A Self-Created Divine Position of Ice and Snow?

Hearing Xue Bingchen's explanation, Snow Empress nodded slightly in understanding.

No powerful soul skill could possibly be flawless; there had to be some kind of limitation.

But even so, this soul skill, "Glazed Ice-Snow Heart," was undoubtedly among the finest of the finest!

Especially... in the Far North!

Snow Empress's gaze became incomparably profound. She quietly watched the boy before her, only six years old yet already bearing the air of a king, while stormy waves surged within her heart.

What did Xue Bingchen's soul skill signify?

It meant that as long as he remained amid this land of ice and snow, his future self would be the absolute ruler of this territory!

He possessed absolute initiative and an immortal body!

This could not help but remind Snow Empress of the ancient legends passed down across the Douluo Continent.

The one who ruled the skies was the lofty Angel God!

The one who ruled the boundless oceans was the unfathomable Sea God!

Within their respective domains, they both possessed absolute control. In the end, they gathered faith and attained supreme divine positions!

And now, Xue Bingchen possessed an Ultimate Ice martial soul and the heaven-defying soul skill, "As long as ice and snow remain, I remain." Did that also mean...

That he possessed the potential to rule the ice and snow of the Far North?

An utterly mad thought, one that made Snow Empress tremble all over, took root and sprouted uncontrollably in her mind:

Since Soul Beasts could not become gods, then this human boy before her, who carried the fortunes of the Far North's heaven and earth upon himself...

Could he gather the faith of ice and snow in this land of extreme cold and create an unprecedented...

Divine Position of Ice and Snow?!

In the days that followed, the Far North returned to its former tranquility.

Xue Bingchen completely settled down and entered an almost crazed state of immersive cultivation.

After gaining his second Spirit Ring and the soul skill Glazed Ice-Snow Heart, he became even more at home in the Far North than before. Every day, he tempered his physical body in the wind and snow, refining his Soul Power.

Of course, cultivation required a balance between work and rest.

Whenever he grew bored, Xue Bingchen would leave the Extreme North Core Zone and quietly slip into the supply towns on the outskirts of the Far North, where human mercenaries and Soul Masters gathered.

He would have a cup of steaming hot ale and listen in on the latest gossip and news from across the continent.

After all, intelligence was important.

Though most of the time, Snow Empress and Ice Empress, worried for his safety, would follow him in secret.

That day, Xue Bingchen sat in the corner of the town's liveliest tavern, wrapped in a thick white fur cloak.

The hearth in the tavern blazed fiercely, while a group of burly mercenaries rode the buzz of alcohol, spitting as they bragged.

"Hey, have you heard? Spirit Hall's sky has changed!" A scar-faced mercenary gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor and mysteriously lowered his voice.

"Tch, who on the whole continent doesn't know about that by now?"

The person beside him rolled his eyes.

"A few months ago, that lofty Pope of Spirit Hall, Qian Xunji, suddenly died! The one sitting on the Pope's throne now is the former Saintess, Bibi Dong!"

"Tsk, tsk. That transition of power was practically seamless! I heard this new Pope is a ruthless one. She used iron-blooded thunderous methods and purged every last opponent overnight before firmly taking the Pope's seat! If she'd moved any slower, that chair definitely wouldn't have been hers!"

"Isn't that the truth? But what came afterward was even more explosive!"

Another Soul Master, skinny as a monkey, leaned over with an excited look.

"Not long after Bibi Dong took office, Spirit Hall declared war directly on the number one sect under heaven—the Clear Sky Sect!"

"Spirit Hall announced to the world that the former Pope, Qian Xunji, had been killed by Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect! Man, that battle was earth-shaking! Spirit Hall dispatched who knew how many powerhouses and charged straight up to the Clear Sky Sect's gates!"

"But guess what happened? Spirit Hall's people were cunning. They knew those old geezers from the Clear Sky Sect were strong and hard to crack, so they picked on the weak instead! They specifically targeted the younger generation of the Clear Sky Sect! I heard the grandsons and great-grandsons of several Clear Sky Sect elders were all slaughtered by Spirit Hall! They cut off their bloodline entirely!"

"Hahahaha! If the old ones only know how to hide in their shells, then kill all the young ones! Spirit Hall's move was ruthless enough!"

The tavern immediately erupted in laughter.

"But what really made people's jaws drop was the Clear Sky Sect's response."

The scar-faced man sneered, his face full of contempt.

"The mighty number one sect under heaven had so many juniors slaughtered right at its doorstep, and what happened? They didn't dare fart a word! They directly announced that they were sealing the mountain and would no longer emerge, completely closing themselves off from the world!"

"Exactly! What number one sect under heaven? What countless experts within the sect? The moment they clashed with Spirit Hall, they folded, so scared they became turtles hiding in their shells! The entire continent is laughing at them!"

"This also shows from the side just how terrifying Spirit Hall's current strength is..."

As he listened to the mercenaries' discussion, the corner of Xue Bingchen's mouth beneath his hood curved into a faint, amused smile.

So that's how it is...

Xue Bingchen lifted the warm water before him and took a sip. His mind raced as he instantly sorted out the current timeline.

Qian Xunji was dead, Bibi Dong had taken power, and the Clear Sky Sect had sealed its mountain.

In other words, that so-called "child of destiny," Tang San, had already been born?

By this point, Tang San had probably already been taken by that useless drunkard father of his, Tang Hao, who lost a leg, to that remote Holy Soul Village, right?

Xue Bingchen sneered inwardly.

Over the next few years, Tang Hao would probably drink himself senseless every day, while little Tang San stood on a stool and miserably forged iron to support the family.

An extremely ridiculous name suddenly flashed through Xue Bingchen's mind.

"Since Tang San has already been born, Yu Xiaogang should still be level twenty-nine, right? Just how many years has he been stuck at level twenty-nine?"

"Oh, I forgot. Without the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma Tang San would find for him later, Yu Xiaogang seems like he wouldn't be able to break through level thirty in his entire life."

Thinking of Yu Xiaogang, Xue Bingchen suddenly remembered something.

Back when he had just awakened his martial soul, Snow Empress had seriously told him that the maximum absorption limit for a human Soul Master's first Spirit Ring was four hundred and thirty-one years. She had even said she had read it in a bestselling book from the human world.

At the time, Xue Bingchen had found those words extremely familiar.

To verify his suspicion, after returning to the Extreme North Core Zone, Xue Bingchen deliberately searched through the books Snow Empress had brought back from the human world years ago.

Good heavens, he had no idea until he searched. Once he did, it gave him quite a shock!

He actually found a beautifully bound book amid the pile, its title written clearly on the cover: Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul!

And in the compiler's section, several large words were printed prominently—Theory Grandmaster: Yu Xiaogang! (Parentheses: Horn of Wisdom of the Golden Iron Triangle).