Entering the Divine Temple, the Ice God's Remnant Soul

The God Realm Committee.

At some point, the Five Great God Kings had fallen silent. They simply watched the situation unfold until Huo Yuhao finally stepped into the passage.

"I underestimated him. This child has a strong will," the God of Evil said first. He had initially thought Huo Yuhao would be stopped at the four-hundred-meter mark, because beyond that, even his will would be frozen. Without a steadfast will, even if the freezing currents failed to freeze him, he could not possibly take another step forward.

But Huo Yuhao had done it. Although he was slow, rather like a crawling turtle, he had never stopped moving. That will alone was enough to make even the God of Evil see him in a new light.

"It is strong. I underestimated him," the God of Destruction said with a slight nod.

"Did you notice? His ice Martial Soul has no form. That kind of power is essentially ice without a soul, making it very susceptible to changes from outside forces," the Goddess of Life said softly.

"And those forces include the Ice God's power." Tang San knew what the Goddess of Life meant, and his eyes could not help darkening.

If Huo Yuhao obtained the Ice God's power, things would be very bad indeed.

He had already been thinking about weakening Huo Yuhao all along and bringing him under his control. But once the Ice God fell into Huo Yuhao's hands, it would amount to an enormous increase in his potential.

Together with the two powers already within him, the Ice God's Divine Seat might not be able to limit him. If he wished, he could absolutely use the Ice God's Divine Seat as a foundation, then use the other two powers to take himself a step further and strive for the rank of God King.

He would definitely do so. The Douluo Consciousness would make him do it.

He could not let them continue. Otherwise, everything he had arranged with the original intention of bringing in another helper would instead become a wedding gown sewn for someone else.

While Tang San pondered, he failed to notice that the God of Destruction, seated opposite him, was staring unblinkingly at him from beneath his hood.

"They've gone in." The Goddess of Kindness's words pulled Tang San and the God of Destruction from their thoughts.

"Then let's quietly wait for the result. We won't go inside to watch. That is where the Ice God fell. Let her have some peace," the Goddess of Life said.

"Yes, let's wait for the result." Naturally, the God of Destruction agreed with his wife's decision.

The other two gods said nothing more about it either. Only Tang San's eyes flashed with killing intent. "I'll discard this pawn. All of you can die."

After passing through the white light, Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress entered an ice-blue world.

Rather than an ice-blue world, it would be more accurate to say they were inside an ice-blue Divine Temple.

The entire Divine Temple was ice-blue, embellished with a few white snowflakes. Twelve pillars stood along either side of the great hall, supporting its roof.

The entire hall was a hundred meters tall. Flecks of white light on the ice-blue ceiling illuminated the whole hall like lamps.

There was little in the way of decoration, save for a sixty-meter-tall statue deep within the hall that seemed to have been made from ten-thousand-year-old ice.

The statue had an exquisitely beautiful face and was carved so lifelike that it seemed a real person stood there. Yet its ice-blue eyes gave no impression of ice frozen for countless ages. Instead, they held warmth and a smile, gazing gently upon everything in the world.

An extremely slender, sharp sword, four feet long and two fingers wide, floated in its hand. The sword was predominantly white, with nine ice-blue jewels upon its hilt. It hovered quietly there like a work of art.

The statue stood deep within the Divine Temple, with nine steps beneath the platform supporting it.

Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress entered the ice-blue Divine Temple one after the other. The figure clad in a black robe who had entered long before them was now sitting cross-legged on the first step.

She seemed immersed in some special state and did not notice Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress arrive.

"Oh? Two more little ones, and one of you is even of my own kind. The other one is quite special. Your Martial Soul is ice without a soul. Little fellow, that's very dangerous. Aren't you afraid I might harbor ill intentions, enter your body through your Martial Soul, and possess you?" Before Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress could carefully examine their surroundings, a gentle, teasing female voice rang out around them.

"It seems we won't need to search for her, let alone awaken her. This Ice God's Remnant Soul has long since awakened." Electrolux's voice immediately sounded in Huo Yuhao's mind, revealing the speaker's identity to him.

"Senior, are you the Ice God?" Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao called out to his surroundings.

"That's right. It seems someone in this world still remembers me. That girl just now didn't even know I existed. The moment she arrived, she asked me where the Divine Seat was. I pointed the way, and she went straight over to try, without even hearing me finish explaining the requirements for approaching it. Not a shred of manners." The Ice God seemed delighted that someone recognized her, smiling as she complained to Huo Yuhao.

"Then may I ask, Lord Ice God, what are the requirements for gaining the Divine Seat's recognition?" the Snow Empress asked very respectfully.

"Don't be so serious. Relax. Ice is cold, certainly, but who says ice can't be gentle? Besides, I've been dead for so many years. There's no need to call me 'Lord.' It makes us sound so distant. We're of the same kind. You can call me big sister." The Ice God's voice clearly carried a smile and gentleness, completely unlike the natural coolness in the Snow Empress's voice when she spoke.

Neither Huo Yuhao nor the Snow Empress had expected a god to be like this. They had thought gods would be very imposing.

But calling the Ice God big sister was something the Snow Empress really could not bring herself to do. In her view, the strong deserved respect, not such frivolity.

Huo Yuhao did not share that view, however. If that was what she wanted to hear, he would say it. "Then, Big Sister Ice God, how do we gain the Divine Seat's recognition?"

"Mm!" The Ice God seemed very pleased to be called Big Sister Ice God. She gave a soft hum before answering his question. "It's very simple. There are two ways. One is to pass the Divine Seat's trials, which means climbing those steps nearby. Each step corresponds to a trial I left behind back then. Pass them, and you'll gain the Divine Seat's recognition, along with the legacy I left behind. Then you can become gods through the Divine Seat.

"The other way is for someone who can enter this Divine Temple to cultivate to rank ninety-nine, the pinnacle of the mortal world. You wouldn't even need to come inside. The Divine Seat would seek you out on its own."

"But my trials aren't that easy to pass. With your current strength, entering the Divine Temple only qualifies you to take them. Completing them all would take a decade or more, at the very least. Honestly, especially you, my kinswoman. You already have seven hundred thousand years of cultivation. Wait, that's not right..." At this point, the Ice God seemed to notice something significant and asked in confusion, "With your cultivation, you should have gained the Divine Seat's recognition long ago, shouldn't you? Did the summoning mechanism I left in the Divine Seat never summon you? Why have you only come now? And why did you take human form?"

The Ice God had fallen during the Dragon God War, so she did not know about the rules the Dragon God had left behind after that war.

"Lord Ice God, Soul Beasts can no longer become gods because of the rules the Dragon God left behind. The Soul Beasts of our Far North tried to enter this place before, and I tried myself as well. But in my Soul Beast body, I couldn't enter the passage at all. At most, I simply passed through it." The Snow Empress concealed nothing about this and told the Ice God directly.

"The Dragon God. The Dragon God! That damned Dragon God again! That wolf-hearted, dog-lunged creature attacked Mother back then! And now he's cutting off the Soul Beasts' path to godhood! What does he want?" The Ice God was furious. Her voice was no longer gentle as before, but filled with the cold of ice and snow. With every word she spoke, terrifying freezing winds seemed to rise throughout the Divine Temple.

Amid the freezing winds, Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress felt as though even their souls were about to freeze. Their power offered no resistance whatsoever before this force.

"That bastard! That lizard! That wretch who should never have existed in this world! I should have blown myself up with him back then, yet I even let him become the common ruler of the Soul Beasts. I truly was blind!" The Ice God made no attempt to conceal her hatred for the Dragon God. Under that murderous aura, the entire Divine Temple, which had originally felt so warm to Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress, plunged to freezing point.

Neither Huo Yuhao nor the Snow Empress dared speak. They could only wait quietly for the Ice God to vent the anger in her heart and calm down.

Fortunately, as a god, the Ice God still possessed strong mental fortitude. After venting, she returned to her previous gentle state in an instant, though her voice clearly carried a chill. "I'm sorry. I lost my composure. That bastard Dragon God really infuriates me. Isn't doing this cutting off the Soul Beasts' lineage? Without powerful Soul Beasts to protect them, does he really think those people in the Divine Realm will spare the Soul Beasts?

"As if I don't know that the Asura God, the God of Evil, and the God of Kindness look down on beings born after creation from the bottom of their hearts.

"I don't even need to think about it to know the Soul Beasts must be in a terrible situation now. Am I wrong, little one?" That final question was directed at the Snow Empress.

"Yes. Soul Beasts cannot become gods. Moreover, after surpassing a hundred thousand years, they must undergo a Heavenly Tribulation for every additional hundred thousand years of cultivation. I had already reached six hundred and ninety thousand years, but after my earlier attempt to form a Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Core failed, I no longer had any hope of breaking through to seven hundred thousand years." The Snow Empress nodded. Their situation was certainly terrible.

"Heavenly Tribulations? Did that bastard Dragon God leave those behind too? I remember the trials he left back then were meant to encourage Soul Beasts. Even failing to break through wouldn't kill you, would it? As long as you were still alive, you could rest, return to your peak condition, and challenge them again. Did that bastard change the Heavenly Tribulations too?" the Ice God asked.

"Um, I heard Mom talk about that. The Divine Realm changed them. That wasn't what the Dragon God left behind," Huo Yuhao explained. He had heard this from Huo Yun.

"I knew it." The Ice God froze for a moment, then sneered, clearly having expected this. Her attention then shifted to Huo Yuhao. "But you mentioned your mother. Who is she? How does she know about something the Divine Realm did? Changes to the rules aren't something ordinary people can easily detect."

Before Huo Yuhao could answer, the Snow Empress spoke first to explain. "Lord Ice God, he is the Child of Destiny chosen by that one."

"A Child of Destiny, just like that bastard Dragon God." The Ice God sighed at the title, then asked Huo Yuhao, "Little fellow, what's your name?"

"Huo Yuhao."

"Then I'll call you Yuhao. As the Child of Destiny chosen by that one, you are essentially this world's favored child. That doesn't just mean you can enjoy more of this world's favor. It's also a responsibility. If you grow to surpass this world someday, remember not to turn your wolfish heart and doglike lungs against it. Otherwise, even if my soul must scatter to nothing, I won't spare you." The Ice God's voice was solemn and utterly cold as she warned Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao nodded firmly. "I understand. I came here today because I want to obtain your power, Senior Ice God. I want to use your power to help me become a God King. Someone has set their sights on Mom, and that person is a God King. I can only protect her by becoming a God King myself."

"Was it that one who sent you here?" the Ice God suddenly asked upon hearing this.

"Yes. She told me I could turn my Martial Soul into the Ice God Martial Soul here." Huo Yuhao concealed nothing.

"I understand." The Ice God's words were filled with understanding. "I'm sorry. My Divine Seat is only that of a First-Level God. Otherwise, obtaining my Divine Seat would have been enough. But fortunately, I'm not entirely useless. The power I left behind can still protect my homeland. I'm honored. Take my power. But let me make this clear: you may only use this power to protect this world. If you dare harm this world, I will never spare you, no matter what."

"Yes." Huo Yuhao nodded firmly once more.

Then the Divine Temple around them seemed to come completely alive. White-and-blue ripples radiated everywhere, reverberating through the Divine Temple before gathering beneath Huo Yuhao's feet and beginning to spread upward from his soles.

"Don't resist. Release your Martial Soul Fusion Skill, sit cross-legged, and stir the Soul Power Vortex within you. Let your ice Martial Soul absorb all this power." The Ice God's voice sounded in Huo Yuhao's heart.

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao voluntarily released the Martial Soul Fusion Skill. The moment he did, his originally 1.9-meter-tall figure shrank back to its original state. He quickly sat cross-legged. The white-and-blue ripples continued spreading upward, and wherever they passed, Huo Yuhao gradually froze from the bottom up.

Soon, Huo Yuhao's body seemed to be sealed within a small iceberg. The unending energy from the surrounding Divine Temple flowed along the floor and into the iceberg.

"That should do it. Once he finishes absorbing it, his Martial Soul will also be able to evolve into the Ice God. But I'm sorry, little sister. I've made you come all this way for nothing. Given your circumstances, this position should originally have belonged to you." As she spoke, the Ice God looked toward the Snow Empress with some shame.

"It doesn't matter. Let the capable hold the position. The fact that he could walk in proves his ability. Whoever you choose in the end is your freedom, Lord Ice God." The Snow Empress was quite open-minded about it. Or rather, Huo Yuhao had already gained her recognition by walking in from outside.

"It's not as though I have no other benefits to offer. Go take the trials. Although you can't inherit the Ice God's Divine Seat, there are still benefits to passing the trials.

"Besides, I can sense two other powers within him. My Divine Seat may not be his final choice. You and the person currently taking the trials still have a chance," the Ice God said.

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