Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 168 Even a forced marriage can be very sweet!

three days later.

The once-icy lake has now dried up, and the island in the center of the lake has disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence.

Under the watchful eyes of the five undead creatures, Zhu Ziyang slowly opened his eyes. The joy on his face grew stronger as his memories returned, and in the end, he jumped up excitedly.

"Hahaha, we did it! Teacher, we did it!" Zhu Ziyang shouted excitedly.

"You've only completed the most important step. How you finish is up to you!" Electrolux replied, his voice weak but unable to hide his joy, relief, and a touch of pride.

Zhu Ziyang, however, did not notice Electrolux's weakness, and instead released the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon Martial Soul with great pleasure.

Five spirit rings shone brightly, four of which were crimson gold. Yes, crimson gold. At first glance, it appeared as a blood-red or vermilion-red, but upon closer inspection, one could see that this red contained a magnificent and dazzling gold, full of mystery and nobility. Clearly, these four crimson gold spirit rings came from the Snow Empress's spirit.

Upon hearing the mention of the Soul Spirit, Zhu Ziyang's mind stirred, and the crimson-gold Soul Ring in the second Soul Ring position flickered slightly. Then, a sphere floated out. The sphere was transparent; it was the Snow Pill, the crystallization of the Snow Emperor's origin and cultivation. Inside the Snow Pill, a baby was curled up, which was the Soul Spirit embryo that was about to take shape.

As the first Soul Spirit on the Douluo Continent, the Snow Empress Soul Spirit still needs one final step before it is born: the fusion of intelligence. To complete this step, the Snow Empress's soul needs to accept the fact that she has become a Soul Spirit; otherwise, the Soul Spirit body in the embryonic stage will only be a mindless decoration.

As for how to get the Snow Empress to accept his transformation into a spirit, that requires Zhu Ziyang's own efforts. It simply involves appealing to her with benefits and mobilizing her with power, which can only be implemented after the Snow Empress awakens from her sea of ​​consciousness.

Indeed, Xue Di's soul is currently sleeping soundly within Zhu Ziyang's spiritual sea, a feat naturally orchestrated by Ilex. In fact, the soul contract between Zhu Ziyang and Xue Di was forcibly signed by Ilex, who forcibly transformed her essence into a soul spirit and imprisoned her soul without Xue Di's consent.

This could be seen as a fait accompli. Under such circumstances, Xue Di has only two choices: either compromise and actively merge with the soul embryo, becoming a soul spirit and sharing Zhu Ziyang's fate; or remain steadfast and wait until Zhu Ziyang becomes powerful enough to erase his memories before passively merging with him. Either way, Zhu Ziyang is guaranteed to win, while Xue Di must either choose a win-win situation or allow Zhu Ziyang to win twice; there is no other possibility.

Electrolux believed that Snowy would make the right choice.

Zhu Ziyang's gaze fell on the four crimson-gold spirit rings, his eyes filled with scrutiny and excitement.

Golden spirit rings are said to be only found in god-level spirit rings. Although his four crimson-gold spirit rings are not god-level spirit rings, they represent the recognition and commendation of the Douluo Continent's rules for his creation of the spirit system.

The four crimson-gold spirit rings provided Zhu Ziyang with five spirit skills. The reason there are five is that the first three crimson-gold spirit rings, which carried the Snow Empress's abilities, each only generated one spirit skill, and these spirit skills all required the Snow Empress's spirit to be used. In other words, Zhu Ziyang is currently unable to use these three spirit skills.

The second soul skill, Emperor Sword - Unparalleled Ice, is a long sword created by the Snow Emperor using extreme ice and snow. The sword has no edge, the ice and snow are boundless, and its power is unparalleled.

The third soul skill, Emperor's Palm - Great Cold Without Snow, allows the Snow Emperor to gather the power of extreme cold in both hands and unleash a terrifying attack capable of freezing the vast ocean through rapid and continuous palm strikes.

The fourth soul skill, Emperor Hantian - Snow Dance in the Sun, is a domain-type soul skill. The Snow Empress displays graceful dance moves, using her identity as the Ice and Snow Maiden to communicate with the laws of ice, unleashing a massive snowstorm that blots out the sky, forming a snowfield. Within the snowfield, the Snow Empress gains a 50% increase in all attributes and a 50% damage reduction.

These three soul skills are the famous Snow Empress's Three Absolute Skills, which are also a major asset that enabled the Snow Empress to dominate the far north without ever being defeated and to overwhelm all the kings.

Zhu Ziyang truly hadn't expected that Xue Di's soul spirit could preserve these three soul skills so completely. This was an unexpected surprise, considering that he had essentially forced this relationship upon her, so it was only natural that it wasn't sweet. If it were sweet, it would only mean that she had excellent character and was incredibly lucky.

The fifth spirit ring possesses two major spirit skills. These skills are formed by combining the Snow Empress spirit ring with the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon martial spirit, and belong to Zhu Ziyang.

With the Heavenly Frost Dragon Aurora, Zhu Ziyang released an ice halo formed from the condensation of extreme ice from his fingertips. The halo instantly spread throughout his body, cleaving any approaching enemy in two.

Heavenly Frost Dragon Prism Mirror: Zhu Ziyang released extreme cold energy, condensing eight absolutely pure ice prisms around his body. The prisms could reflect all light and vibrations.

Both of these soul skills are defensive in nature, one for dealing with close-range attacks and the other for preventing ranged attacks. They can form an effective offensive and defensive combination with the Snow Emperor's Three Wonders.

"Not bad!" Zhu Ziyang said softly with a smile on his face.

The four crimson-gold spirit rings were not all of Zhu Ziyang's gains; he also gained two other things.

His first gain was a three-level increase in soul power, reaching level 60. Logically, the full energy of a 700,000-level soul beast shouldn't have only increased his soul power by three levels. However, that was precisely the case; Zhu Ziyang only increased his soul power by three levels and didn't even obtain the Snow Empress's soul bone. This enormous loss was actually within Zhu Ziyang's expectations.

Electrolux was right. Creating a system and establishing rules requires the support of a massive amount of天地元气 (heaven and earth energy). The Snow Emperor's soul bone, which he did not obtain, along with the lake's sourceless water, was the price he paid for this support.

To put it bluntly, the Snow Empress's cultivation contained in the Snow Empress's soul bone and the massive amount of primordial energy contained in the Sourceless Water are benefits to the rules of heaven and earth, allowing them to accept the birth and development of the soul system. It is a kind of bribe. Otherwise, Zhu Ziyang, a Soul King, and Ilex, a remnant soul of a god, alone would not be able to change the rules of heaven and earth.

The second gain was that his ice element affinity reached one hundred. One hundred points of elemental affinity is the highest elemental power that can be mastered on the Douluo Continent. Beyond that, elemental attributes will transform into elemental laws, which can only be mastered by beings who have entered the realm of gods.

After obtaining part of the Snow Emperor's ice and snow essence, Zhu Ziyang's mastery of ice elements can be considered the best on the continent.

After reaching 100 points of ice element affinity, Zhu Ziyang awakened his second ultimate talent, King of Ice.

When possessing this talent, Zhu Ziyang's ultimate ice will gain the kingly might to rule over all ultimate ice. Any ultimate ice user facing Zhu Ziyang can only exert 80% of their full strength. This talent undoubtedly comes from the Snow Empress.

In fact, the talent of the King of Ice is an inherent talent of the Ice and Snow Maiden clan. This is also another asset that allows the Snow Empress to suppress other 100,000-year-old soul beasts in the far north. After all, there are many 100,000-year-old soul beasts in the far north who possess the ultimate ice. Not to mention the distant ones, the Ice Jade Scorpion and Titan Snow Demon clans, which are also the Three Kings of the Far North, are undoubtedly the ultimate ice races.

Compared to the four crimson-gold spirit rings and level three spirit power, this new talent is Zhu Ziyang's greatest gain from this trip. Possessing this talent means that Zhu Ziyang has the qualifications to rule the far north. As long as his cultivation level increases, no one in the far north will be able to stop him. Of course, the premise is that Zhu Ziyang has the idea of ​​ruling the far north.

Zhu Ziyang stood up, looked around at his surroundings, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

They weren't on an island anymore; they were at the bottom of a dried-up lake. The original island was completely embedded in the lakebed. The giant ice tree had disappeared, the ruins of the igloo had been cleared away, and the place where snow lotus grew was covered with ice and snow. Only their location remained unchanged due to the presence of the five undead creatures.

He stored the half of the Emperor-grade Snow Lotus into his Star Flame Ring. This half of the 100,000-year-old Snow Lotus was somewhat useless to him at the moment. Although he couldn't absorb it now, he could absorb it without worry once the Snow Emperor compromised and removed the restrictions on it.

"Thank you for your hard work. Go back and rest," Zhu Ziyang said to the five undead creatures led by the Hell Knight.

"It is our honor to serve you!" The undead creatures, not daring to take credit, bowed respectfully in reply, and then returned to the undead demiplane without complaint.

After the undead creatures returned to the undead demiplane, Zhu Ziyang did not linger. He chose to leave the far north core area, prepare to go home, rest for a few days, and then return to Shrek Academy to hunt for his sixth soul ring!

On his way home, Zhu Ziyang prepared to awaken the Snow Empress, who was sleeping in the Sea of ​​Spirit, and have a friendly conversation with her, so that she would understand what it means to be at the mercy of others, what it means to have to bow one's head under someone else's roof, and what it means to be forced into a situation against one's will!

(End of this chapter)