Terrifying Sword Aura Control

His lower body was frozen to the ground, ice rapidly spreading up from his calves and, in the blink of an eye, sealing most of him inside a thick shell of ice.

A collective gasp rose from below the platform.

"Perfect chance!"

Shui Bing'er hesitated no longer and flew toward Wu Changkong.

The wings of the Ice Phoenix unfurled behind her, granting her the ability to fly at high speed.

She intended to close in and end the battle during the few short seconds Wu Changkong was sealed in ice.

She rushed before Wu Changkong and raised her hand.

Then she saw Wu Changkong's face—and his triumphant smile.

Shui Bing'er shuddered violently.

Instinctively, she tried to withdraw and retreat, but it was already too late.

The next second, a terrifying sword aura suddenly erupted from the body of the Skyfrost Sword.

The icy shell imprisoning his body was as fragile as candy wrapping before that sword aura. It was sliced apart from within and shattered.

Without hesitation, Shui Bing'er unleashed her second Soul Skill.

In an instant, a suit of ice armor formed over the surface of her body.

Empowered by Ice and Snow, the thickness and hardness of this Ice Ring Armor were strengthened to a level far beyond normal.

But Wu Changkong brought his sword down.

The blade of the Skyfrost Sword landed on Shui Bing'er's Ice Ring Armor.

"Ah!"

A startled cry escaped Shui Bing'er's lips.

The Ice Ring Armor shattered inch by inch the instant the blade touched it.

The aftershock of the sword aura passed through the armor and pushed her several steps backward.

Shui Bing'er lowered her head and glanced at her chest.

The shattered section of armor was directly over her heart, yet the clothes beneath remained completely unharmed.

Her breathing was slightly hurried. The deathly sword intent rushing at her had frightened her into breaking out in a cold sweat.

For that instant, she had truly thought that sword would pierce straight through her.

"Big sister! Are you okay?"

Shui Bing'er raised a hand and waved it at her sister. "I'm fine."

Below the platform, Shui Qinghan stood with her hands folded before her, her experienced eyes fixed on Shui Bing'er's chest.

"Changkong's sword aura is being used with such exquisite precision."

"Yes." Ling Shuang adjusted her glasses. "To control sword aura to this extent at his age—I've taught at Skywater Academy for twenty years, and I've never seen anything like it."

They could all tell that Shui Bing'er had not been slashed bloody like Yu Tianxin, not because she was stronger than Yu Tianxin.

It was because Wu Changkong's control over his sword aura was terrifyingly precise.

He had reined in the remaining force of his sword aura by the slightest margin, stopping that strike exactly at the threshold of breaking armor without harming its wearer.

Such flawless control, the ability to release and restrain at will, was even harder to cultivate than mere powerful sword aura. It also revealed a swordsman's true level more clearly.

Wu Changkong stood with his sword in hand and asked with a faint smile, "Well? Can you keep going?"

Shui Bing'er took a deep breath, her fighting spirit completely ignited.

Ever since childhood, no one her age had ever been able to break through her Ice Ring Armor.

Even her father had said that a Soul Master of the same rank would need at least three full-force attacks in succession to shatter her armor head-on.

Yet the man before her had done it with one strike—and had even held back his power.

Being utterly crushed did not feel good, but that very unwillingness made the pride in her bones blaze fiercely.

"Of course I can. Xue Wu."

Xue Wu nodded. With just one look, the two had completed their exchange.

Xue Wu's first and second Soul Rings lit up at the same time. In the blink of an eye, a vast mass of heavy dark-gray clouds gathered over the Spirit Battle Platform.

"First Soul Skill, Dark Cloud."

Immediately afterward, the glow of her second Soul Ring spread outward from beneath Xue Wu's feet.

She raised her right hand, curled her five fingers toward the sky, then yanked downward.

It was as though the clouds had been torn open. Raindrops the size of beans poured down from the clouds, covering the entire Spirit Battle Platform in moments.

It was not ordinary rain. Like needlepoints, it could drain body heat while constantly eroding Soul Power.

Wu Changkong hurriedly released a Soul Power shield to protect himself.

The effect of this rain truly could not be underestimated.

If another Soul Elder without an ice attribute had been standing here, under the combined suppression of Xue Wu's two Soul Skills, they likely would not have been able to display even half their usual strength.

Just as he lowered his head to look at the rain, Shui Bing'er moved again.

A circle of icy-blue light spread in all directions from her body. Wherever it passed, the pooled water on the ground froze solid.

"Third Soul Skill, Repelling Ice Ring."

This was a large-scale ice-ring shockwave that carried both freezing control and damage.

The range of this move covered nearly more than half the Spirit Battle Platform.

Wu Changkong raised his eyes, and his third purple Soul Ring lit up.

"Watch yourselves."

"Third Soul Skill, Skyfrost Slash."

He gripped the hilt with both hands. The Skyfrost Sword swept upward, sending a streak of sword aura forward to meet Shui Bing'er's Repelling Ice Ring shockwave head-on.

This sword aura was completely different from the Frostmark of his first Soul Skill.

Frostmark was thin and swift, its strength lying in its sharpness.

Skyfrost Slash, meanwhile, was vast and heavy. Everywhere its sword aura passed, the pooled water on the ground was sliced cleanly apart.

Boom!

The two attacks collided violently in midair, erupting with a deafening explosion.

The ice-ring shockwave was cleaved down the middle by Skyfrost Slash, turning into two uncontrolled waves of cold that swept past either side of Wu Changkong's body.

After breaking through the ice ring, Skyfrost Slash's sword aura had been weakened by more than half by the shockwave, but the remaining aura still slashed toward Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu.

Shui Bing'er's delicate body trembled. Having just unleashed her third Soul Skill, she was in a brief recovery period, and the circulation of Soul Power within her had yet to catch up.

Behind her, Xue Wu had just maintained both Dark Cloud and Rainfall simultaneously, consuming a tremendous amount of Soul Power.

Everyone below the platform saw it: the remaining sword aura was falling toward Xue Wu, and Xue Wu clearly had no time to dodge.

Shui Yue'er screamed from below the platform, "Big sister—"

At that critical moment, Shui Bing'er gritted her teeth, drove hard with both legs, and threw herself toward Xue Wu.

She wrapped her arms around Xue Wu's waist, and the two rolled away to the side together.

The sword aura struck the edge of the Spirit Battle Platform. Its aftershock continued onward, crossing the boundary of the platform and shooting toward the spectators' seats.

Shui Qinghan's brows drew together slightly. She extended her right hand from her sleeve and spread her fingers slightly.

An icy-blue Soul Power shield unfolded before her, easily blocking the remaining sword aura.

She lowered her hand, and the shield dissipated with it.

The entire training ground fell silent.

Everyone was still immersed in the shock of that strike and had yet to recover.

Wu Changkong stood in the middle of the Spirit Battle Platform, his gaze falling on Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu.

His Skyfrost Slash just now had likewise been precisely calculated.

He knew how powerful Skyfrost Slash was, and he knew how much Repelling Ice Ring would weaken it.

After the two canceled each other out, even if the remaining sword aura struck Shui Bing'er, it would only break her armor without harming her, just like his first Soul Skill.

But he had not expected Xue Wu to be unable to dodge from that position, nor had he expected Shui Bing'er to throw herself over without hesitation to save her.

Shui Qinghan slowly walked forward from the spectators' seats and gave Wu Changkong a slight nod, the appreciation in her eyes undisguised.

"Let's end the sparring match."

"Yes, Dean." Wu Changkong responded and sheathed his sword.

"Wait... Dean, I feel my Soul Power has merged with Xue Wu's."