Chapter 89: Serving as Your Target
I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 40 latest and advanced Chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more Chapters!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
The next day, early morning.
Outside the tree hollow, Jiang Bai stood upon a relatively level patch of ground and began his daily cultivation practice.
Now that he possessed the external soul bones of both the Ice Dragon and the Fire Dragon, even without activating his Martial Soul Incarnation, his affinity for—and mastery over—the elements of ice and fire had reached an entirely new level.
His mind was calm and serene; his right hand formed a loose grip, adopting the posture of a "sword-finger," while his left hand slowly glided across his palm, as if wiping down the blade of a sword.
Guided by his soul power and the condensation of frigid energy, the moisture and ice elements in the surrounding air rapidly converged.
In his right hand, a sword of ice—approximately three feet in length, crystal-clear throughout, and radiating an intense, biting cold—gradually solidified, shifting from an ethereal illusion into tangible reality.
The blade’s surface was like a mirror, reflecting the shimmering lake and the silhouettes of the surrounding forest.
He began by practicing a set of Angelic Sword Arts that Qian Renxue had once taught him.
This particular sword style was originally renowned for its qualities of divinity, swiftness, and majestic righteousness; yet, in Jiang Bai’s hands—infused with the distinct attributes of ice—it shed some of its fiery radiance, gaining instead an air of chilling precision and lethal austerity.
As the sword flashed and danced, frigid energy permeated the air, causing fine crystals of frost to condense upon the leaves and foliage surrounding him.
Subsequently, he shifted his sword stance, and his aura abruptly transformed, becoming ethereal and vast.
This was the sword style taught to him by the Snow Emperor.
Wherever the blade pointed, it seemed to draw in the surrounding cold air and misty vapor. In the wake of its passage, the very air appeared to freeze and cleave apart, leaving behind fleeting trails of ice that vanished almost as quickly as they formed.
More than an hour passed before Jiang Bai slowly brought his sword practice to a close.
In his hands, the ice sword dissolved into a scattering of azure light, fading away into nothingness.
He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to regulate his breathing and soul power—both of which were still slightly fluctuating—while his mind raced with intense contemplation.
He sought to build upon the foundation of the "Emperor’s Sword" style, deriving and formulating a set of his own unique techniques.
He had already glimpsed a promising direction a few days prior, and he was currently still in the process of mentally refining and deducing these new techniques.
Just as he was fully immersed in this mental deduction, a low, calm voice—sounding as if it were speaking directly into his ear—cut through his thoughts and broke his concentration.
"That sword technique you were just practicing... is that the Snow Emperor’s style?"
Jiang Bai opened his eyes and turned to look.
Di Tian, clad in black robes, had—at some unknown moment—silently appeared beneath an ancient tree not far away.
Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, he watched Jiang Bai with a gaze that held a hint of scrutiny and inquiry.
Di Tian took a step closer, his tone even yet carrying an unmistakable air of authority: "Practicing in isolation will, in the end, yield only limited progress. As it happens, I have some free time today; I shall serve as your sparring partner this once to help you hone your skills."
Observing the look of astonishment on Jiang Bai’s face, the corners of his mouth seemed to curl upward ever so slightly: "Have no qualms, and hold nothing back. Unleash your full power and swordsmanship; let me see just how deeply you have grasped the Snow Emperor’s Sword Intent."
Jiang Bai’s mind raced. Sparring with Di Tian?
This was a peerless Soul Beast with over eight hundred thousand years of cultivation!
Even if Di Tian were merely doing this on a whim, the pressure he exerted would be anything but ordinary.
Yet, this was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for testing and tempering—the perfect chance to see if that particular move of his actually had any potential!
He hesitated no longer. Rising to his feet, he took a deep breath, his gaze becoming focused and razor-sharp.
With a subtle shift of his will, his left hand was instantly sheathed in a layer of crystalline, ice-blue dragon scales; his five fingers transformed into a Dragon Claw of ice crystals that gleamed with a chilling, razor-sharp edge!
A surge of frigid energy erupted, coalescing once more into an ice sword—this time far more solid and substantial—along whose blade faint, deep-blue patterns seemed to flow.
The moment Jiang Bai activated his Ice Dragon Claw, Di Tian’s golden vertical pupils narrowed almost imperceptibly.
The aura of a True Dragon... and a remarkably pure one at that!
This was an aura that no ordinary Dragon-type Soul Bone could possibly possess...
This lad... he truly harbors quite a few secrets. Just how did he manage to acquire a Soul Bone of such caliber?
The whereabouts of the few true dragons known to exist on this continent all lie within the range of my perception...
"Wielding a sword with your left hand?" Di Tian remarked, his tone carrying a hint of playful mockery.
"That is indeed a rare sight."
Jiang Bai steadied his breathing, holding his ice sword angled toward the ground.
"Any sword capable of cleaving through an opponent’s defenses is a good sword. Why be so fixated on whether it is held in the left or the right?"
Before the words had even fully left his lips, the aura surrounding him underwent a sudden, drastic transformation!
"Emperor’s Sword: Peerless Extreme Ice!"
It was not the full, complete version of the Emperor’s Sword.
Yet, the temperature of the surrounding air plummeted with frenzied speed; a visible, ice-blue mist of frigid cold billowed outward, and the ground was instantly coated in a layer of white frost.
He raised his sword—and slashed downward!
The movement was stripped down to the absolute essentials, yet it was as swift as a bolt of lightning!
The ice sword sliced through the air, leaving behind nothing but a blurred, deep-blue afterimage, while the piercing shriek of the blade tearing through the wind stung the eardrums.
A beam of ice-blue sword energy—half a meter in width and condensed to an unimaginable density—surged forth from the blade!
Wherever the sword energy passed, the frozen earth cracked and heaved as if crushed by some colossal force; immediately thereafter, countless razor-sharp ice shards erupted violently from the ground, trailing in the wake of the sword energy to form a terrifying torrent of ice spikes that surged relentlessly toward Di Tian!
"Boom—!!!"
The sword energy slammed squarely into Di Tian!
He did not dodge; he did not even attempt to parry. Di Tian simply stood his ground, allowing the sword energy to strike him head-on.
The instant the ice-blue sword energy made contact with Di Tian’s body, it exploded with a resounding roar, shattering into a swirling cloud of ice crystals and white mist that completely engulfed his figure.
At the same time, countless ice shards crashed and piled up around him with a ceaseless clacking sound, rapidly coalescing into a miniature iceberg that effectively "sealed" him within its frozen depths.
However—barely a single breath later...
The white mist and ice crystals dissipated and vanished without a sound, as if they had never existed at all.
Not even the hem of Di Tian’s robe had so much as fluttered; instead, a faint—almost imperceptible—black halo, shimmering with the distortion of space itself, radiated outward from his body.
"Passable," Di Tian remarked coolly.
"The sword intent possesses both excellent sharpness and chilling power. However... it seems you didn’t infuse much soul power into it?"
Jiang Bai remained silent.
He raised his right hand, splaying his five fingers with his palm facing upward.
The surrounding frigid air intensified abruptly; countless tiny ice crystals and snowflakes condensed in the atmosphere.
Yet this time, they did not drift down haphazardly; instead—as if drawn by an invisible force—they began to converge and swirl furiously toward Jiang Bai’s position!
"Hmm?" A flicker of astonishment flashed within Di Tian’s golden vertical pupils.
"Is this... the Emperor’s Palm? Yet, it also seems... somewhat different."
It was indeed different.
Countless icicles flew in from all directions, swirling, colliding, and coalescing furiously above Jiang Bai’s head, emitting a continuous series of sharp crackling sounds.
That three-foot-long ice sword—acting like the core of a black hole that devoured ice and snow—began to expand in size at a rate visible to the naked eye!
Ten feet... thirty feet... a hundred feet... Finally, a colossal ice sword—spanning dozens of yards in length, carved entirely from what appeared to be blue crystal, and wreathed in a tempest of violent frigid currents and swirling ice shards—loomed majestically above Jiang Bai!
The terrifying pressure and bone-chilling cold caused the vegetation within a radius of several hundred meters to instantly become encrusted with thick layers of ice. Even the surface of the Lake of Life, near the shoreline, began to freeze over rapidly!
This technique was the product of Jiang Bai’s initial attempt to fuse his own personal insights into his combat arts.
A fierce glint flashed in Jiang Bai’s eyes; the veins on his left hand—now transformed into an "Ice Dragon Claw"—bulged slightly as he swung it downward with crushing force in Di Tian’s direction!
"Raging Tide: Sundering the Heavens!"
"BOOM—!!!"
Carrying the weight of ten thousand tons and a terrifying chill capable of freezing the very soul, the colossal ice sword slashed down with devastating power!
Before the blade even arrived, the temperature within a hundred-yard radius centered on Di Tian plummeted to an inconceivable level—approaching the theoretical absolute zero!
The very air seemed to solidify, light twisted and warped, and the motion of all matter appeared on the verge of grinding to a complete halt!
Immediately thereafter, the colossal ice sword shattered and disintegrated mid-strike—yet it did not merely dissipate; instead, it transformed into a chaotic torrent of countless, minute yet razor-sharp ice blades. Resembling the most violent of blizzards, this maelstrom completely engulfed Di Tian!
The ice blades slashed and smashed furiously against the faint black protective aura surrounding Di Tian, emitting a rapid-fire clinking sound akin to a torrential downpour and sending up showers of ice dust and minute spatial ripples!
"Are you two—trying to tear this place down?!"
A sharp cry—laced with both annoyance and grogginess—rang out from the entrance of the tree hollow.
There stood Jiang Li’er, barefoot and with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
Her delicate, rosy face still bore the flush of just having woken up; her long hair was slightly disheveled as she glared indignantly at the two figures outside, whose clash had been nothing short of earth-shattering.
She had been sleeping soundly when she was suddenly jolted awake by a bone-chilling cold.
That was immediately followed by the sound of explosive crashes from outside. She rushed out to investigate, and—good heavens—the area right outside her home had nearly been transformed into an arctic glacier!
Seeing this, a flicker of helplessness crossed Di Tian’s eyes; he raised his hand and gave it a gentle wave.
The extreme cold that had enveloped a hundred-zhang radius instantly receded.
The chaotic torrent of ice blades vanished as if wiped away by an invisible hand, dissipating without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Even the thick layer of ice that had congealed on the ground melted and evaporated rapidly.
Save for a lingering chill in the air and a slight dampness on the earth, it was as if that terrifying strike had never occurred.
"It is nothing," Di Tian said, turning toward Jiang Li’er with a slightly softer tone.
"I was merely engaging in a friendly spar with young friend Jiang Bai—testing the depth of his swordsmanship."
"A spar?!" Jiang Li’er looked at the chaotic mess around them, then at the panting figure of Jiang Bai, and gave an unamused huff.
"Woken up by the cold and the noise on the very first morning back home! Your ’spar’ was way too loud!"
Having delivered her rebuke, she shot a fierce glare at the pair, then turned and ducked back into the relative warmth and comfort of the tree hollow—not forgetting, as she went, to pull two large leaves over the entrance to seal it up tightly once more.