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It was still the same Empress Sword but with the added power of the Ring Explosion, the might of this strike had increased by more than several times.

As the ice-blue longsword swept across, even space itself was torn apart, the ultimate cold freezing everything in its path. The unparalleled sharpness was so intense that even Shui Lingguang felt a chill on her skin.

A trace of admiration flashed in her eyes as Shui Lingguang slashed out with her sword.

The ice sword traced a semicircle in the air, and suddenly, an ice-blue vortex appeared out of nowhere.

Snow Empress’s strike, capable of nearly slicing through space, stalled bizarrely when it encountered this vortex.

“What?!”

Snow Empress’s pupils contracted in disbelief.

Shui Lingguang smiled faintly, “Madam, you should be familiar with this. This is the second form—Endless Vortex.”

Ice God Sword Art, Second Form: Endless Vortex.

If Absolute Void is the ultimate technique for breaking domains, then Endless Vortex is a first-class defensive skill.

It can dissolve most attacks, swallowing everything like a vortex.

Snow Empress didn’t speak, but her expression grew more solemn.

She had witnessed this move before but hadn’t expected its power to be so great.

Although they both practiced the Ice God Sword Art, Shui Lingguang was more skilled than Su Yu.

It wasn’t that Su Yu was inferior, but rather that Shui Lingguang had immersed herself in it for years; her mastery of the Ice God Sword Art was naturally beyond Su Yu’s current level.

Shui Lingguang flicked her sword lightly, releasing a crescent-shaped sword light from the ice sword.

The crescent sword light was cold and sharp, splitting space wherever it passed, like a hot knife through butter, everything melting with a sizzling sound.

From start to finish, it was clean and decisive.

Snow Empress immediately became alert, shattering her fourth and fifth spirit rings without hesitation.

At the same time, an ice armor appeared on her body.

This was a set of soul tool armor, mainly protecting her upper body.

The armor emitted a faint glow, with soul power surging through it.

It was an eighth-level ice-type defensive soul tool.

It was also one of the rewards Su Yu had won in the last tournament.

Su Yu had his armor, so this set naturally went to Snow Empress.

It wasn’t that Su Yu was biased and didn’t give it to Meng Hongchen, who also had an ice attribute—her attribute was unique, possessing both ice and fire.

Besides, Meng Hongchen was the granddaughter of Jing Hongchen, a top-level ninth-grade soul engineer, so how could she lack soul tool armor?

Among the remaining people, Snow Empress was the most suitable.

This eighth-level soul tool was of decent quality and enhanced strength.

Clad in the armor, Snow Empress infused the Empress Sword with the power of ring explosion and struck again.

This time, she shattered her fourth and fifth soul rings at once, her strength reaching a new level.

She managed to forcibly block the crescent sword light.

Her Empress Sword shattered, and Snow Empress staggered back dozens of steps, her chest heaving.

She barely managed to withstand Shui Lingguang’s strike with all her might.

Shui Lingguang displaying the Ice God Sword Art was terrifying. Snow Empress estimated that even without using her Martial Soul True Body, Shui Lingguang was no weaker than any peak Douluo, possibly even stronger.

Every move looked simple, but each was a divine technique of the Ice God.

Each strike contained profound mysteries.

Without a ring explosion, she would have had no way to defend herself.

Her hands trembled slightly. Snow Empress summoned a magnificent longsword to her hand.

The sword exuded a strong ice aura. Even Shui Lingguang couldn’t help but take a second look.

“Interesting.”

Shui Lingguang murmured, her beautiful eyes sparkling.

She recognized this sword.

It was a ninth-level soul tool Su Yu had acquired—Han.

An extremely high-grade ninth-level soul tool.

Even to someone as powerful as Shui Lingguang, it was a weapon that could enhance her strength.

She hadn’t expected Han to end up in Snow Empress’s hands.

But thinking about it, since the young master now had the Ice Sky Divine Sword, it was only natural for Han to go to Snow Empress.

Giving two soul tools to Snow Empress—Su Yu certainly favored her.

A hint of envy flashed in Shui Lingguang’s eyes but quickly vanished.

With Han in hand, Snow Empress felt much steadier.

Shui Lingguang’s strength exceeded her expectations.

Especially since Shui Lingguang could also exert the Ice God’s authority, it was a crushing blow.

With her ultimate ice suppressed, her strength was greatly reduced.

If not for ample preparation, and Su Yu’s arrangements, this would have been truly difficult.

Taking a deep breath, Snow Empress held her sword horizontally before her chest, her gaze full of fighting spirit as she looked at Shui Lingguang.

Shui Lingguang smiled at the corners of her eyes and slashed again.

This time, it was just an ordinary strike.

Snow Empress sighed in relief and charged forward with her sword.

The two figures collided repeatedly, ice-blue brilliance freezing everything around them as layers of ice and extremely cold sword energy raged.

Their battle moved from the ground to the sky, as icy frost and blue snowflakes gradually filled the air.

With Han in hand, Snow Empress’s overall combat power increased significantly.

Especially the boost to her ice attribute, allowing her suppressed ice to regain vitality.

With ultimate ice-level attacks, she was no longer at much of a disadvantage in terms of attributes compared to Shui Lingguang.

For a time, the two became locked in a fierce aerial battle.

Vaguely, one could see the phantom of an Ice Snow Maiden and an Ice Phoenix clashing back and forth.

Su Yu watched quietly, everything in the sky falling into his eyes.

At this moment, Snow Empress was giving her all.

Soul tools, Snow Empress’s three signature moves, and various soul bones.

Snow Empress resisted Shui Lingguang’s attacks with a barrage of techniques.

Shui Lingguang, too, did not use any new Ice God Sword Arts for now, making it seem like they were evenly matched.

Su Yu sighed softly, knowing it was only temporary.

No matter how powerful Han was, it couldn’t make up for a five-level soul power gap.

If Shui Lingguang could use her Martial Soul True Body, the fight would have ended long ago.

Even as things stood, Shui Lingguang hadn’t used her latest sword techniques.

Once she did, even the current Snow Empress might not be able to withstand it. That would be Snow Empress’s most difficult moment.

Time passed slowly, and the aerial battle remained fierce.

Han’s boost to Snow Empress exceeded expectations, allowing her to withstand Shui Lingguang’s series of attacks.

Snow Empress indeed had deep reserves, plus beast-class soul bones starting at 200,000 years.

In terms of setup, she undoubtedly surpassed Shui Lingguang.

If not for Shui Lingguang’s greater Ice God authority, Snow Empress wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage.

Unable to break through after a long assault, Shui Lingguang was somewhat surprised by Snow Empress’s tenacity.

At the same time, Snow Empress’s combat experience was extraordinary; though still losing ground, there were no flaws.

Based on displayed strength alone, Shui Lingguang found it hard to defeat Snow Empress quickly.

If this were just a test, Snow Empress had already met Shui Lingguang’s requirements.

But Shui Lingguang wanted to see how far Snow Empress could go.

Ice sword and soul tool clashed, emitting sharp sounds.

Shui Lingguang pointed her sword horizontally, unleashing endless icy blue.

In an instant, a chill swept over Snow Empress, and she felt the world spinning. The next moment, she found herself in an ice-blue world.

This world was filled with the purest ice elements, but to Snow Empress’s shock, the ice elements were rejecting her.

She was also the ultimate ice, but here, she couldn’t manipulate the ice elements at all.

On the contrary, there was a mysterious power suppressing her ice attribute.

It was as if she had been weakened out of nowhere.

“You… you have another domain?”

Snow Empress exclaimed in shock.

Previously, Shui Lingguang had shown a domain as binding as a deep pool.

Now, this was another domain.

Did Shui Lingguang possess two domains?

Domain-type skills were extremely rare. Even she and Ice Empress had only one domain each.

So far, she has only seen Su Yu with multiple domains.

But Su Yu was special.

Shui Lingguang was just one of the four Ice God Hall Guardians, yet she possessed something not even Mu Wu and Hai Bodong had—two domains.

Such talent was astonishing!

Fortunately, she was no longer her old self.

Previously, she was just a soul beast, relying only on her abilities.

Now, she was both beast and human.

She no longer had to rely solely on herself.

She had six beast-class soul bones.

These soul bones came from powerful beasts of the Extreme North.

Those beasts failed their tribulations and died, leaving only soul bones.

Among them were existences not weaker than the Ice Empress, some even stronger.

All of them had their signature domains.

While not all soul bones would carry their domains, with so many, some did.

Six Soul Bones gave Snow Empress two additional domain skills.

In other words, besides her own Snow Dance Domain, Snow Empress also had two soul bone domains.

She had a total of three domains.

Facing Shui Lingguang’s domain oppression, Snow Empress unhesitatingly used all her domains.

Along with her own, she simultaneously unleashed three fused domains.

The power of triple domains was extraordinary; she not only shattered Shui Lingguang’s domain in their clash but even trapped Shui Lingguang within.

This time, it was Shui Lingguang’s turn to be surprised.

She had only seen Su Yu use triple domain fusion before, but now Snow Empress had done it too.

If Snow Empress’s cultivation caught up, with this triple domain fusion she would be a true rival.

Shui Lingguang smiled and shook her head, slashing out with her sword, severing space.

The triple domain was instantly broken, and Snow Empress, suffering backlash, fell straight down.

Shui Lingguang, high above, slashed out again.

The dazzling sword light eclipsed the sun.

It was as if a phantom appeared—a figure of utmost holiness and purity.

Snow Empress recognized it: the Ice God!

Ice God Sword Art, Fourth Form: Goddess’s Benediction.

This strike brought Snow Empress mortal danger.

Especially as she was falling, this strike from above made her hair stand on end.

With no time to think, she detonated her sixth and seventh soul rings.

The sixth black ring wasn’t too bad, but when the seventh hundred-thousand-year ring shattered, Snow Empress’s face turned pale and she spat blood.

Using the explosive power, Snow Empress channeled all energy into her Empress Sword.

The ice-blue Empress Sword burst with unprecedented brilliance, charging upward.

In an instant, the attacks collided.

Ice-blue brilliance filled the sky, dazzlingly bright.

Endless cold and impact unleashed an invisible storm.

Snow Empress, already falling, shot to the ground like a cannonball.

Just before landing, Su Yu suddenly appeared and caught her.

Snow Empress spat more blood, the cold blood staining Su Yu’s white clothes.

Su Yu tenderly wiped the blood from her lips, gazing at her pale face.

Snow Empress coughed lightly: “Let go of me, the test isn’t over yet.”

“The test is over.”

A clear, ethereal voice rang out as Shui Lingguang gracefully landed.

Compared to the weakened Snow Empress, Shui Lingguang’s ice-blue palace dress was still spotless.

“But… it’s not time yet…”

“It’s already enough.”

Shui Lingguang smiled.

Whether twenty minutes had passed wasn’t important—she was the examiner.

She was satisfied with the Snow Empress’s performance.

“Lingguang, you did very well.”

Su Yu’s gentle voice sounded.

Hearing this, Shui Lingguang pouted, sounding aggrieved: “Young Master!”

“All right!”

Seeing Shui Lingguang feigning grievance, Su Yu waved his hand.

There was no need to blame Shui Lingguang any further.

Besides, he knew Shui Lingguang had held back.

Of the thirteen forms of the Ice God Sword Art, she only used five—already saying a lot.

Otherwise, Snow Empress would have been even more gravely injured.

But seeing Snow Empress cough up blood, Su Yu’s feelings still wavered.

“You’ve passed this test, haven’t you?”

Su Yu asked.

Shui Lingguang nodded, “Of course.”

“Madam Xue’er’s strength exceeded my expectations.”

Su Yu rolled his eyes at Shui Lingguang, who smiled sweetly.

He shook his head helplessly, “Let us use your place to recover.”

Snow Empress had detonated seven soul rings, including a hundred-thousand-year one.

The backlash to her body was significant.

Fortunately, she was tough and could recover mostly in a day.

But the shattered rings couldn’t be used for now.

She’d have to wait thirty-six days for them to recover.

That was the aftereffect of the ring explosion.

“Young Master, this way please.”

Shui Lingguang led Su Yu into the Ice Phoenix Hall, where he fed Snow Empress a roll of dragon-ganoderma leaf and infused her with some life force from the Life Gold. Her condition quickly improved.