Five days later, the two stocked up on plenty of cold-weather supplies in a major northern city of the Heaven Dou Empire, focusing on a heap of long-lasting heating Soul Tools and plenty of food.
Unsure how long they would stay in the Far North, Feng Bujue had given them ample leeway, buying extra of everything.
Several more days later, they left the northernmost city of the Heaven Dou Empire and ventured more than four hundred li into the Far North.
Here, coniferous forests interspersed with ice fields. Bitter winds swept past, carrying snow like grains of gravel. The intense sunlight stabbed at Feng Bujue's eyes until he could barely open them, yet he felt no warmth at all. He said gravely:
"Yuhao, if we go any farther, the cold will stop a lot of my Soul Tools from working."
Huo Yuhao checked their location and sighed inwardly:
Brother Sky Dream, let's do it here!
"All right!" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm stirred the golden mass of light in the Sea of Consciousness. With a slight tremor, Feng Bujue felt a wave of dizziness in his head and promptly fainted, toppling backward.
Huo Yuhao caught him in time. Noticing the exhaustion on Feng Bujue's face, he said with a hint of apology:
"Brother Bujue, if this had nothing to do with Brother Sky Dream, I wouldn't lie to you. But even if I told you, it would be hard to believe. Sigh."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice echoed through the Sea of Consciousness:
"Stop dithering. If your conscience really won't let it go, just make it up to him more in the future."
"I've already agreed to wrap him in some of my shed skin and set up a mental barrier to prevent any accidents. Even if we went thousands of li farther in, nothing would happen to him if he slept for a month!"
Somewhat reassured, Huo Yuhao rummaged through Feng Bujue's Storage Soul Tool for a shovel and began digging furiously beneath the ice.
Much of the Far North was covered in frozen earth, but they had not ventured deep yet, after all. The frozen ground here was nowhere near as hard as in the core region. Huo Yuhao spent only an afternoon digging out an underground ice chamber that was both concealed and spacious.
After dragging Feng Bujue into the ice chamber and arranging long-lasting heating Soul Tools around him in layer upon layer, Huo Yuhao was still uneasy and poured a large amount of nutritional solution into his mouth.
After repeatedly confirming the mental barrier's stability with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Huo Yuhao put the Storage Soul Tool back on Feng Bujue and left a letter beside him, taking only some food along:
"Brother Sky Dream, let's go."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm watched, marveling inwardly. Huo Yuhao's arrangements truly did not let a drop slip through, and he valued his bonds deeply.
Several days later, the two found the Ice Empress.
"...Bingbing, I came back so you could live on, so we could truly be together."
Huo Yuhao's expression did not change in the slightest. So that's how it is, he thought.
He had wondered why the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had brought him to the Far North when he had a mere twenty ranks of Soul Power, gambling on a small stake for a great prize in the hope of making the legendary Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion his Second Martial Soul.
So feelings were involved.
Although the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had concealed some information, their fortunes were already bound together: glory for one meant glory for both, and ruin for one meant ruin for both. He knew the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm understood this.
Besides, after probing many people's thoughts and ideas, Huo Yuhao did not consider himself perfect either, so he would not demand perfection from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who had helped him so much.
Thus, he quietly circulated his Soul Power, doing his best to resist the extreme cold as he waited for the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to carry out his plan.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said gravely, "Create a god."
"Create a god?" The Ice Empress froze, immediately growing even more curious. "What do you mean, create a god?"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said gravely, "My dear, let me ask you: on our continent, which race has the greatest potential?"
Already drawn into the rhythm of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's words, the Ice Empress unconsciously followed his line of thought, even overlooking how he addressed her. "You mean humans?"
After the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm brought out his argument about people attaining godhood ten thousand years ago, the Ice Empress fell silent.
Seeing her interest stirred, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm struck while the iron was hot. When he spoke of how only humans could become gods, and how life would always have a limit without godhood, the Ice Empress was finally moved.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally unrolled the map to reveal the dagger, extending his invitation. "If I tried to create a god alone, the chance of success would be no more than thirty percent. But if you joined me, our chance of success would exceed fifty percent! With a better-than-even chance at eternal life, isn't it worth taking the gamble?"
The Ice Empress's crystalline yellow eyes settled on Huo Yuhao, a strange light shining within them.
I have to say something. Huo Yuhao drew a shallow breath. Cold invaded his body, making him shudder despite himself. But he made an effort to meet the Ice Empress's gaze and said sincerely:
"Ice Empress, perhaps I'm not strong now. Perhaps my frail body disappoints you. But I will do everything I can to grow stronger. I will!"
Sincerity. At this moment, all he could do was show his sincerity.
"All right. I'll trust you." As one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, the Ice Empress was decisive in matters of life and death. After a brief hesitation, she had made up her mind.
The Ice Empress said, "Your constitution is indeed far too frail, and you have no other Soul Bones to serve as a medium. Even with my willing cooperation, proceeding first with the bone, then the soul, then the ring, and with Tian Meng's seal, you will still endure unimaginable pain."
"Our power can protect your body, but not your mind. If you cannot endure it and suffer a mental collapse, all our efforts will come to nothing."
Huo Yuhao nodded calmly. "I can hold on."
How could there be any harvest without putting in the work? Over the past eight months, he had squeezed nearly every minute dry to improve himself. Even while selling grilled fish, he had kept circulating his Soul Power and observing others to condense Chaos Qi, not daring to waste a single moment.
With this opportunity before him, no matter how fierce the pain became, Huo Yuhao would never retreat.
Nor was he slapping his face swollen to pass himself off as stout; he truly had something to rely on. After his Sea of Consciousness had been continually strengthened by Chaos Qi and undergone a transformation, if even he could not endure it, then no rank-twenty Soul Master in the world could.
The Ice Empress said gravely, "Huo Yuhao, are you ready?"
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes. "Begin."
Huo Yuhao's body convulsed and trembled violently, utterly beyond his control. The intense pain made the bones throughout his body crackle incessantly.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm knew very well that the Ice Empress was enduring the same pain at this moment, exactly as Huo Yuhao was. Even the mental power of the Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, was violently trembling and fluctuating. One could imagine just how intense this pain was.
Yet there was no need at all for him to intervene. Huo Yuhao's thoughts flowed, memories washing over his soul again and again. He had only one thought now:
Hold on through my own strength!
Only after nearly a full hour had passed did the Ice Empress say with feeling, "Tian Meng, you may be useless, but you have a good eye."
The wind remained bitterly cold, and great swathes of snowflakes blanketed the boundless ice field.
Huo Yuhao gazed at the blood-red Soul Ring rising from beneath his feet, bearing four golden patterns, and murmured to himself:
"I did it."
"Second Martial Soul, Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion."
"A four-hundred-thousand-year First Soul Ring, with the defensive Soul Skill Ice Emperor's Protection and the body-strengthening Soul Skill Ice Empress's Pincer."
"A four-hundred-thousand-year torso bone, with the domain skill Eternal Frozen Domain and the single-target burst Soul Skill Ice Emperor's Wrath."
Before you continue