Martial Soul Awakening: When Extremes Reverse, Fortune Arrives

Basement.

This was the place the Ling family specifically used for martial soul awakenings.

The entire room was constructed from sealed stone, with intricate soul tool patterns carved into the walls to stabilize any soul power fluctuations that might arise during the awakening.

At the center of the room stood a hexagram-shaped awakening array.

Ling An and Shui Wuyue had long been waiting there.

When they saw Ling Tianchen and Ling Luochan walking over side by side, a faint smile appeared on Ling An's face.

"Are you ready?"

Ling Tianchen took a deep breath and nodded seriously.

"Yes."

Ling An's expression gradually turned solemn.

With a wave of his right hand, six milky-white awakening stones shot out and landed precisely on the array's six nodes.

"Go stand inside."

Ling Tianchen did as instructed and stepped into the center of the array.

Two yellow, two purple, and four black soul rings rose beneath Ling An's feet. Snowflakes appeared in his hand, and the temperature in the room plummeted.

As he poured in his soul power, the entire array immediately lit up with a soft golden glow.

Streams of warm energy flowed into Ling Tianchen's body like trickling currents. Drawn by that warmth, something within him seemed to shatter.

The phoenix bloodline he had previously sealed with ten layers of restraints completely awakened at that moment, and all the warm energy frantically gathered toward his back.

An unprecedented sense of comfort instantly spread through his entire body.

This feels so good!

Ling Tianchen shut his eyes tightly and could not help tilting his head back slightly.

A clear, piercing phoenix cry rang out without warning, its resounding call echoing throughout the basement.

Then, two wings formed entirely from ice crystals slowly unfurled from his back.

Every feather was crystal-clear, refracting a dreamlike icy-blue sheen under the lights, like the finest work of art in the world.

The wings gave a gentle flap.

Ling Tianchen's body slowly rose from the ground, hovering in midair.

His originally dark brown eyes had now turned completely clear icy blue.

A phantom of an icy-blue phoenix slowly appeared behind him.

The phoenix spread its wings and gazed proudly in every direction, emanating a sacred majesty that stood above all beasts.

Terrifying cold spread outward from Ling Tianchen.

Crack—

The walls, floor, and even the ceiling of the basement rapidly formed a layer of crystalline frost.

"An Ice Phoenix martial soul?"

Shui Wuyue could not help crying out in shock. She stared blankly at the Ice Phoenix phantom, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.

The faint trace of phoenix bloodline within her stirred uncontrollably, and a reverence from the deepest depths of her bloodline arose naturally.

It was the innate submission of an inferior bloodline before a king.

"How... how is this possible? The Water-Congealing Soaring Luan is already a top-tier phoenix martial soul."

At the same time, Ling An tentatively tried to approach Ling Tianchen with his own ice element, only to find it firmly suppressed as though it had encountered the true emperor of ice.

The shock in his eyes swiftly turned into wild delight, and his voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"Ultimate Ice, this is Ultimate Ice!"

Ling Luochan beside him was equally stunned.

As an ice-element martial soul wielder, she could clearly feel the suppression on the level of martial souls.

For a time, the entire basement fell into dead silence, everyone's eyes fixed firmly on Ling Tianchen.

Ling An finally could not restrain himself any longer. His chest heaved violently as he threw back his head and laughed.

"Hahahaha! Heaven has blessed the Ling family!"

Just as Ling Tianchen thought his martial soul was merely an Ultimate Ice Phoenix, a sudden change occurred.

To his surprise, the bloodline belonging to the Phoenix God King within him was still surging forth like a tide, frantically pouring into the Ice Phoenix martial soul.

The first layer among the Phoenix God King bloodline's ten seals was the largest. The Ice Phoenix martial soul alone was no longer enough to bear the bloodline.

Ling Tianchen's body was like a container already filled with water, liable to burst at any moment.

Intense pain struck him, no less bearable than being smashed into pulp hundreds of times by the Dragon God.

"What's happening? Tianchen, what's wrong!"

Shui Wuyue and Ling Luochan also noticed something was wrong with Ling Tianchen, but the moment they tried to approach, the extreme cold forced them back.

The overflowing chill had already brought the basement's temperature below negative one hundred degrees, with no sign of stopping.

"Go! The temperature here is still dropping. We have no chance of surviving here!"

Seeing that the situation was dire, Ling An grabbed the two of them and rushed for the door.

"No! Tianchen looks like he's in so much pain. I want to help him bear it..."

Ling Luochan struggled desperately, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"You can't save him even if you go in! Trust that Tianchen can endure it."

Ling An shouted in a low voice without stopping for even a moment.

He could clearly feel that the cold had far exceeded what he could withstand. If they delayed even one more step, all three of them would be frozen solid.

As the heavy stone door closed, Ling Tianchen was left alone in the basement.

Ling Tianchen could only feel the extreme chill inside him constantly rising, growing purer and purer, as though it would freeze everything in the world.

Ling Tianchen clenched his teeth tightly, veins bulging on his forehead.

"Hold on. I can't fall here yet!"

He did not want this body's inability to withstand the Phoenix God King's bloodline to make his martial soul awakening end in failure, leaving him to awaken some useless martial soul like Gangzi.

Time passed bit by bit. Just as Ling Tianchen felt that his body was nearly at its limit, waves of warmth surged into his chest.

He lowered his head with difficulty and saw that deep within the extreme ice, a tiny, incomparably scorching flame had quietly formed.

Though the flame was only the size of a needle tip, it radiated a tyrannical aura that seemed capable of incinerating all things.

Ling Tianchen's mind shook violently.

"Extreme cold gives rise to yang. When extremes reverse, fortune arrives!"

Once ice and cold reached the absolute extreme, it was theoretically possible for a qualitative change to occur, for Ultimate Ice to suddenly transform into Ultimate Fire, turning the coldest power into the most searing and terrifying energy.

Just like what had happened to the Snow Empress on the Ice Jade Marrow bed, except now it was happening to him.

But matters depended on human effort. This might not be a bad thing, because he discovered that the two miniature godheads of creation and destruction within him had formed a subtle balance between the two powers, even granting him a second martial soul slot.

In that case, there should be no problem as long as he forced this warm current into his second martial soul.

With that thought, he no longer hesitated and immediately began cautiously guiding that newborn thread of Ultimate Fire away from the Ice Phoenix martial soul.

The entire process was exceptionally slow. With the slightest mistake, the two extreme attributes would completely lose balance. Not only would his martial soul awakening fail, but his body might even be torn to pieces by the powers of ice and fire.

Beads of sweat the size of beans continually rolled down his forehead, yet Ling Tianchen did not even dare blink. He focused all his attention on that thread of flame.

As the Ultimate Fire was drawn out bit by bit, behind Ling Tianchen, a phoenix phantom burning with golden-red flames gradually became clearer as more and more Ultimate Fire flowed into it.