"I....I did it!" Huo Yuhao exclaimed, his eyes wide with a mix of disbelief and excitement as he examined the energy swirling within him.
His spiritual power and soul power, once separate and conflicting forces, now flowed in harmony—like a spiral of Yin and Yang. Though not fully unified like he had imagined earlier, they were now balanced—coexisting without the volatility that had almost consumed him.
He let out a deep breath and raised his hands together as if he were holding a ball, and channeled the strange new energy within him into his hands.
The spiral of his spiritual and soul power, resembling the harmonious interaction of Yin and Yang, surged within him, steady and controlled. With a deep breath, he concentrated on releasing that energy out.
He practiced this jutsu for more than a thousand times to have a perfect grasp on it, to the point he made a smaller version of the jutsu.
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu."
The words left his lips, and the energy flared to life from his palms. A bright, swirling orange ball of fire materialized, its surface crackling with heat. The air around him sizzled as the intense flames consumed the oxygen, distorting the space with its heat. The floor beneath him began to burn and melt, showing signs of glowing red cracks that spread outward from his position.
'Incredible! My ultimate ice physique makes me immune to extreme heat and cold, yet, this fire....is making my skin dry up...' Huo Yuhao thought as he moved his hands around the fireball, trying hard to keep it under control.
The sheer power of the jutsu was undeniable—this wasn't like any ordinary Fireball Jutsu he had cast before, even its original didn't have such heat. The combination of soul power and spiritual power infused the flames with an unnatural strength, far beyond what he had expected.
The energy felt alive, seething with raw intensity.
'Woah...' Huo Yuhao observed the fireball in between his hands, astonished by the sheer potency and intensity radiating from it. His eyes slightly widened as felt as though the flames were...no, that's impossible. Huo Yuhao shook his head, refusing to acknowledge the aura radiating from the flames.
It was just a feeling, a hunch—nothing more than that, or so Huo Yuhao tried to convince himself.
Yet the more he stared at the fireball, the more undeniable the sensation became.
Was the fireball....feel as though it were sentient...?
His palms tingled from the raw energy, a surge of indescribable energy burst out of his palms.
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened as his control wavered slightly, and the fireball grew even more violent, scorching the surrounding walls and sending a wave of heat radiating outward.
'Ah, crap!' Without any hesitation, he hurled the fireball away from himself. The blazing sphere shot across the room like a meteor, crashing into the far wall with an explosive burst.
The heat wave that followed scorched the surrounding area, creating a melted crater in the wall where the fireball had impacted. Smoke curled up from the smoldering debris, and the room was filled with the acrid scent of charred stone and metal.
"Well, that was harder to control, as expected." Huo Yuhao sighed and rolled his shoulders, producing popping noises. "Haa....This is going to be hard to fix than my previous—"
'Huh? I'm...falling?' Huo Yuhao blinked as the sudden sensation of lightheadedness washed over him. His knees buckled, and before he could react, he collapsed to the ground, his body trembling.
"Yuhao!" Skydream and Ice Empress's voices echoed in his mind, filled with concern.
The room seemed to spin around him, his vision blurring as he struggled to stay conscious. His body felt like it was being pulled in every direction, as though the energy he'd just released was tearing at him from the inside.
The next instant, everything went silent, and Huo Yuhao's body slumped to the ground as unconsciousness claimed him. His mind drifted in a void, weightless and dark, the echoes of the energy he'd unleashed still reverberating in his soul.
In the stillness, Indra's voice resounded through the emptiness, calm yet profound, as though weaving a truth beyond comprehension.
"From Yin and Yang, Creation is brought forth, then—the cycle of Life and Destruction..." His tone sounded both reflective and nostalgic. "To think he would achieve...."
"...."
"Ah!" Huo Yuhao jolted upright in his bed, gasping for breath as beads of sweat clung to his forehead. He ran a trembling hand through his damp hair, trying to steady his rapid breathing.
His body still buzzed with the aftershocks of the intense energy he had channeled earlier, the sensation of the fireball's raw power fresh in his mind.
'Well, at least it wasn't powerful enough to destroy the whole hotel, yet...' Now wasn't that a sombering thought? What he used was the smaller and inferior version of the Great Fireball Jutsu, what if he had used the original? Or a much stronger one?
Huo Yuhao shuddered at the thought. The idea sent a chill down his spine. He could barely control it, and that was just a test run. If he hadn't lost consciousness when he did, the fireball might have been far worse.
"Wait, why did I lost consciousness?"
"That's because you overextended your soul power and spiritual power," Indra explained calmly in his mind. "The balance you created was powerful, yes, but also unstable. You're not used to sustaining such an intense combination of energies, and your body gave out from the strain."
Huo Yuhao sighed, rubbing his temples. "I see... I thought I had it under control."
"Control is relative when dealing with forces like these," Skydream chimed in, sounding slightly amused. "You're pushing yourself beyond your limits. Not that it's a bad thing, but there's always a price."
"Plus," Ice Empress added with her usual seriousness, "even if you think you're in control, your body still has its limits. Your physical endurance isn't enough to handle this level of energy for long periods."
Huo Yuhao nodded in understanding and asked. "I see. By the way, who brought me back to my room?"
"It was you," a voice said, and Huo Yuhao turned to see one of his shadow clones standing beside the bed, holding a tray with some water and food. The clone gave him a small grin. "After you passed out, I had to take over and carry you back. Figured you'd need a bit of rest after that stunt. Fortunately the others are still out of the hotel or Dong'er and the others would surround you."
Huo Yuhao blinked in surprise. "Huh. Thanks man, but what about the rest? Have they dissipated?"
The clone nodded. "Yeah, just to make sure you made a swift recovery, the rest of the shadow dissipated."
"No wonder I feel a lot better...." Huo Yuhao commented, clenching his hands. Creating shadow clones made him weaker; having to distribute a portion of his energies to them permanently until they dissipated.
"Welp, since I've done my job here I'm gonna go now." The clone made a peace sign before dissipating into a puff of white smoke.
Huo Yuhao shook his head, grabbed a few biscuits from the tray and drank some water, and leaned back against the bed's headboard, staring at the ceiling.
"Well, it was a bust. So much to do, but as Ancestor said, I should do it slow and steady." He smiled and closed his eyes, the elemental particles in the air started to surge as he entered into a meditative state and urged the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
"At least I learned something else from the experience; harmony and complementary, I did the cultivation method all wrong...."
For the next few hours, Huo Yuhao lay on his bed, his breathing steady, his presence becoming nearly indistinguishable from that of an ordinary person. To an outside observer, he appeared to be a regular cultivator, but beneath the surface, there was a deep transformation occurring.
The elemental particles around him harmonized effortlessly with his soul power and spiritual energy, creating an almost serene atmosphere. As these energies flowed together, Huo Yuhao's soul power steadily increased in both purity and concentration. Each breath he took seemed to refine his inner power, making it more potent and efficient.
And within his mind, he was simultaneously refining his spiritual power with a level of precision and focus that would astonish any observer. His spiritual form was set in a cross-legged position as he roamed freely within his spiritual sea, feeling the currents of his spiritual power as they gently swirled around him like a vast, indescribable abyss prison.
If his spirit were the world, then the upper boundary would be heaven while the lower boundary would be hell!
Each wave of spiritual energy resonated with the elemental particles around him, harmonizing with his soul power. The balance between these two forces was no longer a struggle to maintain but a natural flow, like the steady rhythm of the tides.
His spiritual power was becoming more refined, sharper, and yet calmer, as though it had found its perfect balance—it was like he finally understood the realm his spiritual power had achieved.
While his body absorbed the elemental particles, increasing the concentration of his soul power, his mind sculpted and polished his spiritual energy, deepening its strength and clarity. He could feel his senses expanding, becoming more attuned to the world around him, and his awareness growing keener, almost like an innate instinct awakening within him.
There was no rush, no sense of urgency. Huo Yuhao was letting the process unfold naturally, allowing his body and mind to work in unison. His cultivation method was no longer brute force but a delicate interplay of harmony, control, and balance.
As the hours passed, Huo Yuhao quietly moved closer to a breakthrough, edging ever nearer to a higher state of cultivation, without even realizing it yet.
He opened his eyes and smiled.
"Peak of rank 44! This cultivation method is amazing. Since I used the Mysterious Heaven Skill as a reference, I will name it as the Heavenly Tempering Soul Technique."
He furrowed his brows. "Wait, why do I feel my physical strength—"
He glanced down on his left arm and was shocked.
The Ice God's Legacy appeared on his left arm, but unlike before, the tribal tattoos started to envelop his upper chest and slowly encroached upon his right arm. He suddenly felt a strange and familiar energy flowing through his blood, bones and skin.
"This is....?"
....
AN: My God. I'm so tired that while I posting this chapter and looked over my previous chapters, I thought something went wrong with the pa treon mentions and so I started updating them....
Yeah, turns out that there wasn't any mistake, I just read an old chapter that had different members at the time so....
Fuck. I need sleep....
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