The two forces did not clash or repel each other. Instead, they blended perfectly in a way Mu Chen had never experienced before.
The changes within Wang Dong were just as intense. The Soul Power that had originally flowed through her meridians was warm and golden—the essence of the Light Goddess Butterfly.
But now, another force had burst in: a blue Soul Power, cold and vast, carrying the scent of the Ocean.
That blue was not cold. It was warm, able to contain all things.
It did not crash against Wang Dong's meridians. With a tenderness that allowed no refusal, it enveloped her whole being.
Their consciousnesses connected in that instant.
It was not communication through words, but a deeper resonance on the level of their souls.
Mu Chen could feel Wang Dong's nervousness, excitement, and a dependence she desperately tried to hide.
Wang Dong could also feel Mu Chen's composure, focus, and a loneliness she had never touched before—the loneliness of a transmigrator, forever separated from this world by an invisible barrier. He never showed it in his daily life; only in this state of soul fusion did it spill out, unguarded.
Wang Dong's eyes suddenly stung. She didn't know why, but she wanted to feel that loneliness a little longer, as though she could warm it away with the heat of her palm.
"Let's go." Mu Chen opened his eyes, the blue of his irises reflecting golden light.
"Where?"
"Sea God Lake. If we unleash this thing indoors, it'll blow the whole dormitory building apart."
Mu Chen and Wang Dong stood facing each other in an open space by the lake, no more than three steps apart.
"Ready?" Mu Chen asked.
Wang Dong took a deep breath and nodded.
Then they released their Martial Souls at the same time.
The phantom of the Ocean and the phantom of the Light Goddess Butterfly appeared together beneath the moon.
The sound of waves intertwined with the beating of butterfly wings. Two utterly different auras collided in the air, tested one another, then fused into one.
"Martial Soul Fusion Skill."
As Mu Chen spoke those four words, the Soul Rings beneath his feet lit up.
His four Soul Rings—yellow, purple, purple, and black—lit up one after another as blue light rose from beneath his feet.
Wang Dong's two yellow Soul Rings lit up at the same time, their golden light shining in harmony with the blue.
Then the two pillars of light merged.
It was no simple addition, but a transformation at the very root. Mu Chen's long blue hair turned blue-gold, every strand seeming to have been dyed with melted starlight.
Wang Dong's short pink-blue hair was gilded as well. The patterns on her butterfly wings grew more dazzling and intricate, and motes of light drifted down with each beat of her wings.
Both their eyes turned brilliant gold.
An immense surge of Soul Power erupted from them and shot into the sky. Under its pressure, the surface of Sea God Lake churned violently, while the maple trees along the shore bent beneath the blast of air.
Above them, the clouds began to spin, forming a vast vortex centered on the two of them.
Mu Chen stretched out his right hand. Wang Dong did the same. Beneath the moon, their hands clasped, fingers interlacing.
At that very moment, the fusion was complete.
"Light of the Vast Ocean!"
They shouted the name together.
The name had not been thought up. It had surfaced naturally from the depths of their souls the moment the fusion was complete.
Just as you knew your own name, Mu Chen and Wang Dong both knew the name of this Martial Soul Fusion Skill at that moment. No explanation or discussion was needed.
A beam of aurora shot out from between their joined hands.
Its color was not uniform. It shifted constantly between deep blue and brilliant gold, like a piece of the most beautiful aurora in the Far North's night sky had been torn away, infused with the power of the Ocean and the will of light.
The beam, more than three meters in diameter, swept forward. Wherever it passed, the air was ionized into plasma, releasing sharp, explosive cracks.
The ground was gouged into a trench several meters deep. Soil and rock vaporized the instant they touched the aurora, too quickly for even smoke to rise.
The beam grazed the edges of several century-old maple trees by the lake. Their trunks were severed at the roots, the cut surfaces smooth as mirrors and without a trace of scorching. The vaporization had happened so quickly that they had not even had time to burn.
At last, the beam struck a small island in the middle of the lake.
The island was not large, only about twenty meters across. It was one of several scenic spots on Sea God Lake.
The moment the aurora struck, the entire island let out a deafening boom. A crater ten meters in diameter was blasted into the center of the island. Its walls were smooth as mirrors, and lake water at the bottom boiled under the intense heat as a column of steam shot into the sky.
Then the shock wave hit.
The surface of Sea God Lake exploded outward. Countless tons of water surged away from the point where the beam had struck, raising waves several meters high.
The shock wave swept through the maple forest by the lake, sending leaves fluttering down like a torrential rain. The ground beneath Mu Chen and Wang Dong cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and they both had to take two steps back before regaining their balance.
The beam slowly faded.
Wang Dong's legs gave way, and she dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. The attack had drained every last bit of her Soul Power, leaving her without even enough strength to maintain her Martial Soul. The Light Goddess Butterfly's wings dissolved into motes of light that scattered in the night breeze. Sweat covered her face, but her eyes shone astonishingly bright.
"We did it. Big brother, we did it!" she panted, her voice brimming with barely contained excitement.
Mu Chen was in better shape than Wang Dong. His Soul Power reserves at Level 45 kept him from being completely drained, but that attack had still consumed most of his power.
He reached out and pulled Wang Dong to her feet. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly turned toward the opposite shore of the lake.
A white figure streaked through the air at incredible speed, reaching them in just a few breaths.
Yan Shaozhe.
Beneath the moon, the Martial Soul Department dean's expression looked especially grave.
He glanced at the island in the middle of the lake, now blasted open by a massive crater, then at the trench stretching a hundred meters across the ground. Finally, his gaze settled on Mu Chen and Wang Dong.
His eyes paused for a moment on their brilliant golden irises, which had yet to fade completely, then fell on their still-clasped hands.
Silence.
The waves of Sea God Lake were still slapping against the shore, and the column of steam above Lake Heart Island was slowly dissipating.
Yan Shaozhe stood amid the wreckage along the lakeshore, his white robe snapping in the night breeze.
"Martial Soul Fusion Skill. The two of you have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill." At last, he spoke, his voice filled with barely contained shock.
It was not a question, but a statement. With Yan Shaozhe's keen eye and experience, after seeing the destruction and the Soul Power remnants on the two of them, he could not have reached any other conclusion.
He had lived for nearly a century and had seen countless geniuses and countless Martial Soul Fusion Skills.
But he had never seen two youngsters whose Soul Power Levels were so far apart, and whose total Soul Power was still nowhere near the Soul King level, unleash a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with such power.
The destructive force of that attack was already enough to rival a Soul Saint's full-power strike.
Mu Chen let go of Wang Dong's hand, stepped forward, and placed himself between Yan Shaozhe and Wang Dong.
It was an instinctive movement, but Wang Dong noticed. She looked at Mu Chen's back and pressed her lips together.