Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Ring Reduction!

Yet what happened next was even more horrifying!

Ning Xiaochun's expression turned solemn. Slowly, he brought his left hand, which held up the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda, together with his right, which held up the Nine Killings Glazed Pagoda.

The two nine-layered pagodas had diametrically opposed attributes and utterly different auras. Yet the moment they touched, they did not clash violently. Instead, they began to fuse in a strange and wondrous way!

Rainbow light and shadowy underworld radiance intertwined, forming a deep, chaotic sphere of light!

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Ning Xiaochun's forehead. His small face paled. Clearly, urging on two evolved Martial Souls at once and fusing them placed an enormous burden on him. But his gaze remained resolute as he spoke with clear, commanding words:

"Martial Soul Fusion Skill—Nine-Layer Glazed Pagoda!"

"Ring Reduction!"

At those final two words, the chaotic sphere of light burst with an indescribable, strange fluctuation. A formless, intangible force, seemingly imbued with some supreme law, instantly crossed through space and enveloped Yan, who was using his third Soul Skill!

The brilliant purple third Soul Ring around Yan abruptly dimmed, as if suppressed and sealed by an invisible force!

And that wasn't all. The Soul Power aura around him plummeted like air escaping a punctured ball! Level forty... thirty-nine... thirty-five... thirty... twenty-nine!

In the blink of an eye, Yan was forcibly knocked down from a Level 40 Quasi-Soul Ancestor, brimming with Soul Power and menace, to the Level 29 Soul Grandmaster stage!

What's more, his most powerful, thousand-year third Soul Ring had temporarily lost all its luster. He couldn't use it!

"Th-this... this is impossible!!!"

Feeling that nearly half his Soul Power had suddenly vanished and his third Soul Ring had been sealed, Yan's face filled with terror and disbelief unlike anything he had ever felt. He let out a desperate, blood-curdling roar!

What kind of Soul Skill was this? No, what kind of Martial Soul Fusion Skill?! It could directly lower an opponent's Soul Power Level and seal their Soul Rings?! He had never heard of such a thing! Never seen it!

"Now!" Ning Xiaochun shouted. His small face paled even further, and he swayed unsteadily. Clearly, using Ring Reduction had drained him immensely.

Shui Bing'er had long been poised to strike. A cold light flashed in her ice-blue eyes!

Her opponent had been forcibly knocked back down to Soul Grandmaster, his Soul Power even lower than hers. His strength had already been weakened by Soft Muscle Evil, and his movements restrained by Ice Seal and Ice Grip...

"It's over."

Shui Bing'er's cool voice rang out. She formed a complicated, profound hand seal before her chest. The phantom Ice Phoenix behind her let out a piercing cry, and its boundless, Ultimate Ice Soul Power poured forth without restraint!

"Ice Seal!"

The enormous Ice Phoenix phantom behind her beat its wings and transformed into a streak of ice-blue light, cold enough to freeze the soul. Bearing a fierce chill that threatened to destroy all in its path, it charged toward Yan, whose Soul Power had plummeted, Soul Ring was sealed, movements were sluggish, and face was stricken with terror!

Yan's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. He tried to struggle, tried to defend himself, but weakened and restrained, with his Soul Power Level in freefall, how could he withstand the full-force strike of a top-grade Ice Phoenix, fighting at full strength and in a fury?

"No!!!"

Boom!!!

The ice-blue phoenix and the crimson figure collided with a thunderous crash! Ultimate Ice instantly swallowed the remnants of the flames! A terrifying cold wave exploded, turning the ground for dozens of meters around them into an expanse of ice!

Mist billowed, and frigid air swept in every direction.

As the icy mist slowly cleared and everyone saw what had happened, they all sucked in a sharp breath.

Yan remained in a defensive stance, his arms crossed before him. But his entire body had become a lifelike ice statue, frozen with terror and resentment etched across his face.

The flames around him had long since gone out. His Soul Power fluctuation was feeble to the extreme, and only the faintest rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive.

Shui Bing'er breathed softly and lowered her jade-white hands, the cold aura around her gradually fading.

She turned to Ning Xiaochun. His face was pale, but his eyes were bright. The chill had vanished from her ice-blue eyes, leaving only relief and a trace of... an indescribable tenderness.

Ning Xiaochun gave her a somewhat weak smile, then put away the two pagodas, whose light had dimmed considerably, and walked over to Yan's ice statue.

He tilted his head back and looked at Yan's frozen face, still written with terror, then lightly tapped the hard ice with his little finger.

"Hey, red-haired turkey."

"You lost."

"Now you have to keep your promise."

"Kneel, kowtow, and apologize."

"But you look like you can't move?" Ning Xiaochun tilted his head, his smile wicked and "innocent," in stark contrast to his pale face. "Want me to help?"

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Only the faint cracking of ice crystals could be heard, along with the occasional low growl of Soul Beasts from the distant woods.

Hu Liena and Xie Yue stood frozen in place like stone statues, their faces pale and eyes vacant. It was as if everything that had happened in those few short minutes had utterly crushed and remade their understanding of the world.

Twin Martial Souls, the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda, the eerie dark pagoda, Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Ring Reduction... and that terrifying, top-grade Ice Phoenix.

Yan, the strongest head-on attacker and most formidable defender of the Golden Generation, had possessed a ten-level Soul Power advantage and a top-tier Martial Soul. Yet the two of them had defeated him in an almost crushing, utterly baffling fashion, freezing him into a statue and leaving his life hanging in the balance!

H-how was this possible?!

Dugu Yan, meanwhile, gaped, her strange green eyes wide as she looked from Ning Xiaochun to Shui Bing'er, then to the ice statue. After a long pause, she stamped her foot and let out an excited shriek:

"Xiaochun! Bing'er! You two were so cool!!! Great job!!!"

Her shriek shattered the suffocating silence.

Ning Xiaochun slowly turned around. His small face was still pale, and his steps unsteady, but he straightened his little body and calmly looked at Xie Yue and Hu Liena, whose faces were pale and expressions conflicted. His clear voice carried a trace of exhaustion, yet left no room for argument:

"So, are you going to apologize now?"

"Or does the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall talk like you're full of hot air?"

Just then, a dense series of cracks rang out from the ice statue.

Bang!

The thick layer of ice covering Yan's body exploded, scattering shards everywhere.

Yan staggered out, soaked to the skin, with ice clinging to his hair and eyebrows. His face was as pale as paper, his lips purple, and he gasped violently for breath. When he looked at Ning Xiaochun and Shui Bing'er, his eyes were full of lingering terror, disbelief, and a fear that had sunk to the marrow of his bones.

He really had just walked up to the gates of hell! That Ultimate Ice had not only frozen his body, but had nearly frozen his soul as well!

If Shui Bing'er hadn't seemed to hold back at the last moment, he might really have become an eternal ice statue!

"You lost." Ning Xiaochun looked calmly at Yan, who was in a pitiful state, and repeated, "Keep your promise."

Yan's body shuddered. The muscles in his face twisted violently, his fists clenched until his knuckles cracked, and his teeth ground together. Kneel?

Kowtow? Apologize? To a six-year-old brat? It was almost more painful than being killed! Who was he? He was part of Spirit Hall's Golden Generation!

He was Yan, the Flame Lord! A future Titled Douluo! This humiliation would become a stain he could never wash away!

But... he had made that promise himself. Xie Yue and Hu Liena were watching.

Though Spirit Hall was domineering, it had its own pride and rules. At least in public, Yan couldn't bring himself to go back on his word.

Struggle, humiliation, fury, fear... a tangle of emotions crossed Yan's face. At last, he lowered his head and looked at no one. With a dry, hoarse voice, as if forcing the words through clenched teeth, he managed to utter:

"I'm... sor...ry."

After speaking, his knees buckled. With a thump, he fell heavily to the cold, hard ground, still covered in frost.

Then he touched his forehead to the ground and kowtowed once, so quickly the movement was almost impossible to see, as if even one more second would be torture.

The instant he finished, he sprang up as though his backside were on fire. His head hung even lower, his cheeks flushed red with utter shame, and his body trembled slightly.