After just one brief exchange, everyone watching the match understood.
-the Hell White Tiger was absolutely no match for Huo Yutong's second martial soul!
Even Dai Huabin himself understood that, unwilling as he was to accept reality.
But the arrogance he had developed since childhood, along with his status, made it impossible for him to admit it.
Never mind recognizing the situation and surrendering outright-he even wanted to throw out a few threats.
"This guy's finished."
El pulled a lollipop out of nowhere, popped it into his mouth, and spoke indistinctly around it.
That moment had been Dai Huabin's only chance to get a teacher to intervene in time and escape unscathed.
Now that chance was gone.
And Huo Yutong would not let him have another.
"Frost Condensation."
Ice-blue light blazed in Huo Yutong's eyes. A thin, delicate shell of ice crept along her dragon claws, gleaming like diamonds.
Terrifying cold accumulated within it, layer upon layer. In terms of temperature alone, her claws had already reached a cold that an ordinary Soul Master with ultimate ice could only achieve at rank fifty.
"A self-created soul skill?!"
Yan Shaozhe and the other senior figures who had come to watch could no longer remain seated.
They rose to their feet, almost losing control of themselves.
After all, self-created soul skills had always been synonymous with difficulty and power.
Creating one required not only cultivation, but also a sufficiently clear understanding of one's martial soul.
Even learning an existing self-created soul skill, rather than creating one personally, was an extremely difficult undertaking if one hoped to achieve results and use it proficiently.
Take Mu En's Sovereign Over All, for instance. Even Yan Shaozhe, his rank-ninety-five disciple and a Super Douluo, had never fully mastered it. At most, he had learned fifty percent.
Yet now, a student with only two soul rings had used an extraordinarily difficult self-created soul skill!
How could they not be astonished?
And moreover...
"A self-created soul skill with the ultimate ice attribute..."
Unlike Mu En's mental-attribute Sovereign Over All, this set of combat techniques had clearly been developed specifically for ultimate ice.
"Not just ultimate fire, but ultimate ice too..."
Yan Shaozhe murmured to himself.
It seemed the family behind El and Huo Yutong had far deeper foundations than he had imagined.
His gaze grew increasingly inscrutable as he looked toward the arena.
Without the slightest hesitation, Huo Yutong's frost-covered dragon claw smashed into the giant white tiger's neck, beating Dai Huabin's words back down his throat.
At the same time, terrifying ultimate ice began spreading across the Hell White Tiger.
As though it were being petrified, the enormous, translucent white tiger was gradually stained ice-blue. Its once majestic fur began taking on the texture of frozen stones and clods of permafrost.
El had said that when beating someone, you should hit their mouth first.
Huo Yutong darted forward and crossed her arms.
Ping!
Ice crystals shattered beneath Huo Yutong's dragon claws with a sound like breaking glass.
A translucent phantom claw appeared over her ice-blue dragon claws. Trailing flecks of frost, it tore the Hell White Tiger in half at the waist!
River Split!
This was one of the core skills of the entire set of combat techniques, and aside from Frost Condensation, the only self-created soul skill Huo Yutong had mastered so far.
As for what it did...
"Cough!"
The Hell White Tiger shattered into scattered motes of light, and two figures emerged where it had stood.
They were Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu.
Neither was in good condition, but there was still a difference between them.
Dai Huabin had suffered the worst injuries. A thin, salt-like layer of frost covered his entire body, while his skin had turned an eerie ice-blue mixed with the bruised purple of frostbite.
The cough had come from him.
He spat out a mouthful of fine ice fragments flecked with red.
That had been caused by a weak frost detonation.
Zhu Lu was in much better shape.
She was merely shivering from the cold, her face somewhat pale from the loss of body heat.
The entire set of combat techniques Huo Yutong practiced revolved around just two core principles-
freeze, then detonate.
And River Split was precisely the core move responsible for detonation.
The Water Dragon King had created this set specifically for the Ice Dragon King Martial Soul, combining her own insight with the characteristics of the Douluo Continent's Soul Masters and soul skills.
As a former God King, she had that breadth of vision. Mere mortal abilities and cultivation methods, especially ones related to herself, were things she could casually whip up several sets of.
The Water Dragon King: Surely there isn't actually a God King without a single original creation of their own?
As for how to detonate ultimate ice without an "Ice Explosion" skill...
Don't make your esteemed God King laugh.
Rather, when the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had mentioned that ice could not be made to explode without the Ice Explosion Technique, the Water Dragon King had been all the more astonished.
She suspected there was something wrong with this world.
Meanwhile, facing the now-separated pair, Huo Yutong once again used her self-created soul skill, Frost Condensation.
Her diamond-bright ice armor thickened a little more.
She headed straight toward Dai Huabin, not even bothering to spare Zhu Lu a glance, and spoke as though dispensing charity:
"Get off the stage yourself."
Watching that ice-blue figure walk straight toward Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu had no intention of surrendering. Instead, a vicious light appeared in her eyes.
"You..."
Bang!
The next instant, frost spread, and Zhu Lu became an ice sculpture just like Xie Huanyue.
Huo Yutong casually kicked her off the arena.
"You were offered some dignity, and you spat on it."
The girl with ice-white hair spoke indifferently.
From beginning to end, her eyes had never left Dai Huabin.
"You...!"
Facing the ice dragon girl who had effortlessly dealt with the Hell White Tiger and was now approaching him, the perpetually defiant Dai Huabin finally showed unmistakable panic in his eyes.
He wanted to say something.
But when he opened his mouth, he discovered that he could no longer speak clearly at all.
"Not bad."
Watching this, El nodded in satisfaction below the stage.
"Hit the mouth first. Yu Tong's learned the essence of it."
"Good, freeze his legs so he can't run off the stage!"
El clapped his hands together forcefully, looking every bit like a teacher pleased with a promising pupil.
Huo Yutong had just stomped directly onto Dai Huabin's lower leg, which had turned purple from the cold.
Her slender, dragon-scale-covered leg possessed immense strength completely disproportionate to its size.
Crack!
With one stomp, she crushed Dai Huabin's ankle into a grotesque angle.
At the same time, a streak of ice-blue began spreading steadily from the injury.
"Mmph!!!"
Agonizing pain instantly surged through his whole body like an electric shock, only for the extreme cold to forcibly blot out the sensation at the wound.
That bizarre sensation made Second Young Master Dai's eyes widen, bloodshot veins beginning to appear in them.
What grudge could this woman possibly have against me?!
I don't even know her!
Yet she acted as though they shared some profound blood feud, sinking her teeth into him and refusing to let go.
Damn it, did I kill your mother or something?
Dai Huabin wanted to curse, to beg for mercy, to tell her that he was the young master of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion and the future White Tiger Duke of the Star Luo Empire.
But he could not get the words out.
"Next, I'll freeze every meridian in your limbs and turn you into a cripple whose legs can't walk and whose hands can't move."
"And naturally, you can forget about cultivating."
Huo Yutong grabbed Dai Huabin's shoulder, intending to imitate El and twist her enemy's arms into braided dough twists.
But after thinking it over, she decided such a bloody scene might damage her image in El's mind.
So she switched from twisting to squeezing, her sharp, icy dragon claws tending to every inch of both Dai Huabin's arms.
"Wuuu-aaaaahhh...!"
As Huo Yutong's "massage" progressed, Second Young Master Dai, its recipient, let out a series of incoherent but utterly miserable wails.
It was so cold that he barely felt any pain, but that very lack of pain made Dai Huabin break down even further.
My meridians! My talent!!
Everything I had, everything that let me stand above my elder brother and those damned bastards in the Duke's Mansion...
It's all gone-aaaaah!!!!!
If I can't cultivate, if I become a cripple, what will Father think of me?
Will my elder brother come over with his fake concern and pompous speeches, then stare at me with pity and gloating in his eyes?
Just kill me...
His vision blurred by tears, Dai Huabin looked at Huo Yutong's face, filled with pleasure and satisfaction, and silently pleaded.
With his talent and the foundation he relied on destroyed, Dai Huabin had not even had time to develop hatred for this girl who had viciously attacked him for no apparent reason.
Not until the slightly blurred, delighted face before him overlapped with the face of that little bastard in his memories.
Dai Huabin's burly frame shuddered.
Though her hair had changed, her eyes had changed, and her appearance was somewhat different...
Dai Huabin still recognized her.
It was... you!!!!
Overwhelming hatred and humiliation surged from the depths of his heart, nearly swallowing him whole.
You damned animal! The bastard born of that cheap serving wench!!
If I'd known, I should have killed you and your damned mother together back at the Duke's Mansion!!!
"So you've recognized me."
Meeting that suddenly savage gaze, Huo Yutong stopped.
She looked down at the figure on the ground, bruised purple all over, his limbs as limp as freshly proofed dough.
At this moment, surrounded by ice, Huo Yutong was the lofty Ice Dragon King, while Dai Huabin had become lowly mud and garbage sprawled on the ground.
This moment was just like that moment back then.
Only their positions had been completely reversed.
"You animal who caused my mother's death!"
Huo Yutong gave a beautiful smile, but the killing intent in her words was enough to chill everyone who heard them to the bone.
Meanwhile, the referee, who had wanted to step onto the stage and stop Huo Yutong earlier but had been blocked by El, wiped sweat from his brow.
So this was revenge for her mother's death. No wonder.
Thank goodness I didn't meddle. If they ended up holding a grudge against me, I'd be in serious trouble.
After all...
Huo Yutong up on the stage and El here were part of the same family, weren't they?
Her mother should have been a member of El's family too, right?
A reclusive family with dwindling bloodlines but a Limit Douluo among them, and one of its members had been killed by a young master of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion...
If I remember correctly, Dai Hao is only a Soul Douluo, isn't he?
The referee no longer knew what to say.
Only two words came to mind-fucking incredible!
Having a god among your ancestors really does make a difference, huh? How else could you be so bold?
Wait!
The referee suddenly realized something.
The White Tiger Duke's Mansion is doomed sooner or later!
I'd better notify my family and friends immediately. Anyone with ties to the White Tiger Lineage needs to cut them off, fast.
Otherwise, getting caught up in the collective punishment would be disastrous!
And he was not the only one. Everyone present with even a little quickness of mind had reached the same conclusion.
Only one person was an exception.
Zhu Lu, freshly freed from the ice, stood rooted to the spot with a deathly pale face.
She felt as though the sky were about to collapse.
Other people and factions could sever their ties with the White Tiger Dai Family, but the Zhu Family could not.
Years of intermarriage had long since bound the two families together irrevocably!
By all rights, when faced with a powerful enemy, the two families should stand or fall together.
But that depended on the circumstances!
That was a Limit Douluo!!
The level 99 pinnacle of the mortal world!!!
Neither of their families had even a single Titled Douluo. What the hell could they use to fight someone that powerful?!
"No..."
Zhu Lu murmured to herself.
"Huabin, don't blame me..."
While the spectators below digested that earth-shattering revelation and planned to cut ties with the White Tiger Lineage as quickly as possible,
Huo Yutong had already finished her final dance on the stage.
"River Split."
One sharp claw tapped Dai Huabin's blue-purple chest.
Crack!
Crack, crack!!
Faint, crisp sounds of cracking ice rang out without pause.
As mentioned before, with the Water Dragon King herself teaching her, aided by her own formidable spiritual power, Huo Yutong's control over Ultimate Ice had already reached the very pinnacle.
From beginning to end, the Ultimate Ice she controlled had never once invaded Dai Huabin's internal organs. The frost had frozen only the surface of his body and the meridians through which he cultivated and circulated Soul Power!
That final River Split had been the sound of those fragile meridians shattering into tiny ice fragments after being frozen by Ultimate Ice!
"Congratulations."
Having truly taken the first step toward revenge, Huo Yutong found that she did not feel the wild joy she had imagined.
She was very calm now, feeling only an intense sense of relief.
It was as though she had finally unloaded the enormous burden that had weighed on her back all this time.
Although she could not quite stand fully upright yet, being able to catch her breath a little was enough.
"You've become a complete cripple."
"The ducal title you and the Duchess have been dreaming of will never be yours now."
"The White Tiger Duke's Mansion... won't let you get away with this!"
With the ice shattered, Dai Huabin could finally speak.
His expression was somewhat vacant and his movements sluggish, but the venom and hatred in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
"Damn you, you little bastard!!"
"I should have sent someone to kill you and that lowly mother of yours together back then!!"
Thump!!
Huo Yutong, who had been about to leave, vanished from where she stood in a flash.
The next instant, a fierce ice-blue dragon phantom appeared, and a powerful whipping kick struck Dai Huabin in the abdomen.
"Pfft!"
Dai Huabin curled up like an enormous shrimp and spat out a great mouthful of blood mixed with ice crystals. Like a cannonball fired from its barrel, he flew off the arena and slammed into the ground.
That hate-filled kick from Huo Yutong broke every bone in his chest, driving numerous bone fragments deep into his internal organs.
With his meridians destroyed and unable to use Soul Power, the light in Dai Huabin's eyes rapidly dimmed.
"Trying to die? You think you'll get off that easily?"
Just then, a voice full of mockery reached Dai Huabin's ears.
It was El.
"Relax. We certainly won't let you die so quickly and painlessly."
A sphere of water formed in El's hand, flecked with deep-blue light.
The youth pressed one hand down through the air, and the water sphere, brimming with life and gentle warmth, sank into Dai Huabin's body.
Water surged through his body.
The broken bones in his chest were set back into place one by one, and a film of water covered the wounds on his hemorrhaging organs. At the same time, pure energy from some unknown source transformed into pure vitality, sustaining Dai Huabin's vital signs thread by thread.
But his limbs remained as limp as soft noodles.
Dai Huabin's unfocused pupils sharpened again from the excruciating pain.
"Tell Dai Hao afterward that if you die just like this, that Limit Douluo elder of mine will 'visit' the White Tiger Duke's Mansion the very next day."
Although those words seemed directed at Dai Huabin, El was actually looking at everyone present.
"I know there must be people here who are in contact with the White Tiger Lineage. Please pass that along for me."
Once he had finished everything, El looked toward the raised platform and bowed lightly to the academy's senior staff seated there to watch the match, particularly Yan Shaozhe.
"My apologies, teachers."
"Faced with her mother's murderer, Yu Tong became a little emotional."
"Although her methods were indeed somewhat excessive, her reaction was only human."
Yan Shaozhe waved magnanimously, not forgetting to add another remark.
"Even the teachers seated here would find it difficult to restrain themselves in the face of a hatred so great that they could not live under the same sky as their enemy."
"But I never imagined," Yan Shaozhe said in anguish,
"That the second son of the esteemed White Tiger Duke's Mansion would be so morally rotten behind closed doors, treating human lives like weeds!"
"That's nothing short of an Evil Soul Master's behavior!"
Before you continue