Chapter 55 Soul Skills

Accompanied by a barely perceptible sound of frost forming, the air within a radius of ten zhang suddenly turned sharp and biting. Powdery white snow suddenly rose, converging with a roar.

The fine snow and ice crystals fluttering all over the sky mixed with the goose-feather flakes, transforming this place into a hazy snowy realm. It blocked the heavenly light and insulated the warm sun, forbidding light and heat, creating a frozen, icy sky!

Even the naturally falling cold wind and snow were isolated by an invisible barrier, carving out an ultimate domain with a radius of five zhang.

Standing within it, Huo Yuhao felt as if he had been blessed by a deity. He could even slowly float amidst the surging wind and snow, suspended a foot in the air, while his spiritual perception rapidly expanded along with the layers of flying snowflakes, completely filling the entire domain.

"Is this a domain?"

Feeling the strength that had nearly magically increased by a spirit ring, Huo Yuhao could not help but exclaim in admiration.

Though considered three rings, if a completely ordinary three-ring spirit master were to be dropped into this place, they would probably be frozen into an ice sculpture by this profound chill before long.

Having fused with the origin of Skydream as the foundation, filled with the ultimate attributes of the Ice and Snow Emperors, and further catalyzed by a hundred-thousand-year snow lotus, the second martial soul now overlapping with his figure could probably be called true Ultimate Ice, the ultimate among the ultimate.

Merely releasing the martial soul and standing in place, the naturally emanating cold aura was enough to count as a soul skill—similar to Wu Feng's dragon fire, a soul skill that wrapped attribute power around the body.

"The second soul skills of the first soul ring are—none?"

Continuing to check further down, Huo Yuhao suddenly furrowed his brow: "That doesn't seem right either... Are they just currently unusable? What is going on?"

"This is the mutation I told you about."

The Ice Empress sighed softly: "What exactly these two layers of skills will look like when released, I am also waiting for an answer."

Yes, two layers.

In her perception, the soul skill attached to the soul ring was both one and three.

The remaining two mysterious skills were deeply bound to the Ultimate Coldness, progressing step by step, and should be higher-stage manifestations derived layer upon layer on the basis of the Ultimate Coldness.

They respectively corresponded to the fusion enhancement of his soul ring and the snow lotus to eight hundred thousand years, and the delivery of age by Elder Yi elevating it to a million years—these two successive leaps and evolutions.

Of course, having ploughed the path of Ultimate Ice for a long time, the Ice Empress naturally had her own explorations and research, and she had a slight estimation of the effect and power of the second stage of the Ultimate Coldness.

She was just waiting for the day of release to verify it.

"Pity."

After several attempts without success, Huo Yuhao shook his head somewhat disappointedly.

Having witnessed the Three Absolute Arts of the Ice Empress, his confidence in the power of the remaining two progressive skills was quite high, and his anticipation was hard to conceal.

However, due to his current low strength, he temporarily had no way to unleash the subsequent two layers of the Ultimate Coldness's true intent. He could only wait until his soul power rank met the release requirement in the future before trying again.

"Yuhao! Come and check mine!"

Seeing the Ice Empress's skills displayed one by one, the Ice Emperor instantly wedged herself into their conversation: "I modified quite a few soul skills just to adapt to the Snow Girl's Three Absolute Arts!"

"Alright, alright... It's your turn..."

Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched, feeling that the Ice Emperor was even more like an oversized toddler than Skydream: "I'll test it right now."

Clearly.

The Ice Emperor's soul ring, ranked high at four hundred thousand years, was definitely no ordinary item either. But with the Ice Empress's brilliant predecessor setting the bar, it inevitably appeared somewhat mediocre by comparison.

Ice Emperor's Guardian, summoning an ice crystal shield.

Through several attempts by Huo Yuhao, he discovered that this skill could also be launched in the form of summoning armor.

Ice Emperor's Wrath, gathering the power of Ultimate Ice to blast forth.

Examining its attacking nature closely, it seemed to share a wondrous similarity with Soul Shock, except that the single drawback of a longer cooldown time set it apart from Soul Shock.

One attack and one defense, it could still be considered a perfect match.

However—

"As expected, the gap in age is still too large."

Huo Yuhao subconsciously let out a faint sigh, then suddenly realized the implication of these words was wrong and hurriedly tried to mend the situation.

"No, no... I mean it's a bit inferior compared to the Three Absolute Arts... Bah! This must be due to the age gap... Uh? The Three Absolute Arts are the Ice Empress's signature skills after all! It's only right that they're strong... Hiss~ Tsk! The age... Sigh!"

Huo Yuhao wisely shut his mouth.

When all was said and done, it had circled right back to him.

It seemed that no matter whether these words were said straight or backward, they would somewhat hurt the Ice Emperor's pride.

"You don't need to explain, I understand..."

The Ice Emperor inside the spiritual realm covered her face, feeling she had made a complete fool of herself in front of the Ice Empress.

As fellow beast overlords, was she really that inferior?

Could it be that she couldn't even provide a single useful skill? Could it be that she was completely useless to this human who had just advanced to two rings?

"Spirit bone! Check your spirit bone skills!"

The Ice Emperor abruptly stood up, gritting her teeth, temporarily unable to accept reality: "These were meticulously selected and attached by me!"

Ice Emperor's Descent.

The effect was extremely simple: for a certain period of time, one enjoyed a pure, all-attribute violent boost, while simultaneously possessing the characteristic of reduced soul skill consumption for Ultimate Ice attributes.

As for the second one...

"Freezing Ray?"

Huo Yuhao's thoughts stirred slightly, and a five-segmented verdant scorpion tail instantly sprouted, swaying gently behind him. The tip was adorned with a segment of tail sting cast like crystal, scattering sparkling brilliance under the sunlight.

His thoughts stirred again.

A concentrated green light abruptly shot out, leaving a green ice path dozens of meters long on the snow. The aura exclusively belonging to Ultimate Ice, paired with the slightly eerie green, allowed this skill to at least match the Ice-Extreme Peerless in terms of appearance.

The extremely long range and instant-cast characteristic could also be considered its advantages.

However, just as Huo Yuhao was about to conclude the evaluation, he suddenly felt a tactile sensation from the scorpion tail.

Tactile sensation?!

Huo Yuhao's expression changed instantly.

The soul skill had already been cast, so why hadn't this tail disappeared? Why would the skill grow a physical limb with tactile sensation?

There was even a strange feeling that the soul skill had not yet been fully utilized?

"Ice Emperor, what is going on here!"

Looking at the scorpion tail swaying left and right behind him, Huo Yuhao wore a horrified expression for a moment.

Suddenly growing a long tail was still far too stimulating for him, a pure human.

"Hmph hmph~ This is the skill I selected for you!"

Seeing that he was finally stunned by the power of the soul skill, the Ice Emperor explained with a satisfied expression: "The scorpion tail summoned by the Freezing Ray will automatically store and release the energy for one ray, with a cycle of about ten minutes. Therefore, if you fire twice in succession after activation, the scorpion tail will disappear."

"If you only fire once or don't fire at all... you can treat it as an external spirit bone, and its power will grow stronger as your level increases~ It can be resummoned after being destroyed—but the pain cannot be shielded."

So this could be considered...

A beggar's version of an external spirit bone?

Huo Yuhao manipulated the scorpion tail to sway twice more, withdrawing the soul power invested in it, whereupon that strange tactile sensation and the scorpion tail vanished together: "What would happen if I went and stung someone directly with the tail sting? Would it raise a swollen lump?"

"It would raise a grave mound."

The Freezing Ray was originally released through the tail sting; if it truly stabbed into a human body, it would only cause them to freeze into an ice sculpture on the spot.