Ice Seal and Golden Light
A burst of white light suddenly erupted, so blinding that it was almost impossible to open one's eyes.
But this light was not warm at all; it was as cold as death itself.
The temperature plummeted—minus fifty degrees Celsius, minus eighty degrees Celsius, and soon broke minus one hundred degrees Celsius.
The air began to freeze, turning into patches of ice crystal clouds suspended in mid-air.
The Gohan and Piccolo exhaled, their breath instantly turned into icy mist, and a layer of white frost formed on their faces.
My joints were cracking, and my blood felt like it was about to freeze; I felt like I was going to be turned into an ice sculpture in the next second.
"This is bad!" Piccolo's pupils contracted sharply. He tried to move, only to find his legs were frozen solid in the ice. "Quick, get out of the way!"
But there's simply no time.
The white Dragon Balls's light reached its limit, and the world was instantly reduced to pure white, so cold it was despair-inducing, as if the entire world was about to be wiped out.
A beam of white light shot out from the Dragon Balls in the palm of the Eis Shenron, like the fiercest cold current from the depths of the polar region, instantly engulfing the entire battlefield.
A piercing freezing sound filled the air as countless tiny ice crystals formed out of thin air.
Instead of drifting aimlessly, the light suddenly contracted and grew taller, transforming into a giant, crystal-clear ice pillar ten meters in diameter. With a chilling aura that could freeze everything, it swallowed Gohan and Piccolo whole.
"Crack--!"
The sound of ice freezing was chilling.
In the blink of an eye, the two were encased in thick, cold, blue ice.
The shock on Gohan's face, Piccolo's defensive stance, and even the aura emanating from them were all frozen in time, as if they were forever locked inside transparent amber.
Inside the ice pillars, the extreme cold continued to torment them, as if slowly devouring their lives and consciousness.
"Ha... ha..." The Eis Shenron was panting heavily, its chest heaving violently; this had exhausted too much of its strength.
It slowly landed in front of the icicle, extended its claws covered in icy scales, and gently tapped the smooth, cold pillar, producing a crisp sound.
Looking at the two motionless figures in the ice, it couldn't help but grin, a weary yet cruel smile appearing on its ferocious dragon face.
"Foolish humans... thinking you can withstand the true power of the Dragon Balls with brute force?" it sneered in a low voice, its hoarse tone echoing across the desolate ice field.
But before it could finish speaking...
"Boom!!!"
It wasn't just an ordinary loud noise, but a sharper, more concentrated explosion!
A dazzling golden light, like lightning, cleaved through space, shooting in from the side without warning. It was so fast that the eye couldn't even catch it, and it crashed directly into the giant ice pillar!
This was not a simple impact.
The moment the golden light touched the ice pillar, time seemed to stand still.
Then, centered on the point of impact, countless fine golden cracks spread wildly across the surface of the ice pillar like a spider web, each one gleaming with golden light and containing a shock force powerful enough to shatter everything.
The next second, the huge ice pillar was smashed from the inside as if by an invisible giant hammer. Without even a proper collapse sound, the entire ice pillar turned into countless tiny ice crystals that reflected golden and blue light, and exploded with a bang!
There were no large fragments, only a diamond dust storm gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Before the dust had even settled, a tall figure had already clearly appeared in the center of the dust storm.
Qi Heng stood there, his right fist slightly extended forward, the movement pausing for a moment.
Ripples still lingered in the air before the fist, created by the extreme force.
The golden flames did not burn fiercely, but rather flowed slowly along the contours of his body like a living thing, with a few brighter flames occasionally leaping on his fists and shoulder armor.
The light was restrained and pure, yet it caused the surrounding space to tremble slightly.
The ice crystals drifted down, but before they could even get close to him, they were instantly and silently evaporated by the golden flames.
Eis Shenron's smile froze completely, and his golden vertical pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.
Its massive body instinctively leaned back, and the scales on its back trembled incessantly.
That fear, rising from the depths of its being, was pounding wildly on its nerves.
It stared intently at the person who had suddenly appeared and shattered its strongest ice seal with a single punch, its voice hoarse and filled with disbelief:
"Who... who are you?"
Qi Heng seemed not to hear at all, slowly withdrew his fist, turned around, and looked at the two people behind him who had just recovered.
White energy emanated from Gohan's body as he gritted his teeth to dispel the chill from his bones, but his teeth still trembled uncontrollably.
Piccolo grunted, and the thin ice that had formed on his green skin crumbled away. He shook his arms, his purple eyes fixed on Qi Heng's back, his expression complex.
"Are you alright?" Qi Heng asked, his voice as calm as if he were talking about the weather, revealing neither concern nor indifference, but simply confirming the facts.
"N-nothing... it's nothing..." Gohan a deep breath, suppressing his trembling, his face filled with gratitude and confusion. "Thank you, Qi Heng! You saved us again!"
Qi Heng nodded in response.
Then, he turned around and faced the formidable Eis Shenron head-on.
He started walking, taking his time.
The boots made a soft "rustling" sound as they stepped on the ice crystals scattered on the ground, which was particularly clear in the now quiet battlefield.
As Eis Shenron approached step by step, he couldn't help but take a half step back.
The ice scales all over its body were trembling, not from the cold, but from fear.
It sensed an aura emanating from Qi Heng that was unfathomable, like the starry sky or an abyss.
That aura was restrained and contained, more dangerous than any violent force it had ever seen.
Its prized power of ice and snow seemed to have met its natural nemesis in the face of the golden flames.
"Who exactly are you?!" The Eis Shenron's voice rose, trying to use anger to cover up the panic in his heart. Cold white light began to gather on its claws again, but this time it was obviously not as solid as before.
Qi Heng still ignored it.
His steps were steady and unwavering, his golden pupils reflecting the image of the Eis Shenron, yet his expression remained calm and undisturbed, revealing neither fighting spirit nor killing intent, as if he were looking at a small insect.
The two sides got closer and closer until they were less than ten meters apart.
Qi Heng finally stopped.
He raised his right hand in a simple and direct motion, without any preparatory movements or fancy opening gestures.
With palm facing up and fingers slightly spread, an extremely concentrated, dazzling golden energy ball, about the size of a fist, instantly appeared, as if a star was spinning and burning inside.
"Get out of the way," he said calmly, his second sentence since they met.
As soon as he finished speaking, the terrifying energy in his palm did not shoot forward, but instead suddenly contracted, transforming into an extremely thin and solid golden beam of light, which shot out silently!
The speed was so fast that Eis Shenron's nerves couldn't react at all.
It only saw a flash of golden light and didn't even feel any pain.
"Pfft!"
A soft sound.
The golden beam pierced precisely through the chest of the Eis Shenron, puncturing the toughest heart armor like paper, leaving a smooth-edged hole that was still emitting wisps of smoke.
Around the cave, the ice armor didn't shatter; instead, it was directly extinguished and evaporated by the intense heat and terrifying power.
Eis Shenron's every movement, expression, and power froze at that moment.
It looked down in disbelief at the fatal hole in its chest, then slowly looked up at Qi Heng, the light in its vertical pupils quickly dimming.
Its massive body swayed, then crashed to the ground with a thud, sending up clouds of ice and dust.
The breath of life vanished in an instant.
Immediately afterwards, a bead emitting a soft white light emerged from its gradually cooling body, spinning around before landing on the ice beside it.