Fortune of the Extreme North

The Fortune of the Extreme North

"Elder Yi." Huo Yuhao whispered.

The astonishing pressure suddenly dissipated, and Chi Qiu immediately walked to Huo Yuhao's side, a hint of tension appearing between her beautiful brows.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Someone in my Sea of Consciousness did something for me." Huo Yuhao turned around; there was little he could hide from Chi Qiu.

"This aura of death is..."

"Perhaps it is that person's ability."

Chi Qiu nodded, not asking further. "Can we still set off for the Extreme North on time?"

"Of course." Huo Yuhao picked up his backpack from the ground and slung it over his shoulder with a flick of his arm. Although he still looked a bit exhausted, perhaps due to the excessive consumption of his mental power, he seemed to have just handled a major event, and his mood had improved compared to when he first left Shrek Academy.

"We can leave now. We'll pass through the Heaven Dou Empire and buy some warm clothing when we reach the northern border city."

Because they were not in a hurry, the two did not rush their journey. The trip required a fair amount of money, so Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu bought grilled fish as they traveled to earn some expenses, occasionally catching a ride with merchant caravans.

When passing near the Earth Dragon Sect, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm suggested that there seemed to be some treasure underground. However, the experts of the Earth Dragon Sect were not people Huo Yuhao could afford to provoke right now, so he simply marked it on his map to search for treasure later.

They also saw several beautiful landscapes. Chi Qiu's interest in the human world grew day by day. Whenever she encountered something she didn't recognize, she assumed Huo Yuhao could enlighten her, but Huo Yuhao would just look at her with a blank expression.

When it came to understanding the human world, both of them were still young.

Finally, after a long and arduous journey, they stepped onto the land of the northern country.

The closer they got to the north, the sparser the population became. Several guide teams that specialized in leading soul masters into the Extreme North had closed their doors to business these past few days, claiming that a terrifying blizzard had erupted in the Extreme North recently, making it unsuitable for soul masters to hunt for soul rings.

Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu each bought a thick cotton coat and a pair of boots suitable for walking in the snow.

If Huo Yuhao were to head to the core circle of the Extreme North alone, these items would clearly lose their effectiveness quickly; but with Chi Qiu's Ultimate Fire attribute, these things found their purpose.

With limited soul power, Chi Qiu could only change their surrounding environment from extreme cold to ordinary cold, at which point wearing a coat provided some warmth.

Even so, this adventure remained extremely difficult. Huo Yuhao cautiously kept his Spiritual Detection Sharing active the entire time, intentionally controlling the range into a fan shape; linear detection was too easily discovered by experts, and circular range detection consumed too much soul power.

The food they brought had frozen solid. The two huddled in a snow cave, and as Huo Yuhao opened his mouth to bite into the bread that had frozen into an ice block, Chi Qiu hurriedly snatched it from his hand and softened it with fire.

At this moment, the voice of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm echoed in Huo Yuhao's mind: "Let's do it here."

Huo Yuhao looked up and said to Chi Qiu, "Qiu'er, Tian Meng will speak with you next."

Chi Qiu nodded in agreement.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes. The vertical eye pattern on his forehead gradually appeared, and then shot out a stream of light. This stream of light landed on the snow, initially like a shapeless liquid, but soon constructed a human figure on the ground, appearing as a young and handsome man. He waved at Chi Qiu to greet her, and his first words shattered the atmosphere:

"Haha, it's been so long since Brother has felt this kind of freedom!"

"It has been a long time. Ever since I had memories, you were locked up in the Star Dou Great Forest," Chi Qiu said.

"Aiyo, don't bring up painful memories." Sky Dream Ice Silkworm laughed awkwardly and quickly got to the point, "Have you thought about how to talk to Bingbing?"

"Mm." Chi Qiu nodded, ignoring Tian Meng's mushy nickname for the Ice Empress.

"Alright then, follow me to the surface. Yuhao, you must hold on. If you can't hold on, Brother won't be able to either."

"Go ahead, Brother Sky Dream!" Huo Yuhao lifted his chin, "Anyway, you've already dragged me here; even if I can't hold on, I have to."

The cold wind was biting.

Just as Tian Meng's mushy call faded, a rich emerald color churned in the distant sky. Clearly, Tian Meng's words had a great effect, but it was definitely not out of being moved; it was highly likely out of anger.

"Ice Empress." Chi Qiu called out. Following this, the Eye of Destiny on her forehead opened completely, and the power of destiny rolled out from her side. The emerald green in the distance trembled at this aura; if an uninformed person saw this, they would surely feel that the world had changed and a disaster was about to descend.

"Emperor Lucky Beast?" The Ice Empress's cold, clear voice carried a hint of shock. Then, the chill deepened, and a cold, beautiful figure appeared before them.

It was a beautiful, jade-green scorpion. A strange, diamond-like hexagonal protrusion covered her delicate and powerful legs and front claws.

Its tail was like segments of finely carved jade connected together naturally, while the tail hook was pure silver like the sky of the Extreme North, shimmering with diamond-like fragments of color.

"How could the Emperor Lucky Beast suddenly come here?" She looked coldly in the direction of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Chi Qiu, but her voice still held a hint of respect. "Are you a phantom forged by that bastard Tian Meng? Or did he give you some benefit?"

"Bingbing, am I that kind of silkworm in your eyes?" Tian Meng was just about to speak with grievance when he was glared back by the Ice Empress's beautiful golden eyes.

"That is not the case," Chi Qiu said. "I am indeed the true form of the Lucky Beast. I had no intention of coming to the Extreme North, but I discovered that the fortune here has changed."

After saying this, the Eye of Destiny on her forehead shone brightly again. This time, the Ice Empress felt it truly—it was pure power of destiny, with no possibility of it being fake.

"What is wrong with the fortune of the Extreme North?" She maintained her cold attitude, but it had softened significantly compared to the beginning.

"If I am not mistaken," Chi Qiu pointed to the Eye of Destiny, "the Snow Empress is no longer here."

As soon as these words were spoken, the Ice Empress's expression changed drastically, and even Tian Meng was shocked. Huo Yuhao, who was maintaining Spiritual Detection Sharing underground, was equally surprised.

The leader of the Three Great Kings of the Extreme North, whom Tian Meng had touted all the way here—the Snow Empress—was gone?

And Chi Qiu continued: "And just as Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said, you are also approaching your 400,000-year tribulation. The fortune of the Extreme North has dropped to freezing point. Ice Empress, you are destined not to survive this tribulation."

At this point, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had looked away; he was truly heartbroken.

"Lucky Beast, did Tian Meng bring you here to pronounce a death sentence on the northern lands?"

The Ice Empress had quickly calmed down from her shock. At this moment, her eyes held a resolute determination to face her fate.

"That's not it either." Chi Qiu shook her head. "The person who might change your destiny is actually right beneath your feet. Yuhao, you can come out now."

Following that, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm made his appearance, once again explaining to Ice Empress the process of becoming a sentient soul ring. With Lucky Beast presiding over the situation, there was no need to use a molted shell to trap Ice Empress; they had time to discuss the details while moving toward the outer perimeter of the Far North.

"What are your odds?" By the end of the discussion, Ice Empress had already made her decision.

"With the fortune of Lucky Beast on our side, ninety-nine percent!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm patted his chest with an air of certainty, though his arm passed straight through his body; he had nearly forgotten that he was still in a spiritual form.

"Then stop the nonsense and begin." Ice Empress then turned to Huo Yuhao to go over the final details with him once more.

The subsequent process of merging with Ice Empress proceeded just as it had in the previous timeline, so it will not be recounted here.

On the journey back, Huo Yuhao suddenly nudged Chi Qiu.

"Ice Empress has a question she wants to ask you," he said.

"Please."

"About Snow Empress..."

"Snow Empress has not truly fallen," Chi Qiu said. "In my perception, she likely just transformed into another state, and then at some point, her aura suddenly became very weak. However, her destiny has not yet dissipated. If there is an opportunity in the future to encounter Snow Empress and save her, I fear it will have to rely on you, Yuhao, as you possess the Ice Empress martial soul."

Huo Yuhao immediately closed his eyes and fell silent. Inside his Sea of Consciousness, Ice Empress was exceptionally agitated, demanding that Huo Yuhao save Snow Empress in the future.

"I will," Huo Yuhao said. "I don't like to make promises I might not be able to keep, but since Brother Sky Dream and you both trust me so much, I must give it my all. At the very least, I cannot let down everything you have brought me."

With the Spirit Eye martial soul bestowed by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and a second martial soul of the Ultimate Ice from the Ice Empress Scorpion, Huo Yuhao was likely the only person in this world qualified to speak of rescuing Snow Empress.

"Before that, I have to consider more immediate matters." Huo Yuhao sighed. "Time... at this point in time, Shrek Academy is probably about to expel both of us, right?"

Although they had left the academy early, their travel speed on the way back had not been fast. Huo Yuhao did not deny that he had indeed entertained the thought of leaving Shrek behind for good.

However, he intended to go to the familiar place where he had lived for half a year to quietly say goodbye.

The day he and Chi Qiu returned to Shrek City, it was the start of the autumn semester. A continuous autumn rain was falling, and the roads were covered in puddles.

He walked up to the gates of Shrek Academy. The opening day had already passed, the academy gates were tightly shut, and the guard was smoking.

Standing at the entrance was someone of a similar age to them. A head of spiky powder-blue hair had been beaten down by the rain, sticking in patches to his face and neck. The person was carrying a stuffed luggage bag, with a Shrek uniform draped over his arm, the fabric completely soaked through.

Huo Yuhao was hesitant to recognize him, but he had only ever seen one person with that hair color.

"...Wang Dong?"