Pride of the Ice and Snow Emperors

At that moment.

Huo Yuhao finally switched to his Second Martial Soul. After all, he had no wish to hurt Xiao Bai.

He activated the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's first Soul Skill, Ice Emperor's Protection. A layer of ice crystals covered his body, shielding him from the blow.

That was...

The instant the ice crystals appeared, the Ice Empress's eyes widened uncontrollably. Ice Emperor's Protection... Had she just sensed the aura of her true body again?

How could this man possess her Origin Power?

Before the stunned Ice Empress could react, Xiao Bai's bear paw came crashing down.

Boom!!!

After the thunderous impact, Huo Yuhao was not sent flying as expected. Instead, Ice Bear King Xiaobai was thrown backward, his massive body recoiling as though the force of his own blow had rebounded on him.

They were dumbstruck.

The Ice Empress was dumbstruck, and so was the Snow Empress.

What a powerful human.

Powerful did not begin to cover it. Huo Yuhao might only have been level ninety-three, but he could fight the Demigod Level Beast God Di Tian to a standstill. The Far North's two-hundred-thousand-year-old Ice Bear King Xiaobai was simply outmatched.

"Xiao Bai."

Huo Yuhao looked toward the shock in Ice Bear King Xiaobai's eyes. "Could you let me finish speaking first?"

With that,

Huo Yuhao had no choice but to release his aura completely, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding quickly.

Eight Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath his feet: red, orange-gold, orange-gold, orange-gold, orange-gold, red, red, and red.

Those were...

The Ice and Snow Emperors and Ice Bear King Xiaobai all froze, their breath caught in their throats.

Was that a human Soul Master's Soul Ring Configuration?

They were stunned numb!

Every last one of them!

The eight Soul Rings gleamed with gold and blood-red light, so dazzling that the three Ferocious Beasts rubbed their eyes again and again, certain they were seeing an illusion. When they realized it was real, they could scarcely breathe.

Those eight Soul Rings were like pairs of great hands clamped around their throats.

Everyone stood petrified.

The instant the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's aura was fully unleashed,

a mighty chill swept outward like a tornado. The White Snow beneath Huo Yuhao's feet burst upward and whirled wildly around him.

The whole world seemed to answer him.

At that moment,

he

seemed to be the true lord of the Far North.

Ice Bear King Xiaobai was not the only one shaken. Even the Snow Empress was stunned by his command of the snowy world and the ice and snow filling the sky.

His second through fifth Soul Rings, in particular, were orange-gold and carried an aura identical to hers. They stirred the blood in her veins, filling her with an irrepressible urge to fight him.

"Snow Empress, Ice Empress, Xiao Bai."

Huo Yuhao spoke again at last. "You should be able to sense that the auras I carry come from you. Some things I say may be hard for you to accept right away, but please give me a chance to explain..."

"Explain?!"

The Snow Empress narrowed her eyes. She could tell that Huo Yuhao bore them no ill will, but her restless Origin Power left her in no mood to listen.

With that,

the Snow Empress stepped through the air toward Huo Yuhao. "As Lord of the Far North, I won't stand by after you hurt Xiao Bai. Defeat me, and I'll give you a chance to explain. Otherwise, don't dream of leaving here today."

"Huh?"

Huo Yuhao frowned. "Snow Empress..."

She gave him no chance to say more. The Snow Empress slowly closed her eyes.

Feeling the bitter power of the Far North's ice and snow with her whole being, she declared, "Fists and palms command heaven's icy cold; Emperor Sword, Emperor's Palm, Emperor's Cold Heaven. I have three supreme arts. The first: Emperor Cold Heaven: Snow Dance Shining Sun!"

The Snow Empress's eyes flew open, and she spread her arms as though embracing the sky.

In an instant, her power swelled until it blotted out heaven and earth, drawing Huo Yuhao's gaze like a white storm.

The blazing sun overhead turned white.

It was as though that terrifying power had frozen even the sun.

A white torrent of Ice Seal power surged toward Huo Yuhao, draining the air wherever it passed.

At that moment,

Huo Yuhao, standing in the distance, felt threatened for the first time. So strong! Is this... the Snow Empress's true strength in her original body? Her domain emerges, and heaven and earth change...

But what shocked the Snow Empress even more

was that the young man who carried the same aura as her still stood calmly where he was, without moving an inch.

The cold wind roared and tore through the air. Snow Dance Shining Sun dyed the entire Far North a blinding white. Yet the young man showed no sign of dodging.

Then

something happened that left the Ice and Snow Emperors even more stunned.

The heavy, powerful Extreme-Cold Light grew gentle just three inches above Huo Yuhao's head. It turned into snowflakes that scattered across the sky and slowly faded away.

"How is that possible!"

The Snow Empress's expression changed drastically, and her heart clenched. "You dispelled my Snow Dance Shining Sun so easily? How did you do it?"

"Because we're companions who share the same roots and source," Huo Yuhao explained helplessly.

The same roots and source? Companions?

That again!

Shocked as she was, the Snow Empress did not stop attacking. The power of the snowy world rushed into her palm like water into a whirlpool. Then she became a streak of white light and charged at Huo Yuhao. "Emperor Palm: Great Cold Without Snow!"

For all its immense power, Emperor Palm: Great Cold Without Snow had one limitation: the palm itself had to strike the opponent for that power to take effect.

Rumble!

A deep, thunderous sound rolled out.

The Snow Empress's palm strike seemed to summon a portent in heaven and earth.

To Huo Yuhao, it felt less as though the Snow Empress were approaching than a mountain of ice frozen for ten thousand years.

Violent cold rushed into his face. Every one of the thirty-six thousand hairs on his body stood on end, and even the power of ice and snow around him could not stop them from slowly freezing.

Faced with the Snow Empress's overwhelming palm strike, Huo Yuhao had no choice but to answer in kind. "Emperor Palm: Great Cold Without Snow!"

In an instant,

the ice and snow swirling around Huo Yuhao rushed back into his body.

His own Emperor's Palm met the Snow Empress's.

Boom!!!

Their collision seemed powerful enough to end the world. Fierce winds raged, the earth shook, and blinding white light filled everything within ten thousand meters.

Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress were both hurled backward.

After that single exchange,

the Snow Empress was shocked to discover that she had come off worse.

It was true.

Huo Yuhao had originally possessed Ultimate Ice. Later, his fusion with the Snow Empress's spirit had evolved it into Ultimate Ice and Snow. Though they had used the same skill, her attributes were indeed inferior to his now.

"Emperor Sword: Ice Extreme Peerless!"

Before the snowflakes had even fallen, the Snow Empress unleashed her strongest attack from within the white glare.

"That temper of yours... You really are the Snow Empress I know."

Huo Yuhao sighed helplessly and gave a wry smile. "All right. If that's how it is, I'll have to defeat you first. Fifth Soul Skill—Pride of the Ice and Snow Emperors!"

One white, one green.

The two powers instantly gathered and merged before Huo Yuhao. Two illusory figures slowly appeared behind him.

Those were...

The Snow Empress's pupils contracted sharply. The two figures behind Huo Yuhao looked exactly like her and the Ice Empress.

Before she could react, a tremendous blizzard erupted from Huo Yuhao's palm.

Huo Yuhao's Pride of the Ice and Snow Emperors drew on the combined Origin Power of the two Ferocious Beasts. Its freezing power approached Absolute Zero. It could freeze not only the body but also the soul and Soul Power, and its destructive force was immense.