Floating in the spring water, Ming Zhao slowly opened his eyes. He did not know how long he had been asleep.
After waking, he did not leave the spring right away. After the Skin Marries Bone ritual and the Ice and Fire Golden Body, his body had long since adapted to the environment within the twin ice and fire springs.
Here, Ming Zhao not only felt no suffocation and could breathe freely, but the ice and fire energy around him, so dense it was nearly tangible, also made the Soul Power within him more active.
He had succeeded.
The Skin Marries Bone ritual, with its nine chances of death for every chance of survival, had been completed without a hitch. During it, Ming Zhao had not only condensed his yin-yang complementary dual Soul Cores, but also greatly strengthened his body. His Soul Power, too, had broken through the Titled Douluo bottleneck, just as expected.
Only one thing left his mood shifting between clear skies and clouds.
Zhang Lexuan appeared behind him, dressed in bridal robes. Her expression was as dignified and serene as ever, and every movement was as graceful and poised as a noble lady's, as though she had not been the one who, with Li Ya, had stripped Ming Zhao of his skin and bones earlier.
Once his Martial Soul was summoned, nine Soul Rings appeared around Ming Zhao as well.
Yes, nine.
Eight blood-red hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings and one golden Soul Ring marked with an orange-red dragon pattern.
The Fire Dragon King's ninth Soul Ring.
Not only that, but his Second Martial Soul had gained a Second Soul Ring in addition to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's. It was a golden Soul Ring marked with an ice-blue dragon pattern.
Staring at the ninth Soul Ring before him, Ming Zhao's expression shifted again and again.
The Skin Marries Bone ritual was theoretical. No one on the Douluo Continent had ever attempted it before, and even Ming Zhao himself had not known whether it could actually succeed. Yet it had been completed smoothly, without any danger or mishap along the way.
That in itself was a surprise.
In fact, shortly after the ritual began, Ming Zhao had noticed that the energy of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well seemed to be actively cooperating with him to complete it. Drawing on the energy of heaven and earth had been far too easy.
Later, when he condensed his yin-yang complementary dual Soul Cores, the terrain of the twin ice and fire springs had also actively helped him suppress the Soul Cores and maintain the balance between them.
At first, he had thought the ritual's special nature was what made every step go so smoothly.
But when he finished condensing his Soul Cores and his Soul Power Level broke through the Level 90 barrier, two illusory dragons had instantly burst from the bottom of the spring and crashed into his body.
And then he had gained these two Soul Rings.
Each ring had four powerful Soul Skills, eight in total. That meant these were two super Soul Rings with a minimum age of a million years, while the two illusory dragons, one ice-blue and one fire-red, were unmistakably the remnant souls of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings.
Even now, Ming Zhao could feel the Dragon Kings' remnant souls slumbering within the Soul Rings.
Their consciousnesses were badly damaged, unlike the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's intact one. They could not awaken on their own or even communicate, but there was still hope for their recovery.
Hope?
"Unwilling to be worn away by time, so you placed your hopes in me and lent me a hand, to see whether I could awaken you in the future?" Ming Zhao's changeable expression settled, his gaze unfathomable.
Then you really picked the wrong person.
Perhaps some people would think that, having received the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' help, Ming Zhao ought to repay them by awakening them someday.
But repaying kindness had never been part of Ming Zhao's code of conduct. Things like conscience and driftwood were things he had thrown away tens of thousands of years ago.
The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had helped him complete the Skin Marries Bone ritual and condense his yin-yang complementary dual Soul Cores, and had even given him two quasi-divine Soul Rings, each at least a million years old. Their kindness to him could be said to be as weighty as a mountain.
But... so what?
These were the remnant souls of two dragons who had most likely been God Kings in life!
Ming Zhao did not know which version of the setting applied to these two unlucky fellows, but whichever it was, they had both been at least First-Level Gods in their prime, possessing the power to destroy heaven and earth.
Let the remnant souls of two dragons this powerful go for the sake of a little conscience?
Ming Zhao thought that perhaps some people would do so, but he considered them fools.
He was a Soul Master who cultivated Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts. Souls of the dead were his favorite, especially when these two were one of ice and one of fire, a perfect match for his Water Vengeful Spirit and Ghost Bride Martial Souls.
If he could use these two unlucky fellows' souls to replace Li Ya and Zhang Lexuan as the embodied forms of the Water Vengeful Spirit and Ghost Bride...
Living inside a Martial Soul still counts as living, doesn't it?
"If you're unhappy with that outcome, then all I can do is erase your consciousnesses after turning you into Martial Souls..."
Though, in all likelihood, they would not even have a chance to be unhappy with the outcome.
Condensing Soul Power into a plain white robe patterned with black, Ming Zhao shot out of the twin ice and fire springs and stood steadily in midair.
Ripples spread through space beneath his feet, supporting his body. Ming Zhao used no Soul Power at all; to stand in midair, he relied entirely on a dual-Soul-Core Limit Douluo's ability to control the power of space.
He lowered his head and gently clenched his fist, sensing the transformed state within his body.
A vortex of Soul Power rotated slowly in each of two spots, his chest and lower abdomen. The upper one was white and yang, the lower one black and yin. Black and white Soul Power flowed between the Soul Cores, rotating in completely opposite directions and forming a vast circulation cycle within Ming Zhao's body.
His broad meridians were all crystal clear and exceptionally resilient, easily accommodating the Soul Power that flowed through them.
"Level 94..." Ming Zhao was somewhat surprised by this level.
By his estimate, after condensing his yin-yang complementary dual Soul Cores, it would already have been quite good if his level had barely broken through to Titled Douluo.
A yin-yang complementary Soul Core was no simple thing, especially since Ming Zhao had condensed two at once. The cost would only increase severalfold, or even more than tenfold, compared with condensing a single Soul Core.
For him to have reached this level, it was presumably thanks to the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' remnant souls and the Soul Rings and Soul Bone they had given him.
Besides the Million-Year Soul Ring on each of his two Martial Souls, Ming Zhao had also been given a Soul Bone for his torso. The two Dragon Kings had condensed this Soul Bone together rather than separately; half ice and half fire, it covered his entire torso.
He could even summon a pair of tangible ice and fire dragon wings as an External Soul Bone from his shoulder blades.
The torso bone also came with four Soul Skills.
The two Soul Rings, one Soul Bone, and the ice and fire energy the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had brought of their own accord had carried Ming Zhao to the doorstep of Super Douluo just after he broke through to Titled Douluo.
Of course, in terms of actual combat power, he was far stronger than Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao, after condensing his yin-yang complementary dual Soul Cores, would come up short against a succession of Titled Douluo and Super Douluo, come up short against Long Xiaoyao, come up short against the Sea Princess, and keep coming up short.
But Ming Zhao would not. He was absolutely certain that he already possessed Limit-level combat power. Even if he could not match a veteran Limit Douluo like Long Xiaoyao, he would never be weaker than Xuan Zi after Xuan Zi broke through to the Limit.
Once he broke through to Level 95 and joined the ranks of the Super Douluo, even a Limit Douluo of Long Xiaoyao's caliber would be nothing to fear.