It took a full three days and nights before the discussion between Huo Yuhao and Elder Yi concluded.
Over those three days, the two of them simulated and deduced countless times the plan to use the Eye of Destiny to sever the connection between the Ultimate Ice and the Soul Beast essence within the Ice Emperor's cultivation.
And now, they finally had a viable, actionable plan.
"Ice Emperor, let us sign the contract first."
Huo Yuhao held up the Soul Spirit Contract he had constructed three days prior and slowly walked toward the Ice Emperor.
Without hesitation, the Ice Emperor left her soul brand upon the contract.
Beside them, Electrolux looked up, and a brilliant golden formation instantly manifested.
—The Soul Stripping Formation.
The Ice Emperor did not resist, allowing the formation to peel her soul away from her body. Then, guided by the pull of the Soul Spirit Contract, her soul entered Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness.
The body, which looked as though it were constructed from jade-green ice crystals, remained. However, without a soul to anchor it, the entire form showed signs of naturally dissipating.
Electrolux raised his hand again, briefly borrowing one of Huo Yuhao's silver-glow Soul Rings. Combined with his own control that transcended his current realm, Electrolux displayed a hint of the majesty he once held as the Necromantic Holy Magic God.
The brilliant golden array expanded rapidly, arresting the changes in the Ice Emperor's body in an instant. Then, he directly moved to begin stripping away her nearly 400,000 years of cultivation.
Soon, the jade-crystal luster of her body began to dim, gradually losing its color.
Electrolux's gaze was calm. Countless complex formations rotated in his palm. A moment later, a ball of pure, emerald-green light slowly emerged.
Huo Yuhao stowed away the Ice Emperor's physical body; since he planned to mold a new body for her later, this would still be of use.
Grasping a short blade condensed from materialized Mental Power, Huo Yuhao stepped forward.
At this moment, the Eye of Destiny manifested truly at the center of his brow. It wasn't just a "lite" phantom version like usual, but its true form appearing in the world.
Countless threads of fate were revealed through the perspective of the Eye of Destiny. Simultaneously, a mountain of chaotic, useless information flooded into Huo Yuhao's mind, bit by bit occupying his brain.
Huo Yuhao frowned slightly, feeling his head grow heavy, though it was still within tolerable limits.
Taking a split second to calculate, he determined the maximum duration he could maintain this state—one hour.
Short, but enough.
He shifted his vision to the emerald-green light ball. Instantly, numerous different threads became visible upon the light. Without hesitation, Huo Yuhao struck.
A thread was severed. A mass of emerald light containing the "Soul Beast" essence and other elements lost its connection to the "Ultimate Ice."
Tossing this mass of "Soul Beast" essence to Elder Yi, Huo Yuhao continued severing the connections.
Meanwhile, within Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, Skydream and the Ice Emperor watched in silence.
Half an hour later.
Huo Yuhao's hand, which gripped the Mental Power dagger, was trembling.
He had slightly overestimated himself. Being able to maintain the Eye of Destiny for an hour didn't mean he could use its thread-severing ability non-stop!
By now, Huo Yuhao was on the brink of his limit.
However, the results were gratifying.
The emerald green had already faded from the light ball, leaving only an ice-blue color shot through with a hint of jade!
And that ice-blue... was the color of "Ultimate Ice"!
Huo Yuhao felt a surge of excitement. He transformed a wisp of spirit into a needle and pricked his own mind; the resulting mental pain cleared his head slightly. He stared at the light ball before him, eyeing the final remaining thread. Huo Yuhao raised the Mental Power blade and slashed down!
The green faded completely. An incomparably pure ice-blue light erupted with a brilliant radiance.
Huo Yuhao's lips curled into an involuntary smile as he quickly closed the Eye of Destiny.
His cultivation was still his weak point. Although he could kill almost anyone below the rank of Super Douluo with his two silver-glow Soul Rings without Skydream's help, that wasn't his goal.
His goal was that high-and-mighty God King!
Therefore... what he had done was still not enough!
With the Eye of Destiny closed, one silver-glow Soul Ring began slowly restoring Huo Yuhao's depleted Soul Power and Mental Power.
After a brief rest, Huo Yuhao managed to recover. His gaze then fell upon the light ball radiating that ice-blue glow.
Without pausing for long—knowing that delays breed trouble—he summoned his unformed "Ice" Martial Soul and guided the "Ultimate Ice" light to merge with it bit by bit.
In the very next instant, his body began to tremble instinctively, as if every inch of skin were being
bitten by frost.
His face turned blue-purple, his lips lost all color, and he felt as though he had fallen into a glacial cellar! That cold aura was like countless sharp little knives, ruthlessly stabbing into his marrow, reconstructing Huo Yuhao's body piece by piece!
A Martial Soul affects the owner's body to a certain extent.
Just as members of the Dai family would have their bodies strengthened and their eyes potentially change color upon awakening the "Evil Eye White Tiger," the birth of the "Ultimate Ice" Martial Soul was causing Huo Yuhao's body to transform!
Huo Yuhao clenched his teeth, enduring all the pain without a sound.
Heh... just this? This isn't even as painful as when I fused with the Ice Emperor's torso bone in my last life!
Mere pain!
The reconstruction of a body is long, yet also brief.
Two hours later, Huo Yuhao, who was kneeling on the ground covered in frost, suddenly snapped his eyes open. The initial physical reconstruction was finished; from here on, the Martial Soul would continue to refine his body subtly.
Huo Yuhao stood up slowly. The frost covering his body cracked and fell away, revealing his current appearance.
His hair and eyes remained blue, but beneath those blue strands was a face so exquisite it seemed carved by the gods themselves.
"Why does he look a bit like the Snow Emperor now..."
In the Sea of Consciousness, the Ice Emperor stared blankly at Huo Yuhao's face, dazed for a moment.
"According to your description, that Snow Emperor was born of heaven and earth, so her body must be perfectly adapted to Ultimate Ice and Snow. Right now, Huo Yuhao's Ultimate Ice Martial Soul is similarly refining his body.
"Similar attributes refining a body in similar ways; it's quite normal for their appearances to show some resemblance."
Elder Yi, who had already returned to the Sea of Consciousness, explained calmly.
Power affects the person, and the person affects the power; the two influence and master each other.
At this moment, the "Ultimate Ice" was instinctively refining Huo Yuhao's body, just as the emotional power had before, making Huo Yuhao's appearance even more handsome...
Huo Yuhao found it strangely amusing.
What is this? Appearance perks?
But none of that mattered.
Huo Yuhao raised his hand, and a spark of ice-blue, pure to the extreme, blossomed in his palm. Then, at his command, that ice-blue spark shifted continuously—one moment becoming an Ice Silkworm, the next an Ice Jade Scorpion, and the next a White Tiger Dagger.
And every single form carried the incomparably pure "Ultimate Ice" attribute!
Form follows intent, ever-changing.
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered, and a smile spread across his face.
This trip to the Extreme North was a massive success...