Ice Dragon Descends!

Jiang Che knelt on one knee in the scorched earth, raising a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth while staring fixedly at the black-clad figure standing with hands behind his back in the distance.

Di Tian had not even moved a step, remaining exactly where he stood.

"Kid, your talent is indeed impressive." A hint of coldness flickered in Di Tian's pitch-black vertical pupils. "It is a pity that you are too arrogant. This is not Shrek Academy; this is not a place where you can run wild."

Jiang Che slowly stood up. Several fine cracks had appeared on the icy dragon scales covering the chest of his Ice Dragon Avatar—the mark left by that single palm strike from Di Tian.

He took a deep breath, his Ultimate Ice soul power surging frantically within his body, and the cracks on the dragon scales began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"The Beast God certainly carries himself with great majesty." Jiang Che's voice emanated from within the Ice Dragon Avatar, though his aura was somewhat unstable. "I accept that a senior is teaching a junior a lesson, but if the Beast God refuses to be reasonable and insists on shielding his own, then I, Jiang Che, have nothing more to say."

He raised his head, meeting Di Tian's pitch-black vertical pupils without the slightest intention of backing down.

"But! Does the Beast God truly believe that you can easily keep me here today?"

"Brother Sky Dream, will Senior be alright?" Huo Yuhao asked anxiously within his Sea of Consciousness.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fell silent for a moment, his voice carrying a rare note of gravity. "It's hard to say. Di Tian's strength far exceeds your senior's understanding. If Di Tian truly intends to kill, your senior is likely in grave danger. However, Di Tian has lived for eight hundred thousand years; he is no simple-minded brute. He should also know what killing your senior would entail."

"What would it entail?"

"It would mean an all-out war between Shrek Academy and the Star Dou Great Forest," Sky Dream Ice Silkworm explained. "Your senior is the apple of Mu En's eye and the hope of Shrek for the next hundred years. If he dies here, the Dragon God Douluo Mu En will go mad. Once a Limit Douluo goes mad, even Di Tian would not come out unscathed."

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao felt slightly more at ease, yet he continued to stare intently at the battlefield.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion stood beside Scarlet King, its golden vertical pupils fixed on Jiang Che. The red vertical eye on its forehead flickered slightly, as if it were contemplating something.

It did not leave, nor did it intervene; it simply stood there quietly, like a golden statue.

Di Tian looked at Jiang Che, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. That smile did not look like approval; it looked more like the leisure of a cat playing with a mouse.

"Interesting," Di Tian said. "If you hadn't injured Scarlet King just now, I might have spared you. But the dignity of the Star Dou Great Forest cannot be provoked. If I don't teach you a lesson today, you might never learn how high the sky is and how deep the earth goes."

He raised his right hand. His palm, covered in black dragon scales, shimmered with a dark golden luster under the sunlight, and a ray of light, deep to the extreme, condensed at his fingertips.

That light was not pure darkness, but a void that devoured all light; even the surrounding air twisted and deformed under its radiance.

"However, your martial soul is indeed excellent." Di Tian's gaze fell upon the phantom of the Ice Dragon King behind Jiang Che, a flash of appreciation crossing his vertical pupils. "The Ice Dragon King martial soul is even purer than I anticipated. If your cultivation were higher, you might truly be able to trade a few blows with me."

"Unfortunately, as you are now, you are still far too lacking."

Di Tian flicked his palm, and that intensely condensed ray of light shot out instantly, moving so fast that Jiang Che had no time to dodge!

His sixth Soul Ring flashed once more, and the Winter Guardian materialized almost the instant the light touched him.

"Crack!"

The ice-blue shield shattered upon impact once again. This time, it didn't even last a second; the black ray pierced through the shield and struck Jiang Che's Ice Dragon Avatar with pinpoint accuracy.

The silver-blue icy dragon scales were as fragile as thin paper before that light, and a fist-sized hole was punched directly through them, with blood gushing out from the wound.

Jiang Che let out a muffled groan as his body was sent flying backward. This time, he couldn't stabilize himself, crashing heavily into the ground and carving a deep trench through the scorched earth before stopping only after snapping a tree trunk.

Ice Empress could no longer hold back. Her figure flashed, appearing at Jiang Che's side. Her ice-green Ultimate Ice soul power erupted with full force, condensing into a thick wall of ice in front of them both.

"Oh?" Di Tian looked at Ice Empress with interest. "You are... Ice Empress?"

Di Tian had visited the Far North in the past and had seen the human forms of Ice Empress and Snow Empress. Since Ice Empress had used her former appearance when transforming, Di Tian recognized her.

But judging by his puzzled tone, he was not entirely certain that this person, who lacked any soul beast characteristics, was indeed the Ice Empress.

Ice Empress did not answer, her eyes locked onto Di Tian. Her soul power surged wildly around her, and the figure of the twelve or thirteen-year-old girl now radiated a sense of determination.

"Ice Empress, stand down." Jiang Che's voice came from behind her.

"In your current state, you are no match for him!" Ice Empress did not turn back, her tone laced with anxiety.

"I said stand down!" Jiang Che's voice grew stern.

Ice Empress trembled all over, a flicker of struggle in her eyes, but she eventually dissipated her soul power and stepped aside.

Jiang Che climbed up from the ground. Most of the dragon scales on his Ice Dragon Avatar had shattered, revealing the bloodied flesh beneath. Blood dripped along the broken scales, congealing into ice-blue beads of blood on the scorched earth.

There was a fist-sized puncture wound in his left chest—the mark left by Di Tian's previous strike. By all rights, such an injury should have rendered any Title Douluo incapable of fighting.

Yet, Jiang Che remained standing, and he was even smiling.

"Hahaha..." Jiang Che began to laugh, his laughter filled with a touch of madness and ruthlessness. "Beast God Di Tian, your eight hundred thousand years of cultivation truly live up to their reputation. I admit that, as I am now, I am far from being your match."

His smile slowly faded, and his expression gradually turned blank.

"But if you think this is all I have..."

Jiang Che took a deep breath, and the soul power within his body began to circulate in a frantic manner.

The topmost soul ring, dark red with five golden patterns, suddenly erupted with unprecedented radiance!

"Then you are gravely mistaken! Ninth Soul Skill!"

Jiang Che's voice exploded over the Star Dou Great Forest, rolling out like a peal of thunder.

"Ice Dragon Descent!"

The moment the words fell, the cold air of his Ultimate Ice spread wildly with him at the center. The earth within a thousand-foot radius instantly froze. The ground, previously scorched and cracked by Scarlet King's flames, was now covered in a thick layer of solid ice-blue ice, and the tree debris that had been burned to ash condensed into various ice sculptures within the freezing air.

Di Tian's pitch-black vertical pupils suddenly constricted, and for the first time, he revealed a look of surprise.

He could clearly perceive that Jiang Che's aura was soaring at an incredible speed.

Level 93... Level 94... Level 95...

Level 96... Level 97... Level 98...

It was not until the realm of Limit Douluo that the aura finally stabilized.

Jiang Che's figure was completely reshaped within the icy blue radiance; the Ice Dragon Avatar was no longer a half-human, half-dragon form, but had fully transformed into a silver-blue ice dragon over ten meters in length!

His entire body was covered in crystalline dragon scales, each one flowing with profound silver patterns. His dragon head was held high, his horns resembling a crown carved from ice crystals. His dragon eyes were no longer silver-blue, but had transformed into two cold, golden crescents. His dragon wings spanned a full fifteen meters, the wing membranes coated in countless fine ice crystals that refracted a dreamlike, silver-blue halo.

The descent of the Ice Dragon, the third effect of the ninth Soul Ring, allowed Jiang Che to possess the strength of a Limit Douluo for a short period!

Under the reinforcement of Limit Douluo soul power, the Ice Dragon King martial soul finally revealed its true form as a divine-beast-level martial soul. The Ice Dragon Avatar was no longer a phantom, but a tangible, physical body of an ice dragon!

"ROAR!"

The ice dragon let out a roar toward the sky, the dragon's cry shaking the Star Dou Great Forest. Within a radius of several dozen miles, all soul beasts prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling in fear at the sound.

It was a terror originating from the depths of their bloodlines, an instinctive submission of lower-level soul beasts when facing a sovereign of the dragon race.

Ice Empress watched the ice dragon in mid-air, her diamond-yellow eyes filled with disbelief. She knew Jiang Che had hidden cards, but she had never imagined his trump card would be an existence of this caliber.

A Limit Douluo—that was a realm many soul masters could not reach in their entire lives, yet Jiang Che was only twenty-two years old, and he had forcibly elevated his strength to this level through the soul skill of a single Soul Ring.