"You're an interesting boy. Very well. I have nothing else to do anyway, so I can give you five minutes to say your piece. However..."
The Snow Empress abruptly changed her tone, fixing Huo Yuhao with an icy stare as she spoke.
"If what you say fails to interest me, even with that special divine beast martial soul whose bloodline surpasses Di Tian's, I will make sure you remain in the Far North."
As the Snow Empress's emotions shifted, the weather around them began to change as well.
A bitterly cold storm had already begun sweeping through the previously tranquil heart of the Far North.
There was a reason the Far North was the Snow Empress's comfort zone. Here, the power she displayed could even rival that of gods in some less powerful works of fiction.
She could truly summon the wind and rain, bending them freely to her will.
Just then, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power abruptly enveloped Huo Yuhao, forming a sphere of light around him.
The Snow Empress narrowed her eyes slightly, but before she could speak, Huo Yuhao spoke first.
"Snow Empress, as the ruler of the Far North, do you never consider its future?"
The Snow Empress froze at his words, then sharply swept her hand aside and replied.
"I... my Far North boasts four ferocious beasts, and countless ten-thousand-year soul beasts. How mighty we are! Apart from the Star Dou Great Forest and the Evil Demon Forest, what could possibly stand against us?"
Huo Yuhao sneered and said to the Snow Empress.
"To think that the mighty Snow Empress, foremost among the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, has such a narrow outlook. You're nothing but a frog at the bottom of a well."
The Snow Empress flew into a rage at his words. She had always been impatient; otherwise, she would never have plundered the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well over a disagreement in the original story.
She abruptly raised her hand, and countless icicles instantly pointed at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao looked at the Snow Empress. Rather than provoking her with further mockery, he spoke calmly.
"Of course you can kill me, but can you kill every human? Outside the Far North, how many human Super Douluos could you fight? Even if you stacked the lifespans of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North and that other ferocious beast together, how many more years could you last?"
The Snow Empress's icicles trembled a few times. Clearly, she had begun to think, while Huo Yuhao continued.
"As far as I know, reaching the hundred-thousand-year level is extremely difficult for a soul beast, and becoming a ferocious beast is another perilous hurdle. Even with the Ice God Tiger at your side, are you truly confident that you can raise three new ferocious beasts for the Far North before you die?"
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
With a somewhat impatient wave of her hand, the Snow Empress scattered all the ice crystals and questioned Huo Yuhao.
"Ten thousand years from now, Evil Soul Masters will come and go freely throughout the Far North. The Titan Snow Demon King, the last surviving member of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, will be slaughtered, reduced to someone else's soul ring and soul bone. And all these tragedies begin with your decision to take human form."
The Snow Empress shuddered in shock, then rushed up to Huo Yuhao, seized him by the collar, and demanded.
"I haven't even told Bing'er about my plans yet. How did you know what I was thinking?"
Huo Yuhao pointed at the martial soul behind him and spun a tale for the Snow Empress.
"Because my martial soul is called Qiongqi. It possesses the ability to explore every strange sight and extraordinary event under heaven. To this martial soul, time is merely a toy it can take apart. Using a special method to let me glimpse the future is nothing unusual. And from the future I saw, if you kill me, you'll be the one who suffers an even worse fate afterward."
The Snow Empress immediately began to hesitate. From the moment Huo Yuhao had revealed his martial soul, she had sensed that this unusual tiger soul beast, black all over with two wings on its back and two horns on its head, was anything but ordinary.
At the same time, she could sense a power of fortune about Huo Yuhao that she found difficult to resist. As a super ferocious beast who had likewise reached a certain level, the Snow Empress was equally sensitive to fortune.
When she had first heard that a soul beast of destiny had appeared in the Star Dou Great Forest, the Snow Empress had done some research into the power of destiny on the Douluo Continent.
"What do you want? You can't possibly have come to help me for nothing."
The Snow Empress looked at Huo Yuhao and questioned him coldly. Huo Yuhao replied.
"Have you ever wondered why humans hunt soul beasts? Why they stand against soul beasts?"
The Snow Empress answered without hesitation.
"The first question answers the second. Humans stand against soul beasts because humans need soul rings to evolve."
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said to the Snow Empress.
"The first person who placed a soul ring on himself and became a Soul Master did so to fight soul beasts. So the conflict with soul beasts predates humanity's need for soul rings. All of this was arranged by the gods."
The Snow Empress released Huo Yuhao and looked at him uncertainly.
Huo Yuhao pointed at the sky and said to the Snow Empress.
"At this very moment, the gods above may be watching everything you and I say and do. Are you content to remain nothing more than a grain of sand in their eyes?"
The Snow Empress frowned. Proud as she was, she naturally refused to accept that she was merely a plaything for the gods to observe.
Yet she held the very word "gods" in such awe that she could not resist them.
Huo Yuhao continued speaking to the Snow Empress.
"Because of the first generation of gods' own views, soul beasts can never become gods. All of you will eventually die beneath heavenly tribulations. That is the rule of this world, but are you willing to accept it?"
"What exactly are you trying to say?" The Snow Empress looked at Huo Yuhao, a chill in her voice. Yet Huo Yuhao could clearly sense that her resolve had begun to waver.
Huo Yuhao stepped forward, took the Snow Empress's hand, and said.
"You are a snow spirit born of nature, a being born and nurtured by heaven and earth. You should never have had to endure any shackles. Now, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm has devised a god-making plan to raise me into a god. He seeks eternal life by becoming my soul ring, while my intention is to follow that plan to godhood, stand before the gods, and overturn every one of these rules. I'll truly turn heaven and earth upside down and forge a world of freedom."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm remained very calm within Huo Yuhao's mind.
Before they came, Huo Yuhao had already gone over their contingency plan for this with him, so he was not worried that Huo Yuhao would cause him trouble.
Of course, he did not know that, if necessary, Huo Yuhao really would wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace.
The Snow Empress looked at Huo Yuhao in astonishment, then glanced at the sky and lowered her head, sinking into indecision.
Huo Yuhao sat down to one side and said to the Snow Empress.
"If you follow your plan, you will face a calamity after taking human form. A Titled Douluo will pass through here when you are at your weakest and seal you inside a soul tool called the God-Sealing Platform.
"You will be forced into your weakest state, left at others' mercy until you merge with someone and become part of him."
At Huo Yuhao's words, the Snow Empress could not help raising her head...
Before you continue