The Final, Fusion of Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire

"Pfft. You're exactly like the teachers at our academy."

"No. You're even more rigorous than they are."

Hu Liena burst out laughing.

Li Qinglian was even a little younger than her, yet when he spoke, he sounded so philosophical.

But was Li Qinglian really just coaxing her?

Water and fire—she truly found it hard to imagine how those two elements could coexist in harmony.

"Being rigorous is a good thing. Cultivation also requires a scientific spirit."

Li Qinglian said it very seriously.

Much of the knowledge he had learned in his previous life was useless in this world.

But the scientific spirit could be applied even in the world of immortal cultivation.

Especially those scientific methodologies—they were the most important part.

"All right, all right. Later, you'd better really be that miraculous."

She suddenly grew a little curious.

Every word Li Qinglian said sounded casual and understated, yet somehow it made people unable to stop thinking about it.

On the competition stage, the footsteps of fourteen people echoed through the vast arena as the two teams spread into formation at the center line.

Nearly one hundred thousand gazes in the entire venue gathered over at almost the same time.

Those gazes carried admiration and anticipation.

When everyone looked at Li Qinglian, there was pity in their eyes.

Ten years old. Soul Elder. Sword Intent.

Any one of those, taken alone, would be enough to shake the continent, yet this just had to be the finals stage.

He was facing Spirit Hall Academy, a team with a Soul King holding the line and coordination so seamless it could be called perfect.

He was too young.

So young that everyone felt regret: if he were given another five years—no, even three—he would definitely become the most dazzling name on this continent.

But unfortunately, it was now.

"Qinglian."

Shui Bing'er stood beside him, her little hand quietly reaching over to hold his fingertips.

A thin layer of sweat covered her palm, and her heartbeat was so loud that even Li Qinglian, standing beside her, could hear it.

"Nervous?"

"A little." Shui Bing'er admitted it honestly, but a bright flame burned in her blue eyes. "But more than that... I'm excited."

"We'll win."

"My Ultimate Fire and your Ultimate Ice will fuse. No one will be able to withstand it!"

"Besides, none of them prepared equipment to maintain a constant body temperature. That will make their defeat even more complete."

Li Qinglian smiled and tightened his grip around her hand in return.

Because Li Qinglian's previous performance had been too dazzling, Spirit Hall Academy's pre-match preparations had gone entirely in the wrong direction.

Or rather, all of them had been misled by Li Qinglian.

Originally, if Li Qinglian had not suddenly risen to prominence, then against a highly specialized team like Tianshui Team, they absolutely would have brought waterproof and cold-resistant protective gear.

Once they wore that equipment, Tianshui Team's strength would plummet in a straight line.

Fire and water were actually relatively easy elemental powers to deal with.

Even though he and Shui Bing'er had ultimate attributes, they would still be affected.

But now, these people had already been led astray.

To defend against Li Qinglian's Sword Intent, all of them had put on heavy armor that reduced penetration from sharp weapons.

But the moment Li Qinglian did not use the Green Lotus Sword, they were practically running around naked.

Ice and fire attacked in a completely different form from swords.

Shui Xian'er stood at the very front of the team and glanced back at the boy and girl standing shoulder to shoulder behind her.

She took a deep breath and raised her arm.

"Tianshui Team—"

"—prepare!"

Five figures scattered to both sides at the same time, like petals blown apart by the wind, leaving the vast space at the very center of the competition stage entirely to Li Qinglian and Shui Bing'er.

Shui Xian'er led the other four team members back, spreading out into a defensive formation that protected the two people at the center.

They released their martial souls, and ice-blue soul power wove through the air into a biting cold mist, yet not the slightest trace seeped toward the center.

They were clearing the way for Li Qinglian and Shui Bing'er.

Clearing out the purest space for the Martial Soul Fusion that was about to come.

They knew this match did not need them to act at all.

Li Qinglian and Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul Fusion Skill was invincible enough.

If they acted, they would only affect the two's performance.

"Qinglian. Later, I'll leave everything to you."

"I... will leave myself to you too."

Shui Bing'er took a deep breath, then let go of Li Qinglian's hand, circled behind him, and took half a step forward.

Her chest gently pressed against Li Qinglian's back, and her hands circled around from behind, overlapping as they rested over his lower abdomen.

It was an extremely intimate, extremely close posture, without the slightest gap between them.

Then she closed her eyes.

The Ice Phoenix martial soul suddenly spread its wings behind her, and ice-blue light swept out, enveloping both her and Li Qinglian at the same time.

At the same moment, Li Qinglian's phoenix martial soul was also released.

Golden-red flames surged out from within him, colliding with the ice-blue cold light behind him, tangling, tearing, and merging.

Ice and fire formed a complete circulation loop between the two of them. The Ultimate Ice within Shui Bing'er's body flowed along their touching skin into Li Qinglian's meridians, while the Ultimate Fire within Li Qinglian's body surged back into her body along the same path in reverse.

One cold and one hot, one yin and one yang; two utterly opposite ultimate energies achieved perfect coexistence within their bodies in an inconceivable way.

Light exploded from the center where their bodies overlapped.

Blue and red, ice and fire—two pillars of light shot into the sky, twisting, coiling, and knotting together in midair into a gigantic two-colored tornado.

At the eye of the tornado, the phantom of a giant bird whose entire body flowed with blue and red patterns slowly spread its wings. Its left wing was red-gold like flowing lava, its right wing ice-blue like an ancient frozen pool, and every feather displayed a perfect gradient, shifting from blazing red at the root to ice-blue at the tip, so magnificent it stole the breath away.

Ice Fire Phoenix.

In that instant, the temperature of the entire arena was torn into two halves.

One half was scorching like a summer afternoon, while the other was biting like a deep winter night. In the stands, those spectators with slightly lower cultivation only felt as if they were being soaked alternately in hot water and ice water, their hair standing on end and their teeth chattering.

"What... what is that?!"

"Two people pressed together... is that a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?!"

"Ice and fire? How is that possible! How can ice and fire martial souls fuse!"

"No—look at that phoenix! The patterns of ice and fire exist at the same time—that really is a Martial Soul Fusion Skill!"

In the spectator stands, tens of thousands of people stood up almost at the same time.

Some pointed at the Ice Fire Phoenix spreading its wings in the sky, unable to speak. Some rubbed their eyes desperately, afraid they had seen wrong. Others were so excited that they grabbed the strangers beside them and kept asking, "Did you see it? Did you see it?"

On the VIP platform.

Bibi Dong's fingers abruptly clenched around the armrest, her fingertips even pinching shallow dents into the gold-inlaid wooden surface. Reflected in those deep purple pupils was the giant bird of intertwining blue and red above the competition stage, while in their depths churned a complex light where shock and dread intertwined.