"Hey! Father is asking you—do you want to become his soul spirit or not? Why are you daydreaming?" The Snow Empress called out to the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.
"Oh! Oh!" The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass snapped awake, quickly replying, "Of course I do! But please… don't move the Dragon King's remains!"
"Tch! Since you've already agreed to become my soul spirit, why are you still worrying about that old corpse?" Zhu Ziyang looked at it speechlessly. "Don't tell me the Dragon King's bones are tied to the rules of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. I'm not so easily fooled."
"This…" The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass hesitated, unable to answer immediately.
"Heh. You don't know how to explain it, do you?" Zhu Ziyang smirked. "What you care about isn't disrespect to the Dragon King, but whether or not those broken remains can still summon a dragon soul, right?"
"…That's right." The plant admitted, no longer hiding it. "You already know. Jiao Jiao and I are the nominal leaders of the Yin Yang Well. The dragon souls are our authority, the source of our ability to command the other immortal herbs. If I leave this spring to become your soul spirit, my roots will still remain at the bottom, and they will give birth to a new plant. But I can't just abandon that responsibility."
"I see." Zhu Ziyang chuckled. "Then you needn't worry. The dragon souls have nothing to do with the bones. I may not have seen them summoned myself, but I'm certain they don't come from the Dragon King's corpse. If the bones still contained a soul, tell me—would that be a dead Dragon King, or one still sleeping?"
"This…" The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass faltered. She had never questioned it before. From the moment of her birth, she had seen the bones and assumed the dragon souls came from them. Now, faced with Zhu Ziyang's words, doubt stirred. She turned to him and asked, "Then where do the dragon souls come from?"
"I suspect they're born from the divine power and divinity left in the spring waters," he replied, stroking his chin.
"Oh… that must be it." The Ice Grass reluctantly accepted the explanation. In truth, she didn't care to investigate further—after all, she was about to become Zhu Ziyang's soul spirit. Whatever the Well held no longer mattered to her.
"Good. No more problems, then?" Zhu Ziyang waved. "If that's settled, prepare to become my soul spirit. By the way, I'll need a left leg bone."
"Understood! That's fine," she answered.
"Then come." Zhu Ziyang nodded, handing the Ice Dragon King's torso bone to the Snow Empress. He beckoned the Ice Grass closer and seated himself upon the Dragon King's remains.
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass drifted to his side. Zhu Ziyang pricked his finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto her leaves while chanting the soul spirit contract. Blue-white light enveloped them, forming a glowing cocoon.
The Snow Empress quietly settled nearby, watching intently.
Because the contract was forged in the Extreme Cold Spring, filled with dense ice-element energy, the process was smooth and swift. Within less than half an hour, the cocoon dissolved, revealing Zhu Ziyang and the Ice Grass in a new form.
As with the Fiery Apricot before her, the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass had transformed into a fairy.
Her immortal grass form had been a blue stalk topped with a snow-like blossom, with eight crystalline, sword-shaped leaves forming a parasol. Now, in her fairy form, she wore a long blue-and-white dress that brushed her ankles, a snowflake-shaped hairpin in her hair, and delicate white gloves trimmed with lace, a golden sword pattern stitched into the back.
"Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, greeting my master!" she said, lifting her skirt in a perfect curtsy—the first of his soul spirits to address him as "Master."
"Mm." Zhu Ziyang was satisfied. Her appearance was beautiful—far better than a simple plant. "The other immortal herbs call you Bingbing, but since I already have Bing'er among my soul spirits, that would get confusing. A full name feels too distant."
"Please grant me a name, Master!" she said humbly, which filled Zhu Ziyang with a faint sense of pride.
"Then I'll call you Luer," he decided with a smile. "That way, you'll match with Xue'er, Bing'er, and Shuang'er."
"Thank you, Master, for the name!" Luer accepted joyfully.
"No need to be so formal." Zhu Ziyang smiled gently. "Go find Xue'er—she'll tell you everything you need to know. I must examine the changes in myself."
"Yes!" Luer nodded and drifted to the Snow Empress, who welcomed her warmly.
Zhu Ziyang turned inward, assessing his new soul ring, soul bone, and their effects.
First, Luer had granted a ring to his Heavenly Frost Holy White Dragon martial soul—making six rings in total. With six rings, his dragonization advanced: his legs could now fully transform into dragon form. Only the wings remained, which would come with his seventh ring and the awakening of Martial Soul True Body.
He reminded himself: dragonization and Martial Soul True Body were not the same. Dragonization was a bloodline instinct, enhancing his body, while Martial Soul True Body was a soul skill, amplifying martial soul abilities. A true dragon soul master could combine the two, but they were fundamentally different powers.
Second, Luer's soul ring granted two skills. The first, Heavenly Frost Dragon Breath—no surprise, as claws, roar, and breath were the defining traits of dragons. The second, Heavenly Frost Dragon Sword Rain, was far more versatile: freezing the air into countless swords of ice, then raining them down like a storm. It could strike both many enemies or a single foe with devastating force.
Lastly, the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Left Leg Bone. With it, Zhu Ziyang's speed, affinity with ice, and resistance to ice were all greatly improved. It also granted two soul bone skills:
Octagonal Pierce – Within a wide radius, countless ice spikes erupted, each strong enough to pierce even a ten-thousand-year beast's defenses. Any struck would be frozen solid by ultimate ice.
Octagonal Ice Spring – A phantom spring appeared, radiating pure ice essence. It boosted his own ice power, and that of all his ice-aligned soul spirits—attack, recovery, and energy gathering alike.
"All in all, not bad," Zhu Ziyang said with a smile. Then he looked toward the Snow Empress and Luer. "Xue'er, Luer, I'm about to fuse the Ice Dragon King's torso bone. Guard me."
"Yes, Father!" the Snow Empress replied cheerfully.
"Master… you really obtained a Godhood inheritance?" Luer asked, wide-eyed. Though she had heard from the Snow Empress, the news filled her with such overwhelming joy it felt unreal. She needed to hear it from Zhu Ziyang himself.
He chuckled. "Of course. Why else would I seek out the Ice Dragon King's soul bone?"
As he spoke, he summoned out the Ice Empress and Second Frost as well, gathering all four to protect him.
Taking the torso bone from the Snow Empress, Zhu Ziyang's eyes blazed with determination. His heart pounded as he thought:
Let me see for myself… just what kind of power a god-level soul bone truly holds!
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