The God Realm Committee!
The Five Great God Kings had gathered in the towering palace, which shone with a faint golden light beneath the radiance of the Divine Realm. This was the highest point in the entire Divine Realm, and the place from which everything in it was controlled.
The palace's main hall was octagonal. None of its walls bore any decorations, yet countless scenes flickered and shifted across them. Each screen of light represented a world, a scene on a different planet in the mortal realm. This was also where the God Realm Committee monitored the planets in this star region.
A round table stood at the center of the hall. No one knew what material its surface was made of. Looking closely, one could actually see drifting clouds and mist, yet it also seemed infinitely deep.
At that moment, a screen of light hovered above the center of the table, displaying everything happening in the Far North of the Douluo Continent.
The Five Great God Kings sat together in their respective seats around it.
"Sea God, is this child the successor to the Ice God you found?" Watching the black-robed woman slowly walk across the screen, the Goddess of Life turned to the Sea God.
Their original plan had been for the Sea God to lure someone over first, creating the mistaken impression that the Ice God's divine seat had left the Far North. The other side would then find a successor, and the other four God Kings would put them through their trials.
But the changes in the Far North had made them change their minds.
Although there had been fighting, the anticipated all-out war between humans and soul beasts had not broken out. The soul beasts of the Far North had chosen to stop guarding the Ice God's divine seat and instead let whoever had the ability claim it.
In any case, all their earlier worries had been unnecessary, but by then, Tang San had already selected a successor.
Under these circumstances, they had simply gone with the flow and let the candidate approach the divine seat. If she had the ability to gain its recognition, they would naturally have nothing to say.
But there could be no further support. They, too, had remained curious, wanting to see whether the successor Tang San had chosen could gain the recognition of the Ice God's divine seat.
"Yes. This child accidentally consumed ten-thousand-year ice marrow before, and in enormous quantities. Her body couldn't withstand it, so I intervened to treat her. Her martial soul was upgraded as well, though her previous cultivation was lost and she had to start over. This child has a good disposition. In a year and a half, she has already cultivated back to the level of a rank-thirty Soul Elder." Tang San nodded lightly.
"She didn't give up because of a temporary setback and had the courage to rally her forces once more. But all we're giving her is an opportunity. What happens next will depend on her own fortune," the God of Evil said.
"Oh? Who are these two?" Seeming to notice something, the Goddess of Kindness pointed at the Snow Empress and Huo Yuhao, whom Di Tian and the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion had brought over on the screen.
"One is a Heavenly Snow Woman. What he's doing isn't right. The energy sealed inside her is nearly at the level of a seven-hundred-thousand-year soul beast. Is she using a hundred-thousand-year snow lotus to seal her power and take human form? Interesting. If she takes human form, she should have been the strongest candidate for the Ice God's divine seat. Like the former Ice God, she's a Heavenly Snow Woman." The God of Destruction saw through the Snow Empress's true form at a glance.
The former Ice God had been a Heavenly Snow Woman born on the Douluo Continent. Back then, however, the rule preventing soul beasts from becoming gods had not yet existed, and she had become a god directly in her soul beast form. Although she had done so as a soul beast, she herself had been the kind of god who leaned toward humanity.
"Suddenly, it feels like all our earlier efforts were for nothing," the God of Evil said with a laugh.
"Perhaps this, too, is fate. If she had chosen to become human when she was around a hundred thousand years old, she could have become a god long ago, and the Ice God's divine seat would already have had an owner.
"But she chose to become a ferocious beast instead, which truly left her trapped by the rule the Dragon God left behind that soul beasts cannot become gods. That is why it has dragged on until now.
"This is the fate she chose for herself. We should do as we always have: stay out of everything and let the mortal realm operate and develop on its own. Only when things truly become impossible to resolve do we need to step in and catch them," the Goddess of Life said softly.
"You're right." The Goddess of Kindness nodded lightly.
"But I can't quite make sense of the child beside her. Why does his figure look a little blurry, so hard to see?" The God of Evil turned his gaze to Huo Yuhao.
The method Huo Yun used to block Tang San from spying on Huo Yuhao was to interfere with the Divine Realm Core. Even the Divine Realm Core could not spy on him, and a God King could not openly mobilize divine power to investigate. An undertaking on that scale would easily draw others' attention.
As a result, the other God Kings received exactly the same treatment when it came to Huo Yuhao.
"That was what I found strangest just now, too. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Apparently not," the God of Kindness said.
"Someone has interfered with the Divine Realm Core. Sea God, you oversee the Divine Realm Core. Haven't you noticed anything recently?" As the most veteran god present, dating back to the Divine Realm's creation, the God of Destruction immediately recognized what was happening and questioned Tang San, who currently managed the Divine Realm Core.
"I'm not very sure either." Tang San shook his head. He knew what was happening, but he could not say it outright.
The God of Destruction gave Tang San a long look. Just as the Goddess of Life beside him seemed about to speak, he spoke first. "If you don't know, then forget it. Judging by his aura, he's only a child who hasn't even reached around two rings. He isn't worth our attention."
The Goddess of Life was inwardly surprised, but she saw the signal the God of Destruction gave her and chose to trust her husband. "He certainly isn't worth much attention. In a situation like this, he's probably carrying something that substitutes another aura for his own. Isn't that Black-Eyed Golden Dragon King beside him? If he carries that one's reverse scale, it can affect the Divine Realm Core's judgment. That way, even if his talent could attract a divine seat, it would be obscured by the Black-Eyed Golden Dragon King's aura on him. But ultimately, this is something happening in the mortal realm."
The God of Evil and the Goddess of Kindness beside them nodded. A year in the mortal realm was a day in the Divine Realm, and both of them were gods who had newly inherited their divine seats, with little seniority. Since the Divine Realm's two most veteran God Kings had said so, they did not probe the matter further.
When the Goddess of Life said this was something happening in the mortal realm, she meant that the Divine Realm would not get involved.
"They seem to be moving." As Tang San finished speaking, the Snow Empress and Huo Yuhao in the image began to move as well.
The other four God Kings all turned their gazes to it, their curiosity piqued.
On the screen, the Snow Empress stepped lightly into the basin. Her small, snow-white feet did not touch the ground. Instead, she trod upon the air, her figure seeming to float as she flew gracefully toward the distant white light like a celestial maiden descending from the heavens.
A closer look revealed that the cold currents within the basin were actually lifting her. Rather than hindering her in the slightest, the cold currents throughout the basin helped her along as she moved.
With almost no difficulty, she reached the white light in nine breaths.
By comparison, things were far less effortless and graceful for Huo Yuhao.
"Be careful." Before he set off, Di Tian gave him that reminder and tossed him a ring.
"It's five hundred meters from here to the passage. The martial soul fusion skill only lasts a short time. Once you use it, charge forward immediately. Don't hesitate." Huo Yun continued giving instructions. "Inside this Storage Soul Tool are pills I had someone make from the Far North's snow lotuses. They can help restore your soul power and increase your resistance to ice a little. Though they only last a while, they'll let you hold out longer in there. Be careful in everything you do. If you run out of pills and can't hold on, have your teacher Electrolux send you out."
The Ice God was only one path. If it truly proved impossible and they retreated, they still had two other paths to take. There was no need to stubbornly batter themselves against this one.
"Understood." Huo Yuhao gripped the ring in his palm and answered. His knees bent slightly, then his entire body shot into the basin like a cannonball.
He had none of the Snow Empress's grace. One could even say that all the cold currents in the basin had been lifting her up.
Huo Yuhao landed in the basin, his legs sinking a full half meter into the snow. The cold currents blowing through the basin made him shudder the instant he landed, and in the blink of an eye, frost had already coated the front of his body.
So cold.
Huo Yuhao could not help thinking this at that moment. Ever since entering the Far North, he had hardly felt cold at all.
Along the way, he had either been protected by Yan Shaozhe and the others or guarded by Huo Yun and Di Tian. Now, for the first time in the truest sense, Huo Yuhao faced the icy cold of the Far North himself.
"I thought this brat would be like the Snow Empress. Looks like he's all show." Someone in the crowd made that remark, and the entire crowd immediately erupted into discussion.
They knew Huo Yuhao's current condition all too well. Over the past year and a half, they had seen this sight countless times.
It was the precursor to being frozen by the cold currents in the basin. Usually, once frost appeared on someone's body, they were not far from being completely frozen into an ice sculpture.
They had thought Di Tian had brought Huo Yuhao here with some preparation, but now it looked more as though he had brought him here to die.
"There's going to be another ice sculpture in this basin."
"Tell me about it. At the rate it's spreading over him, he's barely any slower than those soul masters without ice-type martial souls."
"Does Di Tian have a grudge against this child? Dragging a brat here to die?"
"I think he's spent so long in this world of ice and snow that his brain's nearly frozen muddled."
"Shh! Do you really have a death wish? If he hears you and gets upset, we'll all die here."
"What are you afraid of? He's at least a thousand meters away from us, and we're speaking so quietly. How could he possibly hear?"
"But I still feel Di Tian shouldn't be someone who comes completely unprepared."
"Hmph!" Hearing those words, Di Tian could not help snorting softly. Did they think he could not hear them from a thousand meters away? Who were they looking down on?
He simply could not be bothered with these ants right now.
Huo Yuhao did not hear the crowd's discussion. After landing, he merely grumbled once before striding forward, the frost on his body shattering with his movements.
His ice-type martial soul was currently ice without a soul. Just as the Snow Empress had said, the cold it released was of frighteningly low quality, but it gave him the qualification to approach the divine seat.
At the same time, the power of destiny and the Holy Necromancer's power within him constantly resisted the cold currents' encroachment.
The frost on his body was only there because his own ice-type martial soul truly could not withstand them.
One could say these cold currents would not kill him, but they would leave him so cold that he wished he were dead. They even sliced at his body constantly like knives.
As he continued approaching the white light within the basin-the passage leading to the divine seat-Huo Yuhao could feel the cold currents ahead growing ever more bone-piercing.
The entire basin was a thousand meters across. From its edge to the white light was only around five hundred meters.
In those five hundred meters, golden sculptures were extremely sparse over the first two hundred meters from the outer edge. They had been left behind by the first people who had charged forward without fear of death, wanting to try for the divine seat, only to be frozen.
Even these two hundred meters were not easy for Huo Yuhao to traverse. With every step, the soul power within him drained rapidly.
Over that short distance of two hundred meters, nearly half of Huo Yuhao's soul power had already evaporated, and these were only the easiest two hundred meters.
Over the remaining three hundred meters, the number of ice sculptures increased exponentially. The moment Huo Yuhao approached and stepped past the two-hundred-and-one-meter mark, the cold currents he encountered instantly grew more than three times stronger. Those knife-like currents suddenly sliced tiny wounds across his body.
Blood flowed from the wounds, then froze in the cold currents into beads of ice that fell onto the snow.
"Is that blood? How is that possible? He hasn't frozen solid-he's getting injured by the cold currents instead?" Someone now noticed something amiss. Previously, the cold currents had been unable to attack-or rather, no one had lasted until the moment the cold currents could injure them. The ice had already frozen them into ice sculptures.
Yet Huo Yuhao was injured without being frozen into an ice sculpture. That meant his body had withstood the freezing, but could not withstand the damage caused by the cold currents.
"How is that possible? How is he keeping the cold currents from freezing him?" The crowd, who had been ready to enjoy watching Huo Yuhao freeze, discussed it even more heatedly than before.
"Wait, look at the surface of his body. There's light flowing over it. That light must be shielding him from the cold currents' freezing effect. But it only keeps him from freezing; it can't make him completely immune to the damage they cause."
"So he won't freeze, but he'll get hurt."
"In that case, as long as he endures the damage, he could make it all the way in."
"I told you Di Tian, the Beast God, wouldn't just pick someone at random to bring here. So he had a fallback like this."
"But what good is not freezing? He isn't immune to the damage from the cold currents. The farther he goes, the more he'll be hurt. By then, even the bleeding alone could drain him dry."
"And look, his aura has already started becoming erratic. He won't last until the passage. Even if he does make it inside, no one knows what it's like in there. Going in would still be throwing his life away."
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