Platform of Deification -- The Snow Empress's Demise

Extreme North, deep within the Core Zone.

Inside a hidden ice cave sealed by ten thousand years of frost.

A breathtakingly beautiful woman sat cross-legged, radiating a bone-chilling cold that made one's heart tremble.

She had long, snow-white hair, and her eyes were like the purest ice crystals. But at this moment, those eyes were filled with determination and struggle.

She was Snow Empress, ruler of the Extreme North, a Super Fierce Beast with seventy thousand years of cultivation.

Yet now, she felt an unprecedented helplessness.

The blade hanging over her head—the one called the Seventy Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation—could fall at any moment.

She knew full well that in her current state, trying to withstand it head-on meant certain death.

Her only chance at survival lay before her: the Hundred Thousand Year Snow Lotus, exuding a strange fragrance.

Transform and restart her cultivation.

It was a gamble.

Win, and the sky was the limit. Lose, and she would fall into eternal damnation, with hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation reduced to nothing.

"I have no choice."

Snow Empress closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed the Snow Lotus.

Terrifying energy erupted inside her body instantly. Her form began to grow ethereal, and her aura plummeted to rock bottom.

This was the most critical step in restarting her cultivation—and her weakest moment.

Just then.

Hum—!

In the once-silent ice cave, the space suddenly rippled with an eerie distortion.

Then, a black figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was a human in a gray soul-guided robe, his face sinister, his eyes blazing with undisguised greed and fervor.

In his hands, he held a strangely shaped metal platform that emitted a bizarre, sucking force.

A Rank Nine Soul Tool—the Platform of Deification!

"Jie Jie Jie..."

"Old Man didn't expect to be this lucky, actually running into a legendary soul beast restarting its cultivation."

The man let out a hair-raising, eerie laugh, his gaze locked onto Snow Empress, who was in the critical moment of transformation.

"I originally just came to catch a ten-thousand-year soul beast for experiments. Never thought I'd stumble upon such a prize!"

"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast Embryo... If I bring this back, whether I extract its rings, bones, or use it for research, my name will echo throughout the entire Sun Moon Empire!"

Taking advantage of her crisis.

A classic act of a despicable coward.

"Despicable human!"

Snow Empress's eyes snapped open, shock and fury mingling.

She tried to resist, forcibly summoning the Extreme Ice within her, attempting to freeze this intruder into an ice sculpture.

Boom—!

Terrifying cold erupted instantly, as if the very space around them had frozen solid.

But the human was unfazed. The Platform of Deification in his hands suddenly blazed with blinding white light.

Countless complex runes flickered. A horrifying suction force, specifically designed to target a soul beast's very essence, materialized out of thin air. It instantly neutralized Snow Empress's attack and locked onto her true form.

"Useless. Stop struggling."

The human laughed triumphantly. "This Platform of Deification is a Rank Nine Soul Tool, made specifically to counter your kind!"

"Come on in, obediently!"

Under the Platform's suppression, Snow Empress, in her weakened state, couldn't fight back. Her body was pulled uncontrollably toward the metal platform.

Despair surged like a tidal wave.

Was all her cultivation from this life going to be destroyed at the hands of this ant?

To become a human's experiment—or even a plaything?

No!

She was the Queen of the Extreme North. Even if she died, she'd take someone down with her!

"Want to capture me? Dream on!!"

A flash of madness lit up Snow Empress's eyes. Her very essence began to burn violently.

If she couldn't live, then they'd die together!

Boom—!

A spiritual wave, carrying boundless grief and despair, spread instantly across a thousand li through the wind and snow of the Extreme North.

It was her final cry, born from burning her very life.

Just as her consciousness began to blur, on the verge of being devoured entirely by the Platform of Deification.

She sensed it.

A strange spiritual fluctuation.

Not far away.

Though not the most overwhelming in magnitude, its level was extremely high, and it carried a... damnably alluring aura.

Like a lighthouse in the darkness.

No choice.

Better to try anything than nothing.

With the last of her strength, Snow Empress locked her coordinates and a plea for help onto that direction.

"Save... me..."

At the same time, on the Extreme North Icefield.

Gu Yuejin was leading Huo Yuhao through the wind and snow.

Suddenly, a golden light blazed from Huo Yuhao's brow, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness jolted violently, as if struck by lightning.

"Yuhao! Gu Yue! I felt it!"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice was sharp and urgent. "It's Snow Empress! She's calling for help! And her aura is a complete mess—like she's burning her very core!"

"Right ahead! Less than ten li away!"

Hearing this, Gu Yuejin stopped, lifting his gaze to the raging blizzard in the distance.

The playful curve at the corner of his mouth slowly widened.

"Looks like our luck is holding."

"Someone else made the first move for us."

This kind of script—no need to exert himself in capturing, just reaping the spoils—was his favorite.

Wasn't the so-called "dog-eat-dog" the required course of a villain?

"Let's go."

Gu Yuejin grabbed Huo Yuhao in one hand, the Blue Silver Emperor beneath his feet surging with power, and shot forward like a streak of light, racing toward the coordinates.

Fifty li passed in an instant.

The scene was a mess.

At the center of the blizzard, the Rank 9 Soul Master was manically controlling the Platform of Deification in his hands.

"Seal! Seal it for me!"

Watching the beautiful yet ethereal figure inside the Platform, who was on the verge of giving up resistance, the Soul Master's face crumpled into a grin as his wrinkles pressed together.

Success!

It was almost there!

This was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast Embryo!

If this deal went through, he would be the undisputed number one Soul Master of the Sun Moon Empire. Even the Hall Master of Mingde Hall would have to kiss his boots!

But he didn't know that the true hunter was already standing behind him.

"Rank 9 Soul Master?"

A voice, tinged with mockery, rang out abruptly through the wind and snow.

The Soul Master's body stiffened, his movements slowing by half a beat.

He hadn't sensed anyone approaching at all!

Turning around, he saw a young man in black standing on a nearby ice rock, looking down at him from above.

"Not a bad tool, saved me a lot of trouble."

Gu Yuejin's gaze swept over the Platform of Deification, and he nodded in satisfaction. "Nicely packaged. I like it."

"It's mine now."

No pointless words.

He didn't even give the other party a chance to ask, "Who goes there?"

"Yuhao, stay back. Don't get blood on you."

Casually tossing Huo Yuhao to a safe spot nearby, Gu Yuejin took a step forward.

Boom--!

A terrifying aura erupted like a volcano, instantly scattering the wind and snow across the sky.

Beneath his feet, seven soul rings slowly rose.

Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

The configuration of the first six soul rings alone was enough to chill the blood of any ordinary Soul Master.

Yet the moment the seventh soul ring flared to life, the Rank 9 Soul Master's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

That eerie, blood-red glow stood out starkly against the white snowfield.

"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!"