Sixty Thousand Volts!

Bai Yushan wanted to dodge, but the ice blade was too fast, far faster than his body. He could only turn slightly sideways, letting it skim past his chest.

The ice blade sliced through his clothes, leaving a deep gash. Cold burst from the wound, and a patch of white frost appeared on his chest. It spread visibly outward, covering half his chest in the blink of an eye.

Bai Yushan glanced down at the frost on his chest and grinned.

"So cold!"

He lunged forward, his right fist crackling with electricity as it smashed toward Wu Changkong's face. The blue-white light on his fist was blinding. All fifty-five thousand volts discharged in that punch, and the ozone in the air was thick enough to choke on.

Wu Changkong did not dodge. His second soul ring lit up, and the cold on the Heavenly Frost Sword turned into a mass of white mist, billowing from the blade like a white cloud and spreading rapidly through the air.

Frost Mist.

The cold surged in, blotting out heaven and earth, like a winter blizzard, like a polar current, like an iceberg collapsing before Bai Yushan. White freezing mist filled the training ground, enveloping his entire body.

The cold pressed in from every direction, seeping through his skin into his muscles, through his muscles into his bones, through his bones into his marrow. Bai Yushan's movements grew sluggish in the mist. Every punch consumed twice his usual strength, and every movement was a beat slower than usual.

The electricity dimmed in the freezing mist. Blue-white arcs flickered amid the white vapor like an oil lamp wavering in a blizzard, liable to go out at any moment.

Wu Changkong's sword came again.

This time, he held nothing back. The Heavenly Frost Sword traced white arcs through the air, its light like bolts of silk, its shadows like flying snow. Each stroke was faster and fiercer than the last. The sword light interwove into a white net, trapping Bai Yushan at its center.

Bai Yushan charged left and right amid the sword light, punching at Wu Changkong's face, kicking at his knee with his toes, driving his knee toward his abdomen, and smashing his elbow toward his chest. His attacks came like a violent storm, each punch faster than the last, each kick fiercer than the last, but the sword light repelled every attack a foot from Wu Changkong's body.

Clang after clang rang out without pause, like hammering in a smithy, like bells tolling in a temple.

Blue-white lightning and white sword light intertwined, scattering sparks and sending ice fragments flying. The entire training ground filled with the scorched stench of electricity and the crisp chill of the cold.

Bai Yushan's punches grew faster and faster, but his movements grew slower and slower. Not because he was tired, but because the freezing mist was eating into his body.

With every punch, the cold sank a little deeper. With every step, the frost thickened another layer. Ice formed on his fists, his ankles, his knees, and his elbows. His entire body resembled a statue being sealed in ice and snow.

Wu Changkong's third soul ring lit up.

Dazzling white light erupted from the Heavenly Frost Sword. All the frost crystals on its blade shattered, turning into countless tiny ice blades that clung to it. Bathed in white light, the blade kept growing longer and wider, becoming a giant sword three meters long and one meter wide in the blink of an eye. Sharp ice spikes covered its blade, like a colossal beast awakening from a glacier.

Heavenly Frost Slash.

Gripping the sword with both hands, Wu Changkong raised the giant blade high, then brought it crashing down. It cleaved toward the top of Bai Yushan's head with a piercing shriek, tearing the air apart with sharp explosive cracks.

Bai Yushan's pupils abruptly contracted.

All fifty-five thousand volts surged into his arms. He crossed his hands above his head and took the sword strike head-on.

Boom!

The giant sword slammed into his hands with a deafening crash, like a bomb exploding in his palms. A shock wave of white light spread outward from him, sweeping away all the frost and dust on the ground and exposing the Soul Guidance Alloy plates beneath.

Bai Yushan was driven into the ground like a nail, his feet sinking into the alloy plates. Cracks spread outward from beneath his feet in a dense spiderweb. His arms trembled. That force was too great, so great that his muscles groaned, so great that his bones wailed, so great that his body sounded a warning: he could not hold on any longer.

Bai Yushan grinned and, with a great shout, pushed back with all his strength!

The ice blade did not cleave through his arms, the white light did not engulf his body, and the giant sword stopped above his head, unable to descend another fraction.

A flicker of surprise crossed Wu Changkong's eyes.

He had used the strength of three rings in that strike. A three-ring Soul Elder's full-powered blow had been caught head-on in the bare hands of a nine-year-old child.

Bai Yushan's mouth spread wide, revealing a blood-filled grin. The impact had split the corners of his mouth, and blood seeped from the cracks, trickling down his chin and dripping onto the ground, onto the frost, into the fissures.

"Hahahaha!"

He laughed again. He laughed madly, recklessly, like a lunatic. There was no fear in his eyes, no pain, only a pure, primal, almost beastlike excitement.

"Good! Good! Good!"

He said "good" three times in succession, his voice growing louder, clearer, and more frenzied.

"This is the battle I wanted! This is the opponent I wanted! This is the pressure I wanted!"

Electricity surged wildly through his body, like frenzied dragons rampaging through his meridians, smashing through one barrier after another, breaking through one limit after another. Cold and electricity fought within him, like a war between ice and fire, like a collision between winter and summer, like the alternation of death and rebirth.

Fifty-five thousand volts.

Fifty-six thousand volts.

Fifty-seven thousand volts.

Fifty-eight thousand volts.

Fifty-nine thousand volts.

Sixty thousand volts!

Electricity exploded across his body. The blue-white arcs were denser, brighter, and more violent than before, their crackling like ten thousand birds crying out, shaking the entire training ground. The frost on his body shattered under the onslaught of electricity, turning into white powder that fell away to reveal the completely uninjured skin beneath.

He pulled his feet out of the alloy plates and stood ramrod straight, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath. His eyes shone like two suns, a frenzied light burning in his pupils. His grin stretched to his ears, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

At the center of the training ground, Bai Yushan and Wu Changkong stood facing each other.

Blue-white arcs danced over Bai Yushan's body, while white cold radiated from Wu Changkong. Lightning and cold collided in the air between them, hissing and stirring up patches of white mist.

The spectator stands were so silent that not even a crow or sparrow could be heard.

Ye Yingluo's face was deathly pale, her lips trembling. Qin Zhixu's fingers shook, and behind the lenses of his glasses was a pair of disbelieving eyes. Kong Hanwen's mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist, the flattery on his face gone without a trace. Ye Yingrong covered her mouth, her eyes filled with shock and regret.