Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Torso Bone!

"If you deceive me, even if I have to self-destruct, I won't let you have your way."

Hearing Ice Empress's threat, Long Yaochen smiled faintly. "Don't worry. I'm still counting on you to persuade Snow Empress."

"You... you even know Snow Empress? Then why didn't you go straight to her?" Ice Empress's expression changed.

This guy knew far too much.

"She..." Long Yaochen shook his head slightly. "She isn't suitable for me right now."

Although Snow Empress's cultivation was high, for the current Long Yaochen, her abilities were not as useful as Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice.

Besides... he didn't need the Winter-Thinking Fist right now, th—

Seeing Ice Empress's mood sink a little, Long Yaochen changed the subject. "But you'll definitely have a chance to reunite in the future."

"You brat..." Ice Empress fell silent for a moment. "Fine. How should I cooperate with you?"

"Open your mind. Don't resist."

The smile vanished from Long Yaochen's face, and his voice turned more serious.

Ice Empress gave him a deep look before finally withdrawing her tail hook slowly.

The next instant, Long Yaochen closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, both eyes had turned ash-gray.

His aura changed with them.

Demigod substitute logged in.

Though his body was still that of a young man, as he stood there, he seemed like a dead man who had emerged from ancient ages—calm and profound, as though he had long seen through the boundary between life and death.

Ice Empress's heart trembled slightly.

She knew that the one controlling this body at that moment was no longer Long Yaochen himself.

Long Xiaoyao narrowed his eyes slightly as well.

But he said nothing. Dark Soul Power quietly spread out, sealing off the area as much as possible.

No matter what happened next, he would not allow the aura of the Core Area of the Far North to leak too far.

Long Yaochen raised his hand, and ash-gray light spread from his fingertips, landing on Ice Empress's crystalline scorpion claw.

Ice Empress felt her soul tremble faintly as a strange sensation rose from its depths.

It was as though an invisible hand had gently pressed down on the source of her soul, which was about to be torn apart by the Heavenly Tribulation.

Then Long Yaochen raised his other hand, and the Holy Blade of Life quietly appeared.

Dense life energy intertwined with the ash-gray Undead Law. Life and death, two utterly opposing powers, formed an eerie balance at that moment.

The deepest doubts in Ice Empress's heart began to waver.

This brat's method actually seemed like it might work!

"Compress all of your origin into the Soul Bone and condense a torso bone," Long Yaochen said, but his voice carried an ancientness that did not belong to someone his age.

Ice Empress hesitated no longer. Her immense Ultimate Ice origin began to contract into her body bit by bit.

The Domain of Eternal Freeze vanished completely, and the violent snowstorm around them quieted at that instant.

Lines of jade-green patterns lit up across the crystalline body of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, like countless flowing ice rivers converging toward her torso.

Pain struck in an instant. Even with Ice Empress's willpower, she could not help letting out a muffled groan.

This was not simply condensing a Soul Bone. She was actively abandoning her Soul Beast body.

Her bloodline, origin, cultivation—everything was compressing toward a single core.

The ash-gray light in Long Yaochen's eyes suddenly deepened.

Countless fine ash-gray runes flew from his palm and spread along Ice Empress's body bit by bit, firmly protecting the soul that was about to be erased during the process of becoming a Soul Bone.

Ice Empress's consciousness jolted violently.

She could clearly feel her flesh disintegrating and her power being remade.

Yet her consciousness did not fade away.

She was still there. She could still feel the wind and snow, still feel the Ultimate Ice, and still feel herself being protected by an ancient and powerful law.

Long Xiaoyao stood with his hands behind his back, but his gaze had become completely grave.

Even he had never seen such a bizarre sight.

When a Soul Beast condensed a Soul Bone, it should have meant death.

Yet Ice Empress's body was clearly turning into a Soul Bone, while the aura of her soul had never gone out.

This did not resemble a sacrifice at all.

It was more like the creation of an entirely new form of life.

Boom—!

A deep rumble rang out.

Ice Empress's roughly one-and-a-half-meter scorpion body abruptly shattered into jade light that filled the sky.

The next moment, all that jade light frantically contracted under the pull of the ash-gray runes.

A crystalline Soul Bone slowly appeared in midair.

A four-hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Torso Bone!

Its entire body was interwoven with icy blue and jade green. Hexagonal ice crystal patterns covered its surface, while the phantom of a miniature Ice Jade Empress Scorpion could faintly be seen coiled within.

An incomparably terrifying chill spread from the Soul Bone.

Just a wisp of its aura froze the snowfield beneath Long Yaochen's feet into jade-green ice.

Long Yaochen grunted, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Even merely bearing the aura of this Soul Bone from such close range was still far too much for his current body.

Long Xiaoyao was about to make a move.

But in the next instant, Long Yaochen raised his hand and stopped him.

The ash-gray runes lit up once more.

The Holy Blade of Life hovered above the Soul Bone, its life energy falling like threads and wrapping around Ice Empress's phantom deep within the Soul Bone.

Ice Empress's soul had not been sealed away.

Instead, it had been placed at the Soul Bone's very core.

With the Soul Bone as a body, the soul as a core, and a contract to maintain consciousness.

At that moment, the embryonic form of a Soul Spirit truly came into being.

The ash-gray light in Long Yaochen's eyes flickered violently. Then he raised a hand and tapped between his brows.

The Sea of Spirit opened with a roar.

Wrapped in ash-gray runes, the Soul Bone did not exist in physical form. Instead, it temporarily transformed into an origin imprint.

The next moment, a jade-green stream of light entered his brow and sank into the depths of the Sea of Spirit.

Boom!

Within Long Yaochen's Sea of Spirit, the originally blazing solar aura instantly boiled over.

The instant Ice Empress's Soul Bone entered, an extreme chill erupted as well.

Light and ice.

Scorching heat and bitter cold.

The two utterly opposing forces merely brushed against each other, yet Long Yaochen's body shuddered violently.

Half of his skin glowed blazing white, while the other half froze over with jade-green frost.

Long Xiaoyao's expression changed slightly.

Fortunately, in the next instant, ash-gray runes emerged from Long Yaochen's brow and formed an ancient seal, forcibly pressing Ice Empress's Soul Bone into the depths of the Sea of Spirit for the time being.

It was neither absorbed nor truly fused with his body. It was merely stored there temporarily.

Like an Ice Star sealed in the deep sea, it floated silently and dangerously.

A long while later, the ash-gray light in Long Yaochen's eyes gradually receded. He staggered half a step and nearly fell.

Long Xiaoyao reached out and pressed a hand against his shoulder. "Did it work?"

Long Yaochen's face was pale, but he slowly smiled.

"It worked."

From the depths of the Sea of Spirit, a cold yet weak voice rang out at that moment.

"Human, don't forget what you promised me."