Time flew by, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Ice Empress had not taken Di Lintian through every corner of the Extreme North as he had expected.
Whenever Ice Empress arrived somewhere, she released her aura, drawing the surrounding Soul Beasts toward her.
This method was extremely efficient, but even so, Di Lintian's progress in the second trial had only reached halfway.
Today, he stopped atop a snow mountain in the Core Area.
It seems like I have quite a few Soul Skills now. Di Lintian quietly took stock.
Aside from my five Soul Skills, I also have three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
He had not realized it until he thought about it carefully. He really did have a lot.
"Hey, why did you stop? Do you know I'm short on time?" Ice Empress glanced at Di Lintian, who stood alone at the mountaintop in disarray.
"Well..." Di Lintian smiled awkwardly. "I just feel like I have too many Soul Skills. Spar with me a little. It won't take long."
Ice Empress impatiently waved her hand. "Hurry up."
"Then here I come." Di Lintian nodded, and his martial soul instantly possessed him. Five Soul Rings—purple, black, black, black, black—rose and pulsed around him.
"First Soul Skill, Dark Prison Roar."
"Fourth Soul Skill, Dark Abyss Dragon Domain."
"Third Soul Skill, Nirvana Dragon Breath."
Dense darkness spread outward from Di Lintian, and in almost an instant, it blanketed the entire mountain, plunging the surroundings into a darkness where one could not see a hand before one's face.
The Dark Demon Dragon King martial soul let out a resounding dragon roar. Then, its savage dragon head faced Ice Empress and slowly opened its abyssal maw.
Jet-black Nirvana Dragon Breath erupted forth, carrying the force of splitting the air as it reached Ice Empress in the blink of an eye.
Ice Empress did not take it seriously at all. She clicked her tongue and casually waved a hand, scattering the Nirvana Dragon Breath.
Di Lintian was not surprised. After all, he was merely a Soul King. How could he possibly hurt Ice Empress, who had more than three hundred thousand years of cultivation and the environmental advantage of the Extreme North?
"Again!"
"Fifth Soul Skill, Ten Thousand Dark Dragon Meteor!"
Countless black dragons surged out from behind Di Lintian. Their roars rang out without end as they descended upon Ice Empress like dark clouds blotting out the sky.
"Flashy but useless."
Ice Empress cast a sidelong glance at the black dragons filling the heavens, then slowly extended a finger.
In an instant!
Ultimate chill erupted, and the black dragons filling the sky instantly turned into exquisitely carved ice sculptures!
As expected of Ice Empress. She could actually wield Ultimate Ice with such mastery.
Di Lintian could also use Ultimate Ice. If he were Ice Empress, he would use the same method.
But he would freeze all the black dragons inside one enormous block of ice.
That was Ice Empress's ultimate control over the ice element: she could precisely condense ice onto every single black dragon.
"Watch my Soul Bone Skill." A faint glow radiated from Di Lintian's left arm. "Left Arm Soul Bone Skill, Eternal Night Rush!"
Eternal Night Rush was an utterly unreasonable Soul Skill. It ignored the difference in Soul Power between allies and enemies, increasing the user's speed by three hundred percent while reducing the enemy's speed by one hundred percent for three seconds!
Do not underestimate those three seconds. In a high-level battle, those three seconds could be fatal.
The Dragon Scale Sword appeared in Di Lintian's hand. With a tap of his toe, his figure instantly vanished.
One chilling sword mark after another appeared around Ice Empress, densely wrapping around her.
Di Lintian returned to his original position, his back to Ice Empress. The Dragon Scale Sword in his hand slowly vanished bit by bit, from its tip to its hilt.
As the Dragon Scale Sword disappeared, the cold gleam of the sword marks suddenly intensified, slashing across Ice Empress like a torrential storm.
"This move is somewhat interesting." Ice Empress stomped her foot, and powerful Soul Power erupted.
Crack—!
The sword marks shattered.
They had been forcibly crushed by Ice Empress's overwhelming Soul Power!
"Your Soul Skills are all quite good," Ice Empress said flatly. "But you are too weak."
?
—I asked you to spar with me. Why are you mocking me instead?
Di Lintian decided to let Ice Empress have a taste of some "good juice."
"Head Soul Bone Skill, Mental Interference."
Ice Empress did not notice any mental fluctuations.
—This guy isn't bluffing me, is he?
The instant this doubt surfaced in Ice Empress's mind, it vanished.
Her eyes became vacant, and she stood there in a daze.
"Second Head Soul Bone Skill, Soul Illusion!"
The two Soul Skills of Di Lintian's head Soul Bone worked best when used together. Mental Interference caused the enemy to fall into a daze.
Soul Illusion was very fragile. Even when Di Lintian activated it with the spiritual power of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, it could still be intercepted by a Soul Saint.
Therefore, when paired with Mental Interference, it could achieve a surprising effect.
The duration of Mental Interference had already passed, yet Ice Empress still stood there with vacant eyes.
But from her perspective, things were entirely different.
"Xue'er~" Ice Empress suddenly said.
Di Lintian did not know what Ice Empress had seen, but hearing that somewhat lovestruck "Xue'er~," he could roughly guess.
This was Soul Illusion's greatest flaw: Di Lintian could not know exactly what the enemy saw.
His assessment of it was that it was not even worth a fraction of Corridor of Heart Prison.
Corridor of Heart Prison could freely create an environment according to his will, and he could watch the entire process.
For example, he could make Tang Hao mistake Tang San for Ah Yin.
Or he could make Yu Xiaogang mistake Luo Sanpao for Liu Erlong.
Di Lintian shook his head, no longer letting his thoughts run wild.
Snap!
He snapped his fingers, and Ice Empress's eyes instantly regained their clarity.
"Xue'er—!"
Ice Empress shouted.
Their eyes met.
They stared at each other.
Silence filled the air.
"Di Lintian!!!" Ice Empress stomped hard, making the small mountain beneath her feet tremble. "What did you do to me?!"
Right now, she only wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
—What did I just see?
She recalled the scene from earlier. Xue'er had been utterly... proper...
The more she thought about it, the more ashamed and furious she became.
Emerald-green Soul Power fluctuations wrapped around her, and the petite little girl instantly transformed into a massive emerald-green scorpion.
—I have to admit, Ice Empress's true form is beautiful too.
Di Lintian thought to himself.
Then, the tone abruptly changed.
"Beautiful my ass!"
Ice Ember God Wings sprouted from Di Lintian's back.
Before Ice Ember God Wings could even flap and carry him away, the cold air pouring from the scorpion's mouth froze Di Lintian into a block of ice.
He could have made this block of Ultimate Ice disappear and flown away.
But he did not. Half of his divine trial still remained. If Ice Empress stopped helping him, how long would he have to fly to finish it himself?
He might as well let Ice Empress freeze him for a while and vent her anger.
He had many ways to make this block of Ultimate Ice disappear. For example, he could use Absolute Annihilation to erase it directly, use his ice wings, which approached absolute zero, to absorb it, or use his fire wings, whose fire attribute far surpassed Ultimate Fire, to melt it.
Di Lintian still had three Soul Bone Skills he had not used because they were unsuitable for use against Ice Empress.
They were Nest of Ten Thousand Abysses, the other Soul Skill of his left arm Soul Bone, as well as Soul-Devouring Demon Branch and Heart Locust Demon Seed, the two Soul Skills of his right arm Soul Bone.
With so many Soul Skills, should I recite them all once every morning when I wake up? Di Lintian pondered inside the ice block.
Before you continue