The Only Time I Can Beat You

"This is... a necromantic creature? A necromancer resides within your Sea of Consciousness?" Ice Empress's voice carried a trace of shock she could not conceal.

"Holy Necromancer," Electrolux corrected, his tone tinged with a faint dissatisfaction. "Little Scorpion, in terms of seniority, you should address me as a senior."

The phantom of Ice Empress flickered, seemingly choked by the term "Little Scorpion." Having lived in the Far North for four hundred thousand years and cultivated step by step from an ordinary Ice Jade Scorpion into one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, it had been a very, very long time since anyone dared speak to her in such a tone.

But now, she was merely a wisp of a remnant soul, residing within Mu Chen's Sea of Consciousness, and the aura radiating from the gray orb that called itself the Holy Necromancer was indeed unfathomably ancient.

Even in her prime, she might not have been able to see through the origin of this gray orb.

"Hmph." Ice Empress let out a cold snort, ignoring Electrolux further, and turned toward Mu Chen's consciousness.

Her expression grew complex; less than an hour ago, she was the high and mighty one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, and he was a human Soul Master begging for a soul ring before her.

Now, she was his soul ring, living in his Sea of Consciousness, sharing his glory and his ruin.

This reversal of status was something that would take time for any Beast to digest.

"Mu Chen." She called his name, her tone awkward and stiff.

This was the first time she had called his name as an equal.

Mu Chen's consciousness faced her in the Sea of Consciousness and bowed slightly. It was not the reverence of a Soul Master toward a soul ring, but the respect of one who had fulfilled a promise toward one who had kept her word.

"Take me to see Snow Empress," Ice Empress said. Her voice was very soft, so soft it was almost blown away by the wind in the void of the Sea of Consciousness.

That caution did not belong to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, nor to the Three Great Heavenly Kings; it was a companion who had never learned how to express herself throughout the long years, saying "I want to see her" in her own way.

Mu Chen opened his eyes and stood up from the ice. The emerald beam of light had dissipated, and the sky of the Core Area of the Far North was once again covered by lead-gray clouds.

The permafrost beneath his feet had shattered into spiderweb-like cracks from the impact of the sacrifice, spreading for hundreds of meters with him at the center.

In the distance, the auras of several ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts were cautiously approaching; they had been drawn by the commotion of the sacrifice, but were terrified by the lingering pressure of the four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast and dared not get too close.

He raised his left hand, his thoughts stirring. The ice-attribute power contained within the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Left Arm Bone flowed naturally, and the surrounding cold air automatically gathered toward him, forming an insulation layer on his skin more effective than the Crimson Flame Bead.

With the blessing of the Ice Empress's Left Arm Bone, the extreme cold of the Core Area of the Far North was no longer a threat to him; instead, it had become an asset. The ice elements in the air danced joyfully, as if welcoming a long-lost kin.

Mu Chen took a step and walked toward the deepest part of the Core Area.

Ice Empress guided the way from within his Sea of Consciousness. She told Mu Chen that the place where Snow Empress was in seclusion was in the hinterland of the highest ice peak in the center of the Core Area, where a naturally formed Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave existed—the place where the ice elements of the Far North were most concentrated, where even the air had been compressed into a liquid state.

That was Snow Empress's territory and the most dangerous place in the entire Far North; even Ice Empress herself would not approach it lightly while Snow Empress was in seclusion.

Snow Empress's aura during seclusion was extremely unstable, and every so often, an unconscious ice-sealing storm would erupt, freezing everything within dozens of miles into ice sculptures, as if time itself had stagnated in that region.

With the guidance of Ice Empress's aura, Mu Chen traveled without obstruction.

Several ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts, upon sensing the Ice Empress's aura on him, lowered their bodies from afar and cleared the path. Their eyes were filled with confusion—how could this human possess the aura of Lady Ice Empress? But that aura was unmistakable, and they dared not question it, let alone block his way.

After walking for about two hours, Mu Chen stood at the foot of the highest ice peak in the center of the Core Area.

Under the dim sky, this ice peak shimmered with a pale blue luster, composed entirely of pure ten-thousand-year cold ice, without a single impurity in the mountain body.

The surface of the ice peak was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the clouds slowly rotating in the sky. At the foot of the mountain, a natural barrier formed of ice crystals circled the area; each ice crystal was dozens of meters high, sharp as a spear, and arranged in a dense formation.

Mu Chen quickened his pace.

Passing through the ice crystal barrier and walking along a winding ice path for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, he suddenly stopped at a turn.

Ahead, a figure appeared.

It was a woman wearing a moon-white robe, her face appearing to be in her early twenties, with hair like snow cascading down to her waist.

Her features were exquisite to the point of being unreal, her skin as fair as porcelain, and her brows carried a coldness that was stern and inviolable.

One of her eyes was ice-blue, while the other was hidden by her cascading snow-white hair.

Snow Empress. The head of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, the seven-hundred-thousand-year cultivation Heavenly Snow Woman. No, it should be six hundred and ninety thousand years now; she had failed her heavenly tribulation, her cultivation had fallen, and she was being continuously eroded by the residual power of the tribulation.

She raised those ice-blue eyes and looked coldly at the uninvited guest before her. She only glanced once, and then her pupils contracted violently, for she sensed the aura on Mu Chen that she knew so well.

"Who are you? Where did you get the Ice Empress's aura on you?" Snow Empress's voice was icy.

Mu Chen did not answer; he allowed the remnant soul of Ice Empress in his Sea of Consciousness to project a phantom through his body.

Emerald light shone from between his brows, and a miniature version of Ice Empress appeared in the air in front of Mu Chen.

She looked at Snow Empress, at that pale face, and her lips moved, uttering only two words.

"Xue'er."

Ice Empress called Snow Empress by her name. Not "Snow Empress," not "Lord of the Far North," but "Xue'er." In the entire Far North, only Ice Empress dared to call Snow Empress that, and only when Ice Empress called her that would Snow Empress show that helpless and indulgent expression.

Snow Empress's body swayed.

She stared fixedly at Ice Empress's phantom, a silent storm brewing in her ice-blue eyes.

Her lips trembled, wanting to say something, but her throat felt as if it had been frozen. Her hand reached toward the phantom of Ice Empress, her fingertips passing through the translucent light, touching only the cold air of the Far North.

"Bing'er." Snow Empress's voice finally squeezed out from her throat, carrying a tremor suppressed to the extreme. "What have you done?"

Ice Empress smiled. It was the calmest smile Snow Empress had seen in the tens of thousands of years she had known her.

"I did what I wanted to do. I sacrificed myself to him. He has the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, enough to heal your wounds and help you break through the seven-hundred-thousand-year bottleneck. Xue'er, I could never beat you, but this is the only time I can win against you."