Ice Meets Dragon
The spinning ice wheels shrieked through the air, a blizzard of serrated death. In their wake, trees were sheared cleanly in two, the stumps instantly glazed with a layer of perfect, brittle frost. This was no warning shot; it was Xu Xiaoyu's signature third soul skill unleashed at full power, born of arrogance, stolen pride, and a sharp assessment of the threat before him. Anyone who could finish a Millennium Six-Armed Fire serpent—even a wounded one—in seconds was no ordinary Great Soul Master.
'Arrogant brat,' Xu Xiaoyu thought, a cold smirk touching his lips as the wheels converged. 'You had your chance. Now, become a frozen statue.' As a prodigy of the Xu family and a top student at Tianhai Advanced Academy, he had felled Soul Elders before. A mere two-ringed opponent, even a strong one, should be pulverized.
Outside the platform, the Class Zero boys watched the feed with a mix of boredom and pity.
"Who is this ice-pop guy? He actually attacked Brother Xuan?"
"Looks like he's in for a world of hurt."
"Does he have a death wish?"
Gu Yue, her soul spirit evolution complete, stood apart. Her silver eyes were fixed on Yao Xuan's form, not with worry, but with a quiet, intense focus. The sovereign analyzed the ice wheel's rotational force and spiritual density, but Na'er's heart tightened just a fraction, a reflex of protective care.
Long Hengxu, recognizing Xu Xiaoyu, sighed inwardly. A clash between two of Donghai Academy's brightest was inevitable in this chaotic trial. He could only hope Yao Xuan would show restraint.
Inside the simulation, Yao Xuan watched the lethal barrage close in. A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. "Is this your full strength? How disappointing."
The disparity was vast. Even without invoking his bloodline's Right Claw transformation, Yao Xuan's base combat power, bolstered by his Millennium soul skills, rivaled a mid-stage Soul Elder. Xu Xiaoyu's proud ability to challenge those a rank higher meant little here. Moreover, the Ancestral Dragon's inherent dominion, especially when amplified by the Overlord Body, granted him supreme resistance to elemental assaults like this.
"Soul Skill: Ancestral Dragon Overlord Body!"
His second purple ring blazed. Soul power ignited within him like a contained star, flooding his meridians. His blood and qi surged, his physical attributes skyrocketing. The pale dragon scales on his arms and chest gleamed with intensified density, and his claws seemed to grow sharper, humming with barely restrained power.
As the first ice wheel reached him, he didn't dodge. He simply extended his right claw—a casual, almost dismissive motion. It struck the exact center of the spinning wheel.
CRACK!
The sound was sharp, final, like a giant pane of glass breaking. The vicious ice wheel exploded into a harmless shower of glittering frost. Tendrils of numbing cold tried to crawl up his arm, but they met the blazing, nine-colored vitality of the Ancestral Dragon bloodline and the enhanced resistance of the Overlord Body. The cold dissipated like mist before a furnace.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
In rapid succession, his claws became a blur of golden light. Each precise strike found the heart of an incoming ice wheel, shattering them one after another. The clearing became filled with a brief, beautiful, and utterly harmless snowstorm of ice crystals.
Xu Xiaoyu's smug confidence shattered along with his ice. His eyes widened in pure, uncomprehending shock. "Im-impossible!" The word was a breathless exhalation. His full-force third soul skill, obliterated by bare-handed deflections?
"Now," Yao Xuan's voice cut through the tinkling fall of ice, cold and authoritative, "it's my turn. You chose to attack. Now face the consequences."
He didn't give Xu Xiaoyu time to process. Activating the Ancestral Dragon Shattering Void Step, he vanished from his position. Space folded, and he reappeared not in front, but behind the stunned youth.
"Ancestral Dragon Sky-Rending Claw!"
The first purple ring flashed again. Terrifying power, sharp enough to split the sky, condensed around his claw as he aimed a measured but devastating strike at Xu Xiaoyu's back.
The sudden, spatial transposition was the final shock. Xu Xiaoyu's mind reeled. 'So fast!'
But years of elite training and duels kicked in. Survival instinct overrode disbelief. He spun, his Ice Staff coming up. "Ice Barrier! Ice Barrier! Ice Barrier!"
His first yellow soul ring flashed three times in rapid succession. Frigid air erupted from his staff, crystallizing into three hexagonal shields of deep blue ice, each a handspan thick and shimmering with defensive energy. They layered themselves between him and Yao Xuan's descending dragon claw.
The golden claw, wreathed in the power of a millennium, met the first ice barrier.
BOOM—CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—SHATTER!
The sound was a cascade of destruction. The first barrier held for less than a heartbeat before spider-webbing with fractures and exploding into icy shrapnel. The second barrier lasted a fraction longer before meeting the same fate. The third groaned, buckling inward under the overwhelming force, as Yao Xuan's claw, its "Absolute Penetration" effect pulsing, pressed forward, closing in on the pale-faced Xu Xiaoyu behind his final, failing defense.
The outcome hung in the balance, a testament to the clash between a proud genius's last-ditch defense and the overwhelming, primordial force of the Ancestral Dragon.