Ninth Soul Skill

Three days later, the aura around Jiang Che finally stabilized, and the spirit ring provided by the panel had transformed from its initial white to a deep red, marked with five golden patterns.

"Haa," Jiang Che exhaled a breath of stale air, then stood up and stretched his limbs. His entire body popped and cracked, followed by a sensation of soreness—the price for absorbing spirit rings continuously for half a year.

Sitting still for so long had made his muscles and bones feel as if they had rusted, but as he stretched, the surging, extreme spirit power flowing through his limbs and bones left him feeling refreshed, as if every cell in his body were cheering.

At the same time, the spirit power brought by absorbing three spirit rings over one hundred thousand years was immense. When Jiang Che attached the ninth spirit ring to his Ice Dragon King martial soul, he not only became a true Titled Douluo, but his spirit power also broke through to level 92.

Thick spirit power surged through his meridians, and a sense of strength filled his entire body; his power was more than double what it had been before the breakthrough.

Jiang Che silently sensed the three new spirit rings on his body. The two hundred-thousand-year rings for his Holy Sword of Light were normal, each providing two spirit skills, but this 560,000-year ring for the Ice Dragon King actually possessed three.

His heart stirred, and he focused his mental energy into the dark red, gold-patterned ring. The moment he made contact, a vast, domineering, and icy aura originating from an ancient Ice Dragon rushed toward him—the pride and power belonging to the dragon race, a hundred times heavier than that of an ordinary spirit beast.

What shocked him even more was that this ring was taken from a real Ice Dragon. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he could feel the ring resonating with his martial soul.

His Ice Dragon King martial soul manifested spontaneously, a pale blue dragon shadow circling behind him. The dragon's roar was low and distant, vibrating in sync with the aura of the spirit ring. The five golden patterns suddenly lit up, and streams of pure, extreme ice-attribute power poured continuously into the Ice Dragon King martial soul through the ring, making the dragon shadow increasingly solid, its scales clearly visible, and its pressure skyrocketing.

Jiang Che could clearly perceive a natural bond between the two; the Ice Dragon spirit ring was no longer just an external force attached to his martial soul, but rather an extension of the Ice Dragon King, a perfect fit of shared bloodline.

The origin power of the Ice Dragon contained within the ring constantly nourished his martial soul, even subtly transforming his bloodline, making the Ice Dragon King bloodline within him increasingly pure.

The ninth spirit ring behind Jiang Che flashed, and a long, ice-blue bow suddenly appeared in his hand. This was its first spirit skill—the Ice Dragon Bow. According to the information provided by the ring, the Ice Dragon Bow was a true divine artifact, though the one in Jiang Che's hand was merely a projection. Using spirit power as arrows, each shot possessed the power of a full-force strike from a Super Douluo.

The second spirit skill was designed to be used in tandem with the Ice Dragon Bow, allowing him to condense the "Wrath of the Ice Dragon King." Used together, they could unleash the power of a Limit Douluo.

As for the third spirit skill—Ice Dragon Transformation—Jiang Che considered it a life-saving ability. It required very little spirit power but possessed immense destructive force. It allowed Jiang Che to possess the strength of a Limit Douluo for a short time. It could grow alongside his own strength, though the cooldown was long; he could only use it once a month, though he hoped that might decrease in the future.

Jiang Che stored the longbow and his Soul Tool, then left the cave, eager to test his new spirit skills.

"Whoosh!" Jiang Che's spirit power surged, and his figure shot into the high sky like a streak of cyan light piercing the firmament.

The cold wind of the Far North whistled in his ears like a sharp roar, but the ice shards it whipped up caused no pain against his face. He tilted his body slightly, his blue-gold hair whipping wildly in the gale. Looking down through the layers of clouds, he saw a continuous, ancient range of ice mountains beneath his feet, lying across the vast world like sleeping behemoths.

Jiang Che's gaze swept rapidly across the ice field, and with a light tap of his finger, his mental energy locked onto a solitary peak standing a thousand feet tall.

It was an ice mountain that was entirely deep blue, its surface covered in jagged fissures as if it might collapse at any moment. It was a forbidden zone rarely trodden by spirit beasts in the Far North, and an excellent target to test the power of his new skill.

"That's the one."

Jiang Che gave a low shout, and the ninth spirit ring, hidden within the glow of his other rings, flared brightly.

In an instant, the dark red spirit ring, spanning his body and shimmering with five golden patterns, rose into the air and hovered above his head. A thick, vast pressure instantly swept in all directions.

The cold wind of the Far North seemed to have its throat gripped by an invisible hand, and even the falling snow froze in mid-air for a moment.

Jiang Che raised his hand and drew the bow.

A longbow condensed from extreme ice-blue spirit power appeared in his palm.

The bow body shimmered with the luster only found in legendary divine artifacts, and faint shadows of ice dragons coiled around the limbs, their long, continuous roars echoing. This was the first spirit skill of his ninth spirit ring—the Ice Dragon Bow.

The moment the bowstring was pulled back, the air emitted a groan of unbearable strain. Jiang Che's level 92 spirit power surged like a rushing river into the bow, resonating with the 560,000-year Ice Dragon spirit ring.

The five golden patterns on the ring spun rapidly, and streams of ice-blue energy patterns spread along the bow limbs to the string, instantly condensing into an ice-blue arrow several feet long.

The arrow was crystal clear, its tip flashing with a cold light capable of freezing all things, and its fletching consisted of three flowing Ice Dragon scales.

Inside the arrow, the roar of an ancient Ice Dragon lay dormant. The surrounding space was slightly distorted by this aura, and even the high-altitude clouds dissipated rapidly, revealing a clear, deep blue sky.

"Go!"

Jiang Che's arm snapped forward.

The bowstring vibrated, emitting a clear, dragon-like explosion.

The arrow, containing the power of a Super Douluo, instantly left the string, transforming into a brilliant blue light that tore through the sky. With world-destroying momentum, it plummeted toward the thousand-foot ice mountain below.

There was no flashy sound, only the shriek of air being instantly torn apart.

In an instant, the blue light struck the mountain.

BOOM—!!!

A visible shockwave exploded from the point of impact. The thousand-foot-tall deep blue ice mountain trembled violently, then the ice on its surface shattered at a visible speed before exploding into pieces.

Countless massive shards of ice turned into crystal powder in mid-air, and the snow within a radius of several miles was instantly evaporated into nothingness.

The once-continuous ice mountain had been pierced clean through by this single arrow, leaving a massive hole nearly a hundred feet in diameter. The shockwave rippled outward, shattering the smaller ice mountains connected to it, and large chunks of floating ice scattered like falling flowers, kicking up a thousand layers of snow across the ice field of the Far North.

Jiang Che stood high in the sky, slowly putting away the Ice Dragon Bow.

He looked down at the chaotic ruins beneath his feet, a trace of awe flashing in his eyes.

A single arrow had destroyed an entire thousand-year-old ice mountain; this power far exceeded any of his previous methods.

Even if he were facing a Titled Douluo of the same level, a direct hit from this Ice Dragon Bow would likely leave them severely wounded in an instant.

"Satisfying!"