"There are two Dragon Kings' skeletons at the bottom of the lake."
Zhang Lan said,
"They belong to the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King."
He stood on the shore as the Gravity Dome slowly evaporated the moisture clinging to him, leaving his clothes dry again.
The Ice Empress's gaze was still nailed to his back, as though she wanted to see through his flesh and discover exactly what that newly formed layer of bone was.
"By making contact with the Ice Dragon King's skeleton, I obtained a divine-grade torso bone."
Zhang Lan paused,
"As well as my second Martial Soul."
With that, he raised his right hand, palm facing upward.
Ice-blue light surged from his palm, and a blade slowly took shape in his hand.
Its blade was long and slender, ice blue and almost transparent throughout. Its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing, and intricate patterns of ice flowed across its surface.
The guard was cross-shaped, with an ice-crystal handguard on either side. Silver-blue light pulsed within them.
White and pale-blue cords were wound around the hilt, and a slightly larger ice crystal was set into its pommel, with streams of light slowly revolving inside.
Spirit Blade: Frozen Naraka.
The moment the blade fully solidified, an ice-blue Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath Zhang Lan's feet, circled his body once, and hovered beside him.
The Soul Ring was ice blue throughout, its light dense and deep, entirely unlike the brightness of ordinary Soul Rings. It looked like a current of cold compressed to its utmost limit and wrapped around him.
"When I absorbed the Ice Dragon King's Dragon Core, I thought I would gain the Ice Dragon King as my second Martial Soul."
Zhang Lan looked at the blade in his hand, his tone calm,
"But for some unknown reason, my Martial Soul became this blade."
"And the essence of the Dragon Core became my first Soul Ring."
The Snow Empress's gaze settled on the Spirit Blade and lingered there for a long time.
She extended her perception toward it. When it touched the ice-blue halo covering the blade, her fingertips trembled slightly, and she immediately withdrew it.
The cold emanating from the blade was purer and deeper than even her Ultimate Ice.
The Ultimate Ice condensed from her seven hundred thousand years of cultivation seemed a whole tier beneath this blade.
If Ultimate Ice was the pinnacle of the ice attribute on the Douluo Continent, then the aura emanating from this blade had already reached the threshold of another level.
Absolute zero.
The Snow Empress fell silent for several breaths before shifting her gaze from the blade to Zhang Lan's face.
She said nothing, but the barely perceptible tremor in her eyes spoke volumes.
"Then what's your first Soul Skill?"
The Ice Empress suddenly asked. Her tone sounded casual, but the look she fixed on the blade was far more serious than usual.
"My first Soul Skill, Ice Dragon King Descends."
Zhang Lan held the blade horizontally before him,
"It summons an Ice Dragon King in a form similar to a manifested Martial Soul, with cultivation equivalent to a Soul Beast that has just reached a hundred thousand years."
"It can also merge with me and become Ice Armor."
"It boosts all my capabilities by three hundred percent and carries a dragon's might."
"There's also a chance of unleashing a dragon-shaped attack that deals triple damage."
He paused, then added:
"All those Soul Skill effects double as the number of Soul Rings increases."
The corner of the Ice Empress's mouth twitched.
"What an absurd Soul Skill."
She could not help exclaiming, and there was even a trace of envy in her voice.
A rank-thirty-one Soul Elder could summon an Ice Dragon King at the hundred-thousand-year level with his very first Soul Skill, merge with it for a boost, and even double its effects.
In her era, a Soul Skill like that would have been beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
"I hope I can learn swordsmanship from you later, Sister Xue'er."
Zhang Lan turned to the Snow Empress.
The Snow Empress nodded slightly:
"Of course."
"Blades and swords share common principles. Naturally, I can teach you some swordsmanship."
Zhang Lan withdrew the Spirit Blade into his body, and the ice-blue Soul Ring vanished along with it.
He turned to look at the two immortal herbs that were still drooping.
"Let's finish our business before we leave."
He walked over to the aromatic silk beauty, crouched down, and pressed his palm against the soil beneath its flower head.
He transferred a wisp of pure Soul Power into it, carrying the Gravity Source's distinctive gentle warmth as it slowly seeped into the roots.
The aromatic silk beauty's petals shivered, and pink light lit up deep within its stamens again, considerably brighter than before.
Zhang Lan then walked over to the infernal delicate apricot and repeated the process, transferring a wisp of Soul Power into it.
The infernal delicate apricot's leaves trembled. Its drooping stems and leaves straightened again, and a scarlet sheen returned to its foliage.
Then he turned to the octagonal mysterious ice grass and the infernal delicate apricot, taking three drops of essence from each before transferring another wisp of Soul Power into each to replenish their roots.
He deliberately controlled his strength while extracting it, taking only the essence without damaging their foundations and leaving ample room for recovery.
The aromatic silk beauty watched from beside him, the petals on its flower head slowly unfurling. It said nothing more.
He treated the remaining immortal herbs the same way.
"Sustainably draining the pond to catch the fish."
Zhang Lan stood and brushed the dirt from his hands,
"Let's go."
The Ice Empress and the Snow Empress followed, one on either side.
The three of them passed along the gorge's stone path, went past the ring of Jade-Scaled Nine-Absolute Flowers, and disappeared into the gray poisonous mist once more.
Deep within the gorge, the aromatic silk beauty and the infernal delicate apricot extended their flower heads side by side, gazing in the direction where the three had vanished. They remained motionless for a long while.
After leaving the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, the three headed north, crossing the vast plains between the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Dou Great Forest.
Zhang Lan did not move particularly fast. He had just obtained a divine-grade torso bone and completed the Ice and Fire Golden Body, and his body was adapting to new changes every day.
The intertwined power of ice and fire in his meridians was more than twice as potent as before. The Gravity Source revolved steadily in his dantian, while the Spirit Blade rested deep within his Sea of Consciousness, faint traces of ice-blue light seeping outward.
Neither the Ice Empress nor the Snow Empress was in a hurry.
Having just surpassed four hundred thousand years, the Ice Empress was brimming with confidence and vigor. As they traveled, she occasionally froze the wild grass beside the road on a whim, watching it ice over and shatter within a single breath.
The Snow Empress was much quieter. Most of the time, she walked half a step behind Zhang Lan's side, her gaze resting on the distance, her thoughts unknown.
When they reached the outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest, Zhang Lan slowed his steps.
Star Dou Great Forest was far larger than he had expected.
Viewed from outside, its overlapping canopies stretched from the ground all the way to the horizon, so green they were almost black.
The fluctuations of Soul Power within the forest were dense and chaotic. Auras of various attributes mingled together, forming a natural barrier.
Zhang Lan extended his gravitational perception into the forest. The information it returned was jumbled. Most of the Soul Beasts on the outskirts were weak creatures of ten or a hundred years, but the farther inward he probed, the faster the density of Soul Power rose.
"Head toward the core region."
Zhang Lan said,
"But don't enter the area around the Lake of Life."
The Ice Empress tilted her head to glance at him:
"Are you afraid of Di Tian?"
"It's not fear."
Zhang Lan walked into the forest, his footsteps rustling through the thick layers of fallen leaves and humus,
"I'll have a use for Di Tian and those Ferocious Beasts in the future."
"If we provoke them now and sour our relationship, it'll make things harder later."
The Ice Empress asked no more.
Although she did not know what Zhang Lan meant by "a use for them in the future."
After spending these days with him, she had grown accustomed to the way Zhang Lan thought several steps ahead whenever he acted.
The Snow Empress likewise asked no further questions. She simply spread out her spiritual power to scout the way for Zhang Lan.
Before you continue