Teacher, Hold On! Let Me Negotiate!

Old Medicine had no idea what Lin Xiao was thinking.

His gaze fell on the ice-blue scorpions surrounding them. With a slight lift of his hand, an overwhelming pressure descended from the heavens, as though a god had come down to earth.

Boom!

One move. Just one move!

Old Medicine merely raised his hand and lowered it again, and whole swaths of ice-blue scorpions turned into Soul Rings in that instant.

The once snow-white landscape was now awash in yellow, with streaks of purple scattered through it.

At the sight, the ten-thousand-year-old ice-blue scorpion fled in a flash, moving at a speed that could only be called blinding.

Never in its entire scorpion life had it run so fast.

Lying on the ground, Lin Xiao saw nothing but yellow all around him. Clearly, his teacher had made his move.

Although he had not seen how his teacher had done it, he imagined it must have been incredibly powerful.

"Teacher, how are you so strong?!"

Lin Xiao sighed, wondering when he would ever reach his teacher's level.

"Old Medicine, your soul power is quite impressive."

Electrolux had seen it clearly. Old Medicine had used soul power to kill those scorpions directly, silently and effortlessly.

Their deaths had looked perfectly natural.

"Heh, you're no slouch yourself."

Old Medicine smiled faintly, then unleashed his terrifying power to gather all the surrounding Soul Rings into the ring.

Boom, boom, boom!

Before Old Medicine could leave, the ground began to shake.

Lin Xiao froze, then struggled to his feet as the snow on the mountain began to loosen.

"Xiao Xiaozi, swallow that pill of yours. Save enough strength to run."

Old Medicine glanced at how quickly the snow was collapsing and hurriedly warned him.

With difficulty, Lin Xiao swallowed the pill he had refined himself. It was a low-grade recovery pill, a little bitter and rather unpleasant.

Still, it was a pill. The instant it reached his stomach, thirty percent of Lin Xiao's soul power returned.

Circulating his soul power, Lin Xiao immediately took off running.

"To your left! There's a cave where you can take shelter."

Following Old Medicine's directions, Lin Xiao charged toward the cave.

In the blink of an eye, the avalanche thundered down, sweeping across the land.

Once inside the cave, Lin Xiao let out a long breath of relief and leaned against the wall to rest.

"Teacher, that really was dangerous."

Lin Xiao was still shaken. He could never let himself get so carried away again. Had he refined his pills in this cave from the start, perhaps none of that would have happened.

"Heh, that's cultivation for you. A little more caution and a little more cunning never hurt."

Old Medicine spoke from inside the ring, offering Lin Xiao guidance.

Lin Xiao nodded in wholehearted agreement. Put plainly, he lacked experience in the world and had gotten a little too full of himself.

After about seven minutes, the avalanche outside finally subsided.

Lin Xiao had recovered somewhat as well. He dug through the snow blocking the cave and finally made his way out.

A frigid wind struck his face, making his body shudder involuntarily.

It seemed the Far North had grown even colder.

Boom, boom, boom.

The ground began shaking once again.

"Xiao Xiaozi, we're in serious trouble this time."

Old Medicine's voice turned unusually grave. He had not been this concerned even when facing all those scorpions earlier.

Apart from their previous encounter with the Scarlet King, this was only the second time Lin Xiao had heard Old Medicine sound like this.

"Teacher..."

Lin Xiao had barely spoken when the ground split apart. An enormous ice-blue claw tore through the earth and emerged from the abyss.

Lin Xiao stepped back twice. The next instant, an enormous ice-blue scorpion poked her head out.

"Human, you have some nerve."

"You dared slaughter my subjects!"

The ice-blue scorpion spoke in human speech, her voice deafening and brimming with fury as her eyes fixed intently on Lin Xiao.

Her deadly scorpion tail swayed back and forth before Lin Xiao.

Before this colossal creature, Lin Xiao was no more than an ant.

Lin Xiao instinctively swallowed.

The Far North. An ice-blue scorpion capable of human speech.

A name that filled him with excitement quickly surfaced in Lin Xiao's mind: the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion-the Ice Empress.

The Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North.

"Xiao Xiaozi, it looks like I'll have to sleep for over a month."

Old Medicine could already sense the Ice Empress's might. Though that terrifying cold fell short of his Bone Spirit Cold Flame, it was still far beyond what Lin Xiao could handle now.

Unless he intervened, they would have a hard time getting away.

At those words, Lin Xiao forced down his fear. "Teacher, hold on. Let me negotiate with her first."

Old Medicine furrowed his brows. "This is no time to act tough."

"Don't worry, Teacher. She should be the one I came here for."

Lin Xiao steadied himself and spoke.

Old Medicine paused, then seemed to realize something and offered no further objections.

"The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North-the Ice Empress!"

Looking into her eyes, Lin Xiao took a deep breath and spoke.

"Heh, even a level-fifteen Soul Master knows of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North."

"Human, you really do have some nerve."

Even the Ice Empress's soft words left Lin Xiao shivering from the cold.

Extreme ice. Even with all his preparations to keep warm, Lin Xiao still felt chilled.

"Ice Empress, I came here specifically to find you."

"Slaughtering your kin was never my intention. For that, I apologize."

After speaking, Lin Xiao bowed to the Ice Empress in apology, his body trembling.

It was too cold.

The Ice Empress paused, not having expected this response.

When she first arrived, she had intended to kill him outright.

But once she saw Lin Xiao, she realized his soul power was only at level fifteen. How could someone that weak have slaughtered so many of her kin?

Yet Lin Xiao did indeed carry the aura of Ice Jade Scorpions, which made the Ice Empress suspicious.

Unable to be certain, she had questioned him first.

No one who had lived so long was simple, and the Ice Empress was exceedingly cautious herself.

If Lin Xiao had no powerful Title Douluo backing him, killing him would be of no consequence.

But now that Lin Xiao had apologized outright and explained why he had come, the Ice Empress became interested.

What business could a level-fifteen Soul Master possibly have with me? Perhaps whoever is behind him wants to see me.

Could they be after my Soul Ring?

Heh, if so, then today, I, the Ice Empress, will unleash a slaughter.

Just as that thought arose, Lin Xiao's voice reached the Ice Empress's ears. "I came to help you become a god!!"

He might have been better off saying nothing. The moment he spoke, the Ice Empress burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahaha!!"

Her two enormous claws pounded the ground repeatedly. Lin Xiao felt his body lurching back and forth before he fell flat on his backside.

"You can't even withstand one blow of my claw. Human, who gave you the courage to make such shameless boasts?"

"Hahahaha!"

The Ice Empress felt as though she had heard the funniest joke in the world. A level-fifteen Soul Master says he'll help me become a god.

How hilarious.

Lin Xiao was speechless, but with the way he was now, saying something like that really did seem rather funny.

Unless he produced something to prove it, why on earth would she believe him?

"Ice Empress, as far as I know, you're about to face your four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation, aren't you?"

"Are you confident you can survive it?!!"