Obtaining the Ice Pillar Plate and summoning Ho-Oh

With Tian Meng and the Ice Empress as the dividing line, the world split into emerald green and gold.

But the green was steadily encroaching on Tian Meng's territory.

The pale film enveloping the Ice Empress slowly froze and flaked away.

Tian Meng spoke in disbelief:

"How is that possible? When did your ice become so powerful? You can even freeze my Inner Focus!"

As Tian Meng understood it, no matter how strong the Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice was, it could never freeze the Inner Focus he had cultivated over a million years.

That was clearly a law accessible only upon reaching the realm of gods.

Even the Snow Empress, ruler of the Far North, could not do that.

The Ice Empress said coldly:

"You wretched bug. You thought you could control my life? My power is beyond your understanding."

Tian Meng was devastated.

Who could have imagined that the Ice Empress, nearing the end of her lifespan, possessed a freezing ability beyond anything he knew?

Not only had his plan to create a god failed, but he and Huo Yuhao were both going to die here.

"Yuhao, I'm sorry. We... might not make it past this."

Tian Meng looked at Huo Yuhao, who had lost control of his bladder.

Huo Yuhao was bearing the lingering force of the Ice Empress's cold, and his body was nearly at its limit.

Hearing Tian Meng's words, he forced himself to say, "It's all right, Brother Sky Dream. You changed my life. Even if I die, I'm not afraid. I just wish I could have avenged my mother."

Faced with imminent death, Huo Yuhao was more at peace than Tian Meng.

Guilt filled Tian Meng. He was about to unleash all his Inner Focus in one last strike against the Ice Empress.

Then, suddenly,

the Ice Empress stopped freezing them and turned toward the ice pillar.

"No! Damn you, Tian Meng! You lured me away!"

With a furious cry, she abandoned her attempt to kill and absorb Tian Meng. Her body became a streak of emerald light and shot toward the ice pillar.

Tian Meng was stunned. Why had the Ice Empress suddenly decided not to kill him?

Was it because he was cute?

"Forget it! Yuhao, let's get out of here! We're never coming back to this godforsaken place."

Overjoyed, Tian Meng used his Inner Focus to conceal their presence and urged Huo Yuhao to leave at once.

Meanwhile, inside the ice pillar, Chi Hong had found the Ice Pillar Plate at its core.

The Ice Pillar Plate looked much like the Flame Plate.

The moment Chi Hong touched it, the Plate moved toward him of its own accord, glowing pale blue as it merged into his body.

[You obtained the Ice Pillar Plate. Path to Godhood (2/17)]

Once again, a wave of comfort swept through Chi Hong's entire body, leaving him clearheaded and refreshed.

Rumble—

"Not good. Looks like the Ice Pillar Plate was holding this pillar together. This place is about to collapse."

Seeing chunks of ice fall around him, Chi Hong broke into a run.

After absorbing the Ice Pillar Plate, his body had grown considerably stronger, and he could now control ice.

As he left the tunnel, ice began peeling away from the towering pillar behind him. Any moment, it would smash through the frozen ground below.

"Whew, what a sight. Wait—why is the Ice Empress heading this way? Wasn't Tian Meng holding her back?"

Chi Hong's eyes widened. He could sense the Ice Empress approaching at tremendous speed, while Tian Meng's presence weakened until it vanished altogether.

"Wretched human! You dared steal the treasure of our Far North while I was away. You'll die for this!"

The Ice Empress's emerald scorpion body appeared before Chi Hong in the blink of an eye. She immediately unleashed a fierce blast of Ultimate Ice, trying to freeze the insignificant human to death.

Unfortunately for her, Chi Hong had merged with the Ice Pillar Plate. Now he was...

Immune to ice!

Even the Ice Empress's strongest Ultimate Ice could do nothing to him.

Greninja stood squarely between Chi Hong and the Ice Empress, without a trace of fear in his eyes.

Seeing the scorpion, barely a meter and a half long, Chi Hong knew there was no escaping this confrontation. He put on the air of someone powerful.

"Ice Empress, you've got it wrong. This Plate was mine to begin with. It's simply returned to its rightful owner. You're lucky I'm not coming after you."

As he spoke, Chi Hong gripped Ho-Oh's Poké Ball. At the first sign of trouble, he would summon Ho-Oh.

The Ice Empress's voice was clear and pleasant, but now it seethed with rage.

"This treasure arrived in the Far North a hundred years ago. The Snow Empress and I have guarded it ever since. You're not even a grown Soul Master. What gives you the right to say that?"

Even as she spoke, the Ice Empress was shocked and suspicious.

She had been driving her icy power at him this whole time, yet somehow the human was completely unaffected. And he was only a Soul Grandmaster?

Her presence alone should have been enough to kill countless people at his level!

What was more, she could no longer sense the Ice Pillar Plate. Instead, the human before her radiated the Plate's almost godlike power over ice.

What was going on?

She and the Snow Empress had discovered the Plate, yet after a century of studying it, they had grasped only a sliver of its laws of ice. Even that had raised her Ultimate Ice to a new level.

So why had the Plate accepted this human?

Why was her Ultimate Ice useless against him?

The thought only made the Ice Empress angrier. She moved toward Chi Hong, intending to crush him with her pincers.

Chi Hong quickly raised a hand to stop her.

"Ice Empress, don't do anything rash. Inside this ball is a true Million-Year Soul Beast. If you don't want to meet your end early, back off."

He tried to persuade her, though the chances of that working were slim.

The Ice Empress snapped:

"You humans are devious. You steal, and you lie. Now you claim you've brought a Million-Year Soul Beast? Do you take me for a fool?"

Sensing that the Ice Empress was growing even more volatile, Chi Hong knew words would not convince her. He sighed. "Why do you have to force my hand? What's the point?"

The next instant,

he pressed the button on the Poké Ball. With a click, a dazzling white light lit up the entire Far North.

The glare made even the Ice Empress shut her eyes.

"What underhanded trick is this now, you wretched human?"

Then the white light turned red, then orange, yellow, green... Gradually, brilliant colors bloomed across the once-white snowfield.

The multicolored light washed over the dark sky. Auroras streamed overhead, swallowing even the Ice Empress's emerald glow.

Chi Hong looked up, transfixed by the beautiful sight.

Amid the flowing colors, a figure like a phoenix and a peacock spread its wings and flew past.

A crest crowned its head, and its feathers were mostly gold and red, flashing with rainbow hues. Its prism-shaped wings left a dazzling rainbow in its wake as it flew, scattering light over the desolate land. It was a Sacred sight.

A divine beast had descended. Ho-Oh had appeared!