On the Ice Plains, the clash between two domains had continued for half an incense stick.
The black-and-red Divine Slaughter's Domain and the ice-blue Domain of Ice and Snow had been locked in a tug-of-war at their boundary, neither willing to yield an inch.
Cracks had spread across the ice, growing ever more numerous and dense.
Shards of ice were swept up by the shock waves, spinning and colliding in midair with a faint, tinkling sound.
Ice Empress stood atop an Ice Hill, her azure vertical pupils fixed on the purple-black figure in the middle of the battlefield.
She could tell that Luo Yun's Soul Power was being depleted, but he recovered far too quickly.
The Source of Life replenished his losses every moment, like a bottomless pit that could never be filled.
Snow Empress had realized this as well.
She watched the child across from her, his whole body wrapped in purple-black lightning, and a trace of unwillingness flashed through her ice-blue eyes.
Her Domain of Ice and Snow was stronger than his Divine Slaughter's Domain, her cultivation was higher, and she had more combat experience.
But even in a place as richly blessed as the Far North, her Soul Power recovered more slowly than his.
Two sources, Destruction and Life, were operating within this child at once. One handled offense, the other sustained him. He couldn't be killed, and he couldn't be worn down.
It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough. It was that this child simply defied all reason.
Snow Empress drew a deep breath and withdrew her Domain of Ice and Snow.
"I concede." Her voice wasn't loud, but it was clear.
Luo Yun froze for a moment.
He'd thought Snow Empress would keep fighting. With her strength, she could have held out for at least several more hours.
If he showed even the slightest opening, he might lose.
The Divine Slaughter's Domain surged around him once, then slowly receded into his body. The purple-black mist dispersed across the Ice Plains.
He planted the Moon Eclipse Sword in the ice beside him and looked at Snow Empress with his scarlet eyes. There was no pride, no mockery, not even the slightest trace of any other emotion. He quietly waited for her to speak again.
Snow Empress stood there, her ice-blue gown fluttering gently in the wind.
"Bing'er was right. You have the potential to become a god." Her voice was calm.
"I, Snow Empress, keep my word. I accept my defeat."
She lowered herself to one knee, her ice-blue hair falling beside her. She placed her right hand over her chest and bowed her head slightly.
This was the most solemn rite of submission among the Ferocious Beasts of the Far North.
Luo Yun looked at her in silence for a moment, then nodded.
He said nothing more. Pulling the Moon Eclipse Sword from the ice with his right hand, he rested its tip on the ground.
The dusky violet magic circle unfolded once more. Ancient patterns spread outward from him, enveloping him and Snow Empress.
This time, the circle spread faster, its light brighter.
The power of the contract linked the two of them. Luo Yun could feel a soul far more powerful and ancient than Ice Empress's opening itself to him, carrying memories spanning hundreds of thousands of years.
The birth of ice and snow, the changes in the Far North, countless lonely days and nights.
Snow Empress also felt what came from Luo Yun: the ruins of Frost Ridge City, a burning sky, familiar faces lying in pools of blood, and a hatred so intense it could nearly drown a person.
Her heart trembled faintly.
Half an hour later, the magic circle faded away.
Snow Empress's body turned transparent and became a streak of ice-blue light that entered the Moon Eclipse Sword, where it coexisted with Ice Empress's emerald light inside the Contract Space.
Two voices rang out in his mind at once.
Destruction Nine Trials, Fifth Trial complete. Reward: twenty percent affinity with the Origin of Destruction. Life Nine Trials, Fifth Trial complete. Reward: twenty percent affinity with the Source of Life.
As the voices faded, Luo Yun's eyes changed color abruptly.
His left eye was emerald green as jade, and his right eye was dusky violet as the Abyss.
Two rays of light burst from his body at once. A rich aura of life surged from his left hand, while dusky violet Destruction Thunder sprang from his right.
Ice Empress and Snow Empress both reached out from the Contract Space with their senses. In that instant, they shared the same illusion.
This human's aura was stronger than before.
It wasn't an increase in Soul Power, but an elevation at the level of his very essence, as if something had awakened deep within his soul.
Luo Yun closed his eyes and felt the new power within him, then opened them again.
Two voices rang out in his mind once more.
One was low and cold: "Destruction Nine Trials, Sixth Trial: Find your parents and stay by their side for six years. Time limit: seven years. Reward: thirty percent affinity with the Origin of Destruction. Failure penalty: death."
The other was gentle and clear: "Life Nine Trials, Sixth Trial: Complete the Sixth Trial of the Destruction Nine Trials. Time limit: seven years. Reward: thirty percent affinity with the Source of Life. Failure penalty: death."
Luo Yun froze.
Stay by their side.
From the Slaughter Arena to the massacre of a city, from encountering Ferocious Beasts to subduing the Heavenly Kings, every one of his God Trials had been about killing, conquest, and destruction.
He'd thought the road ahead would continue this way: cut down every enemy in his path until he became a god.
But this time, his God Trial asked him to "stay by someone's side."
Not conquer. Not hunt. Stay by someone's side.
Luo Yun fell silent for a long time.
The intense killing intent in his scarlet eyes seemed to have been put on pause by something.
"Have you ever seen any humans enter the Far North?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.
Ice Empress poked her head out of the Contract Space, her emerald-green form hovering beside Luo Yun.
She thought for a moment, then tapped the ice with one of her pincers.
"Yes." Her tone turned serious.
"Half a month ago, one of my people told me that several human Titled Douluo had broken into the depths of the Far North. They all carried the stench of blood—not the kind left behind by hunting Soul Beasts, but the kind that clings to someone after they've killed many people."
Luo Yun's pupils contracted slightly.
"They seemed to be heading toward the territory of the Titan Snow Demon King."
Luo Yun's breathing suddenly quickened.
He said nothing, but Ice Empress could feel his Soul Power surging violently.
"Take me there." Luo Yun's voice was even, but Ice Empress could hear the force beneath that calm, ready to explode at any moment.
"Okay."
Ice Empress didn't hesitate.
Emerald light surged from her body as she returned to her true form.
A translucent, jade-green Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, nearly two meters long, stood on six slender legs planted firmly on the ice. Its tail arched high, the azure tip of its stinger gleaming with an eerie light in the dim glow of the Far North.
Luo Yun leaped onto Ice Empress's back.
He gripped a ridge on her back armor to steady himself.
"Hold on tight." Ice Empress's voice rang out, and then she was off.
Her six legs raced across the ice, moving at an astonishing speed. The scenery blurred into streaks of white before Luo Yun's eyes.
Wind roared past his ears, stinging his face.
Meanwhile.
The territory of the Titan Snow Demon King.
The deepest part of the Far North, where the temperature was lowest and the conditions most brutal.
Inside an ice cave.
Before you continue