Vol 2 Chapter 24: Three-Body Cultivator
After Lin Jing decided to preemptively contract the Ice Soul Gu, he wasted no time and began acting immediately, sitting cross-legged on the snowy ground.
“Pine Leaf Mouse, guard me.”
Hearing this, the Pine Leaf Mouse froze, dumbfounded. It hadn’t expected the Ice Soul Gu to take over the Dragon Carp’s contract slot so soon, instantly becoming the second contracted beast.
The poor Dragon Carp not only missed out on the opportunity to benefit from the Cavern Heaven, but now its second contract position was also snatched away!
“...Alright.” The Pine Leaf Mouse manipulated the surrounding vegetation to construct a wooden fortress, shielding Lin Jing within. It then stationed itself atop the fortress to ward off demonic beasts from the Dragon-Phoenix Cavern Heaven, ensuring they wouldn’t interrupt Lin Jing’s attempt to contract the Ice Soul Gu.
Knowing it was futile to dissuade Lin Jing, the Pine Leaf Mouse simply obeyed the order.
Inside the sealed space.
Lin Jing’s consciousness manifested, and he gazed at the slumbering Ice Soul Gu before him. Though still asleep, its cultivation had already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement. A ripple of thought crossed his mind.
“Back then, before the Ice Soul Gu’s Parasitic Gu had the chance to absorb nutrients and provide feedback to the parent Gu, Cold Moon Sword Immortal exterminated them all, leaving the Ice Soul Gu underdeveloped…”“After entering my body, it was further sealed and suppressed, resulting in extremely slow growth. But now, nurtured by the Dragon-Phoenix Cavern Heaven, its bloodline may awaken and break through to Foundation Establishment once we leave this place. At that point, if I haven’t yet contracted the Dragon Carp, it will be hard to maintain balance and restrain it. I must contract it before it awakens.”
The current Beast Taming Art, which had been revised by the Beast Taming Sect, was no longer a master-slave life-and-death contract but rather claimed to establish equality. However, in practice, Beast Tamers still maintained a level of suppression over their contracted beasts. The dynamic was akin to that of “brother and brother” or “father and son” — not absolute equality but lacking the extremity where the Beast Tamer could determine the life and death of their beasts with a single thought.
“Blood, descend.” Lin Jing raised his hand. With a single thought, golden light sparkled in the sealed space’s sky. A massive drop of golden contract blood descended slowly, falling toward the slumbering Ice Soul Gu.
This method was clearly not the traditional contract technique used by today’s Beast Taming Sect. It was more reminiscent of the early practices of the sect, where demonic beasts were subdued, sealed, and contracted by force while they were unable to resist.
The golden contract blood seeped into the Ice Soul Gu through the Sacred Wood Seal’s gaps. Although the Ice Soul Gu didn’t resist, Lin Jing still felt immense pressure during the process. The Ice Soul Gu’s bloodline was too powerful; even with his Beast Taming Physique, the contract wasn’t proceeding smoothly.
Lin Jing’s manifested consciousness began to freeze.
It could be said that as one of the Ten Rare Gus, its power level wasn’t necessarily weaker than the same-tier Heavenly God Physique.
Inside the wooden fortress, as the contract progressed, an intense cold aura surged out from Lin Jing’s body, instantly freezing the entire structure. The Pine Leaf Mouse, seeing this, shivered uncontrollably and immediately used its Flying Leaf Technique to hover in mid-air while continuing to guard.
“Ack… ack…”
While guarding, the Pine Leaf Mouse occasionally glanced nervously back at Lin Jing. Inside the wooden fortress, Lin Jing was enduring immense pain. The reason he wasn’t making any sound was that his entire body had been turned into an ice sculpture. Were it not for the contract link confirming Lin Jing still had consciousness, the Pine Leaf Mouse might have thought he had died during the process.
…
Within the sealed space, during the contract process, the slumbering Ice Soul Gu struggled as if trapped in a nightmare, repeatedly attempting to break free from the seal. Fortunately, the seal was created by the Divine Pine and not by Lin Jing or the Pine Leaf Mouse; otherwise, it might have already been shattered.
“This Ice Soul Gu…”
“It’s forcibly altering your physique!” After some time, Lin Jing noticed something unusual. Perhaps due to the Pine Leaf Mouse’s bloodline being too weak, or perhaps it was the inherent nature of Gu insects, the process of contracting the Ice Soul Gu triggered a reaction similar to that of contracting unique spirit beasts or demonic beasts.
During the bloodline contract stage, while the Ice Soul Gu didn’t resist excessively, the ever-deepening bloodline connection caused it to feed back a force that forcibly reshaped Lin Jing’s physical body!
“This is bad…”
“Wait…” The Ice Soul Gu’s ultimate icy power seemed to have completely fused with Lin Jing’s body. Now, even by borrowing the Ice Soul Gu’s strength, Lin Jing could wield ice-type powers as if they were an innate part of himself.
Most astonishingly, as Lin Jing’s body temperature dropped further, he sensed that his life span was increasing by a unique means. Though he possessed the Longevity Body with an inherently long lifespan, the Ice Soul Gu’s contract process was further extending it.
He… was becoming even more “immortal.”
“Rumor has it that cultivators with ice-related physiques… appear younger than normal cultivators and age more slowly. Am I now in a similar situation?”
Inside the wooden fortress, the ice on Lin Jing’s body gradually sublimated into white frost. The contract blood had perfectly merged with the Ice Soul Gu. However, within the sealed space, the Ice Soul Gu remained in its slumber, still unaware it had been contracted. Its reaction upon fully awakening remained a mystery.
“Still, this newfound power seems to come with its own cost…”
The Outside World
Lin Jing reappeared, hovering in midair as he manipulated his energy to fly. At that moment, the Pine Leaf Mouse was carefully monitoring the four incoming Dragonblood Fish from all directions.
“I’ll handle this,” Lin Jing said, signaling the Pine Leaf Mouse not to intervene.
As soon as he finished speaking, a surge of icy energy erupted from his body. Nine spiraling vortices of spiritual energy expanded outward, and the Dragonblood Fish attacking from all sides were immediately coated in a layer of white frost. Many of them froze and shattered, their broken pieces falling to the ground.
At the same time, Lin Jing felt the same sensation as before: using this ice-attribute power still caused him to suffer from “frostbite.”
“I don’t truly possess a natural ice-attribute physique. Instead, I’ve been influenced by the Ice Soul Gu’s power, resulting in something similar to an acquired Ice Spirit Physique. However, this acquired physique is inherently flawed compared to a natural one. Therefore, when wielding this overwhelmingly dominant ice power—more powerful than even the Ice Spirit Physique—it still causes frostbite, just as it did before.”
Not only did his physical body suffer from frostbite, but even his soul was slightly injured. However, the severity was far less than before—a significant benefit of the contract. As long as he didn’t overuse the power and regularly used top-grade fire-attribute or yang-attribute spiritual medicines and pills to recover, it shouldn’t be a major issue.
“Not bad. I’ll call it the Acquired Ice Soul Physique.” Lin Jing smiled. This transformation had greatly enhanced his strength. Furthermore, the Ice Soul Physique could serve as a disguise, misleading others into mistaking it for a natural Ice Spirit Physique, causing them to underestimate him or misjudge his capabilities.
“What?!” With the Dragonblood Fish dead, the Pine Leaf Mouse looked at Lin Jing as he hovered midair. It noticed that the color of his hair and pupils had returned to normal, indicating that he had gained initial control over the Ice Soul Gu’s power.
“Squeak squeak!!” The Pine Leaf Mouse chirped excitedly, genuinely happy for Lin Jing. It didn’t seem jealous of Lin Jing contracting yet another beast.
The Pine Leaf Mouse often fretted over one particular issue: many of the resources it stockpiled would spoil if not maintained with its wood-attribute true energy. Over time, the resources would begin to rot.
But now, with Lin Jing contracting an ice pet, such worries would be a thing of the past. As long as the storage space for the harvested resources was cold enough, their shelf life would be significantly extended, and the Pine Leaf Mouse wouldn’t have to personally “maintain” them anymore!
From now on, the Ice Gu would handle preservation, the Dragon Carp could refine herbs into pills, and the Pine Leaf Mouse felt like this arrangement was perfect!
“Thank you. I’ve already resealed the Ice Soul Gu. The power I displayed earlier... it has already been converted into my own strength. While it’s not as potent as directly using the Ice Soul Gu’s power, it’s still comparable and more than enough to instantly kill these Dragonblood and Phoenixblood demonic beasts,” Lin Jing said, his body enveloped in cold mist.
“Let’s move on.”
He pondered for a moment, wondering whether these changes to his body meant he now possessed two additional unique physiques. If so, wouldn’t that make him similar to the Ancient Imperial Prince, effectively becoming a “Three-Body Cultivator”?
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter