Twelve Years Later, Return to Spirit Hall! Bishop Luosel, Do You Still Recognize Me?

Douluo Continent, Spirit City.

It was midsummer, and the deep night air remained humid and stifling.

At the city gates, two Spirit Masters in light silver armor from the City Guards leaned against the cold walls of the gate passage as they stood watch.

"This damned weather is fucking hot!"

One guard casually complained.

The spittle, still carrying his body heat, had barely left his lips when it suddenly gave off an extremely faint sound in the air.

Under his companion's horrified gaze, the saliva instantly froze into countless tiny, sharply faceted Ice Crystal particles.

They rustled down onto the armor over his chest, rapidly spreading into a thicker layer of white frost.

The guard suddenly began coughing, as though his throat had been stuffed with ice shards. Bone-piercing cold burrowed down his windpipe and into his lungs.

He instinctively raised a hand to cover his mouth, but the cold had made his movements exceptionally slow and stiff.

The faces of everyone around him changed drastically, unprecedented terror erupting in their eyes.

One of them abruptly opened his mouth. His hoarse voice trembled as if frostbitten, and he struggled to force out two words amid the suddenly intensifying cold.

"Al... alert!"

Before his words had faded, an even deeper, denser chill silently swept over the entire gate guard post.

On the city walls, soldiers who had been patrolling vigilantly only moments ago suddenly froze in place.

A layer of clear, crystalline ice covered them from head to toe.

Moonlight passed through the ice, refracting strange, icy flecks of light deep within their frozen pupils.

"Spirit Hall, it's been a long time..."

A cold voice suddenly rang out.

A figure appeared soundlessly beyond the city gates.

The newcomer wore a dark blue cloak. Its broad hood concealed most of his face, revealing only his hard-lined jaw.

His name was Ye Xian.

Twelve years ago, he had transmigrated to Douluo Continent and become the disciple of the former Pope, Qian Xunji.

He had once been Spirit Hall's Saint Son.

Yet not long afterward, Qian Xunji had been severely wounded by Tang Hao, then met a miserable end at Bibi Dong's hands.

At the time, Ye Xian's Soul Power had been too weak for him to stop it.

He could only devote himself to cultivation and strengthen himself, waiting for the day he could avenge his master.

But the new Pope, Bibi Dong, had suddenly ordered him to take up a post at Spirit Hall in Extreme North City.

She had secretly arranged for the accompanying Red-Robed Bishop to eliminate him and remove any future threat.

Though Ye Xian fought desperately, he was still no match for him and fell into an ice cavern.

The Red-Robed Bishop returned to the city to report, while Bibi Dong publicly claimed that the Saint Son had gone missing alone in the Extreme North, his fate unknown.

Yet heaven never sealed off every path. Possessing Ultimate Ice and the Frost King Sword Martial Soul, Ye Xian had drawn the four-hundred-thousand-year soul beast Ice Empress to him and formed a contract with her.

Over the past twelve years, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, and he had awakened the Frost King Sword Domain.

His Soul Power had broken through continuously from Level 40, and he had now reached the level of a Level 98 Super Douluo.

Upon returning to Spirit City, he had only one goal.

Take control of Spirit Hall!

Ye Xian took a deep breath and slowly stepped through the city gates.

Crack! Crack!

A path formed from innumerable tiny, intricate ice patterns clearly extended behind him with every step.

Several City Guard Spirit Masters, alerted by the warning and attempting to circulate their Soul Power as they rushed forward.

The instant their soul rings had just begun to glow beneath their feet and they touched the edge of that Ice Crystal path, they became ice sculptures in different poses.

The terror on their faces and the tension in their muscles were eternally frozen within the transparent solid ice, becoming the most horrifying footnotes along both sides of this Ice Crystal Road.

He did not stop walking. With every step, he left behind a distinct footprint covered in strange ice patterns.

Clusters of Ice Lotus flowers continuously formed and spread around the footprints.

This Ice Crystal Road was like an ice spear radiating the cold gleam of death.

One end connected to the city gates, while the other pointed boldly toward the heart of Spirit City.

Those two towering structures that symbolized supreme authority—the Papal Palace!

Rows of Spirit Hall guards retreated with their spears in hand. Not one dared step forward.

"Who are you, sir? Why have you forcibly entered Spirit City!"

At that moment, a Red-Robed Bishop stepped before the crowd.

His cold eyes fixed on Ye Xian, the uninvited intruder.

The other man had breached the gate defenses so easily that his strength was astonishing.

Despite his own Level 75 Soul Power, he could not detect even the slightest Soul Power fluctuation from the other party.

The other man's Soul Power had likely already reached the level of a Titled Douluo.

Earlier, he had already sent someone back to Spirit Hall to report to the elders.

His words now were merely meant to stall for time.

Once the elders arrived, they would certainly be able to capture him.

For one man to barge into Spirit City alone—even if he was a Titled Douluo, they could ensure he never returned.

Ye Xian's steps did not pause in the slightest at the Red-Robed Bishop's shout.

Those footprints covered in strange ice patterns continued extending steadily forward. Every step landed with a faint crack.

It was as though he crushed not only the air beneath his feet, but also the increasingly fragile courage of Spirit Hall's guards.

Ice Lotus flowers bloomed soundlessly around his footprints, then rapidly spread and joined together into a frost-white domain that radiated deadly cold.

Alarm bells rang wildly in the Red-Robed Bishop's heart.

The other man had ignored him. That disregard was more terrifying than a direct attack.

He forcefully suppressed the itch in his throat caused by the invading cold as seven soul rings instantly lit up around him.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black!

The powerful Soul Power fluctuations of a Spirit Saint surged forth, attempting to dispel the bone-deep cold around him and form an invisible barrier of pressure in Ye Xian's path.

"Stop! Take one more step, and I'll make sure you never leave!"

Soul Power infused the Red-Robed Bishop's voice, making it loud and imposing as it echoed through the silent night sky, attempting to overwhelm this unfathomable intruder with sheer presence.

Encouraged by his Soul Power, the guards behind him barely managed to steady themselves.

They pointed their spears forward, and their soul rings lit up one after another. Against the icy backdrop, their multicolored light seemed especially fragile.

Ye Xian finally stopped.

Not because of the Red-Robed Bishop's warning, but because he happened to be standing only a few feet from where the Ice Crystal path had extended before the bishop.

He raised his head slightly. Shadows shifted beneath the broad hood, revealing his hard-lined jaw and a curve devoid of warmth, as if smiling yet not smiling.

That cold voice rang out again, clearer than before.

Every word was like a sharply faceted block of ice slamming onto the ground, carrying utter indifference.

"Never leave?"

He softly repeated the phrase, his tone filled with undisguised mockery.

"Twelve years ago, when you attacked me in the Extreme North, did you ever imagine that I would return to Spirit City today?"

"Bishop Luosel, do you still recognize me?"

As his words fell, Ye Xian slowly removed his cloak, revealing his weathered, resolute face.

"What?!"

The Red-Robed Bishop's pupils abruptly contracted, as if an icy hand had seized his heart in a fierce grip.

That unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar face made every hair on his body stand on end.

"Ye... Ye Xian..."

"You're Ye Xian!"