At Jiang Che's words, the Scarlet King flew into a rage. All three of its enormous mouths opened at once, and fury blazed in its six scarlet eyes.
"You're asking to die!"
Crimson-gold flames erupted around its body. Every tree within a hundred yards turned to charcoal in an instant. The earth split apart, and scalding magma surged from the cracks.
The Scarlet King crouched low on all fours, all three heads fixed on Jiang Che. Its murderous aura almost took physical form, rising into the sky as a crimson-gold pillar of light that dyed the clouds dark red.
Who was it? The Scarlet King, one of the Ten Great Beast Kings of the Star Dou Great Forest! Apart from Di Tian, not even Bi Ji or the King of Ten Thousand Monsters dared speak to it in that tone.
And this human before it was nothing more than a fledgling who relied on his Martial Soul's rank and Soul Ring Configuration. Yet he dared humiliate it to its face—and in front of the Emperor Auspicious Beast, no less!
"I'll tear you to pieces and water this scorched earth with your blood!"
The Scarlet King's front claws raked the ground, flinging magma in every direction. All three heads gathered their strength, crimson-gold energy spheres forming in each enormous mouth, hot enough to distort space.
The terrifying pressure of a three-hundred-thousand-year cultivation base poured out without restraint. The Soul Beasts in the woods had already scattered in every direction. Even some Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the distance were pinned to the ground, trembling under its aura, unable to understand why one of the Soul Beast overlords had gone berserk.
The Scarlet King moved. All three heads reared up at once, spewing three scorching crimson-gold pillars of fire from their mouths. The flames converged in midair into a torrent capable of reducing all things to ash, then crashed down toward Jiang Che.
It was the innate flame of a three-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast—the very thing the Soul Master World called Ultimate Fire. It carried the fury and destructive power inherited through the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff's bloodline.
Wherever the flames passed, the air crackled as it burned. Even space seemed to warp in the heat, and the soil below instantly vitrified, turning into a sheet of smooth glass.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Ice Dragon Avatar!"
Jiang Che gave a low shout. His body swelled amid silver-blue light, crystalline ice-dragon scales covering him from head to toe. Huge ice wings spread from his back with a thunderous beat, spanning more than five meters.
His eyes turned entirely silver-blue, becoming dragon pupils. All nine Soul Rings shone brilliantly as he entered his Ice Dragon Avatar state.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Winter Guardian!"
The wings of the Ice Dragon Avatar folded around him. A three-inch-thick ice-blue shield formed around Jiang Che, its surface traced with lifelike ice-dragon patterns.
The crimson-gold torrent slammed into Winter Guardian. The clash of ice and fire sent steam and ice shards flying in every direction as the temperature within several hundred yards swung wildly between bitter cold and scorching heat.
The ice was melting, but the flames were dying out too. In the distance, the Ice Empress had already taken Huo Yuhao away from the battlefield. She formed a shield of Ultimate Ice to protect herself and Huo Yuhao.
Winter Guardian had developed a few cracks under the Scarlet King's full-force attack, but it had not shattered. Jiang Che raised his head, a cold glint flashing in his dragon eyes.
"Is that your full strength?" Jiang Che's voice rang out from within the Ice Dragon Avatar, tinged with disappointment. "A three-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast, and that's all?"
Before the words had even faded, his ice wings snapped open. He became a silver-blue streak and charged straight into the crimson-gold flames.
"Third Soul Skill, Ice Dragon Claw!"
His dragon-transformed right arm shot out from beneath his ice wing. Extreme cold, enough to freeze a soul, gathered on his five claws as he lunged for the throat of the Scarlet King's middle head.
The Scarlet King's pupils shrank. It hadn't expected the human to charge straight into its domain of fire. All three heads reacted at once. The heads on either side opened their jaws and snapped at Jiang Che's wings, while the middle head jerked backward, narrowly dodging the Ice Dragon Claw's fatal strike.
"Too slow."
Jiang Che's body bent at an impossible angle in midair. His wings folded in, and he slipped like a fish through the gap between the two heads as they snapped at him. His right claw shifted course and raked across the neck of the Scarlet King's left head.
"Crack!"
The sound of spreading ice rang clear. The chill of Ultimate Ice poured from Jiang Che's claw tips into the Scarlet King's meridians. A layer of blue-white frost instantly covered the neck of the head that had been blazing with crimson-gold flames. The flames struggled beneath the ice for a few moments, then went out completely.
"Aaargh!" The Scarlet King let out a howl of pain. Its middle and right heads spewed pillars of fire at once, forcing Jiang Che to release his grip and retreat.
The Scarlet King stumbled back several steps. The frozen head hung limply, the scarlet light in its eyes dimmed by more than half.
It frantically drove the crimson-gold flames inside itself, trying to melt the ice around its neck. But the chill of Ultimate Ice clung like a bone-deep curse. No matter how fiercely it burned, it could only melt the edges a little before they quickly froze over again.
"Your ice..." For the first time, a note of fear crept into the Scarlet King's voice. "That isn't ordinary Ultimate Ice. It's the primordial ice breath of the Dragon Clan!"
Jiang Che gave no answer. His Ice Dragon Avatar hovered in the air, its silver-blue eyes looking down at the Scarlet King.
"Second Soul Skill, Dragon Transformation!"
"Fifth Soul Skill, Dragon King Charge!"
The second and fifth Soul Rings flashed together. Thicker ice-dragon scales covered Jiang Che's arms, legs, and torso, turning him into a divine dragon warrior carved from ice.
He dived from the air, moving so fast that a string of afterimages trailed behind him. The power of Dragon King Charge gathered in his right fist as he drove it straight at the Scarlet King's middle head.
The Scarlet King roared and fought back. Its right head spat a pillar of fire, its middle head opened wide to bare its fangs, and its front claws swung at Jiang Che with enough force to tear through metal and stone.
But Jiang Che was too fast. The Scarlet King's attacks couldn't even catch his afterimages.
He changed direction three times in midair, each time narrowly evading the Scarlet King's claws and flames. At last, he appeared in the blind spot the beast hadn't anticipated: directly beneath its belly.
"Bang!"
The Dragon King Charge struck the Scarlet King's soft underbelly squarely. The chill of Ultimate Ice erupted alongside the force of the blow. The Scarlet King's enormous body was sent flying into the air, tumbling twice before crashing to the ground and gouging a charred trench dozens of meters long.
The Scarlet King struggled to rise, but ice had already begun spreading across its belly. The blow had also injured its internal organs, and every breath brought hot blood spilling from the corner of its mouth.
Jiang Che stood before the Scarlet King and asked, "Do you want to keep going?"
All three of the Scarlet King's heads lifted at once. Its six scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Jiang Che. They held anger and resentment, but more than anything, an emotion it had never experienced before.
Fear!
Yes, fear. It was afraid. This human—or rather, this ancient Ice Dragon wearing human skin—was an opponent it could never defeat.
"I..." The Scarlet King opened the mouth of its middle head, about to say something.
At that moment, a terrifying pressure that made heaven and earth change color descended from the depths of the firmament.
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