Van charged into the s.p.a.ce between the bear's paws and grabbed the item on the ground. With Scattering Smoke Steps, he immediately vanished from sight.

A moment later, the Blizzard Wyrm barrelled into the two giant bears. White snow was flung in every direction by the impact.

In that brief instant of confusion, Van used Scattering Smoke Steps to get close to the Blizzard Wyrm and rappelled up its neck using a harpoon.

As the Blizzard Wyrm was recovering from the dizziness of the impact, Van tied himself securely to the top of its enormous head and started waving the object he had s.n.a.t.c.hed through the air.

The two giant Golden Ice Bears immediately roared with fury. Their eyes turned red with anger.

The object Van was waving around was precisely one small, chubby bear with big round eyes. It giggled as it swayed back and forth, dangling from the human's grasp.

On top of the Blizzard Wyrm's head!

ROARR!!!!

Powerful killing intent radiated from the bears' large and muscular bodies. Both Golden Ice Bears were taller than five metres when fully standing, and their muscular bodies were filled with vitality. They made an extremely intimidating sight.

Van gulped. The little bear in his grasp squealed with delight, enjoying the sensation of swinging back and forth.

Van looked at it's cute but dumb face and sighed.

[Your parents are in danger, be a little more solemn!]

Unlike the Blizzard Wyrm, which had high intelligence from being the distant descendant of a dragon, the Golden Ice Bears had low intelligence for their size. Blinded by their rage, the two bears felt that the Blizzard Wyrm and the small human were in cahoots. Otherwise, why could that small human sit on the Blizzard Wyrm's head?

Ordinarily, the Golden Ice Bears avoided and respected the Blizzard Wyrm due to it being a descendant of a dragon, but the wyrm's dilute bloodline was no longer a big enough deterrent for them.

The bears roared. It was time to attack!

The two Golden Ice Bears lunged forwards.

The Blizzard Wyrm was shocked at their sudden change in behaviour. These two Golden Ice Bears were normally respectful. What happened?

"Woah. Steady there!" A faint voice said somewhere just above the Blizzard Wyrm's head.

The giant lizard-like beast paused.

[Waitsss a minute…]

…

Giant icicles sprayed through the air as the wyrm roared with anger.

"HOW DARESS YOU STAND ON MY HEAD!!?!?!?"

One-handedly waving the small bear, Van stomped on where his harpoon just to double-check that it was securely lodged between the Blizzard Wyrm's scales

The King of Ice tried to dislodge Van, but the wyrm soon realised that it couldn't even see the brat. The human had positioned themselves in their blind spot!

Soon, Van was forgotten. The Blizzard Wyrm was too busy fending off the two enraged parent bears!

On the wyrm's head, Van hugged the small Golden Ice Bear to his chest and prayed that he wouldn't get killed in the crossfire.

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The ground trembled violently as the fight escalated.

Due to their immense rage, the Golden Ice Bears powers were unusually heightened. The Blizzard Wyrm possessed the better firepower, but the bears were landing far more blows as they had the advantage in numbers.

A Golden Ice Bear raked their claws down the Blizzard Wyrm's scales and tore off a section. In retaliation, the Blizzard Wyrm swung its barbed tail and knocked the Golden Ice Bear to the snowy ground. It whined and struggled to regain its footing.

The b.l.o.o.d.y scene made Van's heart jump.

Sometime later, the movements of the three beasts became slower and slower as the fight dragged on.

The two bears were on their last legs and the Blizzard Wyrm was exhausted and weakened.

The fight continued.

An hour later, the giant body of the Blizzard Wyrm toppled to the ground.

Van was alarmed. He was still tied to the back of the Blizzard Wyrm's head! The young man couldn't react quickly enough, for in the next second -

BANNGG!!

The Blizzard Wyrm slammed into the ground. A flurry of snow kicked up and obscured the sky. There was dead silence in the snowy plains.

Van and the little bear were suddenly pressed into the snow by the wyrm's immense wait.

Suddenly the Blizzard Wyrm moved. The large lizard-like beast staggered dizzily to its feet and flung the two bear corpses away from it.

Lifted from the snow, Van was immediately able to breathe again.

"BRAT!!" The King of Ice hissed. The wyrm's voice was weaker and raspier than before. Sometime during the fight the two bears had damaged its throat.

Van quickly put the little Golden Ice Bear into his Myriad Light Dimensional ring and pulled out his axe.

"What?" Van asked casually, hefting his axe with one hand, "In this weakened state, you have no chance of surviving a blow from my axe."

"Just lie down obediently!" Van smirked.

[!?]

The Blizzard Wyrm's anger rose to such heights that it nearly died from a stroke. It had to forcefully take deep breaths to calm itself.

As the only creature in the Blizzard Plains with a trace of an ancient and n.o.ble creature bloodline, it was used to being treated with respect and awe. But now a tiny, insignificant human was telling it to obediently lie down and be butchered for a meal!

Even as it grew dizzy with anger the wyrm had to forcible tamp its emotions down. After a moment is spoke.

"Whatsss do yousss want…?" The wyrm asked in a restrained, polite tone of voice.

Despite its immense pride, the wyrm did not want to die. It still wanted to live a full, long life and have lots of children!

The young man on its head was silent.

"If you want treasuresss…." The King of Ice said suggestively, getting desperate, "There are many in my den…"

Van smiled, revealing a row of glinting teeth.

"That's all I need to know. Thank you!"

Without further ado, Van used 'Blood Vision' and saw a bright red plume of leaking Blood Qi on the Blizzard Wyrm's skull.

[I found your weakness!]

Van entered the Silver Buddha state. His red hair flew behind him as the cold winter wind howled through the snowy plains.

"Die!"

Van's obsidian axe lodged deeply into the Blizzard Wyrm's damaged skull.

There was a cracking noise as the wyrm's skull broke apart.

The King of Ice roared with pain.

The large wyrm went insane – it repeatedly slammed its head on the ground to dislodge Van, but all it did was worsen its injuries. Van was still tied securely due to the anchorage of the harpoons!

Van was merciless. He wrenched the axe from the wyrm's skull and swung once more.

Something gave.

C-RACK!!!

The obsidian axe sank into the gooey softness of the wyrm's brain.

The giant wyrm swayed.

Van immediately removed his harpoon and jumped down to the snowy ground. A moment later, the Blizzard Wyrm crashed into the ground. The snow on the ground was thrown into an enormous flurry.

The King of the Blizzard Plains was no more.

Satisfied, Van pulled his axe from the wyrm's skull and surveyed the situation. Through a little bit of luck and a little bit of cunning, three enormous demon beasts were dead and their corpses ripe for the harvesting.

Van licked his lips. Arriving in front of the dead beasts, Van had to summon the little Golden Ice Bear from his dimensional ring - so it wouldn't have to share s.p.a.ce with random body parts of its dead parents.

Van felt bad for the dumb little bear, so he also summoned Blackie from his dimensional ring and got the large wolf to distract the bear while Van dissected the corpses. He started with the Blizzard Wyrm. The scales, teeth, heart, liver – everything was useful and would fetch a good price! Most importantly, Van extracted the Blizzard Wyrm's beast core, a blue-purple crystal filled with mysterious light that was the size of two fists put together. The heavy aura of spiritual power made Van salivate. He quickly put it away.

Discretely, Van removed the beast cores from the two Golden Ice Bears and quickly dissected their bodies. He might have felt bad for the little bear, but there was no need to be wasteful.

When Van was done, he returned to see Blackie enthusiastically playing with the little bear in the snow. The dumb little bear had white fur and golden eyes. It's two round ears twitched happily as it played around with the giant wolf.

Van wondered if the dumb bear was too young to understand what was going on. Perhaps it had only been born a few days ago? It did look very small compared to its parents…

Satisfied with this conclusion, Van buried the less valuable beast remains under the snow to avoid attracting more demon beasts.

"The treasures that the Blizzard Wyrm spoke of must be in its lair. Let's go back to where I found it," Van patted Blackie on the snout and scooped up the little bear.

With the help of Blackie's nose, Van found a large cave just over a kilometre away from where he had encountered the Blizzard Wyrm.

As Van entered the cave, he immediately felt cold.

The deeper he walked into the cave, the more s.p.a.cious it became. There were some low-level demon beasts within, but they were all weak. As Van could sense their blood essence from afar, he used his silver harpoons to reel them in. Once they got close, a simple swing of his axe was all it took.

Soon Van entered a central chamber. The walls were no longer ice, but of some type of stone. Underneath this stone wall was a frozen pond that extended to each side of the chamber. There was a large hole in the centre of the pond, roughly the same size as the Blizzard Wyrm.

Van didn't know what type of liquid was in the pond, but it gave off a chilly atmosphere like the Blizzard Wyrm.

"Snow Crocus, Snow Spirit Ginseng and Snow Bamboo Shoots… each over eight-hundred years old. The ginseng is even one thousand years old…!" Van laughed as he saw the treasured medicines and herbs growing along the sides of the pond.

In Dragon City, the normal value of these medicines could exceed a twenty thousand silvers each. As for one-thousand-year-old Snow Spirit Ginsengs, there weren't any to be found in even Dragon City's most respected herbal halls!

Van could barely contain his happiness. He had been in so many life-or-death situations, but he had survived and arrived in this treasure-filled chamber.

As Van walked towards the pond, he didn't immediately pick the precious plants. His eyesight focused on the icy pond. A freezing aura emanated from it.

There were a few sloughed off pieces of wyrm scales lying next to the pond. The Blizzard Wyrm had clearly visited and enjoyed bathing in the pond a lot.

"If the Blizzard Wyrm wanted to bathe in that pond, it must not be normal. Plus, such precious medicines were able to grow because of it," Van's excitement heightened once more. He cautiously bent down and touched the icy water. His skin was immediately attacked by the freezing intent of the qi within the water.

"If I'm not wrong, the tempering effect of this liquid is even better than bathing in the Body Strengthening Powder!"

Without hesitation, Van jumped into the pond.

Splas.h.!.+

Van immediately felt cold energy flowing into his body and entering his bones. He immediately s.h.i.+vered – he had never felt colder in his life.

The icy qi continuously hammered at Van's skin, turning it redder and redder as it tempered it.

Van took one of the poses of the Thousand Saints Sacrifice method and began to meditate. His body was continuously gaining strength.

However, Van noticed something strange.

[This icy water ... Not only is it tempering my body, it is also increasing my spiritual cultivation!]

After he acclimatized to it, Van retrieved Blackie and the little bear and encouraged them to enter the water.

Time pa.s.sed.

With the help of the icy water, Van felt his bodily cultivation rapidly improve.

[I can feel that the Tri-Divine Blood Flame has increased my resistance to the cold... my internal temperature has risen. This makes it easier for me to absorb the energy within the icy pond.]

Two days later, over seventy per cent of the energy had been absorbed into his bones, blood and skin

A few hours later, Van felt his body cultivation break through another level.

"Thousand Saint Sacrifices has reached the sixth level. My Silver Buddha state has upgraded, doubling my defence and increasing my physical strength by another three hundred kilograms. My resting state alone can stop a blow from an ordinary 4th level Qi Distillation cultivator. A 6th level cultivator would be completely unable to leave a mark if I activate the Silver Buddha state."

"In other words, only 7th level cultivators and above can even hope to injure me."

Van was very satisfied.

After reaching the sixth level of Thousand Saint Sacrifices, Van left the remnant energy in the pond for Blackie and the little bear.

Sitting on the edge of the chamber, Van started to cultivate with the Blizzard Wyrm's beast core.

The large, blue-purple beast core took a lot of time and effort to absorb and process. The spiritual power within was potent but b.e.s.t.i.a.l. It still possessed a strong will due to the wyrm's faint dragon bloodline. Extra effort was needed to purify and a.s.similate it.

Unfortunately, the wyrm possessed too little dragon's blood to congeal a bloodline essence.

Three days later, Van broke into the 7th level of Qi Distillation. Van stood up and felt the power rolling off him in subtle waves.

"I have exceeded the sect master's demand for the 6th level of Qi Distillation by an entire level. I will succeed within the Monster Mausoleum."

Van started to perform his various martial techniques. The power of both Dark Seas Palms and Fists of Devouring Flames vastly exceeded their former selves.

The most startling improvement was in his Fists of Devouring Flames. Due to the improvement of his cultivation and the addition of the Tri-Divine Blood Flame, the power behind his fists was immense.

There was also a strange effect that Van attributed to the Tri-Divine Blood Flame – the bull that emerged from his 'Flaming Bull Fists' and the vipers from his 'Searing Snake Strikes' seemed to gain a real quality, as if they were alive. It could almost be said that the martial art had transformed itself.

"I have reached the time limit. If I do not rush back to Dragon City now, I will miss the deadline set by the Sect Master."

Van quickly picked the precious medicines growing by the icy pond and left the cave.

______

[Twelve days later.]

Van approached the towering gates of Dragon City with Delphine and Ryan in tow. The crowds seeking to enter the city were immense, as usual.

Delphine looked around the city and beamed, "We're back!"

After a month in the desolate cold of Lihnrest, Delphine was nearly brought to tears at the sight of the large gates of Dragon City. She gazed up at the curved walls with watery eyes.

Once they entered the gates, Van walked quickly through the crowds.

The Sect Master himself had promised Van he could directly become an Inner Disciple if he could reach the 6th level of Qi Distillation within two-months… on the condition that he lead a battalion of 10 disciples within the inter-sect tournament within the 'Monster Mausoleum.' If Van missed this opportunity, he would not be able to enter the Inner Sect for another year and four months, breaking his promise to his little sister.

He could not bear the thought of her disappointed face.