When Wang Rui placed his hand over Huo Yuqing's, he was momentarily stunned.
Huo Yuqing's hand was significantly smaller than his, a full circle smaller. The difference was even more apparent when their palms touched—his fingers were much longer than hers, and with just a slight bend, he could completely encase her hand in his palm... Probably because she was short. She would grow taller eventually.
What stood out was the faint coolness emanating from her hand, from her palm to her fingertips.
Wang Rui frowned slightly.
For an ordinary person, cold hands and feet usually indicated a deficiency in blood and energy, but a soul master's energy should be far more abundant than that of an ordinary person. No matter what, their hands and feet shouldn't feel cold, especially in the summer.
Huo had been under treatment for a month, and she'd taken plenty of medicinal pills. Why was her body still so weak?
Lu Mingyou, are you even competent? How have you not fixed this yet?
While silently grumbling about Lu Mingyou, Wang Rui gave Huo Yuqing's hand a light squeeze.
Huo Yuqing's fingers were extremely slender. Though calloused from rough work, her bones and joints felt soft and delicate, as though they might break with just a little force.
Wang Rui couldn't help but give her a closer look.
The girls's frame was really thin. Although she had grown slightly taller over the past month, she was still skinny with barely any flesh on her… How long would it take to nurture her into the towering, muscular man of 1.9 meters described in the original story?
The young Three-Eyed Golden Lion couldn't help but feel a tinge of fatherly concern.
On the other hand, Huo Yuqing's feelings were quite different.
Wang Rui's hand was warm, with solid bones and pronounced joints. Though he was still a boy, his hand already resembled that of a grown man.
Moreover, his fingertips were almost devoid of calluses… Huo Yuqing glanced at her own hands, roughened by washing clothes, and felt a bit envious, as well as a little embarrassed.
Wang Rui clicked his tongue, dismissing his stray thoughts, and said in a deep voice, "Calm yourself, sense my soul power, and adjust your own fluctuations to match mine. Then, channel your soul power into my hand."
His own soul power was too fierce and violent, making it impossible to directly infuse it into Huo Yuqing.
Huo Yuqing quickly calmed her mind, focusing on sensing Wang Rui's aura.
That scorching, fiery soul power surrounded him, accompanied by an ancient and noble presence, as if it had been passed down from primeval times.
With a faint hum, hazy projections appeared behind the two of them.
Behind Huo Yuqing was a golden vertical eye and a shapeless mass of icy blue light.
Behind Wang Rui, a fiery red silhouette rose.
Huo Yuqing secretly glanced at it, recognizing the projection as some kind of dragon.
The dragon stood on four legs, its enormous wings spread wide behind it, casting a shadow over everything. Its body was covered in heavy scales, and curved horns extended backward from its head. Fiery red mane adorned its neck and chest. Though its face was indistinct, its eyes gleamed like molten gold.
The strange dragon exuded an ancient, savage aura, yet carried an innate noble majesty.
"Wang Rui, what exactly is your martial soul?" Huo Yuqing couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Solar Flame Dragon, an ancient soul beast species that once existed," Wang Rui answered, lying as easily as he breathed. "Among this species, males are called Flame King Dragons, and females are called Flame Queen Dragons."
Of course, the Flame King Dragon wasn't a real soul beast in the Douluo world. Such a martial soul had never existed. Wang Rui had crafted this image when he shapeshifted his martial soul, borrowing it from the Monster Hunter series.
Although his ability to shapeshift differed from that of ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, allowing him to simulate martial souls, he couldn't create something completely unrelated to his original form. He could only make slight modifications and minor adjustments based on his true self.
Since he needed his martial soul to be distinct from his original form, he utilized the attribute of extreme fire and his draconic lineage, tweaking the appearance until it resembled a creature with a lion's head and a dragon's body. He ultimately borrowed the appearance of the Flame King Dragon from Monster Hunter.
The Flame King Dragon also had a lion-like head and a dragon's body. However, due to its distinct coloration, rougher, heavier scales, and a pair of fuzzy dragon wings, it looked entirely different from his true form. No one would ever connect the two.
In terms of soul beast aesthetics, the difference between his true form and the martial soul he crafted was akin to the gap between a sunny high school heartthrob and a burly wrestler.
The different-colored soul powers fluctuated rhythmically around the two of them. The scarlet red surrounding Wang Rui resonated with the icy blue and gold hues around Huo Yuqing, gradually syncing up. Yet, in the end, they always seemed to fall just short.
As the light flickered, the hazy projection behind Wang Rui suddenly blurred, then split into two parts. One part became a crimson flame, faintly taking on the shape of a beast, while the other turned into a golden liquid-like glow, flowing into a draconic form. This golden light radiated a terrifying ancient aura, accompanied by a faint dragon's roar.
Soon, the soul power fluctuations between them stabilized at the same frequency, as if they were part of the same being.
Wang Rui nodded slightly as Huo Yuqing attempted to channel her soul power into his hand.
The moment Huo Yuqing's soul power entered Wang Rui's meridians, it was met by his blazing, unruly energy. When the two energies collided, they initially began to merge, but this fusion didn't last long before Wang Rui's scorching power started to burn Huo Yuqing's soul power.
The balance was broken, and the synchronized soul power fluctuations between them quickly collapsed.
As expected, initiating a martial soul fusion wasn't going to be easy.
Wang Rui frowned.
The natural conditions for triggering a martial soul fusion skill were incredibly demanding, requiring martial souls that inherently complemented each other, paired with soul powers that were either polar opposites or perfectly aligned… or a very close bloodline bond to act as a bridge.
Differences in level, disparities in martial soul quality, and even a lack of unity in mind could all hinder the activation of a martial soul fusion skill.
At present, Huo Yuqing's ice-attributed martial soul was still in its embryonic stage and hadn't fully awakened. The ice element in her body merely stemmed from the part of her power inherited from the Skydream Iceworm.
In terms of elemental hierarchy, her ice attribute was far inferior to Wang Rui's extreme fire.
Theoretically, it was impossible for the two of them to achieve a successful martial soul fusion at this point.
In the original story, the fusion between Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao didn't really make sense either. A butterfly with a hammer and an eye with a scorpion—what common ground did those pairs have?
It was an exploit. A certain benevolent god-king used a cheat!
But that's fine. If Haodong Power had the Tang-named god-king's cheat, Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing had the power of destiny's cheat.