Douluo Continent: The Ruler of Time, Reigning Supreme

Chapter 147 The Ultimate Pain

Although Hyotei misunderstood something, Yin Chen did not explain in detail the true origin of Istaru, as it involved the system and the truth that they came from outside the world, which was too shocking.

The simplest and most reasonable explanation is that Hyotei mistakenly believed Istar was the inherited divine consciousness left behind by a fallen or sleeping god of time.

"Looks like... I really hit the jackpot."

Hyotei took a deep breath of non-existent air, forcibly suppressing the ecstasy and complex emotions within him.

Her original choice of Yin Chen was a desperate move made when she was on the verge of death, a trade that involved sacrificing her pride.

Deep down, she couldn't help but feel a little resentful that "this human boy got off easy."

But now it seems, where did Yin Chen come out on top?
It was clearly Hyotei who had latched onto an incredibly powerful and influential deity.

By becoming Yin Chen's second martial soul, she can not only retain her spiritual origin and will, but more importantly, once Yin Chen fully inherits the divine position and becomes a true god, as his martial soul, will she also be able to ascend to the divine realm with him and obtain the eternal life she has always dreamed of?

Having lived for so many years, what she and Xue Di longed for most was to break through the limits of lifespan and obtain eternal life.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be so worried about the upcoming fourth 100,000-year tribulation, and wouldn't have been willing to put aside her pride of hundreds of thousands of years and make a deal with humans to become a martial soul.

"I told you, you wouldn't have made a mistake choosing me, right, Hyotei?"

Yin Chen's voice, tinged with laughter, rang out again, as he had accurately grasped the change in Bingdi's mindset at that moment.

He knew all too well how fatally attractive immortality was to these ferocious beasts who had lived for countless years.

"You're right, I underestimated you."

Hyotei raised her head, and a bright and sincere smile appeared on her pretty face—the first such smile since entering the spiritual space. That smile dispelled the last gloom and resentment between her brows and filled her with hope for the future.

"It's me... who got the huge advantage."

She seemed to see that after Yin Chen became a god, not only would she gain immortality, but Xue Di would also be able to recover her power with his help, and even ascend together.

Reclaiming the far north? Compared to that future, even that seems like a trivial goal.

The immense surprise and anticipation instantly filled her with motivation.

Let's get started!

Hyotei said impatiently.

As soon as he finished speaking, in the outside world, the Ice Emperor's jade scorpion body, which had lost its spiritual origin and was like an ice sculpture, suddenly exploded into the purest emerald green energy points. As if drawn by an invisible force, they surged towards Yin Chen, who was sitting cross-legged and enduring the impact of the snow lotus energy, and entered his body through the pores of his entire body.

...

At this moment, Yin Chen was simultaneously enduring the impact of two forces.

The immense medicinal power of the 100,000-year-old snow lotus surged through his body, forcibly creating the "position" for his second martial soul.

This is a transformation at the level of laws, forcibly creating a completely new "baseline" deep within his soul and body, bearing the origin of his martial spirit.

This process was like performing surgery on his most sensitive soul; the pain was deep and indescribable.

Immediately afterwards, the purest and most refined ice energy transformed from Hyotei's physical body surged into his body like a flood bursting its banks.

This energy was not a gentle nourishment, but rather carried the domineering and frigid nature unique to the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. It began to merge with the medicinal power of the Snow Lotus and directly targeted the most important bone in Yin Chen's body—the trunk bone.

As a ferocious beast nearly 400,000 years old, the Ice Emperor could sacrifice herself to condense her most essential power into a soul bone and specify its location. She chose the torso bone, which had the widest coverage, provided the greatest boost to a soul master's physical attributes, and was therefore the most important.

"Uhhhhhh-!"

Yin Chen, who had been holding back, finally couldn't suppress his low growl any longer.

He felt his entire spine, ribs, sternum... all the bones in his torso being crushed inch by inch by an irresistible, extremely cold force.

That wasn't a metaphor; it was real, physical shattering.

He could clearly "hear" the grating, teeth-grinding sound of his own bones bearing the weight before turning to dust under the overwhelming impact of the domineering emerald energy.

After being crushed, the pure Ice Emperor's primordial energy, mixed with the immense vitality of the 100,000-year-old snow lotus, began to reshape and condense his skeleton according to the perfect structural blueprint of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's torso.

The new bones were no longer ordinary pale, but presented a warm and jade-like color, yet indestructible. Countless tiny ice crystal runes seemed to flow inside, radiating a terrifying extreme cold and boundless power.

Bone fragment reconstruction.

This pain is hundreds or thousands of times greater than the previous pain from widening the meridians.

That is a transformation and sublimation at the fundamental level of life, a process of completely breaking down the old body and creating a new one.

Every second felt like torture in purgatory.

Yin Chen's body trembled violently, and the veins on his forehead, neck, and arms bulged out, writhing like dragons, making him look ferocious and terrifying.

Large beads of cold sweat had just seeped out of his pores when they were frozen into tiny ice crystals by the extreme cold emanating from his body. These crystals clung to his skin, eyebrows, and hair, making him look like an ice man.

His lips were bitten and the blood flowed out, instantly freezing into dark red ice shards.

His teeth were clenched so tightly they seemed about to shatter.

His seated body began to sway, as if he might collapse to the ground at any moment.

"Hold on, Yin Chen, you must hold on and stay conscious. If you fall into a coma, the fusion will be interrupted, and we will all suffer a backlash and all our efforts will be in vain."

Within the mental space, Hyotei's humanoid avatar called out anxiously, its face filled with worry.

She gave everything, sacrificing her soul and body, all for the sake of a bright future.

If Yin Chen fails here, she will truly vanish completely, leaving not a trace.

"You underestimated him."

Compared to Hyotei's anxiety, Ishtar remained calm and composed as she sat quietly on the starlight staircase, her expression undisturbed, with only a barely perceptible hint of approval flashing in the depths of her golden eyes.

"This pain is not enough to break his will. If he cannot even endure this pain, what right does he have to touch the power that controls fate and time, and sit on the supreme throne?"

Her understanding and trust in Yin Chen far surpassed that of Bing Di.

She witnessed the deepest resilience of his soul, the essence that transcends the barriers of time and space, endures system collapse and soul tearing without being destroyed.

As Istaru predicted, things turned out just as he had predicted.

(End of this chapter)