Myriad Calamity Cold Prison: Nine-Tailed Ice Underworld Scorpion

Late at night, Shrek Academy, the single dormitory area for Class One of the first years.

This dormitory area lay in the academy's northwest corner, quiet and secluded. Neatly trimmed hedges stood between each small building, offering excellent privacy.

Those who could live here were either noble children from distinguished families or core students with exceptional talent whom the academy was grooming.

Huo Yuhao lived here because of the latter—or rather, because of his uncle's standing.

News that Huo Chen had joined Shrek Academy as an Ultimate Douluo, receiving the same treatment as the elders of the Sea God Pavilion, had spread throughout the academy on the very first day of school.

Although he himself kept a low profile, the academy did not dare neglect him. Huo Yuhao had been assigned the best detached building in this area: a two-story house with three bedrooms and a living room, an independent cultivation room, and a small courtyard. It was even more spacious than the dormitories of ordinary faculty members.

At this moment, the light in the second-floor cultivation room was still on.

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged atop the Soul Gathering Array in the center of the cultivation room, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. He had just completed a cycle of soul power circulation. The soul power within him flowed smoothly and freely, and he vaguely felt that he was already brushing against the bottleneck of Rank 30.

He was about to get up and wash when something suddenly stirred in his heart.

In his spiritual sea, Heavenly Dream Iceworm's lazy voice rang out. [Kid, your uncle's here. He's downstairs.]

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment, then hurriedly rose and went downstairs.

When he opened the front door on the first floor, he indeed saw Huo Chen standing by the courtyard gate, his shadow stretched long by the moonlight.

"Uncle? Why are you here so late?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I came to see you." Huo Chen walked into the courtyard and swept his gaze over him. "Rank 29 already? Not bad progress."

"I'm still a little short of Rank 30." Huo Yuhao scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. "Heavenly Dream said my foundation is solid, so there's no need to rush my breakthrough."

"It's right." Huo Chen sat on a stone bench in the courtyard and gestured for Huo Yuhao to sit as well. "Yuhao, let me ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Do you want to awaken your second martial soul now?"

Huo Yuhao was stunned.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. Ever since Heavenly Dream Iceworm had given him his first soul ring, his cultivation had progressed rapidly, and he had now reached Rank 29.

Yet he had always known that the blank ice-attributed martial soul embryo of his second martial soul was still dormant.

Heavenly Dream had said that embryo was reserved to be filled by a "suitable soul," but no one knew when they would encounter that "suitable soul."

"Can I do that now?" Huo Yuhao asked uncertainly. "But Heavenly Dream said that embryo needs a suitable soul to fill it..."

"I've already prepared a suitable soul." Huo Chen took two small items from his robes and placed them on the stone table before them.

One was a jade bottle, pure white throughout, its mouth sealed with pale golden wax.

Even through the bottle wall, one could sense the piercing chill leaking from within. A thin layer of white frost coated the surface of the bottle, glimmering with a faint blue light beneath the moonlight.

The other was a walnut-sized crystal, jet-black throughout, with dark golden patterns flowing across its surface.

The patterns resembled some ancient runes. Every line contained profound power of laws, and staring at them for too long made one feel as though even one's soul was trembling slightly.

Huo Yuhao's gaze fell upon the black crystal, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Uncle, this is..." Huo Yuhao's voice trembled slightly.

"A drop of Bing'er's origin blood essence." Huo Chen pointed to the jade bottle, then to the black crystal. "And one of the rewards I obtained from the Reincarnation God Examination: the Reincarnation Cold Core."

His expression turned serious. "Yuhao, Heavenly Dream has already laid the foundation for your second martial soul: a blank ice-attributed embryo, pure and highly malleable, but lacking a soul. Now, I will use these two items to inject a soul into that embryo and let it truly take shape."

Huo Yuhao's breathing quickened. "Then... then what do I need to do?"

"Sit properly, relax, and don't resist," Huo Chen said. "Leave everything that follows to me."

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, sat cross-legged on the stone paving in the courtyard, and closed his eyes.

Huo Chen extended his right hand and lightly swiped a fingertip across the seal of the jade bottle. The wax seal split open at once, and an incomparably frigid chill instantly surged from the bottle. The temperature in the small courtyard plummeted, and a thin layer of white frost formed over the stone table.

A drop of icy blue blood slowly floated out of the bottle and hovered in midair.

That drop of blood was only the size of a fingernail, yet it contained energy fluctuations that made one's heart tremble. Faint blue radiance flowed over its surface, while countless tiny ice crystals seemed to form and perish endlessly within it. It emanated an ancient and pure aura—the origin power of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, the bloodline essence of one of the two great emperors of the Extreme North.

"Sister Bing'er..." Huo Yuhao could not help opening his eyes. Looking at the hovering drop of blood essence, his voice trembled slightly. "She was willing to give this to me?"

"She gave it willingly," Huo Chen said. "It won't harm her cultivation or damage her origin. After this drop of blood essence leaves her body, it will fully regenerate within her in three days. She gave it to you only because she hopes you can go farther."

Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment, then nodded firmly.

Huo Chen said no more. With a wave of his right hand, the icy blue drop of blood essence slowly drifted toward Huo Yuhao's chest and entered his body.

The next instant, Huo Yuhao's body jolted violently.

An extreme chill erupted from his chest and instantly swept through his limbs and bones.

He felt as though even his blood was about to freeze. When the soul power flowing through his meridians came into contact with that chill, crisp cracking sounds rang out—it was the sound of his soul power freezing.

But immediately afterward, the blank ice martial soul embryo in his spiritual sea seemed to sense something and suddenly lit up.

Like an infant that had been starving for far too long, it greedily absorbed the energy contained within that drop of blood essence.

Its originally transparent outline began to grow distinct. Icy blue veins spread through it, gradually sketching the form of a scorpion—eight legs, a pair of pincers, and a long scorpion tail, with a faint blue glint of cold light gathering at its tip.

But it had not yet completely taken shape.

It still lacked a core.

"Now." Huo Chen picked up the Reincarnation Cold Core and lightly pressed his fingertips, injecting a stream of soul power into it.

The dark-gold patterns on the Reincarnation Cold Core's surface lit up instantly, emanating an ancient, profound aura. It was the aura of the laws of reincarnation—the convergence of four supreme laws: the River of Forgetfulness and Yellow Springs, reincarnation and rebirth, karmic freezing, and the annihilation of soul and spirit.

Huo Chen slowly pressed the Cold Core against Huo Yuhao's chest.

The instant the Cold Core touched Huo Yuhao's skin, an immense power erupted.

Huo Yuhao's consciousness seemed to be swept into a vortex. He felt as though he had fallen into an icy river—the River of Forgetfulness. Countless fragments of souls' memories flowed through its waters: joy and sorrow, life and death.

He saw countless lives endlessly cycling through reincarnation. He saw threads of karma intertwining through time and space. He saw the birth and destruction of all things governed by some supreme law.

Then, everything fell silent.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing upon a boundless ice field.

The sky was a deep ink-blue, with no stars and no moon—only eternal darkness.

Endless ice stretched beneath his feet. Countless souls of different forms were frozen within the ice: humans, soul beasts, and creatures he had never seen before.

They were all frozen in the ice, retaining the final poses of their lives like sculptures solidified by time.

In the distance, an enormous iceberg stood between heaven and earth.

The iceberg was pitch-black throughout, its surface covered in a layer of dark-blue ice crystals that radiated a chilling cold capable of striking fear into one's heart.

At the iceberg's peak, nine enormous ice tails unfurled. Each was hundreds of zhang long, its tip condensed with light of a different color: ice-blue, dark purple, dark gold, ink-black, silver-white, blood-red, emerald-green, deep gray, and transparent.

Nine tails. Nine colors. Nine laws.

"This is—"

[Your second martial soul has taken shape.]

Heavenly Dream Iceworm's voice echoed in his mind with unprecedented solemnity. [Your uncle used the Ice Empress's essence blood to lay the foundation for you, then used the Reincarnation Cold Core to implant the core. This martial soul has now surpassed the scope of ordinary ferocious beast martial souls. It is a god-grade mutated martial soul.]

Huo Yuhao slowly raised his right hand.

In his palm, the phantom of an entirely ice-blue scorpion emerged. It was more slender than an ordinary Ice Jade Scorpion, and its carapace was covered in dark-gold patterns—the imprint of the laws of reincarnation.

Unlike an ordinary scorpion, its tail did not possess only a single stinger. Instead, it had split into nine slender ice tails, each radiating distinct fluctuations of law.

Myriad Calamity Cold Prison · Nine-Tailed Ice Nether Scorpion.

"Yuhao." Huo Chen's voice pulled him back from his shock. "Feel your martial soul and tell me what you sense."

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and sank his spiritual power into his second martial soul.

In an instant, countless pieces of information flooded into his mind.

Rebirth Profound Nether Frost: supreme cold power beyond Ultimate Ice. It froze not only flesh and blood and soul power, but also the flow of meridians, spatial fluctuations, souls within the sea of consciousness, and the paths of karma.

Nine-Tailed Reincarnation Path: the nine tails corresponded to nine independent laws of reincarnation frost—meridian sealing, skill locking, flow stagnation, time freezing, soul devouring, life burial, soul binding, severing fate, and annihilation.

Myriad Calamity Cold Prison: an innate domain. Ice-crystal flowers of the other shore grew within the domain, while cold mist devoured the soul. The enemy's speed and soul power circulation would continuously plummet, and it came with illusory realm erosion.

Yellow Springs Reincarnation Regeneration: all soul power, remnant souls, and energy from enemies frozen and annihilated would feed back into the user, rapidly healing injuries and providing inexhaustible soul power endurance.

Yellow Springs Passage: it could imprison the remnant souls of defeated enemies and seal them within the nine tails. It could briefly summon ice-sealed dead souls of the Yellow Springs to aid in battle, and was exceptionally effective against abilities related to evil souls, undead, and resentful spirits.

There was one final piece of information.

Adaptive God-Bestowed Soul Ring.

As long as his cultivation level reached the requirement, this martial soul would automatically gain the corresponding god-bestowed soul ring. There was no need to hunt soul beasts.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, shock filling them.

"Uncle, this martial soul is so powerful—"

"From today onward, it is yours." Huo Chen smiled. "Its name is Myriad Calamity Cold Prison · Nine-Tailed Ice Nether Scorpion."

Huo Yuhao lowered his head to look at the ice scorpion phantom in his palm. Its nine ice tails swayed softly beneath the moonlight, radiating a cold, ghostly glow.

He suddenly felt that, from this moment onward, his life had truly changed.

"Uncle." He raised his head to look at Huo Chen, his eyes full of determination. "I won't let this martial soul down."

"I know." Huo Chen stood and patted his shoulder. "Get some proper rest. You still have class tomorrow."

He turned and left the small courtyard, leaving Huo Yuhao sitting alone beneath the moonlight, staring at the ice scorpion phantom in his palm for a long time without looking away.

The night breeze swept past, gently swaying the plum tree in the corner of the courtyard. Several fallen leaves drifted onto the bluestone floor.

Huo Yuhao withdrew his martial soul, rose to his feet, and looked toward Shrek Academy's dimly lit teaching buildings.

He suddenly wanted to test just how powerful this brand-new martial soul truly was.

But he held himself back.

His uncle was right. His foundation had to be stable; he could not rush.

He turned and went back inside, closing the door.

Moonlight spilled across the small courtyard, and everything returned to silence.