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 gradually encroached on Tian Meng's side.

The pale film covering the Ice Empress began to freeze and flake away.

Tian Meng said in disbelief:

"How is that possible? When did your ice grow so powerful? You can even freeze my spiritual power!"

As far as Tian Meng knew, no matter how strong the Ice Empress's ultimate ice was, it could never freeze the spiritual power he had cultivated for a million years.

This was plainly a law that could only be touched in the realm of gods.

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

The Ice Empress said coldly:

"You're nothing but a filthy worm, yet you thought you could control my life? My power is beyond your understanding."

Tian Meng was crushed.

Who could have imagined that the Ice Empress, so close to the end of her lifespan, possessed a freezing power beyond anything he knew?

His plan to create a god had failed, and now both he and Huo Yuhao were going to die here.

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

Tian Meng looked at Huo Yuhao in a panic.

Huo Yuhao was enduring the lingering chill of the Ice Empress's attack, 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 only regret that I can't avenge my mother."

Faced with his impending death, Huo Yuhao was more at ease than Tian Meng.

Guilt filled Tian Meng. He was about to unleash all his spiritual power in one final strike against the Ice Empress.

Then, without warning,

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 an emerald streak once more and shot toward the ice pillar.

Tian Meng was stunned. Why had the Ice Empress suddenly stopped trying to kill him?

Was it because he was cute?

"Never mind! Yuhao, let's run! We're never coming back to this wretched place."

Delighted, Tian Meng used his spiritual power to conceal their auras and urged Huo Yuhao to leave.

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. It glowed pale blue and merged into his body.

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

A wave of comfort swept through Chi Hong again, leaving him clear-headed and refreshed.

Rumble—

"Not good. The Ice Pillar Plate must have been holding this pillar together. This place is about to collapse."

Seeing chunks of ice fall around him, Chi Hong immediately sprinted for the exit.

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

He emerged from the tunnel. Behind him, ice began to break away from the towering pillar, threatening to 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 aura weakened until it vanished.

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

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

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

Immune to ice!

Even the Ice Empress's Ultimate Ice had no effect on him.

Greninja stepped squarely between Chi Hong and the Ice Empress, not a trace of fear in his eyes.

Seeing the scorpion, barely five feet long, Chi Hong knew he could not avoid this fight. He put on the bearing of a powerful expert.

"Ice Empress, you've got it wrong. This Plate was mine to begin with. I've merely taken back what belongs to me. You're lucky I'm not making trouble for 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 brimmed with boundless fury.

"This treasure came to the Far North a hundred years ago. The Snow Empress and I have guarded it ever since. What right does an underage human Soul Master have to say that?"

Despite her words, the Ice Empress was shocked and full of doubt.

She had been driving her ice power at him the entire time. Why was this human completely unaffected? He was only a human Soul Grandmaster.

Her aura alone should have been enough to kill countless people like him!

Worse, she could no longer sense the Ice Pillar Plate. Instead, this human radiated the plate's near-divine ice power.

What was going on?

She and the Snow Empress had discovered the plate, yet after studying it for a hundred years, they had grasped only a sliver of its law of ice. Even that had raised her Ultimate Ice to a new level.

So why had the Plate acknowledged this human?

And why had it made her Ultimate Ice useless against him?

The thought enraged the Ice Empress further. 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 act rashly. Inside this ball is a genuine Million-Year Soul Beast. If you don't want to meet your end early, back off."

He tried to talk her down, though he knew his chances were slim.

The Ice Empress snapped:

"You humans are all scheming thieves and liars. Now you claim there's a Million-Year Soul Beast in there? Do you take me for a fool?"

Chi Hong sensed her growing more volatile. Knowing words would not persuade her, he sighed. "Why are you forcing my hand? What's the point?"

The next moment,

he pressed the button on the Poké Ball. Click. Blinding white light instantly illuminated the entire Far North.

The glare forced the Ice Empress to 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 spread across the snow-covered land.

They washed over the dark sky. Auroras streamed overhead, and even the Ice Empress's emerald glow was swallowed by the light.

Chi Hong lifted his head and stared at the breathtaking scene.

Amid the flowing colors, a figure that resembled both a phoenix and a peacock flew past with wings outstretched.

A feathered crest crowned its head. Its plumage was mostly gold and red, flashing with rainbow hues. Its prism-shaped wings left a magnificent rainbow in its wake as it flew, casting flecks of color across the barren land. It looked utterly divine.

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