Douluo Continent: My Martial Soul is the Black Dragon, I am the Lord of the Gods

Chapter 251 Playing with Ice Like Playing with Poison

……

"Alright, now let's talk about your problem." Xuanming put down his teacup, picked up two more cups, and filled them with water.

"When you activate your Martial Soul, you must be able to clearly perceive the direction and intensity changes of every strand of ice energy." Xuan Ming said, condensing a small ice ball in his hand. The ice ball slowly rotated in his palm, its surface shimmering with a crystal-clear light.

"Like this, I can feel the distribution of ice energy in every part of this ice ball. I can change its shape and temperature at will, and even cause a tiny explosion inside it."

Shui Bing'er's eyes widened. She could sense the terrifying power contained within that seemingly ordinary ice ball, and Xuan Ming's control over it was simply divine.

"Give it a try." Xuanming handed the ice ball to Shui Bing'er.

Shui Bing'er carefully took the ice ball. The moment she touched it, she felt a cold yet powerful force surging within her hand. She tried to use her soul power to sense the energy inside the ice ball, but as soon as she made contact, she felt that the energy was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, almost out of control.

“Take your time. When I say you’re overestimating yourselves, it’s because you don’t have a clear understanding of your own abilities and you lack self-awareness,” Xuanming said.

"Use your soul power to envelop the ice puck and feel its every change."

Shui Bing'er took a deep breath, closed her eyes, concentrated, and did as Xuan Ming instructed.

Gradually, with Xuanming's assistance, she could feel the energy flow inside the ice ball becoming clearer, although it was still very weak, but it was a good start.

"This is just the most basic. Once you can clearly sense every subtle change in ice energy, you can try to guide its flow with your own soul power. Don't try to achieve miracles through brute force; you don't have that ability yet." Xuanming condensed another ice ball.

"Once you can guide the flow of ice energy, you can start trying this. Use your soul power to guide the energy inside the ice ball to flow dramatically and change the shape of the ice ball, like this."

As he spoke, the ice ball in Xuanming's palm changed rapidly like flowing liquid, condensing into a small ice phoenix.

“That’s one way too.” Xuanming condensed another ice ball, guided the flow of ice energy, and it quickly transformed into the shape of Shui Bing’er.

Shui Bing'er watched intently; it was the first time she had ever seen someone control ice like water, something that required an extremely strong grasp of the ice element.

"When...when will I be able to do that?" Shui Bing'er's voice was filled with a hint of urgency and expectation.

"I don't know, it's up to you." Xuanming placed both ice sculptures on the table.

"Your own ice energy is not strong enough. Don't think about using brute force to create miracles. You don't have that much power to squander. You should focus on controlling every bit of your power to the extreme. This is the fundamental issue. However, I don't think you guys pay much attention to this aspect. You're basically just pursuing power blindly."

Shui Bing'er's expression was somewhat unnatural. "Isn't the ability to control a higher level of martial soul something that can only be developed gradually as the martial soul grows?"

"Really?" Xuanming looked puzzled.

"I do not know how?"

"..." Shui Bing'er.

"How long did you practice that move just now?"

Xuan thought for a moment, "It's been almost a month. Ning Rongrong was so annoying back then. She insisted on chasing me to take her out to play even in the sweltering heat. I couldn't stand it, so I tried making a few ice sculptures for her to play with by herself."

"As a result, she stuffed the ice sculpture into her pocket and got a fever, which almost caused me to be cleaved in two by Sword Douluo."

Shui Bing'er looked strange.

Before she came, she actually thought Xuanming was a very aloof person, but he's not aloof at all.

"What kind of look is that?" Xuanming asked.

"It's nothing, I just feel... you seem a little different from the rumors," Shui Bing'er said.

"Or rather, completely different."

Since the opening ceremony of the competition, all the rumors they heard about Xuanming were negative.

Ruthless, merciless, cold-blooded, and heartless.

“You know that’s just a rumor.” Xuanming poured another cup of tea.

"Did you offend someone? I feel that someone in Tiandou City has been deliberately manipulating public opinion lately, trying to change your image in everyone's eyes..." Shui Bing'er hesitated before continuing.

"This has nothing to do with you, so don't ask any more questions." Xuanming drank the tea in his cup in one gulp.

"There is another training method besides what I just mentioned."

Xuanming pointed to one of the two glasses of water that had been poured on the table from the beginning, "Freeze this one."

Shui Bing'er was stunned for a moment, then reached out and grabbed a glass of water. A chilling cold surged through her, freezing the water in the glass into ice in an instant.

Xuanming picked up another cup of water, a chill surging in his palm, and froze it into ice as well.

Under Shui Bing'er's questioning gaze, Xuan Ming took the ice out of the two blankets.

"Look at these two ice cubes and see what the difference is."

"Difference?" Shui Bing'er was slightly taken aback, and immediately noticed the obvious difference.

"Color?" The ice in her cup was white in the center and transparent around the edges, while the ice in Xuanming's cup was white at the edges but transparent inside.

"Why?" Shui Bing'er asked, puzzled.

She hadn't noticed this issue before.

“The freezing methods are different,” Xuanming said.

"You freeze it from the outside in, and the air and impurities in the water are squeezed into the core, forming these white gaps."

"I freeze from the inside out, so the air and impurities in the water are squeezed to the outside, which is why the outside is white."

Shui Bing'er was slightly taken aback. "From the inside out? How... how did you do that?"

"It's still about controlling ice energy," Xuanming said.

"When you activate your martial soul, the ice energy spreads outward from your body, so it naturally freezes from the outside in. However, the speed and intensity of the spread can be controlled. When freezing, manipulate the ice energy to avoid the air and impurities in the water, first let the ice energy condense in the center of the water, and then spread it from the inside out. This way, you can achieve freezing from the inside out."

Shui Bing'er frowned slightly, "But, this..."

"What's the difference?" Xuanming asked.

Shui Bing'er nodded hesitantly, "Freezing directly from the outside in is faster. As a control-type Soul Master, what I need to consider is how to control the opponent more quickly. Speed ​​is the most important thing. Doing it this way is extremely difficult, and it will also greatly reduce the speed."

Xuanming nodded. "That's certainly true for third-rate soul masters."

Shui Bing'er's expression froze for a moment, and a surge of anger rose in her heart, but it was extinguished in an instant.

She could retort if someone else said that, but she had to swallow it when Xuanming said it!

“This is a bit complicated to explain. Let me give you an example. Do you know Poison Douluo?” Xuanming asked.

Shui Bing'er nodded. "Yes, the supreme poison."

In the current world of Soul Masters, Poison Douluo's strength is not particularly strong, but his threat level ranks among the top even among all Title Douluos.

“You haven’t met Dugu Bo, so you don’t know his abilities. Your ice and snow can restrain Dugu Yan, but it’s meaningless against Dugu Bo. This is not just a difference in soul power level, but also a difference in their level of poison skills,” Xuan Ming said.

"Dugu Yan's poison skills are too superficial. She can only use some superficial poisons, which are good for scaring people, but against a real master, she's just easy prey."

"But with Dugu Bo, you wouldn't even know when you were poisoned, and you wouldn't even know how you died."

"His poison is invisible and colorless. If you are not prepared in advance, you will be doomed by the time you realize it."

"The same goes for your ice."

Shui Bing'er was taken aback. "Ice is okay too?"

“For others, it might be impossible to reach that level in their entire lives, but you have the top-tier ice-attribute martial soul, the Ice Phoenix, so it’s not impossible for you to do this,” Xuanming said.

"Like in today's match, the support-type Soul Master on your team first caused a rainstorm to prepare for your Martial Soul Fusion Skill. That rain greatly increased the power of the Ice and Snowfall."

"What if you considered your opponent as this glass of water?"

"Your control over ice energy is still very weak. Freezing water takes time, let alone freezing a person. But you can let your ice energy penetrate into the other person's body with each release of ice, one after another. When enough ice energy has accumulated in the other person's body, you can then activate it and freeze them from the inside. What do you think will happen?"

Shui Bing'er's expression changed slightly, "This... isn't it a bit too difficult?"

“It is indeed difficult. To completely freeze the other party in this way is not easy even for me, let alone for you,” Xuanming said.

"But you don't need to freeze everything; freezing only a part is more than enough."

Xuanming picked up another cup of unfrozen water and released his ice energy once more. Under Shui Bing'er's somewhat flustered gaze, tiny ice spikes condensed and took shape in the water.

"Tell me, what would happen if this glass of water were replaced with a person?"

Shui Bing'er's expression was somewhat stiff, and she couldn't speak.

Just thinking about it, she could see how cruel that scene was!
"Have you...frozen someone like this before?" Shui Bing'er couldn't help but ask.

“No.” Xuanming put the cup down.

"This fighting style is like playing with ice like you're playing with poison. It's too troublesome. Why use such complicated methods when I can kill someone with a single slap?"

Shui Bing'er was somewhat suspicious, "Then how could you come up with such a... ruthless move?"

"Because I was under a lot of pressure for a period of time, and my inner world was... rather dark," Xuanming said.

"No one knows I have this kind of skill, not even that I can manipulate ice. If I use this method to do something underhanded, no one will know."

“Once an ice spike freezes in the heart or brain, and there is no way to prevent it, the person will not even know how they died. Moreover, the ice will melt in no time, and even an autopsy will not reveal any problems.”

(End of this chapter)