After taking one last look at the Snow Empress and Xue Chen, the Ice Empress returned to her true form as the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion and left the snowy mountaintop.
For a time, only the Snow Empress and Xue Chen remained.
Reaching up to brush aside the long hair the cold wind had tousled across her forehead, the Snow Empress finally spoke:
"Chen'er, I've thought for a long time about sacrificing myself to you."
"Once the sacrifice begins, there will be no turning back... so I must ask you one last time: are you willing to share life and death with me from this moment on?"
Xue Chen drew a deep breath, then exhaled heavily, as though trying to expel every last trace of stale breath from his chest, before giving a firm nod.
"I am!"
"Good!"
A hint of tenderness flashed through the Snow Empress's eyes, but her expression immediately grew solemn.
"As long as ordinary Soul Beasts sacrifice themselves willingly, they usually require nothing of the Soul Master."
"But we Ferocious Beasts are different. We've accumulated far too much power within our bodies. Even if we sacrifice ourselves willingly, ordinary Soul Masters couldn't possibly withstand it!"
Xue Chen nodded.
He had yet to awaken his Martial Soul. Even if the Snow Empress said a tremendous power was sealed within him, he was still only an ordinary person right now.
"After my sacrifice, I will become a complete right arm bone, entirely replacing your original one."
"At the same time, I will seal the vast majority of my origin power inside your right arm bone, to be released slowly once you grow stronger."
Although the Snow Empress was a Soul Beast with seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, her attributes made her unsuitable for becoming the most important types of Soul Bones, such as a torso bone or skull bone.
For the sake of Xue Chen's future, the Snow Empress had decided to settle for less and make the Soul Bone formed from her sacrifice a right arm bone, second only to a torso bone and skull bone.
"I will use my origin power to protect your body, so that the immense power of my sacrifice won't burst you apart as you receive it."
At this point, the Snow Empress paused, her tone and expression growing even more solemn.
"But although I can protect your body, I cannot protect your mind."
"Whether it's cleansing your marrow and replacing your bones or opening your Sea of Consciousness, the pain will be far beyond what an ordinary person can endure."
"Throughout this process, you must remain conscious. If you pass out or your mind collapses, then we will..."
The Snow Empress left the rest unsaid, but Xue Chen already understood what she meant.
Death?
To be honest, having experienced death once, he was not particularly afraid of it.
What he feared was the Snow Empress dying with him.
"Sister Xue'er."
This was the first time Xue Chen had spoken since the Snow Empress began explaining the precautions for the sacrifice.
The Snow Empress faltered slightly and quietly waited for him to continue.
"For you, I can endure any pain."
Looking at the peaceful smile on Xue Chen's face, the Snow Empress's breath abruptly caught, and she could not help reaching up to clutch her chest.
An indescribable, wondrous feeling rippled through her heart, making it beat much faster.
It was something she had never felt in her hundreds of thousands of years of life.
"You... you're so young. Who taught you to say such shameless things!"
Forcing down the unfamiliar emotions churning within her, the Snow Empress's cheeks flushed faintly, her beauty truly beyond compare.
"Sister Xue'er, you're so beautiful!"
Even Xue Chen, who had spent decades with the Snow Empress, had never seen her blush before, and he could not help speaking.
"Ahem!"
The Snow Empress coughed lightly twice, using her own attribute to suppress the blush on her cheeks.
"In any case, are you ready?"
"Let's do it!"
Seeing the determination in Xue Chen's eyes, the Snow Empress finally gave a gentle nod.
The next moment, an extreme chill suddenly erupted from the Snow Empress, and a thick layer of ice crystals began spreading at tremendous speed from a point three feet away from them.
Within just a few breaths, the ice crystals formed a hemisphere that completely enclosed them.
"Has it begun?"
As though sensing something, the Ice Empress, who was guarding them at the foot of the mountain, abruptly looked up toward the summit.
"Xue'er... you brat, both of you have to survive!"
Inside the sphere of ice, the Snow Empress gently pressed her forehead against Xue Chen's, and a dazzling, blinding light suddenly burst from her delicate body.
Crack, crack!
Several faint cracking sounds came from Xue Chen's body.
His clothes actually shattered into countless ice crystals in the cold.
At the sight of Xue Chen's naked body, even the Snow Empress, whose face had grown somewhat pale as the sacrifice began, could not help flushing red.
But in a mere instant, solemnity replaced the expression on her face.
Crack!
Another faint crack rang out, and Xue Chen's face, so delicate that it was somewhat difficult to tell whether he was male or female, suddenly twisted.
Just now, his entire right arm had turned to dust, just like his clothes.
The intense pain made Xue Chen's whole body spasm uncontrollably. Huge beads of sweat formed on his forehead, turning into ice crystals before they could fall.
Pain!
Pain!
Pain!
It was not merely pain in his flesh. Under the stimulation of the Snow Empress's origin power, every part of Xue Chen's body hurt.
It was as though someone were gouging out his marrow with a knife, unbearable agony seeping from the very crevices of his bones.
Xue Chen clenched his teeth, biting his lips into a bloody mess, yet he made not a single sound.
What man would willingly reveal his vulnerable side in front of a woman!
Looking at Xue Chen's contorted face, a trace of distress flashed through the Snow Empress's eyes.
Under her control, milky-white light slowly condensed where Xue Chen's right arm had shattered, forming an exceptionally complete, crystal-clear right arm bone.
"Condense!"
With a low cry from the Snow Empress, the right arm bone suddenly blazed with light and fused completely with Xue Chen.
"Next is the Sea of Consciousness. This is also the most crucial part in determining whether I can preserve my spirit form!"
Taking a deep breath, the Snow Empress's body, which had become somewhat illusory from the sacrifice, suddenly contracted into a fist-sized point of light and slipped into the space between Xue Chen's brows.
As the Snow Empress's figure vanished, an indescribable sense of slaughter slowly emerged from Xue Chen, as though awakening.
Hum!
With a soft hum, an extraordinarily brilliant gleam of gold burst from Xue Chen's eyes.
A pale-gold saber a full seven feet long appeared before him.
The saber's design was exceedingly ancient and simple, its hilt and blade forming a seamless whole. At the end of the hilt was a ferocious dragon's head, and strange dragon-scale patterns covered the entire saber,
"Is this Chen'er's Martial Soul... what terrifying might. But it doesn't seem very much like his temperament."
The Snow Empress, who was helping Xue Chen open his Sea of Consciousness, was also affected by the saber's killing intent and could not help letting out a soft exclamation.
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded in Xue Chen's ears.
"Host has successfully awakened his Martial Soul. Congratulations on awakening the Goddess Illustrated Guide!"