Ice Empress

As they continued exploring deeper,

Lin Xiao finally found the Ice Jade Scorpions' cave beneath a patch of grass in the dense pine forest.

To make sure this was the Ice Empress's lair, Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi lay outside and watched for a while.

They watched countless Ice Jade Scorpions coming and going from the cave.

The most powerful among them measured 1.2 meters long.

Without a doubt, this Ice Jade Scorpion was approaching the age of a ferocious beast.

"Looks like this is the place..."

Lin Xiao looked underground, narrowed his eyes slightly, and gestured to Xuan Zi.

Xuan Zi immediately understood his intentions and flashed an OK sign back.

Then he suppressed his aura to its absolute minimum and summoned the Taotie Black Bull to possess him.

He began slowly digging downward.

The Body Sect's exclusive secret technique: Tunnel-Digging!

"Cough, cough, cough! Xuan Zi, you're not very good at this. Why is the dirt overhead still collapsing?"

By now, Xuan Zi had dug a hole more than ten meters deep.

He was turning from digging straight down to tunneling horizontally forward.

Perhaps because he wasn't skilled enough at it,

a large chunk of soil suddenly fell from above, landing squarely on Lin Xiao's head.

Now he had a mouthful of dirt and was grumbling about Xuan Zi.

Xuan Zi scratched his head and gave a sheepish grin.

"Young master, I'm sorry! It definitely won't happen next time!"

"There's going to be a next time?"

Thanks to Xuan Zi's strenuous digging,

sounds soon came from overhead.

Lin Xiao's face lit up. It seemed they had reached the right spot.

To avoid sending the Ice Jade Scorpions into an uproar,

the two decided to tunnel a little farther into the depths.

Once the sounds above gradually diminished,

Xuan Zi began digging upward with Lin Xiao.

Several minutes later,

"Finally here..."

Lin Xiao panted softly. To keep the digging efficient-and because he was bored-

he had helped dig the whole way.

Now he was feeling a little tired.

He looked around. Everything was pitch-black, but not far to his left,

a splash of emerald green stood out against the darkness.

"Young master, that's the Ice Empress!"

Sensing an aura ahead that was only slightly weaker than his own, Xuan Zi spoke with certainty.

A wicked idea suddenly sprang into Lin Xiao's mind.

"Hehehe."

Lin Xiao approached with a mischievous grin plastered across his face.

At that moment, the poor Ice Empress had no idea that, in the deepest reaches of her lair, guarded outside by countless members of her clan,

the place where she rested and cultivated,

two people would tunnel straight through to mess with her.

Lin Xiao approached without a sound.

He took out the stinky tofu and durian he had bought in Skywater City.

Their pungent aroma instantly filled the entire cave.

He placed them right in front of the Ice Empress's nose.

He let the powerful smell drift into the poor giant scorpion's nostrils.

"Achoo!"

The Ice Empress sneezed violently.

Her scorpion form instantly transformed into a human one, and she rose from the Ice Crystal Bed.

"What is that smell? Why is it so disgusting?"

The Ice Empress dry-heaved.

For soul beasts, a smell like this was undoubtedly lethal.

Yet Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi showed no reaction to it at all.

After all, people who could tolerate such things naturally had no problem smelling them, while those who couldn't felt as though they had eaten shit the moment they caught a whiff.

The Ice Empress's powerful soul power sent the stinky tofu and durian flying.

Then she whipped her head around to face Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi.

"Humans? Die!"

Having been inexplicably awakened by that stench, the Ice Empress was already grumpy. Then she saw that Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi were humans, whom soul beasts hated.

Her fury was about to reach its peak.

She unleashed her powerful aura of 380,000 years without holding anything back.

Ice Emperor's Wrath enveloped the Ice Empress's pincers.

With a single charge, she was about to strike Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao smiled faintly and activated his Child of Nature buff once again.

Sensing that familiar aura, the Ice Empress froze for an instant.

The attack was already upon them. Xuan Zi had summoned the Godly Taotie Bull to possess him, and nine soul rings shone beneath his feet, illuminating the cave.

This is bad!

The Ice Empress was frantic.

But the distance between them was already less than two meters.

She could only forcibly withdraw Ice Emperor's Wrath, coughing up a mouthful of blood from the backlash.

In the end, she stopped less than half a meter from Lin Xiao and dropped straight to her knees.

"Ahem, Senior Ice Empress, there's no need to give me such a grand bow."

Looking thoroughly amused, Lin Xiao stepped forward and helped her up.

The Ice Empress's face was blazing red.

From anger.

She folded her arms across her chest and spoke irritably.

"Child of Nature-no, human brat! What do you want with me?"

After speaking, the Ice Empress stamped her foot hard, as though venting her emotions.

After all, no matter how angry she was, she couldn't actually kill Lin Xiao.

Just as with Bi Ji and the Myriad Demon King's reactions,

to native-born soul beasts like them, Lin Xiao

was far more important than that golden-furred one in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Only Di Tian and those other members of the Dragon Race had the ability and nerve to bare their teeth at Lin Xiao a little.

So the most she could do was beat him up, but then she looked at Xuan Zi beside him, whose aura was slightly stronger than hers.

In a fit of anger, the Ice Empress could only... get angry and stew in silence.

Seeing the Ice Empress acting almost as though she were pouting, Lin Xiao suddenly felt the urge to walk over and pinch her cheeks.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep, Senior Ice Empress. My name is Lin Xiao. I came to Jibei Land to make a deal with you and the Snow Empress."

"A deal?"

The Ice Empress's anger eased a little, and she looked at Lin Xiao curiously.

"Yes. I heard your 400,000-year heavenly tribulation will arrive soon, and the Snow Empress is about to face her 700,000-year heavenly tribulation too, isn't she?"

The Ice Empress nodded without denying it.

She and the Snow Empress truly had no confidence in surviving their heavenly tribulations.

Their chances were so slim that they would be facing nine deaths for one chance at life.

But since Lin Xiao had brought it up, perhaps he had a solution?

The Ice Empress thought for a moment, then asked,

"Do you have a way to help Xue'er and me survive our heavenly tribulations?"

Lin Xiao smiled and nodded.

"That's what this deal is about. That's why I came to find you. I'd like you to take me to see the Snow Empress."

Hearing this, the Ice Empress's face filled with wild joy.

With some urgency, she grabbed Lin Xiao's hand.

"Come on, we're going right now!"

Just as she was about to rush out of the cave and take flight, she spotted the tunnel Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi had dug.

The corner of her eye twitched, and she gave Lin Xiao a resentful look.

"Ahem, we didn't want to disturb your clan... Besides, doing it this way was exciting, wasn't it?"

Three minutes later,

after instructing Xiao Qing, the second-strongest member of her clan, to reinforce their underground defenses,

the Ice Empress flew toward the Snow Empress Palace with Xuan Zi and Lin Xiao, who now had a lump on his head from being smacked.

Perhaps to get her revenge,

the Ice Empress offered Lin Xiao no protection along the way.

She let the fierce wind and snow lash his face.

Before long, a massive ice-blue palace came into view.

The Ice Empress landed and set down Lin Xiao, whose face had several shards of ice frozen to it.

Lin Xiao shook his face and brushed off the ice.

Ignoring the Ice Empress snickering beside him,

Lin Xiao raised his head to take in the magnificent sight before him.

He let out a soft exclamation of wonder.

So this is the Snow Empress Palace?

It really is magnificent.

It covered at least ten thousand square meters, and the entire palace was made of ice crystals.

Under the sunlight, it radiated an ice-blue glow.

It wasn't dazzling; he could even feel a chill from it.

Watching Lin Xiao gawking like a country bumpkin, the Ice Empress spoke with mockery and a touch of pride.

"All right, stop acting like you've never seen the world. The Snow Empress Palace was left behind by the Ice God who knows how long ago. Naturally, it's far more exquisite than your human buildings!"

"Hmph, come on! I'll take you to see the Snow Empress!"