The spring water on either side of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well began to boil and shot into the sky. As the water gradually fell away, their true forms were finally revealed.
Frost and snow swirled through the sky on the left as an enormous, ice-blue dragon silhouette slowly took shape, its scales translucent and endless cold mist wreathing its body.
Flames surged through the sky on the right as a crimson dragon apparition appeared out of thin air, towering dragonfire blazing around its body.
They were none other than the souls of the Water and Fire Dragon Kings, who had slumbered beneath the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for countless years. Stirred by the Golden Dragon King's aura, they hovered in the sky, gazing from afar at Tang Wulin in the center of the well.
The two dragon souls showed no hostility. Instead, they carried a faint sense of submission and resonance.
Everyone and all the immortal herbs trembled beneath their imposing presence except Niu Tian. Although he suffered the greatest suppression, his strength as a divine officer barely allowed him to make out the two dragon souls. Their eyes held no trace of awareness.
"Roar!"
Another earth-shaking dragon roar rang out, jolting Tang Wulin out of his absorption in the sensations of his newly transformed body.
He bobbed up and down with the rippling waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. The power of ice and fire, once unbearably painful to him, now felt incomparably soothing, without the slightest trace of pain.
But he had no time to spare for such a minor matter. Two translucent dragon souls that all but blotted out the sky hovered above him, staring blankly at him and giving him quite a fright.
As though sensing Tang Wulin's awakening, the two dragon apparitions circled three times in the sky. Endless ice and fire essence flowed down their silhouettes and slowly poured into Tang Wulin's body, merging with his newly tempered Ice and Fire Golden Body and the Golden Dragon King's essence.
The familiar agony struck again. With a bitter expression, Tang Wulin steadied his mind out of long habit and endured the pain this new power brought.
The essence of extreme cold penetrated his marrow, while blazing dragonfire coursed through his meridians. The essence of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings cycled endlessly, continually cleansing Tang Wulin's own essence.
Carrying the harmonizing power of the Dragon Clan's essence, it gently yet forcefully reshaped Tang Wulin's flesh and the foundation of his Martial Souls.
The phantom of a Soft Bone Rabbit appeared behind Tang Wulin. Its faintly golden fur grew even more radiant as the Golden Dragon King's seal broke further, and its body became slightly sturdier. Now, however, fine ice-blue and crimson patterns wreathed its limbs, while red and blue points of light appeared in the centers of its pink eyes.
At last, the Soft Bone Rabbit, whose stats had fallen short, underwent an epic evolution and completely shed its mediocre attributes. The physical enhancement it provided upon possession already surpassed that of the high-tier White Tiger Martial Soul, leaving it just a hair's breadth away from becoming a super Martial Soul.
Yet every one of its attacks carried ultimate cold and ultimate heat. These two ultimate powers imbued even its ordinary attacks with destructive force that ordinary Soul Masters could scarcely withstand.
This allowed the evolved Soft Bone Rabbit to cross that final hair's breadth and become a top-tier super Martial Soul.
Immediately afterward, the pitch-black, massive Clear Sky Hammer appeared in Tang Wulin's hand, its form ancient and imposing.
Originally, the hammer had borne only the simplest strength markings, symbolizing the pure brute force of the world's foremost tool Martial Soul. But as the Golden Dragon King's seal continued to break, fine, scale-like crimson-gold patterns had spread across the Clear Sky Hammer's surface, winding around its body.
Now, as the essence of the ice and fire dragon souls poured into it in a frenzied torrent and transformed it, the hammer's surface began to blaze with dazzling light.
Ice-blue freezing patterns intertwined with the crimson-gold markings on the left side of the hammerhead. Their chill remained contained, but the moment the hammer struck, ultimate cold would erupt, freezing the point of contact with an enemy in the blink of an eye.
Fiery-red flame patterns coiled alongside the crimson-gold markings on the right side of the hammerhead. Blazing and tyrannical, they could burn away any obstruction they touched when the hammer fell.
Moreover, the Golden Dragon King's essence had already imbued the Clear Sky Hammer with an innate shattering property, enough to pulverize anything it collided with in battle.
Under the power of the Dragon Kings' essence, the Clear Sky Hammer's weight increased wildly until it reached a ton and a half. Tang Wulin had previously found it a little light in his hand, but now it felt somewhat heavy, though he could still manage to wield it.
As they poured out their essence, the apparitions of the Water and Fire Dragon Kings gradually faded. Only when the flow stopped did the two Dragon Kings throw back their heads and let out a long roar before sinking into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. They returned to their bodies, which had been dead for many years, to continue nurturing their damaged dragon souls and await Tang Wulin's next visit.
After all, even with the transformation wrought by their essence, Tang Wulin still could not absorb the two Dragon Kings' Soul Bones. He needed to grow stronger before he could withstand their power.
The natural energy within the valley gradually settled, and the swirling mist grew calm. Tang Wulin finally stabilized the power within his body and climbed out of the spring waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The Martial Soul apparitions vanished into his body, and the dragon patterns on his skin receded. Tang Wulin seemed to have returned to his former appearance, but the occasional flashes of red and blue deep within his eyes showed that he had been reborn from the inside out.
"Ah!"
Startled cries came from in front of Tang Wulin. Huo Yuhao and the two girls had actually forgotten to worry about his safety and instead covered their eyes and shrieked. Judging by the gaps between Wang Dong's and Xiao Xiao's fingers, however, neither girl was as innocent as she appeared.
As for Huo Yuhao, who looked the most innocent of all, he had already activated Spiritual Detection. Only when the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm began mocking him mercilessly in his Sea of Consciousness did he turn it off, blush, and close his eyes, trying not to think about anything.
"Wulin, put some clothes on first."
Niu Tian tossed Tang Wulin his clothes, which he had retrieved from Tang Wulin's Storage Soul Tool after removing it beforehand.
Catching the clothes in his arms, Tang Wulin finally realized what had happened. He did not cry out, but his face turned scarlet as he dressed, fidgeting awkwardly without a trace of a Dragon King's commanding air.
"Uncle Da Ming, I absorbed it successfully."
Tang Wulin worked to quell his embarrassment before speaking to Niu Tian.
He had absorbed the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and long since broken through to the minute-perception realm. How could he not know that Wang Dong and the others were sneaking looks at him despite covering their eyes? Thus, Tang Wulin decided to ignore them for a hundred and fifty seconds.
"Good, good. Even I didn't expect it to cause such a commotion."
Niu Tian pressed a hand to his forehead with a wry smile. He was a true dragon now and suffered the strongest suppression from the Dragon Kings' bloodlines. Had he known, he would have been better off letting Tai Tan come instead.
What he had expected to be an easy trip to absorb immortal herbs had suddenly brought out the remnant souls of two Dragon Kings, giving Niu Tian quite a scare.
He refused to believe that Tang San knew nothing about the situation here, yet Tang San had told him nothing. At that thought, Niu Tian could not help feeling a trace of resentment.
"Exactly."
Tang Wulin nodded in wholehearted agreement.
He had thought he was merely tempering his Ice and Fire Golden Body, only to also absorb the power behind the Golden Dragon King's third seal and receive a baptism of the Water and Fire Dragon Kings' essence. His physical strength had increased tremendously, and his Martial Souls had undergone a heaven-defying evolution, gaining two Ultimate Attributes.
He really had won so much he was numb to it.
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