Not Again! Am I Going to Die All Over Again?

Six years had passed in the mortal world. In the Heaven Dou Empire, southwest of the Far North, beneath a ring of snow-capped peaks.

Melting ice and snow became clear springs, converging into trickling streams that wound through dense conifer forests halfway up the mountains, then crossed the rolling pastures at their feet. Herds of cattle and sheep wandered about, over a hundred exquisite wooden houses stood among the hills, cooking smoke curled into the air, and more than a dozen robust snow eagles circled overhead.

Their eagle heads scanned the surroundings, as though standing guard.

Below, a circular stone-paved plaza enclosed by wooden houses was packed with people.

"Qing Zhi, Azure Luan Martial Soul, Innate Soul Power Rank 6." Light gleamed from the crystal ball as an aged yet spirited voice announced the result.

Even the dying embers still held warmth. The clan elders helping their younger descendants awaken their Martial Souls was a Qing Luan Family tradition.

It was also the family's grand annual New Year gathering.

"Old Gong, congratulations!" voices called from outside the square.

The little girl who had just completed her Martial Soul awakening beamed, her cheeks rosy as she skipped back to her parents.

"Next, Minghui!"

Everyone watching turned in unison toward the six-year-old boy standing at the northern edge of the plaza between a young man and woman.

He had an oval face, chubby cheeks still carrying a little baby fat, and fair, delicate skin. Too fair, in fact—utterly bloodless. Combined with his white hair, white brows, and white eyelashes, he looked sickly all over. Only his pair of green eyes lent some liveliness to his pallid face.

"The clan head finally had a child. Why did he have to inherit Enshrined Elder Chen's hereditary illness?"

"The worst part is, his condition is even more serious than Enshrined Elder Chen's."

"Let's hope Little Hui awakens our Azure Family's Azure Luan Martial Soul. Then we won't have to worry about him dying young."

Worry filled the eyes of quite a few clan elders.

"Go on, Hui'er. Don't be nervous." The beautiful woman beside the boy, who appeared to be in her thirties, lowered her head and smiled.

On his other side, the young man, who looked no older than eighteen, patted the child on the shoulder in encouragement.

Minghui quietly drew a breath, nodded, and strode toward the stone formation in the center of the plaza.

He soon stopped in the middle of it. Seeing this, the elderly man beside him waved his hand, sending a streak of azure light into the black stone formation at Minghui's feet.

Minghui immediately closed his eyes according to procedure. Then, he felt a coolness like a spring breeze enter his body. The Azure Luan Martial Soul possessed the Wind Attribute, so it was only natural for the elder's soul power to feel this way as it entered him. He understood that perfectly well.

The next second, his brain suddenly jolted. A buzzing rang in his ears, as though something inside his mind had shattered.

Then his mind became crystal clear, and even the sound of the wind brushing past his ears seemed to grow louder.

Yet the sensation lasted only an instant. In the next moment, bone-piercing cold erupted in his chest and shot from the right side of his chest into his right arm. "Hiss, so cold!" Minghui felt as though even his heart had frozen. His body trembled involuntarily, and his face turned pale.

His right hand rose on instinct.

A sky-blue flash flickered, and every onlooker widened their eyes.

"Enshrined Elder Ming Chen's Martial Soul: Divine Plume Bow? Uh, it seems a little different."

Within their sight, a strange greatbow taller than Minghui himself revealed its true form. Its body was sky-blue, mixed with an azure sheen. From afar, it resembled the spread wings of an Azure Luan. Those wings were formed from icy crystalline feathers, their tips razor-sharp.

"Has it mutated?" Everyone studied it with doubtful eyes.

Just then, Minghui, standing in the stone formation and about to open his eyes, suddenly felt something shoot into his mind.

Could awakening a Martial Soul cause something like this? He could not understand it.

"Hm?" Enshrined Elder Ming Chen noticed a faint silver glow flickering between his son's brows, and his gaze sharpened.

"Little Hui." The clan elder presiding over the Martial Soul awakening ceremony picked up the soul power testing crystal ball and called softly.

The next instant, the greatbow in Minghui's hand suddenly burst with dazzling sky-blue radiance. A clear luan cry followed. "Whoosh!" A violent gale suddenly swept across the plaza. Snowflakes appeared and whirled through the air wherever it passed, while the ground froze over in an instant.

The elder was next, turning into an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.

"What's going on?!" Amid the crowd's shocked gazes, a massive Azure Luan soared into the sky, shooting straight toward the heavens.

Not again! Am I going to die all over again?

Frozen like the elder, Minghui had a different experience. He only felt cold all over, followed by a sudden wrenching pain in his heart. Then his vision went black.

"Get away! It's Ultimate Ice!" That was the last thing he heard—his father Ming Chen's shout.

"Hui'er!" And his mother Qingyi's voice.

The next day, noon.

Sunlight streamed through the raised blinds, radiating warmth no less gentle than Yukinako's, tickling Minghui awake where he lay against the headboard.

He opened his eyes. A wooden ceiling greeted him, and he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

I'm not dead. That's great!

"Hui'er!" A delighted cry sounded beside his ear, followed by a snow-white hand touching his forehead.

"How do you feel now? Is anything uncomfortable?"

Minghui subconsciously turned his head. His mother wore a white fur robe. Her oval face was classically exquisite, her delicate nose high and finely sculpted, her face like an autumn moon and her skin like congealed cream. There was no need to imagine how beautiful she had been in her youth—she was already a rare beauty in this world.

Then he recalled his father: swordlike brows, starry eyes. In his previous life, he would have been a handsome man who scored at least an eight out of ten.

Still, while the couple looked young, both were actually over seventy and Titled Douluo powerhouses. Having finally had a son late in life, and their only child at that, they doted on him dearly.

Yet despite seeing their faces every day, he still found the sight a little jarring.

His mother looked thirty, while his father looked eighteen. At a glance, they looked completely like an old cow chewing on tender grass.

Well, that was one of the few remaining benefits of the Old Ming Family's inherited Martial Soul—it slowed aging, practically a Divine Artifact for preserving one's youth.

"Mom, I'm fine. I just feel a little cold."

Upon hearing this, Qingyi hurriedly reached out and tugged the covers more tightly around her son.

At that moment, hurried footsteps sounded outside. Ming Chen, who had rushed into the kitchen the moment he heard Minghui's voice, quickly entered the room carrying a bowl of ginseng soup.

Qingyi swiftly took it from him, stirred it gently with a wooden spoon, then lowered her head to blow on it before bringing it to her son.

"Hui'er, come on. Drink some ginseng soup to warm yourself up, and you won't feel cold anymore."

"Thank you, Mom." Minghui nodded and opened his mouth around the wooden spoon his mother offered.

After several mouthfuls, warmth circulated through his body with his blood, and more than half of the coldness immediately faded. His face remained somewhat pale, but his lips had become much rosier.

"Dad, Mom, I don't feel cold anymore."

"That's good." Qingyi smiled and scooped up another spoonful of ginseng soup.

"Come, finish the soup while it's hot, then get some proper rest and recover. We can talk about your Martial Soul and cultivation later."

Ming Chen, standing behind them, visibly stiffened. The hand resting on his thigh clenched unconsciously.

Minghui noticed nothing and obediently continued drinking his soup.

Half an hour later, after his parents shut the door and left, Minghui finally closed his eyes to sense the Martial Soul he had just awakened.

He had fainted too quickly yesterday to inspect it properly.

"Hm? Hm!" A moment later, he abruptly opened his eyes.

It seems I don't need to worry about dying young anymore!

Outside the room, Qingyi followed her husband to the sofa in the living room, her eyes full of worry.

"Let's do as we discussed last night." Ming Chen's expression was grave. "Send Hui'er to Shrek Academy."

"Xiaotao's Martial Soul may not possess the Ultimate Fire Attribute, but her cultivation is far higher than Hui'er's. She should be able to suppress the backlash of his Martial Soul's cold energy. Meanwhile, Hui'er's Ultimate Ice can help Xiaotao suppress her Evil Fire. The two children can help each other."

"If that still isn't enough, there's the Old Dean. With him around, Hui'er's life will at least be safe."

He had already examined his son's body yesterday and discovered that his Innate Soul Power was Rank 10—Innate Full Soul Power.

The Divine Plume Bow naturally possessed both Light and Ice Attributes, but what his son had awakened had clearly mutated. Not only had its Ice Attribute advanced into Ultimate Ice, but the Martial Soul also carried the Azure Luan's Wind Attribute, existing in a form similar to the Coiling Dragon Staff that came with the Heavenly Awakening Sacred Golden Dragon.

That was equivalent to a Martial Soul with three innate attributes, one of which was even the Ultimate Ice Attribute.

His son had awakened such a powerful Martial Soul. As his father, he should have been happy. Yet now, it only made him more troubled.

Because something had gone wrong during his family's inheritance of their Martial Soul.

The Light Attribute carried by the Divine Plume Bow was no ordinary light. It was a rare kind of cold light.

It could sterilize, relieve pain, promote blood circulation, and accelerate physical recovery. Its effects leaned toward support, and it could resist the erosion of cold energy to a certain extent. Thus, under normal circumstances, the Divine Plume Bow Martial Soul would not cause its wielder any negative effects.

But the problem was that this Light Attribute was far too rare.

There were simply no soul beasts on this continent with such a Light Attribute, much less one that also possessed the Ice Attribute.

As a result, their ancestors could only add Ice-Attribute Soul Rings to the Martial Soul.

The result was that, as more Soul Rings were added, the balance of attributes was broken. The Ice Attribute eventually grew strong enough to exceed the host's physical limits. Using it too frequently would cause cold energy to invade the body and injure the wielder, leading to a series of subsequent negative effects.

Such as slowed growth, weakened sexual ability, reduced fertility, and declining function in the internal organs.

Some of these effects could be inherited, such as a weakened heart. Passed down generation after generation, it had eventually become congenital heart disease. Stillbirths and children dying young during their growth had become increasingly common within the clan, and the family had declined more and more rapidly.

In the end, only he remained.

If he had not fortunately cultivated to the rank of Titled Douluo, possessed a relatively solid foundation, and married into a wealthy family, if his son had not been soaked in medicinal baths from childhood and taken medicines such as the Profound Water Pill, Black Tortoise Divine Pill, and Whale Rubber to strengthen his constitution, he doubted his only son would have survived to the age of six.

Or perhaps he would have died young the very moment his Martial Soul awakened, when the cold energy erupted.

A Tool Martial Soul, being used externally, was unlike a Beast Martial Soul that could directly possess its wielder. The latter had greater compatibility with the host's body.

When absorbing Soul Rings, the power was drawn directly into the body. Therefore, whatever attribute the Martial Soul possessed, its owner's body generally had the corresponding constitution. Unless a malignant mutation occurred, they were naturally born with a certain degree of resistance. This difference was also another root cause for the imbalance between the Light and Ice Attributes during the Divine Plume Bow's inheritance, and why the physical constitutions of the clan's descendants had worsened with each generation.

Of course, there might have been other reasons as well, but too much time had passed for any investigation to be possible.

Now, his son had awakened Ultimate Ice, whose intensity far surpassed the Light Attribute, and he had been physically weak since childhood due to hereditary issues.

The situation could not have been worse.

If he absorbed an Ice-Attribute Soul Ring for his first Soul Ring, a single misstep could shatter the current balance and cause him to die on the spot. Absorbing an Ice-Attribute Soul Bone to redirect the cold energy was also impossible with such a weak foundation. The Soul Bone itself contained icy energy, and a single mistake could likewise kill him. It was truly troublesome.

Ming Chen himself had only dared to absorb the family's inherited left arm bone to redirect the cold energy after cultivating to Soul Sage, and that was without possessing Ultimate Ice.

The best solution would be to find a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with the Ice Attribute willing to offer a Sacrifice. A Sacrifice would allow the soul beast's Life Essence to merge completely into his son's body, remolding it and directly transforming it into a top-tier constitution compatible with Ultimate Ice.

But could they make a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast willingly offer a Sacrifice?

That was far too difficult!

Even the Old Dean, Mu En, a Rank 99 Limit Douluo, would not dare claim he could force a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to offer a Sacrifice.

Killing or crippling one would be far easier.

For now, all I can do is delay Hui'er's absorption of his first Soul Ring and wait until his body recovers, Ming Chen sighed helplessly.

The Profound Water Pill and Whale Rubber were indeed remarkably effective at strengthening the muscles and bones and improving one's constitution. But while they could help with congenitally weakened internal organs, they could not address the root of the problem or bring about major improvements in a short time.

At present, all they could do was nurture him slowly.

"Then let's make preparations. We'll go together in a couple of days." Qingyi nodded.

"Come to think of it, we haven't returned to the academy to visit the Old Dean and our senior brothers and sisters in many years." A trace of reminiscence flashed through her eyes. She and her husband had both been students of Shrek Academy, where they had met, gotten to know each other, fallen in love, and remained together until now.

"Yes." Ming Chen was equally moved.

"Ah, today's Shrek Academy has changed quite a bit compared to when the Old Dean was in charge." Qingyi sighed, then said with a hint of annoyance, "Yan Shaozhe was unreliable even when he was young. Ever since becoming dean of the Martial Soul Department, he has made the entire academy's atmosphere shallow and impetuous."

"Hui'er mustn't be led astray by him after he goes there." Compared to the academy itself, she was more worried about her child.

"Senior Brother Shaozhe isn't bad by nature. He simply wants too badly to surpass Elder Mu, and he's too impatient." Ming Chen's evaluation was succinct. "Empty fame has blinded him."

"Dad, Mom!" Their son's cry suddenly rang out beside their ears.

The couple jolted to their feet and hurried toward their son's bedroom.