Ten Years Old

Su Nianxue stayed for dinner.

At the table, Ning Rongrong sat to Li Hanche's left, while Su Nianxue sat to his right.

Qingluo and Baiwei carried dishes in and out. Every time they reached the dining room entrance, they could feel an invisible killing intent rushing straight at them.

The two maids exchanged a knowing glance, set down the dishes, and left without lingering for even a second.

Throughout the meal, Ning Rongrong kept stabbing at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks, every jab especially forceful.

Su Nianxue, on the other hand, ate with perfect composure, occasionally turning to say a few words to Li Hanche.

She asked whether the Far North was cold, whether absorbing soul rings hurt, her voice gentle and soft, as though she had noticed nothing at all.

Li Hanche kept his head down and shoveled rice into his mouth with the same concentration he had shown when absorbing soul rings in the Far North.

After finally seeing Su Nianxue off, Li Hanche shut the villa door and turned to find Ning Rongrong standing at the end of the entryway with her arms crossed, the expression on her little face like that of an interrogator questioning a criminal.

"You've only been at that lousy academy for a few days, and you've already made a friend like that?"

Li Hanche walked past her, rolling his neck as he went.

"Kid, you're only eight and already meddling in your big brother's private affairs? What'll become of you later?"

He walked to the coffee table, picked up a glass of water, and took a gulp. As he set it down, he added, "She means well, too."

Ning Rongrong followed behind him, her lips pushed out in a deep pout.

"Hmph, I don't care. You're mine."

The words nearly made Li Hanche lose his grip on the glass.

He turned to look at Ning Rongrong's utterly self-righteous face and fell silent for a moment.

"...The hell do you mean, yours? Forget it. I'd better go practice my spear. Only strength is the true kingly path. As for women... I'll leave it to fate."

In other words, he wouldn't refuse anyone who came his way.

He adjusted the gravity bracelet directly from onefold gravity to fivefold.

Taking a deep breath, he raised the Dark Nether Ice Soul Spear.

Frost Mark struck out, the spear tip drawing an icy-blue arc through the courtyard, at least thirty percent faster than before.

The ice blade swept sideways. Force from his waist and abdomen drove the spear shaft into rotation, while centrifugal force was magnified several times over beneath fivefold gravity.

His legs sank slightly, his feet rooted to the ground, and he forcibly kept the spear shaft firmly under control.

Cold Abyss cleaved downward. His entire body pressed down with the spear's momentum, his knees bending until he was nearly in a horse stance. The spear tip came to an abrupt stop half an inch above the bluestone slabs, gathered but not released.

Dragon Chant trembled. Spear flowers bloomed and withered in the night, each one an extremely slight thrust and withdrawal.

Formation Breaker turned man and spear into a single straight line, spear tip in front, body behind.

As the spear shot forth, a sharp tearing sound rang through the courtyard, like ice being violently crushed beneath a footstep.

After finishing the spear routine, Li Hanche stood with his spear lowered, breathing heavily.

He wiped the sweat from his face and drove the spear shaft into the ground.

Refreshing.

Women, jealousy, petty squabbles—none of it was as real as a spear in his hands.

He set down the spear and began practicing his leg techniques.

Shadow-Skimming Legs worked in tandem with Treading Snow Without Trace, as he darted, pivoted, and shifted beneath fivefold gravity.

When his right leg swept low along the ground, he had to press his center of gravity extremely low to maintain balance. When he side-kicked and turned, the strength in his waist and abdomen had to exceed normal by several times for him to complete the movements smoothly.

After finishing, he stood in the middle of the courtyard and adjusted his breathing, then looked up toward the balcony.

Ning Rongrong was leaning over the railing, her little feet swinging back and forth.

"Kid, come down and spar with me!"

Ning Rongrong gave him one word.

"Scram."

With that, she went back into her room.

Li Hanche stood in the courtyard, looked at the closed balcony door, and waved a hand.

"How boring."

He adjusted the gravity bracelet back to onefold gravity, stomped lightly, and his body floated effortlessly onto the rooftop.

Sitting cross-legged at the highest point, he closed his eyes as the Mind-Clarity and Nature-Seeing Art unfolded within his sea of consciousness.

His spiritual power surged in all directions like a tidal wave.

Two years later.

The streets of Heaven Dou City were still the same streets, while the bluestone slabs in the villa courtyard had been crushed countless times beneath the gravity bracelet.

Qingluo could not even be bothered to find craftsmen anymore. She simply had a layer of froststone shipped from the Far North laid across the courtyard.

Wear-resistant, pressure-resistant, capable of enduring the daily ravaging of a ten-year-old monster.

Li Hanche sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes half-closed.

Line after line of information was clearly listed upon the translucent glow of the system panel.

Frost Heaven Record had long since broken through the second stage, "Flying Snow," and entered the third stage, "Bitter Winter."

Unlike the outward release and spread of the second stage, the core of the third stage was to elevate the power of ice and cold from mere low temperatures into a kind of "domain."

Not a true domain, but he had already touched its threshold.

Centered around him, the chill surrounding his body was no longer an evenly diffused mist, but invisible blades he could control with precision.

Wherever he wanted to freeze, froze.

Whichever patch of air he wanted cold enough to stab into the lungs, became an unseen blade.

After two years of arduous cultivation, this technique had finally moved from quantitative accumulation into a qualitative transformation.

Nine-Turn Tyrant Body Art's second turn, "Iron Bones," had already reached completion several months ago.

His skeletal strength now far surpassed that of Soul Ancestor Soul Masters. Ordinary attacks below rank forty could not even break his skin.

The threshold of the third turn, "Silver Blood," lay right before him, but that was a matter for later.

Mind-Clarity and Nature-Seeing Art's second layer, "Nature-Seeing," had also reached completion.

The range covered by his spiritual power and the dynamic tracking ability of his Frost Eyes had both greatly improved.

Soul power, rank twenty-nine.

In two years, he had gone from rank twenty-six to rank twenty-nine, gaining only three ranks.

For any Soul Master, that was a pace fast enough to drive others to despair.

Li Hanche knew perfectly well just how much weight those three ranks carried.

Over the past two years, the gravity wristbands had been adjusted from five times gravity to six, then from six to seven.

The soul power cultivated in an environment of sevenfold gravity was countless times more condensed than that of Soul Masters at the same rank.

His current rank twenty-nine self would probably need no more than two moves to defeat the version of himself who had just reached rank twenty-six two years ago.

Just as he was about to close the system panel, golden light exploded in his mind.

The system notification that had remained silent for two years arrived once more, right on time.

"Ding! Detected that the host has reached the age of ten. The Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament will be held this year. As a genius whose second soul ring is ten thousand years old, how could you miss an event like this? An option task has now been triggered. Please make your choice."

Three options appeared in his mind.

Li Hanche gave them a glance.

[Option One: Join the Heaven Dou Royal Advanced Academy Team]

Come out of seclusion, young man!

Join Heaven Dou Royal Advanced Academy and participate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament as an official team member.

Reward: Iceheart Mind-Guarding Art.

This mental cultivation method allows you to remain absolutely calm in battle, unaffected by external influences and unswayed by emotion.

When used together with Mind-Clarity and Nature-Seeing Art, spiritual power defense doubles.

Note: Join the academy team and play house with that bunch of scrubs.

Team after team, match after match, dragging things out bit by bit, advancing steadily and surely.

Safe, reliable, but boring.

[Option Two: Form Your Own Team, One Against Seven]

"Go find your big brother and convince him. Form your own team—the Heaven Dou Third Team. One person, one team; one person, crushing the entire tournament."

"Reward: Dark Nether Armor. Amplifies soul power in all attributes and reduces damage from physical attacks."

"Comes with a hairpin-form storage function, able to transform at will. Note: One against seven—just thinking about it makes the scalp tingle."

"This is what a transmigrator ought to do. Though your big brother might scold you first, then help you fill out the registration form for the Heaven Dou Third Team."

[Option Three: Lie Low and Keep Cultivating]

"Give up this Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament and continue cultivating in the villa."

"Reward: Permanent title 'Heaven Dou's Number One Hider.' Title effect: When equipped, cultivation efficiency increases by ten percent."

"Note: Lie low—lie low until heaven and earth grow old, lie low until all your teammates die, lie low until your enemy Tang San becomes a god. This is a good title. Mm."