Deception

Seeing Tian Meng ready himself, Chi Yuan prepared to strike at any moment as well.

Ji Lin carefully opened the Platform of Gods.

The instant the Platform of Gods opened, the temperature throughout the cave plummeted at an astonishing speed. A wisp of white airflow, like mist and clouds, silently slipped out through the opening.

A cold female voice filled with boundless fury rang out. "Despicable humans, die. All of you, die!"

At that moment, Tian Meng made his move. The instant Snow Empress appeared, a white membrane of light enveloped the white airflow.

The temperature inside the cave stopped dropping.

The white airflow charged left and right within the white membrane. Seeing that it could not break through, it gradually condensed into a white figure.

Upon closer inspection, Ji Lin saw what the white figure looked like. She was clearly a little girl who appeared to be only two or three years old. Snow-white and pink, she wore a white gauze dress wrapped around her chubby body.

She kept letting out shrill cries, trying to break free from the white membrane's confinement.

This was the foremost of the Three Great Kings of the North, with cultivation nearing seven hundred thousand years—the third-ranked among the Ten Great Fierce Beasts, the daughter of fortune of the Far North, the Heavenly Snow Woman, born by heaven's favor and granted life through the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

This should have been Snow Empress's human embryo form after rebuilding herself as a human. Unfortunately, she had been interrupted at the critical moment of her transformation, and it was now impossible for her to complete it.

She could only return to her true Fierce Beast form. However, she now possessed only one-third of her peak strength. She could not possibly break through the Million-Year Soul Beast shell Tian Meng had shed, nor was she a match for Chi Yuan.

Seeing the little girl wrapped in the white membrane, Ji Lin's lips curled slightly. "So this is Snow Empress? She's pretty cute."

Perhaps she had heard Ji Lin's teasing, or perhaps she had realized she could not break through the white membrane. Snow Empress gradually calmed down.

She stopped attacking the white membrane and instead turned her gaze toward Ji Lin and the other two.

"Despicable humans, what exactly do you want? You cannot keep me trapped forever. Once I get out, I will definitely make you pay the price."

Seeing that Snow Empress had calmed down and could be reasoned with, Ji Lin stepped forward and approached her. Looking at the white-haired little girl before him, his eyes lit up. She really was far too cute.

Perhaps sensing some kind of threat, Snow Empress instinctively took a step back. Ji Lin's eye twitched at the sight. Was he really that scary?

Perhaps feeling that her reaction just now had been somewhat embarrassing, little Snow Empress's face flushed red. She stepped forward and glared fixedly at Ji Lin.

Ji Lin stopped teasing Snow Empress. If this continued, she was going to boil over with rage. It was best to stop while he was ahead.

"Snow Empress, with your cultivation, even while trapped inside the Platform of Gods, you should have been able to sense the outside world, right? You should know that I am not the Rank 9 Soul Master who ambushed and sealed you while you were weak. He sold you to the Star Luo Empire, and in the end, you came into my possession."

"I want to make a deal with you. There is no direct enmity between us, so I think we should be able to coexist peacefully."

Snow Empress neither confirmed nor denied Ji Lin's words. She merely said coldly, "Don't even think about it. All humans deserve to die."

Ji Lin understood Snow Empress's hatred for humans very well. Their races had been enemies to begin with. Humans often hunted soul beasts, and Snow Empress had been ambushed and sealed by humans at the most crucial point in her life. All her efforts had come to nothing, every last hope she had was destroyed, and she had even been bought and sold like merchandise.

As proud as Snow Empress was, she had likely long since resolved to die. She had merely been waiting for someone to open the seal so she could drag every human around her down with her.

Understanding was one thing, but Ji Lin would not simply watch Snow Empress seek death. He needed to give her hope—a reason to keep living.

Ji Lin pointed at Tian Meng beside him and introduced him. "Snow Empress, you should recognize the one beside me, right?"

"Ahem, hello, Snow Empress. Do you still remember me?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm greeted Snow Empress somewhat awkwardly.

"Hm?" Snow Empress was clearly stunned. "There's the aura of another soul beast here? You're a soul beast too?"

"This aura feels familiar. Enormous yet not powerful Mental Power... what is it?" Snow Empress clearly could not remember Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

Tian Meng looked embarrassed. He had not expected Snow Empress to have forgotten him.

Ji Lin chuckled and introduced him to Snow Empress. "He is Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, a Million-Year Soul Beast. He was once a member of your Far North as well."

Snow Empress immediately remembered. "Oh, I recall now. You're that ice silkworm with absurdly good luck. You kept advancing while asleep, broke through bottleneck after bottleneck, and even surpassed me in total cultivation."

"I remember Bing'er once hunted you down. Didn't she say you had disappeared? How did you end up with humans?"

Snow Empress looked at Sky Dream Ice Silkworm with a puzzled expression, clearly unable to understand why he was associating with humans.

Tian Meng smiled bitterly. "Don't mention it. Back then, Ice Empress was hunting me down, so I drifted southward along the sea..."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm recounted the experiences of his past hundred thousand years in what he considered his most tragic voice. Ji Lin had already heard it once.

"...You know how terrifying the limit is for us. You also know that there is no soul beast in this world that has lived longer than I have. My energy has basically been drained dry by them, and I can no longer survive the next limit. But after living so long, I don't want to die! I believe you feel the same way. Otherwise, you would not have risked transforming into a human, nor would you have ended up like this."

"Whether it is you or me, neither of us wants to die. We have lived for such a long time—how can we be willing to become a pile of dust? So, I came up with the best possible method."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's story finally piqued Snow Empress's interest. Almost instinctively, she asked, "What method?"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said gravely, "God Creation."

"God Creation?" Snow Empress froze, instantly becoming even more curious. "What do you mean by God Creation?"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said solemnly, "I think you also know that on our continent, humans are the race with the greatest potential."

Snow Empress frowned. With her knowledge, she had guessed what Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wanted to say. "You mean helping a human become a god?"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded forcefully. "That's right, humans. Although some of us soul beasts are born noble, like you, and naturally possess powerful physiques, we must admit that compared to humanity's potential, we fall far short. Human bodies are practically negligible compared to the soul beast race. Yet a talented human, after only a few decades of cultivation, can match soul beasts with tens of thousands of years—or even a hundred thousand years—of cultivation in terms of strength. Why is that? It is because of the difference in potential. Humans have fragile bodies and even shorter lifespans, but their potential has been blessed by heaven. It is something we can never compare to. That is humanity's advantage, and what we lack.