Helpless Wang Dong

The perilous night had passed.

News of Huo Yuhao's attack had been completely sealed off. After all, it concerned Shrek's reputation, so the lockdown was extremely strict.

All teachers and students who knew about it had been warned again and again. Whoever revealed what had happened last night would bear the consequences themselves. Almost no one knew what had happened.

Inside the dormitory.

"Cultivating an ultimate attribute is too slow."

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Jiang Bai realized that his Soul Power Level had barely improved. It was still stuck at level thirty-three.

Was this the suppression caused by an ultimate attribute during cultivation?

"Still, why haven't you evolved yet?"

Jiang Bai looked at Xue Ying, who was snacking nearby, and couldn't help asking.

Normally, shouldn't Big-Eared Hood have evolved upon reaching level thirty-two?

"Ying ying ying?"

As if sensing Jiang Bai's confusion, Xue Ying frowned and thought for a moment. Then, a piece of information appeared in Jiang Bai's mind.

Level forty, second stage. Level sixty, final stage. Level seventy, awaken boss form.

Jiang Bai hadn't noticed it before, but now that he looked more closely, he realized something was off.

"Say, Xue Ying, can you stay in this stage?"

Jiang Bai asked seriously. He genuinely meant it. By his standards, the first stage was the cutest—just like this, a fluffy little thing that fit perfectly in his arms.

The third stage was fine too. He could raise it like a little daughter.

As for the second stage... after thinking about it, he still preferred the first stage.

"Ying ying ying~"

No problem.

Xue Ying answered. After all, not evolving wouldn't affect Jiang Bai's combat strength.

Besides, even if it evolved, it could always turn cute again.

"Ying ying ying."

Suddenly, Xue Ying seemed to remember something. Its two little white hands cupped together in front of its chest, and a pile of fine powder appeared out of thin air in its palms. The powder was icy blue, glittering faintly under the light like crushed ice crystals.

It held the powder in both hands and offered it to Jiang Bai.

"What is this?"

Jiang Bai reached out and took it. The powder landed in his palm, cool and fine like flour. It looked extremely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

"Just who are you?"

The Ice God residing within Jiang Bai's body sensed something extraordinary within the powder. It carried a very strange power.

"Senior Ice God, do you know what this is?"

Jiang Bai asked. The Ice God was a god, after all. His knowledge should be far broader than Jiang Bai's.

"I don't."

The Ice God replied. He didn't recognize it, but he could sense what it was meant to be used for.

"However, I can sense the embryonic form of a soul skill within it. With proper guidance, it may be stabilized into a soul skill."

"What can store a soul skill? A Soul Ring? A Soul Bone?"

Jiang Bai asked. The usual vessels for soul skills were Soul Rings or Soul Bones.

"Try this."

The Ice God taught Jiang Bai a condensation method, and Jiang Bai followed it to control the ice powder.

The powder slowly began to condense, as if kneaded and shaped by an invisible hand. Jiang Bai's Soul Power seeped into it strand by strand. Its color gradually shifted from icy blue to deep azure, while its loose texture became hard.

A moment later, an azure crystal, round on top and square on the bottom, appeared in his palm.

The crystal was as transparent as ice, without the slightest flaw. Light flowed faintly within it, as though liquid were slowly moving inside.

Under the sunlight, it refracted tiny specks of brilliance.

Ice-type powder, one of the essential materials for fusing Skill Stones.

"Try and see if you can store a soul skill in it."

"Alright."

Jiang Bai considered his three soul skills. His first soul skill was Frost Descent, his second was Frostbite, and his third was Mist Surrounding. Frost Descent was a control-type skill, Frostbite was a slowing skill, and Mist Surrounding was a concealment skill.

Which one should he choose? Jiang Bai hesitated for a few seconds before finally choosing Frost Descent. He used it the most, and its effects were the most stable, making it the safest choice to replicate.

The process of imprinting the soul skill into the Skill Stone went more smoothly than he had expected.

Soul Power wrapped around Frost Descent's imprint and slowly entered the crystal. The crystal seemed to come alive, greedily absorbing that power.

A few breaths later, a snowflake imprint appeared within the Skill Stone, clear and exquisite.

At the same time, a complete stream of information returned to Jiang Bai.

Frost Descent had been successfully imprinted. This Skill Stone could release Frost Descent directly like a Soul Tool. It could also be used in the future when an ice-attribute soul master absorbed a Soul Ring, fixing the soul skill in place. The absorber would directly obtain the soul skill imprinted within it.

So he could mass-produce Frost Descent now?

"Senior Ice God, can any ice-attribute soul skill be used?"

Jiang Bai asked. There was one soul skill he really wanted to copy, though he didn't know whether it would work.

"Yes. Even Huo Yuhao's Eternal Frozen Domain can be replicated."

The Ice God answered, but there was one more thing. "However, this amount of powder isn't enough if you want to replicate Eternal Frozen Domain."

Eternal Frozen Domain wasn't merely a soul skill. Replicating it wouldn't be easy, and even the material's capacity to withstand it was an issue.

"That's fine. As long as it's possible."

Jiang Bai didn't mind. He could absorb Eternal Frozen Domain later, then throw it out like a grenade. Anyone who saw that would be stunned.

But if there was ice-type powder, would there be other types in the future? Like cute-type powder? What could cute-type powder do? Charm people?

Fire-type?

Jiang Bai suddenly thought of Electrolux's "fortune after misfortune." If he could transform this powder into a fire attribute, could he obtain fire-type powder?

Or could he use Electrolux's ultimate light attribute to turn it into light-type powder?

He could see whether it was possible in the future, though that depended on whether he got the chance.

Speaking of which... the National Tournament was about to begin.

This was a key plot point, and Jiang Bai remembered it quite clearly.

Should he go join in?

The main reward for winning was a Soul Bone, followed by the qualification to cultivate beneath the Golden Tree.

The Golden Tree cultivation qualification...

That would work. Jiang Bai wanted to see Ah Yin's current influence on the Golden Tree. That way, he could gain a more complete understanding of the future situation. But he didn't want to run into the strongest Death God "Douluo."

If that was the case, could he only use Plan Two?

Plan Two was to join the team midway. It wouldn't be a problem to join after the squad was defeated by Death's Emissary, but he needed to think of a reasonable method.

After all, a certain man holding a trident was watching from the heavens. If the other party believed Jiang Bai possessed some special ability, such as power over time or fate, that would be troublesome.

He had to avoid that. If so, he needed to arrange things carefully.

The next day...

Boom—

The morning air still carried the chill left behind by the previous night. In Class One's classroom, some people were slumped over their desks catching up on sleep, some were flipping through textbooks, and others were chatting quietly.

Jiang Bai sat in his seat. Beside him, Xiao Xiao was looking down at a textbook, reading with great focus.

The classroom door was violently pushed open, slamming into the wall with a dull bang.

Everyone's attention was drawn toward it.

Ma Xiaotao stood in the doorway.

Her face was flushed, as if she were drunk or burning with fever. The exposed skin of her body was covered in an unnatural red tint, and a faint red glow seeped from her body, even slightly warping the surrounding air with heat.

She stood there, sweeping her gaze across the classroom before finally fixing it in one direction.

"Yuhao." Her voice carried a trace of daze, urgency, and even hoarseness. "I want you."

The classroom fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't ordinary silence. Everyone held their breath at once, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

A few seconds later, the students lowered their heads in unison, pretending they hadn't heard anything. Some slowed their page-turning, while others fixed their eyes firmly on their desks, though their ears practically stood upright.

But Ma Xiaotao couldn't care about any of that.

Right now, only Huo Yuhao was suited to suppress her evil fire. After yesterday's battle, it had begun to spiral out of control.

"Alright."

Huo Yuhao nodded, glanced at Wang Dong beside him, gave a few instructions, then left with Ma Xiaotao.

Wang Dong watched the two leave with a livid expression. Ma Xiaotao was like this right now—wasn't that far too dangerous?!

Jiang Bai watched the show from the side. Putting everything else aside, Ma Xiaotao did have a great figure. Her personality was just terrible.

Xiao Xiao raised her head beside him, looked toward the doorway, then lowered her gaze to the floor as if measuring the distance between the floorboards and the soles of her shoes.

After two seconds of silence, she suddenly turned and glared at Jiang Bai.

"Hmph."

Jiang Bai: "???"

A streak of fire skimmed over the water, trailing a long ribbon of steaming white mist behind it. The flame was tinged with dark red, like a meteor cutting across the lake and leaving a trail of white vapor in its wake.

"Yuhao..." Ma Xiaotao murmured, tightening her arms around him. Her chin rested on Huo Yuhao's shoulder, and the hot breath she exhaled brushed against his neck like a ball of fire.

"Senior, loosen your grip a little."

Huo Yuhao felt the two soft, scorching pressures against him, and his heart tightened. He quickly released his Martial Soul.

But the moment Huo Yuhao released his Martial Soul, Ma Xiaotao's evil fire entered his body, and the two powers intertwined.

Huo Yuhao felt as though he had caught a fever. One moment, he was hot inside and cold outside; the next, cold inside and hot outside. His mind gradually grew hazy as well.

"A mere little flame dares act so arrogantly before me?"

Within the Sea of Spirit, the Ice Empress lightly activated the Soul Bone's energy. Ultimate Ice erupted within Huo Yuhao's body, directly crushing Ma Xiaotao's evil fire.

"Yuhao, circulate your cultivation technique."

Tian Meng stimulated Huo Yuhao's consciousness, bringing him back to clarity.

Relying on instinct, Huo Yuhao used Ice Heaven, which he had obtained in the Ice God Hall. The evil fire that entered his body was instantly refined, turning into pure energy that merged into his flesh.

"Have that woman help Yuhao refine the Whale Rubber later. With Ice Heaven and the Ultimate Ice inside Yuhao's body, he can directly absorb the medicinal power of that ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber perfectly. Even its side effects won't appear."

Tian Meng said, "After that, Yuhao's Soul Ring age should be able to increase by another fifteen hundred years."

Meanwhile, Wang Dong, a level thirty-one Soul Elder still far from becoming a Soul Emperor, was picking green leaves out of his hair as he waited for Huo Yuhao to return.

When exactly was he coming back?