Second Martial Soul, The Physical Body!

And what of her Chen'er?

Compared to those common mortals, Xue Bingchen was simply blessed by the heavens, a darling favored by fate itself!

Not only was he as handsome as a celestial child, but he had also awakened the Heavenly Snow Woman, an absolutely top-tier Martial Soul.

Yes, my Chen'er is destined for greatness, the Snow Empress thought to herself.

Just as the two Ice and Snow Empresses were filled with joy, preparing to take out a test crystal "borrowed" from human society to measure Xue Bingchen's soul power, thinking this soul-stirring Martial Soul awakening ceremony had come to a perfect end...

A mutation, sudden and sharp!

"Hum--!"

Xue Bingchen, who had just calmed down, suddenly trembled violently without warning.

Immediately after, the ice and snow aura he had just retracted into his body was forcibly suppressed by a completely different power.

From the surface of his body, a blinding, strange light mixed with brilliant gold and dark red suddenly erupted!

Within this light, there was not a trace of icy chill; instead, it was filled with a wild, domineering Bloodline Power so terrifying it felt as if it could swallow mountains and rivers!

"This... what is happening?!"

The smile on the Ice Empress's face froze instantly. She recoiled a step, her emerald eyes filled with shock.

The Snow Empress was also pale with fright. She instinctively tried to probe Xue Bingchen's body with her own soul power, only to find that her peerless Ultimate Ice soul power was being forcefully repelled by the gold-red light on his skin!

"Chen'er! What is wrong?!" the Snow Empress called out anxiously.

Enveloped in this gold-red radiance, Xue Bingchen did not feel any pain.

On the contrary, he felt his blood boiling, his bones emitting thunderous cracks, and his muscles and meridians undergoing a transformation akin to a rebirth!

He snapped his eyes open; his originally ice-blue pupils had now transformed into a strange color, half-brilliant gold and half-dark red.

He looked at the anxious and bewildered Ice and Snow Empresses, a wild, unrestrained smile curling his lips as he spoke aloud:

"Mother, Aunt Ice Empress, don't worry! I'm fine!"

"I... I think I've awakened again!"

"My second Martial Soul is... my physical body!!!"

"What?!"

"Awakened again? Twin Martial Souls?!"

Hearing Xue Bingchen's words, the Ice and Snow Empresses gasped in unison, their two beautiful faces filled with disbelief.

Twin Martial Souls!

This was a supreme talent seen once in a century on the Douluo Continent!

Even as soul beasts, they knew full well what Twin Martial Souls meant for a human soul master.

It meant unparalleled potential, meaning the possibility of standing at the very pinnacle of the continent in the future!

But...

When they heard the second half of Xue Bingchen's sentence, the joy on their faces instantly solidified, replaced by deep confusion and astonishment.

"Physical body?!"

The Ice Empress widened her eyes, staring at Xue Bingchen as if he were a monster, and shrieked:

"How can a physical body be a Martial Soul?! Has your brain broken from the excitement of awakening? Aren't all Martial Souls either Tool Martial Souls or Beast Martial Souls? Even a mutated Martial Soul must have a specific form! Your body is your body; how could it become a Martial Soul?!"

This time, even the Snow Empress, who was usually well-informed and widely read, fell into a deep silence, unable to provide any answer.

Her ice-blue eyes flickered with doubt.

Over these past six years, to educate Xue Bingchen, she had specifically gone to the human world to collect a vast amount of books on Martial Soul theory.

In her understanding, human Martial Souls were strange and varied: there were blades, swords, staves, and clubs; there were birds and beasts; and there were even some extremely rare natural elements like fire, water, wind, and lightning.

There were also some trash Martial Souls, like farming tools, weeds, or Blue Silver Grass.

But to treat one's own "physical body" as a Martial Soul?

This was simply unheard of, unseen!

It completely subverted the iron laws of the soul master world that had been summarized over the tens of thousands of years of the Douluo Continent!

"Chen'er, are... are you sure you aren't mistaken?"

The Snow Empress's ethereal voice carried a rare trace of urgency and uncertainty.

Her beautiful face leaned close to Xue Bingchen, her ice-blue eyes fixed tightly on his body, which was flashing with gold and red light, trying to find a trace of characteristics similar to a Beast Martial Soul possession, such as scales, beast ears, or a tail.

But, there was nothing.

There was absolutely nothing!

Xue Bingchen's body remained that of a delicate, porcelain-like human child. Aside from the layer of domineering Bloodline Power flowing over his skin and the change in his eye color, there were no signs of his appearance shifting toward a soul beast form.

This meant that this was definitely not some Beast Martial Soul mutation!

The Ice Empress, on the other hand, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. She circled Xue Bingchen three times, extended a fair, tender finger, and poked and pinched at his chubby little arm again and again.

"This flesh... it's still just this piece of flesh! Aside from being a bit firmer and more elastic than before, how is this anything like a Martial Soul?"

Ice Empress looked utterly dejected and frantic, clutching her head with both hands as she let out a wail:

"Heavens! For the past three years, This Empress has fed this little brat the Far North's most precious Millennium Snow Lotus, Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, and the essence blood of all sorts of potent Soul Beasts! I thought I was nurturing a heaven-shaking second Martial Soul, but in the end... how could it turn out to be just a piece of flesh?!"

Ice Empress plopped down onto the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Rock nearby, her cute, delicate loli face filled with disappointment. Her two green pigtails hung down listlessly, and she kept muttering to herself:

"Why isn't it an Ice Jade Empress Scorpion? Why isn't it an Ice Jade Empress Scorpion... even awakening an Ice Bear Martial Soul would have been fine; at least that's a top-tier beast Martial Soul. A physical body... what kind of nonsense is this? If word of this gets out, where will This Empress hide her face?"

Watching Ice Empress in her state of "failed investment, total loss," Snow Empress opened her mouth, a complex expression flashing across her stunningly beautiful face, momentarily at a loss for how to offer comfort.

Because, deep down, Snow Empress actually felt a sliver of that same disappointment.

In her understanding, the strength of a Martial Soul was often inextricably linked to its form and the laws it embodied.

Her own Heavenly Snow Woman Martial Soul was the incarnation of the laws of ultimate ice between heaven and earth—noble, pure, and infinitely powerful.

By comparison, how much power could a human's fragile "physical body" possibly contain?

Even though Xue Bingchen's body had been tempered by countless heavenly treasures and far surpassed that of an ordinary person, treating it as an independent Martial Soul still seemed far too forced.

Compared to top-tier Martial Souls like the Heavenly Snow Woman, this so-called "physical body Martial Soul" was like an ant before a dragon; the gap was not just a little bit, but vast.

It was also far inferior to Ice Empress's Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.

Could it be... that because Chen'er's constitution was too strong, the Martial Soul mutation failed, resulting in a useless Martial Soul with no form at all?

Snow Empress speculated silently in her heart, a hint of heartache inevitably showing in her eyes.

Watching the two rulers of the Far North looking so dejected, even beginning to doubt the meaning of life, Xue Bingchen, standing in the center of the formation, was secretly overjoyed.