As the last remnants of Ice Laws flickered within Iram Rai's veins, a shiver of despair curled through her chest. Her breath steamed in the air, thin and frigid, as though even the atmosphere sought to crush her. She sat cross-legged upon the frozen stone, her fingers trembling with strain as she reached inward, striving to connect the dwindling Ice Laws in her body to the greater realm beyond—a boundless ocean of frozen power she had once touched with ease.
But the link faltered.
Just as she prepared to make another desperate attempt, a strange prickle danced along the nape of her neck. Her eyes snapped open, but she saw nothing. Instinct guiding her, she turned her Divine Sense inward—and then she saw it.
Suspended in the void of her spiritual sea, wreathed in pale mist, hovered a pill.
It was exquisite—no larger than a fingernail, yet it pulsed with overwhelming force. Streams of Ice Laws flowed from its surface like ribbons of moonlight. But interlaced with that cold purity was something else—darker, more insidious. A venomous whisper riding the frost: Poison Law.
The two conflicting powers—Ice and Poison—did not battle for dominance. Instead, they fused seamlessly, their union perfect and terrifying. This intricate melding was unlike anything she had encountered. It was no ordinary artifact of cultivation. It was alive with intent, humming with ancient purpose.
She sent her Divine Sense deeper, peeling back layers of hidden power. Within the pill surged not only Law essence, but the pure elemental origins of Ice and Poison themselves—entwined like twin dragons locked in eternal dance.
Recognition struck like a bolt of lightning. Her pulse quickened.
"A Heaven and Earth Pill..." she whispered aloud, voice barely audible over the howling winds around her. "Forged from celestial herbs... fused under divine flame... by alchemists of the Medicine Sect."
Such treasures were spoken of only in whispers, coveted beyond measure. The ingredients alone were enough to bankrupt empires. As for possessing one—impossible. She had never touched such wealth, not even during her brief time under royal protection.
Her jaw clenched. Royal blood... The memory stabbed at her—her lineage obliterated, her family betrayed and slaughtered by the very sects she now sought to defy. Once a princess, now a fugitive. Her dreams of justice rested on the blade's edge of survival.
There was no time to hesitate.
She reached for the pill.
The moment it touched her spiritual core, she swallowed it whole. A burst of icy light exploded through her body. Her meridians flared, overwhelmed by the tidal surge of Ice Poison Elemental Essence that tore through her inner world. Her cultivation technique activated on instinct, drawing in the volatile storm, funneling it through her energy points with frantic precision.
The fused Ice and Poison Laws did not simply enter her—they demanded dominion. They swirled into a glowing orb at the base of her skull, burning a path toward her soul.
This was the precipice she had long prepared for. Soul Transformation—the union of Law, body, and soul. But she had underestimated the ferocity of the pill.
Pain erupted.
Her body twisted, wracked with spasms. Meridians cracked. Bones screamed. Blood vessels flared with searing cold. It felt as though a frozen inferno had ignited within her. She bit down on a scream, her mind a blur of agony and fear.
The child!
Terror lanced through her. Within her womb, another soul stirred—small, fragile, and entirely dependent on her strength. If the rampaging elemental essence continued unchecked, it would not spare her unborn child.
She would not allow that.
Summoning every scrap of willpower, she plunged deeper into herself. And there, like a buried relic, she felt it—her Ice Soul Bone.
It pulsed, faintly at first, then with rising intensity, responding to the chaotic flood of power. With grim determination, Iram Rai directed the surging essence toward it.
The response was immediate.
Her Ice Soul Bone roared to life, devouring the essence with ravenous hunger. Flames of pale white erupted from within her core—not fire, but something colder, purer. The temperature plummeted as the bone's radiance spread through her. Muscles tightened, bones hardened, skin crystalized. Every inch of her being began to evolve, tempered by the purest of cold.
Time lost all meaning.
One day. Two. Three.
Each breath was a battle. Her consciousness drifted between lucidity and delirium as she weathered the storm. Slowly, the Heaven and Earth Pill's divine essence was consumed, absorbed into her soul and flesh. The agony faded, replaced by something far more profound: growth.
She opened her eyes—pale, crystalline, and steady.
Her spirit and soul were whole. The Ice Poison Law pulsed through her veins like lifeblood. She had reached the threshold.
It was time.
With silent resolve, she began the final phase—the weaving of soul into body, a ritual as ancient as cultivation itself. She summoned every fragment of Law within her: Ice that froze mountains, Poison that withered worlds. She guided her immortal soul into every cell, into her marrow, her heart, her mind.
Pain returned—sharper, crueler. But she endured it. She had faced death before. She had been tortured, betrayed, bled dry. This pain was a promise—a transformation.
The fusion completed.
Her soul and body were now one.
Yet her task was not over.
"One step remains," she murmured, voice hoarse but resolute. "The Divine Law Body... the anchor of my new self."
She needed a Divine Treasure—an artifact perfectly resonant with her fused Law—to construct the body outside her physical form. But her treasures were long gone. The Half-Divine Ice Artifact she once owned had been gifted away, surrendered foolishly in a moment of trust and affection.
Regret rippled through her, sharp and bitter. But she crushed it. Sentiment had no place in cultivation.
From her space bracelet, she summoned what remained: three Half-Step Divine Artifacts. Their power was substantial, but flawed—each carried impurities. None aligned perfectly with her Ice Poison Law.
She examined them in silence.
They will have to do.
A soft sigh left her lips—resignation, but not defeat.
She would forge her Rule Divine Body, even if it meant accepting imperfection. She would carve her path from broken blades and shattered dreams. For herself. For her child. For the legacy of a fallen royal bloodline.
The Soul Transformation stage awaited.
And she would claim it—no matter the cost.