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A sharp cracking sound echoed through the area as all the moisture in the air instantly froze. Even the tiniest particles in the atmosphere turned into solid, mysterious ice.
The first person to hit this barrier was Gold Crocodile Douluo. His unstoppable momentum came to a sudden halt, looking exactly like he had crashed into an invisible, indestructible swamp made of pure ice.
The dark golden spirit power shield protecting Gold Crocodile Douluo began to turn white with frost. The change happened so fast that anyone could see it with the naked eye. The shield quickly solidified and crystallized. The ice spread rapidly across his speeding body, starting from the tips of his fingers and toes. Wherever the ice touched, his muscles became stiff and his spirit power stopped flowing.
In less than a hundredth of a second, Gold Crocodile Douluo looked like a golden meteor that had been frozen mid-air. He kept his forward-charging posture but turned completely into a lifelike, dark golden ice sculpture.
Inside the ice, he could feel that this was not normal cold ice. It was Ultimate Ice. The freezing air was moving through his body, locking down his spirit power and taking away his ability to move.
Everything happened too fast. From the moment the Ice Empress and Snow Empress appeared to the moment Tang Chen launched his attack, it all took place in the blink of an eye. Gold Crocodile Douluo was completely frozen before anyone could react.
Right at that exact moment, while Gold Crocodile Douluo was still locked inside the Domain of Eternal Frost, the Snow Empress on the left side made her move. She raised her right palm, which looked like it was beautifully carved from ice jade. A small point of pale blue light flickered in the center of her hand. She then lightly pushed her palm forward, aiming directly at Gold Crocodile Douluo inside his icy prison.
"Emperors Palm, Great Cold Without Snow!"
The next second, a perfectly clear, pale blue palm print flew out from her hand. As the palm print moved through the air, everything in its path froze solid. The light around it distorted, and even the sound in the area was completely swallowed up by the cold.
"Not good!"
Inside the ice sculpture, Gold Crocodile Douluo saw the attack coming. His vertical pupils shrank as small as possible, and his face filled with sudden fear. At this dangerous life-and-death moment, his seventh spirit ring flared with a bright light that he had never shown before. The next second, his frozen golden crocodile tail broke through a part of the thick ice. Using all the explosive power of his long life of cultivation, he swung his tail violently to hit the pale blue palm print.
A massive explosion shook the air as the crocodile tail and the Emperors Palm smashed into each other. The pale blue palm print shattered into pieces upon impact. However, the explosion did not release a blast of energy. Instead, it turned into billions of deep blue ice crystals that were cold beyond imagination.
Gold Crocodile Douluo did not even have time to take a breath. A cruel smile started to form on his face, but it disappeared instantly as things took a sudden turn. The power of the Great Cold Without Snow palm strike did not fade away after breaking apart. Instead, the shattered pale blue ice crystals acted like insects looking for food. They followed the force of the collision right back up the crocodile tail, instantly spreading across the entire massive tail.
The ice moved with incredible speed, crawling up his tailbone and heading straight toward his spine and body.
A dense, snapping sound filled the air as more ice crystals formed. This extreme cold was much stronger than the Domain of Eternal Frost, and it froze Gold Crocodile Douluo even deeper. His crocodile tail, which had just broken free from the first layer of ice, was covered again by thick frost in an instant. The freezing cold moved like lightning along his bones.
"Damn it... I fell for this kid's trap!"
Alarm bells rang wildly inside Gold Crocodile Douluo's mind. He noticed that his spirit power was barely moving anymore. It felt like it would take a long time just to use his Ninth Spirit Skill.
"Now!"
Tang Chen called out with a low, clear voice that cut through the wind and snow. At that exact moment, a bright orange-golden light burst from his body. The orange-golden spirit ring that the Snow Empress had given him started to glow intensely.
Right after that, the temperature in the air dropped at a speed that defied belief. It instantly fell to nearly minus two hundred degrees, and this freezing zone spread across the entire imperial palace. At this moment, Tang Chen finally felt like he had total control over all ice and snow.
This ability was the third of the four Spirit Abilities that the Snow Empress had given to him, called Emperor Cold Heaven â Snow Dance Shining Sun. When he used it together with the Ice Empress's Domain of Eternal Frost, the combined power became the Xue Wu Domain of Extreme Ice.
"Emperor Cold Heaven, Snow Dance Shining Sun!"
With a loud shout from Tang Chen, a clear, spherical Domain expanded outward from his body. Inside this dome, a massive storm of ice crystals and absolute, frozen stillness mixed together. The domain grew instantly, completely trapping Gold Crocodile Douluo, who was still trying to break free from the first attack and fighting off the frost from the Great Cold Without Snow.
In that single moment, Gold Crocodile Douluo felt as if he had been dragged into a terrible underworld made entirely of the Law of Ultimate Ice. The space around him was no longer just cold; the very idea of movement seemed to be taken away from the world. His spirit power slowed down until it almost stopped completely, his blood felt like it was turning to ice, and even his mind felt like it was going numb from the endless cold.
Gold Crocodile Douluo wanted nothing more than to use his strongest Ninth Spirit Skill to break out of this terrifying area. But the moment his spirit ring started to glow, the energy of the Domain messed with his power, and the skill failed to activate. This Xue Wu Domain of Extreme Ice did not just freeze his physical body; it also blocked him from using his Spirit Abilities.
While Gold Crocodile Douluo was struggling with all his might, his eyes wide with anger, Tang Chen's next attack arrived. He held his index and middle fingers together like a sword in front of his chest. Behind him, the image of the Snow Empress made the exact same movement.
The next second, a deep blue sword made of pure light appeared at the tips of Tang Chen's fingers. It looked perfectly clear, as if it had been made from ten-thousand-year ice marrow. Before the sword even moved, its sharp, freezing intent caused the wind and snow inside the Xue Wu Domain of Extreme Ice to stop completely.
"Emperor Sword, Peerless Ice Extreme!"
This was the strongest and sharpest attack among the Snow Empress's Three Ultimates.
"Slash."
Tang Chen spoke a single word. He swung the ice sword at his fingertips lightly toward Gold Crocodile Douluo, who was stuck at the center of the Domain, unable to move or use his Ninth Spirit Skill.
The attack did not make a loud noise, and there was no massive explosion. There was only a thin, deep blue line of sword light that looked as narrow as a hair. It seemed to cut right through the frozen air, silently flying through space straight toward Gold Crocodile Douluo's chest.
"Not good, something is wrong! Hurry up and save Second Brother!"
Thousand Jun Douluo and Demon Subduing Douluo yelled out in anger at the exact same time. Their eyes were wide, and their voices were filled with shock. They could not believe that Gold Crocodile Douluo, a man who was famous for being invincible across the continent and held the rank of second priest in the Hall of Worship, was being beaten in a single exchange right in front of everyone. He was being completely overwhelmed by a teenager, and he could not even fight back.
The next second, the two of them turned into two bright streams of golden light. One was dark gold and the other was light gold. They flew forward like moths rushing into a fire, charging straight toward the Xue Wu Domain of Extreme Ice.
They moved fast, but the power of the Domain was much faster. The moment their bodies hit the edge of the Xue Wu Domain of Extreme Ice, they stopped instantly. It felt as if they had run directly into an invisible wall made of absolute zero.
Immediately after that, the freezing cold went right through their remaining spirit power shields. The cold rushed into their bodies through their skin, their breath, and even the paths where their spirit power flowed.
"Ugh, ah!"
Demon Subduing Douluo took the worst of the impact. He was already hurt from before, so his body could not resist the cold as well. A layer of clear, hard ice grew rapidly from the ground where his feet were resting. It climbed up his legs, his waist, his stomach, and his chest in an instant. The angry look on his face froze completely before he could even change his expression, turning him into a solid ice sculpture.
Thousand Jun Douluo had a higher level of cultivation, so he was slightly stronger, but he only managed to keep his freedom for one more split second.