The Sparring Arena was only so big; as a Transcendent Douluo, he was entirely capable of covering it completely in his phoenix flames. When that happened, Huo Yuhao would naturally no longer be able to keep his domain up, and thus would be forced into the open. Furthermore, Yan Shaozhe would be launching an all-round attack against him in the process.

But something astonished Yan Shaozhe as he attempted to do so: As his phoenix flames fanned outwards, he realized that they didn"t immediately melt the snowflakes dancing through the air when they came into contact with one another. In fact, not only were they melting slowly, but they were also emanating intense chills in the process, which was causing him to expend more energy on his phoenix flames that he"d calculated.

What"s happening?

Yan Shaozhe had already channeled more than sixty percent of his soul power, but his phoenix flames had only managed to extend five meters out from him. Furthermore, the more they continued to expand, the more snowflakes they encountered from Huo Yuhao"s Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, and the colder the chilly air released by those snowflakes got. Yan Shaozhe quickly realized that, to his surprise, he"d been suppressed, and that Huo Yuhao was actually using the quality of his soul power to suppress his own cultivation advantage.

How is this possible? Their martial soul fusion should only give them the strength of a newly minted t.i.tled Douluo! How could his Ultimate Ice be so strong? Tang Wutong doesn"t possess any ice-type abilities!

If Yan Shaozhe could see Huo Yuhao"s current state, he would understand why he was at such a disadvantage.

The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Gra.s.s was swaying gently atop Huo Yuhao"s shoulder, while four other silhouettes floated behind him; all five of his Spirits were currently aiding him.

Of Huo Yuhao"s five great Spirits, the Skydream Iceworm possessed both ice-type abilities and spiritual power, while the other four all possessed Ultimate Ice!

When Huo Yuhao had fused with the Ice Bear King, Little Bai hadn"t just become his Spirit and soul ring; he"d also improved his Ultimate Ice"s quality once again.

According to the Snow Empress" words, the lowest temperature that Huo Yuhao could reach with his Ultimate Ice was two hundred and twenty degrees below zero. This temperature was already equivalent to what the Ice Empress could reach when she was at full strength!

The Ice Empress had been ranked seventh among the Ten Great Savage beasts. Even though she hadn"t been equivalent to an Ultimate Douluo when she was at full strength, she hadn"t been that far off.

All five of his Spirits had appeared simultaneously. Even though they couldn"t boost his soul power with their amplifications, they could still boost his element as much as possible. Furthermore, Blizzard was the soul skill that the Ice Bear King had bestowed Huo Yuhao with for his eighth soul ring.

Blizzard wasn"t just a normal soul skill when it was fused into his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice; it was considered a formidable integrated soul skill that could be further amplified by his Spirits. This was why it had managed to accomplish a certain level of suppression against even Yan Shaozhe"s Rank 97 Radiant Phoenix.

A faint smile gradually appeared on Yan Shaozhe"s face as he felt the pressure exuded on him. He nodded lightly and exclaimed, “Good, very good!” After all, the more powerful Huo Yuhao was, the happier he was. This practice battle had originally been intended to figure out the exact extent of Huo Yuhao"s strength anyway.

After he finished speaking, Yan Shaozhe"s expressed suddenly became solemn. He placed one hand above the other, with his palms facing each other. The next moment, his entire body became completely golden, just like when he"d defended himself against Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Shock.

What was different this time was that gentle golden hues were emanating from his dantian, and a small yellow phoenix seemed to be frolicking in front of his dantian.

Once this little golden phoenix emerged, his phoenix flames, which had been initially suppressed, seemed to almost become material and liquify as they blazed outwards.

This time, any snowflakes that the golden liquid touched were immediately vaporized. The extremely high temperatures brought about by this golden liquid immediately dispelled the low temperatures brought about by Huo Yuhao"s Ultimate Ice, as well as immediately beat back his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.

Receiving such a rude shock, Huo Yuhao had no choice but to withdraw his domain. He"d almost instantly realized that if were to continue maintaining his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, that his soul power would be completely expended in a matter of seconds. And he was expending Haodong power, which didn"t solely belong to him!

Yan Shaozhe reappeared in front of them, before looking at Huo Yuhao and nodding gently as he said, “Little junior brother, your Ultimate Ice"s quality was quite impressive. What did you feel?”

Huo Yuhao was momentarily surprised, but his expression quickly changed somewhat as he blurted out, “You used a self-invented soul skill to augment your own soul skills and soul power?”

Yan Shaozhe smiled faintly and said, “Yes, this is a technique that I came up with some years ago and relied on to become Dean of the Martial Soul Department. You have to understand this a bit more: Even though soul tools are developing at a quickening pace in today"s world, there"s still boundless potential in soul masters that"s waiting to be discovered.”

“Yes,” Huo Yuhao acknowledged respectfully. He knew that Yan Shaozhe was giving him guidance with his status as his elder senior brother.

Yan Shaozhe tilted his head and smiled. “You don"t have to be dejected. I used my soul core"s strength when I broke your domain just now. Your Ultimate Ice martial soul doesn"t yet have a soul core, nor is your soul"s quality as concentrated as mine. Furthermore, my self-invented soul skill augmented my Radiant Phoenix"s flames and raised my soul skill"s quality instantaneously to achieve such an effect. Do you understand when I say it like this?”

A thought occurred to Huo Yuhao after hearing Yan Shaozhe"s words, and he seemed to understand something, yet at the same time wasn"t quite able to place what it was despite trying as hard as he could to puzzle it out.

Yan Shaozhe smiled. “Alright, that"s enough for today. We might not learn as much if we get greedy for more. I know that both you and Tang Wutong"s strengths haven"t been completely unleashed, but I hope that you two will improve even more during the next three years. The next time you two challenge me, I won"t show any mercy.”

“Thank you for fulfilling our wishes, eldest senior brother,” Huo Yuhao got down on his knees in front of Yan Shaozhe. Even though Yan Shaozhe hadn"t said much to them, what he had said and the battle they"d had were enough to benefit him greatly.

The person who was most capable of guiding and advising Huo Yuhao in Shrek Academy wasn"t Elder Xuan, but rather Yan Shaozhe. The reason for that was because Yan Shaozhe could be considered to be of the same generation as Huo Yuhao, since they were both Elder Mu"s disciples. However, Yan Shaozhe had become Elder Mu"s disciple a lot earlier than Huo Yuhao had, so he had a much deeper understanding of Elder Mu"s abilities. Thus, Huo Yuhao needed some time to digest what he"d just learned from the battle they"d just fought.

Elder Xuan opened the protective dome and walked towards Yan Shaozhe with a faint smile on his face. “Why didn"t you give those two little fellows a little more pressure?”

Yan Shaozhe smiled back and said, “Sometimes, too much pressure isn"t a good thing. Yuhao doesn"t need pressure right now; he"s able to sense danger clearly as it is. He must"ve felt and learned a lot of things from our battle. Furthermore, and to be frank, I"m a little afraid of this kid. He gave me a good one, and I"m still not sure which one of his abilities gave me gooseb.u.mps; it gave me a strong sense of danger. Even if I was able to completely suppress him if we continued, I was afraid to be caught off guard, and that I"d end up losing.”

“Eh?” Elder Xuan stared at Yan Shaozhe, his expression changing to one of surprise. “You were afraid that you"d lose?”

Yan Shaozhe forced a smile as he said, “Yes! It"s not like I can hurt them, after all. And considering the fact that I couldn"t unleash any killing moves, I might actually be hurt if those two kids were to fight with their full strength. I don"t know what Yuhao used on me, but that sense of danger is still around, even now.”

Elder Xuan chuckled and said, “I felt it too. This kid is really quite different! He"s been standing on a whole different level ever since he broke through and obtained his eighth soul ring. What he needs most right now is more time to acc.u.mulate his strength. I just hope that he manages to grow up as quickly as possible.”

Yan Shaozhe continued, “I"m worried that we"re being counterproductive by forcing him to grow too quickly. Therefore, I"m not going to give them anymore pressure. Yuhao has managed to reach an extraordinary standard with his Ultimate Ice, and that probably has something to do with his Spirits. The temperature of his Ultimate Ice is also the strongest I"ve ever seen. At the very least, it"s never appeared before in the history of the academy. If I hadn"t used my Primordial Phoenix Flames, I might not have been able to touch him. I want to see the standard his Ultimate Ice soul power can reach after he obtains his soul core. From what I can tell, even without using his and Tang Wutong"s Haodong Power, he should be able to give typical t.i.tled Douluo a good fight.”

Elder Xuan nodded and said, “He should be able to grow up within three years. However… I"m not sure if the continent"s three native empires will be able to hold on that long.”

------

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong immediately returned the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion after they left. Just as Yan Shaozhe had predicted, they"d both had some revelations from the battle they"d just fought, and needed to internalize what they"d learnt as soon as possible. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao couldn"t use his Three Ultimate Haodong Skills anymore, which had quite an effect on him. He needed to make some adjustments to his fighting style, since he couldn"t use them anymore.

Fusing self-invented soul skills with those from soul rings was something entirely new to Huo Yuhao; it was something that Shrek Academy"s curriculum never even touched. Based on the abilities that Yan Shaozhe had just displayed, it was probably a technique that could only be cultivated by a Soul Douluo, at the very least. Thus, this was the most suitable time for him to start learning about such a concept.

Huo Yuhao wasn"t the only one who"d had revelations; Tang Wutong was the same. They both went back to Huo Yuhao"s room and crossed their legs on the beds, placing their palms together. They channeled Haodong power as they cultivated.