"Just a mere human with some skills? Take two more of my moves!" The Flame Lord was hot-tempered and didn't give Tianlin any chance to explain.

If it had been before, Tianlin really had the sinister intention of turning the Flame Lord into his soul ring. But now that he'd obtained his eighth ring, he had no more killing intent—he was only here to uncover the truth.

But with not even a chance to speak, Tianlin could only sigh helplessly. He summoned his magic sword, preparing to face his opponent seriously.

The Flame Lord unleashed a barrage of Flame Bombs—countless high-temperature fireballs filling the sky so densely that not even a drop of air could pass through. Tianlin had seen this move from Yan before, but Yan could only summon six fireballs at his limit. The Flame Lord, however, was making it look like a meteor shower.

"Tianlin, be careful. This move is extremely powerful. Last time I fought it, I only survived with my Ice Empress body shield in the far north, but here, in this scorching place, the power is several times stronger. Even at my peak, I'd need to go all out." The Ice Empress warned. She had fought the Flame Lord before and knew how formidable it was.

That's why the Ice Empress was so wary and once asserted that if she and the Snow Empress were away, no one in the Far North could stand against the Flame Lord.

"It's fine. Eighth soul skill: Spiral Radiance Swallows Sun and Moon!" Tianlin smiled calmly. When it came to attack range, few could surpass his eighth soul skill.

With a single move, Tianlin tore open space, forming a massive black hole. Instantly, all the fireballs were sucked in. Tianlin didn't stop, continuing to swing his sword and expand the black hole. All the fire in the Flame Valley was absorbed, and the temperature around them began to drop.

"Without your flames, let's see how you, the Flame Lord, can be reborn from fire." Tianlin pointed his sword at the Flame Lord. This guy had attacked him repeatedly—did it really think he had no temper?

The Flame Lord was stunned at this moment. "Impossible! The flames of this Scorching Hell were bestowed by my master himself. Not even the extreme water attribute could extinguish them, but now they're all gone?"

"Master?" Hearing this, Tianlin realized his suspicions were correct. There had to be some incredible existence here—otherwise, just the Flame Lord alone couldn't have created such a vast and stable space.

"Flame Lord, do you still remember me?" While the Flame Lord was dazed, the Ice Empress sent a soul message.

The Flame Lord had stayed in this valley for over a hundred thousand years, rarely meeting anyone except its master. The only other memory it had was of the time when the Angel God and Sea God ascended—two gods appearing in a short span destabilized the Douluo Continent's lower plane, creating a rift. It was during a trip through this rift that the Flame Lord encountered the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.

That was its first opponent outside, and unexpectedly, it lost immediately. The terrifyingly strong Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion drove it straight back to Scorching Hell.

"Flame soul beast, get out of the Far North!" The Ice Empress's furious roar from back then still echoed in its mind. After that, the space slowly healed, and it never left again.

"You... you're that scorpion from back then?" The Flame Lord looked at Ning Rongrong's side. Though it couldn't see the now-spiritual Ice Empress, it could sense her presence.

The Ice Empress nodded. "That's right, it's me. Long time no see. I didn't expect your cultivation to surpass 250,000 years already. It seems cultivating in this valley has truly benefitted you."

"Hmph, I get it. You're here to finish me off. Back then, I only accidentally entered your Far North and was endlessly attacked by you. Now you trespass on my territory and expect me to be a pushover?" The Flame Lord was furious, abandoning Tianlin and attacking Ning Rongrong instead.

"Rongrong, be careful!"

Tianlin rushed forward to protect her but didn't expect Ning Rongrong to make the first move.

"Sword brother, don't worry!"

The Snow Empress's soul ring flashed. Ning Rongrong chose to face the Flame Lord's attack head-on. This was her first battle as a battle soul master, and she was facing such a strong opponent, but she was unafraid.

In the past, whenever she was in danger, she'd always been behind Tianlin or her grandfathers. But not anymore. She wanted to become stronger and move forward alongside them.

"Empress' Palm!"

The freezing palm collided with a scorching punch. Fire and ice clashed violently in this strange space. Since all the surrounding fire had been sucked away by Tianlin's black hole, neither side had an environmental advantage—it was a fair duel.

However, the strength gap remained. Before long, Ning Rongrong was at a disadvantage. Her situation was much like Tianlin's during his soul hunt; both had twin martial souls and freakishly strong soul rings, but Tianlin's were both battle types, while Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was a support type, giving her far less power.

Ning Rongrong could easily handle a Soul Douluo now and perhaps scrape by against a weaker Titled Douluo, but against a top-tier opponent like the Flame Lord, she was completely outmatched.

"Snow Empress, Ice Empress, please grant me strength." Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth, unwilling to always rely on Tianlin. She wanted to fight alongside him in the future.

Seeing her determination, Tianlin didn't rush to help. He still had second skill of the eight ring: Extreme Curse Returns Yin and Yang, so he wasn't worried about Rongrong's safety.

He planned to have Ning Rongrong go to Seagod Island for training, and since he wouldn't be going with her, he wanted to nurture her combat ability now.

"Rongrong, open my Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice and the Ice Empress's Eternal Freeze Domain at the same time," the Snow Empress said.

Ning Rongrong didn't hesitate and activated both her trunk bone and the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's soul ring.

"Ice Sky Snow Empress Soul Bone Skill—Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice!"

"Second Soul Skill—Eternal Freeze Domain!"

The two most powerful ice domains spread out, making the Flame Lord extremely uncomfortable.

Not only that, the two domains slowly began to merge. This was the unprecedented domain fusion skill of the two Ice-Snow domain.

Once activated, this domain would increase ice-type soul masters' strength exponentially, far surpassing martial soul true bodies, comparable to soul bone armor. At the same time, non-ice soul masters or beasts, especially fire-types, would have all attributes weakened by over 80%.

Gradually, Ning Rongrong not only regained her advantage but even pushed the Flame Lord's fire back.

Just as victory seemed within reach, a sudden "bang" shattered the domain. The Flame Lord's fire, now unstoppable, was about to strike Ning Rongrong.

At the critical moment, Tianlin teleported in front of her, cutting the flames apart with a single sword swing.