Six years have passed in the mortal world. In the southwest of the far north of the Tianhun Empire, surrounded by rolling snow-capped peaks, the ice and snow melted into clear springs, gathering into trickles that flowed through the dense coniferous forests on the mountainside and through the rolling grasslands at the foot of the mountain.
Herds of cattle and sheep roamed everywhere. Over a hundred exquisite wooden houses stood on the hills, smoke curling from cooking fires. More than a dozen sturdy snow eagles soared in the sky.
The eagles cast their heads around, as if on guard. Below, a circular stone-paved square surrounded by the wooden houses was bustling with people.
"Qingzhi, martial soul Qingluan, innate soul power level 6." The crystal ball shone with light, and an old but high-pitched voice announced.
Even the embers have warmth. It is a tradition of the Qingluan family for elders to help the younger generations awaken their martial souls. It is also the family's annual New Year's gathering.
"Old Gong, congratulations!" Congratulations echoed from outside the venue.
The little girl, who had just awakened her martial spirit, beamed brightly, her cheeks flushed as she ran briskly back to her parents.
"Next, Minghui!"
The onlookers all turned their gazes to the north of the square, where a six-year-old boy, sandwiched between a young man and woman, stood.
He had an oval face, chubby with a touch of baby fat, and a very fair complexion. It was a bit too pale, though, a paleness that was almost absent. Combined with his white hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes, he looked sickly. Only his cyan eyes added a touch of life to his pale face.
"Alas, the clan leader finally had a child, but how could he inherit the disease inherited from Chen Gongsheng?"
"It's even more serious than Chen Gongsheng's."
"Oh, I hope Xiaohui awakened the Qing Luan martial spirit of my Qing family. That way, we won't have to worry about him dying young."
Many of the elders' eyes flashed with worry.
"Go, Hui'er, don't be nervous," said a beautiful woman, seemingly in her thirties, standing next to the boy, smiling down.
On the other side, a young man, who looked only eighteen years old, patted the child's shoulder in encouragement.
Minghui took a deep breath, nodded, and strode toward the stone formation in the center of the square.
He quickly came to a stop in the center. Seeing this, the old man beside him waved his hand and sent a stream of green light toward the black stone formation beneath him.
Minghui immediately closed his eyes, following the prescribed procedure, and then felt a cool breeze, like a spring breeze, wash over him. The Qingluan martial spirit's attribute was wind, so he could fully understand why the old man's spirit power infused him with this feeling.
The next second, his brain suddenly vibrated, and a buzzing sound filled his ears, as if something was shattering within him.
Then, his mind cleared, and the sound of the wind brushing past his ears intensified.
However, this feeling lasted only a moment. The next moment, a piercing chill suddenly spread across his heart, whizzing up his right chest and up his right arm. "Hiss, so cold!" Minghui felt his heart freeze, his body trembling involuntarily, and his face paled.
He instinctively raised his right hand.
A flash of sky-blue light appeared, and the onlookers' eyes widened.
"Mingchen's martial soul, the Light Feather Divine Bow? Hmm, it seems a little different."
Within sight, a strange bow, taller than Minghui, emerged. Its entire body was a sky-blue, tinged with a cyan sheen. From afar, it resembled the wings of a blue phoenix spread wide. And those wings, composed of tiny icy spikes, were pointed at the tips.
"Is this, a mutation?" Everyone looked at it with puzzled eyes.
At that moment, Minghui, standing in the stone formation and about to open his eyes, suddenly felt something rush into his head.
This kind of thing happening after awakening his martial soul? He didn't quite understand.
"Hmm?" Mingchen's gaze narrowed as he saw a faint silver light flicker between his son's eyebrows.
"Xiaohui," the clan elder presiding over the martial soul awakening ceremony whispered, picking up the soul power test crystal ball.
The next moment, the bow in Minghui's hand suddenly blazed with a brilliant azure glow, followed by a resounding phoenix cry. "Whoosh!" A fierce wind suddenly whipped up across the field, sending snowflakes flying and dancing in its path, and the ground instantly froze.
The old man followed closely behind, transforming into an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.
"What's going on?!" Amidst the stunned gazes, a massive blue phoenix soared into the heavens.
"No! Am I going to die again? "
Minghui, frozen like the old man, felt differently. He felt only a chill all over his body, a sudden pang of pain in his heart, and then his vision went black.
"Get out of the way! This is ultimate ice!" was the last voice he heard, a cry from his father Mingchen.
"Hui'er!" and his mother Qingyi.
The next day, at noon, sunlight streamed through the drawn blinds, radiating a warmth no less than Yukinako's, waking Minghui awake from his pillow at the head of the bed.
He opened his eyes, taking in the view of the wooden roof, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Not dead, how good!
"Hui'er!" A surprised voice called out, followed by a snow-white hand caressing his forehead.
"How are you feeling now? Are you feeling any discomfort?"
Minghui instinctively tilted his head. His mother, dressed in a white fur coat, had a classically refined oval face, a high, sharp nose like a sculpture, a complexion like the autumn moon, and skin as white as cream. It's easy to imagine her youth; now she's a rare beauty.
Thinking back to his father, with his sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, he would have been at least an eight-star handsome man in his previous life.
However, despite their youthful appearance, the couple were actually over seventy, both Titled Douluo. Having a son in their old age, and his only child, they cherished him dearly.
However, even after seeing their faces frequently, he still felt a sense of awkwardness.
His mother looked thirty, his father eighteen, a perfect match for a young woman.
Alas, this was one of the few advantages of the Ming family's inherited martial spirit: it inhibited growth, a true artifact of agelessness.
"Mom, I'm fine, I just feel a little cold."
Qingyi heard this and quickly reached out to pull the blanket covering her son.
At this time, there was a clattering sound of hurried footsteps outside the door. Mingchen, who had rushed into the kitchen the moment he heard the sound, walked into the house quickly with ginseng soup.
Qingyi quickly reached out to take it, picked up the wooden spoon and stirred it gently, then bent down and blew on it before bringing it to her son.
"Hui'er, come here, drink some ginseng soup to warm you up and you won't be cold anymore."
"Thank you, Mom." Minghui nodded and took the wooden spoon his mother held out to him.
After a few sips, the warmth flowed through his body with his blood, and most of the coldness disappeared. Although his face was still a little pale, his lips were much rosier.
"Dad, Mom, I don't feel cold anymore."
"That's good." Qingyi smiled and scooped up another spoonful of ginseng soup and handed it to him.
"Come on, drink the ginseng soup while it's hot, and then have a good rest to recuperate. We'll talk about martial arts and cultivation later."
Mingchen, who was standing behind, heard this and his face froze. The palm of his hand on his thigh couldn't help but tighten.
Minghui was completely unaware and continued to drink the soup obediently.
Half a minute later, his parents closed the door and left. Minghui closed his eyes and sensed his newly awakened martial arts soul.
He fainted so quickly yesterday that he didn't have time to check it out properly.
"Huh? Huh!" After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes.
It seems that I don't have to worry about dying early!
Outside, Qingyi followed her husband to the living room sofa and sat down, her eyes filled with worry.
"Let's do as we agreed last night," Mingchen said solemnly. "Send Hui'er to Shrek Academy."
"Although Xiaotao's spirit isn't Ultimate Fire, her cultivation is far superior to Hui'er's. She should be able to suppress the cold backlash from Hui'er's spirit. Hui'er's Ultimate Ice can help Xiaotao suppress her evil fire. These two children can truly benefit from each other."
"If things don't work out, we still have the old dean. With him around, Hui'er's life is at least safe."
He had already checked his son's innate spirit power during his physical examination yesterday. It was at full level 10.
The Light Feather Divine Bow naturally possessed both light and ice attributes, but the one his son had awakened was clearly a mutation. Not only had its ice attribute been upgraded to Ultimate Ice, but its spirit also possessed the wind-attributed Blue Luan, similar in form to the Coiled Dragon Staff with the Heavenly Awakening Holy Golden Dragon.
This meant its spirit possessed three attributes, one of which was Ultimate Ice.
As a father, he should have been delighted that his son had awakened such a powerful martial spirit. However, this now left him even more worried.
Something had gone wrong with the inheritance of their martial spirit.
The Light Plume Divine Bow possessed a rare cold light, not just ordinary light.
It disinfected, relieved pain, promoted blood circulation, and aided repair. Its auxiliary properties protected it from the ravages of cold. Normally, the Light Plume Divine Bow martial spirit wouldn't have any negative effects on its host.
However, the problem was that this light attribute was incredibly rare.
Soul beasts with this light attribute were practically unavailable on this continent, let alone those with an ice attribute.
Consequently, the clan's members had traditionally relied on attaching ice-attributed spirit rings to their martial spirits.
Consequently, with the addition of these rings, the balance of these attributes shifted, eventually exceeding the host's capacity. Overuse could lead to the cold entering the body and causing harm, leading to a series of negative consequences, including slower growth, weakened abilities, decreased fertility, and weakened internal organs.
Some of these effects are hereditary, such as heart weakness, which can be passed down from generation to generation, eventually becoming congenital heart disease. Pregnant babies and premature deaths became increasingly common within the clan, accelerating its decline.
Ultimately, he was the only one left.
Had it not been for his fortunate cultivation to Titled Douluo, his strong foundation, his wife's family's wealth, and his son's childhood baths of medicinal herbs, along with Xuanshui Pills, Xuanwu Shen Pills, and whale glue to strengthen his physique, he doubted his only son would have lived past the age of six.
Or perhaps, he would have perished from a sudden burst of cold energy the moment his martial spirit awakened.
Unlike beast spirits, which can be used independently, weapon spirits are more closely integrated with their host's flesh.
Absorbing spirit rings also involves direct attachment, so the physique of the possessor essentially reflects the spirit's attributes. Unless there's a malignant mutation, there's a natural resistance.
This discrepancy is another reason why the Guangling Martial Soul's light and ice attributes are imbalanced during its inheritance, leading to the declining physiques of each generation.
Of course, there may be other reasons, but time has passed, making them impossible to verify.
Now his son has awakened Ultimate Ice, far stronger than the light attribute, yet due to genetics, he has been weak since childhood.
The situation is dire.
If his first spirit ring absorbs an ice spirit ring, the existing balance could be disrupted, leading to sudden death. Absorbing an ice spirit bone to transfer cold energy, while still too weak, and containing cold energy, could also lead to sudden death, a serious problem!
He wasn't at Ultimate Ice, so he had to cultivate to the Soul Sage level before absorbing the family heirloom left arm bone to transfer cold energy.
The best solution is to find a hundred-thousand-year-old ice spirit beast to offer as a voluntary sacrifice. This sacrifice would allow the spirit beast's life essence to be fully absorbed into his son's body, transforming his flesh and transforming his body into a top-level physique perfectly suited to the Ultimate Ice attribute.
But getting a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast to offer a voluntary sacrifice—is that difficult?
That's too difficult!
Even the old dean, Moon En, a Level 99 Ultimate Douluo, couldn't claim to be able to subdue a hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast to offer itself as a sacrifice. Killing or crippling it is much easier.
Alas, for now, all we can do is let Hui'er put off absorbing her first soul ring until she's recovered. Ming Chen sighed helplessly.
Xuanshui Pills and whale glue are indeed effective in strengthening bones and muscles and improving physique, but while they can help with congenitally weakened internal organs, they can't cure the root cause and bring about significant improvements in a short period of time.
For now, the only solution is to slowly heal.
"Then let's get ready and go together in a couple of days," Qing Yi nodded.
"Come to think of it, it's been years since we've been back to the academy to visit the old dean and the seniors," she said, a flicker of nostalgia in her eyes. She and her husband were both students at Shrek Academy, where they met, fell in love, and have been together ever since.
"Yes," Ming Chen sighed.
"Alas, Shrek Academy has changed a lot since the old dean's time." Qingyi sighed, then slightly annoyed. "That guy Yan Shaozhe wasn't reliable when he was young. Ever since he became the dean of the Martial Spirit Department, he's brought a frivolous atmosphere."
"Don't let Hui'er be led astray by him when he goes there." Compared to the academy, she was more worried about her own children.
"Dean Shaozhe isn't a bad person by nature, but he's too eager to surpass Elder Mu." Mingchen's assessment was concise and to the point. "Fake reputation has blinded his eyes."
"Dad, Mom!" Their son's voice suddenly rang in their ears. Startled, the couple stood up and hurried to their son's bedroom.
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