The Ice Empress was still trying to break free of Tian Meng's restraints, but the cage had been formed from Tian Meng's shed husk, after all. None of the Ice Empress's moves had any effect.
"To think that I, the illustrious Ice Empress, would actually be captured by you, Tian Meng, together with this feeble human!"
"You've had your revenge, Tian Meng! But I'm curious-how are you going to kill me? With those spiritual skills of yours, or with that human?"
"..."
Tian Meng was somewhat speechless. It seemed she really didn't have any killing moves. Even trapping the Ice Empress had depended on her shed husk, and all it could do was restrain her.
So, inside the Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng quietly leaned close to Huo Yuhao and said, "Yuhao, did your teacher pass on any killing moves to you? Let me give the Ice Empress a scare."
Huo Yuhao's left eye instantly turned purple, emanating a trace of destruction as he looked at Tian Meng. "A killing move? Does this count?"
"Absolutely!"
Looking at Huo Yuhao standing motionless outside, the Ice Empress thought she had hit the mark. Unexpectedly, his aura suddenly surged in the blink of an eye. As Huo Yuhao looked at her, his gaze was like that of someone looking at an ant on the ground.
"Bingbing, do you still remember everything that happened between us?"
"Everything that happened, everything... I don't remember!"
The Ice Empress had a premonition: if that move struck, she would die. She would absolutely die!
But the Ice Empress was one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, after all. She had her pride as a sovereign, so she naturally could not submit to Tian Meng.
And so, filled with regret, she closed her eyes and said coldly, "I have nothing more to say. Get it over with!"
"..."
"Sister Tian Meng, did we take the act a little too far?"
"Uh-"
"You know how terrifying it is for us Soul Beasts when our final limit approaches. I don't want to die, and I believe you're the same. I can sense how anxious you are about your approaching limit."
"We've both lived for so long. Could you really accept everything turning to ashes in the end? That's why I came up with the best possible method!"
The Ice Empress was clearly somewhat curious. In a low voice, she asked, "What method?"
"Creating a god!"
"Creating a god? A useless thing like you?"
Tian Meng felt like crying but had no tears. "...Uh, Bingbing, do you have to be so heartless? Hear me out and let me explain..."
After hearing Tian Meng's plan, the Ice Empress did not retort again. Instead, she turned toward Huo Yuhao and said, "Human, I can indeed provide you with a Second Martial Soul. But what assurance do you have that you can take us with you to godhood?"
"Senior Ice Empress, there's something I'd like you to see."
"Oh?"
Huo Yuhao approached the golden mass and opened his Sea of Consciousness. In an instant, three masses of light-gray, green, and purple-were revealed. Their powerful auras made the Ice Empress freeze.
"...Gods? Hahaha, no wonder Tian Meng dared to give me such firm assurances."
After seeing Huo Yuhao's hidden cards, the Ice Empress no longer hesitated and immediately released her spiritual form.
With a flash of jade-green light, the Ice Empress appeared directly inside Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness.
The Ice Empress's human form was a girl about the same age as Tian Meng.
She had extraordinarily long twin ponytails of dark green tinged with turquoise, their ends gleaming with the luster of ice crystals. A pair of golden, scorpion-shaped ice-crystal crown ornaments adorned her head.
Her eyes were pure gold, her gaze sharp, cold, and proud. Her bearing was completely different from Tian Meng's, giving an impression of icy beauty and prickly pride.
"Waaah~ Bingbing, you're so beautiful!"
Seeing the Ice Empress's human form, Tian Meng instantly sidled up to her with a lecherous expression.
The Ice Empress frowned slightly, kicked Tian Meng away, and edged a little closer to Huo Yuhao.
"Um, hello, Ice Empress. I'm Huo Yuhao."
Watching the Ice Empress approach, Huo Yuhao was a little nervous and merely introduced himself.
The Ice Empress hesitated briefly before saying, "Hello. Since you were chosen by gods, I naturally also believe you can persevere."
"According to Tian Meng, I will become your Martial Soul directly. To help you and me fuse more effectively, you can absorb my torso bone first. It may hurt a little during the process, so bear with it."
"All right, I'm ready!"
"In that case, let's not delay."
The bitter wind howled, and great swaths of snow covered the ice field. Suddenly, a hand reached out of the accumulated snow.
Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes. Two different colors actually flashed through his deep-blue eyes in an instant-first gold, then jade green.
He clenched both fists, feeling that his strength had risen another level. His skin was even more lustrous and white as jade than before, and the contours of his body were more balanced.
"Speaking of which, where are my Martial Soul and Soul Bone?"
After the fusion ended, Huo Yuhao had wanted to try activating his Ice Jade Scorpion Martial Soul, but nothing happened.
Moreover, after fusing with the Ice Empress's torso bone, he only felt that his constitution had improved somewhat.
In other words, all he had gained was a four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, and he didn't know which Martial Soul it had gone to.
Tian Meng was somewhat dumbfounded as well. She looked at the silent Ice Empress, then at Huo Yuhao, who was still trying to summon his Martial Soul with his eyes closed.
"Strange, there wasn't anything wrong with my plan, was there? Bingbing, did you hold something back?"
"You're the one holding something back! Why don't you think about which one that Soul Ring went to?"
"Oh, right."
Just as the two were at a complete loss, Huo Yuhao's voice reached them.
"It seems to be... my heart?"
"Your heart?"
Huo Yuhao sensed extraordinarily intense ice-attribute Soul Power filling the area around his heart. In that case...
He closed his eyes to feel it, then threw a straight punch.
In an instant, snowflakes swirled through the air. The ice attribute of the Soul Power contained in the move was even stronger than Ultimate Ice!
"This-"
"Why do I suddenly feel like my life as a beast has been so meaningless? No Ice Explosion Technique, and in the end, my Martial Soul isn't even as good as the one he generated himself. Always..."
The Ice Empress felt utterly defeated. How was her joining any different from not joining at all?
Watching the Ice Empress hang her head and question her life as a beast, Huo Yuhao stepped forward. Remembering what Sister Nan Nan had done before... he simply patted the Ice Empress's head.
"It's all right, Ice Empress. Besides, it's because of you that I awakened this Martial Soul and improved my constitution. I'm truly grateful that you were willing to believe in me!"
Tian Meng's vision went black. Wait, Yuhao, how could you just go straight for her head? That's the Ice Empress, not some little girl! Even I wouldn't dare touch her like that!
But the Ice Empress did not seem particularly resistant. She even felt that having Huo Yuhao pat her head was rather comfortable.
She turned her head slightly and said, "All right, all right. This empress understands your sincerity."
!
Tian Meng stared in disbelief at the slightly bashful Ice Empress before her. Wait, Bingbing, what's this?
Could it be... what if?
Tian Meng quietly sidled up to the Ice Empress and said, "Exactly, exactly! My Bingbing is the best!"
As she spoke, she slowly reached a hand toward the Ice Empress's head.
In an instant, the Ice Empress spun around and kicked Tian Meng straight out.
"Get your filthy hand away from me, Tian Meng!"
"No! Bingbing! You can't do this! You're treating us differently!"
"Because I want to!"
Before you continue