Mind and Ice

Under the dim light of the dormitory Soul Tool, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on his bed. A faint shimmering glow surrounded him, making him look like a sprite amidst the snow.

As he cautiously touched Snow Empress's vast spiritual origin with his spiritual power, a phantom of the Ice Sky Snow Lady appeared behind him almost the instant the two connected, quietly extending her arms around him.

Huo Yuhao's body trembled. Feeling how obediently Snow Empress's spiritual origin responded to him, his emotions toward her grew even more complicated.

The process of merging his spiritual power into it met almost no resistance, as though this origin had been his own since birth. At last, Huo Yuhao understood what Snow Empress had meant by "the new ruler of the Far North."

This was what Snow Empress had left for Huo Yuhao to save his life! By connecting with her origin, he could briefly recreate upon himself the glory of the foremost of the three kings of the Northernmost Land.

Huo Yuhao sighed inwardly. "You still understand me so well."

Snow Empress knew that, after gaining memories of the future, he could never peacefully follow the road the Sea God had paved for him according to those memories. The road he intended to walk was dangerous, so she had left behind this power for him to use when needed.

The phantom Snow Empress's hair fell across his shoulder, carrying the crisp chill of glaciers in the Far North that had never melted for a thousand years, yet strangely soothing the surging hostility within him. Huo Yuhao could sense what was hidden within that immense spiritual origin—not cold power, but fragmented images: an Ice Crystal Phoenix sweeping across an endless snowfield, the devotion of the Far North's creatures as they knelt in worship, and, before her final sacrifice, those blue eyes of his.

"So... you had attachments too," he murmured, sending his spiritual power deeper along the curve of her phantom arm.

As though stirred by those words, Snow Empress's origin suddenly rippled. Countless tiny ice fragments drifted from the phantom's fingertips and landed upon the meridians through which his soul power flowed, instantly turning into a warm current. Huo Yuhao shuddered, and his Spirit Eye flew open. Snow Empress's phantom reflected in his blue pupils, the corners of her lips faintly lifting—it was not his imagination, but a genuine emotional response.

"Soul Freezing... is more than harm." A cool, clear voice sounded directly in his mind. It lacked Tian Meng's noisiness and carried the calmness of one who had endured ten thousand years. "It is stripping away. It is purification."

Huo Yuhao's breathing caught. He understood. Snow Empress was teaching him—the essence of Soul Freezing was to strip a target's malice and obsessions from their soul. Against Dai Huabin, perhaps he did not need to turn him into an idiot. He only needed to strip away that arrogance and viciousness born of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. Then that peerless genius would return to his most primal, vulnerable state.

The thought eased the hostility in his heart somewhat, yet added an even colder resolve.

The phantom slowly raised a hand and pressed a fingertip against his brow. Huo Yuhao did not resist, allowing that pure spiritual power of ice and snow to surge into his Spirit Eye. In that instant, he seemed to stand amid the midnight of the Far North Icefield. The stars filling the sky turned into icicles, and every beam of starlight that fell carved an icy pattern deep into his soul.

Within his soul ring list, the gentle halo condensed by Tian Meng suddenly brightened, intertwining with the icy-blue radiance of Snow Empress's origin. Huo Yuhao could clearly feel the outline of a self-created soul skill gradually taking shape within that interweaving—not simply ice or spiritual power, but chains twisted from both. One end held the absolute zero that froze all things, while the other connected to Mental Piercing that struck directly at the soul.

"Almost..." He closed his eyes and allowed Snow Empress's phantom to gradually merge into the glow of his soul power. The dormitory's Soul Tool lamp refracted flowing icy colors around him, as though plating this young body in armor.

When the first ray of morning light slipped through the window crack, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes. What condensed at his fingertips was no longer pure ice crystal, but ice spikes wrapped in pale golden spiritual fluctuations. Their tips gleamed with a cold light that could make even souls tremble.

He lightly pointed into the air. An almost imperceptible line of ice flashed past, and the leaves of a potted plant in the corner, forgotten there by someone, were instantly covered in frost. Even the life force flowing through its stem stopped for half an instant—not physically frozen, but its faint life consciousness briefly sealed in ice.

"It will be enough for the assessment." As Huo Yuhao rose, the bedframe creaked softly. He walked to the window and looked toward the uproar coming from the distant training grounds, the coldness in his eyes slightly obscured by the morning mist.

With Snow Empress's origin guiding him, his plan for dealing with Dai Huabin finally took on a clear shape. He did not need to act under the academy's watchful eyes. He only needed to take advantage of the chaos caused by colliding soul skills during the assessment and quietly let that chain of ice and spirit coil around Dai Huabin's soul.

As for the consequences... Huo Yuhao touched his brow, where the faint chill of Snow Empress's fingertip still lingered.

"Then let him first taste what it feels like to have nothing."

Morning dew slid down the window frame and gathered into a small pool on the wooden sill. Huo Yuhao tapped the surface with a fingertip, and the water instantly froze into an ice mirror. Reflected within it was the pale gold still lingering in his eyes—the trace of his Spirit Eye merging with Snow Empress's spiritual origin, like a thin veil concealing the hostility churning deep below.

"Yuhao? You're awake so early?"

Wang Dong's voice came from outside the door. Wang Dong had returned from buying breakfast, her sleepy voice hoarse as the door opened with a soft creak. Huo Yuhao swiftly withdrew his aura. The ice mirror turned into fine snow and fell in soft flurries, while he calmly pressed the lingering chill at his fingertips back into his palm.

Wang Dong walked in with her messy pink-blue hair, red marks still at the corners of her eyes. She carried two steaming meat buns, and upon seeing him standing by the window, she could not help giving him another look. "You didn't sleep last night? What were you doing standing by the window?"

She crossed to him in a few steps and stuffed one meat bun into his hand. Her fingertips brushed his wrist by accident, and she suddenly froze. "Why are you so cold? It's like you've got a block of ice tucked against you."

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and looked at the meat bun in his palm. Its warmth seeped through the greaseproof paper, unexpectedly reminding him of the warmth he had felt while Snow Empress's phantom embraced him. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to make his tone sound natural. "I practiced some ice-element soul skills for a while. I didn't control them well."

"The waves of cold coming off you last night kept me awake all night. I didn't expect you to stay up all night too." Wang Dong frowned. "It's almost time for class. I need to see what group that old hag Zhou Yi assigned me to. You should hurry up too."

Huo Yuhao extended a hand toward the window, and an ice flower bloomed in his palm. "It's fine. Teacher Mu Jin is quite tolerant of her students. Besides, the grouping will be nothing more than putting me with Wu Feng and Ning Tian. That was agreed upon long ago. Ning Tian already discussed it with Teacher Mu Jin."

A pang of sourness rose in Wang Dong's heart, but she still muttered, "Fine, then I'll be going. Good luck with your freshman assessment. Just don't let us beat you flat!"

Huo Yuhao was still thinking about how to make a move against Dai Huabin without anyone noticing, so he failed to notice Wang Dong's oddness. He merely waved and watched her leave.