Persuading Snow Empress to Become Shui Bing'er's Wisdom Soul Ring

Meng Chen glanced at the Ten Thousand Year Snow Lotus.

This was practically hush money.

Meng Chen remembered that in the original story, Snow Empress eventually cultivated to seven hundred thousand years, but knowing she could not survive that Heavenly Tribulation, chose to seal her own origin and recultivate in human form.

An accident occurred during her transformation, and she was sealed by human Spirit Masters and even put up for auction. After being passed around, she ultimately fell into the hands of the one whose mother's keepsake was a dagger.

Although Snow Empress had not yet reached that point, she had likely already realized what awaited her in the future.

With that thought, Meng Chen looked at Shui Bing'er.

Shui Bing'er blinked her big, doll-like eyes, utterly confused.

Rather than let Snow Empress benefit that dog from the Tang Clan, it would be better to let his disciple benefit.

With an Ice Phoenix Martial Soul, her future achievements were destined to be extraordinary after cultivating the Nine Revolutions Ice Phoenix Art.

She possessed a resolute temperament and outstanding talent, and she also had him, her master, supporting her from behind.

Why could a disciple like this not bear Snow Empress's power?

Shui Bing'er's future path would never end at Titled Douluo. She had the potential to go farther, to reach the pinnacle of this world, perhaps even surpass it.

And Snow Empress could become one of the greatest sources of support on her path.

In turn, Shui Bing'er could become the bridge for Snow Empress to break through her bottleneck and reach a higher realm.

Each would get what they needed, to their mutual benefit.

Why not?

Meng Chen turned these thoughts over in his mind.

He raised his head, looked toward the white-clad figure that was about to fade away, and spoke.

"Snow Empress, wait."

Snow Empress's figure paused slightly, and her body, which had already begun to turn illusory, solidified once more.

She turned her head slightly, her icy blue eyes falling upon Meng Chen's face. There was a hint of confusion in her gaze, along with faint wariness.

"What else is it?" Her voice remained cool and detached, though it carried a trace more impatience than before.

Meng Chen was unaffected by her frosty attitude. Instead, the smile on his face deepened.

"I have a question I would like to ask Snow Empress."

"Speak."

Meng Chen looked into her eyes and said, word by word, "How long until Snow Empress reaches the seven-hundred-thousand-year limit?"

The instant those words fell, the air itself seemed to freeze.

Within several dozen yards around Snow Empress, the moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals. They densely filled the air, refracting a deep blue chill beneath the sunlight.

On the ground, the soft snow gave off sharp cracking sounds. A layer of solid ice spread outward from beneath Snow Empress's feet at a visible speed, freezing the entire snowy field into a smooth, mirror-like sheet.

Shui Bing'er shuddered from the sudden cold, her teeth chattering as she instinctively retreated several steps.

Snow Empress's pressure was not directed at her, yet merely being caught in its aftermath was already more than she could bear.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Meng Chen made Shui Bing'er immediately feel warmth flowing through the meridians of her body, driving away the extreme cold brought by Snow Empress's anger.

The winds of the Extreme North Ice Plains howled in from afar, tossing Snow Empress's silver-white hair and snow-white skirt.

Beneath the sunlight, no emotion could be seen on that cold, peerlessly beautiful face. Yet those icy blue eyes were staring directly into Meng Chen's.

That gaze was too cold, colder than the ancient ice at the deepest reaches of the Extreme North Ice Plains that had remained frozen for ten thousand years.

Yet Meng Chen did not move in the slightest.

He simply stood at the center of Snow Empress's gaze, that calm smile still on his face, his eyes open and tranquil.

The seven-hundred-thousand-year limit.

This was Snow Empress's greatest secret, and also her deepest fear.

She had lived for countless years, witnessing the birth and extinction of innumerable Spirit Beasts, witnessing generations upon generations rise and fall across the ice plains.

She had also watched her own strength steadily approach its limit.

Six hundred thousand years was already a height she had reached only by exhausting every effort.

And seven hundred thousand years...

That number was like a mountain with no visible summit, weighing heavily upon her heart.

She normally did not think about it, but it had always been there, in the deepest part of her consciousness, like a thorn she could neither remove nor forget.

After a long silence, Snow Empress spoke. "I only broke through to six hundred thousand years not long ago. There is still a long time until seven hundred thousand years..."

She had used the words "a long time."

But Meng Chen heard the weakness within them.

For ordinary people, that was an unimaginably distant span of time—enough for seas to become fields, for dynasties to rise and fall, for a ten-thousand-year empire to rise and perish several times over.

But for an existence that had lived for countless tens of thousands of years, it was merely the flick of a finger.

Nothing more than a little wind and frost.

"Then are you confident you can survive the next Heavenly Tribulation and break through to seven hundred thousand years?"

This time, Snow Empress remained silent even longer.

So long that Shui Bing'er thought she would not answer again.

Six hundred thousand years had already forced Snow Empress to exhaust every effort. At seven hundred thousand years, hope was slim.

"No."

A trace of despair suddenly appeared on Snow Empress's face.

The cool detachment and indifference in her eyes vanished, replaced by bewilderment.

How was she supposed to survive a seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation? Was she to choose transformation?

But after transforming, all her cultivation would be lost.

She would need an immense amount of time to cultivate anew and reclaim everything she had lost.

And during that process, she could be discovered and hunted by human Spirit Masters at any time, forcibly turned into a Soul Ring.

That was an ending more humiliating than death.

"Who exactly are you?" Snow Empress asked, her expression returning to calm. "Why do you know my strength so clearly?"

A smile rested at the corner of Meng Chen's lips as he answered frankly and confidently, "I am Meng Chen, from the Fierce-Flame Continent, the Lord of Heavenly Court. I am the Heavenly Emperor. It is my duty to explain the true essence of cultivation to powerful beings who have lost their way, and Snow Empress, I see that you are quite lost."

Lost—extremely lost.

Snow Empress looked at Meng Chen. Though she could not see through him, she could always sense a peculiar Dao aura around him, like the primordial chaos from when heaven and earth were first created.

Meng Chen continued, "If I told you there was a path that would not require you to face the Heavenly Tribulation head-on, nor require you to transform into a human, yet would allow you to pass the seven-hundred-thousand-year limit and even go farther... would you be willing to hear it?"

Snow Empress's pupils contracted sharply.

She stared at Meng Chen, her gaze sharp as a blade. "Is this true?"

"Of course."

Snow Empress stared intently at Meng Chen. "Go on."

Meng Chen pointed at Shui Bing'er beside him. "If Snow Empress is willing, you can become my disciple's Wisdom Soul Ring."

As his words fell, the air froze once again.

Snow Empress's aura suddenly turned fierce. The temperature across the ice plains instantly dropped by more than ten degrees, and even the sunlight seemed to have frozen.

"Become a Soul Ring? Are you toying with me?"

Snow Empress's eyes were filled with fury. Once a Spirit Beast became a Soul Ring, it would lose its consciousness. That was more humiliating than death.

"I am not toying with you. With my help, you can preserve your complete soul and consciousness, seal your power, and gradually unseal it layer by layer as the Spirit Master's strength increases. That is a Wisdom Soul Ring."

Meng Chen looked at Snow Empress, his voice steady and sincere. "This is cooperation. You give her power, and she gives you a future. On the day she becomes a god, you will become a god alongside her."

Snow Empress sneered. "You made up the term Wisdom Soul Ring, didn't you?"