Ice Empress Asks If Su Hui Wants It, Su Hui Says Yes, Yes, Yes! No Cheating

"Fifty thousand years of cultivation."

The Ice Empress's tone returned to its customary calm, "It is just right."

"...Right for what?"

"Your spirit ring."

"Huh?"

Su Hui blinked in astonishment.

He looked down at the Ice Jade Scorpion, then thought about what the Ice Empress had just said.

The logical connection between the two did not register with him for a moment.

"Wait!"

Su Hui gathered his thoughts.

"This is your kin, right? Are you sure you want to let your kin become a human's spirit ring?"

"Besides, a fifty-thousand-year limit—I'm only level thirty right now. Can my body withstand it?"

"Furthermore, the Silver Dragon King Martial Soul requires spirit rings of different attributes, and the Ice Jade Scorpion is an ice type, you also..."

"The limit is not an issue."

The Ice Empress interrupted him.

"I will have it perform a sacrifice, and during the process, I will intervene to help you stabilize the spirit ring's energy."

"With me here, and given that you have already fused with my External Soul Bone, your body will not suffer any mishaps."

She paused slightly, and her tone underwent a subtle shift, no longer as cold and rigid.

"But my condition is that it must sacrifice itself in my way."

"Afterward, its soul will also reside in your Sea of Consciousness. If you become a god in the future, you must resurrect it as well."

Su Hui was silent for a beat.

This condition... felt familiar.

The Ice Empress herself had entered his Sea of Consciousness this way, and now she wanted to stuff another Ice Jade Scorpion in there.

His Sea of Consciousness would sooner or later turn into a dormitory for the entire Ice Jade Scorpion clan.

"As for the issue of attribute spirit rings."

The Ice Empress continued unhurriedly, "Don't you have the ability to refine spirit rings?"

"Absorb its spirit ring as a transition first. When you encounter a suitable attribute spirit ring in the future, just refine it away and replace it with a new one, won't you?"

"You are already level thirty. If you stay stuck at this bottleneck without breaking through, do you intend to wait forever for that so-called perfect attribute spirit ring?"

These words struck the vital point.

Su Hui had to admit that she made sense.

From level thirty to level thirty-one, one cannot continue to increase spirit power without a spirit ring.

And his current requirements for the attributes of his spirit rings were extremely harsh.

If he insisted on finding different elemental spirit rings that perfectly matched the Silver Dragon King Martial Soul before absorbing them, he might be stuck at level thirty for a long time.

The refining ability of the Silver Dragon Spear was, after all, one of his trump cards.

Using the Ice Jade Scorpion's spirit ring to break through the bottleneck as a transition, then refining it away to start over later, was perfectly feasible.

"And,"

The Ice Empress added, her tone revealing a hint of profound meaning.

"I only chose to let it sacrifice itself to you because I discovered that the External Soul Bone this Ice Jade Scorpion can produce is very special."

"Special?"

"That's right. The soul bone it can produce is its Scorpion Tail."

"!!!"

Su Hui's pupils constricted slightly.

Scorpion Tail!

It wasn't one of the six standard bones: head, arm, leg, or torso!

That could only mean it was an External Soul Bone!

He hardly needed to think.

All the knowledge regarding External Soul Bones automatically surged up from the depths of his memory.

They did not occupy the six orthodox soul bone slots and were the rarest type of soul bone, capable of evolving alongside the spirit master.

Tang San's Eight Spider Lances were the most typical example, evolving from spider legs all the way into the Eight Wings of the Sea God.

He had been coveting something like that for more than just a day or two.

A 50,000-year Ice Jade Scorpion offering a voluntary sacrifice meant a guaranteed 50,000-year soul ring, plus the bonus of an External Soul Bone.

There was no need to even calculate the value of such a deal.

Furthermore, with the Ice Empress providing a guarantee, there would be no risk throughout the entire process.

Although the Ice Empress had a rather cold temper.

They were now grasshoppers tied to the same rope; she would never sabotage him on this matter.

Having figured this out, Su Hui's line of thought became completely clear.

"Ahem, Ice Empress."

He cleared his throat.

"What is it now?"

"One last question."

"Speak."

Su Hui's expression was extremely solemn, and his tone was quite serious: "Is this Ice Jade Scorpion male or female?"

"..."

The Sea of Consciousness fell silent for a full three breaths.

Then, the Ice Empress's voice rang out, every word sounding as if it were being ground between her teeth, carrying a strange emotion suppressed to the extreme:

"A female scorpion!"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Do you want it or not, give me an answer! This Empress is too lazy to listen to your dawdling!"

Su Hui made his decision on the spot: "Yes, yes, yes!"

Outside the ice dome.

Half an hour passed slowly amidst the frigid winds of the Far North.

Shui Bing'er gripped her younger sister's hand tightly, her long azure hair fluttering in the snowstorm.

Her gaze never left the massive ice dome, her lips pressed together until they turned white.

The other girls from the Skywater Team huddled together; no one spoke, and no one suggested leaving.

"Sister, my hand hurts."

Shui Yue'er muttered softly.

Only then did Shui Bing'er realize how much force she had been using.

"Sorry."

She quickly loosened her grip, yet still did not let go completely.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of wind being torn apart rang out at that very moment.

A blue figure streaked over from the distance, dragging a long trail of afterimages across the snowfield.

Her speed was incredibly fast, and within a few breaths, she landed before the seven girls.

It was a voluptuous, beautiful woman in palace attire.

Her long blue hair was coiled into a high bun, and although there were a few fine lines at the corners of her eyes, they did not diminish her charm in the slightest; instead, they added a certain allure unique to a mature woman.

Shui Furong.

Dean of Skywater Academy, an eighty-third-level Soul Douluo, possessor of the Ice Element martial soul, and also Shui Bing'er's mother.

Her gaze swept rapidly over the seven girls.

"Bing'er, I finally found you all. Are you alright?"

After confirming that everyone was unharmed, her tense shoulders finally relaxed.

"Dean!"

The girls cried out in unison, their voices trembling with the relief of surviving a disaster.

"Aunt Furong!"

Shui Yue'er threw herself directly into her arms.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Shui Furong reached out to embrace Yue'er, patting her back gently with her palm.

Seeing that the others were also fine, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

Then, she raised her head, her azure eyes—identical to her daughter's—turning toward Shui Bing'er.

"Bing'er, what is going on with this ice dome?"

Shui Bing'er took a deep breath and recounted the events in language as concise as possible.

Separated by the blizzard, they encountered an Ice Jade Scorpion and fled all the way, only for an ice dome to appear out of thin air just as they were about to be overtaken.

She spoke with clear logic, leaving nothing out.

Shui Furong listened, her gaze shifting toward that massive ice dome.

The surface of the ice dome shimmered with a deep blue luster, radiating a heart-palpitating chill even in the bitter cold of the Far North.

She had lived for several decades and seen countless ice-type soul skills, yet she had never witnessed power in this form.

"You say there is a ten-thousand-year-level scorpion soul beast trapped inside?"

"Yes."

Shui Furong fell into deep thought.

As an eighty-third-level Soul Douluo, dealing with a ten-thousand-year soul beast was no difficult task.

But the current situation reeked of something suspicious.

To be able to trap a ten-thousand-year soul beast, the strength of the person who acted was definitely no less than her own.

Whether the other party was friend or foe remained unclear, and rashly breaking the ice dome might lead to complications.