Mind Splitting and Heart Separation Control

"Crack!"

The Ice Man moved.

There were no soul skills, nor any flashy maneuvers, just a simple and direct charge forward.

Its soles struck the ground, freezing a patch of ice with every step, its speed of advance astonishingly fast.

Shui Bing'er's pupils constricted as her right hand traced an arc before her.

"Ice Seal!"

An ice-blue radiance exploded from her palm, transforming into a fan-shaped shockwave that swept forward.

This was no ordinary freezing soul skill.

It was a crowd-control technique imbued with a mental lock-on effect.

As long as they were enveloped by the light, any enemy with a lower soul power than hers would be forcibly frozen for two to three seconds.

The light of the Ice Seal struck the charging Ice Man with precision.

A layer of pale blue ice crystals began to spread across the Ice Man's body, extending from its legs to its torso, and finally covering its head.

Within two seconds, the Ice Man had turned into an ice sculpture.

"It's frozen!"

Shui Bing'er felt a surge of joy.

But immediately after, that layer of ice crystals emitted a shattering sound.

"Snap!"

Dense cracks exploded across the Ice Man's body.

With just a casual struggle, the ice layer sealing it shattered into a sky full of ice shards.

The first soul skill, driven by Shui Bing'er's formidable thirty-sixth-level soul power, was as fragile as a thin sheet of paper before a body composed of Ultimate Ice.

"The Ice Seal is ineffective?!"

Shui Bing'er had no time to think as the Ice Man's fist smashed toward her face.

She crossed her arms to shield herself, and her second soul ring lit up simultaneously.

"Ice Ring Armor!"

A layer of crystalline blue ice armor covered her arms and chest, complex light patterns flowing across its surface.

This was her strongest defensive soul skill.

It could nullify a portion of attacks that fell below a certain intensity.

"Thud!"

The Ice Man's fist slammed into the Ice Ring Armor.

The shockwave of the impact rippled outward with the two of them at the center, the frost on the ground kicked up by the blast of air.

Shui Bing'er gritted her teeth.

Her feet plowed two deep furrows into the ice as she was blasted back nearly ten meters by the single punch.

The surface of the Ice Ring Armor on her arms was covered in a dense web of cracks.

Although it hadn't shattered, the attack it had endured was nearing the armor's defensive limit.

"A single punch cracked the Ice Ring Armor?!"

Shui Bing'er stared fixedly at the Ice Man's face, which was identical to Su Hui's, a stormy sea of shock rising in her heart.

"Can this Ice Man achieve this level relying solely on physical strength?"

The power of a fifty-thousand-year soul skill was truly terrifying!

But Shui Bing'er was, after all, the captain of the Skywater Team, and her combat experience was top-tier among her peers.

She quickly adjusted her mindset, no longer attempting to meet force with force.

The amplification effect of the Ice Ring Armor was still active, and both her speed and strength had been significantly enhanced.

With the aid of the armor, she began to adopt a hit-and-run tactic.

She used her Ice Crystal Wings to move at high speed, launching attacks from the flanks and the rear.

Every strike was condensed with the extreme cold power of her Ice Phoenix martial soul.

The Ice Man possessed an incredibly high combat instinct.

Facing Shui Bing'er's agile offensive, it relied on its terrifying physical strength to tank the majority of the attacks.

At the same time, it continuously countered with punches and kicks, forcing Shui Bing'er to never stay in one position for more than three seconds.

The girl and the clone tangled in the arena for dozens of rounds.

Su Hui stood where he was, his arms crossed over his chest.

His silver dragon eyes watched the battle in the arena, while his brain raced at high speed.

"The Ice Man's automatic combat instincts are indeed impressive; it is more than capable of handling close-quarters entanglement with a spirit master."

"Its physical durability is also solid. A full-force strike from Shui Bing'er, enhanced by her second spirit skill, left only a shallow white mark on its body. Its defensive capabilities are fully up to standard."

He organized the data he had observed in his mind.

"The problems are also obvious—it cannot release spirit skills or special attacks, its hand-to-hand combat style is monotonous, and it would be easily kited by an opponent skilled in crowd control."

The situation on the field confirmed his judgment.

Shui Bing'er also discovered the limitations of the Ice Man.

She began to deliberately widen the distance between them.

She used the long-range attacks of her Ice Crystal Wings to continuously deplete the Ultimate Ice energy within the Ice Man.

At the same time, she attempted to bypass the Ice Man to attack Su Hui's main body directly.

However, the Ice Man's combat instincts were extremely high, perfectly compensating for this weakness.

Every time Shui Bing'er tried to maneuver around it, she was intercepted with precision.

"What a troublesome piece of sticky plaster!"

Shui Bing'er's patience was gradually wearing thin.

She took a deep breath, and the third purple spirit ring on her body lit up with a dazzling violet glow.

"Ice Resistance Ring!"

Centered on Shui Bing'er, a ring-shaped, ice-blue shockwave erupted violently outward.

The Ice Resistance Ring carried both knockback and damage effects, crushing everything in its path.

The Ice Man bore the brunt of the impact, taking the blast head-on.

This time, it could not withstand the force.

"Boom! Crack!"

Its entire body was sent flying by the terrifying repulsive force.

It flipped twice in mid-air before crashing heavily onto the ground thirty meters away.

Its body, composed of Ultimate Ice, plowed a long trench into the ground, sending ice shards scattering everywhere.

But Shui Bing'er's expression was far from pleased.

The Ice Resistance Ring was her strongest crowd control and counter-attack spirit skill, intended to shatter the Ice Man directly.

Yet, the Ice Man had only lost a few surface ice shards from the impact of the crash.

The cracks on its torso were extremely shallow and were repaired by the ice crystals almost instantly.

"The defense and recovery are just too exaggerated. What a bizarre Ice Man!"

Su Hui did not focus on the outcome of the duel on the field.

His thoughts were drawn to another question.

"Both Ice Empress and Xiao Bing can connect to the Extreme Ice Avatar through their spiritual cores, controlling the clone to unleash combat power far exceeding its automatic mode."

"Then... what about me?"

"If I could also manage to split my spiritual core and achieve Heart Separation Control, could I further develop the power of the Extreme Ice Avatar just like Ice Empress?"

This thought struck his mind like a bolt of lightning.

He quickly deduced the possibilities in his head.

The fact that Xiao Bing and Ice Empress could do it meant that, theoretically, this path was viable.

It was just a matter of finding the right method.

But the deduction stalled there; he could not split his spiritual core.

Knowing the direction was one thing, but the specific path to implementation was another.

It was like knowing there was treasure at the top of a mountain.

But the path up the mountain remained shrouded in fog, and he could not see where to take the first step.

"Forget it, I'll write it down for now and ponder it slowly when I get back."

Su Hui temporarily suppressed the thought and pulled his attention back to the Soul Fighting Arena.

After knocking the Ice Man away, Shui Bing'er did not press her advantage.

Instead, she stood in place and caught her breath.

The consumption of her Ice Phoenix spirit was significant.

Releasing spirit skills in succession had already drained nearly fifty percent of her spirit power.

In contrast, Su Hui had stood in the same spot from start to finish without moving, his expression barely changing.

"This guy..."

Shui Bing'er bit her lower lip, her mood complex to the extreme.

She had originally thought that since she and Su Hui were both level 36, the gap between them wouldn't be too large.

Yet, the opponent had forced her to use her full strength just by deploying an Ice Clone.

If his main body were to enter the fray personally, she feared she wouldn't even last a quarter of an hour.