A familiar warm current suddenly rushed into his body, dispelling the faint chill.

Following Yin Yi’s breakthrough, Han Ning felt his body being nourished in return, growing a bit stronger.

He swung his increasingly powerful arms, then continued to observe Yin Yi’s panel, looking at the [Frost Shield] section.

"Huh? A new Soul Technique? Frost Shield..."

[Frost Shield]: Releases one or more shields composed of the Ice Element. To a certain extent, it defends against physical and elemental attacks. The Ice Type Spiritual Energy on the shield’s surface will automatically interfere with anything that touches it, causing a degree of Frost Freeze effect.

"Yin Yi, Egg Pancake, let’s go. We’ll head outside and test the new Soul Technique’s effects."

Han Ning waved to Yin Yi and Egg Pancake and walked out of the dorm. He first went to Teacher Fang’s room to let him know, so he wouldn’t cause a misunderstanding with any noise he might make later.

Then, he and his two Soul Beasts went to the rooftop, where a torrential downpour was raging.

Pulling his raincoat tighter, Han Ning pointed to an empty space ahead and said to Yin Yi, "Release Frost Shield."

"Ling~"

The fiery glint in Yin Yi’s eyes flickered slightly, and the snow-white flower on her head began to emit a faint, holy white light.

WHOOSH~

The temperature on the already chilly rooftop suddenly dropped even lower, and a frosty breeze blew over Han Ning and Egg Pancake.

The white light spun and warped, forming a one-meter-tall, curved, snow-white shield wreathed in frost, which floated in front of Yin Yi.

"I’ll give it a try first."

Driven by curiosity, Han Ning picked up a backed chair someone had left in a corner. He walked in front of Yin Yi, took a few steps back for a running start, and with all his might, smashed the chair down onto the Frost Shield.

The moment the chair struck the ice shield, he felt an irresistible counterforce and a bone-chilling cold surge from the chair back he was gripping. The shock sent a sharp pain through the web of his thumb, and he instinctively let go.

With a THUD, the backed chair froze in mid-air. Starting from its legs, layers of hard Ice Crystals began to form.

Soon, the entire chair had turned into a white ice sculpture and fell to the ground.

"...Damn, that’s strong." Han Ning rubbed his still-aching palm, looking in surprise at the chair, which was now frozen solid.

’Even though it’s a Shield, it has a bit of a counter-attack to it. It can freeze whatever attacks it. Not bad.’

Han Ning didn’t stop there. He unslung the Silver Scale Shotgun from his back and loaded a shell.

"Yin Yi, be careful now. I’m going to shoot."

"Ling!"

Yin Yi puffed out her chest, as if to say, "Bring it on!"

BANG!

A deafening blast echoed through the wind and rain.

Dozens of steel pellets erupted from the shotgun shell and slammed viciously into the Frost Shield.

The frosty shield rippled at the points of impact, quickly freezing the steel pellets on its surface into tiny granules that clattered to the ground with a crisp sound.

’The Silver Scale is a large-caliber shotgun. Its destructive power at short range is much greater than an ordinary rifle’s, probably on par with a twice-mutated Silver Lotus Wood...’

Without a proper test subject, Han Ning couldn’t continue to test the Frost Shield’s maximum load capacity.

His gaze shifted to the corner of the rooftop, where the enormous white beetle’s corpse lay piled up, covered by bedsheets of various colors.

’Alright... next, let’s test the effects of Spiritual Surge.’

Because the beetle’s Body was too large to fit through the relatively narrow doorway, it couldn’t be brought inside and had to be temporarily left out here.

Han Ning closed his eyes, carefully sensing the Spiritual Energy flowing within his mind, and latched onto the subtle link to Yin Yi’s Spiritual Power.

’It seems Spiritual Surge can be used on a Soul Beast...’

He focused for a moment, then snapped his eyes open.

Within his pupils, two motes of quietly burning green flame suddenly appeared.

In his vision, the data on the blue light screen began to flicker.

[Spiritual Power rapidly depleting.]

[5.0-4.9-4.8-4.7...]

"Yin Yi, aim for the giant beetle’s tail and release one Emerald Flower Thorn." The command flashed from Han Ning’s mind into Yin Yi’s, transmitted synchronously at a speed surpassing light.

At the same time, visible Wood Elemental Particles appeared around Yin Yi’s body.

The Wood Element formed a small whirlwind, slowly spinning around Yin Yi.

"Ling!"

Without any visible movement from Yin Yi, a thick Flower Thorn over 30 centimeters long suddenly materialized in front of her. It shot out, aimed at the giant beetle’s hard back.

BOOM!

The moment the thick Emerald Flower Thorn touched the giant beetle’s corpse, it instantly exploded.

A brilliant green light flashed across the pitch-black night sky.

The terrifying Wood Type Spiritual Energy directly blasted the giant beetle’s seven-meter-long corpse into a shower of fragments. Even after its energy had significantly dissipated, a piece of the Flower Thorn, still over ten centimeters long, continued onward with undiminished force. It shot into the unoccupied Building D across the way, destroying a rooftop wall and revealing the dark corridor within.

"Phew..."

Han Ning wiped away the moisture on his head—whether it was rain or sweat, he couldn’t tell—and let out a long sigh.

In just three seconds, he felt his mind grow dizzy, as if he’d jerked off 300 times in a row. 60% of his Spiritual Power had been drained.

’It’s powerful, alright, but the drain is insane.’

’And that was just one Flower Thorn. If dozens of them were fired at once, the scene would be...’

He stared at the destruction wrought by the Flower Thorn and subconsciously swallowed.

’I clearly remember that before her breakthrough, Yin Yi’s individual Flower Thorns were only about ten centimeters long. At best, they could pierce the giant beetle’s body and cause a small-scale explosion, injuring a portion of its carapace and flesh. There was no way they could have blasted it directly into pieces.’

’Clearly, with the boost from Yin Yi’s breakthrough and my Spiritual Surge, the power of the Emerald Flower Thorn has increased dramatically!’

Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from the rooftop stairwell.

"Han Ning, what happened?"

Several flashlight beams landed on Han Ning, illuminating his pale face.

Teacher Fang and the other students looked from the panting Han Ning to the space where the giant beetle had been—now vanished, leaving only shattered limbs on the ground—and then to the destroyed wall on Building D. Utter astonishment was written on all their faces.

"It’s nothing. I was just testing out a move," Han Ning said with a smile.

"Phew... You scared me to death. I thought another Insect-man was invading." Teacher Fang let out a long breath, then asked in confusion, "Yin Yi did all this? How did she suddenly get so powerful?"

"I got some treasures from the Insect-man earlier and fed them to Yin Yi, and she successfully broke through. You can think of it as the first mutation after an evolution," Han Ning explained. He glanced apologetically at the scattered insect limbs. "Sorry, I destroyed the giant beetle’s body. I’ll compensate you all with other resources later."

"So that’s what happened... The resources are a small matter. What’s important is that you’re safe," Teacher Fang said with a smile.