Strong.
These humans were strong—absurdly strong, even.
But retreat had never been in the Ice Empress's nature.
Over her long life of hundreds of thousands of years, she had encountered countless dangers. Had she always hung back in fear, she would have died somewhere long ago.
She left herself no way back. Either she did nothing, or she gave it everything she had.
"Humans."
The Ice Empress raised her emerald-like tail, its tip gleaming with cold light,
"You bring two traitors from the outside world and one strange weapon, and dare intrude upon the Extreme North to challenge me?"
"Get out, or every last one of you will stay here today as an ice sculpture!"
"Quite the temper."
At the front of the carriage, Ye Yuan chuckled and stepped down calmly.
Without so much as glancing at the surrounding Ice Jade Scorpion swarm, he fixed his gaze on the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion and said,
"I didn't come all the way from Spirit City just to hear you tell me to leave."
"Four hundred thousand years of ultimate ice... Ice Empress, I came here today for you."
Ye Yuan raised his left hand.
Hum!
With a deep toll, an ancient bronze bell slowly emerged from his palm.
The Primordial Chaos Bell.
The next moment, two Soul Rings rose from his body.
The first was a blood-red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
The second...
Was a million-year Crimson-Gold Soul Ring, its edges glowing dark gold and radiating an unfathomable pressure!
The instant that pressure appeared, every Ice Jade Scorpion within several miles let out uneasy murmurs.
Had the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion not still been there, they would probably have fled long ago.
"A million years!"
The Ice Empress's pupils contracted, her eyes filled with shock.
Her intelligence was no less than a