Chapter 68: Soul-Piercing Cold
Flying snow filled the sky, the cold wind wailed, and the sky was overcast. The snowfield did not feel oppressive; as long as there was light, this vast expanse of white snow would not be dark—only cold.
Snowflakes landed on Su Xiao's face, melting from his body heat. A cold wind blew, evaporating the water droplets while also taking away a trace of his body temperature.
Chatter, chatter, chatter~
Bubu Wang's teeth chattered, white mist puffing from its wet nose. No mistake, as a "Snowfield Wolf King," it was now frozen stiff like a dog. This was very abnormal.
Chatter, chatter, chatter~
Amu also made chattering sounds. Amu, who had never felt cold even in the extreme ice of the Witch Realm, was now shivering from the cold.
As for Baha and Beini, they were also freezing badly, especially Beini, who had even frozen snot dripping from its nose.
At this moment, the temperature on the snowfield was minus 40°C. For Bubu Wang and Amu, this temperature was nothing. Given their conditions, they should not only feel no cold but actually feel comfortable.
Yet the current situation was that they all felt very cold.
"Th-this is, t-too too cold."
Baha crouched on Amu's shoulder, shivering so much it could barely speak.
Su Xiao, walking at the front, stopped. Bubu Wang looked up at him slightly, as if to say, "Master, aren't you cold?"
"Not feeling it yet."
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang was somewhat incredulous. In terms of cold resistance, Amu ranked first in the team, and it was definitely second.
Su Xiao extended his palm. A few snowflakes landed on his hand and immediately melted. This puzzled Bubu Wang. It looked at its own front paw—furry and unlikely to melt snow—but Bubu Wang's imagination was vast. It immediately stuck out its tongue.
Snowflakes landed on Bubu's tongue. A strange sight appeared: the snowflake did not melt immediately but lingered for at least a few seconds before slightly melting.
"Oooowoo~"
Bubu Wang covered its head with both paws, flopping onto the snow and shaking its head wildly. The sensation it felt was like taking a huge bite of ice cream in summer, the shock causing a sharp pain in its forehead.
At this moment, Su Xiao was located at the edge of the Extreme Cold Zone. The temperature here would continue to drop. Moreover, this edge area would keep contracting toward the Peak Mountain Range.
A temperature of minus 40°C had frozen Bubu and Amu like this, indicating that the most terrifying aspect of the edge area was not just the low temperature.
In terms of stamina attributes, Amu was not much lower than Su Xiao. The biggest difference between Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, Beini, and Su Xiao was soul strength.
The blizzard in the edge area ignored cold resistance and directly made the soul feel cold. Otherwise, Bubu Wang and Amu would not have frozen like this.
Su Xiao walked at the front, stepping on the snow with a crunching sound. Bubu Wang followed behind him, then Beini, with Amu and Baha bringing up the rear.
After advancing for over ten minutes, the heavy snowfall gradually subsided. A few snowflakes fell, and the snow stopped.
Su Xiao looked back. He seemed to have just passed through an invisible barrier. Inside the barrier, there was not even a snowflake, and the cold wind had weakened significantly. Outside the barrier, however, there was a raging blizzard and howling wind.
With this invisible barrier as the boundary, the area outside was the periphery of the Extreme Cold Zone. This region had blizzard weather, and the cold would gradually freeze the soul.
As soon as they left the snowstorm area, Bubu Wang shivered. It suddenly felt no longer cold. Although the temperature was still minus 40°C, it no longer felt cold at all—just cool. This feeling even made it want to lie down on the snow and sleep.
Amu and Baha had the same experience. As for Beini, it was still sniffling. It came from the "Hot Rainforest," afraid of nothing except the cold.
The fifth round of the Strongest Warrior Battle would last five natural days. During this time, the range of the Extreme Cold Zone would continuously shrink, with the center point being the Peak Mountain Range.
That is to say, as time passed, the likelihood of Su Xiao encountering other participants would increase.
According to what Su Xiao knew, each participant had a [Overlord Medal]. If this item was taken away for more than ten minutes, they would be directly eliminated.
The one who seized the most [Overlord Medals] or killed or eliminated all nine other participants would secure first place.
This was what Su Xiao planned to do. Of course, there was another method: hide, keep hiding until reaching the central Peak Mountain Range.
As long as one was not eliminated, they could potentially hide all the way to second place, provided they could endure.
For Su Xiao, the most important thing now was to find other participants. Considering that the fifth round had just started and the Extreme Cold Zone was still vast, the chance of encountering other participants was low.
In terms of finding people, Su Xiao's team had an absolute advantage. After leaving the edge area, the blizzard stopped, and Baha could survey from high altitude to locate enemies.
Su Xiao looked at the snow on the ground, then at Bubu Wang.
"Woof?"
A moment later, Su Xiao sat on a snow sled, with Bubu Wang pulling it in front, looking exceptionally cheerful. With its strength and endurance, pulling a snow sled was easy.
Baha flew high in the sky, its sharp eyes scanning the ground below. Anything suspicious could not escape its sight.
As for Amu and Beini, they formed another team. Amu had combat power, while Beini had intelligence and rich exploration experience.
This way, the chances of encountering other participants were greatly increased. Once they did, Beini would immediately use a Shelter Gem to open a spatial rift, allowing Su Xiao to reach its location. Although he would be dragged back through the rift after an hour, that was enough. The Shelter Gem had 2 durability points, meaning it could be used twice in the Extreme Cold Zone.
Amu and Beini would rendezvous with Su Xiao in three days. By then, the Extreme Cold Zone would have shrunk further, making it unnecessary to split up to search for other participants.
The key was how to seize more [Overlord Medals]. However, one thing Su Xiao found slightly regrettable was that there were no indigenous people in the Extreme Cold Zone. If there were, he had over a 60% chance of allying with them.
This was not blind confidence on Su Xiao's part. In his past entries into Primordial Worlds, this was what he did most often. Interests, internal conflicts, power, alchemical knowledge, survival resources, territory—these were all methods to ally with indigenous people.
Previously, in the Viking Sea, if not for the numerous and chaotic factions there requiring a long time to operate, Su Xiao would have done so and blocked over 99% of participants outside Terror Island.
The snow sled suddenly slowed down. Bubu Wang tumbled a couple of times on the snow before quickly running to Su Xiao's side. Judging by its appearance, if not for its size, it would have jumped into Su Xiao's arms.
"Whimper~"
Bubu Wang whimpered, pressing tightly against Su Xiao's leg, leaning its body backward as much as possible.
The reason for Bubu Wang's current state was that a hundred meters away, a translucent figure was floating in midair. Its feet were about half a meter above the snow, looking very much like a ghost.
The ghost drifted slowly. Its translucent white hair fluttered in the wind, and its tattered skirt hung down, making it unclear whether it had feet.
In reality, this was not a ghost but an Ice Spirit, a very rare energy-based lifeform.
A hundred meters away, the Ice Spirit was looking in Su Xiao's direction. Its azure eyes were full of curiosity. In all its life, it had only seen two humans. Now there was one more, and the other was an ascetic who had come to challenge the limits. That ascetic had told it many stories.
Snowflakes swirled around the Ice Spirit. It first sensed Bubu Wang's aura. Instantly, the Ice Spirit felt a high level of goodwill toward Bubu Wang. In fact, it was attracted by Bubu Wang's Snow Goddess aura.
The Ice Spirit's gaze shifted from Bubu Wang to Su Xiao, beginning to sense him.
Thump!
It felt as if the Ice Spirit's head had been struck by a hammer. In a blur, it sensed everything around it turning blood-red. A massive Blood Beast crouched before it. Compared to this Blood Beast, it was so tiny. What terrified it even more was that the Blood Beast was grinning at it, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white fangs.
The illusion before the Ice Spirit vanished. Its first reaction was to flee, to escape this area immediately.
A whoosh of wind came, and weight landed on the Ice Spirit's shoulder. A sharp eagle claw grabbed its head. The stinging pain on its head made its whole body tremble.
"If you move a muscle, I'll crush your skull."
Baha grabbed the Ice Spirit's shoulder with one claw and its head with the other. It tilted its head to look at the Ice Spirit, the red gleam in its eyes indicating it was not joking.