Li Qinglian vs. Shui Bing'er, Fire Phoenix vs. Ice Phoenix

Since Shui Bing'er had let him make the first move, Li Qinglian naturally would not get cocky.

He released his Martial Soul at once.

The illusory figure of a flaming phoenix appeared behind him, and a purple soul ring circled beneath the Martial Soul.

"A thousand-year soul ring?"

Shui Bing'er and her sister Shui Yue'er had already had their attention fixed on Li Qinglian. When they saw that purple soul ring, they cried out in shock.

As a two-ring Grand Soul Master, Shui Bing'er did not even have a single thousand-year soul ring.

Yet Li Qinglian's first soul ring was actually a thousand-year one!

This!

The two sisters were speechless.

Their standards were extremely high, and they had seen plenty of geniuses, but they had never seen anyone as outrageous as Li Qinglian.

Li Qinglian was only six years old.

But with this soul ring alone, it was enough for his name to go down in history.

"Wow!"

Shui Yue'er had already had some favorable feelings toward Li Qinglian, and now she was even more certain of her thoughts.

With such a handsome boy, and such extraordinary talent besides, what love-struck youth would not be moved?

"Ah. Yue'er is probably..."

Shui Bing'er glanced at Shui Yue'er from the corner of her eye.

She knew that this younger sister of hers, who had always fantasized about a sweet romance, was probably about to fall in completely.

Li Qinglian was indeed a monster, but could he really overcome the flaws of the Evil Fire Phoenix and make it to the end?

As far as she knew, there had not yet been any similar successful cases.

"Li Qinglian. Make your move."

Shui Bing'er quickly reined in her thoughts, her gaze grave.

She was serious now.

Although Li Qinglian only had one soul ring, it was a thousand-year soul skill.

A soul skill attached to a thousand-year soul ring was stronger than one from a hundred-year soul ring.

"Good."

The purple soul ring lit up.

Li Qinglian used his first soul skill, Fire Phoenix Entanglement.

Yes, Li Qinglian's first soul skill was a control-type soul skill.

An illusory fire phoenix flew out, pouncing toward Shui Bing'er.

"Ice Ring Armor!"

"Ice Seal!"

Right after Li Qinglian, Shui Bing'er instantly released both of her soul skills.

Ice Ring Armor was a defensive soul skill, able to envelop herself and her allies in a layer of crystalline blue armor.

Ice Seal was an instant skill, a group-restriction technique that could instantly freeze multiple people.

With these two great soul skills working together, Shui Bing'er, with her two-ring cultivation, was quite formidable at this stage. Just these two soul skills were already enough to give her considerable combat strength.

"Shui Bing'er's strength really is decent. At the very least, the threat she poses to me is much greater than Huo Wu."

The instant Ice Seal skill made the ground beneath Li Qinglian's feet seem as if it were about to freeze together with him, and his steps instantly slowed by quite a bit.

If Li Qinglian had not been a fire-attribute Soul Master, he would definitely have been frozen in an instant and lost his fighting strength. But freezing a fire-attribute Soul Master was still beyond Shui Bing'er.

Shui Bing'er's Ice Seal could only restrict Li Qinglian's movements.

At the same time.

The fire phoenix that pounced at Shui Bing'er struck her Ice Ring Armor, instantly turning into ropes of golden-red flame that bound her tightly.

"This is a control soul skill?"

Shui Bing'er cried out in surprise.

Li Qinglian's soul power was much lower, but the strength of a thousand-year soul skill was still very much up to par.

For a moment, Shui Bing'er simply could not break free.

Moreover, she discovered that the harder she tried to struggle, the tighter the fiery ropes binding her became.

"Sister Bing'er. How is it? It seems you've lost."

Li Qinglian looked at Shui Bing'er with a smile.

Although Shui Bing'er was wearing a loose water-blue school uniform, under the binding of the fiery ropes, her graceful, curvaceous figure was displayed in full.

"I haven't lost. I admit this soul skill of yours is very strong, but unfortunately, you only have one ring right now."

"In a one-on-one fight, you can control me, but you can't defeat me."

The corners of Shui Bing'er's lips lifted slightly.

Li Qinglian truly had amazed her.

But if he wanted to defeat her, the current Li Qinglian still wasn't there yet.

As soon as Shui Bing'er finished speaking, the energy of Fire Phoenix Entanglement was exhausted, and Shui Bing'er broke free of its restraints.

"Is that so?"

"What a pity. Sister Bing'er, I'm afraid you've miscalculated."

Li Qinglian's somewhat languid eyes suddenly turned sharp.

The next moment.

Li Qinglian's sword was already laid across her neck.

The sword wind stirred her hair, revealing snow-white skin.

The sharp sword light reflected her cold yet dazed, peerlessly beautiful face.

"Sister Bing'er. Looks like you've lost."

Li Qinglian gave the Green Lotus Sword in his hand a little shake.

The soul skill his Phoenix Martial Soul had obtained from the Blazing Python had inherited the Blazing Python's traits: powerful binding, and the more one struggled, the tighter it became.

Li Qinglian only had one-ring cultivation, and only one soul skill used for control.

But his sword was not weak!

"I..."

Shui Bing'er opened her mouth, but did not know what to say.

Li Qinglian's sword was very sharp. If this were real combat, Li Qinglian would just now have had more than enough time to cut open her throat with it.

"If I'd known earlier that your first soul skill was a hard-control type, I definitely wouldn't have let you control me so easily."

"But there's no point saying that now. A loss is a loss."

Shui Bing'er said softly.

She had just assumed that Li Qinglian's first soul skill was a power-attack type, which was why she had immediately released the defensive soul skill Ice Ring Armor, without considering dodging Li Qinglian's skill.

Still, a loss was a loss.

Li Qinglian was only six years old, with a cultivation of level twelve.

She had lost to Li Qinglian. If she still couldn't accept losing, that would be the truly humiliating part.

"Shui Bing'er. Little Brother Qinglian is even a bit stronger than me. It's perfectly normal that you lost to him."

Huo Wu folded her arms in front of her chest and raised her head, utterly delighted.

Li Qinglian had really done her proud.

Shui Bing'er was the future captain of Tianshui Academy, and her strength was even a shade above Huo Wushuang's.

Now that Li Qinglian could suppress Shui Bing'er, the results of Blazing Fire Team in this year's competition would definitely be higher than Tianshui Team's.

"Hmph. You're not the one who beat me, so what are you so smug about?"

Shui Bing'er glared at Huo Wu.

This woman just loved seeing her suffer.

After saying that, Shui Bing'er looked at Li Qinglian again.

"If I'm not mistaken, you should have already passed through one Evil Fire tribulation. The next outbreak shouldn't be far off. You defeated me, so I'll help you once."

Shui Bing'er's beautiful eyes looked at Li Qinglian as she spoke seriously.

"Thank you."

Li Qinglian did not refuse.

He knew that with Shui Bing'er's help, his chances of safely getting through an Evil Fire outbreak would be extremely high.

"Right. Li Qinglian, I have a question. I wonder if you can answer it for me."

Shui Bing'er asked gently.

"Sure."

Li Qinglian raised his head.

"How were you able to absorb a thousand-year soul ring as your first soul ring?"

All three girls looked at Li Qinglian in unison.

In truth, Huo Wu was also very curious, but she felt that it was Li Qinglian's secret, so she had never asked.

"Because I removed the resentment and hostility from the thousand-year soul ring. So when I absorbed the soul ring, it was different from how it is for you. What I absorbed was gentle energy, and the impact was relatively small."

If they did not remove the dead Blazing Python's hostility and resentment...

The instant he absorbed the soul ring, the soul ring's energy would come surging in like a tidal wave.

If that happened, Li Qinglian would die for certain.

But he had the Green Lotus Sword Intent protecting his body. The moment resentment and hostility entered him, they were severed directly by the sword intent.

"All right. What else? That alone isn't enough."

"I've trained my body since I was young, so my constitution is a little better than others my age. Lastly, I'm not afraid of pain."

Li Qinglian said it in a calm tone.

Children could not endure pain. If they fainted from it, the absorption would fail.

Generally speaking, for most soul masters, absorbing a three-hundred-year soul ring was enough for them to feel the pain.

The higher the age, the more intense the pain.

In truth, the reason most soul masters could not absorb higher-level soul rings was not that the soul ring's energy was already powerful enough to make them explode. It was because the pain was too intense, their consciousness scattered, their absorption efficiency dropped, and they entered a vicious cycle.

Those who normally absorbed their first soul ring were all children of six or seven. Even a basic level of pain would plunge them into panic.

Li Qinglian had lived two lives. His mind was firm, and he had often endured the agony of Evil Fire burning through his body.

So as long as it was not fatal, Li Qinglian was not afraid.

"Not afraid of pain?"

The three girls looked at Li Qinglian with complicated expressions.

Huo Wu pulled Li Qinglian straight into her arms, her eyes misting over.

She knew why Li Qinglian was not afraid of pain.

Tormented by Evil Fire, the suffering he endured when it erupted was even worse than absorbing a thousand-year soul ring. How could he possibly fear pain?

"Little Brother Qinglian. We'll help you. I, Huo Wu, swear I won't let anything happen to you. Even if one day you really do fall and become an Evil Soul Master like the dean said, I'm willing to stay with you."

Huo Wu held Li Qinglian tightly.

Her heart truly ached for him.

How could there be such a good boy in this world?

The heavens really were so unfair. Why did they have to make him endure all this?

"Not afraid of pain. Such a simple truth. But who can actually do it?"

Shui Bing'er bit her red lip, her expression dazed.

He was still so young.

"Sister. What is Evil Fire?"

Shui Yue'er did not have the Phoenix Martial Soul, so she had never learned the secrets of the Evil Fire Phoenix.

"I can't explain it clearly to you in a short while. But you have to know that there's no possibility between you and Li Qinglian."

"Yue'er. I know you must have a good impression of Li Qinglian. But he isn't suitable for you."

A soul master who awakened the Evil Fire Phoenix had only two paths.

The first was to submit to evil desire and fall completely, almost inevitably becoming an Evil Soul Master whom everyone would call for the death of. The second was to hold fast to one's true heart and fight against desire, but that was even more of a road to death. No one had ever succeeded.

Both paths were almost roads to death. If he chose the first, he would become an Evil Soul Master and be hunted down by the world. The second path was practically no different from suicide.

Li Qinglian was indeed astonishingly brilliant. His talent even left her shaken.

But even so, the chance that Li Qinglian could survive this trial was still not high.

"Sister, why? It wasn't easy for me to finally like a boy."

Shui Yue'er asked, aggrieved.

"There is no why. You can't fall in love with him. Understand?"

Shui Bing'er grabbed Shui Yue'er's shoulders with both hands, her expression grave.

"I don't believe you. Sister, you're lying to me. Yue'er won't like you anymore after this."

With tears shimmering in her eyes, Shui Yue'er shoved Shui Bing'er away with all her strength and ran off crying.

"Sigh."