Becoming a Saint Since the Age of Myth

The first pair was Taurus Hasgard and Cancer Manigoldo; the second was Aries Shion and Libra Dohko; the third was Leo Regulus and Sagittarius Sisyphus; the fourth was Scorpio Kardia and Aquarius Dégel; the fifth was Capricorn El Cid and Pisces Albafica.

As for Gemini and Virgo, they had been away from Sanctuary for a long time, so they were not assigned to any pair.

Meanwhile, news that the Pope was stepping up Sanctuary's patrols and defenses soon reached the lower ranks, allowing the many Saints who had been worried to breathe a little easier.

After all, if one Gold Saint was not enough, two Gold Saints acting together surely would be.

In the Aquarius Temple, after two days of trial and exploration, Wuxin slowly found the knack. His efficiency at extracting the Cosmo within water improved greatly, and he finally completed his training task of turning water into ice.

"Very good, very good!"

After watching Wuxin demonstrate it before him, Dégel offered unstinting praise.

"You've successfully mastered the technique of turning water into ice. We can begin the next stage of your studies!"

"Now, have you thought about how we should apply this technique of turning water into ice independently?" Dégel asked unhurriedly.

"Apply it independently?"

Wuxin frowned and ventured, "Use the properties of water turning into ice to freeze other substances?"

"Exactly!"

Dégel nodded and continued, "You already understand the essence of the power of ice. Next, you need to master its basic application!"

"You must understand that water isn't everywhere. In certain special environments, in particular, there might not be a single drop."

"Under those circumstances, without an independent ice-forming technique, producing a freezing effect would be impossible."

"So we need to create a special medium ourselves to replace the missing water, and thereby achieve a freezing effect?" Wuxin tentatively voiced his guess.

Chapter 53: Mastering Freezing (Part Two)

"Correct!"

Dégel nodded and continued explaining, "Only by creating a heat-absorbing medium ourselves can we produce a freezing effect anytime, anywhere!"

"Like this!"

As he spoke, he opened his right hand, turned his palm downward, and released wisps of white air from it.

Immediately afterward, Wuxin saw chunks of solid ice form on the surface as the white currents touched the pool below.

"So that's it!"

A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, and understanding suddenly dawned on him.

All along, he had simply assumed that freezing air really was nothing more than low-temperature water vapor.

It condensed into ice at low temperatures, thereby producing a freezing effect.

However, Wuxin still remembered that Aquarius possessed a powerful ultimate technique called Aurora Execution.

That move was said to possess the terrifying might of absolute zero, yet the technique itself took the form of light.

He had never been able to understand why light would cause freezing. It did not conform to the world's basic rules.

But now he understood. Whether freezing air or light, both were merely outward forms.

Their essence was a special medium specifically designed to absorb heat. It could draw an enormous amount of heat from a target in an instant, causing the surrounding water vapor to condense and producing a freezing effect.

This medium could be water, gas, or even light. It had no fixed form.

That was why Aurora Execution could use light to produce a freezing effect.

It did not create ice itself to encase something, but instead drew heat from the target to freeze it. Being encased in ice was merely a byproduct of the freezing effect.

Even in an environment without any water vapor, it could still freeze something without encasing it in ice.

"You really understand?"

Withdrawing the freezing air, Dégel asked with a hint of surprise.

"I understand! Thank you for your guidance, sir!" Wuxin thanked him solemnly.

"Good, as long as you understand!"

Dégel nodded and continued, "Since you understand, head down the mountain!"

"Your comprehension is better than I imagined."

"As long as you can complete this second stage of study, you'll have formally grasped the basics of the power of ice!"

"Thank you, thank you!" Wuxin expressed his gratitude again.

He had wanted to brazenly stay and ask Dégel to teach him more, but considering that they were not very familiar with each other yet, he abandoned the idea.

In particular, he had already used two of the three days Dégel had allotted earlier. With only this final day remaining, Dégel had already taught him the fundamentals for the second stage, so there was little point in staying.

Ultimately, Dégel had only offered some guidance out of regard for Wuxin's senior brother Manigoldo and his teacher Hakurei. Pushing his luck any further would have been inappropriate.

Wuxin then bade Dégel farewell and left the Aquarius Temple.

When he passed the Cancer Temple, he stayed for quite a while and told Manigoldo about what he had learned over the past few days.

Unfortunately, Manigoldo had no interest in the power of ice. He merely dragged Wuxin into several more rounds of sparring before letting him leave.

After reaching the foot of the mountain, Wuxin returned to the hut where he had lived before. After briefly packing up the things inside, he found another house near the sea.

He would be undertaking the second stage of his studies of the power of ice for some time, and staying by the sea would be more convenient.

After putting his new room in order, Wuxin went to the shore.

The shore was relatively open, so quite a few trainee Saints came there to train as well.

After avoiding most of them, he found a large rock by the sea.

The rock's surface was fairly flat and well suited for resting. Half of it extended into the sea, making contact with the seawater and tides easier. It was actually quite a good spot for seated meditation.

Wuxin sat cross-legged on it, patiently contemplating as he repeatedly recalled Dégel's earlier teachings.

To truly use the power of ice, I must master the technique of creating a special heat-absorbing medium!

Then, by combining that special heat-absorbing medium with the technique for absorbing heat, I can achieve the basic application of the power of ice!

After reviewing Dégel's teachings once more, Wuxin deepened his understanding of the power of ice again.

As for the heat-absorbing medium, I'll use water as the model for now! Looking at the waves continually breaking against the rock below, Wuxin made his plan.

Water was a natural heat-absorbing material found in nature, and also the most common.

It possessed an extremely high specific heat capacity-in other words, an upper limit for heat storage.

Using water as the model for a heat-absorbing medium was an excellent choice.

Thus, what Wuxin needed to do next was use his own Cosmo to imitate and reproduce the properties of water, just as he had imitated Corpse Qi back in Jamir.

Having already completed his training in Corpse Qi once, Wuxin was naturally familiar with the process. Applying what he had learned to this new task, he completed this step in only about a day.

"This was much faster than when I imitated Corpse Qi!" Wuxin marveled as he watched the Cosmo flowing like water in his palm.

This did not mean that his talent in this field exceeded his talent for the power of death. Rather, he was far, far stronger now than he had been back then.

Working from a higher vantage point naturally made it seem easier.

Now that I have a heat-absorbing medium, the next step is to combine it with the heat-absorbing technique! With a thought, Wuxin tilted his palm slightly, and the stream of water in it naturally flowed down.

As he watched that stream fall onto the sea's surface, Wuxin silently activated his Cosmo again. Using the water he had created as a medium, he rapidly extracted the heat contained within the seawater itself.

Crack, crack, crack!

A layer of solid ice immediately formed on the sea's surface, centered on the stream flowing from Wuxin's hand, and spread rapidly outward.

In the blink of an eye, the solid ice covered nearly three meters of the sea around it.

"It worked!"

Wuxin could not help the corners of his mouth turning upward at the sight.

Although he was still only at the most rudimentary experimental stage, he had indeed succeeded in using the power of ice.

Next comes the second step: optimizing the heat-absorbing medium and further improving my heat-absorbing technique! Wuxin immediately set his next goal.

In fact, he was not particularly worried about this step's objectives.

For a heat-absorbing medium, freezing air was what everyone used most often, and its essence was water vapor.

Water vapor spread easily. At the same time, it was another form of water, making it an excellent heat-absorbing medium.

In a certain sense, it was actually water divided into countless droplets the size of dust particles.

Having already mastered imitating the transformation into water, Wuxin certainly would not waste his energy exploring other possibilities. He only needed to transform the stream of water further.

As for further improving his heat-absorbing technique, Wuxin could simply study the imprint left in the Crateris Cloth and absorb its techniques for his own use.

Now that he had grasped the basics of the power of ice, comprehending what lay within the Cloth's imprint would naturally be very simple.

Chapter 54: Tenma's Ordeal

After nearly seven days of contemplation and training, Wuxin finally mastered the use of freezing air. He also learned the two special moves within the Crateris Cloth's imprint: Frozen Earth and Ice Spear White Lotus.

As for anything else, there was nothing.

The previous Crateris Saint, Baker, had only learned those two moves from the imprint of the Crateris Saint before him, so naturally, he had only left imprints of those two moves.

It had to be said that this was truly a pity.

Unfortunately, that was how the rules of the Cloth's imprints worked. It could only preserve one imprint at a time.

When a second owner of the Cloth appeared, it would automatically record that owner's imprint, slowly overwriting the imprint left by the previous owner.

Wuxin had been rather unlucky to encounter an unreliable predecessor as Crateris.

Just as he finished a round of practicing his moves, an anxious voice suddenly rang in Wuxin's ears.

"Junior brother, come to the Pope's Hall, quickly! Lady Sasha and the old man want to see you!"

"Lady Sasha and His Holiness have summoned me?"

Recognizing Manigoldo's transmitted voice, Wuxin knitted his brows.

He sensed something unusual.

Something might have happened.