novelhk Chapter 17 Unexpected Gain
Chapter 17 Unexpected Gain
After discovering the new way to use the panel, Jiang Che went on to experiment with several more soul beasts.
Strangely, the panel did not display any content these few times, which puzzled Jiang Che.
"Strange, why is this broken panel working and not working at all?" Jiang Che looked at the ten-thousand-year-old soul beast in front of him. Logically speaking, it was much stronger than the strength displayed on the panel.
Just when Jiang Che was about to doubt that what had just happened was just a "bug" on the panel.
[Not good! A ten-thousand-year-old polar bear seems to have discovered you spying on it. It's furious that a mere Soul Master dares to make a move on it. Your best option now is to run away quickly.]
The prompt on the panel made Jiang Che look at the polar bear again, and he found that it had indeed seen him.
"roar--"
The deafening roar of the polar bear suddenly exploded, like a thunderbolt falling from the sky, causing the surrounding ice crystals to fall down in a flurry, and even the air itself to be filled with layers of cold mist in the roar.
Its body was truly majestic, standing seven or eight meters tall, covered entirely in a layer of snow-white fur as clear as glass. Each hair stood on end, its tips adorned with fine ice crystals that gleamed with a cold, silvery light in the dim ice cave.
Its thick limbs are like giant ice pillars carved from ice rock, each claw half a foot long, gleaming with a cold light capable of tearing through steel.
Before the roar had even faded, the polar bear had already moved. Its powerful hind legs slammed into the ground, and the thick ice surface instantly cracked open with spiderweb-like fissures. Flying ice shards, mixed with a biting cold wind, rushed towards them.
Its massive body, like a cannonball, charged straight at Jiang Che with overwhelming force, smashing through ice shards and stone pillars in its path, the biting cold air carrying its violent soul power.
When a soul beast reaches the ten-thousand-year level, it undergoes a qualitative change. This polar bear has a strong bloodline, and with the advantage of home field, its strength is probably already approaching that of an ordinary soul saint.
Jiang Che didn't dare to be careless and didn't use his Martial Soul. The moment the Ice Bear launched its attack, Jiang Che activated his Martial Soul.
"Roar!" As Jiang Che's martial soul was attached to him, a huge phantom of an ice dragon king appeared behind him, letting out a dragon's roar, and Jiang Che's body also underwent a large-scale dragon transformation.
One by one, spirit rings rose from beneath Jiang Che's feet. The first one was a light black spirit ring (after two upgrades to the spirit ring's age). The color of the rings gradually darkened, and the edge of the seventh black spirit ring even had a faint dark red tinge.
When the eighth 100,000-year soul ring appeared, Jiang Che's aura reached its peak. The Ice Bear naturally sensed it and a trace of fear flashed in its eyes. However, it obviously could not turn back and could only unleash its full power, hoping to leave a sliver of hope for survival.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Winter's Protection!" Jiang Che shouted, his soul power suddenly erupting. His sixth soul ring flashed and instantly condensed into a hemispherical transparent ice layer around him. The surface of the shield was covered with fine ice patterns and flowed with a chilling aura.
The moment the shield took shape, the Arctic Bear's giant claws, carrying the force to shatter everything, slammed down on the Winter Guardian!
"boom--!"
A deafening collision rang out, ice shards flew everywhere, and a violent shockwave of soul power swept across the entire ice cave. The surrounding ice walls were instantly covered with cracks, and countless pieces of ice crashed down.
The powerful attack from the Arctic Bear landed, but the transparent ice layer around Jiang Che remained completely undisturbed. The Arctic Bear, having failed in its first strike, was about to try again.
But Jiang Che was no pushover. His third spirit ring flashed behind him, "Third spirit skill! Ice Dragon Claw!"
The light black soul ring shone brightly, and the aura of the Ice Dragon King's phantom suddenly intensified. Jiang Che's right arm instantly transformed into a dragon, covered with a layer of ice crystal dragon scales. His five fingers grew several inches, and icy claws that gleamed with cold light condensed at his fingertips. The chilling cold spread along his arm, and even the air made a cracking sound.
He took a sudden step forward, his figure flashing out like an ice-blue lightning bolt. The shield of Winter's Protection vanished in response, and the ice dragon claw, accompanied by a sharp sound of tearing through the air, slashed straight at the chest of the Arctic Bear.
The polar bear's pupils contracted sharply, and in its haste, it raised its arms to block. The moment its heavy ice crystal armor collided with the ice dragon's claws, a piercing metallic scraping sound exploded.
The icy claws easily tore through the surface ice crystals, and the dragon scales collided with the cold light on the bear's claws, scattering large amounts of ice shards.
Jiang Che's dragon claw didn't pause for a moment, tearing the entire chest of the Arctic Bear apart with a single claw strike.
The icy soul power surged into the claws, instantly shredding the flesh and organs inside the polar bear's chest cavity, even freezing its beating heart completely through the icy claws.
The massive body of the polar bear suddenly froze on the spot, its beastly eyes, filled with rage and ferocity, widened abruptly, the spirit within fading away at a visible speed, leaving only endless deathly silence.
A low, broken whimper escaped its throat, no longer able to utter the roar that had previously reverberated through the ice cave. Its thick limbs trembled uncontrollably, unable to support its mountain-like body any longer.
The next second, this ten-thousand-year-old ice bear, whose strength was approaching that of a Soul Saint, completely lost all its vitality and crashed heavily to the ground like a collapsing ice mountain.
"boom!!"
A deafening crash resounded, causing the entire ice cave to tremble violently. Large sections of the already cracked ice walls collapsed instantly, with shards of ice and ice crystals falling in a flurry, raising a cloud of icy mist.
The Arctic Bear lay on the cold ground, frozen blood flowing continuously from the shocking claw wound on its chest. Its icy white fur had lost all its luster, and its once gleaming claws had fallen limply, no longer displaying any of the imposing power of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast.
Jiang Che slowly retracted his right arm, and the ice crystals and bloodstains on the ice dragon claw instantly disappeared, and his arm slowly returned to its original state.
He looked at the dead Arctic Bear at his feet, his soul rings pulsating slightly, his aura steady, clearly indicating that he had easily won the battle.
The next second, spirit rings began to condense above the Arctic Bear, but Jiang Che didn't care at all.
[The host was attacked by a millennia-old polar bear, narrowly escaping death, but through his wisdom and unwavering will, he ultimately triumphed over the polar bear's carelessness.]
[Congratulations, host, you have received a 5000-year Soul Ring age limit reward.]
After receiving the age limit reward, Jiang Che added it to his seventh spirit ring without hesitation. His seventh spirit ring was originally obtained from an 86000-year-old spirit beast, and with the addition of this 5000-year age limit increase, the dark red color around the spirit ring gradually expanded.
Based on the fact that the panel displayed danger again, Jiang Che was certain that this was not a "bug" in the panel, but he did not understand the pattern behind it.
Just as Jiang Che was about to leave to find a few more soul beasts to experiment with, his sharp eyes suddenly noticed something wrong with the left hand of the Arctic Bear on the ground.
After some confirmation, it was found that it really was a soul bone. Although the probability of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast dropping a soul bone is relatively high, it is only relatively larger than that of a hundred-year-old or thousand-year-old soul beast.
"I didn't expect to gain anything unexpected from this trip," Jiang Che exclaimed.
P.S.: Regarding the Martial Soul setting, I did some research, and it seems there aren't any pure elemental Martial Souls in the Douluo Continent setting. So I changed it to the Ice Dragon King Martial Soul, which also contains the ultimate ice attribute. I've already changed the opening Martial Soul. If there are any others that haven't been changed, please let me know in the comments section. I'll go back and change them after I see them. Thank you for your support!