Dialogue with Ice Empress

Under Huo Yuhao's reassurance, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gradually regained his composure. At this point, his obsession with becoming a god outweighed his attitude toward the Ice Empress.

In the original story, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had even considered forcibly killing the Ice Empress and absorbing her soul ring. It was just unknown how he had planned to make Huo Yuhao absorb a hundred-thousand-year soul ring.

Even so, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm still said to Huo Yuhao with some concern, "According to my calculations, Bingbing's end is approaching too. This..."

Huo Yuhao interrupted Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and said, "With the Ice Empress's abilities, as long as she doesn't lose her mind and trigger the heavenly tribulation herself, she has at least several decades left. If I can't become a god within a few decades, then I'll have no hope for the rest of my life anyway."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded at this. Huo Yuhao's words were not without reason, and over such a long span of time, there would be plenty of variables.

Huo Yuhao continued, "However, although we aren't planning to fuse with the Ice Empress right now, you still need to call her out. I have something to say to her."

The confusion in Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's eyes deepened, but out of trust in Huo Yuhao, he chose to comply.

After saying that, Huo Yuhao relinquished partial control of his body, allowing Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to release his spiritual power.

Within Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, the ten "suns" belonging to Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shone brilliantly together, and spiritual ripples spread outward with Huo Yuhao at their center.

At this moment, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fully unleashed his spiritual power. Its range was so vast that it nearly encompassed everywhere he wished to cover; at least one-third of the Far North's core region lay beneath his spiritual detection.

Even the sky was veiled in a layer of gray darkness by that immense spiritual power.

And the Ice Empress, ranked second among the Three Great Kings of the Far North, was within the range of his spiritual power.

The pitch-black sky turned emerald green in an instant, a crystalline and alluring green, as though the lofty heavens had suddenly become an enormous emerald gemstone.

The oppressive atmosphere in the air vanished in that instant, disappearing without a trace.

When the emerald green spread to within a thousand-meter radius of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Huo Yuhao sensed the Ice Empress's aura.

"Tian Meng, you're actually still alive. You truly are the longest-lived creature in our Far North." A crisp voice rang out from all directions.

The appearance of that voice was accompanied by terrifying sound waves. The snow on the ground surged nearly three meters into the air in an instant, like suddenly raised waves.

Only the area within a hundred-meter radius around Huo Yuhao remained calm, entirely protected by the immense spiritual power radiating from Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

The moment that voice descended, Huo Yuhao cut off Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's control, leaving only the lingering waves of spiritual power that had yet to dissipate completely to protect himself from being crushed to death by the Ice Empress.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm protested fiercely in Huo Yuhao's mind, but Huo Yuhao treated it as mere bird chirping. At that moment, the Ice Empress's voice came again, carrying a trace of astonishment.

"Hm? In your current state... have you possessed a human?" The Ice Empress's voice carried hints of doubt and curiosity.

Huo Yuhao curled his lips into a smile and said to the sky, "Show yourself first if you have something to say."

A few traces of chill entered the Ice Empress's voice as she said impatiently, "Human, do you think you have the right to bargain with me?"

Huo Yuhao folded his arms and said evenly, "Whether you want to make a big fuss of it is up to you. But you can't do anything to me."

As he spoke, a brand-new eye abruptly opened beneath Huo Yuhao's right eye.

The Void Eye activated, and Huo Yuhao's figure instantly vanished from the Ice Empress's sight.

The Ice Empress had been curious about what Huo Yuhao meant by saying she could do nothing to him when she suddenly sensed that the youth who had been within the range of her spiritual energy had disappeared.

After facing off for a moment, the dark sky returned to emerald green. A streak of emerald light cut a horizontal line across the heavens, and with little more than a flash, a soul beast appeared upon the empty snowfield.

It was a scorpion, one and a half meters long, with two colors on its body: one was the color of ice, and the other was emerald green.

The front half of its body consisted of four overlapping layers, each slightly over half a foot long. Its head rested upon the foremost layer, and its silver-white mouthparts glimmered with a faint, icy light.

Those four overlapping sections of its forebody were covered in strange, special scales.

[You have witnessed the Ice Empress's true form and unlocked a special eye—the Ice God Pupil. Your understanding of the ice element has risen by one level. The affinity of all ice-element soul beasts and soul masters in the world toward you has increased by thirty percent. Your second martial soul has ascended to the Ultimate Ice state.]

The system's voice suddenly sounded after the Ice Empress descended, and another icy blue-green eye split open on Huo Yuhao's arm.

No wonder she was the extraordinarily beautiful ice-element soul beast described at such length in the original story, Huo Yuhao praised inwardly. Then, he reappeared before the Ice Empress.

"I'm out now. If you have something to say, say it quickly!" Upon seeing Huo Yuhao, the Ice Empress suddenly felt a strange sensation flash through her heart and spoke irritably.

Huo Yuhao smiled and looked at the Ice Empress. "Tian Meng and I made an agreement. The general idea is that he'll sacrifice himself to me, then push me onto the path of becoming a god."

The Ice Empress immediately cut in, "So what? That disgusting fellow sent you to find me and wants me to join your plan too, becoming your second martial soul?"

Huo Yuhao smiled, spread his hands, and said to the Ice Empress, "You're mostly right, but there's one part you got wrong."

The Ice Empress raised a brow. Looking at Huo Yuhao, she held a pair of massive pincers directly before him. "Stop keeping me in suspense."

Instead, Huo Yuhao felt a faint urge to conquer her. He vanished before the Ice Empress again, and when he reappeared, he was standing atop one of her massive pincers.

"Release your spiritual origin first, then speak. I know you can." After saying that, Huo Yuhao disappeared from the spot again.

"You!!!" The Ice Empress was furious, but after a long while, she still chose to compromise. After all, this concerned her life, and she understood her own condition better than anyone. It would be difficult for her to survive the great tribulation of four hundred thousand years.

Even an ant cherished its life, let alone an existence with cultivation like hers.

However, although the Ice Empress appeared to have compromised, she still released her spiritual origin with great caution and did not release all of it.

Instead, she used no more than half of her spiritual origin to form a human body outside herself...