Chapter 264: I lack a mount

Boom—

Just a few days after Yunhe took up guard at the Deep Abyss Cold Pool, a deep, thunderous rumble like rolling thunder suddenly came from within the pool.

This caused Yunhe, seated on the spotless ice lotus, to involuntarily open his eyes.

He quickly figured on his fingers that Ice Osmanthus Fairy must have already led the disciples of the Ice Fairy Pavilion to the secret realm guarded by the Snow Sword Sect, and the time for turmoil in this Deep Abyss Cold Pool had arrived.

Yunhe hesitated not, rose and went to the Seal Pillar, preparing to infuse Golden Core power.

However.

The seal here had become illusory, allowing Yunhe's divine sense to enter it, which made him unable to resist a flicker of curiosity about what lay within the Deep Abyss Cold Pool.

He placed one hand on the Seal Pillar, ready to reinforce the seal at any moment, while slowly extending his divine sense into the cold pool.

This cold pool truly lives up to its name "Deep Abyss": it is extremely deep, even exceeding the original height of this snow mountain, and its water seems somewhat special, faintly able to block the penetration of divine sense.

But this did not make Yunhe give up; instead, it only heightened his curiosity.

A place capable of steadily producing ten-thousand-year Ice Heart must have its own peculiarities; this should be the Ice Fairy Pavilion's greatest secret.

As his divine sense probed deeper, even just a trace of it, Yunhe could feel the extreme cold temperature at the bottom of the pool.

"This has already exceeded the limit of a Golden Core cultivator's divine sense."

He thought to himself.

Even without worrying about the seal, merely relying on a Golden Core cultivator's divine sense, even a perfected Golden Core cultivator could not reach the depth he now attains.

"In other words, to discover the secret of the cold pool, at least a Nascent Soul cultivator would be needed?"

Although his divine sense can barely match that of the weakest Nascent Soul cultivator, Yunhe is not sure whether it is sufficient.

Moreover, having determined that only a Nascent Soul cultivator could explore its secrets, Yunhe evidently became even more cautious.

Just as he was about to reach the limit of his divine sense,

Roar!!!

Suddenly, a long howl bellowed up from the bottom of the cold pool.

Boom!!

Immediately, the entire cold pool trembled and swayed.

Yunhe narrowed his eyes; in that instant, he locked onto the source of the sound and also identified the cause of the continual tremors in the cold pool.

In his divine sense, he "saw" a snowy-white, crystalline figure flash past at extreme speed within his perception.

Its scales were clear and bright like ice crystals; on a head resembling both a snake and a camel grew a pair of smooth, sharp horns; its slender torso bore a pair of four-clawed dragon talons on the belly, and the seemingly fine tip of its tail ended in a fish‑fin‑like sharp spur.

Flood dragon!

More precisely, it is a Cold Chant Flood Dragon!

Besides this flood dragon, Yunhe also discovered at the bottom of the cold pool a spot emitting extreme cold, but the chill there was so fierce that even his divine sense could not penetrate it.

That flood dragon often wanders around that extreme cold, and those roars and bellows come from it.

The reason for the turmoil in the entire cold pool is that the Cold Chant Flood Dragon is attempting to break through the wrapping of that extreme cold.

As Yunhe observed the flood dragon, it suddenly halted its motion, sharply lifted its head, and gazed outward from the cold pool.

Although they were clearly separated by a considerable distance, at this moment the man and the flood dragon seemed to lock eyes.

This made Yunhe faintly startled.

But he soon broke into a smile.

"Good spiritual sense, good demon sense—this flood dragon is not bad."

This Cold Chant Flood Dragon is a late-stage third‑level demon beast; as a flood dragon, its strength far surpasses that of an ordinary late‑third‑level demon beast, and its potential ceiling is also considerably higher.

It possesses the possibility of attempting to breakthrough to the fourth level.

Yunhe's thoughts began to race.

Such bloodline, such power level of demon beast—even in the Demon Beast World they are rare—yet he never expected to find such a flood dragon lurking in the depths of the Ice Fairy Pavilion's cold pool.

Just as he was pondering, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon seemed to sense something; its tail lashed out like a snowy‑white arrow, or like an icy spear, shooting straight toward the outside of the cold pool.

So fast that in barely a few breaths it had shot from the bottom of the cold pool to its surface.

Splash—

Accompanied by the breaking water surface, a snowy‑white flood dragon nearly ten zhang in length leapt onto the lake's surface.

However.

Although the seal enveloping the entire cold pool had become illusory, it still existed; the Cold Chant Flood Dragon could leave the water by less than three zhang before feeling the seal's presence.

"Roar!!!"

The Cold Chant Flood Dragon's serpentine vertical pupils locked tightly onto Yunhe standing outside the cold pool, and it let out a fierce long howl.

Biting cold air instantly swept up a great deal of ice crystal snow particles, howling toward Yunhe.

"To be able to bring such formidable ice‑snow power across the seal is indeed impressive."

Yunhe's long hair and robes fluttered incessantly in the wind and snow, and the piercing cold wind scraping his face seemed on the verge of condensing into frost.

Gazing at the Cold Chant Flood Dragon, one could see in its eyes an intensely human‑like provocation.

Seeing this, Yunhe laughed.

"Well, I admit my heart is moved."

After giving a low chuckle to himself, Yunhe's body surged with an extremely potent power that blocked the chill emanating from the Cold Chant Flood Dragon outside his body.

"Just right—I happen to lack a draught beast."

Then.

Then he patted the corpse‑refining bag at his waist, and a Golden Core stage corpse‑refining appeared at the spot where he stood, taking his place with its hand on the Seal Pillar.

Although he had the thought of subduing this flood dragon, he could not therefore neglect his duty, lest he ruin his ten‑thousand‑year Ice Heart.

With a Golden Core corpse‑refining holding the fort, the seal remains relatively stable.

Finished these.

Yunhe flicked his sleeve, scattering a vast expanse of ice-crystal snow; he lightly tapped his foot and flew into the seal.

Upon entering, Yunhe felt a chill even more biting than before; the frost rushing at him condensed into countless crystal-clear snowflakes around his body.

"Roar——!!"

The Cold Chant Flood Dragon clearly sensed Yunhe's Late Jie Dan Stage mana and instinctively sensed a threatening aura; it thus launched the first attack, spewing a mass of snow‑white cold breath from its mouth full of fine fangs.

This is the "Profound Darkness Cold Breath"!

It is one of the Nine Great Cold Qi famed in the cultivation world, said to be related to the legendary True Spirit, the "Ten‑Thousand‑Year Ice Spirit Dragon".

This True Spirit belongs to the dragon lineage, a branch of the True Dragon, and is itself a True Dragon.

It seems this Cold Chant Flood Dragon might actually possess a trace of True Dragon Weibo bloodline.

When this Profound Darkness Cold Breath emerged, Yunhe even felt the circulation of his Five Elements mana begin to turn sluggish.

It could even affect his mana.

This shows how extraordinary this cold air is.

Even the few spirit swords he casually formed from Five Elements mana were instantly frozen into ice swords in mid‑air, falling halfway into the cold pool and splashing a little water.

"Not bad, I'm getting more and more interested."

Yunhe laughed heartily, his interest fully aroused.

This Cold Chant Flood Dragon, with just this single display of Profound Darkness Cold Breath, could crush the vast majority of Third‑Level Late Stage demon beasts, even Late Jie Dan Stage cultivators.

Know this.

Ordinary Third‑Level demon beasts, when facing cultivators of the same rank who take on jobs, are usually at a disadvantage; they rely more on their mighty, treasure‑comparable flesh, which lets them continually fight and drain cultivators until one side can't hold on.

Only after the demon beast transforms does this situation reverse.

This Cold Chant Flood Dragon, merely at Third Level, can display power exceeding that of Jie Dan cultivators; if it breaks through to Fourth Level, even an ordinary Yuan Ying Cultivator would find it very troublesome.

Yunhe lightly tapped his dantian; as his mana surged, a small turtle‑shell shield instantly appeared before him.

"Monster‑Lifting Shield!"

After he deployed this shield for protection, Yunhe managed to fend off this cold air's assault.

"Cold Chant Flood Dragon, I happen to lack a mount; you look decent today—open your divine sense so I can implant a soul seal, or else I'll refine you into a Cold Flood Dragon Spear!"

Yunhe laughed loudly; his aura surged wildly, revealing a vigor rarely seen on him before.

Upon hearing this, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon's vertical pupils flashed with fierce anger; as a demon beast with considerable spiritual intellect, it fully understood that opening its divine sense to receive a soul seal meant submission.

How could a proud Third‑Level Late Stage flood dragon possibly submit to a human cultivator?

Moreover, this human cultivator is only at Late Jie Dan Stage, the same level as it!

The angry Cold Chant Flood Dragon let out another long roar, its tail lashing and striking the cold pool, sending up a great spray of water droplets.

These water droplets, wrapped in the Cold Chant Flood Dragon's cold air, turned into numerous hard ice needles as fine as ox hair yet extremely sharp, sweeping toward Yunhe.

Faced with such a formidable display, Yunhe was not surprised; he simply formed a seal and struck the Monster‑Lifting Shield, whereupon a misty earth‑yellow aura rose from it.

As the ice needles shot forth, the earth‑yellow aura rising from the shield absorbed them all, dissipating without a trace.

Seeing this, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon gritted its teeth, its eyes filling with indignation.

Relying on a turtle shell, you want to cause him trouble and try to subdue it?

How could it possibly accept that?

Yunhe naturally saw the change in its expression; knowing the flood dragon was proud and arrogant, he merely gave a low chuckle, then tapped his dantian again, and three flying swords shot out from his mouth.

Boom—

Rolling thunder rumbled, golden arc light flickering and undulating in the air.

Sensing the heavenly thunder's power, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon tensed all over, immediately feeling threatened; its body went rigid, and its snow‑white scales rustled.

Seeing the Cold Chant Flood Dragon realize it was afraid, Yunhe's smile widened.

But the next second.

His expression suddenly turned solemn, and he formed seals with both hands again.

Then Yunhe's eyes suddenly blossomed with a cluster of five‑colored light, its bright radiance flickering.

"Roar!!!!"

At that moment, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon roared again, instantly sensing a greater threat; its heart tightened, and it once more violently expelled a mouthful of cold breath.

Profound Darkness Cold Breath!

Hum—

From Yunhe's eyes suddenly shot two beams of five‑colored light.

Inverted Five Elements Spirit‑Collecting Divine Light!

Milky‑white cold air collided head‑on with the five‑colored light.

It made no sound, yet the Cold Chant Flood Dragon's Profound Darkness Cold Breath began to melt away the instant it touched those two five‑colored lights, vanishing silently.

Although ice‑attribute spiritual energy does not belong to the metal‑wood‑water‑fire‑earth Five Elements, nothing in the world can escape the Yin‑Yang Five Elements, and ice‑attribute energy is part of it.

Seeing this, the Cold Chant Flood Dragon's eyes widened.

It seemed it never imagined its proud cold breath could be so easily wiped away by the opponent.

Why then bother bringing out a turtle shell earlier?

Little did it know.

This was also Yunhe's first true use of this divine ability, using this Cold Chant Flood Dragon as practice.

Nevertheless, from the clash of these two abilities, it's clear that the divine power Yunhe fused and created—his own unique technique—is not weak.

However, he had only sketched the outline of this divine ability; it wasn't fully perfected, so after using it Yunhe felt his eyes sore and swollen, hard to bear.

This made him realize.

Looks like this "Inverted Five Elements Spirit-Collecting Divine Light"—for me right now, the biggest problem might be that my eye strength isn't sufficient.

After testing the divine ability, Yunhe no longer joked around with the Cold Chant Flood Dragon.

He didn't go for the kill right away because, on one hand, he wanted to test the divine ability, and on the other hand, he wanted the Cold Chant Flood Dragon to clearly recognize the gap between them, so that this Cold Chant Flood Dragon would thoroughly feel fear from the heart and be willing to submit.

Otherwise.

Otherwise, he would really only be able to refine this flood dragon into a Cold Flood Dragon spear.

Thus.

Yunhe then employed another divine ability.

Seeking Immortal, Heaven's Gift Bestowal!

Hum!!

Divine Sense attack—its lethality against demonic beasts is extremely strong!

The Cold Chant Flood Dragon, which had been astonished just a moment ago, was now stiffened all over and suspended above the cold pool the next second.

(End of Chapter)