The air in the glacial canyon, already at a temperature that could shatter steel, plunged into a realm of impossible cold. The standoff between Jin Xi's radiant, authoritative gold and the Ice Empress's sharp, jade-green frost was instantly and utterly eclipsed by a new, ascendant power.
It was a cold that was not merely a lack of heat, but an active, sovereign presence. A cold so absolute it felt like the death of warmth itself, the serene and terrifying stillness of the void between stars. The very air seemed to surrender, the motes of ice dust hanging motionless, captured in a moment of perfect, crystalline stasis.
Huo Yuhao felt it not as a physical sensation, but as a deep, primal truth in his soul. The protective fire essence woven into his robes, a gift from the mighty Scarlet King, sputtered and died against this new cold, its warmth extinguished as easily as a candle flame in a hurricane. This was a power that existed on a different plane of reality.
'This… this is what Lord Di Tian was wary of,' he thought, his entire body seized by an involuntary, violent shiver. 'This is the true power of the Extreme North.'
From a swirling vortex of delicate, luminescent snowflakes, she materialized.
The woman who appeared was beauty made manifest, but it was a beauty of a different kind from Jin Xi's radiant, sun-kissed perfection or the Ice Empress's sharp, cutting elegance. It was the beauty of a perfect, untouched snowfield at dawn, serene, pure, and vast.
Her hair was the color of the purest snow, cascading around her shoulders like a soft, winter cloak. Her eyes were a pale, crystalline blue, holding a depth of ancient wisdom and a profound, tranquil loneliness. She wore a simple white dress that seemed woven from frost and moonlight, its fabric shimmering with an internal, ethereal light.
Her presence was not aggressive, not challenging. It was simply… absolute. She was the environment. The environment was her.
She was the Heavenly Snow Woman, the Snow Empress.
Her gaze, calm and clear, swept over the scene. She saw the Ice Empress, her sister, poised for battle, her jade-green aura flaring with cold fury. She saw the magnificent, golden-haired woman opposite her, holding a divine spear that pulsed with a power that even she had to acknowledge with a flicker of respect. And she saw the small, shivering human boy standing between them.
"Bing'er," the Snow Empress said, her voice like the soft crunch of fresh snow underfoot, calm and gentle, yet carrying an authority that instantly doused the flames of conflict.
The Ice Empress's hostile aura subsided, replaced by a mixture of surprise and affection. "Xue'er," she replied, her own voice losing some of its sharp edge. "What brings you here?"
The Snow Empress's gaze turned to Jin Xi. She gave a slight, respectful inclination of her head, an acknowledgement from one monarch to another. "I felt the arrival of a noble presence in my domain. The beasts of the ice whispered of it. They spoke of the Emperor Auspicious Beast journeying to your lair with a human in tow."
Jin Xi met her gaze, her own regal bearing unyielding. The Golden Dragon Martial Soul behind her remained, a silent testament to her status, and the divine aura of the Golden Dragon Spear was a pressure that even the Snow Empress could not ignore. The spear was a legacy of the Dragon God, a being who had once stood above all, and its authority was absolute.
"Greetings, Snow Empress," Jin Xi said, her voice clear and confident. "Your lands are as cold and beautiful as the legends say."
"They are my home," the Snow Empress replied simply. She then turned back to her sister, a question in her crystal-blue eyes. "So, tell me, Bing'er. What is the cause of this… commotion? I did not think you were one for such heated greetings, especially not with one who carries the fortune of our entire race."
The Ice Empress let out a frosty sigh, her scorpion tail lowering slightly. She recounted the entire bizarre tale—the arrival of the cowardly bug, its insane proposal, its claims of a new path to godhood, and her own indignant refusal to become a human's tool.
As she spoke, the Snow Empress listened with a quiet, patient grace. Her expression shifted subtly, from curiosity to a deep, profound sadness. She looked at her sister, her sworn friend of hundreds of thousands of years, and she saw not the proud empress, but a soul backed into a corner by the cruel, inexorable laws of the universe.
"The Heavenly Tribulation," the Snow Empress whispered when the story was finished, her voice laced with a gentle sorrow. "It is a cruel, unfeeling thing. It has claimed so many of our kind. I was very worried about your upcoming Heavenly Tribulation."
She knew, with a certainty that ached in her very soul, that Bing'er could not survive it alone. The thought of losing her closest companion, the only other being in this frozen wasteland who truly understood her loneliness, was a pain she had long been preparing for, but had never truly accepted.
She looked from the proud, desperate Ice Empress to the calm, serious human boy. She didn't fully understand this concept of a "Soul Spirit," but the benefits her sister described—a continuation of consciousness, a path to a higher realm… it sounded less like a humiliation and more like a desperate, miraculous lifeline. She would be sad to see her sister go, to have their bond constrained by this human, but it was infinitely better than the alternative—utter oblivion.
It was Jin Xi who broke the solemn silence.
"It is not a tragedy to become a Soul Spirit, Snow Empress," she declared, her voice ringing with an unshakeable confidence that startled the ancient ruler. "It is her greatest fortune. My Yuhao is not just any human. He carries a destiny that you cannot comprehend. To become his Soul Spirit is not a step down; it is a step onto the only sure path to godhood that exists in this world. She should be honored by the opportunity."
The sheer, absolute conviction in her voice stunned the Snow Empress. She looked at the small boy, then at the magnificent Auspicious Beast, and felt the stirrings of a truth she couldn't quite grasp.
The Ice Empress, having wrestled with her pride and her fear, had come to her own conclusion. The boy's final words, his sincere offer of partnership rather than servitude, had tipped the scales. Survival, with a chance at a greater future, was worth the perceived humiliation.
"Enough talk," she said, her voice a sharp, decisive crack. She turned her glacial eyes to Huo Yuhao. "Let us begin. If I am to take this humiliating leap of faith, I would rather it be over with quickly."
Huo Yuhao nodded, a wave of relief so profound it almost made his knees buckle washing over him. He stepped into the open space between the two powerful female monarchs.
"Your Majesty," he said to the Ice Empress, his voice respectful. "Please, release your spiritual origin. Do not resist the process."
He then closed his eyes, his mind becoming a crucible of focus. He began to chant, the words taught to him by the book, the same light-attribute incantation he had used for Brother Skydream. It was a spell of binding, of balance, of equal partnership.
A soft, warm, golden-white light began to emanate from his body, a stark and beautiful contrast to the cold, blue-white light of the icy canyon. A complex, circular contract of light formed in the air before him, humming with a gentle, lawful power.
Then, he unleashed his second Martial Soul.
From his back, an ethereal, formless haze of the purest azure light erupted. It was not a beast, not a tool, not a plant. It was just… power. The raw, untamed essence of Ultimate Ice, a perfect, blank canvas waiting for its artist.
The Ice Empress took a deep, final breath of the cold air of her home. With a silent, internal cry of mingled grief and hope, she let go.
Her physical form began to dissolve, not into dust, but into a torrent of brilliant, jade-green light. It was her life's essence, the accumulated power of four hundred thousand years, her very soul. This torrent of energy surged forward, pouring into Huo Yuhao's waiting Martial Soul.
As her spirit left her, her physical body, now just an empty shell, crumbled to the ground. But one part remained, glowing with an intense light. It was a piece of her exoskeleton, the part that covered her torso. A Soul Bone.
The moment her origin energy made contact with the formless Ultimate Ice, a cataclysmic transformation began.
The azure haze convulsed, absorbing the jade-green light, feeding on it, shaping itself. The raw power of a 400,000-year-old beast, combined with the million-year origin energy from Skydream that had birthed the soul, created a reaction of immense power.
The formless haze solidified, taking on the shape of a magnificent, ethereal scorpion. Its body was carved from translucent jade ice, its pincers sharp enough to cut through dimensions, and its tail held a stinger that pulsed with a deadly, beautiful light.
His second Martial Soul was born. The Ice Jade Scorpion Empress.
Simultaneously, Huo Yuhao felt a connection snap into place, a new, powerful consciousness settling into a quiet corner of his Spiritual Sea. It was her. The Ice Empress. Proud, cold, and now, irrevocably, a part of him.
But the torrent of energy was not finished. A significant portion of Skydream's million-year origin, the part that had lain dormant within the Martial Soul, now surged, infusing itself into the Ice Empress's own origin. It was like adding pure fuel to an already raging fire.
The Ice Empress's spiritual essence, which had been just shy of the 400,000-year mark at 399,900 years, was pushed over the final threshold.
A deep, profound black Soul Ring erupted from Huo Yuhao's body. But this was no ordinary black. It was an abyss, a black so deep it seemed to drink the light, and around its edge shimmered a faint, yet distinct, golden-red hue. It was the mark of a Soul Ring that had surpassed the 100,000-year limit and was approaching half a million years. A 400,000-year-old Soul Ring.
The ring settled, the first to adorn his new Martial Soul. Two new abilities bloomed in his mind, their functions and names clear as day. The first was an extreme offense skill: Ice Empress's Pincer, allowing him to manifest a colossal pincer of Ultimate Ice to crush his foes. The second was a defensive skill: Ice Empress's Armor, which would cloak his body in a near-impenetrable layer of jade-green ice.
The process wasn't over. The remaining origin energy, still vast and potent, began to coalesce once more. A second Soul Ring, identical to the first in its terrifying, abyssal blackness and shimmering golden-red trim, erupted and settled below the first. A second 400,000-year-old Soul Ring.
Two more abilities flooded his consciousness. The first was a single-target, absolute control skill: Ice Empress's Glacial Prison. He could summon a cage of Ultimate Ice, a near-inescapable prison to entrap a single, powerful foe.
It was not a domain, but a focused, absolute confinement.
The second was a terrifying, large-scale assault: Ice Empress's Glacial Storm, a skill that would allow him to conjure a localized blizzard of massive, razor-sharp blocks of Ultimate Ice, tearing apart everything in a wide area.
As the second ring settled, a final surge of pure Soul Power washed through his meridians. The bottleneck at Rank 20 was a distant memory. He shot past 21, 22, 23… finally coming to a stop at the peak of Soul Rank 24.
In the span of a few minutes, he had gone from a new Soul Grandmaster to a powerhouse on the verge of becoming a Soul Elder, gaining a top-tier Beast Martial Soul and four heaven-defying abilities from two 400,000-year-old rings.
He opened his eyes, the world seeming clearer, sharper. The profound cold of the canyon was still present, but it no longer felt hostile. It felt… familiar. Like an extension of himself.
The Snow Empress had watched the entire process, her calm expression replaced by one of utter, profound shock. Two 400,000-year-old rings from a single beast? It defied all known laws of cultivation. This "Soul Spirit" system was more miraculous than she could have ever imagined.
She looked at the boy, then at the empty space where her sister had been. A flicker of worry crossed her face.
"Can… can she still appear?" she asked Huo Yuhao, her voice losing some of its regal calm, replaced by the soft plea of someone asking after a loved one.
Huo Yuhao nodded. He focused his will, sending a gentle invitation to the new presence in his soul. 'Your Majesty? Your sister wishes to see you.'
With a shimmer of jade-green light, the Ice Empress materialized beside him. She was no longer a being of flesh and blood, but a translucent, ethereal spirit form, just like Skydream. Her icy, imperious aura was still present, but it was tempered now, intertwined with his own. She looked at her own spiritual hands, then at her sister, a complex expression on her beautiful face.
A wave of pure, unadulterated relief washed over the Snow Empress. She took a step forward, a genuine, radiant smile blooming on her face, a smile that could melt a glacier. "Bing'er," she whispered, her voice full of joy. "You're alright."
"I am… different," the Ice Empress replied, her voice holding a hint of wonder. "But I am still me."
Their reunion was a quiet, profound moment between two ancient queens.
Huo Yuhao did not interrupt. He turned his attention to the glowing object on the ground where the Ice Empress's body had been. The Ice Jade Scorpion Torso Bone.
With his new power settled, it was time for the final fortune.
He sat down cross-legged, picking up the Soul Bone. The moment he touched it, a wave of immense, pure cold shot up his arm, threatening to freeze him from the inside out.
'Focus, boy!' the Ice Empress's voice echoed directly in his mind, sharp and commanding. 'This is my essence. Do not fight it. Guide it. Absorb it. I will help you.'
Her ethereal form drifted over and placed a translucent hand on his shoulder. A stream of her own, perfectly controlled soul energy flowed into him, not to add to the power, but to act as a guide, a rudder in the storm of cold.
He began the absorption process. The next twenty-four hours were a blur of intense pain and exhilarating power.
The torso bone slowly, painfully, merged with his own skeleton, reshaping his core, infusing his very marrow with the essence of Ultimate Ice.
His physique, already strengthened, was undergoing another, more profound rebirth.
When the sun rose on the next day, the process was complete. The light of the torso bone faded, and Huo Yuhao opened his eyes. A visible plume of frosty air escaped his lips. His skin had a faint, jade-like luster, and his eyes seemed to hold the cold, clear depth of a glacier.
Two new, powerful abilities settled into his mind.
The first was a true domain, a power that could alter the very environment around him: the Perpetual Ice Domain.
Within its range, he would be a god of ice, his power amplified, his enemies suppressed by an unyielding cold.
The second was an ultimate, single-target attack, a final trump card: Ice Empress's
Wrath, a focused attack of Ultimate Ice energy that could annihilate matter and freeze a soul while releasing Ice Empress's regal pressure.
A final, massive wave of pure energy from the bone washed through him. His Soul Power, which had just settled at Rank 24, surged once more. It shattered the barrier to 25, then 26, then 27, finally coming to a halt at the very peak of Soul Rank 28, a single step away from Rank 29.
It was a monstrous, unprecedented leap in power.
He stood up, feeling the immense, dormant power coiled within him, a quiet smile on his face.
He had succeeded. Beyond his wildest dreams.
As he finished, the Snow Empress, who had been patiently waiting with her sister and a very impressed Jin Xi, drifted forward. Her usual serene expression was now replaced by one of deep, serious contemplation.
"Huo Yuhao," she began, her voice holding a new weight. "Emperor Auspicious Beast. I have watched what you have done. I have seen the miracle of this Soul Spirit path. Now… I have a request. A proposition for you both."
Huo Yuhao and Jin Xi turned their full attention to her.
The Snow Empress said, a hint of excitement entering her calm voice, "In a remote, hidden valley in the deepest part of my domain, I have found it. A heaven and earth treasure, a one-hundred-thousand-year-old Snow Lotus. The legends say it holds the purest essence of ice, a power that can aid a Soul Beast in a human transformation, allowing one to retain the vast majority of one's power."
She looked at them, her crystal-blue eyes holding a plea that was both regal and deeply vulnerable. "I am also going to face my tribulation of 700,000 Year Old in a few hundred years and so I wish to consume it. I wish to undergo the transformation, just as you have, Emperor Beast. But the process is perilous. It will leave me completely vulnerable for a time. I cannot ask the beasts of my kingdom to protect me. They revere me too much. Their love and fear would compel them to try and stop me, to keep their queen as she is. They would not understand."
She fixed her gaze upon Jin Xi, then upon Huo Yuhao.
"But you… you understand. Emperor Auspicious Beast, your very nature is one of fortune and non-malice towards us Soul Beasts. I trust you. And you, Huo Yuhao, who is supported by the Emperor Auspicious Beast. I wish to ask for your help. I ask that you accompany me to the valley and stand guard. Protect me while I undertake my own transformation."
The request was a bombshell. The mighty, reclusive Snow Empress, the true sovereign of the North, wanted to become human. And she was asking them, two outsiders, to be her guardians.
Jin Xi looked at the powerful, lonely queen before her and saw a kindred spirit. Another monarch willing to take a great, terrifying leap into the unknown for the sake of a new future.
Huo Yuhao looked at the sister of his new Soul Spirit, at the being who held the key to this entire frozen continent, and saw an opportunity. An opportunity to forge an unbreakable alliance, to gain a friend of unimaginable power, and to take another great step on his own burgeoning path.
He and Jin Xi exchanged a look. A silent, perfect understanding passed between them.
"We accept," they said in unison.