Capture Operation (First Update)

Icebound Forest, northern borderlands.

Snow Empress descended from the sky with Huo Yuhao in tow and stopped at the edge of the forest to wait.

Huo Yuhao gazed at the dark coniferous forest before him. Fine snow drifted through the sky, and the distant woods looked hazy and dreamlike, with only their rough black outline visible.

Snow Dragon Spine Mountain towered into the clouds, stretching east to west through the Icebound Forest.

A Green Rainbow descended from the north beside Snow Empress. Ice Empress revealed herself, with Brother Sky Dream tied up behind her like a dumpling. He had already been frozen into an ice sculpture.

"Hey." Ice Empress slapped the ice, and it immediately cracked apart and fell away. The ropes snapped and dropped to the ground.

Freed from the ice, Brother Sky Dream immediately wrapped his arms around himself and shivered as he cried that he was cold.

"You're an ice-attribute soul beast, yet you're not embarrassed to say something like that?" Ice Empress snorted coldly.

"Ice... it's different. I'm not afraid of the cold... but that doesn't mean I'm immune to freezing..." Brother Sky Dream stammered through chattering teeth.

A twelve-segmented jade-green stinger tail suddenly emerged behind Ice Empress, its barbs glinting with icy light.

"No, no, I'm fine now." Brother Sky Dream instantly broke out in a cold sweat and awkwardly wiped the moisture from his brow.

Watching the two of them, Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered with amusement.

Under Ice Empress's threat, Brother Sky Dream immediately activated his innate soul skill, Mental Detection.

The spiritual fluctuations spreading from between his brows enveloped an area with a radius of fifteen hundred meters.

Afterward, Brother Sky Dream activated his second innate soul skill, Aura Simulation.

Before long, the auras of Ice Empress and Snow Empress underwent a tremendous change.

The ferocious beast auras around them steadily diminished until they ultimately gave off the presence of ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

As for Huo Yuhao, did his meager cultivation even need disguising?

To be safe, Brother Sky Dream still made a slight adjustment to Huo Yuhao's aura, simulating him as a Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

"Alright. In the eyes of the soul beasts outside, we're now just ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. As for our appearances, they'll stir up the beings they fear in their subconscious."

"Originally, this soul skill of mine could cover a radius of one hundred meters, but your cultivations are too high. It's best not to stray more than ten meters away from me, or there'll be a risk of your auras being exposed," Brother Sky Dream explained.

Snow Empress looked herself over and sensed the aura she was giving off. It had truly concealed her own presence.

The effect of this Simulation Soul Skill was indeed powerful. If used well, it could catch an enemy off guard and deliver a fatal blow.

"Also..." Brother Sky Dream immediately unleashed his third innate soul skill.

The next moment, Huo Yuhao suddenly gained a vast gray-white field of vision, allowing him to clearly "see" every movement within a thousand-meter radius.

Huo Yuhao immediately recognized this soul skill.

It was precisely the soul skill series Brother Sky Dream had granted him before—Mental Sharing.

When combined with Mental Detection, Mental Sharing could convey the "information" one observed to one's companions with complete accuracy.

This soul skill could greatly assist teammates, reduce communication costs, and improve team coordination.

Unfortunately, the Extreme Individual Soldier plan he carried out later had left this god-tier team support skill neglected.

That was a matter for later.

From the astonished expressions on Ice Empress and Snow Empress's faces, Huo Yuhao could tell that they had gained the same field of vision.

"Hehe, this soul skill of mine is called Mental Sharing. It can transmit everything I see and hear to the recipient. Combined with my Mental Detection, it's absolutely..." Brother Sky Dream proudly launched into a lengthy introduction.

"Shut up. Who can you even beat?" Ice Empress said coldly.

"Ice." Brother Sky Dream immediately looked rather embarrassed, his face flushing slightly.

Ice Empress swept him with a warning glance, and Brother Sky Dream instantly shut his mouth.

He consoled himself inwardly.

At least she didn't snap at me when I called her Ice.

Huo Yuhao watched the scene, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

Under the effects of Brother Sky Dream's Aura Simulation, Huo Yuhao's group entered the Icebound Forest.

In the outer region, their Thousand-Year Soul Beast auras easily frightened off the Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.

Upon reaching the Central-Outer Mixed Zone, Brother Sky Dream increased the simulated cultivation to ten thousand years, deterring the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

In the end, Huo Yuhao once again arrived before Snow Dragon Spine Mountain and stopped to gaze at the snow-covered summit that remained unmelted all year round.

He truly had not expected to return so soon.

Snow Dragon Spine Mountain, a certain cave.

A Groundhog tunneled through the hardened frozen soil and rock, reaching the dark depths of the cave, where it chittered as though reporting something.

No abnormalities?

The shadow in the corner seemed somewhat hesitant. It felt restless and uneasy, clearly a sign that danger was about to descend.

It seemed it could not stay here much longer either. It was time to find another place to shelter.

It immediately withdrew its foundation hidden deep beneath the rock strata, preparing to relocate away from Snow Dragon Spine Mountain.

Outside the Snow Mountain cave, the small figure that emerged from the shadows leaned against the rock wall, its Purple Eyes gazing at the wind and snow beyond the mountain.

This weather did not seem particularly suitable for wandering outside.

It turned to glance at the deep darkness of the cave behind it, where it had lived for years.

Unfortunately, this place was no longer safe. Yet its next home was nowhere in sight, so for now, it could only drift from place to place.

The Purple Shadow sighed softly.

Suddenly, its body was instantly frozen into a block of ice.

"Found you." A cool voice rang out.

Snow Empress stood Soaring in the Sky amid the wind and snow, her long snow-white hair spreading and fluttering in the breeze. Her expression calm, she gazed with azure eyes at the frozen figure at the cave entrance.

The figure within the ice stared at Snow Empress floating amidst the snowstorm, unable to believe its eyes.

Snow Empress?!

As the ruler of the Far North Land, why were you personally taking action?

The next moment, the Purple Shadow within the Mysterious Ice vanished into thin air. Groundhog-like mounds suddenly rose from the ground and burrowed toward the depths of the cave.

"Where do you think you're running?" Ice Empress appeared at the end of the cave, her ice claw piercing through the rock floor and freezing the entire area in an instant.

She thrust her hand through the rock layer and grabbed at the end of the mound, then lifted it up.

However, only after catching it did Ice Empress discover that she had merely seized a layer of Ginseng Shedding.

Ice Empress: ???

Meanwhile, at the Foot of the Mountain.

The Purple Shadow quietly appeared. It was a fair, tender Purple-Clad Little Girl wearing a purple dress, her black hair tied with a dark-red ribbon that hung to her waist. She patted her chest in lingering fear.

A handkerchief was offered from beside her, and she casually took it to wipe away her sweat.

Whew, that was close. I nearly got caught.

Ice Empress and Snow Empress.

They were the two great rulers of the Far North Land, yet they had personally come to capture her. It was simply too terrifying.

No wonder she had been feeling so restless before. So this was the source of it.

Fortunately, she had prepared a backup plan in advance and buried her shedding at the foot of the mountain.

Unlike other plant-type soul beasts that were bound to their territories, she possessed an exceptional ability to flee. She could swap the locations of her true body and her shedding.

It was precisely because she possessed this life-saving divine skill that whenever she encountered danger, she could always escape safely and evade the pursuit of soul beasts far stronger than herself countless times.

Without some real ability, she could never have cultivated to ten thousand years.

"Having survived a disaster, aren't you feeling fortunate?"

"Mm, thank you." The Purple-Clad Little Girl handed the handkerchief back to the youth beside her.

Then she froze.

The Purple-Dressed Girl stiffly turned her head and saw that it was a human youth, immediately letting out a sigh of relief.

Good, it's not Ice...

At that moment, the Ice and Snow Two Emperors descended from the sky, appearing to either side behind the human youth as they stared at her.

The Purple-Clad Little Girl was utterly shocked and immediately turned to run.

Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Eye flashed as he raised a hand and reached to seize the Purple-clad Loli...