Sensing that something was wrong, the Extreme Cold Ice Bird no longer dared to harbor any thoughts about attacking Water Wuhen and the others, and immediately fled at its fastest speed.
"Hmph!"
Seeing the Extreme Cold Ice Bird flee in panic, Water Wuhen let out a cold snort.
A ten-thousand-year Extreme Cold Ice Bird was indeed not weak, enough to defeat most Soul Kings, but in front of Water Wuhen, it was still not enough.
That was only under the condition of facing Water Wuhen alone. If Ice Feather unleashed her aura, then under that pressure, this Extreme Cold Ice Bird might not even be able to escape.
After that, Water Wuhen rode Ice Feather deeper into the Frozen Forest. A twenty-thousand-year-level soul beast was not something that could be casually encountered even in a large soul beast forest like the Frozen Forest; such beasts were generally gathered in the core region.
Ice Feather was already very familiar with this. After all, this was not their first time entering the core region of the Frozen Forest. So it did not take long before Water Wuhen and the others arrived.
Then, Water Wuhen began to circle in the air together with Ice Feather, selecting suitable soul beasts.
During this process, both Water Wuhen and Shui Bing'er saw quite a few excellent soul beasts.
A fifteen-thousand-year Frost Feather Sparrow, a thirty-thousand-year Cold Abyss Owl, a forty-thousand-year Snow Wolf, and a Snowfield Ice Cat.
Among them, the most suitable for Shui Bing'er was a twenty-thousand-year Extreme Cold Ice Bird, but Water Wuhen still decided to look a bit more and placed it in the backup list.
Of course, occasionally some soul beasts that did not know their place would come to disturb them, but they were all scared away by Water Wuhen and Ice Feather.
Although the Frozen Forest was a large soul beast forest, the highest-level soul beasts inside were only around fifty to sixty thousand years. For the current Water Wuhen, they posed no real threat.
This was also why Water Wuhen dared to let Ice Feather circle almost openly above the Frozen Forest.
Just like that, time passed day by day.
One day, Ice Feather flew past a frozen lake. Shui Bing'er pointed at the ice-blue swans playing on the surface of the lake and said, "Huh~ Brother, look, one of those Frost Swans is really beautiful."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Water Wuhen looked in the direction Shui Bing'er pointed.
But just this one glance caused Water Wuhen's pupils to shrink.
Because he immediately noticed, among the group of ice-blue swan soul beasts, that one extraordinary Frost Swan.
This Frost Swan had a slender and elegant body, with a crystal crown on its head, like an arrogant emperor, standing out sharply among the others.
Shui Bing'er also quickly noticed the change in Water Wuhen's expression and asked in confusion, "Brother, what's wrong?"
"That's not a Frost Swan. That is a Frost Emperor Swan!"
After a moment, Water Wuhen finally spoke, but his eyes were still flickering as he looked at it.
"Frost Emperor Swan?"
Shui Bing'er was puzzled. She had never heard of such a soul beast before.
Seeing this, Water Wuhen slowly explained, "The Frost Swan is just a high-grade soul beast. Although it is not bad, it still has a considerable gap compared to top-tier soul beasts like the Extreme Cold Ice Bird.
But the Frost Emperor Swan is a mutated form among Frost Swans. It only appears with an extremely tiny probability. It has extremely strong control over ice and snow, and is a top-tier soul beast without a doubt. It is even stronger than the Extreme Cold Ice Bird."
"Stronger than the Extreme Cold Ice Bird?"
Hearing this, Shui Bing'er's eyes lit up. Doesn't that mean this Frost Emperor Swan is even more suitable as her fifth soul ring?
Immediately, Shui Bing'er said to Water Wuhen, "Brother, I've decided! I want this Frost Emperor Swan as my fifth soul ring!"
"Are you sure? Although the Frost Emperor Swan is indeed a very good choice, this one seems to be close to thirty thousand years. Even for you now, absorbing this soul ring has a high chance of failure. At best you could be seriously injured, at worst you might explode and die!"
Water Wuhen said solemnly, reminding her.
If possible, Water Wuhen still did not want Shui Bing'er to take the risk.
Although Shui Bing'er possessed the Spiritual Condensation Wisdom Skull, making her immune to soul shock, her physical body was still somewhat strained when it came to absorbing a thirty-thousand-year soul ring.
One must know that even some Soul Saints' seventh soul rings were around this level.
However, facing Water Wuhen's reminder, Shui Bing'er shook her head and said firmly, looking at him, "Brother, didn't you say my physique is already beyond that of ordinary Soul Emperors? That proves I should be able to absorb a thirty-thousand-year soul ring."
Water Wuhen was momentarily speechless.
After obtaining soul rings, a Soul Master's body would be strengthened by the soul ring's effect.
And Shui Bing'er's current physique was even stronger than those who had truly broken through to Soul Emperor level. According to the rule that the stronger the body, the higher the soul ring limit that can be absorbed, Shui Bing'er's actual limit should indeed exceed the usual twenty-thousand-year threshold of six-ring Soul Masters.
But exactly how much higher remained unknown.
That was why Water Wuhen had preferred to find a twenty-thousand-year soul ring for his sister, because it was safer.
Seeing her brother fall silent, Shui Bing'er pressed on, "A rarer ice-attribute bird-type soul beast than the Extreme Cold Ice Bird is extremely rare. If we miss this Frost Emperor Swan, we might never encounter something like it again. Even if we take some risk, it's worth it."
"Brother, I've already grown up!"
Hearing this, Water Wuhen looked deeply at Shui Bing'er for a long moment, then nodded.
"Alright, I understand."
Hearing this, Shui Bing'er immediately smiled slightly and hugged Water Wuhen's arm. "Don't worry, brother. If I wasn't confident at all, I wouldn't do this."
At the same time, Shui Bing'er thought to herself that she must make her brother look at her differently, so she would not fail the two top-quality soul bones her brother had given her.
"I hope so."
Water Wuhen sighed, then shouted to Ice Feather beneath him, "Ice Feather, move! Take down that Frost Emperor Swan!"
"Wuuu~~~"
As soon as Water Wuhen's voice fell, Ice Feather flapped its wings and suddenly accelerated, turning into a streak of icy-blue light as it dove toward the Frost Emperor Swan.
Not long after Ice Feather made its move, the Frost Emperor Swan reacted immediately.
In an instant, ice spears appeared around it, and under its control, they shot toward Ice Feather at high speed.
However, such an attack was naturally useless against Ice Feather. As the Snow Domain unfolded, those ice crystals were immediately taken over and turned back against the Frost Emperor Swan.
Seeing this, a trace of panic flashed in the Frost Emperor Swan's eyes. It had always been the one controlling others' attacks—never did it expect that one day its own attacks would be controlled.
Helpless, it could only continue to manipulate the surrounding ice elemental energy, causing a thick ice wall to rise from the ground in front of it, attempting to block Ice Feather's assault.