The Ability Brought by the Blue Soul Ring, Doubts About One's Own Background!

The thunder tribulation dissipated completely, the churning black clouds wiped away and vanishing without a trace in an instant.

The Far North's eternal, pale sky reappeared, clear and washed clean for ten thousand miles, as if the world-destroying tribulation from moments ago had been nothing but a hallucination.

Xue Chen hovered in mid-air, his small body radiating a majestic aura that was impossible to ignore.

The Radiant Thunder Dragon Spear in his hand pointed diagonally toward the ice field below, its tip shimmering with cold light, while dragon-shaped currents coiled and hummed faintly around it.

Behind him, the massive phantom of the Thunder Dragon Emperor had not faded; its majestic dragon eyes scanned the surroundings with the air of a sovereign ruling the world.

And that strange spirit ring circling him, its edges pulsing with brilliant blue-gold lightning!

The spirit ring rotated slowly, resonating with the surging power of his blood and energy, emitting an existence that belonged to no known spirit ring system.

Sunlight spilled down, gilding him with a golden edge that set off the blue spirit ring and the dragon emperor phantom. At this moment, Xue Chen looked like a young god descended from the nine heavens, wielding the power of thunder!

He slowly lowered his head, excitement and confusion intertwined in his deep blue eyes as he looked down at the Snow Emperor and the Ice Emperor, who remained in a state of shock.

He grinned, revealing a smile that mixed excitement with bewilderment, breaking the frozen silence.

He looked at the Snow Emperor, his voice clear and carrying a hint of childish dependence, forming a strange contrast to the image he had projected while drawing down the tribulation:

"Mother, please put me down first."

This call instantly jolted the Snow Emperor, who was still immersed in shock and a web of doubts.

A flash of fleeting daze crossed her beautiful face, as if she had only just realized that Xue Chen was still being held aloft by her.

"Oh... right."

The Snow Emperor responded almost subconsciously, her voice carrying a trace of lingering bewilderment she could not fully conceal.

Her slender fingers moved slightly, and the spirit power that had been supporting Xue Chen slowly retracted, carefully lowering him from the air.

Xue Chen's toes touched the ground, landing on the ice-dusted, rubble-strewn surface.

With a thought, the Thunder Dragon Emperor phantom behind him let out a low dragon roar and slowly dissipated into the air, while the Radiant Thunder Dragon Spear in his hand turned into specks of blue electric light, retracting into his body.

Only that deep blue spirit ring stubbornly circled his side, rotating slowly and asserting its existence.

The Ice Emperor finally snapped out of her stupor. She flashed to stand before Xue Chen, her emerald eyes fixed intently on the blue spirit ring, as if trying to see right through it.

She reached out a finger, wanting to touch it but not daring to, her tone filled with incredulous awe:

"Kid... this... what on earth is this?

A spirit ring? Since when does a spirit ring look like this?! It's not even attached to a martial soul, just spinning around you on its own?!"

The Snow Emperor also descended slowly, coming to Xue Chen's side.

She did not ask immediately, but instead reached out with cool fingers, gently resting them on Xue Chen's wrist. A gentle stream of spiritual power carefully probed inward, meticulously sensing the state of his body.

His blood and energy were like a dragon, surging endlessly, far more powerful than before by several times!

His meridians were wide and resilient, glowing with a faint blue-gold luster, as if they had been tempered anew by thunder.

And the energy source of that blue spirit ring was inextricably linked to his life essence and his majestic blood energy, forming a single, natural, and seamless entity!

The Snow Emperor withdrew her hand, the shock in her ice-blue eyes not yet faded, but replaced by a deep sense of contemplation and an increasingly intense curiosity.

She looked at Xue Chen and asked softly, "Chen'er, how do you feel now? Is there... any discomfort in your body?

Or, have you gained any special perceptions?"

Xue Chen clenched his fist, feeling the power within him that seemed capable of shattering a mountain with a single blow, and shook his head excitedly:

"No discomfort, Mother! I feel great! I'm full of strength!"

He pointed to the blue spirit ring beside him.

"It's this—it feels like it's a part of me. I can feel that it's filled with power.

But... I don't know what kind of abilities it has given me yet."

He looked up at the Snow Emperor and the Ice Emperor, his small face full of confusion:

"Mother, Aunt Ice, have you ever seen a spirit ring like this? Is this... even still a spirit ring?"

The Snow Emperor and the Ice Emperor exchanged glances, both seeing the same answer in the other's eyes—unheard of, unseen!

The Snow Emperor took a light breath of the cold air, suppressing the turmoil in her heart. She looked at Xue Chen with an incredibly complex expression.

Everything that had happened far exceeded the scope of what could be explained by a human child.

The cold wind of the Far North swept across the ruins, kicking up a bit of ice dust.

The Snow Emperor cast her gaze toward the distant horizon, the question in her heart regarding Xue Chen's true origins becoming clearer and heavier.

Chen'er, where exactly... do you come from?

Xiao Bai's deep, resonant voice rang out, filled with intense curiosity and anticipation, breaking the brief silence:

"Little Chen, you... you should try using this spirit ring and see!"

Xue Chen was itching to try it himself, and upon hearing this, he nodded immediately, his small face full of eagerness: "Okay!"

He didn't even need to deliberately learn or adapt; it was as if the ability of this spirit ring was already engraved in his instincts.

With a slight shift of his mind, his internal spirit power and blood energy flowed naturally, connecting with the slowly rotating blue spirit ring around him.

"Hum--!"

The blue light of the spirit ring flared brilliantly, and the blue-gold lightning coiling around its edges suddenly intensified!

A surge of blood energy gushed forth from within his body!

Starting from his shoulder, fine blue dragon scales rapidly emerged and spread, covering his entire arm like living creatures, all the way down to his wrist.

His left hand transformed into a dragon claw that shimmered with a deep, metallic blue luster!

Across the dragon claw, faint, fine blue lightning crackled and flowed between the gaps of the scales.

Xue Chen curiously raised this now-inhuman arm of his, clenching it gently to feel the immense power surging from the dragon claw.

"Damn, this is badass. Let's test it out..."

He muttered to himself, casting his gaze toward a piece of black ice that had fallen from the palace ceiling not far away.

He didn't make any grand movements; he simply raised his transformed left arm, extended his index finger toward the black ice, focused his intent on his fingertip, and tapped lightly.

There were no incantations, no spirit skill names, and not even any obvious, violent fluctuations of spirit power.

"Sss..."

In the air just before the tip of his dragon claw, a slender thread of blue lightning flashed into existence out of thin air!

"Crack!"

That thread of blue lightning struck the center point of the black ice with pinpoint precision.

The hard black ice instantly filled with countless cracks radiating from the point of impact before shattering apart.

Xue Chen looked at his dragon claw, then back at the pile of shattered ice on the ground. A flicker of surprise first crossed his young face, quickly replaced by excitement and a sense of control.

The application of this power was surprisingly effortless!

Xue Chen looked at his dragon claw and frowned slightly, his thoughts drifting back to his own origins:

If I'm this formidable, my biological parents must be powerful beyond imagination!

But why would they abandon me here in the Far North? Could they have had some unspeakable secret?

He felt deeply puzzled and curious about his own background.