"I sacrificed myself to Xu Cheng and became one of his soul rings, but now I do so willingly."
Ice Empress continued.
"He took me deep into the Human World, where I truly gained access to many secrets that soul beasts could never hope to reach, and witnessed humanity's terrifying speed of development."
Her expression turned wistful, as though she were recalling the past.
Usually, she only shared these reflections with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in Xu Cheng's Sea of Consciousness. Now, facing her old friends, she naturally opened the floodgates.
"Do you think those humans just now were strong?"
"Very strong. Their presence was overwhelmingly oppressive. The strongest among them could even rival a ferocious beast over five hundred thousand years old," the Titan Snow Demon King said thoughtfully.
"But what if I told you that the Sun Moon Empire beat those fellows until they couldn't tell north from south? That it utterly crushed them and could easily punch through every other faction of Humanity?" Ice Empress asked with a smile.
"How is that possible!!!"
Xiao Bai's eyes widened.
The oppressive presence of those top experts of Humanity, and the helplessness they had made her feel, still left her struggling to breathe.
Was this Sun Moon Empire really that powerful?
"Heh, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes," Ice Empress said wistfully.
Looking at the shocked soul beasts, she felt an inexplicable surge of satisfaction.
"When I first entered the Human World and encountered soul tools and those towering buildings, I felt exactly as you do now. The Human World was so rich and varied. Their entertainment, their way of life... it all made me feel as though I'd lived those past hundreds of thousands of years for nothing..." Ice Empress said wistfully.
"I-is it really that