After a brief hesitation, Yi Yi changed direction and ran toward where Jing Chen had pointed.
Seeing Black Tiger, who had been chasing it, run in another direction, the Snow Domain Ice Ape began to slow down before finally stopping.
Staring at Yi Yi's retreating figure, the Snow Domain Ice Ape howled repeatedly and even grabbed snow to throw in that direction.
After cursing for a while, it noticed the lightning above the distant mountain peak, and its body trembled involuntarily.
Its eyes revealed deep apprehension. It was an instinctive fear of the Lightning Tribulation.
It did not linger there either. Dropping to all fours, it bounded away.
The summit of the snowy mountain Jing Chen intended to reach was not flat, with many rocks covered in snow.
At the center of the summit sat a woman in white, cross-legged. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with exquisite features and skin fairer than snow, possessing a beauty capable of toppling cities.
Though she sat cross-legged, her slender, perfectly proportioned figure was still apparent. Her snow-white hair made her seem like an elf of the snow.
Compared to the woman's outstanding appearance, her name was even more extraordinary—one that carried immense intimidation.
Snow Empress. That was her name. The word "Empress" alone displayed her status and her formidable strength.
She was the ruler of the Far North, an existence akin to a female emperor, with cultivation that stood at the pinnacle of the present age.
Within this frozen environment, she was nearly invincible. Even Di Tian, known as the strongest being on the continent, could do nothing to her if he came here.
At this moment, Snow Empress was attempting something that could change her fate: Reforming and Re-cultivating.
Originally, with her terrifying cultivation nearing seven hundred thousand years, it would have been extremely difficult for her to take human form and follow the cultivation path of a Soul Master.
However, by a fortunate coincidence, she had obtained a Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, which gave her hope.
After studying it, she devised a method: use the Snow Lotus as a catalyst to seal her own Origin Source, then Reform and Re-cultivate.
She was now following the method she had devised, using the Snow Lotus's energy to seal her Origin Source.
This could be called an act defying heaven itself, which was why a Lightning Tribulation had appeared in the sky to stop her from Reforming and Re-cultivating.
Snow Empress was not confident she could withstand her seventh Heavenly Tribulation, but she could still handle this Lightning Tribulation with ease.
The Lightning Tribulation was about to disappear, and her seal was nearing completion. Her cultivation was already plummeting rapidly.
Four hundred thousand years, three hundred thousand years, two hundred thousand years... Before long, she fell below the hundred-thousand-year threshold.
She had now become a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, with less than a tenth of her peak combat strength remaining.
As her cultivation declined, her body was changing as well, growing younger and younger.
Her original body had looked like that of a twenty-year-old woman—not youthful and immature, yet not old either. It was the most beautiful stage of a woman's life.
When her cultivation fell to ten thousand years, her body changed from that of a twenty-year-old to that of an eleven- or twelve-year-old, gaining a youthful immaturity.
Her body was still changing. At this point, it was already about the same as that of a little girl several years old.
She had carefully selected this place. It was relatively remote, and Soul Beasts were rarely found here.
As for humans, there were even less chance of them appearing. This was the Core Circle of the Far North; humans did not have the nerve to come here.
With neither Soul Beasts nor humans around, she had devoted herself entirely to re-cultivating and paid little attention to her surroundings.
As the peak ruler of the Far North, every Soul Beast in the entire Far North had to obey her commands.
If she wished, she could have had many powerful Soul Beasts guarding her side.
Yet she had not done so, for a simple reason: she did not trust them. She might be the ruler of the Far North,
but she could not guarantee that every Soul Beast was loyal to her. Who could say whether a Soul Beast might attack while she was at her weakest?
Better safe than sorry. If she were attacked at her weakest, even the aftershock could be fatal.
She was unwilling to take that risk, so she had told no one and found a place to Reform and Re-cultivate alone.
Snow Empress had been very confident in this place she had carefully chosen, but nothing was ever absolute.
She never could have imagined that the humans she considered least likely to come would enter the Core Circle of the Far North.
And by sheer coincidence, one of them happened to encounter her while she was Reforming and Re-cultivating. More coincidentally still, this human had the means to subdue her.
There was some truth to the saying that coincidences made stories.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Reforming and Re-cultivating... I've truly struck it lucky this time. An elderly man in white robes was ecstatic inwardly.
He was currently hiding behind a rock, cautiously peeking out at the little girl whose body was mostly concealed by the rocks.
He stood behind and to Snow Empress's right. He could see Snow Empress, but Snow Empress could not see him.
In fact, even if he stood directly in front of Snow Empress, she might not have been able to see him.
Snow Empress's eyes were tightly shut. Without even opening them, how could she see?
Her senses had also become extremely dull due to her complete focus on re-cultivating, so weak that they could be ignored.
The old man had been here for more than ten minutes already, yet Snow Empress had not discovered him.
Had this been before her re-cultivation, the old man would already have been a corpse. How could he still be standing here, thrilled to himself?
The old man was no ordinary person. That was clear from the fact that he dared enter the Core Circle of the Far North.
He was a Title Douluo and also a Rank 9 Soul Engineer. His formidable strength gave him the courage to enter the Core Circle.
There had originally been no Rank 9 Soul Engineers on Douluo Continent. The old man was a Soul Engineer from the Sun Moon Empire.
His name was Long Tu. He was the clan head of a Soul Tool family within the Sun Moon Empire, and his Martial Soul was an Ice Flood Dragon.
He had traveled thousands of miles to the Far North of Douluo Continent mainly to test a newly developed Soul Tool: the God Sealing Platform.
This Soul Tool was considered his crowning achievement, a functional Rank 9 Soul Tool.
Its function was to seal Soul Beasts. Even powerful Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could be sealed by this God Sealing Platform.
His original purpose in developing this Soul Tool had been to make it easier for the children of his clan to come to the Far North to obtain Soul Rings.
His clan's Martial Soul was the Ice Flood Dragon, and they needed Ice Attribute Soul Rings, so they could only come to the dangerous Far North.
How to obtain Soul Rings more safely was something he, as the clan head, needed to consider. Thus, he developed this Soul Tool.
Long Tu carefully took out his prized creation, the God Sealing Platform, and began activating it.
The God Sealing Platform's appearance was rather simple. It was a circular platform with more than a hundred multicolored gemstones embedded around its edge.
"Hm?" The energy fluctuations released when the God Sealing Platform activated were at the Title Douluo level. Such powerful energy also alerted Snow Empress.
"Not good." Snow Empress realized danger had arrived, but she had no way to respond.
Her re-cultivation was at a critical juncture. She could not spare any attention, and even if she could, it would have been useless.
That was because she no longer possessed her former terrifying cultivation. She was weak to the extreme.
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