A sharp gleam flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes as he gazed excitedly at the surface of his body.
By drawing on the Ice Dragon Martial Soul's Martial Soul Possession, he had taken something of a shortcut and roughly attained the first level of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art-Azure Dragon Skin.
No, for Huo Yuhao, Ice Dragon Skin might have been a more fitting name.
Even though the Douluo Continent version of the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art fell more than a hundred and eight thousand miles short of the version the Martial Ancestor practiced, Huo Yuhao was still immensely excited.
He gently fluttered his wings, feeling the mighty power roaring and surging within him, and laughed with unrestrained joy for the first time in his life.
Compared to before, Huo Yuhao looked like an entirely different person.
His originally jet-black hair had turned ice blue, and a vertical, snow-white dragon marking had appeared between his brows, giving him a noble and imposing appearance.
At the same time, he had shot up nearly half a head in height. Though he was only eleven, he was already not much shorter than Bei Bei, whom he had met earlier.
With his Martial Soul possessing his body, piercingly cold light burst from within him.
The dragon marking between his brows expanded dramatically, and the cold light condensed into countless ice-crystal dragon scales on his skin, resembling a suit of sharply contoured armor.
The bones of his face also gave off crisp sounds of cracking ice, extending into an openwork faceplate shaped like dragon horns. His pupils, visible through the eye slits, had already become vertical icicles.
He spread his dragon wings, which spanned roughly ten feet, each flap stirring a vortex of cold air.
Huo Yuhao clearly retained a human outline, but the draconic might radiating from him was enough to make anyone suspect that he was a Ferocious Beast appearing in human form.
"Brother Hao! You really did it! You really have a True Dragon Martial Soul!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shouted in exhilaration.
But the very next moment, he asked in confusion, "But why doesn't your Ice Dragon Martial Soul have a Soul Ring? Didn't the Snow Empress just say that this dragon egg came from an eighty-thousand-year-old true dragon's Head Soul Bone? Even if some energy dissipated when the Martial Soul formed, surely it should at least have a ten-year Soul Ring."
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists and beat his wings, soaring high into the sky.
The cold of the Far North could no longer cause him any discomfort; it could even aid him now.
An understanding dawned on Huo Yuhao: here in the Far North, his combat power could rise several levels on the spot.
Moreover, a True Dragon Martial Soul was far from the end. As his Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art continued to improve, this Martial Soul could evolve again!
Drawing on the meaning of "azure heaven" in the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, Huo Yuhao named this Martial Soul the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon.
Rather than a Martial Soul, the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon was more a manifestation of his cultivation in the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art.
"So what if it has no Soul Ring?"
Huo Yuhao spread his wings and let out a clear, ringing dragon's cry. "That being granted me such a blessing. How could I ask for anything more?"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm chuckled. "That's true. You see things clearly, Brother Hao. I was too greedy."
Below the pyramid, the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress raised their heads, watching Huo Yuhao fly through the sky.
"Snow Empress," the Ice Empress said, an almost imperceptible envy in her voice, "why are humans always so uniquely blessed by heaven?"
"It would be one thing if they merely cultivated far faster than us Soul Beasts, but they can even turn legendary true dragons into their very own Martial Souls."
"How many great tribulations must we Soul Beasts survive to attain the combat power of a Limit Douluo? Yet this Huo Yuhao has a broad, smooth road leading straight to godhood. What exactly does that being see in him?"
The Snow Empress said nothing.
Sensing the Ice Empress's unusual emotions, she merely reached out quietly and took her hand.
The Ice Empress trembled all over. "Snow Empress, I..."
The Snow Empress slowly shook her head and said gently, "Whatever choice you make, I will support you."
A fierce struggle began within the Ice Empress.
The Snow Empress tightened her grip on the Ice Empress's hand. "Don't be afraid. Whatever happens, the Far North still has me, Xiao Bai, A-Tai, and the others."
Only then did the Ice Empress relax.
A long while later, when Huo Yuhao had finally had his fill of flying, he landed directly before the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress.
He bowed with his hands clasped. "Thank you, seniors, for protecting me while I fused with the Martial Soul."
The Snow Empress said, "This was an opportunity that being bestowed upon you. Enduring the pain of replacing your bones and creating new blood was also your own achievement."
Huo Yuhao replied, "I understand. I won't let down his expectations of me. One day, I will stand before him with my head held high."
Huo Yuhao then approached the old bones that had been forced out of his body.
"Brother Hao, what are you doing?" the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked in puzzlement.
Huo Yuhao silently gathered the bones, blood, and flesh. "Someday, I'll return these bones, blood, and flesh to someone who deserves to die."
"From this day onward, I, Huo Yuhao, will have nothing whatsoever to do with him."
"I am simply Huo Yuhao."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm blinked, vaguely understanding something.
He could sense that Huo Yuhao had always carried certain burdens, and only now had he truly relaxed.
After putting everything into his storage necklace, Huo Yuhao approached the two empresses. "I'll take my leave."
The Ice Empress turned to look at the Snow Empress.
The Snow Empress nodded gently.
The Ice Empress heaved a long sigh.
"You... don't leave yet."
The Ice Empress pressed a hand to Huo Yuhao's shoulder. "It won't be too late to leave after absorbing my Soul Ring and Soul Bone."
"Since that being has permitted me to sacrifice myself to you, I've decided to go with you."
Huo Yuhao showed no joy whatsoever. "Senior Ice Empress, have you truly made up your mind?"
"Since that being promised to help you survive the four hundred thousand year tribulation, I believe that with your talent, surviving the later tribulations will be as natural as water flowing into a channel. There's no need to give up your freedom to become my Soul Ring."
The Ice Empress took a deep breath and said firmly, "I've made up my mind."
"Ten thousand years ago, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape in the Star Dou Great Forest sacrificed themselves to the Sea God. When the Sea God ascended to heaven, I could sense that they had come back to life."
"I can offer you everything I have. But when you become a god, don't make me go to the Divine Realm with you. I want to be resurrected then, reincarnate as a human, and start cultivating again from scratch myself."
Understanding dawned on Huo Yuhao. So this was what the Ice Empress had in mind.
He sank his consciousness into the Sea of Consciousness and saw that the Martial Scripture showed no unusual reaction. Evidently, it did not oppose the Ice Empress's intention to use this opportunity to comprehend some of Huo Yuhao's abilities and achieve her goal of reincarnating as a human to cultivate anew.
Huo Yuhao clasped his hands and bowed deeply. "I, Huo Yuhao, swear upon my inheritance that I will help you be reborn in the future."
Thump.
As if in a trance, Huo Yuhao and the Ice Empress both heard a strange sound.
The Ice Empress did not know what the sound was, but Huo Yuhao knew: the Martial Scripture had borne witness to his oath.
The Snow Empress released the Ice Empress's hand.
She spoke to the Ice Empress and Huo Yuhao for a long time, then walked away, raising a hand to lay down her Xue Wu Sun-Blazing Domain here.
Then the Snow Empress addressed the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan gathered nearby. "The Ice Empress will be going with that being's disciple to undertake a period of cultivation. When she returns in the future, she will become a ruler of the Far North even stronger than I am."
"Ice Scorpion King."
An Ice Jade Scorpion with a hundred thousand years of cultivation emerged from the clan. "Lady Snow Empress."
"Go tell the Soul Beasts of the Far North that, from this day forward, that human is the Far North's most honored guest."
The Ice Scorpion King lowered his claws to the ground. "Yes."
The Snow Empress nodded and left.
In fact, that being had also transmitted his voice to her, telling her some of the future he had glimpsed in the river of time.
"The God of Emotion, sorrow."
The Snow Empress wore a complicated expression.
She could now accept Huo Yuhao killing her to obtain her Soul Ring and Soul Bone, but she would never sacrifice herself.
"Since that being promised to let me condense yin-yang complementary dual soul cores and avoid the tragedy of being captured after taking human form in the future..."
The Snow Empress turned to look back at Huo Yuhao as he spread his wings and flew away from the Far North. "Then I'll leave that hundred-thousand-year snow lotus to you as compensation."