"Clang!"
The Ice Dragon Spear and the scorpion tail crashed together, sparks flying as ice shards pattered to the ground.
Jiang Che flipped his wrist and swept the shaft sideways, smashing it toward the Ice Empress's flank with the brute force of an Ice Dragon phantom. The Ice Empress stamped forward on all six legs, the cold light of her carapace flaring as she forcibly weathered the blow. Her foreclaws clamped onto the shaft, and she suddenly strained with all her might.
"Break!"
The Ice Empress roared. Her pincers snapped shut, and cracks instantly spread across the shaft. Jiang Che's eyes narrowed. He abandoned the spear and spun, his Dragon-Transformed right leg sweeping out, wrapped in icy air. It struck the Ice Empress squarely in the lower abdomen. She winced in pain and swept her long tail across, the stinger thrusting straight at Jiang Che's throat.
Jiang Che leaned back to dodge. Ice spines burst from his fingertips, only to bounce off the Ice Empress's carapace. He pressed in close, both fists pounding toward her head like war drums, while she used her pincers as fists and met him head-on.
Fists and pincers clashed in a rapid, rainlike barrage, pale blue and emerald-green light colliding in a frenzy. The Ice Empress's long tail snaked around Jiang Che's left leg. He locked his left Dragon Claw around her tail and slammed his right fist into her face.
The Ice Empress cried out in pain and whipped her tail to break free. But Jiang Che seized the opening, flipped onto her carapace, and pinned her back with his Dragon Claws.
The Ice Empress thrashed wildly, shattering the ice beneath her, but she couldn't shake Jiang Che off. He bent low, his Dragon Eyes cold and piercing, and hammered down punch after punch. Each strike carried the chill of Ultimate Ice, making the Ice Empress's carapace hum.
"Ah! Human! Die!" the Ice Empress roared. The Ferocious Beast origin power within her erupted completely, and icy air woven from emerald green and gleaming white surged into the sky.
In an instant, the Eternal Frozen Domain burst open, centered on the Ice Empress!
The temperature between heaven and earth plunged to the absolute freezing point. The howling cold wind froze solid. Ice shards in the air and scattered fragments of ice spears all hung motionless, while the entire Far North Ice Plains was enveloped by this deathly silent domain of ice.
Thick, ice-green layers formed rapidly across the ground. Wherever they spread, all things froze. Even space shimmered with crystalline frost patterns, completely imprisoning every trace of life and movement.
Within the domain, the Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice power was magnified without limit. The cold became countless fine ice needles, seeping everywhere to erode Jiang Che's body and Soul Power, seeking to freeze him into an ice sculpture.
Seeing this, Jiang Che sensed trouble. He beat his Dragon Wings and flew a thousand meters away in an instant, but the Ice Empress's domain expanded too quickly. He had no choice but to use a Soul Skill to hold it back. "Sixth Soul Skill, Winter Guardian!"
The ice-crystal Dragon Wings on Jiang Che's back shuddered violently as pale blue Soul Power surged wildly. His Sixth Soul Skill, Winter Guardian, activated at once. A thick, ice-blue shield etched with dragon patterns formed around him with a roar, its swirling Ice Dragon designs holding back the oncoming chill of the Eternal Frozen Domain.
But the Eternal Frozen Domain, driven by the Ice Empress's 399,900 years of origin power, was far mightier than he had imagined. Emerald-green icy power crashed against the dragon-patterned shield like a raging tide, again and again.
In only moments, countless cracks appeared across the shield's surface. Ice layers kept breaking away, and its once brilliant ice-blue light rapidly dimmed. The Ice Dragon Soul Power around Jiang Che was steadily eroded. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth again as he braced both arms against the shield, veins bulging while frost whitened his Dragon Scales.
"Damn it!" Seeing that Winter Guardian was about to fail, Jiang Che cursed under his breath. Then the red light of his Eighth Soul Ring flickered.
"Eighth Soul Skill, Extreme Ice Dragon Might Domain!" This was the domain-type Soul Skill granted by Jiang Che's Eighth Soul Ring. At first, it had been only a Dragon Might Domain, but after fusing with the Ultimate Ice Domain of Jiang Che's Ice Dragon King Martial Soul, it had become the Extreme Ice Dragon Might Domain.
Both domains contained Ultimate Ice. Dragon Might and ice-blue, frigid air swept out at once, crashing into the Ice Empress's emerald-green Eternal Frozen Domain.
The two Ultimate Ice domains collided fiercely. There was no earth-shaking boom, only the sizzling sound of their primal cold energies gnawing at and crushing each other. The cold between heaven and earth boiled over, and in midair, ice-green and ice-blue halos of energy intertwined and burst apart.
The Ice Empress charged again, killing intent raging in her yellow diamond eyes. She shattered the ice within her domain with all six legs and became a streak of emerald-green light, ignoring the chaotic energy currents where the two domains collided. Her foreclaws and long tail blazed with the cold light of Ultimate Ice as she lunged straight at Jiang Che!
With the Eternal Frozen Domain bolstering her, her speed surged to its peak. The diamond-shaped protrusions on her carapace refracted icy light, each one like a blade capable of slicing through space.
Her foreclaws locked onto Jiang Che's neck, while her scorpion tail snaked toward his lower back with vicious precision, sealing off every angle of escape.
Jiang Che's pupils contracted. Within the Extreme Ice Dragon Might Domain, Ice Dragon phantoms roared as they plunged down, transforming into countless ice-blue Dragon Claws that shielded him.
But the Ice Empress's attack was too fierce. Her pincers tore through the Dragon Claw phantoms, while her stinger pierced the domain's weak point, carrying a chill that froze the soul as it stabbed fiercely toward Jiang Che's Martial Soul Avatar!
"Hmph!" The Dragon Might of the Extreme Ice Dragon Might Domain surged to triple its strength, and the temperature within it dropped sharply. Pale blue Ice Dragon patterns spread across his entire body. His Dragon Claw met the Ice Empress's foreclaws in a fearless collision!
"Boom—!"
This time, Jiang Che was sent flying. His body sailed through the air like a kite with its string cut. The fierce gale stung his cheeks, and his blood churned violently in his chest. He nearly spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
His ice-crystal Dragon Wings beat hard behind him, their icy patterns cracking as tiny shards of ice pattered down. He endured the agony of his bones trembling and beat his wings several more times before he could barely steady his flight.
Jiang Che suddenly twisted at the waist, tracing a perilous arc through the air. He stamped both feet against empty space, and pale blue Ice Dragon Soul Power burst beneath them. Using the recoil, he forcibly halted his retreat and hovered in midair.
He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. There was no fear in his ice-blue eyes; if anything, his fighting spirit burned brighter. The light of the Extreme Ice Dragon Might Domain around him grew richer, and countless Ice Dragon phantoms circled and snarled within it, poised to strike.
Although Jiang Che's strength rivaled that of a Super Douluo, he was at most Level 95 or 96. He was still far weaker than the Ice Empress, whose power was close to Level 98.
At first, Jiang Che had only managed to gain the upper hand because the Ice Empress had underestimated him and he had caught her off guard. But the moment she brought out her origin domain and fought at full strength, that advantage vanished in an instant, and he even fell onto the back foot.
"Human, this is where you'll meet your end," the Ice Empress sneered at Jiang Che in midair.
"Is that so? I don't think I'll fall here," Jiang Che replied calmly, as if he weren't the one at a disadvantage.
"Hmph! Still running your mouth with death at your doorstep," the Ice Empress said contemptuously. "Very well. Dying at the hands of this empress is a blessing in itself."
Before her words had faded, Soul Power surged wildly around the Ice Empress. All the emerald-green chill of the Eternal Frozen Domain gathered before her, and her entire carapace shone with dazzling, ice-green light. Her yellow diamond eyes gleamed coldly as she shouted, "Wrath of the Ice Emperor!"
The Wrath of the Ice Emperor erupted in a ring around the Ice Empress. A colossal ice-green shockwave blasted straight toward Jiang Che.
"Ninth Soul Skill, Ice Dragon Bow!"
"Ninth Soul Skill, Wrath of the Ice Dragon King!"
Two low shouts burst from Jiang Che's mouth at once as he unleashed his newly acquired, most powerful killing move.
The veins in Jiang Che's arms bulged as his Dragon-Transformed hands gripped the Ice Dragon Bow and drew its string to the full moon. The chill at the tip of the Ice Dragon Arrow surged, meeting the shockwave of the Ice Empress's Wrath of the Ice Emperor across the air.
"Boom!"
In the next instant, Wrath of the Ice Dragon King sprang from the bowstring with enough force to tear through space and crashed head-on into the ice-green shockwave of the Wrath of the Ice Emperor!
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