When He Yiming finally surged up carrying the giant turtle's carcass, the others had already cleared ample space for him to drop the body onto the ice sheet.

Yuan Lixun shifted her footing slightly, but there were simply too many people present; her nerve wasn't yet thick enough to completely disregard everyone else. So, she could only blink twice at He Yiming, conveying her deep concern.

He hurled the giant turtle onto the ice with a heavy thud, a sound like a massive hammer striking the ground. Yet, even a creature of the turtle's immense size failed to crack the ice surface. This alone revealed the terrifying power wielded by the three colossal beasts that had carved out the massive, lake-like depression nearby.

Walking lightly a few steps, He Yiming approached Yuan Lixun and instinctively reached out to clasp her hand.

This strike had been overwhelmingly successful; the three Saint Beast Kings were slain without any complication. Although the victory was secured through ambush, making it somewhat dishonorable, there wasn't a single rigid traditionalist among the assembled group.

"Lixun, next time before you act, wear the Five Elements Robe," He Yiming instructed solemnly.

A sweet warmth filled Yuan Lixun's heart; she nodded obediently. Although the protective power of the Five Elements Robe wasn't as exaggerated as the Black Tortoise shell, it was certainly capable of weathering several attacks from a Saint Beast King without issue.

On the ice, the White Bear and the Giant Turtle were undeniably dead. As for the massive emerald serpent, though it had been severed into five pieces, its tenacious life force kept it twitching violently. Had it not been for the fact that its head had been smashed into pulp by some pinnacle expert of the Human Dao, it might still have sprung up to attack.

Bing Xiaotian and Di Shitian exchanged a glance of understanding. They each struck out, cleaving open the serpent's head and the bear's head to extract the Saint Beast King Inner Cores.

In mere moments, they had secured three Saint Beast King Inner Cores.

Such treasures were exceedingly rare even in the entire human world; even for someone at the pinnacle of the Human Dao like Bing Xiaotian, provoking the Northern Frontier Saint Beast Kings was usually something best avoided.

Setting aside the question of whether one could defeat a Saint Beast King single-handedly, even if victory were assured, ensuring the beast’s actual demise was no simple feat.

To surround and kill three of them in one go today seemed simple, but this was the result of mobilizing every single top expert currently on the continent.

Other than the Thousand Year Ice Island itself, no other entity could command enough influence to gather all the Human Dao pinnacle experts for such a decisive result.

After retrieving the cores, Bing Xiaotian and the others piled the carcasses of the Saint Beast Kings together—the still-twitching serpentine body, the Giant Turtle He Yiming had hauled up, and the White Bear were all heaped in one spot.

"Brother Liu, could you start a fire?" Bing Xiaotian said gravely.

Liu Changju sighed softly, a look of deep reluctance crossing his face.

These three beasts were all Saint Beast Kings; to him, they represented priceless forging materials that appeared once in a millennium. To destroy them like this felt like an immense waste.

However, Liu Changju merely shook his head before stepping forward. He slowly raised his hand, a red light flickering in his palm.

He Yiming’s heart stirred. He quickly called out, "Wait a moment."

Liu Changju immediately withdrew his hand. While he feared no number of enemies, letting go of materials from three Saint Beast Kings—items he usually cherished—was far more difficult to stomach.

"Brother Bing, what is the meaning of this?" He Yiming asked.

Dragging these Saint Beast King corpses only to burn them was utterly shocking.

A slight smile touched Bing Xiaotian’s lips. "Brother He, you might not be aware, but although the Northern Frontier Saint Beast Kings fight among themselves, they possess methods of communication. Furthermore, quite a few among these Saint Beast Kings have strong tracking abilities. If we leave these corpses behind, they will certainly be discovered, and suspicion will inevitably fall upon us humans."

He Yiming suddenly understood. He glanced around and saw the calm expressions on everyone else's faces; he realized immediately that everyone else already knew this principle.

A subtle thought stirred within He Yiming. "Everyone, if these were ordinary Saint Beasts, perhaps it would be acceptable, but these three are Saint Beast Kings. To destroy them like this seems an absolute waste."

This statement undoubtedly voiced the reluctance shared by all present. Faced with three Saint Beast Kings, who among them would willingly destroy them unless absolutely necessary?

Di Shitian let out a long sigh. "Our objective is the Thousand Year Ice Island. Everything else—whatever can be abandoned, let it go."

He Yiming mused internally, If you truly felt that way, why did you bother extracting their cores?

Clearing his throat lightly, He Yiming said, "Since everyone is willing to discard them, perhaps you would grant them to me instead?"

The eyes of the others fell upon him, tinged with suspicion. After a long silence, Di Shitian finally spoke, "Brother He, these things are enormous. How do you intend to transport them?"

He Yiming chuckled. "Are you all being obtuse? Don't you all possess spatial artifacts?"

Di Shitian shook his head with a wry smile. "No matter how large our spatial artifacts are, they cannot contain objects of this magnitude."

He Yiming paused, recalling the spatial artifacts he had seen near experts of the Divine Dao in the past, and the spatial belt on Franklin. While those two items were quite large, they were indeed insignificant compared to these behemoths.

Ji Mofan Shu chuckled darkly. "Brother He, if you can fit all this cargo inside, then this old man will certainly not object."

A faint smile played across the faces of the assembled group. Who other than a true expert of the Divine Dao could manage such a feat?

He Yiming snorted softly. "Since it is Gate Master Ji Mo's kind offer, this humble one dares not refuse."

He waved his hand, and the Five Elements Ring instantly appeared in his grasp.

Ao Borui’s expression shifted sharply. He exclaimed, "The Five Elements World?"

He was, of course, familiar with the Five Elements Ring, the foremost divine artifact of the former Five Elements Sect. But in his estimation, it should be impossible for the Five Elements World to develop before the Five Elements Ring had fully advanced into a divine artifact.

What he didn't know was that when He Yiming deployed the Five Elements Ring, the Nine Dragon Furnace had taken notice of it. This supremely powerful, foremost artifact of the Fire Element had burrowed into the Five Elements Ring and used its own spatial fire power to forcibly expand the Five Elements World.

Subsequently, He Yiming gathered the Divine Power of the Five Elements. As this Divine Power accumulated, the Five Elements World grew increasingly stable. It was precisely due to the support of the Nine Dragon Furnace and the Divine Power that the Five Elements Ring, despite not yet being a true Divine Artifact, possessed a Five Elements World, and the scope of this world was certainly not small—otherwise, it could not have contained the Nine Dragon Furnace, which had expanded to enormous size.

He Yiming smiled faintly. "Brother Ao has sharp eyes."

With another wave of his hand, five-colored light swept out, transforming in mid-air into a massive palm that instantly grasped the giant turtle’s body.

"Collect..."

With a light shout from He Yiming, the palm seemed to come alive. It spun in mid-air, and like an eagle returning to its nest, it shot into the Five Elements World with a whoosh.

Watching the giant turtle, over five zhang long, vanish under the grasp of that massive hand, the eyes of the onlookers bulged slightly.

At this moment, even the calmest individuals could not help but question internally. How had this fellow, He Yiming, managed to possess such an enormous spatial artifact? This far exceeded the limits achievable by the Human Dao realm; perhaps only the legendary experts of the Divine Dao could achieve something so staggering.

He Yiming tapped the Five Elements Ring again. The imitation divine artifact let out a long cry, a sound that traveled far, vibrating the entire ice sheet until it made a rasping noise, as if ready to shatter at any moment.

Ao Borui’s expression changed drastically. He recognized that the sound was not intentionally produced by He Yiming but was a resonance released by the Five Elements Ring itself. In that instant, his eyes turned slightly red; the sentience of the Five Elements Ring had reached this level. If circumstances allowed, advancing to a true Divine Artifact might not be impossible. Divine Artifacts were powerful divine weapons possessing their own life force, and each held the power to almost destroy heaven and earth. The Five Elements Ring undoubtedly possessed this potential.

Five-colored light spewed forth once more, engulfing the White Bear and the severed pieces of the serpent, gathering them inside. In mere moments, the three colossal forms on the ice had vanished.

Bing Xiaotian nodded slightly, praising, "Brother He has great skill. This way, we don't even need to worry about leaving burn marks. The trail of these three Saint Beast Kings will be impossible to trace now." His voice was filled with relief, though the power He Yiming displayed had also deeply shocked him. However, with Saint Beast Kings lurking everywhere, the stronger He Yiming’s combat prowess, the greater their chance of success.

After He Yiming collected the last segment of the serpent, a strange hue suddenly washed over his face.

After he absorbed all five types of Five Elements Divine Power, and they formed a grand Five Elements Cycle within his Dantian—like the perfect union of light and darkness—his connection to the Five Elements Ring had grown significantly stronger.

Just at this moment, he sensed a miraculous power slowly stirring within the Five Elements Ring. This power gave He Yiming an extremely peculiar feeling. It was power belonging to the Wood Element, yet it evoked in He Yiming the sensation of seeing a living thing. This strange feeling was almost identical to the feeling he had experienced when he personally condensed the nine small fire dragons inside the Nine Dragon Furnace.

He looked at the Five Elements Ring in astonishment, and a thought suddenly leaped into his mind: the source of this sensation must be the top-tier Wood Element Inner Core now embedded within the ring. This core likely belonged to a supreme Saint Beast possessing the bloodline of a Divine Beast; a creature whose strength had reached the apex of the Saint Beast stage, just on the verge of transforming into a Divine Beast. Yet, at the final moment, it had been killed by a Divine Dao expert who extracted its core. Now, under the permeation of the Divine Power of the Five Elements Cycle, its vital breath seemed to be slowly recovering...