Chapter 106 Dream of the Mortal World.
The pink and gold ripples caused by Hu Liena's inclusion on the list had not yet fully subsided; the lingering allure and vigilance against the Spirit Hall's ambitions were still brewing.
However, the silence in the sky did not last long.
At noon on the seventh day after Hu Liena's name was engraved on the list, as the sun shone brightly, a completely different yet equally vast and profound wave suddenly descended!
"Buzz—crackling..."
It was not a gentle tremor, but a strange, subtle sound, a mixture of extreme cold freezing everything and some kind of deadly poison corroding space, as if from the deepest part of an ancient glacier, or the silent churning of a poisonous swamp.
The sky suddenly dimmed by a third, not because of dark clouds, but because a pure, chillingly cold, icy-blue light, mixed with wisps of eerie, poisonous emerald green, poured down from the endless heavens.
Wherever this light passed, the clouds instantly froze, turning into a sky full of shimmering ice dust. Sunlight refracted through this dust, creating a mesmerizing, iridescent yet chilling halo.
The emerald green poisonous light, as if alive, moved among the ice crystals, leaving faint, unsettling, distorted trails in its wake.
Ice blue and emerald green intertwined, outlining enormous, indescribable ancient runes in the air. These runes seemed to be a natural fusion of the veins of ice and the patterns of poison, ultimately converging into a lifelike phantom of a toad, gazing at the moon and croaking!
The toad was covered in ice-crystal-like scales, its eyes as red as the purest rubies, yet containing a chilling cold that could freeze the soul and a venomous poison that could corrode everything.
It was merely a phantom, yet a pressure mixed with extreme cold and poison quietly spread out. Though not as domineering as Zi Ji's dragon might, nor as alluring and invisible as Hu Liena's charm, it was far more unpredictable and difficult to guard against, as if it could silently penetrate into one's bones and soul.
Amidst the icy blue and emerald green light, a list with a border entwined with ice crystals and poisonous vines, radiating a chilling aura, materialized.
The text on the list was in a peculiar font, seemingly carved from millennia-old black ice and imbued with the venom of Azure Phosphorus, cold and dangerous:
[Goddess Ranking Thirteen: Meng Hongchen]
[Cultivation: Level 93 Title Douluo]
[Title: Ice Toad Douluo]
[Affiliation: Tianxing Academy]
[Evaluation: A contemporary member of the reclusive Hongchen family, possessing the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad Emperor Martial Soul. His Martial Soul awakened a second time in his childhood, fusing ancient ice essence with a unique poison, achieving the dual attributes of ultimate ice and bone-corroding poison. His temperament appears calm and gentle, but he is actually outwardly gentle yet inwardly strong, with a clear Dao heart. He does not crave fame or power, and his cultivation naturally progressed through quiet practice, allowing him to step into the Title Douluo realm. His dual power of ice and poison is controllable and offensive, possessing unpredictable power in large-scale battlefields and peak duels.]
[Reward 1: The Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad Emperor bloodline fully awakens, returning to its ancestral origin and evolving into the 'Primordial Ice Soul Poison Emperor Toad'. Martial Soul quality surpasses top-tier, reaching the 'quasi-god level'. The ultimate ice attribute is sublimated, touching the edge of absolute zero; the bone-corroding poison evolves, giving rise to the 'Law Erosion' characteristic, which can slowly disintegrate the opponent's soul power, blood, and even mental structure. Ice and poison complement each other, forming a seamless whole.]
[Reward 2: The reward is the 'Ice and Poison Twin Domain', normally covering a radius of five miles, reaching ten miles when fully activated. Within the domain, extreme low temperatures and bone-corroding poison form a dual barrier, greatly slowing, weakening, and continuously damaging all enemies, and randomly generating natural disaster-level environmental effects such as 'Ice Explosion Poison Cloud', 'Annihilation Cold Tide', and 'Ten Thousand Poison Ice Thorns'; the effect of one's own ice and poison attribute soul skills is increased by 80% within the domain, and the soul power recovery speed is increased by 100%; it can condense the 'Ice Soul Poison Emperor Dharma Image', possessing near-Limit Douluo level control over ice and poison laws for a short period.]
[Reward Three: Obtain three pieces of 'Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow' (already fused), greatly stabilizing and expanding the meridians, dantian, and sea of spirit, significantly increasing one's foundation and laying an unparalleled foundation for reaching higher realms; obtain the 'Immaculate Ice Heart' talent, forever maintaining a clear mind, immune to all poisons, and preventing the arising of inner demons, possessing extremely high resistance to all mental control, negative emotions, and soul attacks, and enhancing comprehension during cultivation.]
Silence.
This silence was even deeper, more...unbelievable, than when Hu Liena appeared on the list.
If Hu Liena's appearance on the list brought vigilance against the Spirit Hall's ambitions and fear of the power of manipulation, then Meng Hongchen's appearance on the list brought pure shock and bewilderment at "power" itself.
"Nine...ninety-three levels? Title Douluo? Super Douluo?!"
Someone exclaimed in shock, their voice trembling.
Countless people felt their understanding being drastically overturned once again. Title Douluo were already legends on the continent, strategic beings, the ultimate foundation of major powers.
Super Douluo were even rarer, usually existing only in the Elder Hall of the Spirit Hall, the deepest secret realms of the three upper sects, or certain secluded places of cultivation completely detached from worldly affairs.
"The Hongchen Family? The Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad Emperor? Ultimate Ice and Bone-Corroding Poison? Dual attributes, and ultimate attributes at that?! This, how is this possible?!"
The knowledgeable experts were even more terrified. A single, supreme attribute is already a once-in-a-century occurrence, but dual attributes, both reaching the ultimate level, are simply defying common sense!
Not to mention, the evaluation also mentions "second awakening of the Martial Soul" and "fusion of ancient ice essence and exotic poison"!
"A quasi-god-level Martial Soul! Surpassing the top level! And there's even law erosion?!"
"A domain...another domain! Ten miles in radius?! And that 'Ice Essence Poison Emperor Dharma Image,' with control approaching that of a Limit Douluo?!"
"Ten-thousand-year-old Profound Ice Marrow? Immaculate Ice Heart? This...this is simply a transformative reward, a direct path to godhood!"
After a brief silence, countless scholars, soul master families, and ancient sects erupted in heated discussions and astonishment.
This time, the one on the list was neither a ferocious beast nor the heir to the most dazzling power of the world, but a reclusive, seemingly unassuming academy teacher!
But her cultivation level, and the rewards she received, were no less terrifying than the previous two, and perhaps even more astonishing in terms of "foundation" and "potential"!
Tianxing Academy is nestled in a beautiful mountain range, in the buffer zone between the eastern province of the Tiandou Empire and the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.
At this moment, on a smooth, jade-like black ice slab beside a cold pool, a woman sits cross-legged with her eyes closed.
She wears a simple, moon-white teacher's robe, the hem embroidered with delicate ice toad patterns. Her face is exceptionally beautiful, appearing to be only in her early thirties, her skin almost translucent white, with a subtle icy blue sheen.
Her long, black hair is casually draped, the ends tinged with a faint emerald green. Most peculiar are her eyes; though closed, a faint crimson light seems to flicker beneath her eyelids.
This is Meng Hongchen, the legendary teacher of Tianxing Academy, the gentle yet strict "Teacher Meng" in the students' eyes.
(End of Chapter)