Sky Dream Ice Silkworm

"Tian Meng, I finally caught you. Let's see where you can run this time."

Feeling the sensation carried by the flowing water, Ice Empress felt thoroughly delighted. The grime on her body washed away with the lake water, and she left the lake. The moisture on her body evaporated under Soul Power the instant it touched the air.

"That energy coming from beneath the lake—where does it originate? Can you tell me?"

"Why not? It's something almost everyone in the Core Area knows. Everyone except your little Ye Qing has been drawing energy from him. The lake connects to the underground cavern where he's imprisoned. Are you old acquaintances?"

"Yes. I went to great lengths to find him. If he hadn't been so lucky..."

Among Spirit Beasts, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was practically the luckiest of them all. It found enormous quantities of the rare Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow, forcefully raising itself to a level the Ice Silkworm Clan could never reach. Even when facing the predators of the Extreme North, it always managed to survive desperate situations. Only after drifting into the Star Dou Great Forest did it become a living battery for the other Spirit Beasts.

Inside an underground culvert, an enormous silkworm was trapped there. Yet it did not look imprisoned in the slightest, sleeping quite peacefully. The Spirit Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest had no intention of directly Devouring it, so they took good care of it. Besides, apart from sleeping and eating, its past life had seemed to consist only of fleeing for its life, so it had somewhat accepted this way of living.

"Why is someone coming again? These guys are getting more and more outrageous." As a Mental-type Spirit Beast, its sensory range was immense. Though trapped here, it could still sense whenever a Spirit Beast approached.

"This feeling seems familiar... No, no, no, impossible. How could she possibly appear in a place like this? I must not have been resting well lately..."

"Tian Meng, so you were hiding in this place. No wonder there hasn't been a trace of you left in the Extreme North."

"A hallucination... It must be a hallucination. I never thought that I, a Mental-type Spirit Beast nearing a million years, would actually hallucinate. They must have drained too much from me. I can even hear Bingbing's voice. But this hallucination feels so real—the surroundings are even getting colder."

"A hallucination? Tian Meng, with death at your door, what Ghost nonsense are you spouting?" If there was one being Ice Empress remembered vividly, Tian Meng definitely ranked among them. Mere food had dared claim it wanted her as its mate—what a suicidal act. A scorpion tail emerged from the base of her spine, and its gleaming stinger stabbed toward Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. Yet it did not strike him, instead sending ripples through the air.

"A Soul Power barrier?"

"Hehe, Bingbing, you can't break this barrier. Someone set it up to keep me from escaping. Who knew it would have this effect? Bingbing, you've become even prettier."

"Sure enough, you're even more of a bastard than him. Such high cultivation, yet ridiculously weak. Hey, Ye Qing, you can open this thing, right? Help me break it. I'm going to kill him." The current Ice Empress had not encountered that life-or-death crisis. With sufficient energy replenishment, her core origin had not been damaged. Naturally, there was no reason for her to join forces with Tian Meng. In her eyes now, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was merely food—particularly foul-mouthed food.

As for why she asked Ye Qing, she could sense that this was not Bi Ji's Soul Power, and she had also noticed that Bi Ji was not skilled in battle at all. If even she could not break the barrier, Bi Ji naturally had no way to do so. In Ice Empress's understanding, Ye Qing, who could withstand a Heavenly Tribulation head-on, was naturally the best choice.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable. You actually called me by name. You used to call me a bastard so happily."

"Hmph. Since you've helped me several times, I'll forgive your previous behavior. Be grateful for my generosity."

"Oh? Then should I thank Lord Ice Empress?" Seeing Ice Empress's proud, tsundere expression, Ye Qing went along with her words.

"Of course. Hurry up and break this thing open for me."

"Well, while I can indeed open it, you can't kill him. The one below is relying on him to recover."

Hearing that answer, Tian Meng seemed to become much more fearless.

"Who are you? I don't think you can break the barrier Di Tian made. Bingbing, where did you find such an unreliable guy?"

"Actually, I think Di Tian and the others wouldn't mind if we beat him half to death." As he spoke, Ye Qing stretched out both hands and effortlessly tore open the Soul Power wall created by Di Tian, before Bi Ji could even stop him.

"It's fine, Bi Ji. I won't let her kill him."

"No, I meant that I could have helped you open it. Why did you have to tear it apart?" Although Di Tian had set up this wall, everyone came from time to time to draw energy. He could not possibly follow them every time, so the others naturally had a way to open it. Ye Qing had previously made it clear that he did not need one, so he could only break through it by force.

"I got impatient, sorry. This guy is too irritating. I'll replenish the missing Soul Power later. Bingbing, don't kill him—go a little easy on him."

"It's fine. Hit him hard, just leave him with one breath. At worst, I'll heal him. You're right, that mouth of his really needs a good lesson." While Ye Qing asked Ice Empress to hold back, Bi Ji instead wanted her to hit harder. It seemed she had suffered plenty of verbal harassment from him in the past as well.

"Come on, Bingbing. As long as it makes you happy, you can hit me however you want." Tian Meng, about to receive a brutal beating, was not afraid at all. Instead, he wore an excited expression, making Ye Qing think of an old saying.

"Simps never die well."

"Wait... Bingbing, you broke through four hundred thousand years?!" Though his mental power could sense the outside, the Soul Power wall cut off his perception of Soul Power, so he had not noticed the change in Ice Empress's Soul Power at all.

"Yep. Didn't expect that, did you? My power is brimming right now—perfect for using you as practice."

When Di Tian arrived, he happened to hear Tian Meng's screams. Yet those screams seemed to be mixed with pleasure?

"What is going on? You said you weren't interested back then, and now you've torn apart my Soul Power barrier with your bare hands. Isn't Bi Ji right here... Good thing my seclusion ended." Having just emerged from seclusion, Di Tian had not even exchanged a few words with the waiting Zi Ji before sensing a problem here. He rushed over in a panic, only to find that the situation was far simpler than he had imagined—and far more complicated as well.

"Sorry, this is a special situation. As for what happened, it was probably a settling-of-grudges match."

After a thorough beating, Tian Meng's spirit did not weaken at all. Instead, he became even more excited.

"After all these years, I finally got to touch Ice Empress's hand again, Bingbing. Are you happy? If you like, you can beat me up again. You won't kill me anyway, hehe."

"To make getting slapped sound so fresh and refined—only you could do that. You think I can't bring myself to kill you? You're enjoying this, are you? Just watch how I deal with you."