The Foundation of Godhood.
She spoke those four words in a calm voice, yet they rang like thunder, enough to drive every Soul Master mad with desire.
Yu Shuangbai's heart was shaken as well.
But he didn't show too much excitement right away.
Instead, he asked:
"Senior, what's the price?"
There was no such thing as a free lunch.
Although the Ice Dragon King had said that she was doing all this only to advance the way of ice further,
that didn't rule out the possibility that she still had some selfish motives.
The Foundation of Godhood she spoke of was certainly exhilarating.
But Yu Shuangbai cared more about the price he would have to pay to obtain this opportunity.
"The price?"
The Ice Dragon King admired Yu Shuangbai's ability to remain clearheaded despite facing such an enormous temptation.
As for the price...
She truly hadn't given it much thought.
Already fallen, the Ice Dragon King merely wanted to use her ruined body to shine one last time, brighter than ever.
But...
Perhaps she did harbor a little selfishness.
The Ice Dragon King took a deep breath.
"It isn't a price. It's only a request."
"Whether you agree or not, I'll still give you the Foundation of Godhood."
"Please, go ahead, Senior."
A trace of melancholy entered the Ice Dragon King's eyes.
She spoke slowly:
"If you have the ability someday, and you happen to encounter the remaining sparks of my Dragon Clan..."
"I hope you'll do everything you can to protect them."
The Ice Dragon King didn't ask Yu Shuangbai to revive the Dragon Clan.
She had only made this small, harmless request.
The proud Dragon Clan disdained using a favor to demand repayment.
After a moment of silence,
Yu Shuangbai nodded slightly, his voice firm as a vow:
"I promise, Senior."
At this, the Ice Dragon King laughed freely.
"Good. In that case, let this ruined body of mine shine with its final light!"
The Ice Dragon King's dragon soul began to glow.
Streams of light burst from her prostrate body and flowed into Yu Shuangbai.
He felt his body enveloped in an energy as warm as sunlight.
His mind was at ease, his spirit refreshed. It was as though even his life were being elevated.
The Ice Dragon King Martial Soul emerged of its own accord.
Pain shot through his spine.
It felt as though something was about to tear its way out.
The next moment,
with a sharp swish,
the clothes covering Yu Shuangbai's upper body were ripped to shreds, falling in strips all around him.
A pair of exquisite, magnificent dragon wings covered in scales like blue crystals unfurled from his back.
Previously, the Ice Dragon King's traits in Yu Shuangbai's Martial Soul had only appeared in his scales, pupils, and horns.
He hadn't possessed the Ice Dragon King's wings.
But as several streams of energy from the Ice Dragon King entered him, everything missing from his Ice Dragon King Martial Soul was finally and completely restored.
Aside from the fact that he hadn't fully transformed into the Ice Dragon King and still retained a human form,
Yu Shuangbai could now be called a newborn Ice Dragon King!
His physical abilities had already surpassed the limits of humanity, reaching the level of an Ice Dragon King of the same rank.
That wasn't all.
His Sea of Consciousness had also undergone tremendous changes.
Originally, it had been no larger than a lake. But after the Ice Dragon King's power entered it, it expanded rapidly before his very eyes.
Yu Shuangbai still had only Soul Elder cultivation.
Yet his spiritual power was already enough to rival that of a high-ranked Soul Douluo.
And even that wasn't the end.
The Ice Dragon King's power continued to raise his strength imperceptibly.
More importantly,
a floating, icy-blue crystal core had appeared in Yu Shuangbai's Sea of Consciousness.
That was the Foundation of Godhood the Ice Dragon King had mentioned.
It was her Godhead!
With this Godhead, Yu Shuangbai would no longer face the hardest step on the path to becoming a god.
As long as his cultivation was sufficient and his foundation deep enough, he could cross that threshold at any time and truly step into the divine realm!
In other words, from this moment on, Yu Shuangbai was no longer an ordinary human Soul Master.
He was a candidate for godhood!
At the same time, as the process came to an end, the light on the Ice Dragon King's corpse gradually dimmed.
The Fire Dragon King looked on in sorrow.
She knew that her friend had completely sacrificed herself to Yu Shuangbai. Not a trace of her dragon soul remained in this world.
"If that's the case, what meaning is there in clinging to a single wisp of my soul?"
The Fire Dragon King murmured quietly.
"Come, human boy. I'll grant you another opportunity."
"An opportunity the likes of which this world has never seen!"
"I'm eager to see just how far you'll grow in the future!"
As her voice fell,
a scorching red light began to flicker across the Fire Dragon King's corpse as well.
Red streams of energy intertwined with the blue streams that had flowed from the Ice Dragon King, together entering Yu Shuangbai's body.
The simultaneous entry of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King's origin powers and Godheads brought about a strange transformation in Yu Shuangbai's body.
The blue scales and dragon wings that represented the Ice Dragon King's ultimate coldness
suddenly gained a few streaks of eerie red.
Red patterns, like decorative markings, were inlaid along the edges of the icy crystal scales.
Energy woven from scarlet red and icy blue wrapped around him like a silkworm cocoon, encasing Yu Shuangbai within.
A strange transformation quietly unfolded inside the cocoon.
Outside.
Beyond the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well,
time trickled by like sand through an hourglass, second by second.
The sky had already grown dark.
The sun sank, and the bright moon and stars rose in the pitch-black night sky.
Snow Empress stood beside the spring of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, as motionless as a statue.
She quietly watched the still surface of the water before her.
Her small hands, clasped behind her back, were clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned pale, revealing her worry.
The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was so peculiar that even Snow Empress, a Limit Douluo, couldn't use her spiritual power to sense what was happening below.
At that moment, she was at a loss.
All she could do was wait quietly for the result.
Dugu Bo stood on the other side.
His jade-green eyes were just as full of worry.
But unlike Snow Empress, who worried because of her feelings for Yu Shuangbai,
Dugu Bo's concern came from his own interests.
After all, whether the Jade Phosphor Snake Poison afflicting him and Dugu Yan could be cured depended entirely on Yu Shuangbai.
If something happened to Yu Shuangbai, his last hope would be gone.
How could he not be worried?
Dugu Yan said nothing.
She stood beside her grandfather, biting her red lip.
Her state of mind wasn't much different from Dugu Bo's.
Under the watchful gazes of the three,
the still surface of the water suddenly began to change.
The red and blue hues grew ever richer.
Ripples spread across the surface.
At first, they were faint, no more than a ripple or two.
But as time passed, they grew increasingly violent.
At last, the spring water began to churn as if it were boiling.
The scorching heat and bone-chilling cold reached their peak in a single instant.
"Boom!"
The spring water erupted!
A tall, slender figure with wings shot up from beneath the surface.
Like the Dragon God descending!
Before you continue