Nearly Burst Apart

In the Star Dou Forest.

Beneath Song Que and the Snow Empress, the six-pointed star grew ever brighter. Strange symbols rose one after another, circling their bodies. Gentle fluctuations of spiritual energy and soul power surrounded them as well.

Within the light, the Snow Empress began stripping away her soul imprint, slowly gathering her origin, consciousness, and all her ice energy together. The power of her physical body ebbed away bit by bit, transforming into a crystalline ice-and-snow spirit form that glowed a lustrous white.

The spirit form followed the golden chain of light, gradually passing toward Song Que.

Song Que's soul rings lit up in succession. Waves of numbness swept through his meridians as currents of bone-piercing cold scoured every limb and bone. He gritted his teeth and silently endured the impact.

As energy continued flowing along the golden chain of light, Song Que's brows drew tighter and tighter, and his face gradually twisted into a grimace.

Everyone around the perimeter held their breath, watching the center of the ritual in silence.

Du Busi and the others looked tense. Di Tian and Bi Ji watched without blinking, tracking every change in the ritual.

Suddenly, Di Tian raised a brow. Looking at the trembling Song Que, he said, "I'm afraid this human boy won't be able to hold on."

Du Busi and the others tensed, their gazes falling on the wisps of blood-red mist seeping from Song Que's body.

"So it's come to this after all? These two boys really are reckless."

Du Busi clenched his fists. Watching Song Que's condition, he asked gravely, "If he can't take it, can we interrupt the ritual outright?"

As his words fell, an immense spiritual pressure abruptly appeared around Song Que.

Startled, everyone turned to look.

"You really are reckless, Mr. Song Que."

A low voice suddenly rang out in Song Que's mind.

Immediately afterward, the Hōgyoku within his Zanpakutō slowly released a strange energy, instantly enveloping Song Que and the Snow Empress within the magic array.

The next moment, the wounds splitting open across Song Que's body began repeatedly tearing apart and healing.

Watching from the side, Bi Ji froze.

"Self-healing? Or high-speed regeneration?"

"He actually has an ability like that too..."

Di Tian frowned slightly and secretly released his spiritual power, trying to capture the strange energy surrounding the array.

After several fruitless attempts, he could only suppress his astonishment and give up.

Watching Song Que's condition slowly stabilize, Bi Ji said hesitantly, "He's stable for now. Let's keep watching. Rashly interrupting the ritual would cause tremendous damage to both him and the Snow Empress."

Du Busi nodded, setting aside his urge to intervene for the moment.

Just as most of the ice-and-snow spirit form merged into Song Que's body, another violent tremor erupted within him.

The vast quantities of energy flowing from the Snow Empress kept accumulating, growing increasingly wild. Once the fusion reached a certain point, they suddenly erupted.

"Careful!" Bi Ji warned in a low voice.

Huo Yuhao mobilized all his spiritual power. Electrolux's divine consciousness spread outward through Huo Yuhao's body, suppressing the restless origin and the overflowing energy.

Suspended in the Sea of Consciousness, Electrolux spoke calmly, his voice reaching only the ears of the few people present:

"The Snow Empress's energy is far too immense. His current body cannot bear everything she has to give."

"I will adjust the incantation, redirect her power, and seal it in layers."

"From now on, whenever he breaks through a major realm, a seal will lift on its own, and the corresponding soul ring will form."

As his words fell, golden runes flowed continuously, bringing order to the Snow Empress's immense power.

Everyone present exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock.

"Is this the remnant soul of an otherworldly deity Yuhao mentioned?" Du Busi murmured.

"Truly extraordinary."

Di Tian's expression grew grave. Recalling the strange energy that had seeped from Song Que's body moments earlier, he silently compared the two.

This deity's power was extremely strong, but compared with the unknown energy Song Que had just displayed, it still fell considerably short.

Time slowly passed.

At last, the Snow Empress transformed into a lustrous white ice-and-snow spirit form and merged completely into Song Que's body.

Song Que's body shuddered violently as a blaze of orange-gold light climbed steadily higher.

Then all six soul rings around Song Que lit up, hovering in the air.

Yellow, yellow, purple, gold, black, gold.

The light slowly faded, and a gleaming white ray of icy light drifted out of Song Que's body.

The light coalesced, taking on the Snow Empress's true appearance.

She wore a plain white dress, her bearing cool and aloof. Snow-white hair cascaded down her back, her skin was fair, and her sky-blue eyes were clear and crystalline, carrying the solitary pride unique to the King of the Far North.

This was the true appearance of the Heavenly Snow Woman, the foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North—the Snow Empress.

Everyone fell silent in an instant.

Jinpeng's eyes widened, his breath catching.

"An orange-gold soul ring?! It really worked?"

"But why has his fourth soul ring turned gold too?"

Du Busi's pupils contracted slightly. His gaze settled on the soul rings and the Snow Empress, lingering there for a long time.

Di Tian shuddered faintly. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the Snow Empress, his expression complicated.

"It really worked. Even after becoming a soul spirit, she can still manifest in the world."

Bi Ji drew a soft breath, a hint of joy appearing on her face.

Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief and hurried up to Song Que, asking anxiously, "Brother Song Que, are you all right?"

"It's all my fault for not thinking things through. I nearly caused a disaster."

Song Que wiped away his cold sweat and shook his head with a wry smile. "I'm fine. A close call, but no harm done."

"It's not your fault, either. I was the one who overlooked it."

A wave of lingering fear washed over him. He had been thoroughly misled by assumptions carried over from the original story.

The Snow Empress whom Huo Yuhao had fused with in the story he had read in his previous life had possessed a damaged origin and greatly diminished power. This time, however, the Snow Empress was relatively whole, and her power far exceeded what it had been then. The two situations were not remotely comparable.

Huo Yuhao was young and inexperienced, so he did not understand the risks involved.

The Snow Empress, Du Busi, and the others did not understand the soul spirit system, so they had no way to foresee the danger either.

He alone had known in advance, yet he had still been careless. He really should not have been.

Song Que muttered under his breath, "Bad call, bad call. I nearly got myself killed."

Fortunately, Electrolux had intervened in time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

At that thought, Song Que paused slightly.

I seem to have heard a voice just now. Could Aizen have awakened?

He tried communicating with him, but received no response. He could only set his doubts aside for now.

Du Busi asked, "Boy, how are things now? This counts as a success, right?"

Song Que nodded. "It worked. Yi Lao helped me redirect the excess energy. Some flowed into my fourth soul ring, which had already been touched by the Snow Empress's power, while the rest was sealed inside my body in layers."

Huo Yuhao added, "Yi Lao also used this accident to improve the soul spirit incantation."

"From now on, when someone fuses with a high-level soul spirit, any excess energy can be sealed away in advance, then form new soul rings when the host breaks through."

"But soul spirit fusion places extremely high demands on spiritual power and physical strength. A fusion across realms like Brother Song Que's carries enormous risks and would probably be very difficult to pull off."

Du Busi looked at Song Que, his gaze complicated and envious.

Di Tian stood in silence. Watching the Snow Empress, whose aura was stable as she remained bound to a human, he let out a heavy breath.

He looked at the Snow Empress and asked, "Snow Empress, are you still conscious? Is this a soul spirit body?"

The Snow Empress nodded gently. "That's right. The path of soul spirits is indeed viable."

She looked at Song Que with a trace of guilt in her expression. "Sorry. I didn't expect to cause you trouble again."