The Ice Empress was facing the same predicament as the Snow Empress.
For the past few days, she had been having the same dream.
Everything that happened in the dream felt extraordinarily real. The moment she chose to sacrifice herself to the human named Tian Jue, in particular, felt so real that it was almost as if she had experienced it firsthand.
Reason told her that she would never sacrifice herself to a human, yet in that extraordinarily vivid dream, she had done so without a hint of hesitation.
Those feelings had even begun to affect her in the real world.
Driven by those feelings, the Ice Empress, like the Snow Empress, had been wandering around the outer reaches of the Far North, trying to find the dying infant from her dream.
For several days in a row, the Ice Empress had come up empty-handed.
"Just as I thought... A dream is only a dream. How could it possibly come true?"
After another fruitless day of searching, the Ice Empress couldn't help chuckling at herself. She felt she was practically losing her mind, wasting several days for the sake of a dream.
A dream was just a dream. How could it become reality?
The Ice Empress shook her head. She planned to return to the Ice and Snow Palace and tell the Snow Empress about the dreams she'd been having these past few days, to see if they could figure out what was going on.
But before she could do anything, the voices of two humans reached her. At first, they were indistinct, but as time passed, they grew clearer and clearer.
Clearly, the two humans were approaching her.
The Ice Empress furrowed her brow.
Before, whenever the Ice Empress encountered humans hunting for Soul Rings in the Far North, she would simply kill them. But perhaps she was influenced by the person in her dream, or perhaps it was the inexplicable, complicated emotions welling up inside her. Whatever the reason, she didn't attack right away. Instead, she listened closely.
"Tian Jue, you must remember that you're a genius with Innate Full Soul Power. That means you can't settle for just any Soul Ring."
"Like those two Soul Beasts we just encountered. They weren't suitable for you."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yu Yuanzhen began patiently instructing him. "We just encountered two Soul Beasts, a Frost Silver Wolf and a Blizzard Sharp-Toothed Bear. The former was old enough and also belonged to the Power Attack System, but it was a relatively weak Soul Beast, and it wasn't particularly suited to your dragon-type Martial Soul. The latter was a fairly powerful, strength-type ice-attribute Soul Beast, but it was only a little over a hundred years old."
"If you choose either of those Soul Beasts for your Soul Ring, you'll be wasting your talent. Even if you go hunting Soul Beasts on your own in the future, you must remember this."
"I understand, Grandfather."
Hearing the old man's voice and the young boy's, the Ice Empress grew more and more bewildered. She froze completely in place.
What was that person's name?
Tian Jue?
The Ice Empress clearly remembered that the person in her dream had also been named Tian Jue by the Snow Empress!
Was it a coincidence?
Or... was this Tian Jue the same Tian Jue from her dream?
The old man's words had just revealed another detail: this Tian Jue also had a dragon-type Martial Soul, and, if nothing unexpected had happened, it was an ice-attribute dragon-type Martial Soul as well.
If it was a coincidence, there were far too many coincidences.
The Ice Empress drew several deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. If she didn't, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to hold back and would rush out to investigate.
Soon, Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Tianjue appeared in the Ice Empress's field of vision.
With the Ice Empress deliberately concealing herself, Yu Yuanzhen, who had yet to reach the Super Douluo level, didn't notice her at all.
No one could have imagined that a Super Soul Beast with a cultivation of 380,000 years would appear in the outer reaches of the Far North, where ten-year and Hundred-Year Soul Beasts roamed.
An endless ice field, with two human figures upon it.
The Ice Empress saw Tian Jue's face with ease, and the moment she did, she could no longer hold back.
His face was almost exactly the same as Tian Jue's as a child in her dream!
Aside from the aura about him, his height and appearance were almost identical!
The Ice Empress could practically be certain that this was the Tian Jue from her dream. She had no time to dwell on why Tian Jue in her dream had been an infant while the Tian Jue before her was a six-year-old boy. She rushed straight toward him.
"Who's there?!"
Yu Yuanzhen's expression turned stern in an instant. He grabbed Yu Tianjue by the collar and pulled him behind himself, shielding him as he immediately activated his Martial Soul.
A dazzling flash of electricity suddenly rippled across Yu Yuanzhen's body, and his frame swelled dramatically. A dense layer of dragon scales covered his skin, and nine gleaming Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and five black—rose from beneath his feet.
But the Ice Empress didn't pay Yu Yuanzhen any attention. From beginning to end, she had only one target: Yu Tianjue!
Yu Tianjue's pupils shrank. Although the Ice Empress was moving extremely fast, he still managed to catch a glimpse of her movement, and he clearly saw her face.
That face...
How could he ever forget it?
In the Simulation, the Ice Empress had always appeared before him in human form out of consideration for his feelings. She had rarely shown him her true form.
That was precisely why he remembered this face so vividly.
But why was the Ice Empress in the outer reaches of the Far North?
As the Ice Empress moved, a terrifying pressure descended. Yet it wasn't directed at Yu Tianjue at all. It bore entirely down on Yu Yuanzhen.
The instant Yu Yuanzhen felt that pressure, his expression changed.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast... This was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!
And judging by the terrifying pressure, it couldn't possibly be an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!
Yu Yuanzhen instinctively tried to activate his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar, to face this formidable foe, only to discover that dense, emerald-green crystalline light had risen around him without his noticing. Pale green chill swept toward him like a tide.
In the blink of an eye, everything within dozens of meters was covered in ultimate ice. The air froze instantly, and the wind that had once flowed freely turned into tiny ice crystals suspended in midair. A layer of ten-thousand-year-old black ice gleaming with a dark jade sheen rapidly formed on the ground, its patterns like the markings on a scorpion's tail, spreading in all directions.
This was the Ice Empress's domain: the Eternal Frozen Domain!
Yu Yuanzhen's body stiffened abruptly. The blood in his limbs seemed to freeze solid, and the flow of Soul Power within him grew sluggish and halting. Every bit of Soul Power he tried to summon felt like he was dragging chains of ice.
By then, the Ice Empress had silently appeared right in front of Yu Tianjue.
Meeting the Ice Empress's eyes, which held a complicated expression, Yu Tianjue froze for a moment. Then a chill ran through his heart.
The Ice Empress... was she coming for me?
What the hell?!