Chapter 10

"What did you touch that you shouldn't have?"

On the way to the valley pond, Kang Zhi twisted his head, a bitter smile on his chubby face, clearly a bit worried.

"Ice Soul Python!" Qin Lie frowned and said, "There are Ice Soul Pythons active around the pond. Sometimes they go into the pond to wash off the mud on their bodies. If we run into one, it could be troublesome."

The Ice Soul Python is a second-stage spirit beast, comparable to a martial artist at the Kaiyuan Realm. Its individual killing power is far more terrifying than that of the Shadow Lightning Eagle. A single burst of cold breath is hard for a Body Tempering Realm martial artist to withstand.

Ling Feng of the Ling family, along with Ling Chengzhi and others, encountered an Ice Soul Python in the Extreme Cold Mountains years ago. After being sprayed with a burst of cold breath, if it weren't for the Fire Cloud Hammer that timely defended against the cold, he would have died from the cold poison attacking his heart.

In the end, he survived, but the spirit weapon, the Fire Cloud Hammer, was scrapped. If it weren't for Qin Shan helping to repair it, the spirit weapon would have been completely destroyed.

This shows that the Ice Soul Python is not easy to deal with.

He had a statue of his grandfather in his arms. According to his grandfather, the statue could be effective in some specific spirit beast lairs.

However, the pond was not one of them, and his grandfather never mentioned the Ice Soul Python, so the statue was clearly useless.

Upon hearing about the Ice Soul Python, everyone's expressions changed slightly, and they were secretly alarmed.

Everyone, except Tu Ze and Zhuo Xi, looked troubled. At this moment, Zhuo Xi sneered and said, "The Ice Soul Python is more powerful than the Shadow Lightning Eagle, but this spirit beast never gathers in groups; it always acts alone. Compared to over thirty Shadow Lightning Eagles, which is more troublesome? We are seven people, plus Qin Lie, can't we handle one Ice Soul Python? Besides, we might not even run into it. Look at how scared you all are. Isn't that embarrassing?"

Upon hearing this, everyone laughed awkwardly, realizing their performance was somewhat pitiful.

"Brother Lie, this has nothing to do with you, you don't have to come with us," Tu Ze pondered for a moment and suddenly said, "You've already pointed us in the right direction, and we are very grateful. There's no reason for you to take the risk with us. Yes, we can part ways here..."

"No, I'll go with you," Qin Lie shook his head, his slightly immature face full of calmness, "You need me to guide the way, and I also need to find something at the pond..."

Stellar Iron is a seventh-grade ordinary spirit material, rumored to be fragments of stars that exploded and fell to the earth. When refined and integrated into a spirit weapon, it can greatly enhance the weapon's toughness, making it a rather rare and extraordinary item.

However, the reason his grandfather specifically marked the pond was not for the Stellar Iron, but for the Ice Stem Grass growing in the crevices and algae beside the pond.

Ice Stem Grass is a fifth-grade ordinary spirit herb, a core ingredient for refining the Hundred Meridians Pill. The Hundred Meridians Pill can increase the toughness of the tendons and meridians, enhancing the flow of spiritual energy in the meridians and accelerating the speed at which martial artists refine spirit stones and beast cores.

Swallowing Ice Stem Grass directly can also achieve similar effects, helping Qin Lie quickly refine the lightning power within the beast core and speed up his accumulation of spiritual energy.

He was willing to go to the pond with them not because of his deep friendship with Tu Ze and Zhuo Xi, but for the Ice Stem Grass.

After all, if he went to the pond alone and encountered an Ice Soul Python, he would be in a dire situation, with a very slim chance of survival.

Without the seven people, he would not have taken the risk at this stage. Now, with seven people accompanying him, he naturally wanted to seize the opportunity.

Tu Ze and the others were deeply moved by his statement, and their gazes towards him became increasingly friendly.

As they conversed along the way, under his guidance, the group of eight finally arrived at the valley he mentioned at noon.

There are countless similar valleys in the Extreme Cold Mountains, and this valley has no name. Perhaps because it is closer to the snow peaks and glaciers, the valley is filled with cold winds, much colder than the Silent Ridge.

Everyone tightened their clothes, looking at the knee-high weeds and shrubs in the valley, and cut a path with their weapons, entering the valley.

Sure enough, a pond suddenly appeared in the center of the valley. The pond was surrounded by lush aquatic plants, and a light mist hovered over the surface, creating a misty and ethereal landscape.

"Is the Stellar Iron at the bottom of the pond?" Tu Ze looked at Qin Lie with excitement, confirming.

Qin Lie nodded.

Tu Ze cheered and, without caring about the depth or temperature of the pond, dove in.

"Ah! The pond water is really damn cold!" Suddenly, he emerged with a wet head, laughing heartily, "Everyone, come in and take a good bath! After being in the mountains for so long, this is the first time I've seen such a clean pond. We can't miss it."

Liking cleanliness is a woman's nature. Even the usually carefree Zhuo Xi couldn't resist, laughing and gracefully diving into the pond.

The other six people laughed and one by one rushed into the pond, first washing their bodies, then diving to the bottom.

Qin Lie watched for a while, seeing that they had started searching for the Stellar Iron, and began to move around the pond, searching the crevices and aquatic plants.

The Ice Stem Grass is only about half an arm's length, often with half of it wedged in the crevices, and the part exposed above the water is minimal, often mixed with weeds and algae, making it hard to spot.

If Qin Lie hadn't obtained his grandfather's map and known about the Ice Stem Grass, he would have had a hard time finding it even if he had been active nearby without carefully digging.

Of course, knowing that there was Ice Stem Grass here made all the difference.

Circling around the pond, Qin Lie moved unhurriedly, maintaining a calm attitude, and searched carefully...

Soon, a small, inconspicuous grass suddenly caught his eye. Qin Lie's face lit up, and he immediately moved closer, carefully pulling the Ice Stem Grass out from the weeds and algae.

The entire Ice Stem Grass, when pulled out, was only about half a meter long, with a stem about two fingers thick.

The leaves of the Ice Stem Grass were bluish-brown, slightly cold to the touch, and covered with fine lines, resembling the meridians of the human body, containing a certain mystery.

"Ordinary fifth-grade..."

Qin Lie murmured, tying the Ice Stem Grass and putting it in the leather bag at his waist, then continued searching.

"Ha ha ha! I found it, I found some Stellar Iron, it's real!"

The excited and wild laughter of the fat Kang Zhi came from a corner of the pond. He was holding a small, fingernail-sized piece of bright silver rock, shaking it continuously.

The bright silver rock looked like a rare metal, shining under the sunlight, truly resembling fragments of fallen stars.

Hearing the wild laughter from above, Tu Ze, Zhuo Xi, and the others in the pond floated to the surface one after another. They saw Kang Zhi shaking his head and boasting about being "destined" and "the favorite of the earth" in a shameless manner.

Tu Ze, Zhuo Xi, and the others ignored Kang Zhi's annoying face, their eyes fixed on the small piece of bright silver rock. They all cheered and, with renewed energy, dived back into the pond.

Confirming that there was Stellar Iron at the bottom of the pond, the seven people were like they had been injected with adrenaline, only surfacing for a breath when they couldn't hold their breath anymore.

Qin Lie didn't pay attention to them, focusing on finding the Ice Stem Grass and helping the seven people keep watch.

Five days passed.

During these five days, Qin Lie collected over a dozen Ice Stem Grasses. Every night, he would swallow the Ice Stem Grass to refine the power of the Shadow Lightning Eagle's beast core.

With the help of the Ice Stem Grass, his speed in refining the beast core indeed increased significantly. In five days, he refined over twenty beast cores, and the spiritual energy in his Dantian Spirit Sea gradually filled up.

The feeling of the spiritual energy surging in the Spirit Sea, as if a vast force was contained within his body, greatly boosted his confidence.

During these five days, Tu Ze, Zhuo Xi, and the other seven people focused all their energy on searching for Stellar Iron. Whether it was due to bad luck or not, their harvest was not impressive. Together, they only obtained about ten small pieces of Stellar Iron, which was not enough for Tu Ze to refine a weapon.

At night, Qin Lie borrowed a realm-measuring stone from Tu Ze and secretly tested his true realm, avoiding the seven people.

The realm-measuring stone is a multi-faceted, crystal-clear rhombus that glows slightly under the moonlight, specifically used to test the realm of martial artists.

Holding his breath and focusing, Qin Lie slowly gathered the spiritual energy from his Spirit Sea to the realm-measuring stone in his palm. A clear blue line gradually appeared on the smoothest surface of the stone.

One blue line represents one realm. As Qin Lie's spiritual energy increased, more blue lines appeared on the surface of the stone.

One, two, three, four, five, six!

Sixth realm of Body Tempering!

"The Spirit Sea is not yet fully saturated. As I continue to refine the beast cores, it should still improve. Once the Spirit Sea is truly full of spiritual energy, I might... reach the seventh realm of Body Tempering!"

Qin Lie exhaled, stopping the flow of spiritual energy, his eyes gradually brightening, filled with confidence and anticipation for the future.

On the sixth day, Tu Ze and the others continued searching for Stellar Iron, while Qin Lie continued looking for Ice Stem Grass, everything as usual.

"Hisss! Hisss!"

Suddenly, from the distant shrubs, came the strange sound of a snake or python rapidly flicking its tongue.

Qin Lie, who was searching through a patch of seaweed, suddenly felt a chill, his face changing drastically. Without thinking, he grabbed the largest stone nearby and threw it into the center of the pond, shouting, "There's an Ice Soul Python!"

As he shouted, Qin Lie quickly moved away from the direction of the strange sound, trying to avoid encountering the Ice Soul Python alone.

In the pond, with the heavy stones falling, Tu Ze and the others were alarmed. They quickly surfaced and rushed in the direction Qin Lie was pointing.

The Ice Soul Python is an amphibious spirit beast, equally powerful in water and on land. It can fully utilize its strength in the pond, unaffected by the water.

Tu Ze and the others were different.

Fighting in the water would greatly affect their strength, and many powerful attacks would be significantly weakened.

Therefore, upon hearing about the Ice Soul Python, they decisively surfaced from the pond.

The knee-high shrubs were broken, the sounds of cracking wood and flying stones mixed with the hissing of the spirit beast as it writhed.

Soon, a python nearly nine meters long and as thick as a barrel suddenly appeared.

The Ice Soul Python's body was a translucent white with cloud-like patterns. Its triangular head opened and closed, spewing out frosty white mist, bone-chillingly cold.

Its movement was incredibly fast, and its body was extremely agile. Its deep green eyes shone with a poisonous and eerie light, captivating the soul.

"It's coming!" Kang Zhi screamed.

"Then let's kill it!"

Zhuo Xi adjusted her stance, her muscular legs in a bow stance. She nocked an arrow and quickly drew her longbow to its limit, the first to prepare for the bloody battle.

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