Ice Empress Awakens

At the heart of Eastsea City stood a five-story building. It occupied a hundred square meters and looked unremarkable from the outside, but the fact that it had been built in this place where every inch of land was worth gold proved that its owner's status was anything but simple.

On the third floor of the small building, Huo Yuhao sat in the spacious room, looked at the furnishings around him, and sighed inwardly.

Two days had passed since Awakening Day ended.

He had received the highest level of attention from the East Sea Spirit Pagoda. Hua Yichen had kept his promise and assigned him this building. All kinds of books about Soul Beasts and Soul Spirits had been sent over as well, and a laboratory had even been specially set up on the second floor. It was as though they were doing everything in their power to satisfy his requests.

Hua Yichen had even wanted to send in tutors and a butler to look after him, but Huo Yuhao had found excuses to refuse them.

With outsiders around, there were too many inconveniences.

"The situation is better than I imagined."

Huo Yuhao picked up a book about Soul Spirits, flipped through several pages, and fell into thought.

Beside Huo Yuhao was a massive bookshelf filled with books about Soul Masters, Soul Beasts, and Soul Power, along with some manuscripts and notes that recorded the history of the Spirit Pagoda and certain secrets known only to insiders.

Through these books, Huo Yuhao gained a more comprehensive understanding of the current Spirit Pagoda, and because of that, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the worst-case scenario he had imagined, the current situation was dozens of times better. The Spirit Pagoda had not managed to crack Old Yi's "security program" and still respected the wishes of Soul Beasts. Only Soul Beasts that voluntarily became Soul Spirits would be made into Soul Spirits.

However, the appearance of Inherited Soul Spirits did somewhat surprise Huo Yuhao. But after thinking it over carefully, he felt it was quite normal.

For those with descendants, who would not want to use the Contract Dissolution Method to pass their powerful Soul Spirits down to them? If people could still resist the temptation of a Thousand Year Soul Spirit, what about ten-thousand-year, hundred-thousand-year, or even Fierce Beast-level Soul Spirits?

One had to know that although the Spirit Pagoda had now introduced the Spirit Ascension Platform, which could increase a Soul Spirit's age, that was not something ordinary people were qualified to use.

As for Inherited Soul Spirits, as long as one's descendants were promising, the Inherited Soul Spirit would eventually grow to a higher age!

For example, the book Huo Yuhao was reading right now had such a case.

A father's Martial Soul had been mediocre, and his first Soul Spirit had only been at the ten-year level. But as he cultivated, the Soul Spirit received feedback and eventually grew to the hundred-year level. After it was inherited, his descendant had a higher starting point, and in the end, that descendant's Soul Power was fifteen ranks higher than the father's.

It did not look like much, but in the eyes of Soul Masters from commoner backgrounds, it was their hope of turning their lives around.

And Inherited Soul Spirits in Soul Master clans...

"They can be inherited, they can fight, and they have long lifespans. No matter how I look at it, they're like Sect Guardian Beasts from fantasy novels."

Huo Yuhao smiled and shook his head, then turned to learning about the situation at the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.

The current rulers of the Spirit Pagoda were still the Qian Gu Clan, but it was no longer a situation where one family alone dominated everything.

After all, if Huo Yuhao knew full well there was a pit ahead, how could he not fill it in?

Looking at the photograph in the book, Huo Yuhao revealed a faint smile.

"Di Tian has really been doing well for himself."

Looking at the photograph of the man in the book together with Huo Yuhao, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt somewhat resentful.

It was a photo of Di Tian dressed in a black robe while being interviewed. One could see the expression of familiarity on his face, as though he had already grown used to such things.

That made sense. After all, Di Tian was one of the Spirit Pagoda's three Deputy Pagoda Masters and a Council Lifetime Member of the Spirit Pagoda. It would be strange if he had not gotten used to it after so many years... The more Tian Meng thought about it, the more he felt that this guy had gotten off too easily. Back then, they should have let Yuhao fleece Di Tian hard.

"What, is Brother Sky Dream remembering old grudges again?" Huo Yuhao noticed Tian Meng's little movements and asked.

Tian Meng said, "Hmph, a mere Di Tian. If I hadn't been careless for a moment back then, how could he ever have had the chance to control this emperor? If we did it over, I would definitely suppress him!"

Huo Yuhao: "..."

What are you talking about? Right now, there's only me, Old Yi, and you in the Spiritual Sea. Who are you showing off to...

Oh, there was also a Little Ice Silkworm.

Because Tian Meng had occupied the contract slot, that Little Ice Silkworm was temporarily stranded in Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Sea.

Thinking of the new resident in his Spiritual Sea, Huo Yuhao roughly understood Tian Meng's thoughts. Speechless, he closed the book, placed it back on the bookshelf, then pulled out another book about Soul Tools, activated Spiritual Detection, and quickly began reading.

Using Spiritual Detection to read allowed him to engrave the contents into his mind as quickly as possible. For books where he did not need a deep understanding, this could save a great deal of time.

Speaking of Spiritual Detection, that brought up Huo Yuhao's current soul skills. He and Tian Meng had also signed an improved Soul Spirit Contract, and he could similarly choose his own soul skills.

The first soul ring of the Spiritual Eye provided by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had a total of four soul skills.

Spiritual Interference Domain, Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing, and... Simulation!

Among them, Huo Yuhao knew that the essence of Spiritual Interference Domain was the combination of the two soul skills Simulation and spiritual interference. He had similarly researched it ten thousand years ago, and it had not been affected by his recultivation.

However, among the four soul skills, there was no Spiritual Shock. Simulation had replaced Spiritual Shock's position. That was also why his soul ring had been yellow earlier at the Spirit Pagoda.

If Spiritual Shock had been his only offensive means of defeating enemies in the early stages ten thousand years ago and had been quite useful, things were different now.

A dignified Spiritual Attribute Limit Douluo recultivating, yet he did not even know how to attack others with Spiritual Power and still needed a soul ring to assist him... Then what was the point of being alive?

Wouldn't that make him even worse than the recultivating Tang God King?

Ten thousand years had passed. Although Huo Yuhao did not think he counted as a genius, he was not so absurd as a certain God King, who used the Mysterious Heaven Skill as a human, used the Mysterious Heaven Skill after becoming a god, and still used the Mysterious Heaven Skill after reincarnating and recultivating...

While Huo Yuhao collected information about this era outside, Tian Meng was in the Spiritual Sea hoodwinking that Little Ice Silkworm.

Because Tian Meng had seized the Soul Spirit slot, the Little Ice Silkworm was actually quite angry, but after seeing Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's figure, it was shocked.

Such a dignified figure. Could he be... the ancestor of their Ice Silkworm Clan?

"May I ask who you are?"

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, surrounded by ten golden rings, looked at the Little Ice Silkworm with dignity.

"I am the strongest being in the Extreme North, the head of the Four Heavenly Kings, the world's only Million Year Soul Beast, the Supreme Being of the Ice Silkworm Clan—Great Emperor Tian Meng!"

Feeling Tian Meng's surging spiritual pressure, Little Ice Silkworm obeyed its instincts and bowed its head in worship.

"Greetings, Great Emperor!"

But it still felt a little strange inside.

Didn't their Extreme North only have the Three Heavenly Kings? And one of them had disappeared a long time ago.

As if seeing through its confusion, Tian Meng snorted coldly. "Hmph. There are four Three Heavenly Kings. That's common knowledge. If not for the sake of our shared clan, you wouldn't even be worthy of me appearing before you."

"Please forgive me, Great Emperor!"

Tian Meng nodded in satisfaction.

"Though this Emperor is honored as a Million Year Soul Beast, the Heavenly Tribulation looms above. I no longer have the strength to continue forward, so I can only cooperate with humans and plot the Path to Godhood.

"Your strength is far too weak. You don't have the ability to take part in this. One day, we'll send you away from the Spiritual Sea. When that time comes, don't resist..."

A Hundred Year Soul Spirit's intelligence was not high. With just a few words, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fooled Little Ice Silkworm so thoroughly it lost all sense of direction, successfully raising his group status in the Spiritual Sea by one rank.

Mm, from second-to-last up to third-to-last...

There was no helping it. Though his cultivation was the highest, Tian Meng was not good at fighting. Among Huo Yuhao's four great soul spirits, aside from that Mermaid Princess, not one was weaker than him, and Electrolux was even less someone he could compare himself to.

Still, ranking fourth among the six tenants was not bad... even if it was only temporary.

Tian Meng was in a good mood, and for a moment he could not help getting a little carried away. "Do you know how the Snow Empress has been lately? Back when I guided her..."

In Little Ice Silkworm's eyes, a twin-tailed girl suddenly appeared behind Tian Meng, gazing over faintly. Little Ice Silkworm was instantly so frightened its soul nearly left its body, and it had no attention to spare for Tian Meng's words at all.

That aura—Little Ice Silkworm would never mistake it. It was the natural enemy of their Ice Silkworm Clan—the Ice Jade Scorpion!

"...I imagine that, as my disciple, the Snow Empress is still guarding the Extreme North, right? It must have been hard on her."

Tian Meng sighed, then looked up at the frozen ice silkworm and suddenly felt something was not quite right.

Was the air a little cold? Was the atmosphere too quiet?

"Oh, so after not seeing you for a while, Xue'er has even become your disciple. Then what am I?"

A faint female voice echoed beside Tian Meng's ears, making his movements freeze as every hair on his body stood on end.

Yuhao, you screwed me!!!

The Ice Empress Awakens and you didn't even warn me!

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm stiffly turned around, looked at the "Future Hatsune" version of the Ice Empress, and gave an awkward laugh.

"Bing Bing, let's talk this out... ah! Don't hit my face! Give me some dignity in front of the junior!"

On this day, Tian Meng's familiar screams echoed through the Spiritual Sea.

In this book, Huo Yuhao currently only has four soul spirits. You can probably guess the three he lost, but I'll still mention them.

Ten thousand years ago, it would have been impossible for Huo Yuhao to go to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, so there was no Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.

After the Snow Empress obtained a large amount of Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow, she would naturally give Little White a portion. With that opportunity, breaking through the three-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation would not be too difficult, so he would not become a soul spirit either.

Aside from those three, the Evil Emperor, Mermaid, Ice Empress, and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm are all here.

Also, because the protagonist did not participate in many major events ten thousand years ago and did not follow the original plot, the shifts in power ten thousand years later are somewhat large. If you see characters appearing in places they shouldn't, please don't be anxious; the reasons will be written later.