"Whoosh~"
In the vast, boundless white world, a figure in ice-blue was flying at extremely high speed. Wherever it passed, the sound of air being torn echoed, as if it were in great urgency.
After an unknown amount of time, the figure finally stopped and landed on the snowy ground.
Shui Wuhen panted heavily and subconsciously glanced behind him. "I've been running for so long, and she still hasn't caught up. It seems Articuno's deterrence against her is even greater than I imagined."
He had been flying at high speed in the Extreme North Forbidden Land for nearly two hours, but he had not seen the Ice Empress pursue him. It seemed she had given up.
"However…"
Suddenly, Shui Wuhen scanned the surroundings and frowned. "Where exactly am I right now?"
After being chased by the Ice Empress, Shui Wuhen had already lost his sense of direction and no longer knew where he was.
After all, everything in this ice-and-snow world looked exactly the same, and the violent gusts in the sky made it impossible to see the sun or stars, leaving him unable to determine direction.
"Forget it. I'll recover my soul power first. With my current strength, as long as I don't encounter a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, self-preservation shouldn't be a problem."
With that, Shui Wuhen controlled ice shards to form an ice cave on the ground, then hid inside and began meditating to recover his soul power.
Due to being in the Extreme North, his soul power recovery speed was much faster than usual.
Two hours later.
"Bang!"
Along with a burst of ice-blue light breaking out of the seal, Shui Wuhen stepped out.
In these two hours, he had fully recovered his soul power, returning to peak condition.
"Come out, Articuno!"
Shui Wuhen immediately tried to summon Articuno, planning to use its extremely strong flight ability to leave this place.
However, Articuno did not appear as it usually did. Instead, a sense of fatigue came through, causing Shui Wuhen to be slightly stunned.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
Soon, combining the circumstances, Shui Wuhen came to a possible conclusion.
This might be the cost of Articuno forcibly using Absolute Zero. It seemed that for a short period of time, he would not be able to summon Articuno for combat assistance.
Shui Wuhen sighed softly. "Fortunately, my soul skills are unaffected. If someone else were in my situation, they would probably be doomed."
Although Articuno was his martial soul, it was more like an independent existence, while Shui Wuhen merely borrowed part of its power.
Most notably, Articuno possessed many soul skills, including domain-type abilities. However, Shui Wuhen could only use the six soul ring skills, as well as his own self-created skills.
Therefore, not being able to summon Articuno greatly reduced his combat strength—equivalent to losing half of his power.
Fortunately, in the past six months, Shui Wuhen had improved significantly. Even with only part of his strength, he was still comparable to an ordinary Soul Douluo. Otherwise, surviving in the Extreme North would truly be dangerous.
Next, ice wings condensed behind Shui Wuhen, and with a single flap, he vanished from the spot.
Since he did not know the direction, he would just go straight ahead. As long as he did not turn back, he would not run into that ten-thousand-year scorpion soul beast.
However, to Shui Wuhen's surprise, after flying for a full day, he still had not left the snow-covered region. This made him realize something was wrong.
"Has my perception been affected?"
Shui Wuhen began to doubt his own senses. With his speed—even without going all out—he should have covered at least several thousand kilometers in a day. Yet he still hadn't flown out of the Extreme North. Could the Extreme North really be this large?
But soon, Shui Wuhen patted his head. "In a fantasy world like this, having a large map is normal, right? Maybe I've just entered a new region."
Thinking of novels where the world layers upon layers, perhaps the Douluo Continent he was in was just a small corner of a larger world.
This could also explain why there were so few famous Titled Douluo on the continent—because the truly powerful ones might have already left.
Thinking of this, Shui Wuhen couldn't help but feel proud of his own cleverness.
However, what he did not know was that this world was not as complicated as he imagined. Although there were hidden secrets, Bibi Dong was basically the ceiling of power—anything beyond that would require becoming a god.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Shui Wuhen seemed to sense something and turned his gaze sharply in one direction.
Shui Wuhen said in surprise, "This feeling… something is calling me."
At the same time, deep within his body, Articuno also responded with a strong sense of desire.
"Articuno is reacting too? But with my current strength…"
Shui Wuhen hesitated. His strength was already strong in the Douluo Continent, but this was the Extreme North Forbidden Land, and with this unknown calling, he might not be able to handle what was ahead.
After thinking for a moment, Shui Wuhen gritted his teeth and decided to investigate the source of the call.
Opportunities come and go in an instant. If he hesitated too much, the unknown might disappear. Besides, he did need something to break his current situation.
Half an hour later.
Shui Wuhen arrived above a glacier, where a massive fissure appeared before him.
The fissure was bottomless, like a devouring abyss. Yet Shui Wuhen could clearly feel that the calling sensation was coming from beneath it.
Looking at the abyss below, Shui Wuhen's expression darkened.
Such a scene easily reminded one of some unknown trap.
However, the strong attraction was real. After arriving here, Articuno's desire grew even stronger. Shui Wuhen was certain that there was a chance for him to undergo a complete transformation below.
Just as he hesitated between advance and retreat, a massive figure suddenly leapt out from the fissure.
The moment Shui Wuhen saw it, his pupils shrank, and he almost instinctively turned to flee.
Because the creature that emerged was none other than the Ice Jade Scorpion that had once hunted him down relentlessly, and its aura and size were even more terrifying than the previous Ice Empress.
At the same time Shui Wuhen noticed it, the terrifying Ice Jade Scorpion also noticed him.
"Sss—ROAR!!!"
It immediately let out a terrifying roar toward Shui Wuhen's direction. Instantly, an even more horrifying pressure erupted from its body.