"Crack!"
The Ice Man moved.
It used no Soul Skill and made no fancy movements—just a simple, direct charge forward.
Its feet struck the ground, freezing a patch of earth with every step. It advanced at astonishing speed.
Shui Bing'er's pupils contracted, and her right hand swept through an arc before her.
"Ice Seal!"
Ice-blue light burst from her palm, spreading forward in a fan-shaped shock wave.
This wasn't an ordinary freezing Soul Skill.
It was an area-control skill with a mental lock-on effect.
Anyone caught in its light whose Soul Power was lower than hers would be forcibly frozen for two to three seconds.
The light of Ice Seal struck the charging Ice Man squarely.
Pale blue ice crystals began to spread across its body, climbing from its legs to its torso, then covering its head.
Within two seconds, the Ice Man had become an ice sculpture.
"It's frozen!"
Shui Bing'er felt a surge of joy.
But the ice crystals immediately began to crack.
"Crack!"
A web of fractures burst across the Ice Man's body.
It gave a casual flex, and the ice encasing it shattered into a storm of icy flakes.
Shui Bing'er's first Soul Skill, powered by her level-thirty-six Soul Power, was as fragile as tissue paper against a body made of Ultimate Ice.
"Ice Seal didn't work?!"
Before Shui Bing'er could think it through, the Ice Man's fist was already crashing toward her.
She crossed her arms in front of herself to guard, and her second Soul Ring lit up at the same time.
"Ice Ring Armor!"
A layer of crystalline blue armor covered her arms and chest, complex patterns of light flowing across its surface.
This was her strongest defensive Soul Skill.
It could nullify attacks below a certain level of strength.
"Thud!"
The Ice Man's fist slammed into the Ice Ring Armor.
The shock wave spread outward from the two of them, kicking up the frost on the ground.
Shui Bing'er gritted her teeth.
Her feet carved two deep furrows through the ice as the punch sent her flying back nearly ten meters.
The Ice Ring Armor on her arms was covered in fine cracks.
It hadn't shattered, but the force of the attack had pushed it close to its defensive limit.
"One punch cracked the Ice Ring Armor?!"
Shui Bing'er stared at the Ice Man's face, identical to Su Hui's, her heart churning with shock.
"This Ice Man can do that through sheer physical strength?"
The power of a fifty-thousand-year Soul Skill was terrifying indeed!
But Shui Bing'er was the captain of Skywater Team, and her combat experience was among the best of her peers.
She quickly steadied herself and stopped trying to meet it head-on.
The Ice Ring Armor's enhancement was still active, significantly boosting her speed and strength.
With the armor's support, she began using hit-and-run tactics.
She darted about at high speed on her Ice Crystal Wings, attacking from the sides and behind.
Every strike carried the frigid power of her Ice Phoenix Martial Soul.
The Ice Man had superb combat instincts.
Against Shui Bing'er's nimble attacks, it relied on its fearsome physical strength to endure most of them.
It also counterattacked with fists and feet, forcing Shui Bing'er to keep moving and never stay in one place for more than three seconds.
The two battled across the arena for dozens of exchanges.
Su Hui stood motionless, his arms crossed over his chest.
His silver dragon eyes watched the fight, while his mind raced.
"The Ice Man's automatic combat instincts are impressive. They're more than enough for close-quarters combat against a Soul Master."
"Its body is tough enough, too. Even when Shui Bing'er puts all her strength behind an attack boosted by her second Soul Skill, she can only leave a faint white mark on it. Its defense is up to par."
He sorted through his observations.
"But its weaknesses are obvious too—it can't use Soul Skills or special attacks, and its fighting style relies on fists and feet. Against an opponent skilled in control, it can be kept at a distance and worn down."
The fight unfolding before him confirmed his judgment.
Shui Bing'er had also noticed the Ice Man's limitations.
She began deliberately widening the gap.
With the tips of her Ice Crystal Wings, she launched repeated ranged attacks, steadily draining the Ultimate Ice energy in its body.
At the same time, she tried to bypass the Ice Man and attack Su Hui himself.
But the Ice Man's combat instincts were superb, more than making up for that weakness.
Whenever Shui Bing'er tried to get around it, it intercepted her precisely and forced her back.
"Pesky little leech!"
Shui Bing'er's patience was wearing thin.
She took a deep breath, and the third purple Soul Ring on her body blazed with dazzling light.
"Ice Resistance Ring!"
Centered on Shui Bing'er, a ring-shaped, ice-blue shock wave erupted outward with violent force.
The Ice Resistance Ring combined knockback and damage, crushing everything around it outward.
The Ice Man took the full brunt of the attack.
This time, it couldn't withstand the blow.
"Boom! Crack!"
The terrifying repulsive force blasted its whole body into the air.
It flipped twice before crashing hard to the ground thirty meters away.
Its body, formed from Ultimate Ice, carved a long furrow in the ground, sending ice chips flying everywhere.
But Shui Bing'er didn't look pleased.
The Ice Resistance Ring was her strongest skill for controlling the field and counterattacking. She had intended to smash the Ice Man apart with it.
Yet all it lost in the crash was some ice from its surface.
The cracks across its torso were shallow and had almost instantly been repaired by the ice crystals.
"Its defense and recovery are both absurd. What a bizarre Ice Man!"
Su Hui paid no attention to who was winning the fight.
His thoughts had been caught by another question.
"Ice Empress and Xiao Bing can both connect to and control the Extreme Ice Avatar through their spiritual cores, letting the clone fight far better than it can on its own."
"Then... what about me?"
"If I could split my spiritual core and achieve Heart Separation Control, could I develop the Extreme Ice Avatar's power further, just like Ice Empress?"
The idea struck through his thoughts like lightning.
He quickly ran through the possibilities in his mind.
The fact that Xiao Bing and Ice Empress could do it meant the approach was theoretically possible.
He just needed to find the right method.
But his reasoning stalled there. He couldn't split his spiritual core.
Knowing which way to go was one thing. Finding a way to get there was another.
It was like knowing there was treasure on the mountaintop.
The path up the mountain was still shrouded in mist, and he couldn't see where to take the first step.
"Forget it. I'll make a note of it and think it over when I get back."
Su Hui temporarily set the thought aside and turned his attention back to the Soul Fighting Arena.
After knocking the Ice Man away, Shui Bing'er didn't pursue it.
Instead, she stood where she was and took a few breaths.
Her Ice Phoenix Martial Soul had consumed a great deal of energy.
After releasing one Soul Skill after another, nearly half her Soul Power was gone.
Su Hui, by contrast, had stood there without moving the entire time, barely changing his expression.
"This guy..."
Shui Bing'er bit her lower lip, her feelings a tangled mess.
She had thought that, since she and Su Hui were both level thirty-six, the gap between them wouldn't be too wide.
Yet he had forced her to go all out simply by sending out an Ice Clone.
If he entered the fight himself, she was afraid she wouldn't last even a quarter of an hour.
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