A Difficult Choice

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Ice blades and thunderbolts collided incessantly. Amidst the intense explosions, the entire Spirit Fighting Platform became riddled with holes.

Shui Yue'er collapsed to the ground, her legs weak. Facing the pressure of a Titled Douluo-level combatant, she was simply too young at only eleven years old.

Shui Lingti activated her Martial Soul Avatar at this moment. She was a level 78 Spirit Sage powerhouse, and her martial soul was the Polar Snow Mastiff.

"Is this really a level of combat power a teenager can possess?" she muttered to herself, watching Su Yun Tao as he clashed with Shui Xinhan.

The members of Skywater Academy wore exceptionally grave expressions. The several Spirit Sage teachers present all had different looks on their faces, but all were shocked by the combat power Su Yun Tao had displayed.

Just then, facing the sky full of thunder, the black sixth spirit ring of Shui Xinhan began to dim. The power of Heaven-Extinguishing Frost had reached its limit, yet it still could not break through Su Yun Tao's hundred-thousand-year spirit skill—Nirvana Thunder!

Su Yun Tao felt his hands and feet beginning to disobey him; this was the exhaustion that came from pushing his spirit power to the absolute limit.

Although a hundred-thousand-year spirit skill was terrifyingly powerful, the spirit power consumption it generated was equally astonishing.

Watching Shui Xinhan's offensive gradually wither, Su Yun Tao gritted his teeth. He knew the time for the final showdown had arrived!

At this moment, he pressed his hands together against his chest, and a stable-looking bolt of lightning suddenly appeared. Although this mass of lightning looked calm on the outside, it contained an aura of death within!

This was one of Su Yun Tao's two great hundred-thousand-year spirit bone skills: Thunder Strike!

Su Yun Tao knew that while he could block Shui Xinhan's attacks with his hundred-thousand-year spirit skill, the gap between his spirit power and hers was simply too vast. How many times could he really trigger such a skill?

A quick victory was Su Yun Tao's only hope. Therefore, as Shui Xinhan's offensive weakened, Su Yun Tao exhausted every ounce of his spirit power, aiming only to land this decisive Thunder Strike!

In an instant, a bolt of lightning streaked toward Shui Xinhan at extreme speed. Her expression changed abruptly, for as someone with rich combat experience, she sensed an aura of destruction within that lightning!

The next moment, Shui Xinhan made a swift decision, and her seventh and eighth spirit rings lit up simultaneously!

"Seventh Spirit Skill! Martial Soul Avatar, Ice Descent!"

Shui Xinhan and the Ice Dragon vanished, replaced by a towering phantom of an ice dragon over a hundred meters long.

It looked like the absolute monarch of the Far North, overlooking everything on the ground from high above!

Just as Shui Xinhan suddenly activated her Martial Soul Avatar and the Skywater group was left confused, a deep black spirit ring erupted with a dazzling light beneath the feet of the Ice Dragon avatar.

This was Shui Xinhan's eighth spirit skill—Ice Crystal Mirror!

In an instant, blue light radiated around the Ice Dragon. The blue scales covering its entire body seemed to become transparent, resembling a mirror.

With a loud boom, the lightning slammed into the Ice Dragon. Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, the blue scales covering the Ice Dragon began to fall off.

"She can even break through a teacher's Martial Soul Avatar?" Shui Bing'er's eyes widened, looking at Su Yun Tao as if he were some kind of monster.

Su Yun Tao's face was flushed red. Unlike the others at Skywater, he was experiencing the battle firsthand and knew he had already lost.

Although the hundred-thousand-year spirit skill was powerful, it was not invincible. Following the dragon's roar, the blue light across the Ice Dragon's body surged, and the scales that had begun to fall off in large patches grew back rapidly.

Although Shui Xinhan's eighth spirit ring was not as powerful as that of the Sky Azure Bull Python, it was still formidable. It originated from a seventy-thousand-year-old spirit beast, the Ice Crystal Azure Dragon. While the Ice Crystal Azure Dragon was far from reaching the level of a Holy Dragon among the many dragon-type spirit beasts, it was still a type of True Dragon.

The Ice Crystal Azure Dragon was of very high quality; its advanced version was the Ice Emperor Azure Dragon, which possessed innate ultimate attributes. The Ice Crystal Azure Dragon likewise possessed a powerful ice attribute.

With such a powerful spirit ring combined with Shui Xinhan's vast spirit power, Su Yun Tao's hundred-thousand-year spirit skill ultimately failed to break through the Ice Dragon's defense.

Shui Xinhan deactivated her Martial Soul Avatar. Her eighth spirit skill not only had astonishing defensive power, but once it absorbed an opponent's attack, it could instantly replicate and reflect it back. Facing Su Yun Tao, who was in poor condition, she naturally did not trigger the reflection.

"Brother Tao!" The Shui sisters hurried forward.

Su Yun Tao waved his hand. Although his spirit power was exhausted and his face was deathly pale, he could still stand.

In the room, Shui Xinhan personally brewed a cup of fine royal tribute tea for Su Yun Tao.

"Yun Tao, your performance today was truly..."

"Dean, truly what?"

Shui Xinhan said in a deep voice, "It was truly too bizarre. I simply cannot imagine that you, with only five spirit rings, could possess such combat power."

"Dean, in truth, I have always been hiding my strength because I have always feared unknown dangers."

"Oh?" Shui Xinhan smiled. "In that case, does that mean I am someone in your heart to whom you can reveal your trump cards?"

Su Yun Tao looked out the window at the peaceful and harmonious Skywater Academy, and he nodded solemnly.

He had been on the Douluo Continent for over a decade, but for the first dozen years, Ma Xiunuo was the only person Su Yun Tao could trust.

Later, through his interactions with Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi, Su Yun Tao gained two more people he could trust, and now, Shui Xinhan had joined their ranks.

"Yun Tao, I can sense your spirit rings; they are all beyond the optimal spirit ring ratios, and among them are even hundred-thousand-year-level existences. Do not show them to others easily in the future."

Su Yun Tao smiled. "Thank you for the reminder, Dean. In fact, every step I have taken has been carefully considered."

Shui Xinhan nodded. "Your current strength, if fully unleashed, could even reach the level of a Spirit Douluo. However, remember: before you become a Titled Douluo, you must not be too flashy!"

Su Yun Tao said in a deep voice, "Dean, please rest assured, I will be careful."

"Yun Tao, you have your own ideas, and I will never interfere with your choices. However, I need to remind you that Ning Fengzhi is coming soon; you must judge the situation clearly!"

Su Yun Tao said slowly, "Dean, if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were to be destroyed in the future and your sister died for Ning Fengzhi, would you stand by and watch?"

Shui Xinhan was stunned by the question. After a long while, she finally spoke: "That will not happen. If the day comes when the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is truly destroyed, I will bring Ling Rong to Skywater Academy."

"Dean, this world sometimes does not go as you or I wish. Neither of us has much hostility toward Martial Soul Hall; their unification of the continent is not something unacceptable to us."

"But the people around us are different. Old Yang and Old Poison both harbor hostility toward Martial Soul Hall. I cannot ensure they will all be safe. Your sister is determined to stand with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. If the person closest to you dies at the hands of Martial Soul Hall in the future, can you still remain aloof?"

Shui Xinhan sighed. "I will do my utmost to prevent all of this from happening. If I cannot stop it, then I will dissolve the academy and go to Martial Soul Hall to seek revenge myself!"