The Far North's Response

"They're here!" Sensing the powerful auras rushing toward them, the Ice Empress suddenly opened her eyes within the blizzard and quickly flew to the Snow Empress's side.

At that moment, two enormous figures gradually emerged from the blizzard beside the Snow Empress. One stood over a hundred meters tall. Viewed from afar through the storm, its silhouette alone seemed to blot out the sky.

The other was a little smaller, its true appearance indistinct, but it too loomed there like a mountain.

They were the Far North's other two great Ferocious Beasts. The most famous figures in the Far North were the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, with the Snow Empress and Ice Empress among them. The third had a cultivation of 290,000 years. He was the Titan Snow Demon King, the owner of that towering figure over a hundred meters tall.

The other had the same cultivation as him, but usually kept such a low profile that humans had never discovered him, so he had not been included in their ranks. Yet his strength was enough to rival the Titan Snow Demon King's. He was the Ice Bear King.

"Their commanders are attacking directly. Using them as the vanguard is rather extravagant. It looks like they have something else planned. I'll go meet their leader first. If a real fight breaks out, keep your wits about you when you and the other hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts deal with the rest," the Snow Empress instructed the Ice Empress, Titan Snow Demon King, and Ice Bear King.

"Understood, Mom." The speaker was the Ice Bear King. The Snow Empress had raised him, and although they were not the same species, he had acknowledged her as his mother. The two beasts had an exceptionally good relationship.

"No problem, Snow Empress." The Titan Snow Demon King nodded.

"Be careful," the Ice Empress said.

The Snow Empress nodded lightly, then took a step forward, instantly appearing a thousand meters away. The enemy's top experts were already attacking. As the ruler of the Far North, she naturally had to meet their strongest fighters.

Over a thousand streaks of light flew into the blizzard. Although every one of them had cultivation at the Soul Saint level or above, even a Titled Douluo could see no farther than a hundred meters ahead upon entering.

The biting wind also greatly reduced their flying speed. The Soul Saints in particular felt as though their blood itself was about to freeze in this terrifying blizzard.

Suddenly, Bo Yunjie, who was flying at the very front, stopped. Seeing this, the others stopped behind him.

"Clan Leader?" Some of the Titled Douluo looked at Bo Yunjie in confusion.

Bo Yunjie ignored them. Instead, he looked ahead and said with a smile, "I never expected the renowned ruler of the Far North to welcome us personally. What an honor."

"Humans, get out of here! I don't care what benefits the Sea God behind you promised you. This is no place for you to run wild!" The Snow Empress appeared opposite the Sea God Family, her voice as cold as the wind and snow around them.

"How are we running wild? Some disciples of our Sea God Family went missing in the Far North, so we've come to look for them. Once we find them, we'll leave," Bo Yunjie said.

"They're already dead. There's no need to look. If you don't leave, you'll meet the same end." As she finished speaking, the Snow Empress raised her slender, jade-like hand. A snowflake landed in her palm and rapidly formed an ice-blue sword of ice crystals.

"Then I'd like to see how you intend to kill us." As Bo Yunjie finished speaking, dazzling blue light erupted around him like a vast ocean. It shone particularly brightly amid the white expanse of wind and snow, as though it would hold up a stretch of sky.

Two purple, four black, and three red Soul Rings appeared around him, a configuration far beyond that of ordinary top-tier Soul Masters. Those three red rings meant he possessed at least three Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones. Moreover, the Martial Soul of every Sea God Family leader was the ocean, also called the Sea God. They could be called the Sea God's representatives in the mortal world.

Had they been out on the ocean, Bo Yunjie might indeed have forced the Snow Empress to give him a wide berth. But that was on the ocean.

That deep-blue, ocean-like expanse of seawater tried to spread outward and swallow the blizzard. Yet it expanded only a thousand meters before the surging water at its edges was frozen by the bitter wind and snow, unable to advance another inch.

"Hmph!" The Snow Empress snorted softly, raised her sword, and unleashed a white sword ray over a thousand zhang long!

Wherever the sword ray passed, heaven and earth seemed about to be cleaved in two.

The Snow Empress had three supreme techniques with which she dominated the Far North: Emperor Sword, Emperor's Palm, and Emperor's Cold Heaven!

The surrounding blizzard was Emperor Cold Heaven: Snow Dance Shining Sun, and now she was using Emperor Sword: Ice Extreme Peerless!

The ocean Bo Yunjie had summoned parted beneath the sword ray, utterly unable to halt its might.

Just as the sword ray was about to divide the entire ocean and strike Bo Yunjie, a blue-gold radiance even more dazzling than before spread from above his head.

In an instant, the previously unstoppable white sword ray was blocked by that brilliant blue-gold light, one zhang away from him.

At some point, an extraordinarily handsome helmet had appeared on Bo Yunjie's head. Its material was unknown, and its entire body was a translucent, crystalline deep blue.

The Sea God Helmet!

Facing the Snow Empress's signature supreme technique, even Bo Yunjie, a rank-99 Limit Douluo, dared not be careless in the slightest. Outside the Far North, the two of them would at most have been evenly matched. But here in the Far North, Bo Yunjie knew he could never be her match. Right from the outset, he used his ultimate trump card-or rather, his family's ultimate trump card.

A divine artifact bestowed by Tang San!

With the Sea God Helmet's enhancement, Bo Yunjie slowly raised his right hand. The ocean previously divided by the sword ray followed his palm's movement, forming a giant hand a hundred meters across that grasped the white sword ray.

Then Bo Yunjie gently clenched his hand, and the entire sword ray instantly dissolved into white specks of light that scattered like the surrounding wind and snow.

At the same time, the ocean around him, previously held at a thousand meters, suddenly expanded again. It soon covered an area ten thousand meters in radius, enveloping the Sea God Family's thousand members.

Although this ocean was not as terrifying as the blizzard now stretching a thousand li, it forcibly carved out a territory belonging solely to the water element within the ice-filled Far North.

"So this is what gives you the confidence to run wild in the Far North? A divine artifact!" The Snow Empress remained unconcerned, however, and even charged straight into the ocean suspended in the air.

With this divine artifact, Bo Yunjie merely possessed the means to contend with her in the Far North. Nothing more than contend.

The radiance of the Emperor Sword in her hand was peerless beneath the heavens!

"I'll hold her off. Follow the plan." Leaving them with those words, Bo Yunjie formed the surrounding seawater into a trident in his hand and went forward to meet the Snow Empress.

The two clashed within the ocean. Around them, the blizzard grew fiercer, constantly trying to freeze this ocean that had invaded its territory.

The seawater churned ceaselessly, continually breaking free of the frost upon it.

Within it, sword and trident crossed again and again. White and blue, ice and water-two things that could be said to transform into one another-now seemed as incompatible as fire and water, determined to establish which was superior.

Their battle was truly heart-stopping.

Meanwhile, the other Sea God Family members swiftly went into action. Over a thousand people split into eighteen groups and flew in eighteen different directions.

"Splitting their forces? What are they trying to do?" The Titan Snow Demon King could not quite make out what the Sea God Family intended.

"Whatever they're trying to do, even if they only want to celebrate their Sea God's birthday, they can't do it in our Far North. I'll deal with the slightly stronger group on the left. Snow Demon, hold off the other side. Ice Bear, take the others and wipe out the rest." Seeing their enemies move, the Ice Empress could no longer hold back either. With that, she flew straight out.

She charged toward a Sea God Family group led by a rank-98 Super Douluo.

This rank-98 Super Douluo of the Sea God Family was Bo Yunjie's younger sister, Bo Yunxiu!

The two were close in age, but judging by appearances alone, Bo Yunjie looked only thirty or forty, while Bo Yunxiu looked over fifty, age already plainly showing on her face. In truth, both were over a hundred, even approaching a hundred and fifty.

Unlike Bo Yunjie, however, Bo Yunxiu's Martial Soul was not the ocean, but the Vast Sea. Though both were seas, only one person in each generation of the Sea God Family possessed the ocean: the clan leader. When that person became clan leader, their Martial Soul would automatically evolve into the Sea God, or the ocean.

The Vast Sea was equivalent to the Sea God's unevolved form.

But that did not mean Bo Yunxiu was weak. Her older brother had merely taken that step ahead of her and become clan leader. Had she become clan leader before him, her Martial Soul would have been the Sea God.

But there was no absolute fairness in this world. If someone got one step ahead, they would lead at every step. Before the Sea God, the Vast Sea could only be suppressed.

She led her group toward the location designated in their plan, but suddenly, a streak of jade-green light appeared in her vision, flying toward her.

The sky, darkened by the enveloping blizzard, seemed to turn into a jade-green gemstone at that moment.

The next second, a dazzling jade-green shock wave blasted mercilessly toward her.

Ice Emperor's Wrath!

This was the strongest offensive skill of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, the Ice Empress, and it blasted toward the enemy bearing the might of Ultimate Ice.

Wherever it passed, heaven and earth were dyed jade green.

Seeing this, Bo Yunxiu dared not be careless in the slightest. She immediately activated her Martial Soul. Nine Soul Rings-three purple, four black, and two red-appeared around her. The final, ninth Soul Ring lit up, and a vast ocean instantly appeared around her, rotating with Bo Yunxiu at its center and forming an enormous whirlpool to meet the Ice Emperor's Wrath!

BOOM!!!

The two tremendous forces collided, instantly raising a gigantic mushroom cloud on the spot. The resulting shock wave swept thousands of meters.

"Human, die!"

But that was not the end, merely the beginning. Roaring, the Ice Empress charged into the dust of the explosion. When she entered, she was a delicate, charming girl with twin ponytails. When she emerged again, she had become a beautiful scorpion.

Yes, a beautiful scorpion!

She was one and a half meters long, with two colors across her body: the color of ice and jade green. Her entire form was crystalline and translucent. Her enormous pair of front pincers seemed covered in hexagonal diamonds, looking lethally dangerous.

The Ice Empress swung those front pincers, their surfaces gleaming with layer upon layer of crystalline texture, and hammered them viciously toward Bo Yunxiu.

Ice Empress's Pincer!

The Ice Empress belonged to the Ice Jade Scorpion species, a species of the Far North that possessed Ultimate Ice. They had exceptionally powerful combat abilities at both long range and in close combat, and could be said to have no weaknesses, and could be said to have no weaknesses.

The Snow Empress, meanwhile, was an innately born snow maiden, the only one in the entire Far North. The Ice Empress, however, did have a species of her own.

This made the Ice Jade Scorpions practically one of the strongest species in the Far North today.

The Ice Empress's fighting was utterly unrestrained. As she swung heavy blows, cold continuously poured from her body, quickly staining the pure-white world jade green.

Although the Ice Empress had only 390,000 years of cultivation, under normal circumstances her strength would be only slightly greater than an ordinary Super Douluo's. Judged by human ranks, she would be between ranks 97 and 98. But the problem was that she was in the Far North.

The enhancement all ice-type Soul Beasts received in the Far North was far greater than elsewhere. That normal ranking applied only in other places. Here in the Far North, even a Limit Douluo facing the Ice Empress would have to consider whether she might keep them here, let alone the rank-98 Bo Yunxiu.

As soon as they exchanged blows, Bo Yunxiu visibly fell into a disadvantage. Her followers were scattered by the repeated aftershocks of the Ice Empress's attacks, with many caught in them and even injured.

"Why is the Ice Empress here?" Bo Yunxiu was bewildered. They had thought only the Snow Empress was here, never expecting the second of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North to be here as well.

What warranted them gathering here? Their Sea God Family had not even taken any action before arriving. Surely such a huge response was unnecessary.

Just then, she sensed a tremendous noise from another direction. Extending her Spiritual Power slightly to investigate, she saw that their Sea God Family's other rank-98 Super Douluo, Grand Elder Sea Dragon Douluo Bo Tianlong, had also encountered an opponent.

He was an elder from the generation above Bo Yunjie and Bo Yunxiu, already 204 years old this year. He was already the sort with one foot in the grave and only a few years left to live.

Moreover, his age actually counted as long-lived among rank-98 Super Douluo.

Because Tang San had previously stolen quite a lot of Huo Yun's World Origin in secret, the maximum lifespan of this world's top experts had also been greatly reduced. A normal Limit Douluo could now live only around three or four hundred years, and that was for the long-lived ones without any lingering ailments. For the slightly inferior rank-98 Super Douluo, living over two hundred years was already approaching their limit.

At this age, it could be said that he had reached the end of his life, and a breakthrough was impossible.

His opponent was the Titan Snow Demon King, somewhat weaker than the Ice Empress and the others. With 290,000 years of cultivation, here in the Far North he could just about rival a rank-98 Super Douluo. He was the last and weakest of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North.

One had a foot in the grave, while the other had reached rank-98 strength only through the enhancement of heaven and earth and was in his prime. Their battle did not show the obvious advantage seen on the Ice Empress's side. But that was not what mattered most. What mattered was that behind them, vast numbers of Soul Beasts, led by an enormous Ice Bear, pounced on the Sea God Family's eighteen scattered groups.

This was the Far North's response. From the outset, the Snow Empress and the others dispensed with anything fancy, preparing to deal the Sea God Family a crushing head-on blow right at the start.

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