North Ice Empress (Please Follow)

"To be honest, compared to Soul Guidance daggers of the same rank, your Soul Guidance Electric Rod is much more practical. This sort of thing is well suited for agility-type Soul Masters who aren't very high-ranked. Its power is decent, after all, and for Soul Elders and below, it is undoubtedly a formidable close-combat weapon.

"Moreover, compared to a dagger, the Soul Guidance Electric Rod has another advantage: a Sealed Milk Bottle can be installed inside it, greatly ensuring that the rod can be used for an extended period."

Xuan Ziwen gave his assessment, then asked curiously, "But what is this thing? This is the first time I've seen something like it."

He stretched out his hand and pointed at the button on the electric rod as he spoke.

"It's a button used to activate the Soul Guidance Electric Rod. Teacher Xuan, why don't you take it back and study it?" Huo Yuhao said with a smile.

It was hardly Xuan Ziwen's fault for seeming so inexperienced. Although the Soul Guidance Device standards of Peerless Tang Sect were stronger than those of the first Douluo series, there were still areas where they lagged behind.

For example, when the original Xuan Ziwen first saw the mechanical-type Soul Guidance Devices made by Huo Gua, he had been utterly shocked, as if he had never seen the world before.

"Alright." Xuan Ziwen did not stand on ceremony. He accepted the Soul Guidance Electric Rod, then handed over a card. "The Soul Guidance Shock Bomb you developed last time has been adopted by the academy. The card contains the academy's reward of five hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

"According to our research, this shock bomb can affect at most Soul Elders. Its effect on Soul Ancestors is quite poor."

Huo Yuhao accepted the Universal Card, delight rising in his heart. He had not expected the Soul Guidance Shock Bomb to bring him much profit anyway. Such a thing was not very meaningful against high-level Soul Masters.

Even though the Sun Moon Empire had now entered the age of Soul Guidance Devices, powerful individuals remained forces no one could afford to overlook.

Even Xu Tianran in the later stages of the original story had needed to reveal his Trump Card and go all out when facing Ye Xishui after she broke into the imperial palace. In Xu Tianran's eyes, if he failed to kill this Limit Douluo who possessed the body of an Evil Soul Master, what awaited the Sun Moon Empire would be an endless nightmare.

Meanwhile, when Jing Hongchen learned of Huo Yuhao's examination results, a smile gradually appeared on his face. "He passed the Second Level Soul Engineer examination in only a month and a half, and even created an extremely novel second-level Soul Guidance Device. Huo Yuhao truly is a genius in the field of Soul Guidance Devices.

"The record for the fastest person in the Sun Moon Empire to pass the Second Level Soul Engineer examination has now been broken by Huo Yuhao as well."

"Grandpa, I looked into it. According to Huo Yuhao's records, he used to be from the Star Luo Empire. If the people of Star Luo knew he possessed such incredible talent in Soul Guidance Devices, they would probably regret it until their guts turned green," Meng Hongchen said with a giggle.

"Of course. I reckon the people of Star Luo did not think highly of Yuhao, which was why he came here. This time, the Star Luo Empire has suffered a tremendous loss. Only our Sun Moon has the right to possess a talent like Yuhao!

"Although Yuhao's future cultivation as a Soul Master may not amount to much, the Sun Moon does not place absolute supremacy on individual martial strength. How useful a person is in a large-scale war largely determines that person's status," Jing Hongchen said.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Hongchen's expression turned rather ugly. He clenched his fists and muttered, "He broke my record again. Damn Huo Yuhao. Grandpa, I'm going to the library to study. Don't leave the door open for me tonight! I'll definitely win it back."

With that, he immediately ran out of the room. To Xiao Hongchen, it felt as though he had lost once again, because the records for the fastest passage of both the First-Level Soul Engineer examination and the Second Level Soul Engineer examination had been set by him, the once-in-a-millennium genius of the Sun Moon.

Before long, he arrived outside the building. At that moment, a younger student dressed in white approached him. "Brother Xiao, word that Huo Yuhao passed the Second Level Soul Engineer examination is spreading like wildfire throughout the academy. Everyone is calling him a once-in-ten-thousand-years genius of the Sun Moon!

"They're even saying Huo Yuhao is the real genius, while you're a fake genius. I got furious the moment I heard that. It feels like they're suppressing your reputation, Brother Xiao.

"So should we hire some people to teach that brat a lesson? Make him rein himself in a little? Putting the facts aside, does Huo Yuhao really bear no fault at all?"

Xiao Hongchen froze for a moment before saying coldly, "I'm warning you: never hire anyone to deal with Huo Yuhao! Otherwise, I'll be the first to deal with you!

"If I, Xiao Hongchen, lose, then I'll find a way to win it back. I will never lose, feel humiliated, and then go find someone to deal with my opponent.

"I know some nobles in Star Luo, Dou Ling Empire, Heaven Soul, and even the Sun Moon would do something so despicable, but I will never do such a thing! I am the number one genius of the Sun Moon. I have my own pride!"

The younger student nodded repeatedly.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the semester had reached its end. The students of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy set off on their journeys home, while Huo Yuhao remained in the Third Laboratory, carefully inspecting the Soul Guidance Devices he had made over the past few days.

Most of these Soul Guidance Devices were intended for warmth, flight, and ice skating.

Keeping warm was the most important. After all, Huo Gua in the original story had nearly been frozen into Grandson in the Far North. Now that he was a qualified Second Level Soul Engineer, he naturally had no intention of repeating Huo Gua's mistake.

Of course, to avoid arousing Tian Meng's suspicions, he had spent this period fishing for information from him. In the end, he had finally "reasonably" learned from Tian Meng that their destination was the Far North.

That made his creation of all kinds of Warmth-Preserving Soul Tools seem reasonable as well.

During this time, he did not continue attempting to become a Rank 3 Soul Engineer. Instead, he focused most of his efforts on cultivating Soul Power. As a result, his Soul Power Level had now reached level twenty.

"Yuhao, are you ready? I can't wait to set off. Once we reach the Far North, I'll be able to get you your second martial soul!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said.

"Mm, the preparations are more or less complete. But I need to inform Teacher Xuan before we leave." Huo Yuhao immediately found Xuan Ziwen in the laboratory and told him that he needed to return home for a while.

After all, the Far North was an extremely dangerous place. If Xuan Ziwen learned that he was heading there, he would definitely stop him.

Several days later.

Far North.

A bitterly cold wind swept over the icy plains. A figure clad in thick clothing was flying swiftly through the air. It was Huo Yuhao. Though he was not a Soul Sage and could not fly solely through his own cultivation, he had a Flying Soul Guidance Device.

The Soul Guidance Device technology of the Douluo Three Kingdoms lagged behind that of the Sun Moon Empire in every respect. Even Flying Soul Guidance Devices were relatively precious items in the Douluo Three Kingdoms, whereas in the Sun Moon Empire, they were nearly everywhere. The Sun Moon Empire had even developed Flying Soul Guidance Devices that Soul Masters could use!

"Brr, it's so warm. Good thing I brought a whole pile of Soul Guidance Devices for keeping warm in advance." Huo Yuhao's face was rosy as he surveyed his surroundings. "Brother Sky Dream, which way should we go next?"

"Keep flying forward! I'll let you know when we get there," Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's somewhat lazy voice sounded.

Suddenly, Tian Meng's voice changed sharply. He said anxiously, "Something's wrong. A big fellow is coming. Hide, quickly! Don't run into it head-on! Otherwise, both you and I are dead!"

"A big fellow?" Huo Yuhao flew to a nearby ice-covered mountain and hid between several massive blocks of ice. At that moment, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm did his utmost to conceal Huo Yuhao's aura and prevent him from being discovered.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The sound of some enormous creature striking the ground echoed by his ears, deafening him!

He could feel the ice around him trembling, as though it would shatter at any moment.

He looked toward the source of the sound and discovered a gigantic ice bear racing forward. Its entire body was snow-white, the fur on its surface glimmering with silver light, and it radiated a towering aura.

Ahead of the ice bear was a deer-shaped soul beast fleeing for its life.

As it ran, snowballs began condensing at the ice bear's side and shooting toward the deer-shaped soul beast. The snowballs were incredibly fast, yet they could not hit their target.

Countless shards of ice flew about the deer-shaped soul beast, making it even more panicked.

"Why are we so unlucky? We actually got to see the Ice Bear King hunting? That fellow is playing around again. He can clearly kill his prey directly, yet he insists on playing with it for a while!

"He's just like a child who never grew up! I seriously suspect the Snow Empress spoiled him too much and gave him this kind of personality. Yuhao, let's wait a bit. Once he's had enough fun, we can continue onward," Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said helplessly.

Huo Yuhao was equally helpless. In the original story, Huo Gua had set out from Shrek Academy and entered the Far North, where he encountered the Titan Snow Demon King. He had thought that since he and the original Huo Gua had departed from different locations and taken different routes into the Far North, he would not encounter the Titan Snow Demon King. Yet he had unexpectedly encountered the Ice Bear King instead.

The Ice Bear King was the Snow Empress's adopted son. He called the Snow Empress Mother and called the original Huo Gua Grandfather. Later, he had also become one of Huo Gua's soul spirits.

However, in terms of personality, the Ice Bear King was a complete simpleton with no guile to speak of. His maturity could not compare to that of the Titan Snow Demon King.

Still, simple as he might be, the Ice Bear King's strength was very real.

Of course, speaking of the Ice Bear King inevitably brought up the Snow Empress. The Snow Empress was the strongest soul beast in the Far North and held immense prestige there.

Yet even a being like her had been discovered by an unnamed Nine Extremes Soul Engineer while taking human form, then sealed inside the God Sealing Platform.

This... did not seem quite right.

The Snow Empress had lived for seven hundred thousand years. She was not an idiot. When she transformed into a human, would she really not arrange for her adopted son, the Ice Bear King, to guard her nearby? Judging by his portrayal in the original story, the Ice Bear King was utterly loyal to the Snow Empress and could never betray her.

By his calculations, even Xiao Wu must have had Da Ming and Er Ming guarding nearby when she transformed into a human. Surely the Snow Empress could not have been less intelligent than Xiao Wu.

Soul beasts were extremely vulnerable after transforming into humans. The Snow Empress definitely knew that! She could not possibly choose to transform alone under such circumstances.

Moreover, even by the end, the identity of that mysterious Rank 9 Soul Engineer had never been revealed.

Which Rank 9 Soul Engineer had eaten himself silly enough to painstakingly travel to the Far North, capture the Snow Empress Embryo, then carry the precious embryo across an immense distance to the Star Luo Auction House, allowing Xu Jiawei to scheme against Mingde Hall and ultimately triggering the incident where Du Busi attacked Mingde Hall?

The original Douluo Three Kingdoms currently had no Rank 9 Soul Engineers, so this Rank 9 Soul Engineer had to be from the Sun Moon. And it definitely could not have been Ye Xishui. If it had been Ye Xishui, the Snow Empress Embryo would have long since become a resentful spirit inside the Death God Tower.

So, let us guess: just who was this Rank 9 Soul Engineer with nothing better to do?

Perhaps every inexplicable matter was actually the will of the Sea God! The plan to immediately arrest the Snow Empress had been devised by the Sea God!

All soul beasts would eventually be brought to justice by Tang Buddha!

After some time, the surroundings grew quiet. Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said, "Alright, the Ice Bear King is gone. Yuhao, you can continue flying forward now."

At this, Huo Yuhao continued controlling his Flying Soul Guidance Device and flew in one direction. A short while later, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm told him to stop. Then, he took out his cast-off shell and began recreating the operation from the original story to lure the North Ice Empress.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao stayed inside a small ice cave, quietly waiting for Tian Meng to use his cast-off shell to trap the North Ice Empress.

"Bing'er... I sense that my end is near. Come quickly. I have some matters to entrust to you!" Tian Meng directly chose to imitate the Snow Empress's aura, disguising himself as the Snow Empress to lure the North Ice Empress over.

A moment later, an immense aura descended. Pressure like an overturned mountain spread throughout the area, while the sky gradually became covered in a dreamlike layer of Emerald Green.

"Tian Meng, you still dare to return. I thought you had already perished." The North Ice Empress's voice rang out.

"Hehe, Bingbing, didn't I come because I missed you?" Tian Meng said with a grin as he looked at the North Ice Empress before him.

"You missed me?" The North Ice Empress snorted coldly. "What, are you ready to become my food?"

"Bingbing! I came to find you so I can bring you immortality! I know you probably won't survive your next great tribulation, so I specifically found an opportunity for you to live forever! Come, achieve immortality with me!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said.

Immortality?

The North Ice Empress was somewhat tempted. To be honest, she had no confidence in surviving the next great tribulation. She did not want to die. Of course, if she ate Tian Meng, she could definitely take a chance, because Tian Meng was an exceptional tonic.

"Tian Meng, how do I know you aren't lying to me? Immortality? Unless one becomes a god, how could one live forever?" The North Ice Empress voiced her doubts, then immediately chose to attack. Yet she was instantly trapped in a cage formed by Tian Meng's cast-off shell and Spiritual Power.

Looking at the North Ice Empress in this state, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sighed. "Bingbing, I'll tell you the truth. Even if I were willing to become your food, you wouldn't be able to eat me. After all, I no longer have a physical body. Only my spiritual essence remains."

"What!" The North Ice Empress was somewhat shocked.