Deep within the Far North Ice Plains, a towering castle formed entirely from ancient ice stood silently amid the boundless white world.
It was no lavish palace carved with exquisite care, but a place steeped in a primitive, rugged, and utterly imposing air.
This had once been the Snow Empress's residence.
In the Far North, this Ice Castle was an absolute taboo and a legend. Apart from the Snow Empress herself and the handful of beings she acknowledged, such as the Ice Empress, Xiao Bai, and other ferocious beasts of the Far North, no creature dared set foot here.
Even the Titan Snow Demon King had once come here to court the Snow Empress, only to have every bone in his body broken by her before he even made it through the door. He had spent a full thousand years bedridden before recovering.
Even Xiao Bai, with her mountain-sized body, was especially cautious here. With gentle movements wholly at odds with her size, she placed Dai Youheng and the long-unconscious Twenty-Thousand-Year Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger on the mirror-smooth floor of the Ice Castle's entrance hall.
The Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger had regained consciousness along the way, but every time its awareness began to clear, Xiao Bai's merciless, terrifyingly powerful paw awaited it. One casual swat dragged it back into endless darkness.
Now it lay there limply, its vitality fading, long stripped of its former majesty as one of the Far North's apex predators.
Dai Youheng sat cross-legged nearby, a faint golden glow flowing around him. The healing method recorded in the Golden Vajra Evil-Repelling Body circulated efficiently, repairing the external injuries he had sustained while fighting the hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
Although his face remained somewhat pale, his breathing had steadied considerably, and the searing pain inside him gradually gave way to a warm current of soul power.
He slowly opened his eyes and drew a deep breath of the Ice Castle's air, rich with pure ice elements, feeling his spirits lift. With some effort, he rose to his feet and looked at the dying Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger, his gaze calm and resolute.
It was time.
Without further hesitation, the phantom of the Evil Shadow Demon Tiger appeared behind him. He stepped forward, thick black fur instantly covering his right hand as sharp claws sprang out. With a shrill whistle through the air, he struck with ruthless precision, shattering the twenty-thousand-year soul beast's skull.
Its life force vanished in an instant.
Immediately afterward, black energy so dense it seemed impossible to disperse surged from the tiger's corpse, swiftly condensing into a soul ring shimmering with black light.
For an ordinary Soul Ancestor, a soul ring nearing twenty thousand years was practically a death warrant. The vast energy and savage will it contained were enough to burst both body and soul. After all, this was a soul ring that normally required the Soul Emperor level to absorb.
Yet Dai Youheng's expression did not change. With Xiao Bai standing guard, he had no need to worry about outside interference. He sat cross-legged again and, with a slight shift of intent, used his own soul power to slowly draw over the black soul ring, which radiated an ominous and powerful presence.
The instant the soul ring settled around him, Dai Youheng's body shuddered violently!
Like a flood bursting through a dam, immense soul power poured madly into his meridians. Carrying the Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger's distinctive evil and darkness attributes, it brutally scoured and expanded his channels.
At the same time, a cold soul shock filled with savagery and resentment slammed into his Sea of Consciousness. This was the soul assault that accompanied every soul ring over ten thousand years old-the final backlash of a soul beast's unwilling will before death.
An ordinary Soul Ancestor would likely have had every meridian torn apart by now, or been reduced to an imbecile by that soul assault.
But how could Dai Youheng be compared to an ordinary person?
The Golden Vajra Evil-Repelling Body began circulating rapidly on its own, pale golden radiance shining out through his body. Protected by that golden light, his meridians, bones, and internal organs displayed astonishing resilience, forcibly withstanding the onslaught of violent energy. Under its impact, they were even broadened and strengthened further.
His powerful physique, transformed by ten-thousand-year whale glue, played a crucial role at this moment, remaining steady as bedrock.
As for that soul assault...
Deep within Dai Youheng's Sea of Consciousness, a spiritual force far more concentrated and vast than the Ice Prison Tiger's remnant soul quietly stirred. All the spiritual power he had gained by devouring that "heteromorphic counterpart" had long since raised his spiritual strength far beyond others of his level, even putting it on par with a high-level Soul Emperor.
The Ice Prison Tiger's remnant soul crashed against that impregnable spiritual barrier like waves striking a reef. Apart from a faint tremor, it stirred up no wind or waves at all. Instead, its remaining consciousness was effortlessly crushed and absorbed by Dai Youheng's powerful spiritual force, becoming the purest spiritual nourishment.
Time passed in the silent Ice Castle. More than two hours later, Youheng's aura alternated between violent fluctuations and calm restraint. The black soul ring's light likewise flickered, and the defiant will within it weakened at a rate visible to the naked eye.
At last, when the final trace of violent energy had been brought completely under control and the soul ring's radiance became gentle and steady, circling him like warm black jade, Dai Youheng let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.
A keen light lay within them, and he brimmed with vitality.
Yellow, yellow, purple, black!
Four soul rings pulsed around him in orderly succession, marking his official entry into the Soul Ancestor realm! Not only had his injuries fully healed, but his soul power level had jumped straight to the peak of level 42. He was only one final step away from level 43.
"Youheng, it seems you've succeeded. What soul skill did you obtain?" The Snow Empress's cool voice sounded in his mind, carrying a hint of curiosity. She could sense the dark power contained in that soul ring.
Dai Youheng carefully examined his newly acquired ability, a flicker of delighted surprise crossing his eyes as he answered, "It's the skill it used against me at the end-Darkness Zone. It releases a special dark force field that covers an area. The field doesn't deal direct damage, but it blocks opponents' vision and severely disrupts the effects of all support-type soul skills within its range. Apart from my own, all beneficial effects within the area, such as healing, attribute boosts, and soul power recovery, will be greatly weakened or even nullified outright."
"But my cultivation is nowhere near as strong as that Hundred-Thousand-Year Ice Prison Tiger's, so my Darkness Zone is far smaller than its version, which could cover the entire valley. Right now, I estimate its diameter is only about fifty meters."
At this, clear approval entered the Snow Empress's voice. "Fifty meters in diameter? For it to have such range when you've only just acquired it is already exceptionally rare! This is an incredibly uncommon, powerful skill comparable to a domain. Countless Titled Douluos spend their entire lives without even touching the threshold of a domain, yet you've obtained a skill like this with your fourth ring. Its potential is limitless! As your level rises, its range will surely continue to expand."
Dai Youheng himself was extremely satisfied with this skill. It was practically a divine battlefield-control skill tailor-made for him. Whether in a duel or in future team battles, it could deliver the hammer blow that settled everything.
And this
Soul skill was most effective against not only top-tier support martial souls like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, but also martial souls like the Dai Family's White Tiger. After all, the Dai Family's White Tiger Martial Soul possessed many enhancement soul skills, but within the Darkness Zone, most enhancements other than his own would fail. Without those enhancements, the White Tiger Martial Soul was nothing more than a sickly cat, hardly worth mentioning.
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