Defying the Wind

"Let's begin."

Beneath the deep waters of Sea God Lake, a newly formed ice cavern floated in silence.

Lin Feng and Wang Dong sat facing each other inside it.

Lin Feng's eyes were slightly closed. The aura around him suddenly shifted, carrying an ancient, weighty pressure.

What made Wang Dong's breath catch was the sight of two deep-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings rising from beneath Lin Feng's feet.

Two... Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings?!

So you really do have Twin Martial Souls.

Wang Dong's mind was rocked by a storm of shock.

She should have realized sooner. The Soul Ring configuration of Lin Feng's Fire Lotus Martial Soul already defied common sense; only Twin Martial Souls could explain it.

Before she could recover from her astonishment, Lin Feng's second black Soul Ring suddenly shone brilliantly.

With a clear cry of a phoenix, a pure, searing aura burst forth, as if it could cleanse all filth.

Golden flames rose from Lin Feng's body. They were not the usual fiery red, but resembled molten liquid gold—dazzling and imbued with sacred, inviolable majesty.

The flames flowed over him, quickly covering his entire body and making him look like a golden Arhat seated in a temple, his whole form radiant gold and solemnly dignified. Only his eyes remained a deep black.

The temperature inside the ice cavern rose sharply. The frigid ice walls even began to emit a faint sizzling sound as their surface melted and evaporated.

"Is this... Dean Yan's Bright Phoenix Fire?" Wang Dong instinctively held her breath. Her Martial Soul seemed to stir and resonate with it on some primal level. "What... what a terrifying aura."

The pressure it released naturally alone made the Soul Power within her body stir, and even her soul felt a subtle searing and cleansing sensation.

At last, she had directly experienced the power of a top-tier Martial Soul—one that stood at the pinnacle of the continent.

Lin Feng silently circulated the Burning Technique. Drawn by its power, the Bright Phoenix Fire enveloping him began to yield strands of its source energy, imbued with the aura of light. They were slowly stripped away and gathered in his palm.

At first, there was only a brilliant golden glimmer. As the source energy continued to gather, it gradually took the shape of a golden fire lotus, its bud just beginning to open.

"Are you ready? I've finished refining the source energy." Lin Feng opened his eyes, and the golden lotus in his palm shone brighter.

Wang Dong took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.

With a thought, the dazzling Light Goddess Butterfly Martial Soul unfurled behind her. A yellow and a purple Soul Ring pulsed around her, making her seem like a goddess of light descended to the mortal world.

Her butterfly wings fluttered lightly, scattering tiny points of radiance that faintly echoed the aura of the golden lotus in Lin Feng's hand.

"Go ahead."

Lin Feng said no more. He flicked his fingers.

The golden fire lotus floated up as if it had a mind of its own, then slowly sank into Wang Dong's brow.

"Vmmm—"

Wang Dong's body trembled slightly.

There was no scorching heat as she had expected. Instead, a clear spring of light instantly flowed through her limbs, cleansing every tiny blockage and impurity that might have existed in her meridians.

She felt her Soul Power grow more lively and clear than ever before. Her mind was as clear as if freshly washed, and even her Martial Soul gave a comfortable, soft trill. The light on her butterfly wings seemed brighter and more solid.

It felt as though she had been blessed and cleansed by the highest light—a sacred, searing sensation that was also incomparably comfortable.

Something's wrong!

Lin Feng's heart sank.

The golden fire lotus did not turn into pure source energy of light and merge into Wang Dong's body as he had expected.

Instead, a fierce, searing aura of the phoenix erupted from deep within the lotus.

The remnants of the Phoenix True Fire!

Lin Feng's Burning Technique had yet to evolve to the Earth Tier, so it had not completely purified the pure, vast source energy of Yan Shaozhe's Bright Phoenix.

Without warning, reddish-gold flames ignited beneath her skin.

The Burning Technique surged at full force inside Lin Feng as he tried to forcibly devour and reclaim that wisp of out-of-control Phoenix True Fire.

Yet the instant his power touched Wang Dong's body—

"Vmmm!"

A resonant hum rang from Wang Dong's brow.

A brilliant golden-blue light burst forth, rapidly condensing into a tiny yet unmistakable trident-shaped mark.

Though small, the mark radiated boundless majesty and divinity, as if it bore the weight of an endless ocean and contained the laws that judged heaven and earth.

The power Lin Feng was devouring crashed against the mark, nearly rebounding and gravely injuring him.

The Sea God Trident Mark...

So it was you, you old dog Tang!

Lin Feng's pupils contracted. He froze, and a nameless fury flared in his heart.

Good. Very good!

So that was it. No wonder this girl was so talented, possessed a top-tier Martial Soul like the Light Goddess Butterfly, and had countless ties to the Clear Sky Sect.

She must have been very close to that old dog Tang, close enough to be bestowed with such a Protective Divine Seal.

Since she had the Sea God's protection, she could deal with this mess herself.

Seeing the Phoenix True Fire still spreading over Wang Dong's body, about to burn away all her clothes, Lin Feng's gaze turned cold. He simply withdrew his hand.

The reddish-gold flames quickly finished their work, reducing everything that covered her to ashes.

The hazy light in the ice cavern revealed her uncovered form.

Her short, deep-blue hair flowed like the vast deep sea, falling over her smooth shoulders and back. Her face was goddess-like, her features so perfectly arranged they seemed almost unreal, as if all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had gathered there, every line a work of nature.

Below her long, swanlike neck, her figure was graceful. Her waist was slender, and her skin was luminous and translucent, more supple than the finest white jade.

She sat quietly amid the Phoenix Fire as it faded, seeming like the Light Goddess herself had descended. Her sacred, noble bearing was beyond reproach, enough to make heaven and earth pale in comparison.

No wonder she was the incarnation of the Goddess of Light...

Though Lin Feng's anger had not yet subsided, the sight before him still made his breathing falter for an instant.

Just as Lin Feng was still taking in the sight—

A cold, majestic thought, vast as if it came from the highest heavens, pierced into the depths of his mind without warning, carrying an unquestionable note of judgment:

"Boy, you deserve to die!"

It was not a voice, yet it struck harder than any furious shout, shaking him to the soul.

Almost at the same moment, the Trident Mark on Wang Dong's brow burst into blinding divine light. A condensed golden-blue beam, containing supreme power, shot straight toward Lin Feng's brow.

Space warped slightly along its path. The temperature inside the ice cavern plummeted, as if they had been plunged into the depths of a remote ocean abyss—crushing, suffocating, with nowhere to escape.

This attack was beyond the ability of any ordinary person to withstand. It contained a trace of a true god's power of punishment.

A moment between life and death!

Yet just as the golden-blue beam was about to pierce Lin Feng's brow—

"How dare you, Tang San!"

Another cold, majestic thought rang deep in Lin Feng's mind, jolting his spirit.

A force of destruction, as primal as the moment heaven and earth first opened, surged forth!

It was the manifestation of a supreme law beyond all concepts, instantly forming a layer of black light before Lin Feng.

The Sea God's Punishing Beam struck the black film. There was no earth-shaking explosion. It simply dissolved and disintegrated at once, finally breaking into specks of light and vanishing without a trace.

That was divine punishment powerful enough to easily erase a Limit Douluo...

The Trident Mark on Wang Dong's brow flashed violently a few times, its radiance visibly dimming, as if it had exhausted the power it had accumulated. At last, it slowly faded from view and disappeared.

Inside the ice cavern, the terrifying pressure and the suffocating sensation of the deep sea receded like the tide.

Only Lin Feng's slightly ragged breathing remained, along with the beautiful figure of Wang Dong opposite him, bewildered and still unaware of what had happened.