Skydream Iceworm, Ice Empress

The carriage jolted along the official road, its wheels crushing gravel with a monotonous rattle.

Inside, Qian Renxue sat across from Huo Yuhao, her gaze fixed on him. Ever since they had left those ruins, the child had not said a word. He merely sat there with his head lowered, staring at his hands without moving.

"Did you obtain a soul ring?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Huo Yuhao raised his head and looked at her.

That look stirred something in Qian Renxue's heart—not grief, not anger, but an indescribable emptiness. It was as though his soul had been taken away, leaving only this shell behind to mechanically respond to everything around him.

"I think I did..." He nodded, his tone carrying a trace of hesitation and uncertainty.

His eyes lit up.

Qian Renxue saw something awakening in the depths of those eyes. It was a light she had never seen before—not the radiance of ordinary soul power circulating, but something older, deeper, like an eye opening from an eternal night.

Then, a soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

White.

Pure white, without the slightest trace of another color, like the first snowfall of winter.

Qian Renxue's pupils contracted slightly.

A white soul ring—a ten-year soul ring.

"Why is it only ten years?" she blurted out, her voice full of regret.

Twin martial souls. Innately full soul power. Yet his first soul ring was only ten years old.

She looked at the boy before her and suddenly felt stifled. She had seen many geniuses buried and wasted. But never before had it felt this regrettable. If this child had been born in Spirit City, if he had possessed the finest resources, if he had acquired the right soul ring at the right age—what kind of existence might he have become?

But now...

"Is it that bad?" Huo Yuhao looked at her, a sheen of tears surfacing in his black eyes.

That look softened Qian Renxue's heart. She hurriedly waved her hands. "It's not bad. It's not bad for you."

She paused, as if trying to convince herself. "Even if it's only ten years... you still have a second martial soul. Your second martial soul is your main one, right? That Ice Jade Scorpion."

Huo Yuhao looked at her without speaking.

That look made Qian Renxue feel faintly uneasy.

"Big sister." Huo Yuhao spoke softly, as if he were mentioning something insignificant. "It seems my second martial soul has a soul ring too."

Qian Renxue's heart skipped a beat.

No way?

She stared at Huo Yuhao's face, trying to read something from his expressionless features. But there was nothing. The child's face was as still as a dead pool, without a single ripple.

"It can't..." She swallowed, her voice dry. "It's ten years too, right?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head.

Jade light flickered across his back, visible through his thin clothes—a massive Ice Jade Scorpion tattoo sprawled over his slender back. Its savage carapace and curled scorpion tail looked as if they might burst from his skin at any moment. Yet this time, Huo Yuhao felt as though the tattoo had come alive. It slowly writhed, breathed, and gave off an ancient, imposing aura.

The phantom of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion emerged behind him.

It was a gigantic emerald scorpion, adorned with diamond-blue markings. It was as large as the carriage itself, yet so illusory it seemed condensed from icy mist. Ancient patterns covered its shell. Its yellow eyes gazed coldly ahead, and its hooked tail rose high, gathering a chill capable of freezing all things.

Qian Renxue's breath stopped for an instant.

Because beneath that phantom, a soul ring was slowly rising from beneath Huo Yuhao's feet.

Red.

Blood-red.

The crimson was so deep it seemed ready to drip blood, yet faint golden patterns glimmered within it. Four golden bands coiled around the soul ring, like four shackles—or four crowns.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

Qian Renxue recognized that color. She had seen soul rings like it on that woman: red as blood, though without the golden patterns.

But that was that woman.

The one at the very top of Spirit Hall. The one with two martial souls and a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. Once, she had been a monster without equal on the entire Douluo Continent.

And this child...

This child who had just lost his mother, who had just crawled out of those ruins...

The first soul ring of his second martial soul was a hundred thousand years old?

"Whinny—"

The two horses pulling the carriage let out shrill cries and suddenly toppled forward. All four legs gave way at once, and their bodies crashed heavily onto the ground, making the carriage lurch violently. Blood poured from their seven orifices, staining the dust around their mouths. They twitched twice before falling completely still.

They had been scared to death alive.

That thought flashed through Qian Renxue's mind, but before she could react, two more people had appeared inside the carriage.

"What happened?!"

"This is...?!"

Two figures instantly appeared in front of her, shielding her behind them. She Long and another elderly man—Porcupinefish Douluo—stood side by side. Two immense waves of soul power erupted at the same time, separating them from Huo Yuhao.

Then they saw the soul ring.

They saw the phantom of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.

They saw that bloodlike red, those goldlike patterns.

The two Titled Douluo froze at the same time.

With their cultivation, their experience, and their years of roaming this continent, they had never seen anything like this.

A child who had just awakened his martial soul. A child who looked only six or seven years old. On his second martial soul was plainly a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

It was a dream countless soul masters could never reach even after exhausting their lives. It was a height even countless Titled Douluo had to look up to. It was an opportunity that required killing a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, risking one's life at death's edge, and surviving impossible odds.

And this child...

He might not even know what soul power was.

"This..." She Long opened his mouth, yet did not know what to say.

Porcupinefish Douluo's eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the soul ring, as if he wanted to carve its color, patterns, and aura into his mind. He could sense the pressure radiating from it—the ancient savagery, the lingering will of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, the majesty enough to make ordinary soul masters kneel.

"Put it away."

Qian Renxue's voice broke the dead silence inside the carriage.

She stepped out from behind the two Titled Douluo and walked up to Huo Yuhao, gripping his shoulders with both hands. There was no surprise or fear on her face, only an indescribable solemnity.

"Put it away," she repeated. "Now."

Huo Yuhao looked at her, and the emptiness in his eyes seemed to fade a little. He nodded.

The phantom of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion slowly dissipated, and the blood-red soul ring sank into his body and vanished. The suffocating pressure inside the carriage finally faded away.

The horses pulling the carriage were dead. Outside, the coachman was shouting something in panic. The carriage leaned slightly to one side, and sunlight streamed through the gap in the swaying curtain, falling across Qian Renxue's face.

She looked at Huo Yuhao and said, word by word:

"For now, you cannot use this martial soul, and you absolutely cannot reveal that soul ring."

Her voice was soft, but grave, each word seeming carved into stone.

"I can't tell you too much right now." She paused. "But remember, if anyone sees it..."

She did not finish.

Huo Yuhao looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"You might..." Qian Renxue's voice became strained. "No, you will definitely bring a fatal disaster upon yourself."

She spoke slowly and forcefully, as if she were making him understand just how serious this was.

Huo Yuhao looked at her.

He looked into those golden eyes. He looked at the undisguised worry and solemnity in them. He looked at this big sister he had known for less than a day, wearing such an expression for his safety.

He nodded.

"Okay."

Just one word. Light as a falling leaf.

Yet Qian Renxue knew how heavy that one word was.

Because the first soul ring of his other martial soul was white.

She released his shoulders, stepped back, and returned to her seat. She Long and Porcupinefish Douluo exchanged a glance without saying anything further, then withdrew from the carriage. Outside came the sounds of them dealing with the dead horses, harnessing new ones, and the coachman's terrified apologies.

The carriage soon set off again.

Silence returned to the carriage.

Qian Renxue sat there, her gaze resting on Huo Yuhao. The child lowered his head again, staring at his hands without moving.

She suddenly remembered what she had just said.

For now, you cannot use this martial soul.

But she knew clearly that this was not merely a matter of "for now."

Leaving aside the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, twin martial souls alone were enough to drive the entire continent mad. Spirit Hall would want him. Other sects would want him as well. Those forces hidden in the shadows, those unknown organizations, those people willing to do anything for power—everyone would want him.

Especially that woman.

If she could not have him, she would kill him.

Qian Renxue did not think any further.

The carriage continued onward toward Spirit City.

Huo Yuhao kept his head lowered, looking at his hands. Something seemed to remain on them—perhaps his mother's warmth, perhaps the dust of the ruins, perhaps the sensation of that Spirit Hall steward patting his shoulder.

He did not know.

"Little Yuhao!"

"Who?" Huo Yuhao jolted in alarm.

"Oh, come on, I'm in your spiritual sea."

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes to find a sea of gold before him.

A plump white worm, a noble and imposing scorpion, and a rose-gold vertical eye mixed with black and white hanging high above the heavens.

"I called you." The large white worm came before him.

"So..."

"Can you tell me why I ended up here?!"

The white worm raised its head and shouted.

"You're so noisy!" The emerald-like scorpion flicked a pincer and sent the worm flying far away.

The scorpion's voice was unexpectedly cool and feminine. She raised one scorpion claw and pointed at the vertical eye hanging in the sky. "Does he look like he knows? I think you should ask that one."

"Yes, yes, my Bingbing is right." The big worm crawled back, speaking ingratiatingly.

"Forget it, forget it. Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it." The big white worm shook its head. "Let me introduce myself. I am Skydream Iceworm, the first-ever Million-Year Soul Beast on the Douluo Continent. You can call me Brother Skydream."

"A million years?" Huo Yuhao's eyes widened. The shock Qian Renxue and the others had shown when he revealed that red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had left him with no doubt about how powerful and precious a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was. Yet this worm's cultivation was ten times that.

"That's right. You heard correctly—a million years. I was about to be drained dry by that gang of hateful bandits led by Ditian at the bottom of the Lake of Life. Then, on a dark and windy night, a beam of golden light struck me. I passed out immediately, and when I woke up, I was here."

"She is the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, a four-hundred-thousand-year soul beast, one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, and also my Bingbing... Ow! I was wrong, Bingbing."

Ice Empress withdrew her foreclaw and flicked her tail.

"All right, kid." Skydream Iceworm's voice took on a bewitching tone. "I've decided that you will be the executor of my great plan."

"What plan?" Still not recovered from the shock of "a million years," Huo Yuhao asked instinctively.

"The God-Making Plan." Skydream Iceworm wore an unfathomable expression.

"A god? What is a god?"

"Stronger than a Titled Douluo."