Nine-Level Soul Master! God-Sealing Platform

She held up the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, a trace of complexity flashing through her ice-blue eyes as she whispered to herself, "The final tribulation—I no longer have the strength to overcome it. Now that my Soul Core shows signs of shattering, if I force the tribulation, death is certain."

"I have no choice but to walk this path... succeed, or perish."

Her voice was soft, yet carried an unquestionable firmness.

Snow Empress broke off a petal of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus and gently placed it into her mouth. Strangely, the massive petal melted the moment it touched her tongue, transforming into a stream of cooling energy that surged into her body.

One petal, two, three...

Before long, the entire Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus had been consumed by Snow Empress.

She slowly closed her beautiful eyes, and the space around her began to distort. Ice-blue light emanated from within her, growing increasingly intense until it finally enveloped her entire form.

Snow Empress's figure gradually blurred, transforming into a mass of white mist. That mist radiated a bone-chilling cold, yet it seemed to possess a spirit of its own, slowly drifting and condensing atop the glacier.

As time passed, the outline of an embryo gradually emerged within the white mist—crystal clear, as if carved from ice, and radiating a rich aura of life.

Yes, Snow Empress was undergoing the most critical step for a soul beast: transformation.

As a peerless fierce beast with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, she should never have had the chance to transform. Soul beasts must make that choice at the hundred-thousand-year mark; once missed, the opportunity is gone forever.

But Snow Empress was fortunate to have encountered this Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus. With the help of the lotus's power of creation, she forcibly initiated the path of transformation, intending to cultivate as a human and challenge the ethereal hundredth level to become a god.

This was a massive gamble. After transforming, she would lose all her cultivation and start from scratch. Human lifespans are short, and she could encounter all sorts of dangers along the way, potentially dying before even reaching the Title Douluo rank.

Yet, in the marrow of Snow Empress's bones, there was never a lack of adventurous spirit. Rather than sit and wait for the seven-hundred-thousand-year tribulation to descend and scatter her soul, it was better to stake everything on one final struggle!

Just as Snow Empress reached the critical moment of her transformation—

Su Chen and Mu Ye arrived.

They hid behind an ice hill, watching the mass of white mist atop the glacier from afar. Su Chen felt a wave of emotion as he watched Snow Empress's stunning features gradually dissipate, merging into the lotus embryo.

Truly a devastatingly beautiful mature woman... even more beautiful than described in the original work.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Snow Empress... she is undergoing re-cultivation!"

His voice was filled with shock and... a trace of imperceptible excitement.

"Su Chen, this is our chance!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said urgently, "Snow Empress is in her most vulnerable stage of transformation; she cannot resist at all! Let's go over and capture her! I have a way to imprison her!"

His logic was simple—strike while the iron is hot. Snow Empress was at her weakest, making this the perfect time to act.

However—

"No." Su Chen shook his head, his voice calm and firm.

"Why?!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm grew anxious, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! If we miss this, once Snow Empress completes her transformation, it will be as hard as ascending to heaven to persuade her!"

Su Chen responded calmly in his mind: "Snow Empress is different from Ice Empress. Ice Empress might compromise and sacrifice herself when faced with a four-hundred-thousand-year tribulation, but Snow Empress... she absolutely wouldn't."

He paused, his tone becoming more certain: "She might even drag us down with her. Because she is the type of woman with a rigid temperament who would rather break than bend."

Snow Empress was a very proud person. One could tell from the fact that she would rather undergo transformation and gamble on a slim chance at godhood than live a few hundred more years only to die in a heavenly tribulation.

How could such a person accept the fate of being coerced into becoming someone else's martial soul?

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fell silent. He knew Su Chen was right. Snow Empress was indeed that kind of person.

"Then... what do we do?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked anxiously, "We can't just watch her succeed, can we? Once she finishes, we won't have another chance!"

Su Chen shook his head, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes: "I am waiting for an opportunity."

"What opportunity?"

"An opportunity for a hero to save the beauty."

A meaningful smile tugged at the corner of Su Chen's mouth. He remembered that in the original plot, Snow Empress was ambushed by a Level 9 Soul Engineer during her transformation and sealed using the God-Sealing Platform. What he intended to do was intervene at the critical moment and save her.

This was a massive gamble.

If he won, he would possess a second martial soul with god-level potential—the Ultimate Ice Snow Empress!

If he lost, his second martial soul would simply be the slightly weaker Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.

But Su Chen felt it was a gamble worth taking.

"Fine, I'll trust you this once." He sighed, "But I'm saying this upfront: if things go south, we need to retreat immediately. Snow Empress is not to be trifled with when she goes mad."

"Don't worry." Su Chen nodded.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Just as Snow Empress's transformation reached its most critical moment—

A figure quietly appeared near the glacier.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a heavy fur coat, holding various strange soul-guiding instruments and scouting the area.

"Eh? This energy fluctuation..." The man suddenly stopped, looking toward the top of the glacier, his eyes lighting up, "Such rich energy! Could a treasure have been born?"

He quickened his pace, climbing toward the glacier.

Su Chen watched this scene from behind the ice hill, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

It was time.

The Level 9 Soul Engineer from the original story, who had stumbled into the core of the Far North, had finally appeared.

The man quickly climbed to the peak of the glacier. When he saw that mass of white mist and the embryo faintly visible within it, he was stunned for a moment, followed by wild ecstasy:

"This... this is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the process of transforming?!"

"Hahaha, what a truly great fortune! A great fortune indeed!"

He laughed heartily, the greed on his face undisguised.

To encounter such an opportunity, he must truly be blessed by the heavens!

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast transforming was rare enough, yet he had happened upon one, and the aura of this beast was so powerful that it was likely no ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year one...

Thinking of this, the greed in the eyes of this Soul Tool master nearly overflowed.

He took out a Soul Tool—it was a tray featuring a wooden stand inlaid with at least a hundred gems of various colors, emitting a faint golden light.

This wooden tray looked simple, but in reality, it was a Level 9 Soul Tool known as the God-Sealing Platform. It was the pride of this Level 9 Soul Tool master, capable of sealing energy entities and even temporarily trapping a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!

Snow Empress was in the midst of her transformation stage and possessed no ability to attack. Seizing the moment as the white mist completely merged into the snow lotus, the Level 9 Soul Tool master struck—

"Seal!"

He shouted loudly, aiming the God-Sealing Platform at the snow lotus.

"Hum—"

A pale golden light barrier shot out from the God-Sealing Platform, instantly enveloping the entire snow lotus. The snow lotus trembled violently, the white mist crashing frantically within, yet it could never break through that layer of pale golden light.