The Second Summon

In a frozen cave, nestled into solitude peak, was a Yin lake, a source of violent frost qi.

While it was generally quite calm, at this moment energies were raging. If one were there, they would see the entirety of the frost qi in the lake gather into the center, where a small bird glowed brightly.

The Yin energy flowed into the bird, who then passed it onto a young man, whose body had settled into the rocky depths of the lake.

The young man's hair fluttered, as his body began to rise up from the bottom of the lake, lifted by the Yin energy constantly flowing into him from the icy bird.

At the same time, a small black dog sunk deeper into the lake, unassisted by the bird, who was clearly close to its limits.

After about a minute of this, the lake finally calmed down, as the young man was brought ashore, his skin glowing.

The bird was not done, though, as it approached the young man, before releasing its own energy, and circulating it into him.

This bird seemingly had the intelligence of a human, yet its origins and reasoning for saving this young man were unknown.

____

Li Zhu woke up, with an unprecedented feeling of power coursing through him. Checking his cultivation, he noticed something incredible, 'I am at the sixth stage! How? I was in the cave...'

Just as he was about to rejoice, Li Zhu noticed his peculiar surroundings. He was currently standing on a mountain covered in ice, in the midst of a snow-storm.

Around him, icy peaks reached the sky, giving off an imposing aura.

'Where am I, could there be a hidden world inside the Yin lake?' thought Li Zhu, recalling how his fight with the Frost-Steel Wolf had ended.

Experts in ancient times had managed to manipulate space, creating worlds out of nothing. This was similar to how spatial rings were made, but at a much grander scale.

Thus, Li Zhu's first assumption was that he had stumbled in one such world, left in Solitude Peak for some reason.

"Screech!"

Just as these thoughts were running through his head, a loud noise rang out from the distance, followed my a majestic sight.

Appearing in the horizon was a massive bird, covered in ice from head to toe.

'That beast looks like a phoenix, yet it is made of ice!' was Li Zhu's first impression, seeing the frozen bird.

Even as the crown prince of the Heavenly Dragon Empire, he had only heard of fire phoenixes in legends and myths, passed down for generations.

Even the greatest figures in the continent had not confirmed the existence of phoenixes, which had led many to doubt these old stories.

That said, he had never even heard of such a divine beast being made of ice, so he was extremely confused and dumbfounded. so his face now showed extreme confusion.

The legend of the phoenix was that it could be reborn from fire, so would an ice phoenix be reborn from ice?

'It's probably simply a high-leveled Ice Wyvern' thought Li Zhu, though he knew he was lying to himself.

It was definitely not an Ice Wyvern, which looked more like a dragon than a bird. That said, Li Zhu also knew that it was not a phoenix, since its appearance could only be explained by a world-changing event, which would allow beasts from higher realms of existence to travel to the Endless Sword Continent.

While most people in the continent believed that they lived in the one and only world, the top figures knew that there was more to be found out there, though the methods to reach those realms were unknown.

Since these other realms were so mysterious, who was to say that phoenixes did not exist there? That said, for such a beast to appear in the endless Sword Continent was close to impossible, since realms were not interconnected.

The unidentified bird finally reached Li Zhu, as it landed on a nearby peak, closing its wings.

Li Zhu did not feel any fear, since the beast did not seem intended in harming him. At the same time, he was starting to understand where he was.

As he looked at the bird, Li Zhu's eyes lit up, realizing his suspicions were correct. Not only was he not in a hidden world, he was not even in a physical location: he was in a soul world!

This suspicion had stemmed from the feeling of power that Li Zhu had as he first entered this world, since his strength had been much greater than that of a sixth stage qi gathering realm expert.

Now, the bird actually reminded him of the one he had saved in the cave; Li Zhu realized he was in the soul world of this strange spirit beast.

'Wait, since I am now sixth stage, I can form another contract!' this realization struck Li Zhu, who was growing more excited by the second.

Summoners could form two contracts in each realm of cultivation: one in the first stage and one in the sixth. Although he did not know how he had broken through, Li Zhu did not ask too many questions, rather decided right then and there that he would form a contract with the frozen bird.

Regardless of what spirit beast it was, the strength of the bird was undeniable, and the fact that he did not recognize it simply convinced Li Zhu even more about its power.

The large bird, seeing Li Zhu's excited expression, simply huffed, before actually shrinking down to the size he had seen it in the cave.

As with Buddy, the bird was in the form of its soul, which was determined by bloodline. In the soul world, the spirit beast took on the appearance of what they could eventually become, rather than what they currently were.

Unlike Buddy, this bird could change its appearance freely in the soul world, which was useful, as it approached Li Zhu, taking the initiative to form the contract.

'It wants to form a contract with me?' Li Zhu was confused by its actions, since spirit beasts were generally unwilling to become summons.

Although Buddy was now happy with Li Zhu, and would never leave him, it too had not wanted to form a contract initially. That said, this bird had even taken the initiative, which left Li Zhu dumbfounded.

'I guess living in solitude peak with its current power is tough!' was the only reason Li Zhu could think of, for why the bird would choose this option.

Although he was surprised, Li Zhu was also ecstatic, since forcing a spirit beast into a contract did not feel right to him, and he would willingly avoid it when he could.

He extended his soul into the one of the bird, placing his hand on its head. Using the Undying Beast soul method, he then extracted a small part of its soul, connecting it to his own, right next to the fragment of Buddy's soul.

As he finished the procedure, his surroundings changed once again, as he reappeared in the frozen cave, lying in the shore of the Yin lake.

Seeing the bird happily chirping next to him, Li Zhu was ecstatic, yet at that moment, his face suddenly changed, as he recalled that he was not the only one that had fallen into the lake.

"Buddy!" he yelled, before preparing to jump into the Yin lake. The bird, flying beside him, though, immediately hit him, causing ice to cover his skin, as his body stopped moving for a split second.

Sobering up, Li Zhu realized that he would only die if he jumped back into the lake, and looked at the icy bird with gratefulness. Although he didn't know how he had been saved before, he had the suspicion that this small little spirit beast had something to do with it.

Li Zhu would not give up on Buddy, though, and now that he was more calm, recalled the advantage that he had over many other summoners.

Buddy had without a doubt frozen in the Yin lake, yet Li Zhu still had a fragment of its soul, so he could revive the dog, who he had become a real friend to him.

To revive Buddy, though, he would need to either recover the body, or find another wolf-like animal to act as host for its soul.

Although the Frost-Steel wolf came into mind, Li Zhu opted against this option, which would limit Buddy's strength.

He looked at the bird, and then the lake... could it be done?

As all summons, the bird must have a starting skill, which Li Zhu could use if he fused with it. Since the bird was very connected to ice, it was highly likely that the skill would also be ice related, possibly allowing him to brave the lake unharmed, and recover Buddy's body.

"Before that, though, I need to name you, don't I? Although a bit simple, I think the name Blue suits you!" said Li Zhu, though he did fear that he was naming his summons with very peaceful names, that would definitely not instill fear into the heart of his opponents.