Ice Empress (2)

"You want to fight me?" A rare hint of surprise and doubt crept into Ice Empress's arrogant tone. "At your age, according to your human race's understanding, you shouldn't even be an adult yet, right?"

"He is underage."

"But that's not an excuse."

"The standards for adulthood are very vague."

"Some say that reaching the legal age makes one an adult, thus giving rise to a species called 'giant baby'; others say that being worldly-wise makes one an adult, thus giving rise to a species called 'the tragic failure of a prodigy'; combining these theories, we can conclude that adulthood has nothing to do with mental capacity or age, but rather with the degree to which relatives, friends, strangers, and even society as a whole accept you; in other words, if others consider you a child, then you are a child, and you cannot prove it to yourself."

"And this world is very interesting."

"It won't put you through any excessive tests just because you're an adult."

"It won't reduce the risk of potential death just because you're a minor."

"Therefore, it seems that whether or not one is an adult is a false proposition."

"It has nothing to do with our upcoming battle."

"Isn't that right?"

Ye Qingcang stood in front of Ice Empress.

He was upright and composed.

Its body, though not insignificant, appeared like an ant compared to the massive Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. However, in terms of mindset, the opposite was true. Its powerful spirit even enabled this ant to reach out and slowly touch the pair of jewel-like pincers. "Or are you, who reveres the strong as kings, going to secretly hold back in the upcoming battle because I'm underage, and using this method to convey your pity to me?"

The large pliers trembled as if electrocuted.

He shook off Ye Qingcang's hand that was on him.

Ice Empress's tone unusually carried a hint of embarrassment and annoyance, suggesting that even if he were beaten to death, his mouth would still be stubborn. "Stop joking, human. I wouldn't joke with my life... I just suspect you can't accept defeat and might use God Descent Art to summon the Deity behind you to possess you; although I hate to admit it, I have to admit: in front of any Deity, I cannot possibly win now!"

"Actually, you don't need to worry about this." Ye Qingcang saw through Ice Empress's stubbornness, but he was still very satisfied with Ice Empress gentlemanly approach of simply shaking off his hand instead of taking the opportunity to break it off. His attitude naturally improved considerably. "The reason I dared to propose this method is naturally due to my strength; and the main purpose of my thinking of this method is to subdue you. Since we've mentioned subduing, then it will be me, Ye Qingcang, who subdues you, not the Deity behind me."

"Such arrogance!" The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion moved its jewel-like legs, slowly retreating. "Even if you assure me like that, I find it hard to believe this despicable human... But rest assured, as the king of the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan, I, the Ice Empress, will not back down in the face of a challenge from a God Trial Taker, much less resort to unfair tricks... You decide when the battle begins!"

"Did you hand over the initiative to me?"

"I'll make the first move, then you can move."

"If I do not move, neither will you."

Ye Qingcang clapped his hands, and thousands of rock pillars, each a hundred meters tall, rose from the ground. The reassuring golden light instantly illuminated the barrier, which was ten thousand meters long and ten thousand meters wide, causing countless rocks blocking the way to crumble, and with rock pillars connecting and supporting each other every forty meters!

At the same time, four small rock pillars also rose up!

Enveloped Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, Sheng Cai'er, and others!

Various ancient golden seals of unknown meaning slowly drifted on the glass-like golden wall, isolating all auras that were not contained within it!

"Domain?"

"Earth Attribute power?"

"The Earth God... the Rock God?"

Seeing its nest destroyed, Ice Empress did not react with the expected rage. It stretched out its large pincers and tapped the hard ground, flicking its Emerald tail twice. The meaning behind these actions was unknown. All that could be seen was a large number of Ice Jade Scorpion, some hundreds of thousands of years old, some thousands of years old, and some hundreds of years old, running away with their families into the distance. Although they could not escape this golden barrier, as long as they hid on the edge, they could at least avoid a large number of deaths.

Despite the fact that, apart from the panicked Ice Jade Scorpion Clan, all other Soul Beast races in this makeshift arena had also fallen into chaos.

A battle between the strong.

Even before it started, there were already casualties due to its adverse effects.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Ice Empress knew perfectly well that Ye Qingcang was returning the initiative she had just ceded. This act of mutual respect between heroes had indeed changed her opinion of humanity somewhat, but he was far from being able to conquer her and make her sacrifice herself with this move. "Behold my Eternal Frozen Domain!"

Visible frost spread from the feet of Ice Empress.

The near -Absolute Zero cold, combined with nearly 400,000 years of powerful cultivation, forcibly carved out a frosty Domain.

Large swathes of frost hung from the rock pillars.

It was shattered by the resonant sound waves rising from the earth.

Immediately, frost surged up again.

The cycle repeats itself endlessly, life goes on and on.

Immediately, a layer of hard ice crystals instantly enveloped the Ice Empress's body. The large pincers, which were just as smooth as gemstones, were now covered with a layer of carapace resembling diamonds. Countless tiny ice crystals, arranged in a beautiful yet deadly manner, covered the pincers. It was easy to imagine that if Soul Beast of the same size were to be struck by these pincers, it would surely suffer a head injury and have its scales crushed to pieces by the uneven, tiny ice crystals.

And this is precisely the strongest defensive skill and the strongest melee skill in the hands of the Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the North, both magnificent and fraught with killing intent.

And this killing intent is clearly not just for show!

In an instant, murderous intent descended!

The emerald green light shot out like an arrow, no, much faster than an arrow!

The ability to regain footwork gives Ice Empress an extremely strong explosive power!

A sound barrier shattered, sending up thousands of piles of snow!

The second sound barrier was shattered, crashing through layers of ice!

No tricks, no tricks, no tricks!

The 100-meter distance was covered in the blink of an eye in nearly one-seventh of a second!

The unimaginable speed made it impossible for Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, Bai Chenxiang and others to capture any scene and imprint it on their retinas!

Even Sheng Cai'er couldn't see the afterimage clearly!

This is a world that can only be seen after four stages of sublimation!

It's a world that only the strong can see!

Even if it's just a casual strike from a powerful expert!

"But... even after four perfect ascensions, I can only break the sound barrier once, not a second time, unless I enter a magnetic field!"

"But fighting isn't just about physical strength!"

Ye Qingcang's eyes shone brightly!

Five fingers, as white as jade, were clenched into a fist!

In Ice Empress's narrowed pupils, they neither flinched nor dodged, but instead faced him head-on!

Bang!

With a loud bang, a ring-shaped shockwave with a diameter of one meter landed on the wrist!

Bang!

A second ring-shaped airflow, two meters in diameter, Entanglement around the forearm!

Bang!!!

The third ring of air, four meters in diameter, like the arc of light emitted by a fighter jet before takeoff, slowly spread backward from the end of the elbow of this bent-knee fist, giving this punch unparalleled power, as swift as rocks piercing through clouds, and as vast as waves crashing against the shore. In the same seventh second, the three explosions above merged into one, instantly creating a sonic boom cloud!

The shockwave, parallel to the earth, spread out like a giant wave rising high!

Wherever it passed, even the snow-capped, thousand-meter-high peaks were shattered!

This style of boxing is called...

"Shaking Mountain Sea!"

"I humbly request Your Majesty the Ice Empress..." Within the swaying barrier, weakened by the weight, Ye Qingcang smiled as he reattached the broken bone from his severed hand and wrist. Ten thousand meters away, he gazed directly at the Ice Empress at the edge of the barrier. The enormous, artistic, and chillingly cold lower half of his pincer was marked only with a fist imprint; the remaining half was imprinted on a fragmented work of art on the thousand-meter-wide ground. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than the upper half of the Ice Empress's pincer—one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the North: "May you deign to offer your condescending appraisal!"