The collision between pure Ultimate Snow&Ice in the form of a massive sword against a fist of Ultimate Strength that contained the elements of many domains sent shockwaves across the entire Sunset Forest.
The firmament cracked.
A jagged fracture spread across the sky the instant fist and blade met, as if the heavens themselves could no longer withstand the clash between those two extremes.
Thunderclouds gathered, layers of frozen space shattered like mirrors, cascading outward in endless shards of ice and distorted light.
The ground below the Sunset Forest caved in, the poisonous plains of Jade Phosphorous Flowers withered and died, as hundreds of kilometers of land started collapsing as the pressure slammed downward and outward at the same time.
"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Oraaaaaaa!!" Er Ming roared, his arms bulging as he forced his fists upward, golden light surging violently against the descending sword.
"BREAK!!"
His aura intensified, putting in everything into his fists, the golden light around him started having a divine-like feeling.
Er Ming might not be the brightest person among his friends and family, but there was one thing he took pride and joy in.
It was his strength.
It was with his muscles that he was able to survive for so long.
With his hands, he was going to protect those he loves.
And with his fists, he's going to break the Ice Sword of Snow Empress.
After all, he was Er Ming!
He grinned, through the blood dripping from his fists, he pushed onward.
"I won't lose!!"
"No, you've already lost." Snow Empress cut him off coldly.
Without saying anything further, the chill emanating from her sword deepened to the absolute. The cold spread along its edge, seeping into Er Ming's golden light, eroding it, layer by layer to the point of entering his meridians.
The brilliance of his Indestructible Vajra Body began to dim, frost crawling across its surface like cracks in glass.
'I'm losing? Me, who's close to becoming a Divine Beast?! To a mere elemental spirit who was forced to undergo rebirth to escape her Heavenly Tribulation.'
Er Ming gritted his teeth, blood freezing around his arms as he forced to circulate every strength within his body outwards.
His resolve shook the broken skies, frozen muscles shattering, bones creaking as he pushed past his limits once more.
Snow Empress quietly watched him before turning her gaze.
'So, you finally couldn't hold back anymore.'
"Haaa. Er Ming, stand down."
There was a flash of blue light, and the sky changed almost instantly.
It was as if the sky became the ocean; tides rolling, boundless ocean water spread across the heavens, vast and without end.
Waves formed where clouds once stood.
Currents surged where wind had ruled.
The endless white of frost was no longer there.
A deep blue radiance flooded Snow Empress' domain, pushing back against the oppressive cold. The falling snow slowed as it entered that oceanic sky, each flake dissolving into drifting motes before it could descend further.
The ocean hung overhead.
And everything beneath it felt its weight.
A low, resonant sound echoed, like the distant roar of tides crashing against unseen shores. It carried a suffocating pressure that instantly shattered the layers of ice across the earth.
Snow Empress' sword trembled, cracks spread across its massive blade.
"Quite impressive, controlling the Law of Ice and Snow at your current cultivation. Mixing in some comprehension of Reincarnation Intent as well. Hm. If it weren't for the existence of the Ice God and the divine seal set upon all soul beasts, you would've become a God on your own."
The mysterious man took a step forward, the ice on his body and around him quietly melted away.
He had a faint smile on his face, the trident mark on his forehead shimmered with a deep oceanic blue, as his blue eyes gleamed a demonic purple color, giving him a dangerous yet majestic aura.
Snow Empress furrowed her fair brows and lowered her arm, dissipating the massive ice sword.
"X-Xiao San! I can still—!" Er Ming protested, the ice on and in his body was melting away with the mysterious man's help.
"Xiao San" lightly shook his head and lifted his hand, "While your performance was admirable and heroic.... You've reached your limits, Er Ming. I cannot let you do this on your own."
Er Ming wanted to say something, but the sharp look from "Xiao San" silenced him.
"What's more, we cannot waste anymore time. The Child of Destiny is near the twilight of his breakthrough, the optimal chance to kill him is nigh."
And from within his sleeves, countless strands of mystical blue vines appear and spiral around his right hand completely covering it.
All the blue vines then form into a large blue spear with golden lines across it, its tip deadly sharp radiating a divine glow.
It was a soul skill of an ancient time, one that was formed from the will of the Blue Silver Grass of the continent.
From the beginning till now, not a single undulation of soul power, spiritual power, or any other sort of power had emitted from this man.
It was as if he was a mortal man, yet wielded the powers of a God.
"Xiao San" lightly spun the spear in hand and said, "Snow Empress, everyone else. I shall offer you choice."
"Submit."
His eyes coldly gleam, fixing his Tyrant Spear down at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
"Or die."
Snow Empress was silent for a moment and asked.
"Your name, what is it?"
The man's expression didn't chance and simply replied,
"My name is Tang San."
The moment his name was uttered, the world went silent.
Snow Empress' expression turned gloomy, Jianxin's face paled, Skydream trembled further with his back completely soaked in cold sweat.
The Immortal Herbs had the worst reactions to his name.
They went absolutely quiet, trembling, and trying to burrow themselves deeer into the ground so that they wouldn't be noticed by him.
This was a man who had left his name in the annals of history for thousands of years.
This was a man who brought miracle after miracle in his era, changing the world.
This was the first person to inherit double-seats of Divinity.
Thousand Hand Douluo! Sea God! Asura!
Tang San!
"This doesn't make any sense!!" Skydream screamed in a low tone of voice, his golden eyes turning red from overusing his spiritual power to look into the self-proclaimed famous man in the entire world!
"He should be in the realm of the Gods! He's supposed to be busy and... He... Holy shit. Shit! He's a fucking God! One of the highest position in the realm of the Gods as well!"
"Logically speaking, he should have absolute authority to descend into this mortal realm. Why didn't we think that he could just come down here and do the job himself?! Because he's become some all powerful God? Oh sure, all that power must've gone to his head."
"Fuck! Did we seriously bet that he'd be so arrogant and confident that his "dogs" would be more than enough to deal with us? That's what normal would normally do, but this is Tang San we're talking about!"
"He's one of history's greatest control system soul master! Of course he's going to be like ten steps ahead of us. We're doom. Hah. Hahahaha! Doomed I say—geh!"
As Skydream mumbled into a spiral of despair, his eyes wide; showing strange purple shades around his pupils. Jianxin couldn't take it anymore and slapped him straight to his face.
"....Thanks, I needed that." Skydream grunted, caressing his reddened cheek, he shook his head. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and snapped them open to reveal a pair of fully matured golden Sharingan eyes.
He was struck with a sort of 'delirious' spiritual skill, something he never experienced before.
He couldn't believe it at first, but he accepted it a few moments later.
After all, this was the person who had created the Mysterious Heaven Skill with the Purple Demon Eye. He certainly has high spiritual power and the ability to use powerful spiritual skills.
"No problem. We can't be panicking at a time like this after all. Yuhao is relying on us right now!" Jianxin pursed her lips and performed several hand-seals, the energies of extreme Yin and Yanh surged, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood floated in midair for a moment before shooting off to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well's water surface. It shone with a blood-red light, followed with the misty barrier around the valley to drastically shrink down inwardly to cover only the spring.
"That should buy us some time." Jianxin wiped the blood of her lips, her complexion pale.
"All we can do now is try and support Snow Empress. She's the only one with enough power to hold back Tang San." Skydream said, activating Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing to assist the two women.
Jianxin lightly smiled and started floating towards Snow Empress.
"I wouldn't be so certain."
Snow Empress coldly snorted and instead of verbally answering to Tang San, she responded with her actions.
She lifted her hand once more, and the endless snow that remained in her domain gathered into her right hand, forming an ethereal ice sword that was about 2 meters long with double sharp edges.
Snow Empress disappeared in place, using the Body Flicker Jutsu, and appeared in front of Tang San in a burst of icy mist with her ethereal sword slashed downward in a clean, merciless arc, carrying the full weight of her Ultimate Ice domain compressed into a single, razor-sharp blade.
The air itself screamed as it froze solid in the blade's path, turning into a glittering corridor of frozen space that sought to sever not just flesh, but also the very soul.
'Hm? He's...' Her eyes narrowed at that nanosecond, a doubtful look appeared in her eyes.
Tang San didn't move. He simply raised the Tyrant Spear with one hand, the blue vines still coiled tightly around his forearm like living armor.
The spear tip met the descending sword with almost lazy precision.
Clang!
The sound wasn't loud. It was deep, resonant, like a temple bell struck at the bottom of the ocean. A perfect ring that spread outward in visible ripples of blue and white.
Snow Empress' blade shattered on impact.
Thousands of icy shards exploded outward, each one carrying lethal cold that could freeze an ordinary Title Douluo in an instant.
Snow Empress quickly retreated, hundreds of ice swords materialized around her and shot toward Tang San like a storm of frozen arrows. Each blade carried the true Law of Ultimate Snow and Ice, humming with a cold so profound it warped the surrounding space into distorted mirrors of frost.
Moreover, with Skydream supporting her, the ice swords moved with divine precision.
"Oh? Pretty neat spiritual skill."
Tang San remained nonchalant. He simply twirled the Tyrant Spear and started shattering each ice sword with one swing of his wrist. Each shattered ice sword turned into icy mists.
In the span of three breaths, all hundreds of ice swords were gone.
Snow Empress reappeared a short distance away, the doubtful look in her eyes slightly cleared.
"You... What are you?"
Tang San tilted his head, not a change of expression.
"Well, I've underestimated you and that little worm."
"Don't play with me. What kind of person, no, a God have no life force?"
"Couldn't it be because I'm hiding it from you?"
"Perhaps," Another rows of Ice Swords materialized around Snow Empress, her expression serious. "But that shouldn't be the case. Anyone else wouldn't be able to tell, maybe that stupid dragon would, but that demonic eyeball and the me from back then sure as wouldn't have been able."
"But now's different. Due to a fortuitous encounter that lets me be rather sensitive to life energy, I can see through a person's life energy. And you..." An ice sword materialized in her hand and she pointed it at him.
"You don't have any life energy. You're not alive."
"So what... and who are you?"
The smile on Tang San's face slowly faded, replaced by a faint, almost appreciative look.
"Very observant. Unfortunately..."
"You don't get any rewards."
The trident mark on his forehead brightens as the grip on his Tyrant Spear tightened. As he took a step forward, the oceanic blue waters from the heaven rippled and descended onto the valley like a disastrous storm.
The entire valley was soon to become massive lake.
Domain Expansion - All Rivers Run Into The Sea
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So, could water beat ice? Could an egg beat a chick? Hmmm...