Xue Chen listened to the Scarlet King's unequivocal words, and alarm bells rang in his mind.
"The Master?... Beast God Di Tian?"
Fragments of his memories about the Star Dou Forest flashed rapidly through his mind:
"Shouldn't this guy be sleeping beneath the Lake of Life at this point in the timeline?
Why did he suddenly wake up and send the Scarlet King all the way to the Far North to capture me?
When did I ever get involved with the Star Dou Forest?"
He was completely baffled.
How could a human child who had grown up in the Far North attract the attention of Beast God Di Tian, who was tens of thousands of miles away?
And why did he want to take him away? It made absolutely no sense!
Xiao Bai's enormous body stood firmly between Xue Chen and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
Without turning around, it spoke in a low, urgent voice:
"Sky Dream! Don't just stand there!
Take Xiao Chen and go first. Head back to the Ice Crystal Palace!
This guy's powerful. When we start fighting, it'll get loud, and you might get caught in the crossfire! Hurry!"
The Scarlet King's scorching, savage aura had already left the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm completely rattled. Hearing this, it felt as though it had been granted a pardon. Its chubby body trembled as it hurriedly wrapped Xue Chen in its spiritual power:
"Kid, hold tight! I'll get you out of here!"
But concern showed on Xue Chen's face as he clung tightly to Xiao Bai's fur:
"Xiao Bai! The Scarlet King is one of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. His cultivation is nearly a hundred thousand years higher than yours! You..."
Xiao Bai abruptly tossed its head, cutting Xue Chen off. Its bear face wore a firm, dependable smile, touched with a hint of simpleheartedness:
"Relax, Xiao Chen! Don't forget where we are.
This is the Far North! This is my turf!
His cultivation is higher than mine, sure, but in this frozen wasteland, taking me down won't be so easy! Go! Don't distract me!"
Feeling the unshakable resolve and powerful confidence in Xiao Bai's voice, Xue Chen knew this was no time to hesitate.
If he stayed, he really would only hold Xiao Bai back.
The most urgent thing was to hurry back to the Ice Crystal Palace and find Mother Snow Empress and Aunt Ice Empress!
"Okay! Be careful, Xiao Bai!"
Xue Chen said no more. He patted Xiao Bai's leg hard, then called to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm:
"Brother Sky Dream, let's go!"
Seeing Xue Chen about to be taken away, the Scarlet King let out an agitated growl from all three heads. Dark-red flames surged around its body, vaporizing the surrounding snow and ice even faster:
"I'll say it once more, Ice Bear King: I'm acting on Di Tian's orders to take this child!
I have no desire to start a war with the Far North. I ask you to cooperate and not bring trouble upon yourself!"
It tried to use Di Tian's name to pressure him.
But Xiao Bai didn't back down. Instead, it let out an even more furious roar:
"Roar—! Di Tian's awake?
I respect him as the Beast God, ruler of all beasts!
But he thinks he can take my little brother from the Far North for no reason?
Even if he came here himself, I wouldn't let him!"
"Extreme Ice Domain—Open!"
At Xiao Bai's roar, an ultimate chill far more savage and domineering than the natural cold burst forth from its massive body and spread outward in an instant!
Crack! Crack!
The ice that the Scarlet King's flames had already melted began to freeze again at a visible speed under the power of the domain. A layer of indestructible, deep-blue ice soon covered it!
The moisture in the air was instantly drawn out and frozen. Even the dark-red flames dancing around the Scarlet King seemed suppressed by that invisible cold, their light dimming.
Xiao Bai brought the Far North's home-ground advantage fully to bear!
"Stubborn fool! You refused a toast only to drink a forfeit. Don't blame me for what comes next!"
Seeing that negotiations had failed, the Scarlet King stopped wasting words.
The middle head suddenly opened its jaws, and a pillar of dark-red fire packed with terrifying heat erupted like the lava of hell, shooting straight at Xiao Bai!
"Just what I wanted!"
Xiao Bai was undaunted. Its enormous jaws opened as well, gathering intensely condensed, ice-blue energy. It formed a thick beam of glacial power that radiated absolute-zero cold and met the Scarlet King's fiery breath head-on!
BOOM—!!!
Extreme cold and extreme heat, two utterly opposing energies that had both reached the Ultimate Attribute, collided violently in midair!
A deafening explosion thundered across the sky. Red and blue shock waves spread in a frenzy, sweeping away and annihilating the snow and ice within several thousand meters!
The permafrost, frozen solid for ten thousand years, was exposed beneath.
At the heart of the explosion, space itself warped slightly, and dense white mist billowed up—the steam produced by the ultimate collision of ice and fire!
Their first clash had ended in a draw!
A flicker of surprise crossed the Scarlet King's three pairs of pupils. It had indeed underestimated the boost Xiao Bai received on its home ground.
Xiao Bai roared and used the blast's recoil to rear up on its hind legs. Wrapped in a storm of snow and the power of its domain, it charged toward the Scarlet King like a god of war from the frozen plains!
"Brother Sky Dream! Hurry!"
Xue Chen glanced back at the earth-shaking clash, his heart pounding with worry as he urged the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm on.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm knew the situation was urgent and didn't dare dawdle. It pushed its spiritual power to the limit, enveloped Xue Chen, and transformed into an almost transparent streak of light, racing desperately toward the Ice Crystal Palace.
When the Scarlet King saw its target about to escape, it grew frantic and tried to give chase, but Xiao Bai's ferocious assault kept it firmly pinned down.
Every one of Xiao Bai's strikes carried enough force to shatter mountains and split the earth, along with an icy force that gnawed at its target. Combined with the suppression of the Extreme Ice Domain, they made it difficult for the Scarlet King to break free.
"Damn it, you stupid bear!"
The Scarlet King roared furiously. All three heads snapped and bit at Xiao Bai, spewing flames as the two battled fiercely.
For a time, ice and fire churned across the heart of the Far North's frozen plains. The battle between two Ferocious Beast kings made even this eternal world of ice and snow tremble.
Meanwhile, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm carried Xue Chen at breakneck speed toward the Ice Crystal Palace.
He knew he had to get the message to the Snow Empress and Ice Empress as soon as possible.
The Scarlet King's arrival and Di Tian's inexplicable interest—some enormous secret surely lay behind it all. And that secret was likely tied to his mysterious origins and the eighteen seals within his body!
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm might have been hopeless in a fight, but its ability to flee was truly second to none.
Its vast spiritual power wasn't just useful for sensing and control. When escaping, it could also distort light and disrupt others' perception, allowing it to move incredibly fast while leaving little trace.
But now it was carrying Xue Chen home, so it didn't bother with those concealment techniques. It simply pushed its speed to the limit.
The man and silkworm became a streak of light. Before long, the magnificent Ice Crystal Palace, built from Ten Thousand Year Mysterious Ice, appeared in their sight.
It had been damaged by the last lightning tribulation, but the Snow Empress had since repaired it.
As they neared the palace gates, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm unconsciously slowed, finally stopping on the smooth, mirror-like ice before the entrance.
It looked up at the familiar yet unfamiliar palace, its enormous insect eyes filled with complicated emotions.
Fond memories of being hounded with nowhere to flee, above or below, surged back like a tide.
Its plump, white body instinctively shrank back, as if a lovely figure in a green dress with emerald hair might burst through those doors at any moment, raising her hand to strike it with an Ice Emperor's Claw.
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