icy blue mist was the bloodline power of the mutant Frost Centipede.
The blood-red mist was the remaining vital energy and nutrients from the centipede's body.
This scene strongly resembled the cultivation methods of an evil soul master.
Indeed, Devour Flesh and Blood is classified as a technique of evil soul masters on the Douluo Continent.
But here and now, with no one else around, who could stop Huo Yuhao?
Black cat or white cat, the one that catches mice is a good cat!
"This speed... really shows the gap between humans and soul beasts," Huo Yuhao couldn't help but sigh.
"Yeah, yeah! But still, it's because Brother Hao is smart enough to come up with such a method," Skydream Iceworm flattered him with a pat on the back.
Huo Yuhao felt great, and chuckled aloud. "Brother Skydream, say more like that and I might get cocky, hahaha..."
The corpse of the two-hundred-meter-long mutant Frost Centipede didn't seem to contain much bloodline power as Snow Lotus extracted it.
But that was just an illusion caused by the sheer speed of the extraction.
After just over ten minutes, the entire bloodline essence and nutrient energy of the centipede had been fully drained by the Snow Lotus.
Huo Yuhao clearly witnessed the transformation in the corpse.
Preserved by ice, the once fresh centipede quickly withered at a speed visible to the naked eye. Its once rock-hard exoskeleton became fragile and cracked all over.
Finally, when all its bloodline and vitality were exhausted—
Boom—!
The massive corpse of the mutant Frost Centipede collapsed with a thunderous crash, disintegrating into shards of ice and returning to nature.
"Cough, cough..." Huo Yuhao climbed out from the debris, coughing as he went.
The destruction of the corpse meant all its useful materials were lost—such a shame.
However, Huo Yuhao had obtained the most valuable thing.
Snow Lotus's roots had already retracted into his body, leaving no scar on his chest—it was as if they had never been there.
Huo Yuhao found a clean spot, sat cross-legged, and extended his spiritual sense into his heart.
There, he saw the now-miniature Snow Lotus growing quietly within. Its roots spread throughout his heart like muscle and veins, appearing both eerie and grotesquely beautiful.
Previously, the roots only pierced into the heart; now, they fully enveloped it.
This was because the Snow Lotus had absorbed the centipede's nutrient energy and grown stronger.
Snow Lotus doesn't consume flesh but does absorb nutrients.
Huo Yuhao wasn't worried. This trait was characteristic of symbiotic spirit herbs. In fact, this development showed that the bond between them had deepened.
Then Huo Yuhao noticed a shimmering ice-blue speck in the center of the Snow Lotus.
He reached out mentally to touch it.
The Snow Lotus swayed slightly, and an ice-blue seed floated from its blossom.
Like a dandelion.
Snow Lotus, which grows atop icy mountains, is different from the lotus found in ponds.
It doesn't produce lotus seeds. Instead, it releases seeds like dandelions, drifting away on the wind when mature.
Compared to lotuses, Snow Lotus is far harder to grow and propagate, making it rarer and more precious.
This special seed contained the concentrated bloodline power of the mutant Frost Centipede.
The Snow Lotus had no use for this power, so it concentrated it into a seed and expelled it.
Huo Yuhao immediately wrapped the seed in his Demonic Buddha Technique and began refining it.
This was far easier than extracting bloodline power from raw flesh.
With the original Snow Lotus aiding from the side—
Huo Yuhao could only describe the refinement process with one word: smooth.
Not a hint of rejection.
Just like that, half a day passed.
The icy aura around Huo Yuhao grew even stronger.
As the refining of the Snow Lotus seed neared its end, the centipede's bloodline power was nearly fully integrated into his body.
And at that moment—
Huo Yuhao's second martial soul began to transform!
Just like how the Shrek Seven Monsters' martial souls evolved after consuming immortal herbs in Douluo Dalu I.
In simple terms: not much visible change.
But Skydream Iceworm had been watching closely. The moment it began, he immediately alerted Huo Yuhao.
"Brother Hao! Your second martial soul is mutating!" he said excitedly.
The second martial soul Skydream had given Huo Yuhao was an Ice-type martial soul.
It had no fixed form, no soul, couldn't be summoned, and could only use ice-attribute powers with difficulty.
But now, it was evolving into the form of the mutant Frost Centipede!
To be precise: it looked more majestic and powerful than a small centipede, and had twelve pairs of legs—just one pair of wings short of the large corpse.
The martial soul's mark had completely formed!
Huo Yuhao opened his left hand. The centipede's mark now rested in the center of his palm.
But it still couldn't be summoned.
Because one thing was missing: a soul.
Without hesitation, Huo Yuhao shouted, "Brother Skydream, now's the time!"
Then, using his spirit power, he booted Skydream Iceworm into the martial soul mark.
"Ahhh! I'm not ready yet!" Skydream cried as he was tossed in.
Huo Yuhao pretended not to hear.
The moment Skydream entered the martial soul mark, Huo Yuhao felt it—
He could finally summon his second martial soul.
"Mutant Frost Centipede, possess!" Huo Yuhao shouted with excitement.
The aura of Ultimate Ice instantly exploded outward, blanketing the entire cave.
The mutant Frost Centipede itself wasn't an Ultimate Ice beast—it had both ice and poison attributes. But the evolution of the second martial soul had enhanced its ice affinity to the level of Ultimate Ice.
The cold surged outward.
All the surrounding snow and ice quieted, as if in submission.
Even Beibei, who was hibernating mid-molt, shivered involuntarily.
The mutant Frost Centipede martial soul had been summoned.
Skydream's voice rang out in Huo Yuhao's mind.
"Hey hey hey! I'm here!"
Everyone knows that when beast martial souls possess their user, they enhance the user's physical body.
But Huo Yuhao didn't feel any physical strengthening.
Then—
Huo Yuhao and Skydream stared at each other—or rather, he stared at the mutant Frost Centipede—and both were stunned.
"Ah-le?" ×2
Skydream had successfully merged with the centipede, giving it a soul and making it summonable.
But that's all it did.
Yes, the centipede had become a separate, independent entity—not possessing Huo Yuhao's body at all.
"This... this is just like that 'externalized beast martial soul' that Grandmaster talked about in Douluo Dalu I!" Huo Yuhao covered his face.
Good news: the martial soul mutation was a success.
Bad news: it wasn't the kind of mutation he wanted.
Huo Yuhao: I wanted a badass transformation...
Skydream didn't understand. He was busy marveling at his new form.
"Brother Hao! Look at me! Isn't this amazing? I'm your martial soul, but I can move around on my own—and I have a body again...!"
Huo Yuhao looked at the centipede wriggling and twisting awkwardly. His face twitched as he said, "Brother Skydream, you're a centipede now. Can you stop crawling around like a silkworm?"
Even someone unfamiliar with mutant Frost Centipedes could tell something was off.
It was clearly a centipede—but it had that unmistakable silkworm energy.
Because this centipede wasn't walking with its legs—it was crawling like a silkworm!
Ababa ababa... Second martial soul awakened! The great Brother Hao is returning to his beloved Shrek Academy!