The four spirit rings on Huo Yuhao's body—two purple and two black—suddenly dissipated like phantoms, receding into his body. The deceptive facade was pulled away, revealing the terrifying truth he had been hiding beneath his skin.
Immediately after... two deep, eerie blood-red halos slowly rose from beneath his feet, like two burning blood-colored suns! The intensity of the light was blinding, painting the entire gate of Shrek Academy in a macabre, crimson hue.
On those two blood-colored rings, four golden patterns were evenly distributed, shimmering with a divine and ancient power. They were the marks of the Gold-Patterned Ice Silkworm, a symbol of a soul that had survived for eons.
"Red... Red spirit rings?!"
"Ten... Ten thousand years?!"
"How is that possible..."
Exclamations and gasps instantly erupted among the crowd! The air, which had been filled with tension, was now saturated with pure, unadulterated terror.
Whether it was the youths still queuing for registration and their parents, or the Shrek students who had just recovered from the Mental Shock and were still reeling with fear, or even the blue-skirted girl holding the ice crystal staff... everyone's face turned a deathly, unbelievable pale in that instant! It was as if the blood had been drained from their bodies by the sheer presence of those rings.
Pupils dilated and mouths hung open unconsciously, as if they were witnessing the most inconceivable illusion in the World. The logic of the Spirit Master world was being torn apart before their very eyes.
They all knew exactly what those red spirit rings represented. They were the ultimate proof of a hunter who had slain a god among beasts.
Those were hundred-thousand-year spirit rings, a color that almost every Spirit Master only dared to dream of for their ninth spirit ring. To see them on the first two rings of a child was a blasphemy against the heavens themselves.
But now, what were they seeing? A miracle or a nightmare?
A youth who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old, whose first and second spirit rings... were actually the legendary hundred-thousand-year spirit rings?! The sheer impossibility of it made some of the onlookers collapse to their knees.
This could no longer be described by the word "Genius"; it was simply an upheaval of everything known about the Spirit Master Cultivate system. It was a declaration that the rules of the world did not apply to him.
Even the two Shrek experts who had been silently watching from the distant city wall underwent a drastic change in expression! Their composure shattered like glass, replaced by a frantic need to understand what they were seeing.
With the appearance of these two spirit rings, a layer of translucent, diamond-like ice crystals rapidly spread to cover Huo Yuhao's arms, emitting an Ultimate frost so intense it made even the Soul ache. The temperature plummeted so sharply that the moisture in the breath of the onlookers froze into needles.
He did not directly light up the spirit rings to use a Spirit Ability. He didn't need to; his very presence was becoming a weapon.
Beneath the clothes on his chest, his spine and part of his sternum could be faintly seen emitting a shimmering jade-green light through his flesh. The Ice Jade Scorpion Bone pulsed with a rhythm that matched his heartbeat.
Huo Yuhao chose to directly use a Spirit Bone skill, which was also a powerful Domain-type Spirit Ability he had mastered. He wanted to show Shrek that their "authority" was nothing more than a thin veil.
Domain of Eternal Frost!
With Huo Yuhao's standing position as the Origin, a visible wave of ice-blue chill surged outward with ferocious speed. The ground groaned as it was claimed by the ice.
With Huo Yuhao's current spirit power, it was already enough to maintain the Domain of Eternal Frost over a five-hundred-meter radius. He was the absolute ruler of this frozen territory.
But at this moment, under Huo Yuhao's control, this destructive wave of extreme cold precisely avoided the registering students and the parents beside them. He maintained a terrifying level of control even in his display of power.
However, for those Shrek Outer Court students, this extreme cold revealed its most savage fangs! They were the targets of his silent wrath.
"Crack, crackle..."
The dense, tooth-aching sound of freezing rang out as everything within the Domain of Eternal Frost was instantly eroded and frozen by that pervasive Ultimate chill! The sound was like a thousand mirrors breaking at once.
Various shapes of translucent ice shards condensed out of thin air, and the previously lush green surroundings were instantly covered in a sheet of ice-blue. The gate of Shrek had become a tomb of crystal.
In the span of a few short breaths, the dozens of Outer Court students led by Duan Lang were all turned into ice sculptures in various poses! Their faces were frozen in expressions of shock and regret.
As the extreme cold Domain swept past, the Spirit King girl was horrified to find that the ice-attribute cold current she had previously released had instantly escaped her mental control! Her own element had betrayed her in the presence of its king.
As an ice-attribute Spirit Master, she had a resistance to cold that far exceeded ordinary people. She should have been safe, but this was not ordinary cold.
But now, for the first time in her life, she felt what true "cold" meant! It was a sensation of absolute nothingness.
It wasn't just a stinging pain on the surface, nor just a shiver in the bone marrow; it was an absolute, bitter cold that seemed to stem from the depths of the Soul, threatening to freeze even consciousness and thought! She felt her very will beginning to crystallize.
"Ugh...!"
She let out a muffled groan, her beautiful face instantly losing all color as her delicate body trembled uncontrollably. Her staff felt like a heavy rod of lead in her numbing hands.
She desperately pushed all her spirit power to its limits, struggling to resist that pervasive Ultimate chill. But it was like trying to hold back the ocean with a handful of sand.
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, making a soft clicking sound, and her normally cold and aloof eyes were now filled with an indescribable shock. She looked at Yuhao as if he were a god of death.
In the areas not covered by the Domain of Eternal Frost, the registering students and accompanying parents all stood frozen like clay statues, staring dumbfoundedly at the scene before them. They were safe, but the sight alone was enough to chill their hearts.
Their brains had almost ground to a halt. They couldn't process the level of power being displayed by a boy who appeared so young.
Just moments ago, they thought this youth who had come alone was about to be expelled by Shrek, but they hadn't expected the actual situation to be the exact opposite of their predictions. The hunter had become the prey, and the gatekeepers were now the ones being judged.
Not only was the youth not expelled, but he had instead boldly displayed a strength far beyond his age with an absolute posture! He stood at the center of the storm, the master of his own destiny.
Two blood-red hundred-thousand-year spirit rings! The sheer weight of them seemed to warp the air itself.
An extreme cold Domain that instantly froze dozens of elite Shrek students! It was a feat that even many Titled Douluos would find impressive.
Everything happened so fast and was so incredible that they had to use various means to confirm they hadn't fallen into an illusion. Some bit their tongues; others pinched their arms, but the cold remained.
Under Huo Yuhao's exquisite control, the Domain of Eternal Frost did not stop there. He wasn't finished making his point.
That Ultimate chill, like a living white giant dragon, continued to spread toward the towering city walls of Shrek Academy not far away! It was a challenge issued directly to the masters of the city.
Wherever it passed, the ground was covered in thick ice, and the air froze into fine ice crystal dust. The world was being terraformed into a frozen wasteland.
In the blink of an eye, a section of the city wall dozens of meters long had been transformed into a giant ice wall, smooth as a mirror and emitting a bone-chilling mist! It was a beautiful, terrifying monument to his power.
On the city wall, the two Shrek experts who had been composed and watching from the sidelines had still not fully recovered from the extreme shock brought by those two blood-red spirit rings. Their hearts were pounding against their ribs.
The sudden assault of Ultimate frost gave them a violent jolt. They realized that the "test" had spiraled completely out of their control.
As a Titled Douluo, Yan Shaozhe reacted the fastest. He frowned slightly, and with a single thought, a cluster of pure and warm golden flame instantly ignited out of thin air in front of him.
This was the Fire of Light! It was the signature power of the Phoenix, a flame that could purify even the darkest of spirits.
A light-attribute flame at the Titled Douluo level! It should have been enough to melt any ice in an instant.
However... "Hmm?!"
The moment the flame appeared, a flash of surprise crossed Yan Shaozhe's eyes. He felt a resistance he had never encountered before.
Because in that instant, he clearly felt that the quality of the ice-cold aura surging up from below far exceeded his estimations! It wasn't just cold; it was the concept of freezing itself.
When his Fire of Light came into contact with that icy aura, it actually emitted a faint "sizzling" sound. The collision of opposing elements created a mist that obscured his vision.
The golden flame's light dimmed noticeably for a moment, showing faint signs of being suppressed! The king of flames was being challenged by the king of ice.
This icy chill... could actually affect the Fire of Light of a Titled Douluo?
Yan Shaozhe's heart shook, and he immediately increased his spirit power output. He couldn't allow himself to be humiliated by a child in front of his own gates.
The cluster of golden flame, which was originally only the size of a fist, roared and surged, instantly expanding to the size of a human head. It burned with a fierce, blinding intensity.
Blazing light and warmth erupted like a miniature sun, the light flaring brilliantly to halt the spread of the Domain of Eternal Frost's Ultimate chill. He finally managed to stabilize the situation, but the effort left him unsettled.
Standing beside Yan Shaozhe, dean of students Du Weilun looked at the youth below, surrounded by two piercing blood rings in a World of ice-blue, and couldn't help but swallow hard. His throat felt dry and tight.
He slowly turned his head and asked with an unbelievable suspicion, "Dean... could he... could he be a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast in human form?!"
Other than this explanation, he really couldn't imagine how a human youth could possess two hundred-thousand-year spirit rings and such a terrifying Domain at this age! It was the only logical conclusion left to him.
Yan Shaozhe's deep gaze pierced through the icy mist below, locking firmly onto Huo Yuhao, as if trying to see through him completely. He searched for the telltale signs of a beast's soul.
After a moment, he slowly shook his head, his voice low and certain: "No."
"Even if a Spirit Beast can take human form, its life Origin and Soul aura will still have a trace of abnormality that is hard to fully hide under the perception of a Titled Douluo. But this youth..."
"His life fluctuations are pure, and his Soul aura is solid. He is undoubtedly human, definitely not a transformed Spirit Beast."
Despite saying this, a lingering confusion also appeared on his face. He was faced with a reality that defied his decades of experience.
"However... these two genuine hundred-thousand-year spirit rings are truly inconceivable and baffling."
He glanced at Du Weilun beside him, let out a soft breath, and said, "Let's go. Since we've been 'discovered,' let's go down and meet this... 'miraculous' youth."
As his voice fell, the two of them drifted down from the high city wall like light feathers, landing steadily in the center of the ice-covered World below. Their arrival was silent, but their presence was undeniable.
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