First Appearance, Icebound for Ten Thousand Miles

The next afternoon, after the tense groupings, the assessment finally began. Of the three hundred and ten teams, only one hundred and fifty would remain; the rest would be eliminated.

Huo Yuhao, assigned to Area Forty, did not feel much about it. However, through Spiritual Detection, he saw that Wang Dong in neighboring Area Thirty-Three seemed to have been ignited by the tense atmosphere, rubbing her hands together eagerly, ready to make a big showing.

After a brief glance, Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze and looked at Wu Feng, who was chattering away beside him.

"Huo Yuhao, do you really not need me to step in?"

"Huo Yuhao, if you can't hold on, remember to use Spiritual Detection to warn me."

"Huo Yuhao..."

Ning Tian looked awkward. "Yuhao, well... Xiaotian is just afraid something might go wrong."

The icy light at Huo Yuhao's fingertips swayed gently, sweeping past the fluttering battle flags at the edge of the field. A careless smile tinged his voice. "Don't worry. If I really can't hold on, I'll withdraw myself without needing you to step in."

"You!" Wu Feng choked, and the fist she had clenched loosened slightly. Her ears reddened a little. "Who's worried about you? I mean... I'm an assault-type Soul Master, after all. I can't let a control-type Soul Master like you charge ahead."

Ning Tian gave a light cough and tugged at Wu Feng's sleeve. "She's just impatient. Don't take it to heart. We've worked together a few times. Your Spiritual Detection can accurately pinpoint our opponents' weaknesses. Xiaotian and I just need to keep up with your pace."

Huo Yuhao nodded, his gaze sweeping toward Area Thirty-Three. Within Spiritual Detection, Wang Dong was waving as she spoke to Zhou Ming and Xiao Xiao. Judging from her lips, she seemed to be shouting, "Good luck." When he looked away, a faint smile lingered at the corner of his lips.

"They're here," Ning Tian suddenly said.

At the entrance to Area Forty, the referee raised his token high. "First match of Area Forty: Huo Yuhao's team versus the Iron Bull Team! Both sides, enter the field!"

All three members of the Iron Bull Team were strength-type Soul Masters. The muscular man at the lead possessed the Black Fiend Bull martial soul. His entire body was packed with knotted muscles, and when his martial soul possessed him, two yellow soul rings rose around him. Clearly, he was above Rank Twenty.

Wu Feng immediately activated her martial soul. Fire Dragon claws emerged over her hands, only for Huo Yuhao to press down on her arm.

"Have you forgotten our original plan? We're going to defeat them with overwhelming superiority."

"Ning Tian, it's up to you."

Ning Tian's Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda appeared in her hand. She immediately cast two amplification soul skills on Huo Yuhao, while Wu Feng took the opportunity to retreat to Ning Tian's side.

Du Weilun's gaze immediately turned toward them from the stands. "Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda? So this is the team Mu Jin has been saying could win the championship for her class. But what's with that Fire Dragon Soul Master? Why isn't an assault-type Soul Master standing at the front?"

If Du Weilun remembered correctly, Huo Yuhao's team had the standard lineup of one control-type, one support-type, and one assault-type Soul Master. Was the assault-type Soul Master standing in the back to protect the support-type Soul Master, while letting a control-type Soul Master fight three opponents alone?

With that thought, Du Weilun watched Huo Yuhao's group with a hint of anticipation.

Facing the three opponents whose soul rings had lit up, Huo Yuhao silently said, Sorry, and stepped forward.

A terrifying aura emerged from Huo Yuhao's body and spread across the entire arena in an instant. Nearly every ice- and fire-type Soul Master felt as if they had encountered their natural predator. Even the soul power within their bodies became sluggish, while a wave of chill surged from Huo Yuhao and swept across the field.

Ice crystal lotuses bloomed beneath Huo Yuhao's feet. His hair rapidly grew longer, and a trace of red stained his blue Spirit Eyes.

Biting cold spread across the competition stage. The temperature in the plaza plummeted, and a layer of white frost appeared.

Du Weilun's pupils abruptly contracted in the stands, and the hand holding his teacup paused slightly. That chill was not the sharp cold of an ordinary ice-type Soul Master. It carried a suppressive force originating from bloodline itself, as though the frigid winds of the Far North Icefield had suddenly poured into the arena. Even a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse like him could feel a slight sluggishness in his soul power, let alone the low-ranked Soul Masters below.

"This is... Ultimate Ice?" Du Weilun set down his teacup, his gaze fixed firmly on Huo Yuhao. Ice crystal lotuses bloomed layer upon layer beneath the youth's feet, every petal flowing with an almost transparent radiance. Wherever the cold passed, even the barrier at the edge of the arena condensed a thin layer of frost. Even more astonishing were his Spirit Eyes. Within the intertwined red and blue light surged waves of spiritual power, resonating strangely with his ice-type soul power. His opponents' soul power was not only becoming sluggish; even their minds were beginning to waver.

The three opponents across from him had turned deathly pale. The yellow-clad Soul Master at the lead possessed the Blazing Sun Grass martial soul, but its leaves had curled up as though frozen stiff. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "Y-you... what martial soul do you even have?!"

Huo Yuhao did not answer. He merely took another step forward. As that step fell, the ice crystal lotuses instantly spread to his opponents' feet, and icy patterns crawled up their trouser legs like spiderwebs. Wu Feng watched in astonishment from behind, and even the flames on her dragon claws dimmed somewhat. Huo Yuhao had not even targeted her, yet her martial soul had already grown listless beneath that aura.

Ning Tian's Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda had long since lit up, but she did not hurry to amplify them. She merely said softly to Wu Feng, "Don't interfere. Watch him." She could feel Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection enveloping the entire field like an invisible net, marking even the tiniest weaknesses in the flow of his opponents' soul power with perfect clarity. This level of control had long surpassed that of an ordinary control-type Soul Master.

"How is this a control-type..." the teacher beside Du Weilun muttered. "That presence—he's clearly an assault-type Soul Master. Isn't his martial soul a spiritual-type eye martial soul? Could he have Twin Martial Souls?"

Du Weilun did not reply, merely tapping his fingers lightly against the armrest. He finally understood why the assault-type Soul Master stood in the back. It was not foolishness; there was simply no need for her. The pressure Huo Yuhao created alone was already equivalent to the combination of an assault-type and a control-type Soul Master. The spiritual power hidden within those red-and-blue Spirit Eyes, combined with Ultimate Ice soul power, was simply a nightmare for every elemental Soul Master.

At last, Huo Yuhao's voice rang out on the field, calm as a frozen lake. "It's over."

Before his words had faded, his pupils suddenly flared. That ultimate chill instantly surged toward the three Soul Masters opposite him. In a single moment, three ice sculptures stood where they had been.

The referee's voice rang out. The chill around Huo Yuhao instantly receded, and the ice crystal lotuses quietly melted away. Only his lengthened hair still carried a damp, cool feeling. He turned and walked toward Wu Feng and Ning Tian. The red in his Spirit Eyes faded, returning them to a clear blue. "Ready for the next match?"

Wu Feng scratched her head, unusually without arguing back. "You... you hid yourself well."

Ning Tian put away her Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, a smile in her eyes. "It seems we really don't have much to worry about."

In the stands, Du Weilun raised his teacup and took a sip. Even the tea's warmth could not dispel the shock in his heart. He looked toward where Mu Jin was seated and saw the female teacher proudly lifting her chin in the distance. He could not help but laugh.

Watching the entire plaza become coated in white frost beneath that ultimate chill, Du Weilun fell into deep thought for the first time.

"Twin Martial Souls, Ultimate Ice..." Rubbing the storage Soul Tool on his finger, Du Weilun instructed the teacher behind him, "Keep watch here for now. I must tell Dean Yan about this."