The Snow Empress Reduced to a Clown, A Strange Soul Ring!

The gold-and-gray formation lines lit up across the hard black-ice floor.

Electrolux straightened his back, his hands rapidly forming seals before his chest.

Two utterly different magical elements—light and death—intertwined in midair, precisely entering every node of the formation.

"Formation activate, soul condense!"

Electrolux slammed both hands downward.

Snow Empress, seated at the yin formation eye, closed her eyes. Her body, formed from the pure ice and snow of the Extreme North, began to dissipate from her toes upward under the formation's extraction.

The white essence of ice and snow turned into countless specks of light. Rather than scattering into the air, they flowed continuously along the gold-and-gray formation patterns into the energy vortex overhead.

As the light shifted, the countless drifting white motes gathered once more at the center of the formation eye.

Long, slender legs, a narrow waist, and white hair that reached her ankles.

Snow Empress's figure condensed once again.

This time, she no longer possessed a physical body of flesh and blood, having transformed into a pure energy form.

She opened her eyes and lowered her head to inspect her translucent palm, her ice-blue eyes filled with curiosity.

The change in her life form brought an unprecedented sense of lightness. The shadow of the heavenly tribulation that had weighed over her for nearly seven hundred thousand years completely vanished at that moment.

The Soul Spirit transformation was complete.

"It's time to fuse." Seeing this, Xiao Yan stepped forward half a pace.

With a thought, he connected to his Sea of Consciousness.

The space before him shook violently, massive cracks spreading in every direction.

The Mystic Yellow Gilded Gold Eastern Emperor Bell tore through space and descended with a thunderous boom.

This ancient divine artifact did not land in Xiao Yan's hands. Instead, it floated in midair between the two of them.

Xiao Yan was not about to do something as stupid as holding up the Eastern Emperor Bell. Its true weight was enough to crush stars, far beyond that scrap metal weighing one hundred and eight thousand jin in some Sea God's hand.

If he really tried to hold it up, he would be crushed into pulp on the spot.

The Eastern Emperor Bell floated silently, the divine patterns of sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, and wind engraved upon its surface flowing with a dim gleam.

The vast aura of suppressing all heavens and worlds made even the black ice throughout the ice cavern groan under the strain.

Snow Empress stared at the enormous bell before her, her eyes full of gravity.

She had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and seen countless top-tier Martial Souls, yet the majesty emanating from this bronze bell filled even her, the Lord of the Far North, with reverent awe.

"To become an accessory to such a Martial Soul would not disgrace the name of Snow Empress."

She silently assessed it, then flashed forward, transforming into a streak of pure white light and charging directly toward the Eastern Emperor Bell, ready to complete the final step of taking residence and fusing with it.

"Clang—!"

A deep bell toll, carrying obvious protest, exploded through the ice cavern.

Before the white streak Snow Empress had become could touch the bell's surface, a tyrannical current of chaotic energy fiercely slapped her away.

She reappeared in midair in her Soul Spirit form, clutching her ears with both hands. Her head buzzed, and even her consciousness blurred briefly beneath the bell's vibrations.

She steadied herself and stared at the Eastern Emperor Bell in utter astonishment, completely unable to understand what had happened.

Xiao Yan stood to the side and watched Snow Empress get bounced away. He helplessly shook his head without rushing to explain. He understood the temperament of his Second Martial Soul far too well.

"Hahahahaha!"

Electrolux, standing at the edge of the formation, could not hold it in any longer and burst into unrestrained laughter.

The Holy Necromancer laughed so hard that he bent over, his beard trembling wildly.

Over the past few months, while studying the divine patterns in the Sea of Consciousness, he had been sent flying by the Eastern Emperor Bell every few days, battered and disoriented each time.

Now that he had finally seen the proud Snow Empress suffer rejection from the bell as well, the balance in his heart was instantly restored.

After laughing for quite a while, Electrolux finally noticed Snow Empress's increasingly icy gaze.

He was already quite advanced in years. Gloating so openly before a junior truly was improper.

He hurriedly raised a hand, a ball of white light glowing at his fingertips. He cast a muscle-stiffening spell on his own face, forcibly suppressing the reckless curve of his lips.

Electrolux cleared his throat, doing his best to make his tone sound tactful.

"Well... Snow Empress, don't take it to heart. This bell has a very strange temperament. It cares a great deal about first impressions, and it is extremely picky about what it eats. It may have bounced you away because it thinks your energy doesn't suit its taste."

Snow Empress understood the implication behind his words.

This Martial Soul was actually looking down on her?

She was the sovereign of the Extreme North, an unparalleled savage beast with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, someone who could walk unhindered across the entire continent. She had voluntarily become a Soul Spirit, only to be looked down upon by a Martial Soul?

Snow Empress's chest rose and fell violently, her ice-blue eyes filled with unwillingness and humiliation.

She gritted her teeth as frigid energy surged around her, clearly ready to confront this bronze bell head-on and settle who was superior.

Seeing that things were going badly, Xiao Yan hurriedly stepped forward.

If Snow Empress truly collided with the Eastern Emperor Bell, the Soul Spirit that had only just been transformed would likely be crushed into nothingness on the spot.

"Calm down."

Xiao Yan raised a hand to soothe Snow Empress, then immediately closed his eyes and began negotiating with the Eastern Emperor Bell on a spiritual level.

"Give me some face, will you?" Xiao Yan pressed his consciousness against the Eastern Emperor Bell and sent over his thoughts.

"After all, she's the most powerful energy form in this plane. At my current stage of cultivation, I need this power as a foundation. Even if you're picky, you need to consider the circumstances. This is the middle of nowhere, so just make do with it for now."

Though the Eastern Emperor Bell was arrogant to its core, it still held absolute respect for Xiao Yan, its host.

Upon hearing Xiao Yan's coaxing, the bell gave several low hums and reluctantly agreed.

Xiao Yan opened his eyes, but before he could remind Snow Empress—

Light flashed across the Eastern Emperor Bell's surface as a powerful law of spatial transference activated directly.

Snow Empress did not even see what happened. Her vision blurred, and she was forcibly dragged beside the bronze bell and instantly sucked into its body.

The fusion was completed in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Yan stepped forward and carefully examined the Eastern Emperor Bell's surface.

After searching for quite some time, he finally found a blurry Snow Empress mark no larger than a fingernail in the most inconspicuous corner at the very bottom of the bell.

The mark was pitifully small. Before the ancient divine patterns of sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, and wind, it seemed humble enough to sink into the dirt.

Xiao Yan's lips twitched. It had truly embodied the words "making do" to perfection.

He had no time to care what Snow Empress might be feeling inside the bell. Now that the fusion was complete, it was time to receive the massive energy feedback brought by a seven-hundred-thousand-year Soul Spirit.

Xiao Yan retreated two steps and sat down cross-legged, centering himself as he fully circulated the Art of the Fuxi Emperor, preparing to guide the vast Soul Power through his meridians.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, Snow Empress's energy poured down.

Xiao Yan's Soul Power rose accordingly.

Level fifty.

Level fifty and a half.

Level fifty-one!

After breaking through the barrier to level fifty-one, Xiao Yan held his breath and focused, waiting for the even fiercer surge of energy to follow.

One second. Ten seconds. Half a minute.

His meridians were utterly calm. There was no movement at all.

Xiao Yan abruptly opened his eyes, his face full of disbelief.

No more energy?

An unparalleled savage beast with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation had transformed into a Soul Spirit, yet the energy it fed back to him was only enough to raise him one level?

He turned to look at the Eastern Emperor Bell floating in midair.

The enormous bell hung there quietly. The sheen flowing across its surface seemed just a tiny bit brighter than before, carrying the lazy air of someone who had eaten and drunk their fill.

Xiao Yan instantly understood. This damn bell might have acted disdainful, but when it came to devouring energy, it had not held back in the slightest. It had directly embezzled ninety-nine percent of Snow Empress's origin energy!

Just as Xiao Yan was about to question this bandit-like behavior, a sudden change occurred.

A strange Spirit Ring rose from beneath his feet without any warning.

This Spirit Ring was neither white, yellow, purple, nor black. It was not the blood-red color of a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring, nor was it the orange-gold a savage beast Spirit Ring should possess.

Its color was a wondrous Mystic Yellow Gilded Gold, identical to the color of the Eastern Emperor Bell's body, carrying the vast desolation of primordial chaos.

As this Mystic Yellow Spirit Ring stabilized, a profound stream of information was directly branded into Xiao Yan's Sea of Consciousness.

It was the first soul skill of his Second Martial Soul, the Eastern Emperor Bell.

The instant he finished reading the effect of this soul skill, Xiao Yan froze where he stood. His deep black eyes widened sharply, and he was completely stunned.