Faced with the silver dragon's playful complaint, Zhu Ziyang chuckled helplessly. "It's fine," he said. "It's not too late to make a contract now. In fact, your soul ring and soul bone match me so well that you might not even need to go through the Soul Spirit Egg phase—you could become a soul spirit directly."
"Right!" the silver dragon's face lit up with excitement. "Hurry up! I can't wait any longer. I've been dying to know what it feels like to become a soul spirit!"
"As you wish," Zhu Ziyang smiled.
With experience from the previous two contracts, it didn't take him long to finish the bonding ritual. Watching the Holy Silver Frost Dragon begin to transform, Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but smile.
At dawn, in Zhu Ziyang's room, he slowly opened his eyes, a hint of joy flickering across his face. With a single thought, a hundred-thousand-year soul ring floated out behind him, and a moment later, a silver dragon burst forth from the ring.
The dragon's form was small—no larger than a housecat—but the dragon's might it exuded was unmistakable.
The tiny dragon flapped her wings and landed on Zhu Ziyang's shoulder. Her silver eyes sparkled with wonder as she looked over her body. "So this is what it feels like to be a soul spirit… so strange! But amazing!"
"Yes," Zhu Ziyang nodded with a smile. Everything had gone exactly as expected. Since the Holy Silver Frost Dragon had the strongest compatibility with him—and her soul ring and soul bone had been with him the longest—she completed the transformation in just a couple of hours.
It was the first time Zhu Ziyang had witnessed the full birth of a soul spirit. Curious, he examined the little dragon perched on his shoulder. What he saw and sensed slowly merged with what he'd learned about soul spirits over the years.
Soul spirits — intelligent spiritual entities that exist between the soul and the physical body. They possess independent thought and grow stronger alongside their host soul master.
"How do you feel?" he asked with a smile. "Any changes to your strength?"
"Hmm…" The Holy Silver Frost Dragon lowered her head and looked at her claws and wings. Then she replied, "I can't compare to what I was in life, but I should easily be able to crush any soul beast under 50,000 years! Especially since I'm now a silver dragon!"
"Haha, that's good." Zhu Ziyang laughed. He wasn't surprised. A soul spirit retains 80% of its original strength, and he was confident in defeating all soul beasts below 100,000 years. So of course she could overwhelm anything under 50,000 years.
"I want to test this new body out for a while," she said, flapping her wings. "Mind if I fly around the room?"
"Of course not," Zhu Ziyang smiled. "But only in the room, alright? The existence of soul spirits is still a secret—we can't let anyone see you yet."
"Alright…" she said, a little disappointed. But her sadness didn't last. She took off in joyful loops around the room, clearly thrilled with her new form.
After all, she had failed to evolve from dragon-wolf to true dragon in life. But now that dream had come true—how could she not celebrate?
Zhu Ziyang let her be and focused inward, examining the changes to his soul skills triggered by the dragon-wolf's awakening.
Now that the former Silver Dragon Wolf had fully evolved into the Holy Silver Frost Dragon, the first soul ring of his second martial soul—the Heavenly Frost Holy White Dragon—had undergone a remarkable upgrade.
The soul skill Frost Dragon Claw had evolved into Frost Dragon King Claw. Though still a claw-based attack, the new version possessed much greater power. It now included an ice domain that slowed enemies and reduced their resistance to ice attacks. Then ten massive claws, infused with spatial tear effects, would descend to shred the target to pieces.
Meanwhile, the Frost Chill soul skill had transformed into Frost Dragon Cold Domain, changing from a freezing pulse to a full-blown domain-type control ability. It could freeze both time and space for exactly three seconds, regardless of the target's strength.
This was an absolute control skill—any living being caught in it would be frozen for exactly three seconds.
This gave Zhu Ziyang a total of three domain-type soul skills from his second martial soul alone:
Frost Dragon Cold Domain
Frost Freeze Field
Snowdance Sunlight
Honestly, with this toolkit, his second martial soul could easily be mistaken for a control-type or support-type spirit.
Just kidding. But in any case, Zhu Ziyang was in a very good mood.
Thanks to the birth of the Holy Silver Frost Dragon as a true soul spirit, Zhu Ziyang's cultivation had also advanced—he was now Level 64.
Although he knew that Wang Yan wouldn't let him fight until Elder Lin arrived, he didn't mind. After all, tournaments were temporary—but cultivation lasts a lifetime.
The sunlight spilled through the window. He turned to the flying dragon and called out, "Hey, Silver Dragon, time to come back. The sun's up!"
"Got it!" she replied. Though a little reluctant, she obediently returned to Zhu Ziyang's side and perched on his shoulder. Lifting her head proudly, she declared:
"Listen up! I have a name, you know! I'm called Second Frost!"
"You have a name?" Zhu Ziyang asked in shock. "Seriously?!"
He was stunned. In his experience, soul beasts didn't have personal names. Even the Ice Empress and Snow Empress, with cultivation levels of 400,000 and 700,000 years, were simply referred to by their species. The fact that Second Frost had a name was downright astonishing.
"What's so surprising?" Second Frost said smugly, swishing her tail. "You didn't expect that from me?"
"Honestly? Yeah." Zhu Ziyang nodded. "Snow Empress and Ice Empress don't have names, but you do? That's a shock."
"Hmph! How can they compare to someone as noble as me?" she pouted proudly.
"Second Frost…" Zhu Ziyang repeated, rolling her name on his tongue. "It's unique. Did you just make it up now?"
"Excuse me? Do I look that bored?" she huffed. Flying to his shoulder again, she said with a snort, "That name's been mine since birth! I didn't just come up with it for your convenience!"
"Really?" Zhu Ziyang was surprised but didn't question her. Instead, his curiosity deepened. "But why is your surname 'Second'? Even among humans, that's incredibly rare!"
"Because I'm a dragon-wolf, of course!" Second Frost replied as if it were obvious. "Didn't you know? Our ancestors were descended from Yazi, the legendary slaughter dragon beast! Among the Dragon God's children, Yazi was the second in age and power. So we, his descendants, bear the surname Second in honor of him!"
"I see… that's fascinating," Zhu Ziyang murmured, stunned by the revelation. He had no idea dragon-wolves held such reverence for Yazi.
Then he asked curiously, "If you revere Yazi so much, why didn't you evolve in his direction? I thought he was a true dragon too, and higher ranked than the Silver Dragon bloodline?"
"You think I didn't want to?!" Second Frost rolled her eyes. "But Yazi possessed metal attributes and the Law of Slaughter. I don't have either! Without those, how could I ever evolve into Yazi?"
"Ah… that makes sense." Zhu Ziyang nodded. "So your only real path was toward the Silver Dragon lineage."
"Exactly! So frustrating!" she groaned, flailing her tiny paws. "If I had just a trace of Yazi's law… oh well."
"That reminds me," Zhu Ziyang suddenly said, "what about that three-eyed golden lion in the Great Star Dou Forest? She has both fire and light attributes. Seems like she'd have a good chance of becoming a true Sun Lion, right?"
"Ugh! That's exactly why I'm so jealous of her!" Second Frost sighed. "If she evolves into a true Sun Lion, her future will be smooth sailing. She wouldn't even need to worry about those 100,000-year tribulations! So unfair!"
Zhu Ziyang chuckled at her frustrated rant. He leapt off the bed and gave her little head a pat. "Alright, time to go back into the soul ring or Spiritual Sea. I'm heading out."
"Okay!" Second Frost flapped her wings and flew into Zhu Ziyang's soul ring, disappearing into his Spiritual Sea.
Once she was gone, Zhu Ziyang freshened up and left his room to eat breakfast in the hotel's dining hall.
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