Snow Empress's Transformation Succeeds, Evil Soul Masters Arrive

The moment that Soul Tool user entered to capture the soul beast undergoing reconstruction, the Ice Empress struck.

The speed was so swift that even Lin Yun was caught off guard; he didn't even have a chance to react or offer a word of caution before the two were already locked in battle.

After a brief skirmish, the Rank 9 Soul Master ultimately died at the hands of the Ice Empress. She turned back to look at Lin Yun, her gaze far more ferocious than usual.

"You never told This Empress and Xue'er that I could only maintain this state for ten minutes!"

Lin Yun chuckled and replied.

"Just tell me, were you able to unleash your full power or not? Besides, if it weren't for my ability, how could you have mastered the Ice Explosion Technique that your lineage is most proud of?"

The Ice Empress simply projected her human form using spiritual power, puffed out her cheeks at Lin Yun, and said indignantly.

"That is two different things! We are talking about you deceiving me!"

Watching the Ice Empress's angry expression, Lin Yun reached out and patted her head.

"Alright, the duration of this ability is tied to my own cultivation. With the soul skills you gave me and my own abilities, raising my cultivation won't take more than the blink of an eye, right?"

The Ice Empress retorted snappily.

"Heh, and how many years is that 'blink of an eye' of yours? Stop spouting nonsense."

As she spoke, Lin Yun had already stepped forward and begun rummaging through the unfortunate Rank 9 Soul Master's pack.

Unlike the Ice Explosion Technique Huo Yuhao released in the original story, the Ice Empress's mastery of the technique was surprisingly high.

Perhaps it was the lingering resentment of never having mastered this move before that led her to study the theory behind it; in any case, she had only destroyed the defensive Soul Tools.

She had not damaged the storage Soul Tools inside.

After some tinkering by Lin Yun, although a few of the storage Soul Tools remained locked, he successfully opened two of them.

These two storage Soul Tools alone contained a pair of ice-blue Twin Daggers and a pile of rare materials.

As for the Gold Soul Coins, they were practically countless.

Zhang Lexuan looked at these materials but showed little interest; after all, she was a pure martial artist and had no concept of the value of such things.

As Lin Yun rummaged through the corpse looking for items, he suddenly paused. There were wounds on the man's body that did not belong to the Ice Empress.

They carried a chilling, dark attribute that made even Lin Yun feel cold to the touch.

Lin Yun's mind raced. In the original story, the Snow Empress's embryo eventually appeared at an auction house in the Star Luo Empire.

Coupled with the well-known internal strife and factionalism within the Sun Moon Empire, it was highly likely that the Holy Spirit Cult had already aligned themselves with Xu Tianran by this time.

Lin Yun realized how that Soul Master had come to target the Snow Empress; it was likely that the internal fighting had led the Evil Soul Masters to chase him all the way into the Extreme North.

That was actually a clever tactic. The Extreme North was home to at least four beast-level soul beasts; an Evil Soul Master rampaging in with their Martial Soul active would definitely attract more attention than a Soul Master.

If they wanted to kill this Soul Master, the Evil Soul Masters would inevitably have to cross paths with those highly territorial soul beasts.

At the very least, if the Ice Empress ran into them, she would certainly kill the more dangerous Evil Soul Master first.

He just didn't know how it played out in the original story, or why the embryo was sent to the Star Luo Empire.

Regardless, now that he had intercepted the process, none of that would come to pass.

Lin Yun thought to himself while his hands moved to collect all the storage Soul Tools.

Even the ones he couldn't open were worth keeping; what if his spiritual power increased later and he could open them then?

Several days passed, and Zhang Lexuan began to wonder why Shrek Academy hadn't come looking for them yet.

Before leaving, she had reported that they would be heading to the Extreme North.

Lin Yun didn't care; he never had any intention of returning to Shrek in the first place.

At noon that day, the embryo that the Snow Empress had transformed into stirred.

Though the movement was slight, it instantly drew the full attention of the two people and one soul.

A look of pleasant surprise appeared in the Ice Empress's eyes as she said triumphantly to Lin Yun.

"When Xue'er comes out, just wait and see how she deals with you for tricking me."

As the Ice Empress's words fell, cracks began to appear on the Snow Empress's embryo. It seemed that the day of her hatching was today.

With a crisp snap, a piece of the egg-like embryo shattered.

A pair of long, ice-crystal-colored legs stretched out.

Following them was a face that looked somewhat youthful, yet carried an air of cold, noble detachment.

The Snow Empress had completed her reconstruction, but she had only reached the level of a Soul Elder—an eleven-year-old girl who looked even a bit shorter than Lin Yun.

The Ice Empress was instantly petrified on the spot, while Lin Yun couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Is this your idea of revenge? You really gave me a good laugh."

While the atmosphere here was one of joy, the situation on the other side was far less pleasant.

On the border of the Extreme North, several students wearing Shrek Inner Court uniforms stared at the old man before them.

The old man was clad in black robes, and in his hand, he held a severed head—it was their team leader.

Ma Xiaotao whispered at this moment.

"Elder Feng has also been defeated. With two ninety-five-level elders lost, this situation has become troublesome. Dai Yueheng, take them and leave immediately. Save as many as you can."

Dai Yueheng looked at Ma Xiaotao in confusion, using his eyes to ask what she meant.

At that moment, Ma Xiaotao suddenly let out a roar.

"RUN!!!"

Immediately following this, she charged forward and tackled the murderous Evil Soul Master.

Dai Yueheng reached out to grab Ma Xiaotao, but only managed to tear off a piece of her sleeve. Gritting his teeth, the cold-blooded nature inherent in the Dai family took over; he turned abruptly and fled at full speed.

The Evil Soul Master watched Dai Yueheng scramble away with a scoff, then looked down to inspect Ma Xiaotao, who was attempting to risk her life against him.

"The Evil Fire Phoenix? Interesting."

The Evil Soul Master raised his blood-stained long blade Martial Soul and struck Ma Xiaotao on the head with the hilt.

Ma Xiaotao instantly lost consciousness and slumped over.

The Evil Soul Master glanced toward the depths of the Extreme North, hesitating for a moment as he weighed his options.

Since there was no reaction after I fought in the middle reaches of the Extreme North, the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North likely don't care about my presence. It wouldn't hurt to go take a look.

As he spoke, the Evil Soul Master scratched his scalp with his curved blade, and with the mindset that the bold starve the timid while the brave are stuffed to death, he headed toward the depths of the Great Extreme North Forest.

Along the way, the faint, lingering aura of the undead served as his beacon, and the Ice Jade Scorpion clan, leaderless and in disarray, had no interest in stopping him.

He walked deep into the forest, and although he did not find his target, his attention was suddenly drawn by a blue halo of Soul Power...