Ice Empress and the Titan Snow Demon King

The Far North.

The biting cold wind howled, and the world was blanketed in white. Everywhere they looked, there was nothing but ice and snow.

Five people walked through the frozen wilderness.

"Even with the Bloodline Furnace method, these heating Soul Tools, and such thick clothing, the bone-piercing chill still lingered."

Mu Yuan raised his head toward the distant horizon. It was a boundless expanse of white.

"The cold of the Far North is already close to a kind of willpower."

Temperature itself had instead become secondary.

Much like Sword Intent or Dragon Might, it was a coldness that transcended physical meaning.

Yu Gu sighed emotionally.

To feel more comfortable in the Far North, beyond making preparations for warmth, one needed even more to improve one's resistance to the willpower of heaven and earth.

As one's cultivation rose, one's ability to withstand the cold of heaven and earth would noticeably improve.

"There's no helping it. Our targets only exist in the depths of the Far North." Long Aotian gave a bitter smile.

They had already vaguely crossed into the range of the Far North's Core Ring.

That was precisely why they were having this conversation.

Before setting out, they had discussed the objectives of this journey.

Mu Yuan's goal was simple: a Titan Snow Demon.

Yes, he wanted to absorb the Soul Ring of a Titan Snow Demon, and Yu Gu's expression merely grew somewhat solemn.

Although Titan Snow Demons were powerful, they were still within Yu Gu's ability to handle.

Even if the Titan Snow Demon King descended, he would not fear it.

Once Mu Yuan had set his sights on a Titan Snow Demon, Long Aotian and the others also raised their standards.

They had come all the way to the Core Ring. If they did not take the opportunity to hunt the exceptional Soul Rings found only there, then they truly would have come for nothing.

Thus, although their group had already ventured deep into the Far North's Core Ring, none of the four had yet obtained a Soul Ring.

"Shh. Don't make a sound. Something big is coming." Yu Gu suddenly spoke.

Mu Yuan and the other four fell silent at once.

Following Yu Gu's gaze, they saw a massive figure slowly reveal itself beyond the distant horizon.

It was a Soul Beast as towering as a mountain.

A Titan Snow Demon!

Titan Snow Demons stood over ten meters tall from birth. Adults were generally over fifty meters tall, while the Titan Snow Demon King exceeded a hundred meters!

Such an enormous body contained explosive power as well.

With the dual ultimate attributes of strength and ice, the damage it could unleash was terrifying.

More importantly, this race was numerous. Compared to the scarce Ice Jade Scorpions, whose population did not even reach three digits, there were several hundred Titan Snow Demons.

In terms of racial strength, the Titan Snow Demons were undoubtedly the foremost force in the Far North.

Unfortunately, under the absolute suppression of Ice Empress and Snow Empress, the Far North's Core Zone would never belong to the Titan Snow Demons.

"It's nearly sixty meters tall. This Titan Snow Demon's cultivation is probably close to twenty thousand years."

Yu Gu spoke softly as he turned his gaze toward Mu Yuan.

The meaning was clear: should they try?

Mu Yuan nodded without hesitation.

Even for a fiftieth-rank Soul Master, the upper limit for absorbing a Soul Ring was only around twelve thousand years.

Mu Yuan was only obtaining his Fourth Soul Ring, yet he was challenging a Soul Ring close to twenty thousand years old. It seemed utterly arrogant and reckless.

And this was the Soul Ring of a Titan Snow Demon.

Yu Gu hesitated for a moment but did not voice an opinion.

He believed Mu Yuan would not act without reason.

With the many Heavenly Treasures in the sect, Mu Yuan's physical constitution had indeed far surpassed that of an ordinary fiftieth-rank Soul Master.

A twenty-thousand-year Soul Ring was not impossible to attempt.

As for the source of the Soul Ring, it did not actually affect its essence. It merely made the absorption process a tiny bit more painful.

Absorbing beyond one's level already meant enduring inhuman agony, much less a Soul Ring produced by such a super Soul Beast.

Mu Yuan's heart was utterly calm.

He had confidence in himself.

"As long as I don't explode the instant I absorb it, I can endure it."

That was the confidence granted by fusing with the Blade of Life.

During the fusion process, even if the Soul Ring inflicted destructive impacts upon his meridians, so long as he held on, the vast life force supplied by the Blade of Life would restore all his injuries.

As long as he endured the pain and delayed long enough, he could gradually strengthen himself until he was finally able to withstand the Soul Ring.

Theoretically, that was how it worked.

As for willpower...

If he could not endure it and died, then he deserved it.

Mu Yuan's gaze gradually hardened as he stared at the terrifying beast that resembled a mountain.

Before Yu Gu could make a move, a shocking change occurred.

After advancing for some distance, the Titan Snow Demon threw back its head and roared. It rose upright and frantically pounded its chest with both fists, thunderous booms reverberating through heaven and earth.

Terrifying Soul Power fluctuations swept in every direction, while endless snowstorms erupted around it like sheets of ice blades.

"Were we discovered?"

As Yu Gu wondered, an incomparably icy voice echoed through heaven and earth.

"Get lost!"

The voice carried boundless killing intent. The moment it rang out, the already bone-chilling world seemed to drop several more degrees.

This was—

"Ice Empress?"

Yu Gu cried out inwardly.

With his eyes, he signaled for Mu Yuan and the other four to restrain their Soul Power fluctuations.

Ice Empress was actually here?

No, nearby.

She was still some distance away. It was simply that the commotion caused by this Titan Snow Demon had been too great and disturbed Ice Empress.

No.

Mu Yuan made a guess in his heart. This Titan Snow Demon might have done it deliberately.

"Tian Meng knows that Ice Empress is about to face the Heavenly Tribulation. The Titan Snow Demon King may not necessarily be unaware!"

In the original story, Huo Yuhao encountering the Titan Snow Demon King in the Far North might not have been a coincidence.

"The Titan Snow Demon Clan, or rather, the Titan Snow Demon King, is looking for Ice Empress. He wants to confirm when she will undergo the Heavenly Tribulation and whether she has any chance of surviving it."

The Titan Snow Demon Clan was powerful enough to qualify as the ruler of the Far North.

However, an Ice Empress had emerged from the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan. Her cultivation surpassed the Titan Snow Demon King by far, forcing the Titan Snow Demon Clan to remain beneath the Ice Jade Scorpions.

Everyone knew that Snow Empress had no clan, so the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan was the Titan Snow Demon Clan's greatest obstacle.

If Ice Empress were gone, nothing would stand in the way of the Titan Snow Demon Clan becoming the ruler of the Far North.

Once they became rulers, all the resources of the Far North's Core Ring would belong to the Titan Snow Demon King, becoming nourishment for his coming Heavenly Tribulation.

That was right. The Three Great Kings of the Far North were all now facing the threat of Heavenly Tribulation.

Snow Empress went without saying. Her cultivation was the highest, and her chances of surviving a tribulation were the lowest.

Ice Empress had nearly reached the upper limit of her race. If she faced the tribulation, she would certainly die.

As for the Titan Snow Demon King, his tribulation would be the weakest and easiest to survive. However, he had not yet sufficiently developed his own bloodline, so he lacked confidence.

Compared to Ice Empress, his advantage was that he had more time remaining.

Ice Empress would undergo the tribulation before him, leaving him time to improve.

This chain of speculation rapidly surfaced in Mu Yuan's mind.

Of course, he was not certain.

But it could not be denied that the possibility was extremely high.

As he pondered, Ice Empress made her move.

She held nothing back from the very start.

A phantom appeared between heaven and earth. It was entirely jade-green, carrying a crystalline quality as terrifying pressure swept outward in all directions.

The instant the phantom appeared, the surrounding space seemed to freeze.