C1950 The Twin Souls
The Ice Phoenix's form was fleeting, gone in just a moment.
Whoosh!
With a violent eruption of flames, Alex's fiery phoenix form dazzled once more.
"Heavenly Fire Divine Dao!"
His expansive fiery red wings, broad enough to eclipse the stars, scattered a shower of fire droplets. The brilliant flames pulled nearby debris into a cascade of fiery meteors, hurtling towards the blood-red canopy in the void behind Yu Yuan.
The meteor shower, with its hidden Beast God's blood, had the power to annihilate worlds.
Each drop of its divine blood embodied a truth of flame from the Desolate Realm, a complete manifestation of the laws of fire.
Such intense flames had the capacity to melt the flesh of all beings.
The blood-colored canopy, formed by the Dragon Slash Platform and filled with the energy of blood, was a confluence of blood.
Despite originating from Yu Yuan's Yang God, the canopy struggled to withstand the overwhelming flames, as the true Yang God had yet to arrive.
In that moment, Yu Yuan was reminded of President Lyi's saying: True gold does not fear the refiner's fire.
The blood-colored canopy transformed once again, this time into purple-gold divine iron, exuding a metallic chill and standing like an impenetrable barrier before Yu Yuan's true form.
A barrage of meteoric fire, like countless flaming arrows, struck the purple-gold Dragon Slash Platform.
Whoosh!
Secrets of the gold metal bloodline emerged across the platform's surface, instantly conjuring thousands of arcane enhancements to fortify the Dragon Slash Platform.
Still, numerous scorched marks appeared, and some exceptionally potent flames managed to penetrate the platform's robust defenses, reaching its inner sanctum.
From within the Dragon Slash Platform, a myriad of cold mists, crystals, and icy peaks emerged, resiliently dispersing the flames that sought to obliterate everything, sparing the inner world from structural damage.
"A wondrous microcosm," Alex marveled.
With each spark of flame that vanished from the Dragon Slash Platform, a fragment of memory was returned.
This revealed to Alex a hidden mystery within the peculiar platform: a realm more complete in its laws than the tangible world itself.
The cold mists, crystals, and the fierce edges of the glaciers held within them alternative laws of ice.
Alex had never encountered these Ice Dao Laws in the Desolate Realm. The sparse ice and snow landscapes there were insufficient to foster an abundance of these laws. The Desolate Realm's unique conditions had long ago brought an end to the Ice Age, and many of the once-dominant ice beings had perished before Alex's time, leaving him unable to gather more of the ice bloodlines.
The chill currents within the Dragon Slash Platform presented an opportunity for the Ice Phoenix, adept in both ice and fire, to sense a path to further empowerment. "You're someone who continually brings me pleasant surprises," Alex mused.
In the midst of the descending flame meteors, the graceful Fire Phoenix spread its wings, diving toward the Dragon Slash Platform as if it were one with the fiery celestial bodies. It seemed intent on shattering the platform's protective barrier to reach the inner sanctum, where it aimed to incinerate the blood veil with infinite flames and harvest the Ice Dao Laws that would benefit it alone. Its goal was to demolish the Dragon Slash Platform and seize the imprinted Ice Dao Laws to fortify its Ice Phoenix form.
Alex was acutely aware that his Ice Phoenix incarnation paled in comparison to his Fire Phoenix one, primarily due to the scarcity of Ice Laws he had collected.
"In the vast expanse, the ultimate flames encase the Origin Soul, barring the passage of the mightiest flesh-and-blood beings. Apart from President Lyi, who has fully transformed into divine iron, only those like the Great Demon God Beilstein, masters of soul power, could traverse—just as I once did," Yu Yuan realized with a flash of insight.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Massive demon shadows emerged from the depths of his brow, each a concentration of refined soul energy. The Derivative Spell of the Demon God was in motion. Demon Gods, Devaputras, Heart Clam Beasts, and Disaster Snakes, along with the highest beings of various races, manifested in their pure soul forms.
These formidable entities, once revered and feared across the Origin Realm, now stepped forth from the Time River. Enveloped in Yin energy and soul power, they strode with ease among the flame meteors, transforming into a pure soul torrent, impervious to the flames.
The Divine Fire of the Phoenix had only a negligible effect on creatures without a physical body, affecting only those in a pure soul form. Among them, the heart clam beast and the Disaster Snake, conjured by Yu Yuan's imagination and recreated with soul energy, had a profound impact on Alex. As they shrank and mingled with the countless flame meteors charging towards the Dragon Slash Platform, Alex abruptly pulled back, as if stopping at the edge of a cliff. His wings, like hands, cradled his vibrant red head. He screeched and began to retreat, feeling a piercing pain and disarray in his soul, which left him dazed with visions of long-sealed, blurry images.
The phoenix, a master of both ice and fire arcane powers, saw the soul forms of Demon Gods, Devaputras, and giant beasts, refined by Yu Yuan, crossing the fiery sea and lunging towards his beast soul as he fled. In a frantic scream, he shifted forms. The trajectory of the flame meteors hurtling towards the Dragon Slash Platform suddenly descended into chaos, but the platform itself crossed with ease.
Standing atop the purple inkstone, Yu Yuan's gaze seemed to penetrate deep into Alex's soul, revealing that all the Demon Gods, Devaputras, and other mighty beings he had visualized were extensions of his own soul, drawing energy from the ghastly forms of the Desolate Realm. Naturally, he could see Alex's beast soul, and then...
Yu Yuan paused, stunned. In the depths of the Ice Phoenix's soul, through the invading Demon Gods and beasts, he witnessed an incredible sight: a faint soul shadow, burning with a subtle flame, as if it had always dwelled in the shadows. This soul shadow was another exquisite Fire Phoenix, deliberately concealing itself in the darkness, silently observing from within Alex's soul. It seemed to be another aspect of Alex's soul, forever watching from the shadows with a gaze of painful love and acceptance, allowing the more visible soul to act unrestrained, showcasing its strength and beauty as if it were merely an ethereal shadow of Alex.
"Ice Splitting Technique!" The soul of Alex, manifesting in the open, solidified into a translucent Ice Phoenix. Like a shattering ice crystal, it sent shards flying in all directions. The Demon Gods that had attacked Alex, attempting to throttle his soul, now faced the lethal chill of the ice shards, either retreating or being impaled and destroyed.
The chilling power had the capacity to freeze and fracture the soul itself.
The multitude of flames had vanished, and Alex had reverted to his Ice Phoenix form, his beast soul now an ice phoenix exuding a piercing chill.
"Twin Soul Symbiosis."
Yu Yuan didn't rush to engage. He watched, astonished, as the Beast God before him took on the form of an Ice Phoenix.
He was certain that the burning soul shadow he had glimpsed deep within Alex's soul was not the same entity as the current Alex.
That soul, lurking in the shadows, looked upon Alex's Ice Phoenix form with the kind of gaze one reserves for a child or a loved one.
Not the gaze one would direct at another version of oneself!
It's possible that Alex had been born with two souls. The other soul had remained hidden, rarely revealing itself.
It indulged Alex, entrusting him with its power and abilities to wield as he pleased.
It was Alex's shadow, or perhaps... it was the true Alex.
Alex himself might be unaware of its existence.
Crack, crack!
The Ice Phoenix flexed its transformed wings and limbs, sending shards of ice and glimmers of light scattering. "Soul Arts, you, as the representative of the Origin Blood, are capable of wielding such refined Soul Arts," Alex expressed in disbelief.
As he spoke, he maintained his usual haughty demeanor, realizing that if he reverted to his Fire Phoenix form, Yu Yuan would likely employ that peculiar Soul Art again, so he remained in his Ice Phoenix form.
In that moment.
The Dragon Slash Platform beneath Yu Yuan responded to his will, morphing into a massive purple-golden blade enveloped in the essence of life.
Yu Yuan, stationed at the Abyss Gate and ever contemplating the essence of life granted by the Origin Blood, felt an epiphany and devised a solution.
The blood technique that Yu Yuan had uniquely crafted in this lifetime was executed with a swing of the purple-golden blade that the Dragon Slash Platform had become.
The Blade of Life!
The purple-golden blade, with its colorful ripples, seemed to cut through the sky, bearing the essence of life from the Origin Realm, and struck down towards Alex in his Ice Phoenix guise.
Crack!
A sharp sound echoed through the void as Nors gazed down at the Shrouded Tower beneath his feet, his eyes betraying a sense of utter defeat.
The Shrouded Tower's seal over the Silver Starfield's void had been rendered utterly ineffective by Yu Yuan's life-cleaving blade.
Nors gazed in awe at the immense purple-golden blade, tens of thousands of meters long, as it cleaved through the air towards him. Within the crystalline light of the blade, he could see an intelligent race flickering in and out of existence, as if countless lives were undergoing cycles of birth and death.
To his horror, Nors realized that the Life Seeds he clutched within his belt seemed to be on the verge of splitting apart. In desperation, he seized the Shrouded Tower and fled.
Alex, momentarily taken aback by the enigmatic purple-golden light blade, the Beast God from another realm, transformed his icy wings into a solid shield.
The colossal purple-golden blade bore down with relentless force.
For a brief instant, time appeared to stand still. The divergent power of life cleaved the ice and fire bloodlines within Alex's heart in two. The intricate, nearly invisible Bloodline Crystal Chains that were once intertwined now separated in a mystical fashion.
His beastly heart, which bore the Bloodline Crystal Chains of ice and fire, had been entwined around his core but now lay in tatters, severed by Yu Yuan's life blade.
The unraveling of the Bloodline Crystal Chains triggered a domino effect, rendering the Ice Phoenix's form momentarily fragile.
Crack!
Even its wings, the head of the phoenix, and the body—all were bisected by the life blade.
Alex was divided.
From within the two halves of Alex's heart, a peculiar life force surged forth, and both halves transformed into fire phoenixes.
"Phoenix Rebirth."
A woman's voice emerged from the two blazing halves.
Under Yu Yuan's watchful eye, the half-formed fire phoenixes began to shrink, their bloodlines reorganizing within the flames.
Soon, two slightly smaller, complete fire phoenixes emerged. From one, streaks of blood burst forth like flame meteors, entering the other phoenix. From the other, numerous glistening ice streams shot towards its counterpart like electricity—a process of separation and exchange.
Before long, the divided Alex had become two distinct phoenixes: one of fire, the other of ice.
The Ice Phoenix, bewildered, surveyed itself in the void before turning its gaze to the burning Fire Phoenix, seemingly at a loss for what had transpired.
With a flourish, the Fire Phoenix transformed into a captivating human woman. She regarded the Ice Phoenix with a complex look, at a loss for words.
"You were a part of me. How did we end up separated?"
After what seemed like an eternity, the Ice Phoenix finally came to its senses. With a cry from its beast soul, it beckoned the fire phoenix to merge back into it, restoring their original form.
"Alex, my brother, I never wanted our reunion to be like this."
The fire phoenix looked resigned, its eyes brimming with affection as it lamented, "I wished to stay hidden forever, to spare you from ever learning the truth. Alas, this man named Yu Yuan has torn us apart and insisted on this manner of reunion."
"My brother, I implore you to forgive me."
