Friends Like This!

"I'm going too!"

At that moment, Bing Ji beside him also transformed into human form.

She had a delicate figure and a cold, stunning face, with two Green Demonic Markings on each side of her forehead, beautiful and mysterious.

Gritting her teeth, she said, "Those Evil Soul Masters under the Demon Empress slaughtered so many of my clansmen. As the chief of the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan, I must avenge them!"

Di Tian: "..."

When had he ever said he was going to destroy the Holy Spirit Cult and wipe out the Evil Soul Masters? Don't read too much into it, alright?

Before he could say anything, Xue Ling impatiently cut in.

"I'm going too!"

"No!" Bing Ji and Tai Tan objected in unison. Even if it had not been Xue Ling, but merely an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, they would have stopped her.

After all, the Holy Spirit Cult was far too powerful. Setting aside the unfathomable Demon Empress, they still had several Limit Douluos.

As fierce beasts of the Far North Land, they could rely on the Far North's favorable terrain. At the very least, Di Tian did not need to worry excessively about their safety.

Xue Ling puffed out her cheeks, her face full of indignation. Just as she was about to speak, Di Tian cut her off with a low shout.

"Stop!"

"I'm not going to wage war against the Demon Empress, nor am I going to slaughter Evil Soul Masters."

"Those Evil Soul Masters still have their value. When the day comes that they have exhausted it, someone will send them to their deaths."

Once Di Tian spoke, the three immediately quieted down considerably.

Yet, facing their suspicious gazes, he still offered one more explanation.

"Like us, the Demon Empress belongs to the Soul Beast Clan. She has also restrained the Holy Spirit Cult's Evil Soul Masters, preventing them from carrying out extermination against the soul beasts of the Far North Land."

As the leader of the Evil Soul Masters, the Demon Empress naturally needed to conceal her identity.

Given her strength, if she deliberately hid herself, even fierce beasts would find it difficult to glimpse her true form.

Thus, when Xue Ling and the other two heard that the Demon Empress was a soul beast, all of them were utterly astonished.

Di Tian said nothing more. He directly grabbed Tai Tan by the shoulder, and with a blur of their bodies, the two vanished from the Far North Core Circle.

Xue Ling shot forward in a single step, intending to follow them, but Bing Ji flashed in front of her and blocked her path.

"Big Sister Bing Ji!"

Faced with her tearful plea, Bing Ji remained unmoved, her gaze exceptionally resolute.

Even if they were not going into battle, Bing Ji could not allow Xue Ling to put herself in danger.

In her eyes, Xue Ling's talent surpassed even that of Snow Empress in her prime. She was the last hope of the entire Far North Land.

Letting Snow Empress secretly run out before due to negligence had already been a grave mistake. She absolutely could not make the same mistake twice.

Thinking of this, she suddenly asked, "When you secretly left the Far North Core Circle to undergo the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast heavenly tribulation, you didn't encounter any danger, did you?"

Xue Ling, whose eyes had been brimming with tears moments ago, immediately reined in her emotions. Her sky-blue eyes darted about as she stammered, "N-No, of course not!"

"Really?"

"O-Of course! I even ran into Beast God Di Tian. What danger could there have been?"

"I suppose so." Bing Ji nodded thoughtfully, trusting not Xue Ling, but Di Tian's strength.

Just as Xue Ling breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have escaped another lecture from Bing Ji, Di Tian's voice drifted over from afar.

"She encountered Evil Soul Masters and nearly died. Bing Ji, keep an eye on her."

The moment his voice fell, Xue Ling's face crumpled, and her soft, lovely cheeks stiffened awkwardly.

Meeting Bing Ji's stern, elder-like gaze, she immediately lowered her head.

She silently lamented, Friends like this!

Di Tian was such a terrible friend. She had invited him to her home, yet he actually tattled on her to the adults! Di Tian, who had already left the Far North Core Circle far behind, withdrew his thoughts and said to Tai Tan, "It's one thing for Bing Ji and the others to treat Xue Ling as Snow Empress, viewing her as hope and revering her like a deity."

"But you, Tai Tan, were one of the Far North Three Kings alongside Snow Empress. You secretly loved her for years, and she beat you up... had intimate contact with you. Surely you can tell the difference between Snow Empress and Xue Ling, right?"

Tai Tan paid no mind to the strange undertone in Di Tian's words, but the current Far North Overlord answered in an especially low voice.

"How could I not know? But there's no other way. The soul beasts of the Far North Land have been suppressed too severely!"

"The human legions sealing off the Far North Land stopped the beast tide I launched without any effort."

"After that, the Holy Spirit Cult's Evil Soul Masters compressed our living space once more, leaving us with only this corner of the Far North Core Circle."

"The soul beasts of the Far North Land need hope and something to cling to, or they will fall completely into despair."

"Ha." Tai Tan laughed bitterly at himself, then continued.

"Not to mention them—even I sometimes need to numb myself and believe that the weak Xue Ling is Snow Empress, just so I won't be crushed by these suffocating circumstances."

"That assessment is far too one-sided." Di Tian shook his head, offering a different judgment.

"Xue Ling may not be strong right now, but when it comes to her pure-hearted desire to revive the Soul Beast Clan, she surpasses even Snow Empress back then."

"I'm not merely trying to comfort you. Xue Ling is an uncut jade. Once she is tempered by blade and battle, shedding her immaturity and naivety, she will become an outstanding leader."

Tai Tan stared blankly at Di Tian. It was difficult for him to imagine that a newly advanced Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could receive such high praise from Beast God Di Tian.

Suppressing his emotions and setting aside Xue Ling's matter for the time being, he began asking Di Tian why he wished to find the Demon Empress.

"Since the Holy Spirit Cult's leader is a soul beast, it makes sense why they have trapped us within the Far North Core Circle all these years without raising or hunting us."

"Beast God, are you seeking out the Demon Empress because you value her powerful cultivation and wish to recruit her?"

"Yes."

Receiving that confirmation, Tai Tan grew rather excited.

"Before Snow Empress ascended to the God Realm with Huo Yuhao, she told me that the master of our Soul Beast Clan was slumbering in the Lake of Life at the core of the Star Dou Great Forest."

"Our master has awakened? Are we going to strike back against humanity?"

Di Tian lowered his head and answered in a deep voice, "The God Realm has disappeared. This is our Last Chance. For the Soul Beast Clan, and for our own salvation, we must fight back."

"Of course, not yet. We still need time to prepare."

Though Di Tian spoke with absolute certainty, he had no confidence at all deep down. He himself might even fall during the preparations.

But he had no choice. As Tai Tan had said, the Soul Beast Clan's current circumstances were far too stifling. They needed hope and something to cling to.

The higher one stood, the more clearly one could feel this.

The master all beasts had eagerly awaited, the master all beasts regarded as their savior, had already gone out to deliver herself.

He was now the highest-ranking member of the Soul Beast Clan. If even he, the Beast God, became completely devoid of confidence, it would be a devastating blow to the Soul Beast Clan.

Hearing him speak this way, Tai Tan could only suppress his desire to fight and lead Di Tian to the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters as quickly as possible.

To be fair, the Holy Spirit Cult's lair was hidden extremely well and exceptionally difficult to find. They had nearly circled the entire Far North Land before reaching its northernmost edge, beside the Ice Sea.