Evil God Wings Appear, the First Cry of Pulse Collapse

Xue Lingyun opened his eyes, a sharp gleam concealed within them. His senses had become incomparably keen, and his Spiritual Power had advanced by leaps and bounds.

After being scoured by that violent energy and efficiently tempered under the guidance of the Heart Source Circulation Technique, his body's strength and resilience had also risen by a clear level.

At the same time, an intense numb itch and burning heat spread from his shoulder blades, as though something was about to burst from his body.

With a thought, there came a soft hiss. A pair of black wings with a unique texture and strange dark purple halos flowing along their edges abruptly unfurled from his back!

The wings had only begun to take shape and were not particularly large, yet they naturally exuded a faintly sinister pressure and weak spatial fluctuations.

External Soul Bone—Evil God Wings!

Seeing this, Ice Empress gave a slight nod. "An External Soul Bone? Your luck is indeed quite good. It seems most of that tiger's essence condensed into these wings."

Her gaze swept over the small amount of ash left behind after the tiger corpse dissipated, confirming that nothing else remained.

Xue Lingyun tried controlling them with his thoughts, and the Evil God Wings obediently folded away, turning into two nearly imperceptible black shadows that withdrew into his back.

What concerned him more was the change within his body—his consciousness sank into the Primal Heart.

He "saw" that within the warm, pulsating sea of energy surrounding his heart core, aside from his own pure source Soul Power, several wisps of energy with distinctly different properties quietly floated there.

One was light and flowing, carrying an intangible sense of penetration.

One was violent and flickering, containing a faint yet sharp tremor.

One was profound and dim, condensed from pure darkness.

Another was weak yet highly corrosive, radiating evil fluctuations that instinctively repelled him.

Deeper inside, a pure and piercingly cold power also flowed peacefully. It likely came from his Second Martial Soul, which had yet to gain a Soul Ring.

Unlike those relatively loose-flowing energies, like egg white, a small mass of denser, viscous dark energy swirled at the center of the heart core's energy sea, like an egg yolk. It slowly rotated, seemingly containing a domineering source power that had yet to take shape.

They were clearly distinct from one another, yet all coexisted peacefully within the vast, accommodating "domain" of the Primal Heart without interfering with each other, as though waiting for him to wield and fuse them.

He rose to his feet, bright light flashing in his eyes as he looked at Ice Empress. "Sister Bing, I can feel my First Soul Skill..."

"We'll discuss it once we're back." Ice Empress looked up at the sky. The lingering light of sunset was rapidly being swallowed by the gloom of the Far North. "It'll be dark soon. Your Sister Xue and Xiao Bai must be getting anxious. Familiarize yourself with the feel of your Soul Skill on the way. You can properly show it off when we get back."

Xue Lingyun suppressed the urge to test it immediately and nodded.

He once again deeply sensed the Heart Source Circulation Technique endlessly operating within him, completely integrated with his Martial Soul, as well as the energy furnace in his chest that seemed to contain infinite possibilities.

First Soul Ring, External Soul Bone, exclusive cultivation technique... this journey's gains had exceeded all imagination.

On the way back, he hurried along while silently familiarizing himself with his newly acquired power.

Especially those Evil God Wings. Though he was still clumsy with them on his first use, they had already made his movements lighter and significantly improved his short-range burst speed. He even faintly sensed the mysterious possibility of making extremely small spatial shifts.

By the time they returned to the Ice Palace, night had completely fallen, but soft Ice Crystal light shone at its entrance.

Snow Empress stood quietly there while Xiao Bai paced about anxiously. The moment he saw them, he charged over like a cannonball.

"Little Cloud! You're finally back!" Xiao Bai shoved over his huge head and sniffed hard. "You smell... strange, but you also seem a lot stronger!"

Snow Empress's gaze fell upon Xue Lingyun. Her sky-blue eyes seemed capable of reflecting the changes within him. She gave a slight nod, her tone calm. "It seems this journey was a complete success."

"Yes, Sister Xue!" Xue Lingyun nodded vigorously, unable to suppress the excitement on his face. "I successfully absorbed my First Soul Ring. And..."

He paused, sensing the brand-new way Soul Power circulated through his body, light flickering in his eyes. "It feels like I've also gained an entirely new understanding of how to use Soul Power."

"Show us your Soul Skill," Snow Empress said, with a trace of anticipation.

Xue Lingyun stepped back several paces, his expression turning serious. With a thought, he connected to the Primal Heart, and a solid, profound yellow Soul Ring immediately rose beneath his feet.

The Soul Ring's light flowed, while faint strands of dark purple and bluish-white light lingered around its edge, displaying its extraordinary quality.

As Soul Power surged forth, the yellow Soul Ring abruptly lit up.

He made no flashy opening move. He simply took a deep breath, stepped forward half a pace beneath the Soul Ring's glow, and threw a punch!

"First Soul Skill: Evil Tiger Crushing Pulse!"

A condensed black fist energy, nearly tangible and faintly shaped like a savage tiger head, tore through the air. Rather than flying straight ahead, it followed a strange arc and struck a massive block of Xuanbing dozens of meters away in an instant!

"Bang!"

First came the muffled sound of the fist energy solidly striking the ice. A circle of spiderweb-like white cracks burst across the Solid Ice surface, scattering ice fragments everywhere.

But that was only the beginning—almost at the exact moment of impact, the fist energy did not fully dissipate. Instead, it seeped inward like a viscous shadow with a life of its own, leaving behind three strange dark marks embedded deep within the ice, constantly flickering in and out of sight.

Xue Lingyun's gaze sharpened as he lightly clenched his five fingers in the air.

"Collapse!"

"Boom! Crack-crack-crack—!"

A deep explosion seemed to erupt in succession from the ice's most fragile interior. The area where the fist energy had struck, together with the location of the three marks, suddenly bulged upward before the tough Xuanbing surface completely collapsed!

Countless deep radial cracks spread wildly outward, while the center directly caved in, shattering into a basin-sized pit. Broken Ice Crystals shot outward like a fountain!

This destructive power—striking first, then exploding, attacking from both outside and within—far exceeded that of an ordinary one-ring Assault Department Soul Skill. It could even threaten a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.

But that was far from the essence of this Soul Skill. Xue Lingyun moved again. This time, he rushed forward and closed the distance to another block of Xuanbing, the Soul Ring's glow advancing with him.

At almost point-blank range, he exhaled sharply and drove an utterly unadorned punch into the center of the ice!

"Thud!!"

The heavy impact showed the solid force contained in the blow. Centered on his fist, the ice instantly sank inward, forming a distinct Fist Pit as dense cracks rapidly spread along its edges.

At the same time, more than half of the fist energy transformed without obstruction into denser shadows, passing directly through the damaged surface layer and injecting themselves deeper and more thoroughly into the ice, forming several darker yet more unstable marks.

"In close combat, the marks are driven directly inside!"

He shouted softly and detonated them at once.

That block of Xuanbing did not explode across its surface like the previous one. Instead, after a slight tremor, a series of dense Cracking Sounds like muffled thunder came from within. Immediately afterward, the entire giant ice collapsed from the inside out into countless uniformly sized fragments no larger than fingernails!

Clearly, hitting at zero range allowed the Pulse Collapse Marks to penetrate deeper inside, making the resulting destruction more complete and deadly.

"This skill works at both range and close quarters." Xue Lingyun withdrew his stance and explained to Snow Empress, his eyes filled with the excitement of a successful experiment. "At range, the fist energy itself has considerable destructive power, and it can also plant marks along the way for a follow-up attack."

"In close combat, the force of the strike can penetrate the body more effectively, driving the marks deeper and more directly inside. Once detonated, they explode from within, and their power rises sharply!"

His eyes gleamed as though he had discovered a treasure. "And the Soul Skill itself already carries wind, lightning, darkness, and evil attributes. But through the Primal Heart, I can sense that I can choose to activate one or several of them."

"Perhaps... I can even try layering in other attribute Soul Power that I possess, such as the Ice Attribute. Though the layering is still crude right now and the increase in power is limited, its potential for variation and growth..."

"But its potential for variation and growth has already been established," Snow Empress finished for him, clear approval in her sky-blue eyes.

"As your strength grows, as you gain mastery over more attributes, and as your understanding of this attack deepens, it will no longer be a fixed Soul Skill. It will become a Power Carrier that grows alongside you, capable of endless transformations."

Xue Lingyun nodded forcefully. That was precisely what he felt most strongly at this moment.

This Soul Skill was like an Infinite Canvas tailored specifically for him.

What kind of brilliant or terrifying picture he would paint upon it in the future would depend entirely on how many kinds of "colors" he could add and how perfectly he could blend them.

Ice Empress stood to the side with her arms crossed. Her tone still carried her usual critical edge, but her gaze had softened considerably. "There are quite a few tricks to it, but its basic power is decent enough. That tiger's Soul Ring and our trip here weren't wasted."

Her gaze flicked toward Xue Lingyun's back. "Keep those Wings hidden normally. Don't reveal them unless it's crucial. An External Soul Bone is the kind of thing that makes people covet it."

"I understand, Sister Bing." Xue Lingyun nodded solemnly.

The soft glow of the Ice Palace fell across Xue Lingyun's face, and the excitement in his eyes had yet to completely fade.

Standing there, he could clearly feel that new power he had never possessed before flowing steadily through his veins.

He turned to look around him—Snow Empress gave a slight nod, Ice Empress still looked as she always did, but her gaze no longer felt so piercing, and Xiao Bai's huge head was practically nudging into his arms while his tail wagged wildly.

Warmth and reassurance suddenly filled his heart. He clenched his fist, and beneath that warmth, a thought rose with crystal clarity: This is only the beginning.

He would become stronger—far stronger than he was now.