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"Ah, so that's how it is. You're just a soul body?" Bing Zun Zhe smiled, and instantly, the weight on his heart lightened, pressure easing by a great margin.
Everyone knew that the flaws of a soul body were obvious. It couldn't last long, and the longer the battle dragged on, the weaker it became.
What's worse, recovery was extremely difficult. Even if you carried rare pills that could restore soul power, they were barely enough to quench your thirst.
Because any powerful technique consumed a truly terrifying amount of energy. Not to mention, at the Dou Zun level, every clash could shatter the skies and rip apart the void.
Even a casual strike carried devastating power. Such terrifying energy consumption was something a mere soul body simply couldn't afford.
Thus, the higher the level of battle, the smaller the role a soul body could play. An opponent could simply drag things out and eventually exhaust you to death.
Of course, this only applied when both sides were on the same level, or when their strength wasn't vastly different.
If you were facing something like the remnant soul of Xiao Xuan or the remnant soul of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint, that would be a different matter entirely. Those were "even a broken ship still has three nails" situations — absolute dimensional suppression.
Bing Zun Zhe cast a glance at the swirling poisonous cloud vortex in the distance, estimating he still had some time. He chuckled lightly and said, "Considering how hard it must be for you to cling to existence, just step aside, and this Venerable won't make things difficult for you."
"You little brat, you've successfully angered me."
The moment those words landed, two dense, chilling beams of black light erupted within Ah Da's eyes, seeping faintly out from under the shadows of his hood, while his wide black robe rustled violently.
Wooo~
The howling black whirlwind surrounding him also roared even more fiercely. For a soul body, the phrase "clinging to existence" was like a sharp blade, stabbing right into Ah Da's already sensitive nerves.
It ruthlessly tore open his deepest scar. A transparent, illusory palm slowly reached out from beneath his wide sleeve.
In its center rested a cluster of pure soul origin.
"Soul origin?" Bing Zun Zhe's gaze swept over it, surprise flashing in his eyes.
This guy… he actually has an energy reserve like that?
"Heh, these soul origins… this Venerable obtained them not long ago from those little fellows of your Ice River Valley, including that Tian She as well. All of them are here."
Ah Da said coldly, "This Venerable was originally reluctant to use them, but now…"
With a flick of his hand, that cluster of pure soul origin was tossed directly into the shadow beneath his cloak, where an indistinct, enormous mouth suddenly opened and swallowed it whole.
Immediately after—
A faint chewing sound slowly drifted out from within the shadows of his cloak.
"Ah… such an exquisite taste~" Ah Da's voice was filled with unrestrained intoxication.
Bing Zun Zhe frowned slightly, a cold glint flashing across his eyes.
After a brief silence—
An extremely powerful, terrifying aura slowly erupted from Ah Da's body, spreading outward like a tidal wave.
The surrounding space rippled visibly, like water disturbed by a pebble, waves undulating before the naked eye.
The intensity of this aura even made Bing Zun Zhe feel a trace of pressure. This was already no weaker than a high-level Dou Zun.
Even knowing full well that the opponent was just a soul body and couldn't sustain prolonged combat, a high-level Dou Zun, even with a casual strike, was not to be underestimated.
As a result, Bing Zun Zhe finally became truly serious.
It seemed that without first dealing with this soul body, there would be no way to obtain the Calamity Poison Body.
He raised his hand, gently touching the black snowflake mark at the center of his brows.
"A soul body will always be just a soul body, like a rootless drifting duckweed. No matter how strong you are, so what?"
"Since you insist on courting death, this Venerable will gladly fulfill that wish today!"
As he spoke, his gaze fixed on the whirling black gale surrounding Ah Da, his eyes flashing with a burning desire.
Then, with a slight chuckle, he added, "Perfect timing. The Nine Serene Wind Flame suits this Venerable perfectly. Following you, a mere soul body, is beneath its dignity."
As soon as his words fell, the black snowflake at Bing Zun Zhe's brows flickered slightly, and in that instant, all the snowflakes swirling around him turned into a pure, jet-black hue.
Then, he extended his finger and pointed toward Ah Da.
Chi chi chi~
With that motion, the howling black snowflakes surged outward, erupting in a sweeping torrent that blasted toward Ah Da like a storm.
Seeing Bing Zun Zhe finally launch his attack—
"You little brat, today I'll use your soul to make up for my losses!" Ah Da let out a cold, sinister laugh.
Vast waves of soul power erupted from within his body, flooding into the raging black gale.
Wooo~
The black whirlwind howled fiercely, clashing head-on with the torrent of black snowflakes.
Pu pu pu~
The black gale and countless black snowflakes collided violently, producing a dense barrage of muffled impacts.
In that instant, the void itself silently and imperceptibly… began to collapse.
However, strangely enough, there weren't many energy ripples spreading out from the collision.
On the contrary, the collapsing void seemed to have been forcibly frozen by some mysterious power, and even its natural repairing speed appeared to have slowed down slightly.
The Nine Serene Wind Flame was of extreme yin.
And those black snowflakes were also of extreme cold.
When these two extreme yin powers clashed, the terrifying cold force spread outward. At this moment, even if you threw a Green Lotus Core Flame into the midst of it, it would probably be frozen solid, completely suppressed without the slightest chance to act up.
Wooo~
The gloomy winds roared wildly, whistling up into the sky. The extreme cold power spread rapidly, freezing everything within a thousand-meter radius. A layer of thick black frost visibly covered the entire space.
Even the poisonous miasma floating in the air and the poisonous clouds above were frozen stiff, no longer rolling or flowing.
In the blink of an eye, the thousand-meter region had transformed into a still, pitch-black world of frozen ice.
Yet in such an environment, the black whirlwind surrounding Ah Da only grew stronger, raging even more fiercely as though it had swallowed a potent tonic.
Clearly, in such an extreme cold environment, the Nine Serene Wind Flame was like a tiger growing wings — its power soaring tremendously.
It was even greedily devouring the frigid Dou Qi released by Bing Zun Zhe without restraint.
This scene instantly left Bing Zun Zhe dumbfounded. "This… how is this possible?"
"Hahahaha~!"
Ah Da, however, burst into unrestrained laughter, his voice dripping with mockery. "Little brat, didn't see that coming, did you? Hahaha! To be honest, even I didn't expect this!"
The Nine Serene Wind Flame was the embodiment of the Extreme Yin Law.
And Bing Zun Zhe… just so happened to cultivate Dou Qi of extreme cold attributes.
Wasn't this just perfect?
For the Nine Serene Wind Flame, this kind of Dou Qi was tailor-made — pure, high-grade, premium nourishment.
Once devoured, it only needed to refine away the toxins within, and the energy would directly become part of its own strength.
"I…" Bing Zun Zhe quickly understood the situation, and for a moment, he was left completely speechless.
Stifled!
An overwhelming sense of suffocation surged within his chest. And alongside that frustration came a deep, powerless despair.
For the first time in his life, he felt so directly, so vividly, the sheer malice this world seemed to harbor against him.
At the same time, he finally and truly understood why, despite there being countless heavenly treasures in this world, only the Heavenly Flames stood at the pinnacle.
Among the twenty-three known Heavenly Flames, every single one was legendary, desired by countless people and pursued with madness.
Other spiritual objects might also be rare and precious, but compared to the value of a Heavenly Flame… the difference was heaven and earth.
They simply weren't on the same level.
Take, for example, things like the Heavenly Cold Qi or the Nine Nether Cold Qi — on paper, these were considered extremely rare, high-grade spiritual essences…
But in reality?
Whether in value or in actual usage, compared to even a single Heavenly Flame, they were utterly insignificant — completely overshadowed.
Just think about it: would anyone be foolish enough to trade away a Heavenly Flame for a cluster of Heavenly Cold Qi or Nine Nether Cold Qi?
Unless their brain had been slammed in a door, or they were being coerced into an unfair trade, nobody in their right mind would do it.
Even ten clusters, even dozens of clusters of Heavenly Cold Qi, still wouldn't measure up to a single Heavenly Flame.
In fact, in the eyes of many, the greatest use of these cold-type spiritual objects was merely to assist in refining Heavenly Flames.
Or, at best, to act as feed for nurturing certain special Heavenly Flames.
Just like right now — Bing Zun Zhe's cold Dou Qi, infused with Ice River energy, was being forcibly turned into nothing more than food for the Nine Serene Wind Flame.
The reason Heavenly Flames stood above all else wasn't simply because of their terrifying destructive power.
It was because each of them was the embodiment of a certain Heavenly Law, representing a fragment of the natural order itself.
That was the unique trait of every Heavenly Flame, the most direct and tangible manifestation of their power.
Of course, some spiritual objects, purely in terms of destructive force, could indeed rival a Heavenly Flame.
Some could even suppress one for a short time.
But in the end… it was meaningless.
Traits — that was the essence, the king's path.
Traits were like the Heavenly Flames' exclusive skills.
One had unique abilities, while the other had none… how could you even compare them?
This — was the gap!
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