If this were the Core Circle of the Far North, the creatures living there would generally be powerful Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old, long since awakened to intelligence.
Never mind whether he could defeat them—if he encountered one and directly revealed the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul, then relying on the Heavenly Snow Woman's taboo-like imperial aura in the Far North, those ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts would definitely be so frightened that they would fall to their knees and tremble.
In fact, if he showed even the slightest intention, those highly intelligent Soul Beasts might even "voluntarily" offer up all their heavenly treasures just to curry favor with the Ruler of the Far North.
Only when they were truly driven into a corner and their lives were under severe threat would they possibly make a desperate final struggle out of instinct.
In the Core Circle, Xue Bingchen was a young prince who could walk wherever he pleased.
But out here on the outskirts of the Far North, there were not so many rules!
The low-level Soul Beasts here had no understanding of royal bloodlines or taboo auras.
In their simple minds, there was only a distinction between "prey" and "natural enemies."
And humans, in the Far North, were often their favorite "rations"!
Here, without the protection of the Snow Empress and Ice Empress, he could rely only on the sword in his own hand!
"Phew—"
Xue Bingchen slowly exhaled a breath of white mist. There was not the slightest fear in his eyes; instead, they burned with excitement.
"Since this is training, then let's do it for real!"
With a thought, the twentieth-rank Soul Power within his body erupted.
"Buzz!"
The aura of Ultimate Ice instantly spread through the area.
Xue Bingchen slowly raised his right hand. The ice elements within the surrounding wind and snow seemed to have received some supreme summons, wildly gathering in his palm.
In the blink of an eye, an ice sword roughly three feet long, crystal-clear throughout and radiating an extremely chilling sword aura, condensed in his hand!
Faintly, a trace of the Emperor Sword's true intent flowed along the blade—extremely weak, yet sharp to the utmost degree!
Xue Bingchen gripped the ice sword, feeling the surging power within him.
The raging blizzard that could instantly freeze an ordinary person stiff felt like a gentle caress against his body, unable to hinder him in the slightest.
"Whoosh!"
The next second, Xue Bingchen's small figure shot into the air. Like an agile yet dangerous Polar Snow Leopard, he leaped lightly and nimbly across the boundless Far North Snow Plains, turning into a white afterimage as he plunged headlong into the depths of the storm!
The King of the Far North's first solo hunt had officially begun!
High above the sky, fierce winds howled.
Two breathtaking figures concealed themselves amid the endless snowstorm, gazing down like gods upon the vast outer reaches of the Far North.
"Xue'er, are we really going to let Little Chen run around like a headless fly and search for a suitable Soul Beast by himself?"
Ice Empress's large emerald eyes were filled with heartache as she helplessly stamped her little foot in the air.
"This Outer Circle is full of nothing but mangy hundred-year and thousand-year scraps. What Soul Beast here could possibly be worthy of our Little Chen?"
With Ice Empress's simple and blunt ferocious-beast way of thinking, why should their young master need to personally hunt a Soul Ring?
They could just head into the Core Circle, capture a Soul Beast with a top-tier bloodline that was nearing the end of its lifespan, slap it half to death, and toss it to Little Chen for absorption.
That was called "reasonable use of resources"!
But unfortunately, she could not outargue the Snow Empress.
In the Far North, the Snow Empress's words were absolute iron law. Once she spoke, there was no changing it.
No Soul Beast dared to oppose what she decided, nor could anyone persuade her otherwise.
Oh, no, there was one exception now—that little ancestor currently racing across the snowfield below.
Seeing Ice Empress's fiercely protective expression, a gentle smile appeared on the Snow Empress's exquisite face.
She extended her slender jade hand and lightly stroked Ice Empress's emerald hair as it fluttered in the wind, smiling softly.
"Bing'er, take a look at this."
As she spoke, the Snow Empress slowly opened her delicate hand.
"Buzz—"
Amid a soft ice-blue glow, a crystal-clear orb floated above the Snow Empress's palm.
Within that crystal orb was sealed a strange Soul Beast, snow-white all over and as pure and flawless as an elf, currently immersed in deep slumber!
"This is... a Snow Sprite?!"
Ice Empress froze for a moment. Sensing that pure aura of ice and snow, she instantly understood.
"Its cultivation... four thousand five hundred years! Xue'er, so you had already chosen a suitable second Soul Ring for Little Chen!"
A Snow Sprite was also an ice-element life-form no weaker than a Polar Ice Spirit. At four thousand five hundred years, it would not only perfectly suit the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul, but also sat right at the limit of what Xue Bingchen's current body could bear!
Ice Empress huffed angrily, placing both hands on her hips.
"You're really full of tricks. You even kept it from me!"
The Snow Empress smiled, like ice and snow beginning to melt.
"With your inability to keep secrets, if I had told you in advance, Little Chen would probably have found out in no time, wouldn't he?
If he knew that the family had already prepared a top-quality Soul Ring for him, how could he still focus on training seriously in this freezing wasteland?
That would only wear away his drive to keep pushing forward."
At this point, the Snow Empress's gaze deepened.
In truth, how could she not feel heartache for Xue Bingchen?
But she understood even more clearly that for other genius Soul Masters, being able to absorb a two- or three-thousand-year Soul Beast at rank twenty would already be an immense stroke of luck.
But for Xue Bingchen, whose first Soul Ring had been a fourteen-hundred-year Polar Ice Spirit, absorbing some ordinary two- or three-thousand-year creature for his second Soul Ring would be an utter waste!
The minimum for his second Soul Ring had to be four thousand years!
This Snow Sprite was what she had specially prepared for Xue Bingchen.
That was, provided Xue Bingchen himself could not find a Soul Ring that satisfied him.
Just as the two Rulers of the Far North chatted, Ice Empress's gaze casually swept downward, and she suddenly gave a startled cry.
"Huh? Strange... Why would a five-thousand-year Ice Flood Dragon come to the outskirts of the Far North?"
Ice Empress frowned slightly and pointed somewhere below.
"Xue'er, look. It's moving so fast, and... it's about to run into Little Chen!"
Following Ice Empress's fingertip, the Snow Empress's gaze instantly pierced through the layers of wind and snow.
Beneath the cover of the raging blizzard, an Ice Flood Dragon over ten meters long, its entire body covered in hard ice-blue scales, was speeding across the ice field close to the ground. Wherever it passed, it plowed a deep trench through the snow and ice.
A five-thousand-year Ice Flood Dragon was absolutely a mini-boss-level existence in the outskirts of the Far North!
"This is bad. A five-thousand-year Soul Beast is too much for Little Chen right now. I'll kill it!" Ice Empress's expression changed slightly as she prepared to act.
"Wait."
But the Snow Empress grabbed Ice Empress's wrist.
Before you continue