"Who are you?"
Ice Empress waved her enormous pincers, refusing to admit she had lost her nerve.
She sensed a terrifying aura coming from this human's body.
Who was he? Why did he look so young yet possess such formidable strength?
"I thought you were some heavenly beauty, but this is all? Tian Meng, your taste is pretty mediocre!"
Shaking the snow off himself, Lin Qian sized Ice Empress up teasingly.
"Stinking human! What kind of hero launches a sneak attack? Let me go if you've got the guts!"
"Sure!"
Lin Qian snapped his fingers, released her restraints, and beckoned with a finger. "Come on. Show me what you've got."
"Ice Empress's Pincer!"
The moment she could move again, Ice Empress attacked, swinging her enormous pincers at him.
"Golden Bell Shield!"
With a resonant clang, a solid barrier of Soul Power covered Lin Qian's entire body, blocking Ice Empress's pincers while reflecting damage back at her.
"Owww... Ice Emperor Possession!"
Ice Empress howled in pain and activated her defensive skill.
"Eternal Frozen Domain!"
The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's innate domain could instantly freeze a thousand miles, and its power was multiplied many times over in the Far North.
Under her deliberate control, the frozen area shrank to less than a tenth of its size-the concentrated essence was the finest. Never mind ordinary Soul Beasts; even the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm would have been frozen into an ice pop!
"Hell Demon Flame!"
His second Soul Ring rose into the air, the crimson Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring shining. Using the Three-Headed Red Demon Hound's Ultimate Fire skill to counter her, Lin Qian artificially created a domain of flames that held its own against the Eternal Frozen Domain.
"You can even block this? Fine, then try this... Ice Emperor's Wrath!"
After several attacks missed, Ice Empress was thoroughly infuriated. She unleashed her most powerful Soul Skill, striking at her opponent with Ultimate Ice.
The wind and snow intensified, joining into a single line and bearing down on Lin Qian together with a hurricane. Even a Titled Douluo caught within it could not have emerged unscathed.
Only Lin Qian... was the exception.
He had clearly held back when using his second Soul Skill, but this woman, Ice Empress, only grew more worked up, intent on killing him. Why should he keep being polite?
"Hell Demon Flame Sky-Splitting Slash!"
As Lin Qian spoke, the domain of flames surrounding him instantly contracted. It had not vanished; it had gathered into a single point, waiting to deal his opponent a fatal blow.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by the Three-Headed Red Demon Hound's roar, his second Soul Skill slashed toward the other side. Its scorching aura stung Ice Empress, leaving her face burning with pain.
Despite deploying her pincers, domain, and Soul Skill all at once, she still could not stop the Sky-Splitting Slash's momentum. Ice Empress had a premonition that she was done for!
Mortal danger plus a powerful desire to survive forced her to slide straight to her knees in surrender. "I admit defeat!"
Boom!
As though it had eyes, the slash aimed directly at her changed direction upon hearing her plea for mercy. It skimmed past her face and blasted into the snow behind her, carving a long, deep trench from which great flames billowed.
It was easy to imagine what state Ice Empress would have been in had that attack landed on her.
"Ugh..."
Suddenly feeling dizzy, Ice Empress let out a cry and fell into a broad, sturdy pair of arms.
Lin Qian caught her and ordered, "Tian Meng!"
Watching the goddess of his dreams lying in someone else's arms, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm held back his tears and draped his Shed Husk over Ice Empress, concealing her aura.
"If her clansfolk can't sense Ice Empress's aura, they'll probably come looking. Let's hurry!"
Lin Qian put Ice Empress into the Hundred Treasure Bag that could hold living creatures (issued by Spirit Hall), took Tian Meng into his Sea of Consciousness, and then ran at full speed in the direction he had come from.
Who knew how many times faster he was than Huo Yuhao? In just six hours, he ran out of the Core Area and returned to the outskirts.
Other than being far away, this place had no drawbacks. He found a secluded spot sheltered from the wind, dug dozens of meters underground, and sealed it with layer upon layer of Spiritual Power and Soul Power before dealing with Ice Empress.
Inside the cave.
"Stinking human! Stinking Tian Meng! You two grown men ganging up on a weak woman like me-have you no shame?"
Seeing that she could not escape their clutches, Ice Empress deployed the traditional skill of women (female Soul Beasts) and started playing the gender card.
Lin Qian's terrifying strength, combined with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Spiritual Power, made the restraints many times stronger, leaving Ice Empress unable to move. Her appearance had also changed into that of a little girl.
At that moment, she twisted her petite body, looking rather like a little bird nestling against someone. Yet having witnessed her terror firsthand, neither Lin Qian nor Tian Meng, the lovesick lapdog, dared loosen her restraints in the slightest.
"A sacrifice requires the Soul Beast's own consent, never mind creating a Martial Soul too. Are you confident?"
Lin Qian munched on melon seeds as he spoke quietly with Tian Meng.
With no outsiders present, Tian Meng revealed his original form as well, shrinking his body to stand on Lin Qian's shoulder and speaking furtively. "Don't worry. She's not far from her four-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation, and we've captured her. As long as we appeal to her emotions and explain what's at stake, she'll agree."
"You two are plotting out loud. Are you pretending I don't exist?"
Ice Empress was extremely proud and believed the strong should reign supreme. Though she was a Soul Beast, her intelligence was no less than a human's.
After Lin Qian had overwhelmed her in every respect, she had actually already acknowledged him. If this human and this worm had not kept imprisoning her and running their mouths, she would have conceded long ago.
The two exchanged a glance, and Tian Meng still came forward to negotiate. "You've probably guessed already. I'm Lin Qian's Soul Spirit. I sacrificed myself to him long ago."
Indeed, after being defeated by this powerful human, Lin Qian, and seeing how he and Tian Meng were birds of a feather, Ice Empress knew the two had already become one, with no distinction between them.
"You're useless, but you've lived long enough. To think you'd willingly become a human's lackey. I really can't understand you!"
Whenever she faced the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, habit took over, and Ice Empress carried her mockery through to the end.
Lin Qian glanced at him. "You're going to take that?"
Tian Meng smiled bitterly while saying in a lovestruck daze, "To be with you, what does this little suffering matter? Through all those countless days and nights imprisoned at the bottom of the lake, only thoughts of you gave me the drive to keep going~"
"So that's why you imprisoned me?"
"Of course not. Neither you nor I want to die. To keep living for a long, long time, I came up with a good idea."
Ice Empress finally grew interested. "What is it?"
"Create a god."
"Hm?" Ice Empress froze at first, then looked at Lin Qian. "Him?"
Seeing that she was tempted, Tian Meng pressed his advantage. "That's right. A mere few decades of human cultivation match ten thousand or even a hundred thousand years of our bitter cultivation. Rather than struggling miserably through one tribulation after another, we might as well invest in them. The chances of becoming a god are higher too."
Ice Empress grew increasingly silent.
Tian Meng began introducing (selling) Lin Qian. "This is my master. Twelve years old, with Level 80 innate Soul Power, possessing a Body Martial Soul unique across the entire continent. He also absorbed my Million-Year Soul Ring. It's only been three months since he awakened his Martial Soul, and his Soul Power has already reached Level 83.
"As long as you join him and give him twin Martial Souls, adding Soul Rings alone will absolutely be enough for him to reach Level 100 and become a god!"
At this, Ice Empress shifted, wavering more and more.