"Appeared out of nowhere?"
A dark gleam flashed through El's eyes as Huo Yutong held him in her arms.
He did not even look at Huo Yutong, whose appearance had clearly changed, first. Instead, he stared fixedly at the Water Dragon King.
"Yes, out of nowhere."
The Water Dragon King's face was filled with horror.
"Only when Yu Tong was about to merge with the Crown did this authority bare its fangs and reveal its existence."
"It was as though it had been hiding inside all along, simply going unnoticed."
"But that's impossible. I've held the divine position of the Water Dragon King for tens of millions of years. There's no way I could have failed to sense an authority."
"Especially a species authority."
Of the four people at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, three were Dragon Kings of the dragon race. Even if this authority over dragons was not one they had once wielded, it could never have escaped the senses of their bloodlines.
Thus, the only possibility was that something had silently slipped past everyone present and delivered this useless authority like a grenade primed to explode instantly.
And someone capable of that...
"The Dragon God...?"
El hesitantly uttered the name, only to reject the idea himself a moment later.
"No! He has no reason to do this."
The most likely person capable of silently sending over the authority within the Water Dragon King's divine position was undoubtedly that damned Dragon God, who was in Dragon Valley alongside the divine position.
But he had no reason to do so.
If he really wanted to do something, wouldn't it be easier to just sit up and throw a punch?
Who in this entire star region could stand against a Supreme God King like him?
Besides...
Based on what El knew of this elder brother of his, the Dragon God was not that clever.
A guy who relied entirely on brute strength had started playing dirty too?
It was impossible, no matter how he looked at it.
After turning it over in his mind, perhaps some other thing had used the Dragon God's hand to take a swipe at them...
"Tch!"
El gritted his teeth.
I was wondering why the Destruction Godhead kept sending me messages like its left and right brains were fighting each other...
Because of that, El had already planned to stay away from Dragon Valley until he reached godhood. Now, his resolve was firmer than ever.
Going to Dragon Valley without enough strength would be delivering himself straight to its doorstep.
"I think I've figured out what's going on..."
El let out a long breath and spoke to the Ice Dragon King.
"This probably won't happen again."
"Fundamentally, it's targeting me."
Targeting the power he carried that came from beyond this world.
"Ah, the mighty hand of Heaven's Will."
El raised his head. His gaze seemed to pierce the vast lake waters overhead, then pass through the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to look toward an infinitely distant height.
There, a pair of invisible eyes was watching him coldly.
The will of the Great Universe...
Only after they returned to the surface and El had recovered somewhat did he look at Huo Yutong.
"Little Yu Tong has gotten super pretty!"
Meeting the two Dragon Kings' worried gazes, El gave them a reassuring smile. Then he turned toward little Huo, whose appearance had completely changed, and spoke in a deliberately exaggerated tone.
"Now, unless someone knows you really well, they probably won't even recognize you, little Yu Tong."
The girl's transformation was nothing short of being reborn.
First, she had grown taller. Once half a head shorter than her peers due to malnutrition, she now looked about as tall as a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old from El's previous life.
After all, humans on the Douluo Continent developed quickly and were generally considered adults at fourteen or fifteen.
Then there was little Huo's hair. It had changed from its original blue to a predominantly blue shade that now faded into icy white at the tips.
Her features had become more delicate, and her fair skin looked even more dewy, as though the slightest touch could break it.
In reality, however, Huo Yutong could now kill ordinary thousand-year Soul Beasts with her physical strength alone!
The power of a true dragon, kid!
If the previous Huo Yutong had been an adorable little girl, she could now be called a budding beauty without peer.
"El, are you really all right?"
Yet Huo Yutong paid no attention to El's praise. Little Huo simply took his hand with a pained expression, looking at the cracks that had yet to disappear completely.
"It's all my fault..."
"Quit blowing smoke."
Who do you think you are, important enough for the universe's consciousness to target you personally?
El flicked Huo Yutong on the forehead, cutting off little Huo's attempt to start confessing her sins.
"Ow!"
Huo Yutong covered her forehead.
"How many rings do you even have, to deserve being targeted like this?"
"None of this can be blamed on you, got it?"
"If we absolutely have to find someone to pin it on, it should be the Dragon God."
El caught Huo Yutong's soft, springy cheeks and began kneading them.
"Mmph, mmph!"
"Don't shoulder blame that isn't yours. Stop eating yourself up inside!"
"Come on, let's talk about something happy and lighten the mood."
Having squished her cheeks to his heart's content, El finally let go of little Huo's face in satisfaction.
"How's your new power?"
"Super strong!"
When the subject turned to her newly acquired Martial Soul, Huo Yutong visibly brightened with excitement.
With a thought, icy-blue light flashed over her body. Then the phantom of a majestic, beautiful icy-blue dragon appeared and merged with her.
Ice Dragon King, Martial Soul Possession!
Huo Yutong grew slightly taller again. Beautiful, translucent diamond-shaped scales, like ice crystals, emerged on her body, extending from her fingertips to her shoulders.
A pair of somewhat slender dragon horns appeared on her forehead, and her azure eyes instantly transformed into icy-blue, vertical dragon pupils.
Waves of cold spread from her body. With each breath, the surrounding plants and soil turned into ice sculptures and hard, frozen earth.
"Very good."
As expected, Ultimate Ice of the highest order.
El nodded in satisfaction.
Once she matured, her Ultimate Attribute surpassing the Snow Empress's would be a certainty, as sure as a nail driven into a board.
"After inheriting Mom's power, I received part of the Ice Dragon Tribe's legacy. My control and use of Soul Power have both improved tremendously."
"And aside from the suppression of beast Martial Souls that all higher dragons possess..."
Huo Yutong extended a dragon claw, clenched it into a fist, and punched toward an empty patch of ground.
"The most important thing is the domain that comes with the Ice Dragon King Martial Soul."
Little Huo closed her eyes, and a wave of icy-blue light spread outward, enveloping all the space within a ten-meter radius.
Snowflakes drifted down from the air as the temperature began plummeting. Starting from where Huo Yutong stood, white frost rapidly devoured the green covering the surrounding ground.
Within the domain, the phantom of an icy-blue dragon could faintly be seen flashing past.
"I call it the Dragon Might Cold Domain."
"Once the domain is deployed, it creates an absolute low-temperature home field within its boundaries. All my attributes increase by 30%, and my Soul Power recovery speed increases by 50%. At the same time, it reduces enemies' movement and attack speed by 20%."
"It can also suppress the attributes of all beast Martial Souls and ice-attribute Soul Masters whose bloodlines are below mine by 20%, while boosting teammates whose bloodlines and Martial Souls are below mine. The effect is strongest for Soul Masters with ice-attribute and dragon Martial Souls."
Unfortunately, both El and the Fire Dragon King were stronger than Huo Yutong, and their bloodlines were likewise those of Dragon Kings. Neither felt any boost after being enveloped by the domain.
Before you continue