The Nine Trials of the Ice God

"Your Bingbing?"

Huo Yuhao immediately perked up. He looked at Sky Dream Ice Silkworm with suspicion, his eyes full of scrutiny.

"I... yes, I admit it. The reason I brought you to the Extreme North was, at its core, because I wanted to find Bingbing. And honestly, when it comes to you personally, the Titan Snow Demon King is actually your best choice."

"Although the Titan Snow Demon King's cultivation is a little lower, he's a Soul Beast with both Ice and Spiritual attributes, and he's halfway to Ultimate Ice. He could even directly give you ten levels of Soul Power, letting you obtain your third Soul Ring, as well as a right arm Soul Bone that includes both palm and arm bones."

"But Yuhao, Bingbing has Ultimate Ice. She can make the attributes of your two Martial Souls more distinctly separate, which will make your path smoother in the future."

By now, Huo Yuhao had calmed down. He simply said,

"Brother Sky Dream, we're the closest of partners. I hope you'll be more honest with me next time."

Then Huo Yuhao walked over to the Titan Snow Demon King and held out his hand.

"Hello. Let's get properly acquainted. My name is Huo Yuhao."

The Titan Snow Demon King glanced at Huo Yuhao, looking at him with newfound respect, then said,

"If all humans were like you, there'd still be hope for them. Just call me A-Tai. From now on, we're officially partners. I'll show a little sincerity, too. There's a Soul Beast that would be perfect for your third Soul Ring. I can take you to find it."

At the heart of the Extreme North Snowfield, beside a huge lake encased in ice.

Snow Empress watched Lin Yun, who had entered the final stage of fusion, and murmured to herself,

"I never expected this kid to be something other than an Ice attribute, yet he can fuse with a Soul Bone of Ice Empress, whose attribute is Ultimate Ice. And he's doing it so smoothly, so calmly."

"The quality of his Martial Soul must truly be at the divine level. A Three-Headed Bone Dragon I've never seen before... perhaps."

Snow Empress turned her wrist over. A drop-shaped object, about the size of a dragon's eye, gleamed with a cold, ice-blue, laser-like light.

It was the legendary Ice God Pearl. Strangely enough, the Ice God Pearl had been perfectly still, but the moment Snow Empress took it out, it began to tremble violently.

Lin Yun had just recovered from the exhilaration of forcibly fusing the ten-thousand-year Ice Empress Soul Bone with his Skeletal Bone Dragon Martial Soul. The instant he opened his eyes, he saw a pearl fly straight into his forehead.

Snow Empress stared in astonishment as the Ice God Pearl entered Lin Yun's mind. Right after, a solemn voice rang in the minds of all three beings present.

"Though this person is not of the Ice attribute, he may still inherit the position of Ice God. The Nine Trials of the Ice God begin now."

Immediately afterward, a voice sounded in Lin Yun's mind.

"The First Trial of the Nine Trials of the Ice God: kill a Fire-element Soul Beast with a cultivation of at least eighty thousand years. During the trial, Ice Empress is forbidden from fighting in your place."

Well, Lin Yun grumbled inwardly. He'd just been thinking about how to skip the trial, and now that plan had gone up in smoke.

Ice Empress leaped out, protesting furiously at Lin Yun,

"Tell me, what are we supposed to do now? My body's been damaged. Can it still be used?"

Lin Yun smiled and said,

"What, nobody in your group died of natural causes? Find a few and I'll put you back together. Why are you jumping around like this?"

"Besides, weren't you the one who got carried away and wanted to see if I could fuse with your Soul Bone? How is that my fault? How can you blame me?"

Snow Empress couldn't help smiling too, then said,

"Bingbing, this really isn't Lin Yun's fault. I didn't expect him to be able to absorb a Soul Bone of Ultimate Ice either. Nobody could have foreseen it. Just look at his face—he didn't expect it himself."

Lin Yun smiled.

"Exactly. Snow Empress understands reason. No wonder she's so much prettier than you."

Just then, Snow Empress suddenly turned around and casually swatted aside a crescent-shaped blade of light.

Zhang Lexuan, who had been unconscious all along, had woken up and found her way here.

Zhang Lexuan really was someone you could count on. The third-strongest Soul Beast in the world, a being that would send ordinary Titled Douluo fleeing, and there Zhang Lexuan went, charging in with eight Soul Rings for Lin Yun's sake.

Lin Yun hurriedly stepped in front of Zhang Lexuan. After explaining the whole situation, Zhang Lexuan finally relaxed, let out a sigh of relief, and said to Lin Yun,

"I'll deal with you when we get back. Just wait—I'll make you run laps until the track falls apart."

Snow Empress said,

"All right. Now both of your matters have been settled. It's my turn."

As she spoke, Snow Empress took out something resembling a lotus and looked at it.

"Soul Beasts over two hundred thousand years old can no longer take human form normally, so I need this. It can divide my power. The Soul Power I shed will turn into a shell to protect me, leaving my true body with only two hundred thousand years of cultivation to build a physical form."

After Snow Empress finished speaking, Ice Empress's spirit form placed a hand on Snow Empress's abdomen and said,

"Xue'er, this time your body's going to be destroyed even worse than mine."

Snow Empress looked at Ice Empress.

"When you hesitate to make a clean break, you only make things worse. If I can't bear to give up this body, I won't be able to stay by your side for longer."

As he pieced Ice Empress's corpse back together, Lin Yun said,

"Ice Empress, instead of reminiscing about Snow Empress, why don't you come over and check if I've put you together properly?"

Only then did Ice Empress reluctantly walk over.

Lin Yun grumbled,

"You've got a lot of nerve, trusting me not to attach your head where your butt belongs."

Ice Empress was already fuming, so she shot back,

"If you dare put me together wrong, I'll cut off your ass and hang it up as a painting."

"If you actually get me wrong, I'll kill you!"

Looking at Ice Empress, red with rage, Lin Yun knew he was in the wrong and could only grin sheepishly and apologize. He hadn't mixed up her head and butt, but he really had reversed the front and back halves of her torso.

Following Ice Empress's instructions, Lin Yun reassembled the bones piece by piece. Skeletal Bone Dragon couldn't have been more pitiful.

Ice Empress looked at her new body with satisfaction. Lin Yun, however, asked doubtfully,

"Are you really sure this is what you looked like?"

Ice Empress's Soul Bone now had a pair of pincers like a hermit crab's, one big and one small, while her tail was much longer than before.

Ice Empress replied firmly,

"That's exactly right. No mistake."

Lin Yun couldn't help saying,

"Fine, very fine. Then explain to me what the torso I took off had to do with your two pincers, and what it had to do with your tail."

Ice Empress coughed awkwardly and said nothing, turning to get used to her body.

A month and a half after Snow Empress began her rebirth, Zhang Lexuan was anxious, but she still didn't rush Lin Yun.

After all, breaking his promise would harm Lin Yun's cultivation. She could explain things to the academy herself later.

Then, one day a month and a half later, the person from the original story—the one who was said to have stumbled upon the Snow Empress Embryo—appeared.

He was a pure Soul Engineer, and he was injured. The moment he saw the Snow Empress Embryo, he immediately tried to contain it with a Soul Tool.

Ice Empress almost instantly flew out of Lin Yun's body...