Ice God Inheritance

"There's a crack here. It seems like there's a huge space below."

Snow Empress stood before the pitch-black fissure and called out to Di Lintian.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go down and take a look."

Di Lintian rubbed his feet against the ice and glided lightly to Snow Empress's side like a breeze.

The two of them jumped into the fissure one after the other.

Inside the fissure, there was no sunlight, yet it was not dark. A straight ice pillar stood tall within.

It emitted a faint icy-blue glow that illuminated the surroundings. A beautiful woman was carved into the pillar, holding a snowflake in her palm.

"This is where the Ice God Inheritance is located." Di Lintian stepped forward and stroked the Ice God Pillar, which radiated waves of divine power.

"How do we activate the Ice God Inheritance?" Snow Empress asked in confusion. "Shouldn't a place where a divinity is passed down have a guardian?"

Just as Di Lintian was about to shake his head, the Ice God Pillar began to emit a faint divine power.

It condensed in the air into the phantom of a woman.

"After all these years, someone has finally reached this place."

The woman parted her crimson lips and looked down at Di Lintian and Snow Empress.

"Greetings, Senior Ice God."

Di Lintian noticed that she was identical to the woman carved on the Ice God Pillar and immediately greeted her respectfully.

Snow Empress followed Di Lintian's lead and offered her greetings as well.

"You two lucky little ones. You dared to come to a place where a divinity is passed down in the bodies of Soul Beasts. Aren't you afraid of being erased outright?" The Ice God's phantom swept around them and teased them.

"But didn't you refrain from acting, Senior?"

Di Lintian looked at the Ice God respectfully, without groveling.

Snow Empress said nothing.

If this had been the inheritance site of any other god, she would certainly have stayed far away. But this was the Ice God's inheritance site, and she was a Heavenly Snow Woman with the Ice God's bloodline flowing through her.

"You really are an interesting little fellow." The Ice God flew to the top of the Ice God Pillar and casually sat down with her legs crossed. "I have already fallen. This is merely a fragment of my divine consciousness. Before I fell, I left behind this inheritance of my divinity."

Recalling the past, the Ice God told the two of them:

"I was not human. Like you, I was also a Soul Beast. More precisely, I was like you," the Ice God said, pointing at Snow Empress.

"I was a Heavenly Snow Woman born in the Extreme North. In that era, Soul Beasts could still become gods. I gathered the faith of the Soul Beasts of the Extreme North and became the Ice God."

"After that, the God Realm erupted into the largest war in history. In that war, the Soul Beasts were defeated, the Dragon God was split into two, and the human gods began purging the Soul Beast gods. I was fortunate enough to survive that war, but I could not escape the reckoning of the gods."

You can escape the first day, but not the fifteenth.

Listening to the Ice God's account, Di Lintian sighed inwardly.

Snow Empress listened quietly as well. She was not surprised to learn that the Ice God belonged to the same race as her.

"Child, are you willing to accept the Ice God Inheritance?"

The Ice God floated down from the Ice God Pillar and arrived before Snow Empress. Her illusory palm lifted Snow Empress's delicate face as she asked softly.

"I am willing."

Snow Empress nodded solemnly, her tone firm.

"Don't agree so quickly. Once you become a god, the will of the continent will reject you and force you to ascend to the God Realm. And the God Realm will not permit a Soul Beast god to exist." The Ice God spoke again.

Di Lintian listened quietly. One question troubled him: the Dragon God had set the rules that Soul Beasts could not become gods, so how would the Ice God help Snow Empress become one?

Since he had thought of it, he asked, "Senior Ice God, aren't Soul Beasts unable to become gods?"

"Today, Soul Beasts have two paths to godhood. One is to take human form and cultivate anew. The other is to be like her and find a god willing to pass down their divinity to you." The Ice God pointed at Snow Empress as she answered Di Lintian's question.

"But the second path is impossible. No god in the God Realm will pass down their divinity to a Soul Beast, unless you can find another Soul Beast god like me."

"Then I am willing as well."

Snow Empress nodded firmly once more.

Even if she did not become a god, she had little confidence in facing the seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation ten thousand years from now.

Even if she successfully endured it, what about the eight-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation after that? Or the nine-hundred-thousand-year one?

Death would come sooner or later. Snow Empress wanted to see the view from the heights.

"Good. Step forward."

The Ice God flew back onto the Ice God Pillar and beckoned to Snow Empress.

Snow Empress stepped forward at her words. The moment her palm touched the Ice God Pillar, the Ice God's divine voice rang out.

Di Lintian raised his head and looked at the Ice God, who sat cross-legged and played with her fingers.

Then he looked at the Ice God Pillar from which the voice had emerged.

Well then, it was prerecorded after all.

[Heavenly Snow Woman, you have received a first-class assessment: Nine Trials of the Ice God!]

[After passing the Nine Trials of the Ice God, you will inherit the Ice God Divinity.]

[First Trial of the Nine Trials of the Ice God: Reach an age of six hundred thousand years.]

[Reward: Ice God Affinity increased by 10%.]

The Ice God Pillar paused for a long time when it reached the assessment reward, as though it were considering what reward to give.

"This is practically giving away an ocean of freebies."

Di Lintian muttered a complaint only he could hear.

Sure enough, the voice appeared again the next moment.

[First Trial of the Ice God, complete!]

[You have obtained 10% Ice God Affinity. Total affinity: 10%.]

Without pausing, the second trial immediately descended.

[Second Trial of the Nine Trials of the Ice God: Ascend the Throne.]

[Assessment content: Become the ruler of the Extreme North.]

[Reward: Ice God Affinity increased by 10%.]

?

Several black lines slid down Di Lintian's forehead.

Was the Ice God trying to make Snow Empress challenge the record for the fastest ascension to godhood?

The divinity inheritance was accepted at night, and by the next morning, she would become a god at light speed?

[Second Trial of the Ice God, complete!]

[You have obtained 10% Ice God Affinity. Total affinity: 20%.]

The third trial arrived immediately after the second concluded.

[Third Trial of the Nine Trials of the Ice God: Frozen Heart.]

[Assessment content: Remain conscious within Ten-Thousand Year Profound Ice for one year.]

[Assessment time limit: 10 years.]

[Reward: Ice God Affinity increased by 20%.]

"Looks like the Ice God still has some bottom line. She didn't just make Snow Empress a god outright."

Di Lintian breathed a sigh of relief. If Snow Empress became a god now, the God Realm would definitely take notice, which would also affect his plans.

"You come up as well."

The Ice God looked at Di Lintian and spoke softly.

"Yes."

Di Lintian placed his hand on the Ice God Pillar.

[Di Lintian, you have received a second-class assessment: Second-Class Five Trials.]

[First Trial of the Second-Class Five Trials: Inner Demon Illusion.]

[Assessment content: Eliminate the Inner Demon within the illusion.]

[Assessment time limit: one year.]

[Assessment reward: Soul Ring age increased by five thousand years. Obtain the right to use the Heart of the Ice God.]

The difference. This was the difference.

It was blatant preferential treatment.

Di Lintian felt indignant on his own behalf. Snow Empress had skipped two assessments in a row, while he was thrown straight into hell difficulty the moment he arrived.

What could he do? Snow Empress was practically the Ice God's biological daughter.

Thinking that Snow Empress and the Ice God belonged to the same race, and might really be related by blood, Di Lintian felt a little better.

But what exactly is this Heart of the Ice God?

"Senior Ice God, what is this Heart of the Ice God?" Di Lintian asked the Ice God.

"This thing."

The Ice God conjured a sharply angular snowflake that radiated the Ice God's divine power.

What was this thing for?

Di Lintian was somewhat confused, but in the next instant, his eyes lit up. He understood the Heart of the Ice God's purpose.

It was useful. Not merely useful—it was immensely useful.