"Xiao Bai, Youheng, think about it. This Soul Ring came from an Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger-that's exactly why we must be even more cautious!" The Snow Empress's tone was unusually grave. "Even I thought these legendary ancient Soul Beasts had long since vanished from the Far North. If they've survived to this day and even produced a hundred-thousand-year specimen, that means..."
Dai Youheng picked up where she left off. "I understand. It means that beneath the glacier-covered, bottomless abyss under our feet, there could very well be an entire, unknown population of Abyssal Ice Prison Tigers! A clan that has endured since ancient times must have reserves and strength we absolutely cannot underestimate! As powerful as Xiao Bai is, even she might not be their match."
Xiao Bai's expression shifted slightly as she instantly understood what worried Dai Youheng and the Snow Empress.
The Snow Empress nodded and continued her analysis. "Think back to how that hundred-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger behaved. It was badly wounded, but it hadn't completely lost its ability to move. Yet when it saw us keeping its child here, it showed no intention of fighting to the death to save it. Instead, it fled alone without the slightest hesitation. There are only two possible explanations. Either it's so cold-blooded that it doesn't care whether its offspring lives or dies-but that goes against the nature of the vast majority of Soul Beasts."
"Then the second possibility is far more likely." A trace of chill crept into the Snow Empress's voice. "It knew that, badly wounded as it was, it was no match for Xiao Bai. So it chose the most rational-and most terrifying-course of action. It wasn't fleeing. It was going for help, seeking out a stronger member of its clan!"
"A hidden clan capable of producing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast probably has a leader whose cultivation goes well beyond the ordinary hundred-thousand-year level." The Snow Empress's voice was full of apprehension. "It could very well be a Ferocious Beast, perhaps even an existence not much weaker than I was at my peak! If a creature like that is drawn here, even Xiao Bai's strength would be nowhere near enough. All three of us could end up buried here!"
The Snow Empress's analysis was sound, her reasoning airtight. Dai Youheng felt a little relieved. If she hadn't reminded him just now, he wouldn't have figured it out so quickly.
A moment of greed and impatience had nearly blinded him to the greatest lurking danger. An ancient Soul Beast clan hidden in the deepest reaches of the Far North, whose existence even the Snow Empress knew nothing about, was far more terrifying than he could have imagined.
"I understand, Sister Snow Empress!" Dai Youheng immediately said. "I didn't think this through. Let's move right away!"
"Xiao Bai," the Snow Empress transmitted her thoughts to the Ice Bear King again, "take this unconscious little tiger and leave this area as fast as you can. The farther away, the better. Find somewhere completely concealed, somewhere we won't be easily tracked!"
"Roar." Xiao Bai might have been slow on the uptake, but she trusted the Snow Empress's orders absolutely and carried them out without question. She gave a low growl of acknowledgment, carefully scooped up the unconscious twenty-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger with her enormous paw, and tucked it under her arm.
At the same time, she gently used her other paw to secure Dai Youheng once more in the thick, warm fur on her back.
Once everything was done, astonishing energy erupted from Xiao Bai's massive body. She dropped onto all fours, abandoning her earlier leisurely pace. Like a colossal icebreaker surging into motion at full speed, she thundered away in the opposite direction from the fleeing hundred-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger.
Every step left deep paw prints in the solid, eternally frozen plain, only for ice and snow to swiftly cover them again.
She moved so fast that a white afterimage trailed through the air behind her, while freezing winds howled past Dai Youheng's ears.
Dai Youheng clung tightly to Xiao Bai's fur and glanced back at the shattered frozen lake and deep glacial fissure rapidly receding behind them. A wave of belated fear washed through him.
Beneath the frozen plain, invisible undercurrents seemed to stir. Just as the Snow Empress had predicted, the badly wounded hundred-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger was dragging its broken body toward a hidden lair beneath the glacial abyss. In its four eerie eyes burned bone-deep hatred and the mad flames of revenge.
Meanwhile, Dai Youheng and Xiao Bai fled with their unexpected spoils into the more desolate, colder depths of the Far North, racing against time to find a safe haven.
The plan to obtain a Soul Ring remained unchanged, but its priorities and location had to change immediately. Safety came first.
Not long after Xiao Bai vanished into the boundless wind and snow, carrying Dai Youheng on her back and the unconscious twenty-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger under her arm-
"Gurgle... boom!"
The already shattered surface of the frozen lake heaved violently once more! A dark shape, more terrifying and far larger than the last, slowly rose from the deep abyss beneath the lake!
Finally, with a dull, thunderous crash that seemed capable of shaking the entire glacial continent, a suffocatingly enormous figure broke through the icy water and slowly emerged onto the ice!
The earlier 100,000 Years Ice Prison Tiger was now crouching reverently and fearfully at its enormous feet. By comparison, its originally massive body looked like an immature cub!
The hundred-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger from before now lay prostrate at its enormous feet, full of reverence and fear. By comparison, its once-imposing body looked like that of an immature cub!
It lowered its head and gave aggrieved, agonized whimpers, recounting what had happened.
Just as the Snow Empress had suspected, this terrifying beast was the true reigning monarch of the Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger clan-a second-generation clan leader with a cultivation of five hundred thousand years!
Its father, the first clan leader, had long since been reduced to ash in a terrifying heavenly tribulation. It had inherited its father's power and position, but also his profound fear of the laws of heaven and earth.
Its clan had spent generation after generation lurking beneath the deep-sea ice abyss, where sunlight could never reach. This was not because they lacked the strength to contest the Snow Empress and Ice Empress for dominion over the Far North. Rather, they sought to use the Extreme Abyss's unique environment to suppress the fluctuations of their cultivation as much as possible and delay the arrival of their heavenly tribulations!
What they pursued was the survival of their race, not the hollow glory of ruling the surface.
Had the cultivation fluctuations Dai Youheng emitted while practicing the Golden Vajra Evil-Repelling Body not been so unusual, carrying the essence aura of a supreme demonic beast that made even them tremble and drool with desire, they would never have lightly emerged to invite trouble.
With five hundred thousand years of cultivation, the Prison Tiger Clan Leader possessed terrifying combat power, enough to crush the vast majority of Ferocious Beasts.
Its race was also exceedingly unusual. Like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, it possessed the ultimate evil attribute. Among tiger-type Soul Beasts, its racial strength was probably second only to that of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
Even the Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, would face an uncertain outcome against it. Throughout the entire Far North, perhaps only the Snow Empress at her peak, wielding the power of ultimate ice and snow, could reliably hold the upper hand.
Its four terrifying eyes slowly swept over the devastated battlefield. It sensed the lingering Ice Bear aura in the air, a faint trace of human blood energy, and the baleful ice energy left behind by its wounded kin.
But it had arrived a step too late.
The wind and snow of the Far North were the most merciless sweepers of all. In that brief span of time, fresh ice and snow had already covered most of the tracks and traces of aura Xiao Bai had left behind, making them indistinct and difficult to follow.
Farther away, they had vanished completely into the boundless winds and snow of the frozen plain, leaving no trace to be found.
"Roar!"
The Prison Tiger Clan Leader raised its hideous head and unleashed a deafening roar, filled with boundless fury and frustration.
This roar was far more terrifying than any before it. Its sound waves struck like physical blows, shaking several nearby glaciers until they collapsed with thunderous crashes!
Yet for all its power to tear everything apart, it could not find the targets of its revenge.
At last, the terrifying roar gradually subsided, leaving only the howling wind.
In the Prison Tiger Clan Leader's icy eyes, rage slowly gave way to deeper apprehension and caution. It took one long look at the deserted frozen plain, wrapped its tail around the badly wounded hundred-thousand-year Ice Prison Tiger, and slowly sank its enormous body into the frigid lake, disappearing once more into the dark abyss below.
The safety of its race and the avoidance of heavenly tribulation remained its foremost concerns. Rashly venturing into the unknown dangers of the surface over a missing descendant and a moment's anger would not be wise.
But it and its clan would remember this grudge. That human with the strange aura and that damned Ice Bear had already been placed on the Abyssal Ice Prison Tiger clan's eternal blacklist.
Before you continue