Li Chang'an didn't answer Shui Bing'er directly. Instead, he gave a small chuckle and teased,
"I only have the ice attribute. You, on the other hand, still have water. I don't."
Shui Bing'er, of course, didn't understand his flippant remark. Her beautiful brows drew tighter. This was becoming troublesome — the opponent actually had ice as well!
While both sides began to engage, the black-haired girl standing at the back of Skywater Academy's formation — Xue Wu — started moving. Strangely, she didn't attack. Instead, she began to dance on the spot.
Her long black hair swayed, her graceful steps light as a feather. The four soul rings on her body flickered one after another, sending ripples of blue light outward with each step. As she danced, a dark cloud formed directly over the central arena, perfectly covering the battlefield. Soon, fat raindrops began to fall, cascading into a curtain of water.
The rain never touched the girls of Skywater Academy. The drops slid away before reaching them — but for the Crimson Rose team it was a different story. In just a moment, everyone except Li Chang'an had become drenched.
Using the field to their advantage?
Li Chang'an couldn't quite read their strategy, but while he was present, Shui Bing'er continued to freeze and restrict Xiao Wu and the others.
With the rain added on, even though his teammates had strong soul power and Li Chang'an could break the ice seals in time, their movements were still hampered and their attacks slowed.
"Go all out!" Li Chang'an barked. He no longer hesitated. Ning Rongrong and Mu Xi were support-type Spirit Masters; if the enemy kept freezing them, it would largely negate both auxiliary spirits. They could only rely on him now.
The environment was turning against them too. The falling rain was growing colder. He himself didn't mind the chill, but Xiao Wu and the others weren't so resistant.
At his command, Zhu Zhuqing's fourth soul ring flared at once. Xiao Wu vanished, her Invincible Golden Body flashing on.
"Pull back!" Shui Bing'er ordered, trying to avoid the blow. In a situation like this, taking them head-on would be unwise. But the order came too late.
Xiao Wu closed in on a power-attack member and, with a waist-bow throw, shattered the girl's ice armor and drove her into the ground. Zhu Zhuqing was even fiercer; the ice armor splintered under her claws, her fourth soul skill crashing down immediately afterward.
Shui Bing'er stayed calm even in shock. As the attack came, a circle of icy blue light burst from her body, its effect strikingly similar to Huo Wu's Ring attack.
Li Chang'an and the others felt a wave of freezing cold sweep over them, their released skills forcibly retracted. Under this sudden burst, everyone but Li Chang'an was pushed back.
They could have forced it, but with two support Spirit Masters to protect, retreat was their only option.
Shui Bing'er moved — not forward, but back — retreating through the icy rain toward Xue Wu, while three teammates quickly gathered to block in front of them.
"Xue Wu!" Shui Bing'er called, glancing at the support Spirit Master. The two exchanged a nod.
"Not good, that's a Martial Soul Fusion Skill!" Meng Yiran instantly realized what they were doing.
But it was already too late.
Blue hair and black hair merged into one, transforming into a dazzling blue-white pillar of light that shot into the dark clouds overhead. Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu vanished. Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill had been fully unleashed.
From the very start of the battle, while Shui Bing'er was restricting Li Chang'an's team, this skill had been charging. Once that pillar of light reached the clouds, even defeating Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu individually couldn't stop the fusion's power from being released.
"Form up!" Li Chang'an ordered, looking up at the sky.
The rain changed. Ice rain turned to drifting snowflakes — each flake a spinning blade — swirling down into an icy snow vortex that swept toward the Crimson Rose team.
"If you can't endure this, surrender. We'll stop." Shui Bing'er's voice floated from afar.
Li Chang'an answered with action. His Taibai Sword instantly expanded, a surge of cold intent radiating from its blade. He planted the giant sword before his team, blocking the oncoming force with only his twenty-ninth level soul power.
This Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul quality was exceptional, almost the limit of ice itself. His own elemental edge wasn't large. But he already had a plan.
All except Zhu Zhuqing withdrew from the arena, leaving only Li Chang'an and Zhu Zhuqing facing the Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
"What's he doing?" Hu Liena asked Xiao Wu and the others, puzzled.
"I remember Changsheng and Zhuqing also have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill…" Xiao Wu suddenly recalled.
Ice and Snow Falling — a beautiful name, but within that beauty lay deadly danger. The combined power of two Spirit Ancestor above level 40 was self-evident. Li Chang'an at level 29 alone could not block it. Neither could Zhu Zhuqing by herself.
This was the first time Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu had used this hidden card. Against other elemental academies they had held it back, but they refused to lose to Crimson Rose team.
Spectators saw only the swirling snow tornado. Li Chang'an and Zhu Zhuqing heard the razor-sharp whine of cutting edges.
Could their skills withstand Ice and Snow Falling? Could they win this final match of the preliminaries? Within the storm of snow, everything became uncertain.
Even the powerhouses in the VIP seats couldn't make a judgment.
Then Li Chang'an and Zhu Zhuqing gave their answer. They clasped hands and shared a smile.
Back in the Spirit Battle Arena, when Li Chang'an crushed Tang San, he had obtained a skill called Universal Spirit Compatibility. It allowed him to perform a perfect, 100% Martial Soul Fusion Skill with any Spirit Master — ignoring spirit compatibility, level, and cooldown, once per week.
Under his skill's pull, he and Zhu Zhuqing were wrapped in a sphere of light. An unstoppable power burst out.
"How can this be? How can they perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill — and one so perfect? Impossible…" muttered Ning Fengzhi in the stands.
The simultaneous appearance of two Martial Soul Fusion Skills pushed the arena's atmosphere to its peak. It was the first time anyone had seen such a sight.
When the light faded, a ten-meter-tall figure appeared in midair. Noble aura rolled off it, white radiance shimmering around its body.
The figure bore seven parts Zhu Zhuqing's elegance, three parts Li Chang'an's strength — like a god incarnate gazing down upon all.
Though Li Chang'an suppressed his power to twenty-ninth level, Zhu Zhuqing was a genuine level-47 Spirit Ancestor, and both wielded top-tier Martial Souls. The resulting force was terrifying.
If someone could see Shui Bing'er inside the blue light pillar at that moment, they would find her expression ugly. Even though she had rated Li Chang'an highly before, she hadn't imagined he also possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
A clear phoenix cry rose from within that blue pillar of light. Hearing the bright, ringing note, Li Chang'an finally recognized Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul.
Ice Phoenix — a top-tier Martial Soul! No wonder her control was so strong. No wonder she could wield such a Fusion Skill. She truly possessed a domineering, powerful spirit.
A phoenix again — but this Ice Phoenix was in no way inferior to Ma Hongjun's Fire Phoenix. They were opposites, but both top-tier. In fact, Shui Bing'er might even edge him out.
After all, Ma Hongjun still hadn't resolved his Evil Fire problem, while Shui Bing'er had something he lacked — a Fusion Skill partner in Xue Wu.
Snow gathered in the air, gradually forming. A seven-meter-long, enormous blue phoenix appeared out of nothing.
Unlike Ma Hongjun's fourth soul skill, this Ice Phoenix was sharply defined, almost solid, with bright eyes and long tail feathers — breathtaking to behold.
The radiant blue phoenix descended from the sky without a trace of smoke or fire, transforming into shimmering ice-blue light as it floated down. Its movement was not fast, but with each step forward, the falling snow condensed its body even more.
The blue Ice and Snow Phoenix and the handsome giant faced each other across the sky…