Countless questions surged through Xue Tianxing's mind. What puzzled him most was:
In the original story, Huo Yuhao possessed the Ultimate Ice Martial Soul and an absolutely top-tier Soul Ring configuration. With powerful Extreme North figures like the Snow Empress and Ice Empress assisting him, if a remnant soul of the Ice God truly existed here, and the two Ice Empresses knew of it, why had Huo Yuhao not received the Ice God's divine trial, instead inheriting the Divine Seat of the God of Emotion?
As if he had seen through the doubts in Xue Tianxing's heart, Bing Xuan curled his lips into a faint smile:
"Little fellow, you have quite a few questions hidden in your heart, don't you? Ask whatever you want."
Xue Tianxing took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart before gathering his courage to ask:
"You said you are the Ice God, but shouldn't deities all be in the God Realm? Why are you here? And... you said I am fated with you. Do you want me to inherit your Divine Seat?"
The instant those words left his mouth, his heart began pounding uncontrollably—inherit a Divine Seat; that was the ultimate goal countless Soul Masters dreamed of!
Bing Xuan looked at his excited yet nervous expression, a relieved smile appearing on his face:
"You are correct. You do indeed have the qualifications to inherit my Divine Seat."
Those words were like a thunderclap, making Xue Tianxing hold his breath at once.
Before Xue Tianxing could process the news, Bing Xuan continued:
"As for why I am not in the God Realm... it is because I fell in a God Realm War hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"What you see now is merely a wisp of my remnant soul left behind in this Land of the Extreme North, barely sustained to this day by relying on the Extreme North's Extreme Ice power."
The Ice God spoke calmly, as though he were recounting someone else's tale. Yet Xue Tianxing could sense the desolation contained within it—a deity who had once looked down upon all living beings had ultimately been reduced to a single wisp of remnant soul, trapped within this small patch of heaven and earth. The gulf between those two states was unimaginable.
"Then... why me?"
Xue Tianxing steadied himself and asked again:
"The Land of the Extreme North has experts of Extreme Ice like the Snow Empress and Ice Empress. Why did you choose me?"
Bing Xuan looked into Xue Tianxing's eager eyes. A helpless smile appeared on his face as he slowly said:
"Before I tell you what you must do, let me tell you a story."
His gaze drifted into the distance, as though it had pierced through this pure white space and returned to the Land of the Extreme North hundreds of thousands of years ago:
"I was not originally human. I was an Ice Phoenix born in the core region of the Land of the Extreme North.
"Relying on the innate advantages of the Ice Phoenix Spirit and the dense ice power of the Land of the Extreme North, I took only a thousand years to assume human form. After cultivating for several tens of thousands more years, I reached level one hundred, shattered the void, ascended to the God Realm, and became the Ice God who governed ice and snow.
"At that time, in the God Realm, aside from the five great law-enforcing God Kings and the Dragon God, I could be considered among the foremost First-level Deities."
As he said this, a trace of nostalgia flashed through Bing Xuan's eyes, as though he were recalling the glory of roaming freely through the God Realm in those days.
But that nostalgia was soon replaced by heaviness:
"Yet hundreds of thousands of years ago, a great calamity erupted in the God Realm—the Dragon God suddenly lost control and led the great Dragon Kings under him, along with deities born as Spirit Beasts, in declaring war against the human deities. He sought to monopolize the God Realm.
"At the time, I was immersed in research, attempting to break through the barrier between a First-level Deity and a God King, so I did not participate in that war."
"I thought that as long as I did not take sides, I could stay out of it.
"But I never expected that after the Dragon God was slain by the Shura God King, the human deities would begin purging all deities born as Spirit Beasts.
"I believed that since I had never interfered in the war and had always obeyed the laws of the God Realm, I would not be implicated.
"But the Shura God King still came for me. He acknowledged my talent, saying that I was the First-level Deity most likely to break through into the realm of God King. Yet he also said, 'Those born as Spirit Beasts will always carry the risk of untamed savagery. If he does not rebel today, there is no telling whether he will follow in the Dragon God's footsteps tomorrow.'"
Bing Xuan's voice carried a trace of bitterness:
"Just because I had been born as a Spirit Beast, he attacked me without distinguishing right from wrong.
"I fought back with everything I had, but I still fell in the end. I was only fortunate enough to leave behind this wisp of remnant soul, surviving to this day by clinging to the origin ice power of the Land of the Extreme North. My sole obsession has been to find a suitable successor to inherit my position as the Ice God."
Xue Tianxing listened quietly, while stormy waves surged through his heart—he had never imagined that the God Realm possessed such a cruel past. A powerful Ice God had been slaughtered simply because of his origins.
"Then why did you not choose the Snow Empress and Ice Empress? They are also supreme experts of Extreme Ice."
Xue Tianxing could not help asking.
"They cannot."
Bing Xuan shook his head and said with certainty:
"The talents of the Snow Empress and Ice Empress are beyond question, and their command of Extreme Ice has reached the pinnacle. But they are Spirit Beasts in the end.
"After the Dragon God War, the God Realm became extremely wary of beings born as Spirit Beasts. Even if they assumed human form and inherited Divine Seats, they would never be accepted by the God Realm. They might even repeat my tragedy.
"I cannot gamble my inheritance on that."
Xue Tianxing nodded, then pressed on:
"So you chose me—a human with an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul?"
"If you merely possessed Ultimate Ice, I would not have chosen you."
Bing Xuan smiled faintly. His gaze settled on Xue Tianxing with a measure of approval as he continued:
"Over the past hundreds of thousands of years, there have been human Soul Masters with Ultimate Ice Martial Souls, but they all lacked the most crucial element—evolution."
The Ice God paused, emphasizing his next words:
"You should already have felt it. Your Ultimate Ice is undergoing a transformation. Though it has not completely taken shape, it has already surpassed the scope of ordinary Ultimate Ice.
"Only after researching in the God Realm for many years did I understand that an Ultimate Spirit may appear to be the endpoint, but it is actually only the beginning—if one wishes to break through the barrier from a First-level Deity to a God King, Ultimate Ice must undergo a second evolution and touch the Origin of Law.
"And you have happened to set foot upon the path I failed to complete in those days."
"Touch the Origin of Law?"
Xue Tianxing's heart lurched. An unbelievable thought took shape in his mind, and he continued speaking to the Ice God:
"You mean that as long as my ice power completes its evolution, after inheriting the Ice God's Divine Seat in the future, I may be able to directly challenge the realm of God King?"
Bing Xuan nodded, expectation flashing through his eyes:
"That is right. I remained stuck at the peak of a First-level Deity for hundreds of thousands of years because I could not complete the evolution of ultimate power.
"But from the very beginning, you have embarked on the correct path.
"As long as you can inherit my legacy, your future achievements will surely far surpass mine from those days. You may even become a new Ice and Snow God King!"
Xue Tianxing's breathing immediately quickened, and blazing light burned in his eyes—becoming a God King was an honor even greater than becoming a First-level Deity. It meant truly standing at the peak of the Douluo Continent and even the God Realm!
Most importantly, only by becoming a God King would he possess the strength to fight Tang San, who would become the Shura God King in the future.
Before you continue