Ice Feather Eagle and Ice Jade Scorpion

The Evil Emperor hovered above his shoulder, releasing an invisible ripple of mental energy to mask Luo Chen's presence.

Luo Chen began to climb. The rock face was coated in ice and slippery as could be; he had to hook his fingers into the crevices, inching his way up bit by bit.

Ice Feather Eagles were cunning creatures, preferring to build their nests on thin, steep ice pillars where they were safe from almost any natural predator.

Borrowing the heat from a Blazing Wolf—which radiated through a Gulu Ball—he melted small holes into the ice pillar one by one, allowing him to ascend until he finally reached the top.

At the summit of the pillar, an Ice Feather Eagle was curled up in its nest, watching its surroundings with vigilance.

Its size exceeded Luo Chen's expectations—it had a wingspan of at least four meters, and its snow-white feathers shimmered with a faint blue luster at the edges as they ruffled in the cold wind. Its golden eyes were as sharp as blades, and its hooked beak looked capable of tearing through iron armor.

"This one must be nearly a thousand years old!" Luo Chen marveled.

Luo Chen lay flat against the edge of the ice pillar, only half his head visible.

"Evil Emperor, mental interference!" he commanded in his mind.

The Evil Emperor hovered above his shoulder, releasing an invisible ripple of mental energy that completely masked Luo Chen's scent. The Ice Feather Eagle seemed to sense something and turned its head, but it found nothing amiss.

Luo Chen took a deep breath and slowly pulled out an ordinary Gulu Ball.

Twenty meters... fifteen meters... ten meters...

He couldn't get any closer.

"Evil Emperor, Evil Eye Gaze!" Purple light surged in the Evil Emperor's eye, and a mental shockwave struck the Ice Feather Eagle with pinpoint accuracy.

The eagle's body stiffened instantly, its wings locking up and its golden eyes losing focus. It let out a short, startled cry and tumbled from its nest. Luo Chen immediately released several spirits to attack in succession, leaving the eagle on the verge of death. In the game, things were turn-based, but in reality, who would bother with turns? Why fight one-on-one when you can gang up on your opponent?

Seizing the opportunity, Luo Chen threw the Gulu Ball with all his might. It traced an arc through the air and struck the Ice Feather Eagle squarely on the back.

Success or failure hinged on this moment. The instant the Gulu Ball landed on its back, the eagle transformed into a beam of blue light and was sucked inside.

It struggled twice, then—capture successful!

"Great! It worked!"

The Ice Feather Eagle was his!

Next, he had to make his way to that fissure. He was about to enter the Far North Ice Plains. The Star Dou Great Forest at least had a decent ecosystem, but the Far North Ice Plains were essentially a thousand-mile wasteland.

With the Ice Feather Eagle, Luo Chen's travel speed increased significantly.

He rode on the eagle's back, flying north against the biting wind. The scenery on the ground blurred past—forests, grasslands, hills, frozen earth... The climate grew colder, and the vegetation became increasingly sparse.

Three days later, he finally saw the boundary of the Far North Ice Plains. This was the core of the Far North. The Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North—the Ice Empress Snow Empress, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Ice Empress, and the Titan Snow Demon King A-Tai—were not people he could afford to provoke yet.

Evil Emperor: "They aren't people you can provoke, but am I?"

It was a world of vast, blinding white. Ice and snow covered everything; as far as the eye could see, there was only endless white. The cold wind howled, whipping up snow particles to form pillars of white.

"We're here," the Evil Emperor's voice echoed. "The Far North Ice Plains."

"In which direction is that ice fissure?"

"Keep heading north, about another three days," the Evil Emperor said. "But from now on, you must be careful. The territory of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North lies deep within these plains. While This Seat can help you mask your presence, if you happen to run into them by bad luck..."

"I know." Luo Chen tightened his fur coat and quickly entered the ice plains.

Less than half a day later, Luo Chen ran into trouble.

In the snow ahead, a jade-green scorpion lay motionless on an ice rock, blending almost perfectly with the color of the ice. It wasn't large, barely over a meter from head to tail, but it radiated a heart-stopping chill.

Its jade-green carapace shimmered coldly in the sunlight, its compound eyes were a haunting ice-blue, and its tail hook was raised high, a layer of frost congealing on the tip.

"Ice Jade Scorpion," the Evil Emperor's voice carried a hint of gravity. "Kid, your luck is not very good."

The Ice Jade Scorpion, possessing the ice attribute, was a standout among ice-type spirit beasts. They usually lived in the core regions, and the strongest of their kind, the Ice Empress, possessed the Ultimate Ice attribute.

"Don't they live in the core region? How did I run into one just after entering the plains?"

"Who knows why your luck is so rotten? It's a four-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion. Are you not going to run?"

But it was already too late; the Ice Jade Scorpion had discovered him.

It turned slowly, its ice-blue compound eyes locked onto Luo Chen, its tail hook swaying from side to side with a "rustling" sound. The temperature in the air plummeted, and the white mist from Luo Chen's breath instantly crystallized into ice shards.

"It's going to attack," the Evil Emperor warned.

No sooner had he spoken than the Ice Jade Scorpion lunged, its speed astonishing. Its tail hook traced a jade-green arc through the air, stabbing straight at Luo Chen's face.

Luo Chen dodged to the side while simultaneously releasing his Plate Armor Turtle to block.

Clang—

With a single strike, the turtle's shell was pierced, and it fainted, returning to its Gulu Ball.

Fortunately, the Gulu Ball saved its life; otherwise, the Plate Armor Turtle would have died instantly.

This bought Luo Chen a split second. He couldn't beat a four-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion—he had to run!

The Ice Jade Scorpion missed its mark and retreated quickly, a flicker of annoyance in its compound eyes.

Luo Chen turned and bolted. Beneath his feet was a thick layer of ice, and behind him, the "rustling" of the scorpion's tail hook followed in hot pursuit.

"Evil Emperor! Can't you mask my presence? Do something!"

"This Seat is masking it! But the beast has already seen you—what good is masking it now?" the Evil Emperor cursed. "Run! Run north! There are space-time fluctuations near that ice fissure; the Ice Jade Scorpion might not dare to approach!"

Luo Chen gritted his teeth, putting every ounce of his strength into sprinting across the ice field.

The cold wind cut at his face like a knife, and the ice beneath his feet was so slick that he nearly fell several times.

The Ice Jade Scorpion behind him was incredibly fast, its emerald-green figure standing out starkly against the white snow. Its tail hook lashed out repeatedly, missing him by a hair's breadth time and again.

"Faster! Go faster!" the Evil Emperor urged.

Luo Chen felt as if his lungs were about to explode. His soul power was depleting rapidly, and his legs grew heavier with every step.

Just then, a massive fissure appeared on the ice surface ahead.

The crack was about two meters wide, winding forward and bottomless. The ice along the edges of the fissure glowed with an eerie dark blue, as if something were surging deep within.

"That's the spot!" the Evil Emperor shouted. "Jump!"

"What?" Luo Chen's eyes widened.

"If you don't jump, you'll be riddled with holes by that Ice Jade Scorpion!"

Behind him, the Ice Jade Scorpion's tail hook was already inches from the back of his head.

Luo Chen had no time to think; he threw himself forward and leaped into the icy crevice.

The wind whistled past his ears, and before his eyes lay not endless darkness, but a strange, eerie blue.

He fell, and fell, and fell.

He didn't know how much time had passed—perhaps only a few seconds, perhaps a century—when he felt himself pass through an invisible barrier, like breaking through a thin film of water.

Then, everything went quiet.