After Second Shuang finished venting, Zhu Ziyang began absorbing the Ice Demon Snow Soul King's spirit ring.
A 200,000-year spirit ring was a trivial matter for the current Zhu Ziyang; he only took half an hour to successfully absorb this spirit ring, which contained two golden patterns.
A majestic ice-white four-winged true dragon appeared on the ice lake. The true dragon had a slender body, bearing a pair of ice-white dragon wings and a pair of blue-white dragon wings. Its body length exceeded seventy meters. Each rhomboid dragon scale was like a gemstone, and its dragon horns were like white crystal stones, full of nobility and mystery. The true dragon's aura and majesty filled the entire ice lake area, making even the air tremble.
Martial Soul True Body, Heavenly Frost White Dragon King!
After the Heavenly Frost White Dragon King let out an incomparably majestic dragon's roar, it quickly shrank, finally transforming into a human form. This human form possessed a pair of dragon claws and dragon feet, bore two pairs of huge dragon wings, had a long and robust dragon tail, and a pair of sharp dragon horns. This was precisely Zhu Ziyang's complete dragon transformation state.
Zhu Ziyang landed on the ground, looking at his hands, which had transformed into huge dragon claws. He clenched his fists, feeling extremely satisfied, and said, "Not bad, not bad. Is this the complete dragon transformation? It's really good!"
"Brother Yang, here, this is the Ice Demon Snow Soul King's Spirit Bone, for you," Qian Lingyi walked over and handed him a Spirit Bone.
"Oh, it's a skull, that's pretty good." Zhu Ziyang took the Ice Demon Snow Soul King's Spirit Bone and, upon closer inspection, realized it was actually a skull. He immediately laughed. The Ice Demon Snow Soul King possessed the mental attribute, so its head Spirit Bone would likely greatly enhance a Spirit Master's mental force. Unfortunately, he already had a head Spirit Bone; otherwise, this Spirit Bone would have been very suitable for him.
"Yi Yi, do you need a skull?" He looked at Qian Lingyi and asked.
"Brother Yang, if you're planning to give me this skull, then forget it," Qian Lingyi smiled and shook her head, saying, "The Ice Demon Snow Soul is a Spirit Beast with dark and ice attributes. Its Spirit Bone wouldn't help someone like me, who has light and fire attributes, at all."
"Oh, right," Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, saying, "My apologies, I didn't consider it thoroughly."
"It's okay!" Qian Lingyi said with a smile, "Brother Yang, the task is done. Where are we going next?"
"Hmm! How about we head west from this Extremely North Land and experience the local customs along the way? How does that sound?" Zhu Ziyang thought for a moment and said.
"Mm! Sounds good!" Qian Lingyi nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, let's go!" Zhu Ziyang said with a smile, then turned to his Soul Spirits and said, "Everyone, come back for now."
The Soul Spirits returned to his spiritual sea, and Zhu Ziyang immediately set off with Qian Lingyi. The two traveled westward, stopping for a day or two in every town they passed, half-touring and half-cultivating, making the journey far from boring.
—
At the northwesternmost tip of the Tianhun Empire lies a major city called Winter Extremity City, the northernmost human settlement on the Douluo Continent and the only North Sea port. The sole purpose of this port seems to be symbolic, as the North Sea of the Douluo Continent connects with the Extremely North Land. With the current navigation technology on the Douluo Continent, ships can only sail about a hundred miles beyond the port.
What exists in the deep sea region of the North Sea is still a mystery, at least for now. Legend has it that the deepest part of the Extremely North Land is the source of the North Sea, but this is just a legend, unverified by anyone.
Even the Snow Empress, such a sovereign of the Extremely North, could not enter the core region of the Extremely North Land, let alone explore the relationship between the Extremely North Land and the North Sea.
After Zhu Ziyang and Qian Lingyi left the Extremely North Land, they traveled west and arrived at Winter Extremity City. They planned to depart from Winter Extremity City and enter the Sun Moon Empire.
Although the relationship between the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Three Kingdoms was very tense, the Tianhun Empire was different from the Star Luo Empire. The Star Luo Empire deployed a million troops along its border, while the Tianhun Empire only stationed a normal-sized army along its border, showing no intention of guarding against the Sun Moon Empire.
More importantly, there were multiple important trade towns along the border between the Sun Moon Empire and the Tianhun Empire, and trade between the two empires was quite frequent. Because of this, the citizens of the Tianhun Empire did not harbor much hostility or dislike towards the people of the Sun Moon Empire.
In fact, among the Douluo Three Kingdoms, the Star Luo Empire held the deepest animosity towards the Sun Moon Empire, both at the upper and lower levels. This was not only due to the continuous border skirmishes over the past few centuries, but also because the main direction of the Sun Moon Empire's invasion four thousand years ago was towards the Star Luo Empire, and the main battlefield of the Four Nations War was also in the Star Luo Empire.
Therefore, the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire harbored genuine hatred for each other.
As for the Tianhun Empire, their conflicts with the Sun Moon Empire were more ideological. The Tianhun Empire contained the largest number of ancient Sects and families, and these Sects and families strongly resisted spirit tools, thus influencing the upper echelons of the Tianhun Empire. They rejected spirit tools, which led them to reject the Sun Moon Empire, causing a clear division between the upper and lower classes of the Tianhun Empire.
As for the Douling Empire, this country had a very low sense of presence. Due to its location in the northeast of the continent, with the Tianhun Empire and Star Luo Empire in front of it, it did not directly border the Sun Moon Empire, and thus faced very little threat. Therefore, this country's perception of the Sun Moon Empire lay somewhere between that of Tianhun and Star Luo. The Douling Empire was not interested in continental affairs; they preferred internal strife. In the nearly four thousand years since the Douling's founding, the country's imperial family has changed nearly a hundred times, mostly due to powerful officials usurping the throne, the Xue clan restoring the country, then powerful officials usurping again, and the Xue clan restoring again. This pattern is very peculiar.
In Winter Extremity City, Zhu Ziyang celebrated his eighteenth birthday, officially marking his coming of age.
On the Douluo Continent, men come of age at eighteen, and women at twenty. Coming of age means a person has the possibility of starting an independent family. If Zhu Ziyang had been born into a prominent family, he could now establish his own branch and gain a certain degree of say within the family.
Zhu Ziyang first celebrated with Qian Lingyi at a luxurious hotel in Winter Extremity City. Qian Lingyi specially gave Zhu Ziyang her first kiss as a birthday gift.
The young girl's birthday was half a month apart from Zhu Ziyang's, and she would also turn eighteen soon.
After spending a romantic candlelight dinner with Qian Lingyi, Zhu Ziyang returned to his hotel room and received birthday wishes from Electrolux and the four Soul Spirits.
Zhu Ziyang was in a very joyful mood, even smiling while cultivating. As the saying goes, good news lifts one's Spirits. Perhaps due to his mindset, Zhu Ziyang's cultivation efficiency was excellent that night, and finally, in the third month after accepting the God of Death's Sixth Trial, his spirit power reached rank 80!
Eighteen years old, an 80th-rank Spirit Douluo!
Zhu Ziyang once again broke Shrek Academy's record and also set a new historical record for the entire continent. Unfortunately, this feat, destined to be recorded in history, was unknown to anyone else at this moment, except for Zhu Ziyang himself.
He suppressed his excited joy, feeling the response from the other shore flower mark on his forehead. He wasn't in a hurry to enter the God Position inheritance ground to claim the rewards of the God of Death's Sixth Trial and accept the God of Death's Seventh Trial. Instead, he decided to first absorb the eighth spirit ring, condense the third Soul Core, and construct the Three Powers United Soul Core Method system.
According to the Three Powers United Soul Core Method theory, Zhu Ziyang's best time to condense the third Soul Core was when absorbing the Heavenly Frost White Dragon King Spirit's eighth spirit ring. And he just happened to have something that could become the Heavenly Frost White Dragon King Spirit's eighth spirit ring: the Ice Dragon King's Dragon Core!
Zhu Ziyang took out the Ice Dragon King's Dragon Core, which hung around his neck, his expression solemn with a hint of anticipation. This divine-grade Dragon Core, even after hundreds of thousands of years of erosion, still contained immeasurable energy. He was greatly looking forward to it.
However, before officially absorbing the eighth spirit ring and condensing the third Soul Core, Zhu Ziyang needed to inform Qian Lingyi. After all, the condensation of spirit rings and Soul Cores was not a matter of a single breath; they would need to stay in Winter Extremity City for a few more days.
When Qian Lingyi heard Zhu Ziyang say that he was going into seclusion to absorb the eighth spirit ring, she was shocked and lost in thought, then became exceptionally excited, saying, "Brother Yang, you can go into seclusion with peace of mind. I will wait for you!"
"Alright then, I'll go back to my seclusion now!" Zhu Ziyang smiled and stroked Qian Lingyi's beautiful hair, then turned and returned to his room.
"An eighteen-year-old Spirit Douluo," Qian Lingyi gazed at Zhu Ziyang's departing back, her eyes filled with infatuation and admiration. Only after Zhu Ziyang entered his room did she snap back to reality, shaking her head to maintain her composure, and murmured, "It seems I need to work even harder, or Brother Yang will leave me far behind! No, I'll go back and cultivate now!"
The young girl turned and jogged back to her room, closing the door, and began to cultivate.