NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1180: Yin Yang Physique
Inside him, the White Lotus Essence Ice expanded, trying to overwrite everything—to turn his flames, his essence, and his soul into stillness. But the Devouring Flames refused to yield. They roared with defiance, consuming the frost that dared to exist beside them.
The world around Max became an extension of his torment. One half of the landscape froze into white crystal, while the other burned with black infernal fire. The air trembled from the pressure of two divine forces colliding.
If Max's body hadn't been reforged by the Giant Dwarves, it would have already been obliterated. Even now, despite their craftsmanship, his form was nearing its limit. The blacksmiths of the Giant Dwarven Tribe had rebuilt his body to endure immense strain, but what raged inside him now was far beyond any mortal test.
He collapsed forward, his palms slamming into the ground as cracks of energy spread out beneath him.
"Not… yet…" he hissed, his voice trembling.
The ground beneath him alternated between molten lava and frozen crystal. Waves of steam exploded upward, surrounding him in a mist of chaos. His breathing grew heavy, ragged, each inhale burning his lungs, each exhale freezing his breath.
His body was caught between destruction and preservation, his soul stretched thin across both extremes. The White Lotus Essence Ice was relentless—it wanted dominion, control, purity. The Devouring Flames refused to submit—they wanted chaos, consumption, dominance.
Max's consciousness wavered. His mind flickered between clarity and darkness. He could feel himself being torn apart, molecule by molecule. Yet somewhere in that pain, his will held firm.
He pressed his hand against his chest, forcing his trembling energy to stabilize even a fraction.
The frost spread up his neck, but the flames burned it away before it could reach his head. The two powers continued to war inside him, neither willing to yield.
And yet, through all that agony, through the chaos and destruction, one truth became clear—this was no ordinary conflict.
This was evolution.
If his body could survive it, if he could find the balance between these two divine extremes, he wouldn't just comprehend the fourth level concept of ice. He would transcend it.
But at that moment, Max's vision darkened again. The flames erupted from his back like wings, and the frost crept across his chest like armor. The clash between the two forces intensified once more, shaking the land around him.
The pain was indescribable, yet Max refused to scream. His fists clenched tightly as he fought against the destruction consuming him from within.
If not for his body forged by the Giant Dwarves—built to withstand divine pressure for opening the first Divine Vein—he would have disintegrated already. Even now, cracks glowed across his body as though he was one strike away from breaking completely.
"Come on…" he growled through his teeth, the world trembling around him. "You're… not going to destroy me."
The frost and flame within him roared in defiance of each other.
And Max, caught between them, stood his ground—bleeding, burning, freezing—refusing to yield to either side.
His body trembled violently as the storm of frost and fire inside him reached its peak. The black flames twisted like living serpents, devouring the frost that tried to spread across his meridians, while the divine cold of the White Lotus Essence Ice froze everything it touched, turning the infernal fire brittle and pale.
The two elements were beyond reconciliation—each existed to destroy the other.
The ground beneath him shattered completely, torn between molten cracks and frozen shards. The violent collision of the two forces inside him made every breath an act of defiance. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he thought his body would finally collapse.
But somewhere amid the pain, amid the blinding light of fire and the suffocating chill of frost, Max's will sharpened. He refused to lose. He refused to die like this.
He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth until his jaw ached. "If you want to fight," he whispered through the pain, "then I'll tame both of you myself."
Drawing on the full focus of his mind, Max dived inward—deep into the core of his being, where the two divine forces raged. He could see them clearly now: the black flames, fierce and untamed, swirling like a storm of chaos on one side; and on the other, the radiant, ethereal glow of the White Lotus Essence Ice, serene yet absolute in its will to dominate.
They clashed endlessly, like two gods locked in eternal combat. Every collision sent waves of destruction through his body, yet Max forced himself deeper, into the heart of the chaos.
'If I can understand you,' he thought, 'then I can control you.'
The moment he focused on the frost, he began to see something within it—a pattern, a rhythm that went beyond the concepts of stillness, endurance, and reflection that he had already mastered. The fourth level concept of ice wasn't about coldness or preservation. It was about absolute equilibrium.
He finally understood that true ice wasn't just about freezing or stopping motion—it was the power to nullify all change, to impose perfect stillness in a world of chaos. It wasn't destruction, but dominion—the authority to decide what could move and what could not.
The White Lotus Essence Ice represented that concept perfectly. It wasn't merely reacting to the black flames—it was trying to assert its law upon them, to stop their existence altogether.
Max's eyes opened slowly within his spiritual sea, glowing with blue-white light. "So that's your nature…" he said under his breath. "Not to destroy—but to command stillness itself."
He steadied his breathing, forcing his will to dominate the storm inside him. Then, instead of resisting the White Lotus Essence Ice, he opened himself to it completely.
The moment he did, the energy of the divine frost surged into his consciousness. Countless images and sensations flooded into his mind: frozen worlds, silent stars, endless plains of untouched purity.
The energy shaped itself into understanding, and in that instant, the fourth level concept of ice—Absolute Stillness—revealed itself to him.
A soundless pulse echoed through his soul.
The White Lotus Essence Ice stopped resisting. Its violent energy softened, harmonizing with his aura. The black flames still raged, but the frost no longer fought them—it simply stabilized them, containing their destructive nature without extinguishing their essence.
For the first time, fire and ice coexisted inside him.
Max exhaled deeply, frost and steam escaping his lips together. His body was still shaking, but the chaos had calmed. The frost flowed through his veins alongside the infernal fire, no longer trying to destroy each other.
Then, as if responding to this fragile equilibrium, something deeper within him stirred.
The Unholy Trinity Body, which had been restraining both forces all this time, began to transform. The balance between flame and frost had created something new—something born from the unity of destruction and preservation, chaos and order, heat and cold.
Golden veins of energy began to appear across his skin, branching like divine patterns of light. His body started to emit an aura unlike anything before—neither burning nor freezing, but radiating pure, perfect equilibrium. The ground beneath him stopped shattering. The molten lava hardened, and the ice melted, merging into a smooth, mirror-like surface.
Inside him, the two opposing forces—black flame and divine frost—spiraled together into a single current. The energy circulated through his meridians smoothly, harmoniously, empowering every cell of his being.
Then the voice of the system echoed within his mind:
[ Ding! ]
[ Congratulations! Host has successfully stabilized the fusion of Devouring Flame Essence and White Lotus Essence Ice. ]
[ New Physique Awakened: Yin Yang Physique (Level 1) ]
[ Description: A body capable of harmonizing two opposite divine forces. The Yin Yang Physique maintains perfect equilibrium between destruction and preservation, allowing the user to control fire and ice simultaneously without rejection. ]
[ Effect: Resistance to elemental imbalance increased by 500%. Recovery rate improved by 300%. All elemental comprehension speed increased by 200%. ]
Max's body glowed with alternating waves of black and blue light. The once chaotic forces within him now flowed in harmony, like the merging of sun and moon, flame and frost.
He opened his eyes slowly. His pupils reflected both colors—the blazing black of devouring flames and the serene blue of eternal ice. His aura was calm, yet immeasurably powerful.
"So this is the Yin Yang Physique…" he muttered, clenching his fist. The air around his hand shimmered, forming a flicker of black flame intertwined with strands of pale frost. They didn't repel each other. They danced together—balanced, perfect, and obedient to his will.
A faint smile touched his lips. "Finally… balance."
The storm inside him had ended.
The war between fire and ice was over.
And from that chaos, a new strength was born.