Deal with Ice Empress!

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath as he looked at Ice Empress before him. She gave him the same feeling as Xuan Lao from Shrek Academy—strength roughly equivalent to Rank 97 or 98!

"Hm? Tian Meng, what happened to you? Were you hunted?" Ice Empress had originally come intending to kill Tian Meng and leave, but when she saw his illusory figure, her face filled with confusion.

Then she noticed Huo Yuhao and Elex, and her expression turned grave. She stared at Elex warily. This gray-robed man gave her a feeling no weaker than Snow Empress!

"I chose to become his Wisdom Soul Ring. This is one step of my God-Making Plan, and the next step is inviting you to join us!" Tian Meng spoke sincerely.

Yet at the invitation, Ice Empress merely sneered. "Invitation? Looks more like coercion to me!"

As she spoke, Ice Empress released the pressure of one of the rulers of the Extreme North. But the instant that pressure approached them, it was blocked by a gray barrier.

"Don't worry, little scorpion. Big bug is telling the truth. We won't make things difficult for you. If you don't wish to join, then forget it. We'll leave on our own. It doesn't seem like you can stop us anyway, can you?"

Elex spoke as Wei Qing stood on full alert, gripping his longsword and glaring fiercely at Ice Empress before him.

Hearing such blunt words, Ice Empress snorted, but she withdrew her pressure. After all, they were right—she truly had no way of dealing with these people.

"Then tell me. What exactly is your goal?"

Perhaps because she recalled that her four-hundred-thousand-year tribulation was approaching, she knew that even if she did not go with them, she would still die. There was no harm in hearing out their plan.

Hearing that Ice Empress was inclined to agree, Tian Meng immediately began explaining their plan. It was fine at first, but when she heard that the target was Huo Yuhao below, a Soul Master with only one Soul Ring who had just reached Rank 20, she instantly lost her composure!

"Tian Meng? You aren't joking, are you?" Ice Empress looked at Huo Yuhao with utter disbelief.

"Yuhao!" Tian Meng smiled confidently, as though he had expected Ice Empress to say that, and directly had him display his strength.

Huo Yuhao looked helplessly at Tian Meng. This guy... He stepped forward and activated his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul. His first white Soul Ring appeared, though golden markings had already emerged upon it.

Then Huo Yuhao summoned the Human Emperor Sword. A pressure unique to humanity spread outward, and Ice Empress's brows gradually furrowed. Perhaps it was not impossible after all.

And with Elex, a demigod, present as well, Ice Empress went from doubtful to convinced in the next instant. Huo Yuhao slowly took out a flute, and the surrounding ice elements seemed to have encountered their sovereign as they surged toward him.

"Th-this is...? An ice-element divine artifact?" Ice Empress was utterly stunned. Her body even unconsciously drifted closer to Huo Yuhao as she examined the Snow-Treading White Wolf in his hand!

"Fine! Since you're so confident, I don't mind trusting you once!" Ice Empress spoke softly. She was no longer as domineering as before, instead speaking as though to a friend.

"Thank you." Huo Yuhao clasped his hands in gratitude.

As Ice Empress released her own power, a force like countless blades slicing through flesh swept over them. In an instant, her soul left her body. Elex immediately acted, wrapping Ice Empress's soul and protecting her.

Huo Yuhao also approached Ice Empress's body. They had discussed this earlier: first, he would improve his constitution by fusing the Soul Bone, then fuse the Soul Ring. He could have done it directly, but this was safer.

Ice Empress's soul slowly opened her eyes and looked at her own body. With a thought, a broad torso bone floated out from within it.

"Next is the Soul Bone fusion. Steady your mind. If your spirit collapses, we'll all be finished. Understand?!" After the reminder, Huo Yuhao nodded as he looked at the four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone before him.

In the next instant, Ice Empress's torso bone flew toward Huo Yuhao and entered his body like a streak of light.

Just as Huo Yuhao prepared himself for excruciating pain, he realized that it seemed... not painful at all! Then, immense power coursed through his body. There was no intense pain, only the numb, itching sensation of his meridians being cleared!

Seeing this, the others were all rather dumbfounded. Ice Empress looked strangely at Huo Yuhao, who was absorbing the power, and said, "The divine artifact inside this kid seems unwilling to let my Soul Bone merge into his body. Instead, it is turning the Soul Bone into energy to clear and strengthen his meridians."

Hearing Ice Empress's words, Tian Meng's eyes widened. What the hell was this situation?

"It is simple. How could the Human Emperor Physique permit itself to be tainted by the possessions of others? Only one's own Immortal Bone is truly best suited to oneself. Relying on the things of others is merely drinking poison to quench thirst!"

Wei Qing's solemn, cold voice answered the two beasts' doubts. Sure enough, in the next instant, Snow-Treading White Wolf floated out of Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea and arrived above his head, streams of light transforming his body.

As the power of those streams of light flowed through Huo Yuhao's body, his physique became somewhat more robust, and he grew noticeably taller as well.

Seizing the opportunity, Huo Yuhao began mobilizing his second Heavenly Cycle, carrying out the nourishment of the Five Elements. He transformed the energy within Ice Empress's Soul Bone into nutrients to nourish his five viscera, even using Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice to nurture his water-aspect kidneys.

With the addition of the first Five Elements attribute, the autonomous circulation of Huo Yuhao's second Heavenly Cycle had finally reached one-fifth completion!

"Whew! Finally finished. Hm? What's this?" As Huo Yuhao sensed his improvement, he suddenly felt something strange around his rear. In the next instant, a long tail hook appeared behind him.

"Uh? Ice Empress, don't you know your own body? Don't you still have an External Soul Bone?" Huo Yuhao looked at Ice Empress in confusion, only to see her face flush bright red.

"None of your business!" Ice Empress turned her head away with a red face. Honestly, after Snow-Treading White Wolf's transformation and with that tail hook behind him, Huo Yuhao looked like a handsome scorpion that had taken human form.

"Alright! Next comes the Soul Ring fusion!" Elex reminded him. Huo Yuhao nodded, walked to the center of the enormous Soul Ring, and sat down cross-legged. In the next instant, immense Soul Power flooded into his body.

"Urgh!" Huo Yuhao groaned, pain appearing on his face. He felt the shackles binding him begin to crack bit by bit, but the enormous energy still made his meridians swell with pain.

Fortunately, Snow-Treading White Wolf had strengthened his bloodline, allowing him to withstand the immense Soul Power brought by a four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring.

Time slowly passed. Huo Yuhao gradually rose to his feet, a blood-red Soul Ring spinning beneath him as his tall, upright figure stood upon the ice plains.

As Huo Yuhao broke through to his second Soul Ring, a voice that resounded through the heavens rang out.

"The Xiongnu have not yet been destroyed—how can I call any place home? All lands beneath the sun and moon are the territory of my Han Dynasty!"

Clad in crimson battle armor, with an Army-Breaking Qilin Spear resting on his shoulder, he fixed his sharp eyes upon the icy plains before him, as though he had returned to the vast grasslands where he once rode freely!

"A general of the Han Dynasty, Champion Marquis Huo Qubing, greets my lord!"