In the void before the five people, five types of Heaven and Earth Rune Marks glowed brightly, converging towards the center of the group.
At the same time, spiritual power surged from within the five individuals.
Five Runeblades, formed by rune marks and spiritual power, appeared.
In front of Elder Frost, the Runeblade was ice white, covered in ice element rune marks.
A dazzling silver Runeblade, covered in thunder-element rune marks, appeared in front of Elder Thunder.
The other three elders had fire element Runeblades, gold element Runeblades, and wind element Runeblades respectively.
The five Runeblades emitted five different rune lights and unleashed five different types of sharp sword energy.
Then, seeing this, Leo, hidden nearby, knew that the five were about to take serious action against the Frost Spirit Beast.
As Elder Frost had mentioned earlier, besides a beast willingly becoming a human Cultivator’s spirit pet or mount, there were other methods for forcing a beast to become a mount.
One of the most effective methods was to brand the beast with a contract mark while it was extremely weak.
Of course, this method had its drawbacks. The loyalty of the beast was generally low, and if the beast’s strength greatly surpassed its master’s, it could break free from control and even attack its master.
Therefore, Cultivators usually preferred to have beasts willingly become spirit pets or mounts. This way, even if the beast grew powerful in the future, it would not pose a threat to its master.
This was why Elder Frost had tried to persuade the Frost Spirit Beast first instead of torturing it right away.
When persuasion failed, they had no choice but to use force.
“Frost Spirit Beast, I will give you one last chance. Will you willingly become my mount, or shall I brand you with a contract mark?” Elder Frost issued his final ultimatum in a deep voice.
“Never! I will never submit!” Even with the appearance of the five Runeblades, there was no fear in the eyes of the Frost Spirit Beast.
“Stubborn beast, attack!” Elder Frost lost his patience and commanded coldly.
With Elder Frost’s words, the five elders grasped their three-meter-long Runeblades from a distance.
They formed a gripping motion with their left hands in mid-air, and the Runeblades responded accordingly.
Then, the five elders simultaneously swung their left hands downwards.
The five Runeblades slashed down at the trapped Frost Spirit Beast.
Deep gashes appeared on the massive body of the Frost Spirit Beast as its tough icy scales shattered. Blood flowed from the wounds.
The snow-white body of the Frost Spirit Beast was stained red with blood. It howled in pain and looked pitifully miserable.
“You damned humans!!” The Frost Spirit Beast stomped its four feet on the ground and leaped into the air, causing the chains binding it to clatter loudly.
However, it could only rise five or six meters before being firmly restrained by the chains.
“Slash again!” Elder Frost shouted sternly.
The five Runeblades struck the Frost Spirit Beast once more.
More scales shattered and bloodied wounds appeared on its massive body.
“Roar…!” The Frost Spirit Beast let out another agonized roar, its breath growing weaker.
“Slash!” Elder Frost commanded coldly once more.
Beside Leo, Seraphina’s beautiful face showed an expression of pity as she witnessed the brutal torment of the Frost Spirit Beast.
Leo did not rush to act because his attention was suddenly drawn to Gilberto.
Gilberto stood opposite Leo and Seraphina, in the deepest part of the ice valley.
He was with a tall, thin old man dressed in white with a wrinkled face.
In front of them was a visible Sealing Light Screen, behind which lay an ice pond with a radius of about a hundred meters.
It was named an ice pond as its water remained unfrozen despite the extremely low temperature, which was truly miraculous in such a cold environment.
Even more miraculous were two ice-white trees over twenty meters tall growing in the pond.
The two trees stood thirty meters apart. Their trunks, branches, and leaves were all translucent ice white.
The dense ice-white leaves bore numerous translucent Spirit Fruits.
These Spirit Fruits seemed to be the essence of ice in heaven and earth, glowing with pure icy light.
The surface of each Spirit Fruit was etched with intricate ice-white patterns that seemed to contain some mysterious power.
“That is… Ice Soul Yin-Yang Tree!” Leo’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
The Spirit Fruits on the Ice Soul Yin-Yang Tree were Ice Soul Fruits.
Seeing so many Ice Soul Fruits with his own eyes, Leo could hardly believe it.
Ice Soul Yin-Yang Trees typically grew in pairs, one yin and one yang, pollinating each other when they bloomed.
The fruits they bore were seventh-grade Spirit Fruits of superior quality.
Ice Soul Fruits not only enhanced the spiritual power of ice element Cultivators but also improved their comprehension of ice element techniques and laws.
Additionally, for ice element beasts, Ice Soul Fruits could strengthen their internal demonic power and enhance their intelligence to some extent, even awakening inherited bloodline abilities.
In short, Ice Soul Fruits were extremely precious Spirit Fruits.
Typically, each Ice Soul Yin-Yang Tree bore five to ten Ice Soul Fruits at most.
However, the two Ice Soul Yin-Yang Trees in the ice pond bore at least a hundred Ice Soul Fruits combined.
Over a hundred seventh-grade Spirit Fruits would excite and drive any Cultivator mad with desire.
Seraphina also noticed them and was even more shocked than Leo.
Leo could clearly feel that the Nine-Petal Ice-Soul Lotus in his dantian had gone from excited to restless.
If Leo hadn’t controlled it, it might have flown out of his dantian on its own by now.
In front of the Sealing Light Screen at the ice pond, Gilberto’s eyes burned with intensity as he gazed at it in his purple robe.
“Such a large number of Ice Soul Fruits would be an enormous fortune for our Runecarver Sect,” Gilberto thought with a smile on his lips.
At this moment, the white-robed elder beside Gilberto slowly opened his eyes.
Excitement gleamed in his aged eyes.
“Elder Warren, can you break the seal?” Gilberto asked eagerly as he saw the elder open his eyes.
Elder Warren replied, “Young Sect Master, after my investigation, I found a flaw in the Sealing Light Screen. I can break it within fifteen minutes.”
“Excellent!” Gilberto rejoiced. “Then these Ice Soul Fruits will belong to our Runecarver Sect! Elder Warren, proceed.”
“Yes, Young Sect Master.” Elder Warren nodded and began working on breaking the Sealing Light Screen.
Gilberto shifted his gaze from the Ice Soul Yin-Yang Trees to the Frost Spirit Beast trapped within the pentagram formation.
“With these Ice Soul Fruits and the Frost Spirit Beast, our Runecarver Sect will surely become the number one spiritual cultivation sect in Martial Dynasty!”