After admiring the elegant swan-type Spirit Beasts, Yu Yan, Xiao Wu, and Ning Rongrong sat down in the Crown Prince's reception hall under Xue Qinghe's guidance.
"Brother Yu Yan, do you drink?"
From the host's seat Xue Qinghe pointed at the wine jar on the table and asked whether Yu Yan could drink.
Qian Renxue didn't like alcohol, yet she had to admit wine was useful; most of the time, over a few rounds of drinks, distance between people quickly shrank.
"I can drink, but I don't enjoy it. If Your Highness the Crown Prince wishes to, I can keep you company for a couple of cups."
Compared with social drinking, Yu Yan preferred to sip a little when he was happy or alone, to lift his mood.
If Xue Qinghe wanted to drink, a couple of sips wouldn't be a problem.
"Since you don't like it, let's skip it; the point of tonight's banquet is to enjoy ourselves."
Hearing Yu Yan's answer, Xue Qinghe set down his cup and abandoned the idea of using wine to draw them closer—she didn't like drinking anyway.
After a few casual remarks, Xue Qinghe, who had already planned ahead, probed with an invitation:
"Brother Yu Yan, have you considered enrolling at Heaven Dou Royal Academy? I still have some say there; if you'd like to study with us, feel free to name any condition."
"I've no intention. Vice Dean Jiang Jing has helped me greatly, and I've promised to represent Exotic Beast Academy in the next All-Continent Elite Soul Master Tournament. I appreciate Your Highness's kindness."
Yu Yan refused without hesitation; joining Heaven Dou Royal Academy would, to a degree, mean joining Xue Qinghe's camp. In the original story, Xue Beng and Prince Xue Xing drove out the Shrek Academy Spirit Masters partly to prevent the Crown Prince's power from growing.
Yu Yan hadn't accepted Xue Qinghe's invitation then, and he wouldn't accept it now.
"In that case, the champion of the next All-Continent Elite Soul Master Tournament will most likely be Exotic Beast Academy."
Such a blunt refusal blocked every follow-up remark Xue Qinghe had prepared, yet since she had foreseen it, she showed no anger.
Yu Yan was already a Spirit Elder at his age; by the next Tournament he would be far stronger. Add his trait of one ring with two Spirit Abilities, plus the equally formidable Xiao Wu, and the championship was basically settled.
That woman's prized disciples—the so-called Golden Generation of Spirit Hall—would also compete. If Yu Yan could defeat those three, Qian Renxue would be delighted to watch.
She looked down on Spirit Hall's famed Golden Generation; she had been a Spirit Grandmaster at six and a Spirit Elder at eight—those so-called geniuses weren't fit to carry her shoes.
Ice Jiao Sixth Spirit Ability: Ever-Prison Bone Spike
Spirit Beast source: the 'Crystal-Bone Spike Dragon King' of the Extreme-Prison Glacier (a sub-dragon whose bones are coated in energy crystals)
Ability form:
Slap the right palm on the ground; within a thousand meters an ice-crystal bone-spike jungle erupts. The tips show wraith faces; the wounded are branded with a 'chill-prison mark'.
Triple tactical effects:
Bone-cage restraint:
The spikes interlock into a prison requiring Spirit Emperor strength to break.
Gravity inside doubles (restricts agility-attack system).
Ice-marrow backlash:
Attackers suffer 30% damage reflection; the reflected damage becomes healing frost-mist for allies.
Ever-prison sacrifice:
Detonate the mark inside a target, dealing true damage equal to 40% of health already lost. Cost: for each detonation the user's blood freezes for three seconds.
Fire Jiao Sixth Spirit Ability: Crystalline Starfall
Spirit Beast source: the 'Crimson-Dome Crystal Peng-Dragon' of the Magma-Core Star Gorge (a sky-blotting crystalline flyer)
Ability form:
Leap skyward and scatter nine crimson crystal cores; they absorb light and heat, expand to house-size meteors, and fall guided by mental force.
Strategic strike chain:
Stage effects – Douluo scientific principles
Cores hover, siphoning stray spirit power from the battlefield (energy siphon).
Star-chains: cores link with molten chains (thermal-expansion stress conduction).
Judgment blast: on impact the cores shatter (fragment kinetic × spirit power fission).
Ember Domain: residual lava zones keep burning (mantle-matter half-life simulation).
Limit: maximum three waves per battle (twenty-seven cores).
Martial Soul Fusion Skill: Eternal Calamity Frost-Flame Well
(an energy-loop system of 'Bone-Prison' + 'Starfall')
Fusion rite:
Bone-spike prison forms the well walls, crystal cores forge the base; an ice-fire taiji spins at the mouth, swallowing all ability aftershocks inside the Domain.
Well Laws:
graph TB
A[Ability fired into the well] --> B{Energy type}
B -->|Ice| C[Condenses into frost-prison bone spear]
B -->|Fire| D[Forces into star-fall nuke]
C --> E[Allies can pull spears to fight]
D --> F[Fire Jiao controls detonation]
B -->|Other| G[Converted to spirit power dust]
G --> H[Recharges and repairs well walls]
Ultimate annihilation:
When absorbed energy exceeds capacity (three Spirit Saint hits):
the well collapses into a frost-flame black hole;
all units within a kilometer are dragged to the core;
an ice-fire annihilation storm erupts (power = 150% of absorbed energy).
Synergy with prior abilities
Linked targets Ice Jiao sixth ability synergy Fire Jiao sixth ability synergy
Vault Frost Falling Star Net spikes accelerate in gravity-flip zone cores refract via frost-net nodes
Earth Vein Flame Heart Banner bone cage + banner form compound fortress cores trigger banner-chain explosions
Ice-Fire Dragon-Fang Prison chill mark boosts fang pierce rate storm ignites leftover prison energy.
Body signs Ice Jiao possession Fire Jiao possession conflict-harmony points
Pupils left eye iced crystal ring (blue light flow) right eye molten gold slit (sparks) overlay vision sees energy flow
Hair left temple frost runes spread (tips ice) right temple crimson flame (ends ember) braid at back forms ice-fire taiji
Skin left half covered in dark-blue dragon scales (chill wisps) right half embedded in red-gold armor (heat waves) chest reverse scale gray-white vortex
Limbs left arm becomes black-ice talon (freezes contact) right arm molten-bone claw (melts metal) elbows/knees spray thin ice-fire jets
II. Deep possession (flesh symbiosis)
1. Structural mutation
graph TB
A[Spine mutation] --> B[Ice Jiao possession]
A --> C[Fire Jiao possession]
B --> D{Ice traits}
D --> D1[3rd vertebra protrudes ice-spike chain-blade]
D --> D2[scapula extends crystal-wing membrane]
C --> E{Fire traits}
E --> E1[coccyx grows lava mace-tail]
E --> E2[ribs flip outward as crystal armor]
2. Energy-loop manifestation
Ice-vein network: left half shows frost-meridians (blue pulse)
blood Precipitation ice-prism micro-crystals (wounds self-cauterize and freeze)
Fire-marrow circuit: right half burns molten-core vessels (crimson glow)
spirit power surges spray ember sparks (sweat evaporates into brimstone mist)
III. Perfect possession (human-dragon threshold)