Watching the figure before him dissolve into a sky full of drifting motes of light, Huo Yuhao's tense nerves finally relaxed slightly as he let out a soft breath. Fortunately, he had acted fast enough, not giving "him" the chance to unleash the subsequent terrifying spirit abilities of the Ice Jade Scorpion Spirit. As the person who understood himself best, Huo Yuhao knew better than anyone how horrifying the power of those spirit abilities was. However, the experience of killing another self with his own hands was truly an indescribably complex feeling.
"First stage, passed."
The cold notification sound arrived as expected.
"Second stage, begin."
Huo Yuhao's expression turned solemn. After three consecutive high intensity battles, especially the battle of attrition against himself just now, his spirit power was nearly half depleted. He didn't hold much hope for winning the next battle. But this second stage of the Ultimate Test was likely the final one. No matter what, he wanted to see for himself just how strong this final guardian was.
Within the pure white space, a pillar of light descended once more. The light condensed, and a familiar figure appeared again. It was still the fourteen or fifteen year old Huo Yuhao from before. He seemed to retain some consciousness from the previous battle and did not tentatively use the Spirit Eyes Martial Soul again. The moment he appeared, an ultimate chill capable of freezing the soul spread out without reservation!
A jade green halo circulated around him, and spirit rings emerged one after another beneath his feet. The first to light up was still that blood red spirit ring with four brilliant golden patterns, a hundred thousand year spirit ring, radiating a heart palpitating pressure. However, following that red spirit ring symbolizing ultimate power, three even more peculiar orange gold spirit rings rose slowly like three miniature suns, rhythmic and encircling. This Huo Yuhao who appeared this time... his Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Spirit had surprisingly also reached the realm of a four ring Spirit Ancestor!
The Huo Yuhao opposite him instantly completed the Spirit Possession of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. Centered on where the opponent stood, it was as if the invisible concept of cold itself was manifesting! Ten thousand year Profound Ice condensed out of thin air and spread, making a tooth aching crackling sound as it expanded frantically in all directions at a terrifying speed! In just a few breaths, the area within a radius of hundreds of meters as far as the eye could see had completely transformed into a crystal clear kingdom of ice. This was precisely the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Torso Bone spirit bone skill, a domain type spirit ability, the Domain of Eternal Frost!
Huo Yuhao was all too familiar with this spirit ability. Because... he possessed it too! The grim chill of Ultimate Ice was something ordinary Spirit Masters could only barely resist by continuously burning their spirit power. Being inside it, it was already difficult to exert sixty or seventy percent of one's strength. But Huo Yuhao was different after all. Although he hadn't revealed his Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Spirit at this moment, his physical body had long since fused with a spirit bone containing the Snow Empress's origin power, making his resistance to cold far superior to that of ordinary Spirit Masters. Therefore, the influence of this Domain of Eternal Frost on him was weakened to the minimum.
Then, under Huo Yuhao's gaze, the blood red hundred thousand year spirit ring and the first orange gold spirit ring beneath the feet of the opposite Huo Yuhao flashed in succession! His body was instantly covered in a layer of crystal clear green ice armor. It was the first spirit ability of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, the Ice Empress's Protection! Almost simultaneously, fine snowflakes began to drift above the Domain of Eternal Frost without warning. Those were no ordinary snowflakes. Every single flake contained heaven and earth elemental energy of the ice attribute, refined to the ultimate degree. The snow fell silently, yet the chill suddenly surged.
This was the second spirit ability from the seven hundred thousand year Snow Empress spirit soul, also an incomparably powerful domain type skill, Snow Dance Shines Upon the Sun! When the Ultimate Ice of the Domain of Eternal Frost and the Ultimate Snow of the Snow Dance Shines Upon the Sun fused, overlapped, and resonated with each other, they formed an even more terrifying composite domain. In historical records, that Huo Yuhao had once named this fusion domain the Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain!
Standing within this double domain, the corners of Huo Yuhao's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly. Using the total spirit power of a Spirit Ancestor level to successively activate three hundred thousand year level spirit abilities... wasn't this a bit too extravagant!
The bone chilling cold was like billions of ice needles, eroding deep into his marrow and into his flowing blood. In this terrifying Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain, Huo Yuhao finally felt true pressure and had to fully activate his spirit power to resist the all pervasive ultimate cold. Seeing the Huo Yuhao opposite him charging towards him, enveloped in a sky full of wind and snow, Huo Yuhao knew he had to end the fight quickly. If he delayed, he would only be completely frozen and swallowed by this domain.
His gaze sharpened, and he unleashed another incomparably fierce Soul Lash, striking directly at the opponent's soul! However, this time, the Huo Yuhao opposite only frowned imperceptibly, a trace of solemnity flashing across his face, yet his figure didn't slow down in the slightest, maintaining his forward momentum.
Huo Yuhao's heart sank, "Even his mental force has been significantly enhanced!"
The distance between the two was not far to begin with, and in an instant, Huo Yuhao was before him. A fist entwined with frigid wind and snow, carrying the power to freeze all things, smashed down towards Huo Yuhao's head! Huo Yuhao didn't dare to take it head on. In his haste, he could only block with his sword horizontally again.
Thud!!!
An unimaginable force transmitted through the blade. Huo Yuhao felt his arms shake violently as numbness instantly swept through his body, and he was actually blasted backward several meters by this single punch. This strength... Huo Yuhao steadied himself, feeling appalled. This Huo Yuhao of the second stage was clearly still in the Spirit Ancestor realm, yet whether it was mental force, spirit power intensity, or the physical body strength erupted by this vessel, all far exceeded the first stage. Perhaps even an ordinary Spirit King might not be a match!
I can't keep taking hits passively!
A fierce light flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes, the second spirit ring beneath his feet glowed with a faint light, and his second spirit ability, Evil Tentacle: Soul Bind, was activated! The forward speed of the Huo Yuhao opposite him clearly stalled. In Huo Yuhao's perception, the effect of this seal spirit ability manifested immediately, but it could only last for two seconds at most!
The subsequent battle became almost a one sided suppression. Under the opponent's storm like barrage of ice punches, Huo Yuhao was beaten into a steady retreat, only able to barely maneuver using Mental Detection. Every time his longsword collided with the ice fists, it shook his blood and qi. He could only resist almost regardless of the cost and throw out his second spirit ability. Although the effect of the seal spirit ability only lasted a short two seconds each time, it couldn't be helped that it took effect repeatedly!
Even those two domain type spirit abilities were constantly disappearing and reconstructing under the interference of Huo Yuhao's spirit abilities. After continuous high intensity output of mental spirit abilities, even mental force in the Spirit Sea Realm showed signs of fatigue, and a dull pain throbbed in his sea of consciousness. On the other hand, that Huo Yuhao's spirit power seemed like a bottomless cold pool. The two most spirit power consuming domains, the Domain of Eternal Frost and Snow Dance Shines Upon the Sun, were still stubbornly maintained amidst the flickering, showing no sign of his spirit abilities being exhausted.
Huo Yuhao couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity and powerlessness. He just found it somewhat ridiculous. He couldn't even imagine that he had actually been able to be this strong back when he was a Spirit Ancestor. Just as his mind was slightly in disarray and he was almost about to give up resistance and wait for the system to judge his failure... a voice drifted into his ears without any warning.
It wasn't the system's notification sound. It was that Huo Yuhao opposite him, who had been silent all along, actually speaking?! That voice carried a strange rhythm and penetrative power, as if it were knocking directly on the depths of his soul.
"Thinking of Dong Fist: Fist intent lingers, thoughts gush like a spring!"
As that low murmur sounded, a crystal clear tear actually rolled down from the eye of the Huo Yuhao opposite him! At the same time, a massive, pure, and irresistible emotion of longing, like a bursting flood, crashed violently into Huo Yuhao's heart along with that fist intent and whisper!
Under the impact of this surging emotion, Huo Yuhao's consciousness went blank for an instant, submerged by that long and endless tide of longing. He even forgot he was on a battlefield of life and death, forgot that bone chilling cold, and forgot to defend. Opposite him, the light blue fist force of Huo Yuhao, which gathered ultimate cold and the intent of endless longing, had silently broken through the wind and snow and pressed against his chest.
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