Ultimate Ice, Frost Descends from Heaven

Lu Chen sat cross-legged beside the stone table in the courtyard, his consciousness fully immersed in the system panel, his gaze fixed firmly on the first item.

[Item: Martial Soul—Hyorinmaru]

[Category: Martial Soul]

[Quantity: 1]

[Quality: Pink]

[Flash Sale Price: 5,000 Gold Soul Coins]

[Status: Unsold]

After renting the house, he still had more than seventy thousand Gold Soul Coins left.

A price of five thousand Gold Soul Coins was no longer an unbearable sum for him.

Lu Chen did not hesitate in the slightest. With a thought, he said, "Purchase."

[Ding! 5,000 Gold Soul Coins deducted. Item distributed.]

[The item is a special unit. Proceed with fusion?]

[Yes] [No]

"Yes! Fuse!"

Without any hesitation, Lu Chen directly chose fusion.

As his voice fell, a bone-deep yet painless chill abruptly rose from the depths of his dantian.

Unlike the piercing agony of ordinary ice-attribute Soul Power, this cold was so pure it seemed almost primordial, as though all the moisture between heaven and earth resonated with it.

His dantian also began to divide into two regions.

The power of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth condensed into a golden ball of light, quietly lying dormant to one side.

On the other side, a blue glow no larger than a mung bean at first gradually expanded, representing Hyorinmaru's power.

One gold and one blue, the two powers remained distinctly separate and did not clash, yet they seemed to form a subtle resonance.

Before long, Lu Chen felt warmth spread across his palm.

Lu Chen opened his hand, and a plain tachi appeared in it.

At the same time, Lu Chen sensed that the bottleneck he had just broken through had actually loosened. His Soul Power rank had reached level 33.

"There's even a benefit like this?"

Even Lu Chen had not expected that fusing with the Hyorinmaru Martial Soul would raise his Soul Power rank by another level.

After adjusting to the strength brought by the increase in Soul Power, Lu Chen finally turned his attention to the plain tachi in his hand.

This unadorned tachi was none other than Hyorinmaru, the Zanpakuto acclaimed as the strongest ice-type blade in Bleach.

It was said that Hyorinmaru could even freeze time and space itself, so its attribute was naturally Ultimate Ice.

Though it was an Instrument Martial Soul, it was the king of ice attributes.

Hyorinmaru had three forms in total, and the plain tachi before him was its initial form.

It looked utterly ordinary, no different from a normal tachi, without any attributes at all. Moreover, Hyorinmaru could not release any Soul Skills in this form.

It could only be used for ordinary swings and slashes.

Hyorinmaru's second form was Shikai.

Its release command was: "Sit upon the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru."

After releasing Shikai, Hyorinmaru's form would also change, allowing it to unleash a portion of its power.

After Shikai, Hyorinmaru possessed the Ultimate Ice attribute. Even without any Soul Rings, it would have two innate skills: Reign over the Frosted Heavens and Ice Freeze.

Reign over the Frosted Heavens could control the weather and bring down ice and snow. Under such icy, snowy conditions, all ice-attribute attacks would be enhanced, while anyone touched by snowflakes would have their Soul Power circulation affected.

The exact degree of influence would depend on the opponent's resistance to the ice element.

It could be said that this innate skill was practically a pseudo-domain.

The second innate skill, Ice Freeze, was much simpler. It allowed him to control the water molecules in the air and freeze them according to his will.

As for Hyorinmaru's third form—Bankai—it was not yet a power he could wield.

He would need to reach around level 70 before he could use Bankai and completely unleash Hyorinmaru's power.

"Let me test the power of my new Martial Soul."

Having understood Hyorinmaru's abilities, Lu Chen eagerly circulated his Soul Power, enlarging the tachi that had originally been only palm-sized into a normal-sized blade.

Then he silently recited the release command: "Sit upon the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

As Lu Chen's words fell, piercing cold surged wildly down his arm and into the short blade in his palm.

The originally simple tachi abruptly lengthened and widened. Spiral ice patterns curled along its spine, while layers of frigid light steamed from the blade.

A thick, long chain of ice suddenly burst from the end of the hilt. Covered in frost from end to end, it stretched behind him, its tail bearing a crescent-shaped ice blade whose outline resembled the forked tail fin of an ice dragon.

The moment Hyorinmaru completed its Shikai, the temperature in the courtyard plummeted.

Vast ice-attribute Soul Power swept through the entire small courtyard like a tangible tide. A thin layer of frost appeared over everything, from the leaves to the rooftops.

With a thought, Lu Chen first tried the innate skill Ice Freeze.

Hyorinmaru's hilt in Lu Chen's hand lifted slightly, and mist filled the air, rapidly weaving and twisting under his control.

Very soon, a Frost Dragon with clear scales and claws, sharp horns and fangs condensed in midair.

Lu Chen swung Hyorinmaru once more. The Frost Dragon raised its head and roared, and with the dragon's cry, invisible cold exploded outward. Everything within a hundred meters in front of it froze into ice sculptures.

"Damn, this Ice Freeze innate skill is incredible. Doesn't this mean I have a Frost Dragon pet with perfect coordination?"

Seeing the scene the Frost Dragon had created, Lu Chen could not help but exclaim in shock.

He could first use Ice Freeze to shape a "pet," and the "pet" he created could also launch frost attacks under his control.

That meant that in future battles, he could at the very least fight two against one.

If he had enough Soul Power, he could even create several more "pets" to fight.

Besides that, he could control the moisture around an enemy and freeze it, controlling them and restricting their movements and attacks.

There were drawbacks, of course.

The Soul Power consumption was especially severe.

Every movement and attack of the Frost Dragon consumed his Soul Power.

Even if the Frost Dragon did nothing but remain there, maintaining its form would continuously drain his Soul Power.

Creating one Frost Dragon in battle was just right. Any more than that, and his current Soul Power could not sustain it.

Lu Chen flicked Hyorinmaru and destroyed the Frost Dragon, then used the Ice Freeze innate skill once again to shape something else.

In only a few breaths, an ice sculpture identical to Qian Renxue in both appearance and figure stood quietly in the courtyard.

She had a tall, slender figure and long hair draped over her shoulders. Moonlight fell upon her and reflected a soft, icy glow, making her look so lifelike that she seemed to be standing there in person.

"I actually do miss that girl a little."

"I wonder how she's doing in the Inner Court?"

Looking at Qian Renxue's ice sculpture standing in the courtyard, Lu Chen smiled faintly. Then, with a slight flick of his wrist, the entire sculpture turned into mist and vanished.

"Next is Reign over the Frosted Heavens."

After testing the Ice Freeze innate skill, Lu Chen prepared to test Hyorinmaru's other innate skill, Reign over the Frosted Heavens.

Lu Chen raised Hyorinmaru high, then released his Soul Power.

A cold aura spread outward in all directions with Hyorinmaru as its center.

Before long, tiny snowflakes drifted lazily down from the sky.

Soon, the entire courtyard was covered by a thin layer of snow.

Within this area, Lu Chen could clearly feel his ice-element power receiving a ten percent boost.

If he continued increasing his Soul Power output and turned the gentle snowfall into a blizzard, the boost would likely rise to around thirty percent.

This enhancement might not seem like much, but one could not overlook its range.

He had suppressed the range of Reign over the Frosted Heavens only because he was testing it.

If he unleashed his Soul Power and used Reign over the Frosted Heavens at full force, it could currently cover half of Shrek City.

In other words, every ice-attribute Spirit Master within this area would have their attacks enhanced by thirty percent!

On top of that, the ice and snow from Reign over the Frosted Heavens would affect the opponent's Soul Power circulation.

With one side strengthened and the other weakened, its effect was far more than a mere thirty percent.

In large-scale army battles, this innate skill could absolutely become the key to determining victory or defeat!

Moreover, Lu Chen could clearly sense that using Ice Freeze within this area would greatly reduce its Soul Power consumption.

It could be said that the two innate skills complemented each other perfectly.