Sky Dream Ice Worm: No~! Douluo Version Yuan Hua!

During the remaining days of summer vacation, the backyard of the Xiao Mansion in Heaven Dou City became exceptionally lively.

In the center of the courtyard, the previously smooth bluestone tiles were now covered in fine, dense cracks.

The surrounding ancient trees swayed without a breeze, their lush branches and leaves rustling loudly under the scouring of the majestic heaven and earth energy.

Xiao Yan sat upright at a stone table, his ten fingers flying rapidly across the Star Thread strings of the Fuxi Zither.

A deep, heavy melody echoed through the courtyard. Every note pulled at the rich energy of heaven and earth, transforming it into a tangible, crushing weight and a refining force that scoured the petite figure in the center of the clearing over and over again.

This was a new piece Xiao Yan had developed in his spare time, titled "Bone-Forging Marrow-Cleansing Melody."

Unlike the "Breaking the Formation: Sea Absorbing Melody" he had played by the Sea God Lake, this new piece did not aim for the rapid accumulation of soul power. Instead, it turned the channeled heaven and earth energy into thousands of invisible forging hammers, piercing directly through skin and flesh to reach deep into the marrow, constantly elevating the practitioner's physical strength.

Of course, this tempering that reached straight to the marrow was accompanied by unimaginable exhaustion and pain.

It required extremely high control over the performer's soul power and was an even more rigorous test of the recipient's willpower.

In the center of the clearing, Xiao Xiao bit her lower lip tightly, holding the most basic horse stance.

Her white training uniform was long since soaked through with sweat, clinging tightly to her body.

Her usually fair and soft face was flushed bright red, and large beads of sweat slid down her cheeks, splashing onto the shattered bluestone.

"Dang—"

Xiao Yan pressed down heavily on the strings with his right hand, bringing the tail note to a close.

The heavy, crushing energy in the surroundings dissipated.

"I can't... I really don't have a drop left!"

The moment the pressure vanished, Xiao Xiao's legs went soft, and she collapsed directly onto the ground.

She gasped for air, her hands planted on the ground behind her in an unladylike sprawl, unable to muster the strength to lift even a single finger.

A full quarter-hour of high-intensity marrow-cleansing and bone-tempering was already the limit of what her body and willpower could currently endure.

Seeing her older brother stop his movements, Xiao Xiao let out a long, weary breath. She thought that this torturous morning exercise was finally over and that she could return to her room for a comfortable hot bath and a few pieces of osmanthus cake made by her mother.

Just as she prepared to lie flat and rest, soft footsteps sounded from the corner of the courtyard corridor.

Qing Wan, dressed in simple and elegant loungewear, stepped into the courtyard.

She looked at her daughter slumped on the ground, but instead of stepping forward to comfort her, she flipped her wrist, and a cyan-green light gathered in her palm.

The Nine Phoenix Flute, entirely emerald green and carved with nine azure phoenixes, appeared in her hand.

This flute was identical to Xiao Xiao's martial soul, yet the pressure and luster radiating from it were worlds apart.

"Rest? The tempering has only just warmed you up." Qing Wan held the jade flute to her lips, turned her head to look at Xiao Yan sitting at the stone table, and gave him a look. "Yan'er, continue."

Xiao Xiao's previously limp body stiffened abruptly. She stared at her dearest mother with wide, bewildered eyes.

Xiao Yan did not refuse. A handsome arc formed at the corners of his mouth as his hands returned to the strings.

The soul power of an eighty-ninth-rank peak Soul Douluo erupted fully. The flute melody played by Qing Wan cut into the zither music, and the two instantly achieved perfect resonance.

The heaven and earth energy above the courtyard boiled once more. A crushing force several times heavier than before descended with a boom, slamming directly onto Xiao Xiao's shoulders.

"Ugh—"

Xiao Xiao let out a muffled groan. The power of the "Bone-Forging Marrow-Cleansing Melody," driven by a cultivation level nearing that of a Title Douluo, was more than twice as strong as before.

The invisible forging hammers struck her bones, magnifying the soreness and pain exponentially.

Of course, Xiao Yan had his limits; the nourishing effect inherent in the "Bone-Forging Marrow-Cleansing Melody" was also at work, so it would not damage her physical foundation like the weighted running at Shrek.

Xiao Xiao's eyes turned red with grievance, and tears welled up in them.

But when she looked up and saw her brother playing the zither with total focus at the stone table, then turned to meet her mother's gaze—filled with both encouragement and strictness—Xiao Xiao forced her tears back.

She gritted her teeth, braced her hands against the ground, and with trembling legs, forced herself to stand up against the crushing pressure, once again assuming the horse stance to welcome this even more violent bone-tempering.

At the other end of the courtyard corridor, Xiao Zhan leaned against a red-lacquered wooden pillar with his arms crossed.

He watched his son playing the zither, his wife playing the flute, and his daughter gritting her teeth and persisting under the pressure, his face full of unconcealable joy.

A family, whole and together, all striving to become stronger—this was the atmosphere the Xiao Mansion ought to have.

While the Xiao Mansion in Heaven Dou City was filled with warmth, in the core area of the distant Extreme North, Huo Yuhao felt as if he were about to meet the King of Hell.

In the frozen world, the gale carried snowflakes the size of palms, wantonly cutting through this desolate ice field.

Huo Yuhao curled up in a low, makeshift ice hut he had dug.

His heavy cold-weather clothing could not block the ultra-low temperatures of the Extreme North Core Zone. His blood flow had slowed, his limbs had long since lost all sensation, and even his breath contained piercing shards of ice.

His consciousness began to scatter, and only the solemn promise the Sky Dream Ice Worm had made before leaving remained in his mind.

"Yuhao, hold on in this ice hut for as long as you can! As long as you can endure it, Brother guarantees I will get you the world's most top-tier second martial soul. When that time comes, you will be able to trample that monster Xiao Yan under your feet and become the number one genius of the Douluo Continent!"

It was this very sentence that became the only motivation for Huo Yuhao to struggle on in this deathly silent ice hut.

But now, a full five minutes had passed since the Sky Dream Ice Worm left the ice hut, taking that molted shell with it.

Beyond Huo Yuhao's vision, which was on the verge of freezing over, in the air above the ice hut...

The massive spiritual body of the Sky Dream Ice Worm hung alone amidst the wind and snow.

Five minutes ago, it had confidently spread its shimmering golden molted shell across the ice sheet, then released the vast spiritual aura of a million-year soul beast without reservation.

To cultivate the aura of a king returning, it stood with its hands behind its back, eyes cast in disdain.

"Ice Empress, I know you sense my presence. I, Tian Meng, have returned for revenge! Do you dare to show yourself?"

It roared this opening line with full vigor, then stood in the void, feigning composure.

No matter how the gale below tore at it, it remained unmoved, fully maintaining its inscrutable facade.

Thirty seconds passed.

The snow filled the sky as before, and there wasn't even a ghost to be seen on the vast, empty ice sheet.

One minute passed.

The Sky Dream Ice Worm's feigned composure began to crack; it maintained its pose with hands behind its back, but it began to mutter to itself.

"Ice Empress, have you become such a coward? You don't even dare to see me?" It raised its volume, attempting to goad the other party into appearing with a crude provocation.

The wind wailed, and the only response was the howling north wind.

Three minutes passed.

The Sky Dream Ice Worm completely panicked.

It had originally feared alerting the Snow Empress, the leader of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, so it had deliberately controlled the range of its spiritual aura.

But now, it could no longer care about such things; it desperately drove its spiritual power, frantically expanding its network of perception outward.

With a trembling heart, it comforted itself: The Ice Empress must have gone to find the Snow Empress; as long as it expanded its aura, the Ice Empress would surely notice.

The spiritual network swept across glaciers, swept across snow valleys, and swept across the greater part of the Extreme North Core Zone.

It was completely empty.

The five-minute mark was finally broken.

The Sky Dream Ice Worm's spiritual body trembled violently in mid-air.

Its perfect plan, the god-making scheme tailored for Huo Yuhao, had become an utter joke in this moment.

The Sky Dream Ice Worm's knees went weak, and it knelt directly in mid-air.

It roared toward the empty ice sheet, its voice tearing with grief.

"Ice Empress! Come out! I beg you, come out and see me just once!"

The cold wind poured into its mouth without mercy, blowing its final plea into shattered fragments.

The peerless beast ranked second in the Extreme North had seemingly evaporated into thin air, leaving this million-year soul beast stranded in the wind and snow like a clown.

"No!!!"

The Sky Dream Ice Worm raised its hands above its head, letting out a wail of despair.

If Xiao Yan happened to pass by this ice sheet at this moment and saw this scene, he would surely summon the Fuxi Zither to play a live performance of Yuan Hua's exclusive BGM for this million-year soul beast.

Snowflakes drifting, north wind whistling.

The world~ is~ vast and white!!!