Treading Snow to Seek Ice, Summoning Heavenly Thunder

Zhang Lexuan had come to find Su Qing for a meal on an empty stomach, mostly because she would soon be leading the younger students on inspection missions and likely wouldn't see him for ten days or half a month. She had thought a candlelight dinner before leaving would be quite romantic, but the sudden appearance of Ma Xiaotao caught her off guard, and she even forgot to take the candles out of her storage Soul Tool.

However, watching Su Qing eat filled her with a sense of happiness. It could be said that what she loved most was the way Su Qing ate: saying nothing, stuffing his mouth until his cheeks were bulging, and chewing like a hamster with his lips sealed. She didn't know why, but this guy could calmly maintain such a handsome face while eating like that.

"I really wish we could just go on like this, simply, for the rest of our lives."

Zhang Lexuan murmured silently.

"Hm? What did you say?"

Hearing Zhang Lexuan speaking, Su Qing mumbled a few words through a mouth full of food.

"Nothing, just hurry up and eat..."

As she spoke, she placed another piece of red-oil Earth Dragon Tendon into his mouth.

After they were wined and dined, the two lingered for a while longer. Finally, under Su Qing's lingering, affectionate gaze, Zhang Lexuan waved goodbye to him.

Afterward, Su Qing began his endless cultivation. However, whenever Xiao Xiao came to ask him out to play, he would readily agree; after all, who could refuse a soft, adorable little girl? Every time he looked toward the sound and saw half a little head peeking out from the doorframe, anyone would be smitten!

At the end of the semester, after greeting Huo Yuhao, who was heading early to the Soul Tool Department to carve core arrays, Su Qing activated Wind-Gathering Wing-Weaving and flew away from Shrek City.

Actually, it was already the holiday period, but Huo Yuhao still had a Soul Master level assessment, making him one of the last to leave the outer courtyard. Of course, through the tireless efforts of himself and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, he had finally reached level twenty by the end of the term. He planned to leave the school once the assessment was over to go to the place the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm mentioned and obtain a powerful second martial soul.

As for Su Qing, he was already at level thirty-nine. He could definitely break through to level forty before the Soul Master Tournament. Although the cultivation speed of an Ultimate Martial Soul was slow, he at least possessed Innate Full Soul Power. Plus, having consumed immortal herbs since childhood, his meridians were wider and clearer than the average person's, so gaining one level in over two months was not a problem.

His goal for this trip was very clear: the Far North. Although Huo Yuhao currently had no conflict with him, the future was full of uncertainty. As long as there was even a sliver of a possibility of becoming rivals, he would not let the other party obtain the best opportunities.

Of course, to prevent Huo Yuhao from being unable to handle the dead ends encountered in the original story due to insufficient strength, he would certainly step in as a good friend on the surface. Besides, favorability was something that might as well be farmed. After all, if the Son of Fortune died accidentally due to bad luck, who knew what Tang San would do next?

He had also figured out how to handle the Ice Empress. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could make the Ice Empress willing to sacrifice herself for Huo Yuhao with just a verbal "God-making plan," and he had a real godhood. Once he let the Ice Empress's spiritual power connect to his own spiritual sea, the task would be complete. However, before appearing in front of the Ice Empress, he had to make other preparations, or he might not even get a chance to speak.

Although he wanted to take the Ice Empress away before Huo Gua, Huo Yuhao hadn't even left school yet, and even if he had left before Su Qing, he couldn't possibly arrive first. In the original story, that blockhead had walked all the way to the Far North; between the round trip and the time spent fusing with the Ice Empress, he had even been a few days late.

This made Su Qing consider slowing his pace, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Time waits for no one; growing too slowly was equivalent to handing the power of life and death over to the optional kindness of an enemy. In his view, that was absolutely unacceptable. He didn't want anyone to die protecting him again because he wasn't strong enough.

About nine days later, Su Qing finally stepped onto the vast, white expanse of the Far North. Considering that there wouldn't be an existence like Di Tian in the Far North right now, he resumed the travel method he used in the Star Dou Great Forest.

That was using Spiritual Detection to scout the path and utilizing the Ring Jade to conceal himself when encountering unbeatable opponents, ensuring he could reach the core area of the Far North safely while maintaining speed. However, he didn't know if it was because his relationship with Huo Gua was too good and he had rubbed off some of his luck, but Su Qing flew straight to the core area without encountering a single high-year soul beast.

Facing the vast, white core area of the Far North, Su Qing found it difficult to figure out how to find the Ice Empress. But once he thought about how the Ice Empress was about to undergo her tribulation, an idea immediately struck him—it was a bit underhanded, but it would definitely work!

"Elemental Tide, Thunder Roars in the Nine Heavens!"

He hovered above the peak of a snow mountain in the core area of the Far North, pale purple soul power surging around him. As his body was gradually covered by pale purple electric light, pitch-black clouds filled the sky over most of the core area. Lightning crackled between the clouds, and in the blink of an eye, overwhelming purple lightning poured down, the roar of clashing thunder echoing throughout the entire core area.

He had learned this move from the God of Destruction, but given his current soul power reserves, this move only had a large range; as for its power, it was just for show.

"Boom--"

The continuous thunder startled the Ice Empress awake. Her golden eyes snapped open, and she instinctively channeled her power to resist the tribulation, but a glance around revealed she was still in her cave.

"Who is so blind as to dare undergo a tribulation in this Seat's territory!"

The Ice Empress, whose soul was nearly scared out of her body, roared in anger. One had to know that to prevent the tribulation from arriving, she didn't even dare to act easily, desperately suppressing her own strength. Her instinctive channeling of soul power just now had nearly triggered the tribulation itself. She had to settle this score with that blind soul beast.

Thinking this, she waved her pincers, broke through the frozen earth, and crawled out of the ground.

"Hm? Something has come out..."

With the help of the enhanced Spiritual Detection, Su Qing easily spotted something unusual. With such a powerful aura and a small, exquisite body, it had to be the Ice Empress. Locking onto his target, he immediately manipulated the lightning to strike that position. To make it look more authentic, he added a trace of meager God of Destruction Power. Normally, if God of Destruction Power appeared in the lower realm, the God of Destruction would notice, but it was different when mixed into lightning.

They would only think that when a soul beast was undergoing a heavenly tribulation, the laws of heaven were forcibly drawing upon ownerless God of Destruction Power. Yes, the God of Destruction Power in the tribulation might be related to the God of Destruction, but it wasn't under his subjective control. Did he have that much spare time to watch soul beasts in the lower realm undergo tribulations?

The fact that tribulation lightning carried God of Destruction Power was like a pre-set program in the system, automatically executing when a soul beast underwent a tribulation. After all, simple lightning couldn't even harm powerful soul beasts; what often killed soul beasts during a tribulation was the God of Destruction Power contained within it.

What Su Qing wanted now was for the Ice Empress to trigger the tribulation herself, so he could control the God of Destruction Power within the tribulation while simultaneously winning over the Ice Empress. As for scaring her... Su Qing planned to explain that after they got to know each other better.

"What! Why is this tribulation lightning striking at this Seat?"