"The wind there seems so free."
"Don't you want to go and see for yourself?"
Ice Empress blinked twice.
Though she was usually short-tempered, when it came to Snow Empress, she had always done exactly as she was told.
"Since you say so, sister..."
"Then let's go take a look."
"We've been stuck in the Far North for hundreds of thousands of years. I'm sick of the place."
"If that Wind God turns out to be a fraud, we can always team up and tear his Godwind City apart!"
They acted as soon as the thought crossed their minds.
The two great kings didn't waste a moment.
In a flash, they became two streaks of light, tore through the blinding snowstorm, and sped straight south.
Just as they left the glacier,
the image on the Sky Curtain changed once more.
The golden scroll slowly unfurled,
dispersing the gentle breeze that had surrounded Bai Chenxiang.
A wave of cold swept over the land.
Even through the screen, Soul Masters across the continent felt the bone-chilling cold.
It wasn't killing intent.
It was pure, unadulterated cold.
Even the clouds around the Sky Curtain seemed on the verge of freezing over.
New words appeared before the eyes of the watching masses.
[Thirteenth Place]
Outside Godwind City,
Tang San and the others, who were leading their army toward the city, suddenly shivered.
"It's freezing..."
Ma Hongjun rubbed his arms and breathed out a plume of white mist.
"Why did it suddenly get so cold?"
Before anyone could react,
a scorpion appeared on the Sky Curtain, its entire body a deep jade green, as if carved from the finest emerald.
It wasn't large.
But its pair of pincers glinted with a cold light sharp enough to snip through the void.
Most striking of all was its long, hooked tail,
shimmering with a heart-stopping shade of green.
It merely lay there, yet fine ice crystals began forming in the space around it.
Then,
the name that made every living thing in the Far North tremble appeared on the ranking.
Golden seal-script characters slowly solidified across the Sky Curtain.
Every Soul Master on the continent, from Titled Douluo to newly awakened novices, held their breath.
Beneath the name in thirteenth place, more detailed information flowed down like a waterfall.
[Race: Ice Jade Empress Scorpion] [Bearer of Ultimate Ice, one of the rulers of the Far North Ice Plains] [Cultivation: 399,900 years (bottleneck)] [Assessment: Born of bitter cold, master of slaughter. Though it has yet to reach the 400,000-year mark, its combat strength is enough to contend head-on with a peak human Douluo of rank 97. If the battle takes place in the Far North, only a Limit Douluo can defeat it.]
Hiss—
Countless gasps rang out across every corner of the Douluo Continent.
Only a Limit Douluo could defeat it?
Everyone knew there were only two or three rank-99 Limit Douluo on the whole continent, at least as far as the public knew.
This wasn't a scorpion. It was a walking natural disaster!
Yet what truly drove all Soul Beasts—especially the high-ranking Ferocious Beasts clinging to life—to madness was the next line of golden text.
It represented the will of Heaven—or, more precisely, the reward bestowed by the Wind God, Barbatos.
[Reward for Making the Ranking] [One: Bloodline Purification: Evolve into the companion holy spirit of a "Heavenly Snow Woman" and receive the embryonic form of the Ice God Bloodline] [Two: Heavenly Tribulation Exemption: Be exempted from the 400,000-, 500,000-, and 600,000-year tribulations, and have your cultivation directly break through to 400,000 years!]
Boom!
At that moment, it wasn't only the Far North.
At the heart of the Star Dou Forest,
Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, who had been sleeping, abruptly opened her eyes. A rare flicker of emotion appeared in her purple eyes.
Di Tian shot out of Black Dragon Pool, his enormous dragon eyes fixed on the Sky Curtain, his breathing ragged.
"Exempted from tribulations..."
Di Tian's voice rumbled like thunder, thick with envy and even a hint of jealousy.
For Soul Beasts, cultivation meant defying Heaven.
The tribulation that struck once every hundred thousand years was the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
How many exceptionally gifted Ferocious Beasts had ultimately crumbled into Ashes of Tribulation?
And now,
that Wind God had casually handed out immunity from three tribulations?
What an astonishing display!
What incredible authority!
High above the skies outside Godwind City,
two streaks of light sped southward.
"Sister! Look! Look!"
The Ice Empress's usually haughty little face had turned scarlet with excitement.
She pointed at the Sky Curtain, gripping Snow Empress's hand so tightly that her fingers pressed in.
"Three tribulations exempted!"
"This empress won't have to fear that damned old Heaven anymore!"
"I can feel my whole body heating up. My bottleneck... my bottleneck is loosening!"
As the golden light from the Sky Curtain shone down, the jade-green radiance around the Ice Empress grew brighter and brighter.
Her cultivation, which had been stuck at the peak of 390,000 years, quietly crossed that threshold without a single thundercloud gathering.
Four hundred thousand years!
An even more terrifying chill burst from her petite body, freezing the clouds rushing past them into ice crystals in an instant.
Even Snow Empress's usually cool, exquisite face finally showed a trace of emotion.
Looking at her younger sister, who was cheering with delight, the last of her reservations melted away.
"It seems we made the right choice."
Snow Empress spoke softly.
"This Wind God has command of rules far beyond anything we can comprehend."
"To alter the rules of tribulation at will... that's already a feat on the level of a God King."
The Ice Empress excitedly waved her little fists, her twin tails whipping wildly in the wind.
"Come on, come on!"
"Sister, let's hurry!"
"I want to meet this Venti!"
"If he's easy on the eyes, this empress might even consider working for him!"
The Ice Empress wasn't the sort of scorpion to enjoy a favor without repaying it.
Her initial curiosity had now become an urgent desire to meet him.
The two of them stopped holding back.
The Far North's two great kings raced at full speed, streaking through the sky and leaving two long, icy trails of light behind them.
Godwind City, in the rear garden of the City Lord Mansion,
Venti was sitting on the branch of a huge apple tree, holding a wine bottle he'd pulled from God knows where and gently swaying it in his hand.
A breeze brushed his cheek and ruffled the ombré locks at his temples.
"Hmm..."
Venti stopped drinking and tilted his head slightly, gazing toward the northern sky.
His emerald eyes reflected the drifting clouds.
"What a refreshing breeze."
He chuckled, his tone light and carefree.
"Looks like we have visitors from afar."
"They've brought the scent of snow and ice, and... hmm, a desire to pick a fight?"
Venti nimbly hopped down from the tree, landing without a sound.
He looked toward Bai Chenxiang, who was nearby, getting used to her new Martial Soul.
Pale green currents of air swirled around Bai Chenxiang.
The pupils of her once clear black-and-white eyes now bore faint runes of the wind element.
They were still immature, but already carried a hint of the power of an Anemo Vision.
"Chenxiang."
Venti called to her.