A Perpetual Covenant with the Ice Empress!

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness of Su Hui, ice-blue mental fluctuations surged like the tide.

"You say you want me to sacrifice myself to you? Arrogant human, are you playing games with me?!"

The tail of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion carved a cold arc through the void, and the frigid aura around her surged, causing fine ice crystals to condense throughout the entire mental space.

Even in this purely mental state, the presence of this 390,000-year-old Ice Jade Empress Scorpion was enough to chill one to the bone.

"I have seen countless greedy Soul Masters, but you are certainly the most daring of them all."

The Ice Empress sneered, her voice like ten-thousand-year black ice.

"At the end of the day, you are just coveting my Soul Ring and Soul Bone, yet you put on a show of talking about some kind of deal."

Su Hui's expression remained calm, his hands spread wide to signal he held no malice.

"Ice Empress, don't be so quick to scold; it won't be too late to judge after you hear me out."

Cold light flickered within the compound eyes of the Ice Empress.

She was indeed furious, but her reason told her that now was not the time to lash out.

Setting aside the fact that she was currently trapped within this Sea of Consciousness, the aura radiating from the grey-robed old man beside him alone made her instinctively wary.

It was a power that transcended her understanding, carrying a profound mystery woven from death and eternity.

"Fine."

The Ice Empress reined in some of her chill. "I would like to hear what kind of tricks you can come up with."

Su Hui did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

"The sacrifice I speak of is completely different from the traditional meaning of the term."

"A standard sacrifice requires a Soul Beast to voluntarily offer its life, its soul to be annihilated, and to transform into a Soul Master's Soul Ring and Soul Bone."

"But what I require is for you to voluntarily seal your own origin to facilitate the completion of the sacrificial ritual, all while retaining your complete soul consciousness and mental existence."

If the Ice Empress did not seal her own origin, he, a mere two-ring Soul Master, would never be able to withstand the sacrifice of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, let alone a Fierce Beast nearing four hundred thousand years of age.

The moment his words fell, the Ice Empress flatly rejected him.

"Impossible."

Her tone was absolute.

"I have lived for hundreds of thousands of years and have never heard of any sacrifice that could preserve the soul consciousness of a Soul Beast."

"The essence of sacrifice is the burning of the soul and the exhaustion of life; this is the law of heaven and earth, and it cannot be changed."

"Human, do not think to deceive me!"

The gaze of the Ice Empress turned cold once more.

In her eyes, Su Hui was nothing more than a greedy, despicable human skilled in deception.

"Others cannot do it."

Su Hui grinned and pointed toward the grey-robed old man beside him.

"But Elder Yi can."

"Do you know the title of this senior?"

"Hm?"

The Ice Empress shifted her gaze toward the old man who had remained silent throughout.

"Holy Necromancer, Scourge of the Undead, Electrolux."

Su Hui enunciated each word clearly. "The existence with the deepest mastery of soul and mental power in this world, a powerhouse at the demigod level."

Just as the Ice Empress was about to voice her doubt, Electrolux raised a withered fingertip.

A wisp of a grey orb of light drifted out, silently merging into the center of the Ice Empress's brow.

"!"

The entire process was so fast she had no time to react.

The grey light spread throughout the body of the Ice Empress.

Countless pieces of information flooded into her consciousness like a tidal wave.

It was a type of ritual she had never known, involving soul detachment, consciousness sealing, mental parasitism, and many other areas unheard of.

The knowledge itself carried Electrolux's supreme understanding of the laws of the soul, and every piece of information precisely answered the doubts in her heart.

A long time later, the Ice Empress finished digesting all the information.

"Such a method actually exists..."

Her voice was filled with disbelief.

As one of the overlords of the Far North, she had considered herself well-versed in all the secrets of Soul Beasts and Soul Masters.

Yet, everything Electrolux had demonstrated completely exceeded the boundaries of her cognition.

The other party's control over the soul had reached a state of perfection; to call it "mastery" would be an understatement.

When Ice Empress looked at Electrolux again, her gaze had completely changed.

This gray-robed old man was no ordinary remnant soul; he was clearly a demigod walking among mortals!

"I believe you..."

Ice Empress's tone softened, but she immediately followed up with a sharp question.

"But even so, what do I gain after sacrificing myself?"

Her voice was laced with the exhaustion and unwillingness accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years.

"It is nothing more than turning from a Soul Beast into a spirit ring and spirit bone, at most residing in your Sea of Consciousness as a spiritual entity."

"When the day comes that your lifespan is exhausted, I will still dissipate along with you."

"The lifespan of a human doesn't even amount to a fraction of a Soul Beast's."

If she had originally waited for the heavenly tribulation, she might have lasted a few more centuries.

But by sacrificing herself to Su Hui, even if she lingered in his Sea of Consciousness, it would be a mere hundred years.

What would be the point?

Su Hui nodded, not denying it.

"You are right. If it were only that, you might indeed live a shorter life after the sacrifice than you would have otherwise."

He paused, his tone shifting abruptly. "But what if I told you there is a possibility of eternal life?"

"Eternal life?"

Ice Empress's scorpion tail froze for a moment, then her tone turned harsh.

"Su Hui, you should know how long I have lived; lying to me is meaningless."

She would never believe in the existence of eternal life.

It was something even Soul Beasts with hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation could not achieve.

How could a human, who could live for a thousand years at most after becoming a Title Douluo, possibly know the secret of immortality?

"Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts face a heavenly tribulation every hundred thousand years, each more dangerous than the last."

Su Hui's tone was calm, as if he were stating a mundane fact.

"This is a dead end set by the rules of heaven and earth."

"..."

Ice Empress did not respond, but her silence said it all.

Only those who have personally experienced it understand the terror of the heavenly tribulation.

"But have you ever wondered why no Soul Beast has ever broken through to a million years of cultivation?"

Su Hui answered his own question. "Because the rules of heaven and earth do not allow Soul Beasts to become gods."

"No matter how hard you cultivate or how many tribulations you survive, the final outcome is always to vanish into dust."

"This is not a matter of strength; it is the shackles of the rules."

"!"

Ice Empress's heart trembled.

She had never heard such a theory before.

But thinking about it carefully, in the known history of the Soul Beast clan spanning hundreds of thousands of years, there had indeed never been a million-year-level existence.

"Soul Beasts cannot become gods."

Su Hui's voice became resolute. "But humans can."

Ice Empress stared intently at Su Hui, turbulent waves surging within her ice-blue compound eyes.

"You mean... you can become a god?"

"How is that possible?"

She immediately denied it herself. "That is absolutely impossible!"

"Sea God."

Su Hui interrupted her. "Asura God, Angel God, Rakshasa God, Nine-Colored Goddess, God of Speed, God of Phoenix, Beast God, God of Food..."

With every divine title he spoke, Ice Empress's shock deepened.

"These are the gods who ascended ten thousand years ago. As a Soul Beast who has lived for so long, you must surely be aware of the commotion caused by the gods' ascension back then, right?"

"!!!"

Su Hui's words awakened the dreamer.

Yes, the sight of those gods ascending ten thousand years ago was still vivid in her mind.

It was just that Ice Empress had not expected that so many gods had been born ten thousand years ago.

The ones Su Hui spoke of were none other than Tang San, Bibi Dong, and the others.

"Scattered across the Douluo Continent are the sites of divine inheritance."

He continued, "Find a divine position, earn its recognition, and initiate the trials; those who pass the divine trials may ascend to the divine ranks."

"The specific locations of certain inheritances, their activation requirements, the content of the trials—I happen to know them all."

Of course, not from this era.

In this era, the divine inheritances have all but vanished.

Su Hui felt it highly likely that this had something to do with Tang San.

Otherwise, how could Huo Yuhao be the only one to achieve godhood?

However, in his original era, the Sea God Island and the Slaughter City—those two great sites of divine inheritance—had certainly existed.

Although Su Hui looked down upon the Sea God's position, that didn't stop him from using it as a backup plan.

"..."

The Ice Empress was left speechless.

The secret to godhood, the supreme mystery that countless Titled Douluo could not touch in their entire lives, was this young human speaking of it so casually?

"Furthermore, I have the assistance of Elder Yi, a demigod."

As he spoke, he snuck a glance at Elder Yi.

Seeing Elder Yi merely smile gently without refuting him, Su Hui felt a sudden surge of excitement.

If Elder Yi was showing such a friendly attitude toward him, that was excellent.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Su Hui turned his gaze toward the Ice Empress.

"If we add you, the second-in-command beast of the Far North, I believe the chances of achieving godhood will increase significantly."

He reached out, his fingers splayed, as if inviting her to join him in a grand gamble.

"The day I achieve godhood shall be the moment you are reborn."

"I will use the power of a divine soul to recast your physical body, break free from the constraints the laws of heaven and earth place upon soul beasts, and from that day forth, you shall share eternal life with me."

A slightly arrogant curve tugged at the corners of Su Hui's mouth.

"I have named this plan—the God-Making Project."

"How about it, Ice Empress? Do you dare to gamble, using that decrepit body of yours that is nearing its end?"

"..."

The Sea of Consciousness fell into a long silence.

The fluctuations of the Ice Empress's soul power were at times violent, at times calm, mirroring the turbulent state of her mind.

She scrutinized the hand Su Hui had extended.

She scrutinized the undisguised ambition in the depths of this human's eyes.

And she scrutinized the unfathomable gray eyes of the demigod remnant soul beside him.

Finally, she spoke.

"Su Hui, will you truly honor your promise once you achieve godhood?"

The Ice Empress's voice had shed its previous sharpness, replaced by a weariness and anticipation suppressed for hundreds of thousands of years.

"I have seen too many humans; they are more fickle than the ice and snow of the Far North. They are insatiably greedy, and will even harm those who walk alongside them."

Her tone deepened.

"What do you have that makes me believe a human's oath?"

Su Hui did not attempt to argue with the absurd sophistry that humans were not greedy.

Human greed was written into the history of human civilization for thousands upon thousands of years.

Countless major historical events had proven this point.

Su Hui did not feel he had the qualifications or the ability to refute such a historical reality.

After all, he was greedy too.

If he weren't greedy, how could he have risked his life to come here?

But he had a way to prove that while he was greedy, he could also keep his promises.

The two were not mutually exclusive.

He raised his right hand, and his martial soul manifested in his palm.

Upon that martial soul, a mark radiating soul fluctuations gradually condensed.

"I swear by my martial soul."

Su Hui's voice echoed through the Sea of Consciousness.

"If I, Su Hui, ascend to godhood one day, I shall share eternal life with the Ice Empress!"

"Should I break this oath, may my martial soul shatter and my divine soul be utterly destroyed."

The ripples of the soul oath spread outward, carrying the validation of the laws of heaven and earth.

Once such an oath is sworn, it becomes bound to the origin of one's martial soul; any violation will result in a backlash.

"!!!"

Ice Empress stared at the oath mark in astonishment.

In her hundreds of thousands of years of life, this was the first time she felt she had glimpsed a different path.

A path leading to eternal life!

A path to break free from destiny!

"Su Hui."

Ice Empress raised her right hand and gently touched the hand extended toward her.

"I join your God-Making Project."