Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath and slowly approached the God-Sealing Platform. The ice-blue Soul Beast Embryo lay quietly in its hollow, the glow beneath its membrane pulsing faintly.
He reached out with both hands. When his fingertips were still half an inch from the embryo, an intensely icy chill rushed at him, making him instinctively pull back. Gritting his teeth, Huo Yuhao reached out again and firmly cradled the embryo.
A cold sensation spread from his palms through his entire body. Huo Yuhao shuddered and lowered his gaze to the embryo in his hands.
Jiang Che's voice came from behind him, calm but tinged with solemnity. "Sit cross-legged. First, establish a spiritual connection with the embryo, then guide its origin power into your Martial Soul. The process will be agonizing. Keep your mind steady and don't let a single stray thought distract you."
Huo Yuyao nodded and sat cross-legged on the ice before the God-Sealing Platform, holding the embryo in front of his dantian with both hands.
He closed his eyes and activated the Soul Power of his Spirit Eye Martial Soul. His spiritual power slowly extended, cautiously touching the thin membrane on the embryo's surface.
At first, nothing seemed amiss. The embryo's glow pulsed steadily, as if it were breathing. Following its rhythm, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power seeped inside bit by bit. He could vaguely sense a tiny, ice-blue phoenix shadow curled up within. Its eyes were closed and its wings folded, as if it were sleeping.
But the instant his spiritual power touched the core of the phoenix's shadow, a sudden change struck. The embryo jolted, and ice-blue light flooded into Huo Yuhao's meridians like a breached dam. The power was wild and savage, far beyond what he could withstand.
"Pfft!" Huo Yuhao suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his face turning deathly pale. The violent Ice-attribute Soul Power tore his clothes into ragged strips, and a thin layer of frost appeared on his exposed skin. His veins bulged, and the blood coursing through them seemed to boil and freeze solid at once.
His body shook uncontrollably. Under the assault of the icy power, his Spirit Eye Martial Soul flickered in and out, as if it might vanish at any moment.
"It hurts... It hurts so much..." Huo Yuhao moaned in agony. The remnant will of the Silent Frost Ice Phoenix had awakened the instant the embryo was activated. The phoenix's will instinctively resisted, unwilling to become a human's vassal. Its pride and resentment, rooted in its ancient Ferocious Beast heritage, became an even more violent cold that savagely battered Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness.
The temperature inside the ice cavern plunged. A thick layer of ice formed across the God-Sealing Platform, and even the air made faint cracking sounds as it froze.
Cracks spread like a spiderweb across the ice beneath Huo Yuhao. His lean frame swayed precariously amid the raging cold.
Jiang Che frowned and stepped to Huo Yuhao's side in a single stride. He pressed his right palm against the boy's back, channeling silvery-blue Ultimate Ice Soul Power into him. The origin aura of his Ice Dragon Martial Soul formed a gentle barrier, shielding Huo Yuhao from most of the phoenix's origin power.
But that was only a temporary fix. The Silent Frost Ice Phoenix's origin will refused to yield, and Huo Yuhao's spiritual power was far too weak to soothe the remnant will of a two-hundred-thousand-year-old Ferocious Beast. Forcing it down would only make the phoenix resist more fiercely, potentially destroying itself along with the embryo in a final act of mutual destruction.
Jiang Che carefully steadied the phoenix origin power surging through Huo Yuhao's body. Suddenly, his Ultimate Ice Soul Power climbed through Huo Yuhao's meridians. The instant it reached the edge of the Sea of Consciousness, he sensed a spiritual fluctuation that did not belong to Huo Yuhao.
Deep within Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, a slumbering consciousness was roused by his pain.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had never wanted to reveal itself, especially with Jiang Che right beside Huo Yuhao. The young Titled Douluo gave him an indescribable sense of pressure—not the crushing weight of superior strength, but the strange feeling of being seen through, as if there were nowhere to hide from Jiang Che.
But now, he had no choice. Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness was trembling violently, and a blue-white storm born of the Silent Frost Ice Phoenix's remnant will raged through it. Every impact formed fine cracks in the walls of his mind.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could clearly sense that if this continued, Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness would collapse completely in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense. The fusion would fail, and Huo Yuhao himself would be severely injured—he might even lose the ability to cultivate spiritual power forever.
Golden light shone deep within the Sea of Consciousness, and the origin aura of a million-year-old Soul Beast slowly emerged. Sky Dream Ice Silkworm did not unleash its full might. It carefully controlled its spiritual power, sending out only a small portion of its gentle, enduring origin power. The power became countless golden threads that reached out from the depths of the Sea of Consciousness and silently wound around the raging remnant will of the ice phoenix.
Huo Yuhao, still enduring the pain, suddenly shuddered. He clearly sensed a warm, boundless power welling up from deep within his Sea of Consciousness. It gradually enveloped, soothed, and dispelled the resistance in the Silent Frost Ice Phoenix's remnant will.
"Brother Sky Dream!" Huo Yuhao cried out delightedly within his Sea of Consciousness.
"Don't shout." Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice still held its usual languid drawl, but beneath it lay a hint of fatigue that was hard to hide. "Focus on guiding that power. Don't waste your brother's spiritual strength."
Under Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's soothing influence, the ice phoenix's remnant will gradually shifted from violent to docile. In the face of the origin aura of a million-year-old Soul Beast, the pride and resentment of an ancient Ferocious Beast were like a fledgling tamed, its wings slowly folding.
The ice-blue glow within the embryo began to pulse steadily. It no longer struck with the same frenzied force as before, instead flowing gently like a breath. Layers of lotus-shaped light blossomed, enveloping Huo Yuhao.
Jiang Che sensed the change inside Huo Yuhao. His silvery-blue eyes narrowed slightly. He could feel an immensely powerful, pure spiritual force welling up from the depths of Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness. It was as vast as the ocean yet as gentle as the spring sunshine. It did not conflict in the slightest with the Ultimate Ice Soul Power he had channeled into Huo Yuhao. Instead, the two worked together in perfect harmony.
He understood that Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had intervened. He cast a brief glance at Huo Yuhao's tightly closed eyes and said nothing.
Ice Empress stood on the other side of the ice cavern, her yellow-diamond eyes fixed on Huo Yuhao as well. She sensed the presence of that spiritual force, and within it, an aura that felt faintly familiar.
The ruler of the Far North furrowed her brow slightly. A thoughtful look flickered through her eyes, but she, too, remained silent.
An uncanny stillness settled over the ice cavern. Only the faint sounds of the ice-blue glow flowing around Huo Yuhao and the slow, steady resonance of energy between him and the embryo broke the silence.
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