Ice and Fire Fusion Technique

Late at night.

Lin Qing sat on the edge of the bed without lighting a lamp. He sat quietly as bamboo breath circulated slowly through his body.

The two crystals of ice and fire lay deep within his bamboo heart, pulsing at an extremely slow pace, like two hearts beating quietly.

He closed his eyes and retraced every step from Holy Soul Village to Spirit City in his mind-every fight he had fought, every bout of pain he had endured, every moment he had risen from the brink. It was like leafing through a book worn old from repeated readings.

He opened his eyes and looked at the iron token on the table. "Number seventeen." A number, nothing more.

"Ah Zhu," he said softly.

"Mm." Lone Bamboo's voice came from his sea of consciousness, much clearer than it had been at first.

"You said that to get home, I needed to break past mortal limits and reach god level. At my current pace, how long will that take?"

There was a pause. "It's not a question of whether you can get there. It's a question of how long you need.

"Spirit Hall controls the finest cultivation resources on the Douluo Continent-Soul Bones, pills, cultivation methods, secret realms, and guidance.

"You can't get any of those by building a cart behind closed doors."

Though his bloodline would allow him to stand at the pinnacle of this world someday, just how long would that take?

Lin Qing said nothing, only looking out the window. Moonlight shone on the city walls, and the flags hung in the night breeze as if asleep.

"The Golden Generation," Lone Bamboo said, "is that position."

Lin Qing looked away and closed his hand. "Then I'll take it."

Early the next morning, at the western district training ground.

The morning mist had only just dispersed, and the fine sand underfoot still held the dampness of the night.

By the time Lin Qing arrived, Number Five and Sun Yan were already there. Number Five stood against a wall, a blade of grass pinched between his fingers;

Sun Yan crouched at the edge of the field, tying his shoelaces, his pair of short cudgels tucked behind his waist. His back looked broader and heavier than it had the day before.

The bishop stood in the middle of the field, a list in hand. "Second round: three people will fight in rotation. Each person fights twice. One point for each win. Anyone who loses both fights leaves."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Yan stood and rolled his shoulders. A dark golden light seeped out from beneath his skin, as though some ancient power were waking from slumber.

His build had not changed, but the sand beneath his feet was slowly sinking, and every breath carried a heavy blast of heat.

"Diamond Mammoth," someone at the edge of the field murmured. Lin Qing had heard of this Martial Soul-a supreme mutation of ancient elephant species, with terrifying defensive power and enough explosive strength to tear apart a city wall.

"Number seventeen versus number six. Begin."

Sun Yan came toward him one step at a time, dragging his short cudgels. With each step, the sand beneath his feet sank into a shallow hollow.

He did not walk quickly, but the pressure he exerted was real. Every step closed the distance, like a moving mountain slowly drawing near.

Though he had the experience of two lives, there had not been so much fighting and killing in his previous life, and he still had few practical combat techniques to draw upon.

Relying on his own domain-like Soul-level advantage, Lin Qing did not wait for Sun Yan to bear down on him completely. He pressed his left hand toward the ground and unleashed Bamboo Sea Emergence.

Bamboo shot out of the sand, and green-gold light spread through the air. In moments, a dense bamboo wall formed between them.

Sun Yan did not stop. He released his Martial Soul, covering much of his body in diamond armor. He stood two meters tall, his entire body thick with muscle.

He smashed the nearest stalk of bamboo in half, then used the momentum of his turn to strike the next. The stalk bent beneath his cudgel, snapped, and fell.

Lin Qing darted through the bamboo grove, pole-vaulting from one branch to another.

Sun Yan chased him, smashing at him seven or eight times. Each missed blow left a shallow crater in the sand.

He stopped, his gaze fixed on Lin Qing's position. "How long can you keep dodging?"

Lin Qing circled to Sun Yan's side, cold Qi gathering in his palm, and struck at the back of his shoulder.

The instant his palm made contact, he felt a jolt-an exceptionally hard crystalline layer covered Sun Yan's skin, and cold Qi seeped into it at less than half its usual speed.

Sun Yan's movements paused only slightly. Then he turned and swung a short cudgel at Lin Qing's waist, the blow bringing a heavy rush of wind.

Lin Qing retreated half a step, but the wind from the cudgel still caught him. A dull ache spread through his left ribs, as though a rock had shoved him.

He retreated to the edge of the bamboo grove, opening the distance, and glanced down at his hand. The cold Qi mark was still glowing faintly, but nowhere near as brightly as usual.

The Diamond Mammoth's crystalline layer weakened almost every control effect.

His defense is on the outside. Lone Bamboo's voice rang out in his sea of consciousness, quicker and terser than usual. You can't break through the outer layer. You need to break him from the inside.

Lin Qing did not ask further. He understood. Cold Qi could not freeze Sun Yan's surface because those crystalline layers kept it out;

But the crystalline layers could not block temperature itself. What if he injected the two extreme forces of ice and fire at the same time? They would meet beneath the crystalline layer, collide, and tear it apart.

He adjusted his stance. Sun Yan bore down on him again, this cudgel strike carrying the force of a spin and coming much faster than before.

Lin Qing did not dodge. He charged toward Sun Yan, and an instant before the mammoth fist came down, he used his second Soul Skill, Lone Shadow Startling Swan. Sun Yan shattered an afterimage with one punch, while Lin Qing flashed behind him.

The green bloodline Soul Ring behind him lit up, and five green-gold bamboo leaves emerged from his right palm.

As Soul Power circulated, the five leaves spun around a single point and bored toward Sun Yan's back like a spinning top. The golden leaves entered his body, piercing his diamond barrier,

Lin Qing pressed both palms against Sun Yan's back at once, cold Qi in his left hand and scorching heat in his right.

Ice and fire entered his body in the same instant.

Sun Yan's movements froze. His pupils widened abruptly, and his lips parted, but no sound came out.

The dark golden crystalline layer on his skin flickered violently, as though two utterly different forces were tearing at each other beneath it, trying to burst through everything from deep within his bones.

Ice and fire met inside him.

They did not fuse or neutralize each other. They repelled each other-violently rejecting, colliding, and tearing at each other deep within Sun Yan's meridians.

The pain was like a crack splitting open from the inside out, spreading along his bones.

Sun Yan's knee buckled. A short cudgel slipped from his hand and stuck into the sand as he dropped to one knee.

He gasped a few breaths. The tremors from that crack were slowly subsiding, but he no longer had the strength to stand.

"...What did you do?" His voice was low and hoarse, as though squeezed from deep within his chest.

Lin Qing withdrew his hands. "Your defense is on the outside. I couldn't break through it from there. But there's no crystalline layer inside."

Sun Yan was silent for a few seconds. Then he released his short cudgel and sat down against a fallen, slanting bamboo stalk, saying nothing more.

The referee's voice came from the edge of the field. "Number seventeen wins."