Light Fire and Ultimate Ice

Light Fire and Ultimate Ice

"Here, I found what I wanted to buy... Yuhao? What are you looking at?"

Wang Dong pulled a stack of what looked like paper from the very bottom of a shelf. "Boss, how much for these?"

"Two Silver Soul Coins per stack."

Wang Dong paid at the register. When she turned around, she saw Huo Yuhao still leaning over the display case, staring blankly at a small pistol that glimmered faintly. Chi Qiu was looking at the dazzling array of goods in the shop, unsure where to rest her eyes. In the end, she stood there staring blankly alongside Huo Yuhao.

"Wang Dong, what's this?" Huo Yuhao asked.

"Oh, a kind of long-range Soul Tool." There was a faint note of disdain in Wang Dong's voice. "You can buy one and try it out if you want to see how powerful it is."

Huo Yuhao glanced at the price tag: five Gold Soul Coins.

"Never mind..."

He said that, but his gaze remained glued to it, and he couldn't look away.

"You're really that interested?" Wang Dong said stiffly, for some reason. "The Soul Tool Department is right next door. Why not go take a look? They've got much more advanced stuff in there."

Chi Qiu keenly noticed the change in her tone. "You don't like Soul Tools?"

"I guess not." Wang Dong didn't deny it.

"Why not?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously. "We learned a little about Soul Tools in class, and from what I can tell, they seem really convenient... They let support-type Soul Masters fight, for example. It sounds like the kind of weapon that could revolutionize combat."

"If you're asking why... I guess I feel that Soul Masters who rely on external tools to fight can't be considered true experts."

Wang Dong said it that way, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Huo Yuhao kept pressing her. "But, Wang Dong, if you have a weapon, why not use it? And you can talk about true experts all you want, but if you lose a fight, you lose. If it's a fight to the death and someone kills you with a powerful Soul Tool, it won't help to say they weren't a true expert, will it?"

"I agree with Yuhao." Chi Qiu joined in. She had been through far more life-and-death battles than the two of them.

"I read Yuhao's notes and annotations on the way here. Soul Tools really could change the nature of combat."

As she listened to Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu defend Soul Tools, Wang Dong fell into a daze.

That was right! She thought the two of them made sense, too. But... why did she dislike Soul Tools so much? Had a Soul Tool done something to offend her? Why had she hated them ever since she first learned they existed?

Why? Why?

Suddenly, a sharp pain flared at the back of her head, as if a torn-open wound had begun to act up.

In Huo Yuhao's eyes, Wang Dong abruptly clutched the back of her head. Her face went deathly pale, and then she crouched on the ground, trembling all over without a word.

"Wang Dong? Wang Dong? What's wrong?"

He and Chi Qiu called to her for a while before Wang Dong finally reacted. She weakly waved a hand. "It's nothing. My head suddenly started hurting... Maybe those laps Zhou Yi made us run today were too much. That old witch!"

"Do you want to go back and rest?" Chi Qiu asked.

"No, it seems to have passed." Wang Dong handed Huo Yuhao the stack of paper she had just bought. "Here. It's one of the simplest Soul Tools. Put it between two sheets of paper, and you can use Soul Power to copy what you write on the first sheet onto the next one."

Huo Yuhao took it. "This really will make taking notes a lot easier. It was two Silver Soul Coins, right? I'll pay you."

Although Wang Dong repeatedly insisted she was fine, Huo Yuhao still gave up on visiting the Soul Tool Department that day. He took Wang Dong and Chi Qiu to relax by Sea God Lake instead.

Though the lake was artificial, the scenery was still beautiful. Its blue waters reflected a glassy blue sky, and through the mist in the middle of the lake, they could make out buildings in the distance. That was Shrek Inner Court.

"The life energy here is abundant, too." Chi Qiu took a deep breath and sighed contentedly.

"I just wanted you two to come and relax," Huo Yuhao said with a smile. "I've also decided that from now on, I'll join you for extra training. My physical fitness still isn't great... We can suffer through it together."

"Come on, don't push yourself," Wang Dong said jokingly. "With your build, running a hundred laps would kill you!"

"I'm serious!" Huo Yuhao said firmly, something he rarely did. "My physique isn't as good as yours, so I need to train."

Wang Dong was about to say something when Huo Yuhao suddenly pointed toward the center of the lake. "Wait, do you see something over there?"

Wang Dong looked out across the lake but couldn't spot anything unusual. Chi Qiu frowned. "I sense danger."

It was the innate skill of her Golden Dragon Martial Soul: Golden Dragon Sense.

The next second, all three of them saw a fiery red figure. It was racing toward them at tremendous speed!

"An upperclassman from the inner court?" Wang Dong rose onto her tiptoes, trying to see farther. But she soon realized there was no need—the figure was already almost upon them!

In an instant, a wave of heat swept over the three of them, as if it would burn the very air away.

Wang Dong was the first to activate her Martial Soul under the pressure. She spread her Butterfly Wings, grabbed Huo Yuhao by the collar with one hand, and wrapped the other around Chi Qiu's waist, ready to carry them both away.

But before she could fly very far, wave after wave of terrifying heat rushed toward them. She had no choice but to stop. The scorching heat continued to burn at her Martial Soul, and her Butterfly Wings instantly disintegrated. She passed out at once.

Without their master's control, the Light Goddess Butterfly's Soul Power kept releasing instinctively, but the flames crushed it before it could even take shape. If this continued, they could suffer anything from external injuries to a drop in cultivation, damage to their Martial Souls, or even death!

The source of the flames seemed intent on finishing them off. Wreathed in blazing Evil Fire, it swung a palm toward Huo Yuhao.

In the Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm woke with a start. He sensed that Huo Yuhao's life was in danger.

"Looks like I'll have to use my source to possess him—huh?"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm saw that the flames in the palm strike had split apart in front of Huo Yuhao. The terrifying dark flames, like a trapped red beast, writhed and burned furiously, yet couldn't come anywhere near him.

The one that had split the flames was Chi Qiu's Golden Dragon Spear.

Flames rose from its spearhead, too. But these weren't the dark, evil flames the attacker had unleashed. They were golden, bright and pure, as if capable of cleansing all filth.

Ultimate Fire!

Any lesser flame had to give way before Ultimate Fire.

Though her Ultimate Fire could hold back the Evil Fire, she was using it at her currently disguised cultivation level. For now, she couldn't extinguish the flames.

Her opponent had clearly noticed the problem, too. Six soul rings radiating immense pressure immediately rose from the attacker's body.

A Soul Emperor!

Taking advantage of the moment, Huo Yuhao first moved Wang Dong to a safe spot where the Evil Fire had parted. Then he leaned close to Chi Qiu and said:

"Brother Sky Dream says we'll need ice to deal with the Evil Fire in this person's body."

Huo Yuhao's meaning was clear: he would have to handle this. Chi Qiu had his memories, so she knew he had an Ice Martial Soul that hadn't yet taken shape.

"Brother Sky Dream was going to possess me using his source, but now that we're temporarily out of danger, he wants to help me train. He wants me to try drawing on this ice-element power myself."

"But I can only draw on so much power... So, Qiu'er, I need you to use your fire to escort my ice and help it hit this senior."

Chi Qiu nodded, and Huo Yuhao activated Spiritual Detection Sharing. This was his first attempt at using two Martial Souls at once. Since his Ice Martial Soul hadn't yet taken shape, it was easier for him to do so.

Huo Yuhao focused his mental power and marked a faint green line on the shared image. It showed the path he wanted his ice element to follow. Doing this in the intense heat was consuming a tremendous amount of his mental power, so his markings were blurry. Fortunately, Chi Qiu's mental power was strong enough for her to see them.

With her free hand, Chi Qiu grabbed Huo Yuhao's hand. Their clasped hands pointed toward the direction he had marked. Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow and began to condense the ice element within his body. Watching him closely, Chi Qiu released her flames at just the right moment, wrapping them around the ice element and clearing a path for him.

Even condensing the ice element made beads of sweat the size of beans roll down Huo Yuhao's face. It was far too much for him! But if he could pull it off, he would benefit immensely. It was a trial that pushed his body to its very limit.

Even if he failed, he still had Brother Sky Dream's trump card. There was nothing to fear. Thinking this, Sky Dream lifted the corner of his seal a little farther, allowing some of his mental power and ice element to flow into Huo Yuhao's body. His meridians had expanded as he reached his limit.

At the same time, Chi Qiu tried to replenish Huo Yuhao's mental power. The trace left in the Sea of Consciousness by their attribute connection had become a channel for their Soul Power and mental power.

The more the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm watched, the more excited he became. This meant the two of them definitely had the potential for Martial Soul Fusion!

"Yuhao, how's it going? Can you keep this up?" Sky Dream asked, though he already knew the answer.

He lived in this kid's Sea of Consciousness every day. How could he not know how stubborn Huo Yuhao was?

"I can keep going!" Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth. At last, a glint of ice appeared in front of his clasped hands with Chi Qiu. Before long, Light Fire enveloped it, driving away the Evil Fire trying to melt it.

Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu's Seas of Consciousness were now connected through Spiritual Detection Sharing. They counted down together—three, two, one—and the glint of ice shot out like a thin thread, swallowed by the Light Fire until it was nearly impossible to see.

But this inconspicuous glint of ice was the extreme cold Huo Yuhao had worked so hard to compress.

Just as the glint was about to pierce the person's forehead, a phoenix cry rang out, and a phantom phoenix lunged in front of its master. But the next second, a sharp, mournful shriek rang out as Ultimate Fire dispersed it.

The glint of ice shot straight into the opponent's head.

The person stiffened. The flames vanished, and ice began to spread over her entire body. Then she swayed violently, tipped headfirst into Sea God Lake, and sent up a huge splash.

Out of sight, the first part to freeze had actually been her Sea of Consciousness. After all, she had faced the full force of two people who specialized in mental power.

"Did we do it?" Huo Yuhao asked, dazed. If Chi Qiu hadn't been holding his hand and lending him support, he would have collapsed on the spot.

Though his whole body was weak, the rigid training had made his previously sluggish Soul Power flow much more freely.

"Looks like it."

Chi Qiu nodded, but the next second she suddenly let go, allowing Huo Yuhao to fall to the ground.

"Qiu'er?" Huo Yuhao was baffled. What confused him even more was that Chi Qiu immediately lay down, looking exhausted and badly injured.

If Huo Yuhao had kept Spiritual Detection open, he would have known Chi Qiu was doing this because teachers from the academy were approaching.

But he had truly exhausted his Soul Power and couldn't use that divine skill anymore.

"Someone's coming. Play dead," Chi Qiu whispered. Then she closed her eyes, as if she had really passed out.

Maybe playing dead was an essential skill in the Soul Beast Realm, too...

Huo Yuhao didn't have time to think it over. His extraordinary eyesight caught sight of someone flying toward them, so he immediately closed his eyes and feigned weakness.

"Not good. This time we injured students from the outer court." A middle-aged man's voice sounded above him. "Two have minor injuries. One is a little more seriously hurt, but they're all superficial injuries, and none are life-threatening. I'll treat them now."

"Good. We nearly caused a disaster..." another voice said. "Where's Xiaotao?"

"She's here. She seems to have passed out."

"I say we give these outer-court students a generous reward, then make them promise not to tell anyone. That should take care of it."

"I agree. Tell them that if they dare talk, they'll be expelled from Shrek."

As Huo Yuhao listened to the conversation, his Sea of Consciousness began to waver violently.

What was this? If Brother Sky Dream and Chi Qiu, his ally from outside Star Dou Great Forest, hadn't been there, he could have lost his life today! He still hadn't achieved any of his goals, and now he'd nearly died because a Shrek Inner Court student had gone berserk!

And after all that, they weren't just offering compensation—they were threatening to expel them.

Expulsion, again. Shrek wasn't just a school that shut out talented commoners; it was also a school that could casually expel students who had fought tooth and nail to get in.

The arrogance practically seemed to seep into Huo Yuhao's very skin.

So even when the healing Soul Master restored his Soul Power, he felt no relief at all. He merely circulated his Soul Power without revealing his feelings, sensing the changes in his body after it had been tempered by the intense heat.

"Tsk, tsk. Sometimes a human body has to be pushed this far before it can reach its potential." The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm inspected Huo Yuhao's condition, too. "Not bad. I'd say you gained at least three levels from that. Your sluggish meridians were hiding a lot of Soul Power you couldn't circulate. Pushing yourself to the limit just now cleared it all out. Of those three levels, about one and a half were probably Innate Soul Power you should've had from the start."

"Really? Brother Sky Dream, did I really get stronger?" Only then did Huo Yuhao's heavy heart begin to lighten.

"Of course! Why would I lie to you? Once you get back and stabilize the foundation of your Soul Power, I'll give you a little more strength from the seal."

Please read on and leave a recommendation! It really means a lot to me! Thanks, everyone!

This chapter's a long one. The pacing was a little slow earlier, with too much setup, but things will pick up from here.