Chapter Ninety-Five: The Blazing Ice Sword

CHAPTER 95: BLAZING ICE SWORD

Xia Zheng was thrilled by his own idea and immediately began testing it.

He first split off a sliver of spiritual sense and transformed it into a water droplet, then swiftly converted it to the ice element, condensing it into dozens of ice sword forms that revolved around his body. Next, he split off more spiritual sense and converted it into fire-type power, assuming a stance as if drawing a bow and nocking an arrow. The temperature around him began to climb—though not enough to melt the ice swords. He promptly released a water shield to protect his body from being scorched by what came next.

According to the skill description of the Blazing Flame Arrow, Xia Zheng was supposed to condense the converted fire-type power—scorching, blazing flames—into the shape of an arrow and shoot it. But this time, he didn't condense a fire arrow at all. Instead, he let the temperature of the flames surge upward in an instant, releasing a blast of searing, oppressive heat.

With a resounding crack, the ice swords shattered directly, releasing steam-like white mist. The surrounding temperature reached a terrifying level. Even his protective water shield was partially evaporated, steadily shrinking as the water elements inside began to boil.

Gritting his teeth, Xia Zheng split off more spiritual sense and manipulated the rapidly vaporized ice mist to condense back into a longsword. He gripped the hilt with his right hand. Because of the fusion, the sword's mass had increased, making it far harder to control, and the clashing ice and fire energies rendered it highly unstable. When the temperature became too much to bear, he had no choice but to hastily fire the sword.

With a hum, the space ahead seemed to warp. The ice sword shot forth, heading straight toward the far side of the artificial lake.

Wreathed in flames, the ice sword seemed to fuse ice and fire into one. As it skimmed across the lake's surface, it instantly evaporated a portion of the water, sending a plume of white mist billowing upward that shrouded the burning ice sword, making it even more covert.

But soon, cracking sounds followed, then a bang as the ice sword completely collapsed, turning into steam along with the flames around it, slowly dissipating with the white mist. And it had only traveled a little over ten meters.

Xia Zheng was drenched in sweat. And this was with the combined technique's power greatly weakened—if unleashed at full strength, it would surely be far more terrifying.

Next, he tested the Blazing Flame Arrow and Dripping Water Sword separately, releasing the skills with reduced spiritual sense to make calculations. He concluded that at his current full state, he could cast the Blazing Flame Arrow five times or the Dripping Water Sword six times. However, once he used their combined technique, he could only manage at most two casts. The combined technique consumed roughly three times as much as a single skill.

Moreover, his proficiency with the fusion was still abysmally low—he only succeeded once in ten attempts, and the completion rate of that success wasn't very high either. Still, the power was unmistakable, even in its weakened form.

"I'll name this combined technique—Blazing Ice Sword. An instant of flame attack damage, combined with the ice sword's freezing and sustained slow. If I can switch between water, ice, and fire elements more fluidly, I can extend it into even more forms of attack." Xia Zheng gave his newly created fusion technique a fitting name while actively expanding the possible combinations.

What followed was relentless practice. Xia Zheng seemed to return to the state he'd been in a few days ago, plunging into a crazed cultivation frenzy.

The Moonlight Wristguard allowed him to recover his mental energy at tremendous speed while meditating, after which he could funnel it back into the spiritual prayer beads. This enabled him to train continuously for the better part of the day, until both his mind and body gave out.

By the time the moon hung high and the stars grew sparse, Xia Zheng was still pushing through his final practice of the combined technique—ten hours had already elapsed.

He deftly split off his spiritual sense, instantly transforming it into water droplets, then converting to ice in a second or two to condense the ice sword forms. In another two to three seconds, he cast the Blazing Flame Arrow, forcing the temperature to its absolute peak in a flash. The ice sword forms rapidly vaporized and merged, then, under the ice power of his transformed spiritual sense, re-condensed into a great sword before being released.

This sequence had become remarkably smooth by now. As Xia Zheng's hand released the hilt, a glint of light shot outward, instantly transforming into a streak of silver.

Thanks to his relentless training, the water level of the artificial lake had been forcibly lowered by ten centimeters, leaving it looking noticeably drier.

After some ten-plus meters, the silver light refracted veins of fire, finally striking the cluster of grass on the opposite shore. The plants hit didn't burn. Instead, they were frozen solid, covered in a layer of frost. A few seconds later, fiery heat burst forth, the frost dissipated, and once more turned to water droplets, leaving the grass and flowers drenched.

"This is about the right feel. To minimize environmental damage, I deliberately weakened the fire's power and let ice take the lead. In actual combat, the fire's raw lethality alone would be nothing to scoff at, to say nothing of the ice's freezing and slowing—every bit of it is a weapon for defeating enemies." Xia Zheng finally nodded in satisfaction. After more than ten hours of honing, the technique's completion had reached a respectable level. With continued practice over the next few days, he was confident his familiarity and completion rate would keep climbing.

He did a quick calculation: casting the combined technique required at least six seconds. That casting time didn't satisfy him. He planned to compress it to within three seconds, which would massively increase his combat effectiveness. Furthermore, because these two skills could be cast in succession, so could the combined technique—as long as his mental energy held out, he could keep unleashing it.

Surveying his surroundings, aside from the considerable amount of lake water evaporated, the only other damage was to the grass and flowers across the shore, which had suffered repeated ravaging from ice and fire. The compensation cost should be within acceptable bounds.

Only now, stopping to rest, did Xia Zheng realize how famished he was. He smiled wryly, ended his training, and picked up his phone. Sure enough, there was a message from Nalan Sheng.

Nalan Sheng, Dream Fox, and the others all knew he didn't like being disturbed during cultivation, so they generally never called. This number was a highly private line Xia Zheng had deliberately set up, known only to a few of his most trusted people. Under any other circumstances, he used a separate phone.

"Training's over, Sheng Sheng. Prepare some food for me." Xia Zheng replied, then tidied up the area slightly, and finally withdrawn the spiritual energy of the Illusion Wall. The wall gradually turned translucent before dissolving entirely.

Back in the villa, it was already the dead of night. Fortunately, they had their own private chef, so fresh, hot food was ready before long. Nalan Sheng dismissed the staff and stayed by his side alone.

"Girls shouldn't stay up late. No need to wait up for me in the future—once I start cultivating, I lose track of time." Xia Zheng said to Nalan Sheng as he ate. Though she looked well, he still didn't want his own girlfriend to sacrifice her rest on his account.

Nalan Sheng shook her head. "It's fine, brother. I slept plenty during the day, so I'm not tired. Oh, by the way, the latest group-stage brackets are out. You've been placed in Group E, and Lai An in Group A. Of the other three opponents in your group, one is an A+ rank awakener, and the other two are A rank. Even though you're officially the lowest-ranked on paper, no one dares to underestimate you anymore."

Xia Zheng nodded. At the group stage of the main tournament, there was little room left for playing the fool while hiding one's strength—and besides, he had no desire to play the fool anyway.

"Ah, right, brother. The group stage is different from the qualifiers. There are three possible outcomes: win, draw, or lose." Nalan Sheng had organized the group-stage rules of the tournament and handed them to Xia Zheng.

Xia Zheng continued eating as he reviewed the document, quickly skimming through it. Indeed, the rules had changed.

Each match had a time limit of thirty minutes. If within the designated time you defeated your opponent or forced them to surrender, you were declared the winner and earned three points. If neither side conceded and neither could secure a victory over the other, it was ruled a draw, with each side earning one point. The loser took zero.

Each participant played a round-robin of three matches. If two contestants were tied on points, an extra match would be held to break the tie. The top two from each group advanced to the knockout stage.

"The rules aren't complicated." Xia Zheng set the document down and picked up another set of materials—intelligence on his three group-stage opponents, assembled by Nalan Sheng.