Spirit Blade: Frozen Naraka

Within the chests of the two skeletons, a fist-sized orb of light slowly revolved.

The orb in the Ice Dragon King's chest was silvery blue and perfectly round, with intricate patterns of ice flowing inside.

The orb in the Fire Dragon King's chest was crimson gold, likewise perfectly round, with flame-like patterns churning within.

Each orb was enclosed by its dragon's ribs, like a star locked in a cage.

Dragon Cores.

Zhang Lan's pupils contracted.

He recognized those two orbs.

They were Dragon Cores, the cores the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King had condensed while alive, equivalent to a Soul Beast's soul core.

Tens of millions of years had passed, and so much soul power had been lost, yet these two Dragon Cores still remained.

Though they were countless times weaker than at their peak, the power within was still so immense that Zhang Lan's gravitational perception rebounded the moment it touched them.

He hovered between the two skeletons and looked toward the Ice Dragon King first.

The silvery-blue orb in the Ice Dragon King's chest sensed his presence, and the ice patterns within began rotating a little faster.

Threads of light seeping through the gaps between the ribs drifted toward him, circled his Gravity Dome, then withdrew.

Zhang Lan hovered between the two skeletons and looked toward the Ice Dragon King first.

He extended his right hand, palm up, and slowly reached toward the Ice Dragon King's chest.

The silvery-blue orb in the Ice Dragon King's chest sensed his presence, and the ice patterns within began rotating slightly faster.

Threads of light seeping through the gaps between the ribs drifted toward him and circled his Gravity Dome, as though confirming something.

Without hesitating, Zhang Lan pressed his palm against the Ice Dragon King's ribs, slipped his fingers between them, and touched the Dragon Core.

The instant the silvery-blue orb entered his hand, an intensely cold power poured through his palm into his arm, rushing along his meridians into his dantian.

The Ice Dragon King's lingering will condensed into a phantom within his Sea of Consciousness. An ice-blue giant dragon lay coiled at the center of that mental space, lowered his head, and glanced at him.

That glance was calm, carrying a weariness accumulated over tens of millions of years, like someone who had walked for far too long finally finding somewhere to rest.

The dragon's phantom slowly dissipated into a skyful of ice-blue motes, which merged into Zhang Lan's Sea of Consciousness.

The Dragon Core melted in his palm, and a stream of silvery-blue light flowed along his meridians into his still-unformed second martial soul.

But the changes did not stop in his dantian.

Zhang Lan's right hand was still pressed against the Ice Dragon King's ribs. After the Dragon Core melted, the enormous skeleton suddenly began to tremble.

Silvery-blue light surged from every bone. The frost that had clung to the skeleton for tens of millions of years exploded all at once, becoming icy dust that spread across the lakebed.

The bones themselves began to shrink, fracture, and reassemble, rapidly collapsing from the shape of a giant dragon. They collided, compressed, and fused with dull rumbling sounds.

The Ice Dragon King's entire skeleton became a mass of silvery-blue light and plunged straight into Zhang Lan's spine.

Zhang Lan felt a heavy, solid force press down from behind, making his entire body sink.

That force gathered along his spine. From his neck to his tailbone, every vertebra bore tremendous pressure.

Then the pressure abruptly eased, and something new appeared within his spine.

He could clearly feel a layer of ice-blue bone encasing his vertebrae. It fit his spine perfectly, without the slightest gap, as though they had been born as one.

A God-Level Torso Bone.

The Soul Bone formed from the Ice Dragon King's skeleton had fused with his spine.

Zhang Lan's back straightened a little, and his entire aura grew weightier.

The power bestowed by the God-Level Torso Bone was overwhelming. In that instant, his physical constitution rose to an entirely new level.

With this layer of bone serving as a central nexus, the intermingled powers of ice and fire circulated through his meridians several times more smoothly than before.

He rolled his shoulders, and faint crackling came from his spine. The sound was crisp yet deep, like an undercurrent surging beneath a sheet of ice.

Zhang Lan lowered his head and glanced at the Fire Dragon King's skeleton to his left.

The crimson-gold orb in the Fire Dragon King's chest was still slowly revolving, with fiery-red threads of light seeping between the bones and drifting up toward the lake's surface.

The aura of the Fire Dragon King's remains had weakened somewhat. With the Ice Dragon King's power drawn away, the balance between the two forces at the bottom of the lake had shifted.

But the crimson-gold orb itself still held abundant soul power, almost equal to the Ice Dragon King's Dragon Core before it had been absorbed.

Where the Ice Dragon King had been, a crown had appeared.

It seemed to be the Ice Dragon King's Dragon King Crown.

The Dragon King Crown exuded a faint divine might. It was very likely a shattered divine position left behind by the Ice Dragon King.

It looks like this Dragon King Crown will keep the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well's environment from disappearing.

With that thought, Zhang Lan turned his gaze toward the Fire Dragon King on the other side.

Everything belonging to the Fire Dragon King-his Dragon Core and his skeleton-remained where it was.

He would deal with them once his cultivation was sufficient, or once he found someone suitable to inherit the Fire Dragon King's power.

Zhang Lan withdrew his gaze and turned toward the lake's surface.

His Gravity Dome expanded. Pushing off the lakebed with both feet, he rose through the water.

He ascended much faster than he had descended. With the combined reinforcement of the Ice and Fire Golden Body and the God-Level Torso Bone, the water pressure had almost no effect on him.

As he rose, he felt something taking shape within his dantian.

After the Ice Dragon King's power merged with the gravity source, a hazy outline condensed in the deepest part of his dantian.

The outline resembled a blade, with ice-blue light flowing within it. Its blade was long and slender, its edge like ice, and its guard cross-shaped, with an ice-crystal handguard on either side.

Spirit Blade: Frozen Naraka.

His second martial soul.

"Huh? Why isn't your second martial soul the Ice Dragon King?"

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked in confusion.

"I don't know either."

Zhang Lan spread his hands helplessly.

"I can feel that this martial soul of yours was born with its first soul ring."

"But how come I've never seen an ice-blue Soul Ring like this?"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately raised another question.

"Maybe this Soul Ring isn't an ordinary Soul Ring anymore. It's only natural for it to be a little unusual."

That was Zhang Lan's explanation.

After all, the novels from his previous life had featured plenty of Soul Rings in unusual colors.

For example, the Child of Nature's green Soul Ring, and the Orange-Golden Soul Rings provided by ferocious beast soul spirits.

And the Rose-Golden Soul Ring obtained through the Emperor Auspicious Beast's sacrifice.

When Zhang Lan surfaced, the first thing he saw was the Ice Empress standing on the shore with her arms folded, her emerald-green dress fluttering gently in the breeze off the lake.

Her gaze swept over him and settled on his spine, and her pupils contracted slightly.

The Snow Empress stood on the other side, having already withdrawn her spiritual power. Her calm gaze rested on Zhang Lan, and she waited two breaths before speaking:

"Your aura has changed."

"Yes."

Zhang Lan walked ashore, soaked from head to toe, but the chill of the lake water no longer affected him at all.

He rolled his shoulders. The layer of ice-blue bone within his spine shifted silently with his movements, fitting as closely as though it had grown there.