Revival

Li Zhu placed his hand on Blue, activating the fusion skill. At that moment, his body began changing drastically.

Ice covered his body, almost like a piece of armor. At the same time, small wings sprouted from his back, yet they looked very disproportionate when compared to the rest of him.

'It seems as though I won't be able to fly yet' thought Li Zhu, seeing the comically sized wings that would not hold his weight.

Meanwhile, the transformation continued, his hair turning white, and his black eyes becoming blue.

Staring at the ice, covering his body, Li Zhu smiled, thinking, 'this will definitely give me a higher resistance to Yin energy. Will it be enough to enter and exit the Yin lake unharmed, though?'

His goal was to rescue Buddy's body from the depths of the lake, and revive him using the Undying Beast Soul method.

Fortunately, as he had predicted, the fusion with Blue was related to ice, and it could help him complete his mission.

The moment his body stopped changing, Li Zhu suddenly received knowledge that was new to him. It was a skill, which allowed him to freeze his enemies when he touched them, slowing them down. It was the skill that Blue had used against him when he was about to jump into the lake.

'This is Blue's first skill? It could be useful in fights, but it does not help my current situation.' thought Li Zhu, as all the knowledge of the skill entered his mind.

Although Li Zhu did not yet know it, this skill was incredibly powerful, since in the fights between great experts, every split second could change the course of a fight, and if your enemy was frozen for any amount of time, it gave you the opportunity to strike. That said, it was not as useful in the fights between qi gathering realm experts, since even a second of time couldn't change the course of the fight drastically.

"Since the moment I touch a person with this skill they are frozen or slowed, I should name this skill Icy Touch" exclaimed Li Zhu, realizing that there was no name for the skill he had just received.

With Buddy, Li Zhu had already known about the existence of Demonic Shadow Wolves, so he knew the name of the first skill was Shadow Lurk. That said, skills were named by humans, not spirit beasts, so for a mysterious beast like Blue, Li Zhu had never heard of its skills.

Cautious, Li Zhu placed one finger in the lake, to see if his transformed body could withstand the pure Yin energy. It would take him about one minute to dive deep in the lake and rescue Buddy's body, so he needed to make sure he could survive that long.

Although he did feel pain when placing the finger in the water, the cold did not invade his body, proof that the ice around him could at least partially defend against the Yin energy.

'Time to jump in!' thought Li Zhu, determined to revive Buddy. Although he was taking a risk, Buddy had died to save him, so he needed to return the favor.

Without hesitating any more, he dived into the lake, swimming downwards at his top speed, while searching for the dog.

The lake was extremely clear, since the overbearing Yin energy destroyed everything that it touched, including dirt.

The bottom of the lake, instead, was made out of spirit stones, which were not as easily destroyed as were common materials. That said, the lake slowly deepened over time, since even the spirit stones partially eroded.

Li Zhu immediately spotted Buddy's body through the clear lake, as he began to swim deeper, where the black dog was stuck between two large spirit stones.

The lake was surprisingly deep, and Li Zhu's ears started ringing from the pressure. At the same time, pain invaded his body, as the Yin energy slowly broke through his ice armor.

'Only a few more yards... I can do it! I'm almost there...' Li Zhu tried to remain confident, since he knew that if he started having doubts, it was highly likely he would remain in this lake forever.

Li Zhu persevered through the pain, finally reaching Buddy's body, before punching the large spirit stones out of the way.

Although he could not break the stones, he could at least move them, and get hold of the body. With Buddy in his arms, Li Zhu pushed himself upwards with his legs, just as his ice armor broke.

Pain instantly hit Li Zhu, as he began to slow down his ascent. Not only was his body struggling from the quick change in pressure, he now also had to deal with the yin energy, which was flooding into his meridians.

Blue appeared next to him, the fusion having been interrupted, and it began directing him to the surface.

Fortunately, Li Zhu did not panic, and having almost reached the safety of the shore, put all of his remaining energy into getting out of the lake.

Ice was now covering his body, yet it was not due to the transformation, rather the Yin energies, which were running rampant within him. He would not let this affect his state of mind, though, as he finally pushed himself out of the water, where Blue was ready to help him.

He first placed Buddy's body safely onto the ground, before placing his hand on Blue, attempting to reinstate the transformation which had been interrupted. His only way to survive the raging Yin energies was to enter the state in which he could somewhat counter them, which required him and Blue to be fused.

Fortunately, the fusion skill worked instantly, and an armor of Ice covered Li Zhu once again, the Yin energies inside of him slowly being absorbed.

Li Zhu had expected some delay in the transformation, since the fusion skill had been broken forcefully. This was not the case, though, and he was very grateful for that.

It took about an hour for the Yin energies to be completely suppressed and taken in by the ice armor, further proof of their dangerous nature.

Li Zhu finally stopped the fusion between him and Blue, while a smile appeared on his face. Because of the Yin energy he had absorbed, his cultivation had skyrocketed, and he was now a full fledged sixth stage qi gathering realm cultivator.

With risk there were always rewards, and it seemed as though Yin energy could be quite useful, if slowly absorbed.

'I will have to test out my theory later, because I need to revive Buddy!' thought Li Zhu, while turning towards the black dog, lying on the shore.

The Undying Beast Soul method was actually quite simple, and it involved taking a fraction of a spirit beast's soul when forming a contract. If the spirit beast died, the summoner could use this fraction of a soul to revive the beast, albeit weakened.

The moment he placed the soul into a body, the spirit beast wold be revived, and all of its memories would remain, since even if a soul was separated into thousands, each part was interconnected. The only issue was that the contract would be erased, and it would have to be repeated. That said, as long as both parties were willing, this would go smoothly.

Li Zhu placed his hand on Buddy's head, willing the soul fragment, attached to his own soul, to enter the body of the dog.

The process was seamless, as the soul fragment flowed into Buddy's body, bringing life to the dog.

Of course, the body had been dead for a few minutes, so it would take time for Buddy to recover his previous strength. That said, the eyes of the dog slowly opened up, its big black eyes staring at Li Zhu, who was waiting there nervously.

"You're back! Whooo, I really am amazing!" extremely excited, Li Zhu got a bit ahead of himself, with Buddy and Blue both rolling their eyes at his comment.

He could not be blamed, though, since in the past few weeks, he and Buddy had become friends, and even a trained fighter like him would have his emotions swing back and forth from the events that had happened.

Li Zhu and the two spirit beasts stayed on the shore of the Yin lake for a few hours, each recovering their strength. Li Zhu still needed to reform the contract with Buddy, if the dog was willing. That said, Buddy was still heavily injured, and it did not seem like the right time for a summoning contract.

As he sat down, beside his two summons, Li Zhu thought, 'Although I may have many rough times ahead of me, I have so many allies this time around. Let alone Hua Shu, even the spirit beasts which I form contracts with are willing to jump in a lake of death to save me... regardless of my current power, with such friends my strength will soar!'