Little White and the Ice Empress merely glanced at the strange bead.
Li Qingming, meanwhile, held it in his hand with some helplessness. The thing could not be placed inside his storage ring, so he could only carry it like this.
Of course, no one besides him could use it, or even understand what it was.
That was why Li Qingming did not care about it in the slightest.
Once they confirmed that the Snow Empress was not in danger, the two of them headed back.
Of course, Li Qingming knew the truth, but he did not say anything.
At this moment, the Snow Empress was either undergoing her tribulation somewhere or had already been taken away by humans.
Li Qingming did not care about that. In the end, she would return to an auction house in the Sun Moon Empire anyway. When the time was right, he could simply go and take the Snow Empress away.
Before they left this time, Little White also gave him some Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow.
It was Little White's apology to him.
Li Qingming was quite delighted by this. This hundred-thousand-year Ice Marrow was tremendously useful to him.
Although his innate martial soul was the Holy Angel Martial Soul, this Ice Marrow could also help improve his ice constitution.
More importantly, this Ice Marrow had been infused with the Ice Empress's power.
In the place where the Ice Empress had lived for tens of thousands of years, every trace of Ice Marrow had been steeped in her power.
It contained the laws belonging to the Heavenly Snow Woman—the power of Ultimate Ice.
When the two returned, several Ice Jade Scorpions immediately swarmed over, chattering away about something.
Listening to their words, Li Qingming was rather bewildered.
The Ice Empress's previously calm expression suddenly turned furious.
Her figure shot forward, and Li Qingming followed after her.
The Ice Empress moved swiftly, racing toward the edge of the Extreme Northern Snowfield at tremendous speed.
Yet even upon reaching the outermost edge of the Extreme Northern Snowfield, the Ice Empress did not stop.
Only when they arrived at the boundary between the Extreme Northern Snowfield and human territory did Li Qingming look down.
A familiar figure came into view. It was Huo Yuhao, carrying a backpack.
Huo Yuhao looked exhausted to the extreme, and the power around him had been depleted.
Yet there was no Ultimate Ice belonging to the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion within him, leaving Li Qingming confused.
He did not understand how things had reached this point.
Normally, Huo Yuhao should have arrived more than ten days later. He had not expected him to come so soon.
And now that he was here, why was Huo Yuhao suddenly leaving?
Li Qingming's first thought was that Huo Yuhao was about to fuse with the Ice Empress, or that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was preparing to provoke her.
But judging from Huo Yuhao's condition, that did not seem to be the case.
At that moment, at the border area, Li Qingming watched the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm formed from Huo Yuhao's spiritual power.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm blinked at the Ice Empress, a trace of regret in his eyes.
"What a pity, my dear wife. I originally wanted to take you away, but I didn't expect you to be absent from the Ice Jade Scorpion tribe at that time."
Tian Meng spoke regretfully.
His gaze lingered on the Ice Empress with attachment—or rather, greed—but he was helpless.
He had already taken away a hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion and no longer had the spiritual power to trap the Ice Empress again.
So he could only let the Ice Empress leave.
Sensing the terrifying killing intent in the Ice Empress's eyes, Tian Meng helplessly began to explain.
"I didn't kill that hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. It voluntarily chose to follow me."
Tian Meng spoke earnestly. He even sent out his spiritual power himself, allowing that Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion to communicate with the Snow Empress.
The Ice Empress stood there silently, listening to the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's words as the three sides communicated for a long time.
Huo Yuhao stared at the ice sphere wrapped in frost, curiosity in his eyes.
Clearly, he could not see Li Qingming inside, but Li Qingming, standing within it, could easily see him.
Li Qingming did not believe that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had casually taken away a hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion.
Clearly, while he and the Ice Empress had gone to the Snow Empress's residence, they had failed to arrive in time.
And a hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion should have looked very similar to the Ice Empress, so Tian Meng had trapped it the moment it appeared.
At this stage, Tian Meng could no longer trap the Ice Empress again, since he had exhausted all his spiritual power.
That was what had created this somewhat comical scene.
At that thought, Li Qingming's eyes flickered slightly.
His appearance seemed to have changed this part of history, preventing the Ice Empress of this timeline from being taken away.
As he watched the Ice Empress, whose gaze gradually became angry yet thoughtful, Li Qingming did not speak from beginning to end.
The negotiations between the two sides continued for a long time.
Originally, the Ice Empress had intended to strike directly and kill Tian Meng and Huo Yuhao.
But the Ice Jade Scorpion had voluntarily chosen to follow him, leaving the Ice Empress in a difficult position.
After all, it was part of her clan, perhaps even one of her descendants or sisters.
In the end, the Ice Empress did not stop them and instead let the two leave.
Watching Huo Yuhao slowly depart from the Extreme Northern Snowfield, preparing to find a place to completely fuse with the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul, Li Qingming sighed.
Hearing Li Qingming sigh, a soft and pleasant voice rang out.
"What are you sighing for? Do you know that boy?"
"Ah, yes, Senior. He is a student of Shrek Academy and in the same class as me, so naturally I know him. I just didn't expect there to be something like that inside him."
"Hmph. It was merely food for this Empress. He was just lucky enough to make it want that so-called godhood plan. How ridiculous. Who knows whether it can even succeed?"
As the Ice Empress spoke, a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes. She was currently stuck at three hundred and ninety thousand years and would soon face her four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.
She knew her own situation. This was nearly her limit—or rather, the limit of her species.
During their previous discussion, even the Snow Empress believed she would not survive this four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.
In other words, she would die in a few hundred years at most.
That was not something the Ice Empress wished to see. Or rather, no soul beast wished to face death.
And now, Tian Meng's idea had instead given her an opportunity—a different path.
Feeling the Ice Empress standing motionless beside him, Li Qingming hesitated.
Then, in the next second, an icy spiritual force pierced directly into his body and began probing through him.
The Ice Empress's spiritual power was incredibly strong, far beyond Li Qingming's expectations.
After sensing that spiritual power inspect the pathways within his body, Li Qingming was somewhat stunned, but he did not stop her.
After all, this senior probably would not kill him.
Just as Li Qingming was pondering this, the Ice Empress's leisurely voice sounded.
"You should have seen Tian Meng's state, right? He is actually a million-year soul beast. And soul beasts can sacrifice themselves, merging their power into a human's body."
"While helping a human obtain a second martial soul, they can also become the other party's soul spirit and reside within their Spirit Sea."
"That boy named Huo Yuhao has strong spiritual power, but compared to yours, his is like the difference between a firefly and the bright moon."
"He cannot inherit my power—or rather, it would be difficult for him to inherit all of it. But if it were you, you should be able to inherit all of my power completely!"
Before you continue