But on the other side, Kong Deming's expression had already turned grim.
As a Level-9 Soul Engineer, he could sense exactly what kind of existence that aura belonged to.
It wasn't an ordinary Ferocious Beast at all. It was a king who stood at the very pinnacle of the Far North!
Yet before he could react further,
Snow Empress's crystal-blue eyes had already swept over to him.
Wherever her gaze passed, even space seemed about to freeze solid.
She remembered her failed attempt, the humiliation of being ambushed by humans and imprisoned inside the God Sealing Platform.
She remembered that her path to rebirth had been cut off for good.
That meant she would surely die in the next heavenly tribulation.
If that was the case, then every human involved in this, every one of her enemies, could join her in the grave!
Snow Empress rose slowly into the sky, her icy-blue hair streaming in the wind, her peerless face as cold as frost.
The snowstorm beneath her feet transformed into a throne.
At that moment, she seemed less like a Soul Beast and more like an unrivaled emperor who ruled over the ice and snow of heaven and earth.
Her cool, majestic voice rang out slowly across the world.
"Emperor's Palm—Great Cold Without Snow."
She struck out with one palm, and all the frigid currents in the world seemed to be drained away in an instant.
It wasn't that the cold had vanished. Rather, all the chill had been compressed to its absolute minimum. Wherever it passed, layer upon layer of icy-blue ripples began to ripple through space.
Then Snow Empress waved her jade-like hand again, her peerless dance blossoming in the air.
"Emperor's Cold Heaven—Snow Dance Shines Upon the Sun!"
Endless snowstorms surged into the sky, and a radiant, icy-blue sun hung above the firmament.
The entire Far North Ice Plains seemed to answer her summons.
The laws of ice and snow descended upon the world!
Only now did Xu Tianyao finally get a clear look at Snow Empress.
An icy-blue gown, skin like snow and bones like jade. Her flawless face seemed almost unreal, as though it had gathered all the ethereal beauty of ice and snow in the world.
Noble, cool, holy, and untouchable.
Her beauty was utterly different from Meng Hongchen's youthful, lively charm.
It was peerless splendor, towering above all living beings.
For a moment, Xu Tianyao stared, lost in a daze.
Meanwhile, Kong Deming, who was holding him, had completely lost his composure.
"Emperor's Palm?"
"Emperor's Cold Heaven?"
Kong Deming's face was stricken with alarm, and his voice even wavered.
"Damn it!"
"It's Snow Empress, the foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North!"
"What on earth did those lunatics from the Holy Spirit Cult do?"
"They actually dared to target the Heavenly Snow Woman?!"
Kong Deming couldn't help cursing aloud, his heart churning like a storm-tossed sea.
This was the Far North, Snow Empress's absolute domain, which she had ruled for hundreds of thousands of years.
They had provoked a terrifying being of the seven-hundred-thousand-year level.
Even he wasn't remotely confident he could get out of this unscathed.
One wrong move, and he might well meet his end here today.
Seeing the gleaming ice spikes drawing closer and the Emperor's Palm descending from the sky,
Kong Deming tucked Xu Tianyao under one arm as the sixth Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring on his body lit up.
"Sixth Soul Skill—Space Teleportation."
"Second Soul Skill—Moon Shadow Clone."
Kong Deming didn't dare take any chances. He had no intention of engaging Snow Empress in a fight to the death here.
He had only one goal now: get out of here as fast as possible, take Xu Tianyao away from the Far North, and escape Snow Empress's pursuit.
The icy-blue Emperor's Palm clashed violently with the silvery-white Moon Blade.
A blinding white light blossomed in the sky, and glaciers across dozens of miles shattered layer by layer.
Countless blocks of ten-thousand-year-old ice were hurled high into the air, then turned into a rain of ice crystals by the extreme cold.
Kong Deming was thrown back several thousand meters.
The armor covering his body shuddered violently, hairline cracks appearing across it.
On the other side, Snow Empress was faring no better.
Her once-solid form had grown faintly translucent, her icy-blue hair fluttering in the wind, a hint of pallor crossing her peerless face.
At her peak, she could have wiped out a mere human Titled Douluo with a wave of her hand.
But now, after her failed transformation had gravely damaged her origin, she had also forced her way out of her seal.
Her strength had fallen far below its former level. To fight Kong Deming to this extent by relying on the Far North's home-ground advantage was already no small feat.
Even so, the killing intent in her eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
Humans had destroyed her future and doomed her to eternal ruin. She would have her revenge!
Ice and snow once again gathered furiously from every direction.
The entire world was answering the will of this Ice and Snow Emperor.
Kong Deming's expression grew even grimmer at the sight.
He knew all too well that if the fight continued, things would only get worse.
This was the Extreme North Core Circle. If the disturbance grew any larger,
not just Snow Empress, but Ice Empress, Titan Snow Demon King, and even some terrifying beings slumbering in the depths of the Far North might be roused.
By then, he and Xu Tianyao would truly have no chance of survival.
But just as Kong Deming was about to bring out the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield and go all out, his attention was suddenly drawn to a figure.
While the two were locked in fierce combat, a snow-white figure was walking toward them step by step, braving the raging storm.
And that person was none other than Xu Tianyao!
"Tianyao!"
Kong Deming was horrified and shouted in alarm.
"Come back!"
But Xu Tianyao acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.
The bone-chilling wind hammered against him. An ordinary Soul Master would have been frozen into an ice statue by now.
But the Sun Moon Martial Soul gave off a faint golden-silver radiance, keeping his body warm and allowing him to press on.
Xu Tianyao knew very well that if he let them keep fighting, the commotion would grow so great that Ice Empress and Soul Beasts like Xiao Bai might be drawn here. If that happened, their entire group would be doomed.
So this was their only chance.
If he won the bet, the future would be wide open.
If he lost, he'd just let his grandfather take over.
Either way, things couldn't get worse than they already were, could they?
At last, under Snow Empress's icy gaze,
Xu Tianyao stood between the two sides, staring resolutely at the emperor who dwelled in ice and snow!
"Snow Empress!"
His voice was torn apart by the gale, but it still reached Snow Empress's ears clearly.
"So what if you kill us?"
Snow Empress's icy-blue eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the human boy before her, puzzled.
Xu Tianyao continued, "Can you change your own fate?"
The moment he spoke, the wind and snow raged once more. Snow Empress's gaze turned cold, and she said icily, "Human, you're only a Soul Elder. How dare you bark at me like that? Are you looking to die?"
Xu Tianyao didn't back down.
"Am I wrong?"
"Your transformation has already failed."
"Your origin has been damaged."
"When the next heavenly tribulation comes, you'll still die."
"Even if you kill every one of us here today, you still won't escape death..."
Xu Tianyao hadn't finished speaking when a terrifying chill swept toward him.
The ice beneath his feet shot hundreds of meters into the air, lifting him aloft.
For the first time, genuine killing intent appeared in Snow Empress's eyes.
This was her deepest wound, the thing she least wanted to speak of.
Kong Deming was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead.
He even suspected Snow Empress would strike Xu Tianyao dead with one palm the very next second.
But Xu Tianyao suddenly changed tack.
"But what if I told you I had a way to keep you alive?"
Snow Empress froze, seemingly not expecting a human to say such a thing.
Her icy-blue eyes seemed able to see straight through Xu Tianyao's soul, making his heart pound wildly.
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