Just as the last remnants of the Frozen Soul Trial faded into the winds, a chilling roar erupted from the crevice Ethan and Elena had emerged from.
Without warning, the ground quaked, and a monstrous figure rose from the shattered ice an ancient frost beast with crystalline scales, eight eyes, and a horn of black obsidian. Its breath was a wave of soul-numbing cold.
An Icebane Behemoth!
Elena shouted, instantly summoning her spiritual blade.
It pounced.
The duo fought fiercely. Ethan weaved between the beast's thunderous strikes, parrying with his Dragon Slayer Sword now imbued with the frost rune. Elena hurled lightning-infused slashes from afar, but the beast's hide was nearly impenetrable.
Ten minutes into the fight, Elena leapt to shield Ethan from a deadly tail swipe.
She screamed.
The beast's tail cracked into her side, sending her crashing into the jagged ice wall. Blood splattered across the snow.
ELENA!
Ethan's roar was pure fury.
Summoning every ounce of his dual-element power, he dashed forward and leapt into the air. With a mid-spin, he thrust the Dragon Slayer deep into the beast's skull. The behemoth thrashed, bled steam, and collapsed in a deafening quake.
Ethan rushed to Elena's side.
Her face was pale, her breathing shallow.
She's bleeding internally, he muttered, scanning her meridians. Standard recovery won't be fast enough. The frost poison is spreading.
From his storage ring, he retrieved pills, spiritual herbs, even a healing scroll but nothing was potent enough.
He remembered the scrolls from the Divine Medicinal Valley.
Two methods for extreme healing:
The core of a divine beast.
Dual cultivation with spiritual resonance.
Ethan's heart clenched. Divine beast cores were rare, and hunting one now was reckless.
Dual cultivation...
He looked at Elena, unconscious, vulnerable.
He had no right to decide this alone. Not without her consent.
So instead, he chose a third path
Find a dual cultivation technique that could amplify both their spiritual harmonies without overstepping bounds.
I'll find a way, he whispered,
brushing her hair behind her ear.
He wrapped her in warmth using a spiritual shield, placing enchanted formations to slow the frost poison.
Then he rose.
I need that technique, he muttered, eyes blazing with resolve.
According to ancient maps, there was a forgotten sect once famous for dual cultivation techniques the Lustrous Harmony Pavilion, buried deep within the Blossomwind Valley, beyond the Alabaster Ridge.
And so, Ethan set off alone, braving spiritual beasts, frigid storms, and forbidden lands.
Every step pulsed with urgency.
He had less than three days.