The Far North.
Across a thousand mountains, no birds flew; along ten thousand paths, no human footprints remained.
A small figure strode through the swirling snow.
It was twelve-year-old Xiao Yan.
After transmigrating to Douluo Continent, he had become Xiao Xiao's older brother and possessed Twin Martial Souls as well.
Unlike Xiao Xiao's Twin Martial Souls, however, his two Martial Souls were the Heavy Xuan Ruler and the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate!
The Heavy Xuan Ruler was the signature weapon of Xiao Yan, the protagonist of Battle Through the Heavens!
Likewise, the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate was connected to Heavenly Flames. Each Soul Ring added to it could activate one Heavenly Flame.
The million-year-old Sky Dream Ice Silkworm now served as the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate's first Soul Ring, activating its first Heavenly Flame, the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.
As the saying went, Battle Through the Heavens had Xiao Yan, and Douluo had Xiao Yan too!
Wearing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's shed skin, Xiao Yan walked through the boundless sea of snow.
He was now a level thirty-three Soul Elder, and Huo Yuhao in the original story was nowhere near his equal in strength. Naturally, he wasn't shivering from the cold like Huo Yuhao.
Moreover, a Soul Saint guard from his family was following behind him, providing a considerable measure of safety.
"We'll be entering the core area soon."
Xiao Yan spoke to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness.
"Yeah, we're almost there, Xiao Yan. If our plan succeeds... you'll definitely become Douluo Continent's next new god after ten thousand years!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm spoke to Xiao Yan from the Sea of Consciousness.
"That's fairly reasonable, but it isn't entirely right. Even without the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, I'll still become a god someday!"
Xiao Yan corrected the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm with absolute confidence.
He would surely strike the waters for three thousand li, confident he would live two hundred years!
Thanks to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate's Bone Spirit Cold Flame had already been activated. To activate the other Heavenly Flames, he now needed to find Soul Beasts of different attributes.
So, in Xiao Yan's view, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion becoming his third Martial Soul would merely be flowers added to brocade, far from charcoal delivered in the snow.
After all, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion wasn't the only option for an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul.
The Far North's Core Circle had ten great Ferocious Beasts!
"Tian Meng, you were right to choose me."
With that, Xiao Yan strode forward.
"Of course! Good brother!!!"
"My name is Tian Meng, and I never, ever expected that I'd marry a beautiful, rich woman and reach the pinnacle of silkworm life! Call me the Silkworm God! Woo-hoo!!!"
Xiao Yan ignored the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's moment of fantasy and silently trudged through the wind and snow of the Far North.
Between heaven and earth, there was nothing but white, so white that he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
Xiao Yan found an ice mound sheltered from the wind and used the Bone Spirit Cold Flame to condense the snow into a simple snow house.
He crawled inside and sat cross-legged, immediately shutting out the icy wind.
"All right, stop howling."
Xiao Yan's voice rang out in the Sea of Consciousness.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice immediately popped up from his Sea of Consciousness. "Can't a brother be excited? Think about it, we're talking about becoming a god! I've lived a million years without becoming one..."
"Get to the point."
"...Fine, fine."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cleared his throat. "In a moment, I'll draw on my Spiritual Origin to lure the Ice Empress here. Then I'll use my shed skin to trap her temporarily. After that, all that's left is to convince her."
"From what I know of her, she's approaching her four-hundred-thousand-year limit, and she won't survive it. To stay alive, she'll most likely agree to become your Soul Spirit."
"What if she doesn't?"
"I've got an ultimate life-saving method too. I can teleport you hundreds of kilometers away. Foolproof."
Xiao Yan shook his head. "If she doesn't agree, kill her. Let's begin."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fell silent for two seconds. "Are you sure... you want to kill her?"
"What else? Let her hunt me down?"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was at a loss for words, but when he remembered the Ice Empress's temperament, he couldn't help growing worried.
He hadn't forgotten the Heavenly Plate in Xiao Yan's Sea of Consciousness. If Xiao Yan said he would kill her, he really could.
If Bingbing doesn't agree, I'll have to get Xiao Yan out of here quickly...
Even though he knew Xiao Yan would come to despise him for it, the thoughts of a simp stirred in his heart, and he couldn't worry about that much anymore.
"I'm going to start."
Tian Meng spoke.
Clusters of golden light poured from Xiao Yan's brow, gathering into the golden silhouette of a silkworm outside the ice house.
The light was so dazzling that it dyed even the swirling snow a pale gold.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power spread outward, sweeping across snowfields and ice peaks toward the deepest reaches of the Far North.
"Ice Empress, I'm here! Come find me. I know you can hear me!"
Tian Meng had originally wanted to add a few playful remarks to show off, but after some thought, he held them back.
He used his spiritual power to conceal every trace of Xiao Yan's presence, then waited quietly for the fish to bite.
If she ate him, the Ice Empress's strength would surely increase enormously, and dealing with her impending four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation would no longer be a problem.
So whether she wanted to or not, she had to bite this bait!
Soon, an utterly terrifying presence approached from afar!
Even the sky over the Far North abruptly changed color.
The pure white clouds were suffused with an emerald-green light, and even the snow filling the sky was tinted a faint, ghostly green.
Immediately afterward, a breathtakingly beautiful figure descended from the sky. The instant she landed, the impact sent the thick layer of snow flying dozens of zhang into the air!
Only the area within a hundred meters of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm remained calm, held firmly in place by spiritual power.
It was a scorpion.
Her icy blue and green carapace was crystalline and translucent. She was about a meter and a half long, with her tail raised high, and her entire body radiated a suffocating chill.
The Ice Empress's voice was crisp and pleasant, but it carried undisguised killing intent:
"Tian Meng, I don't know what you're plotting. But since you've dared to deliver yourself to my door, you must die. Once I absorb your energy, I'll be the strongest Soul Beast on the continent!"
"Ice Empress, you're here..."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm paid no attention to her words. A look of intoxication involuntarily appeared in his eyes.
Xiao Yan's voice came through their spiritual connection. "Get to the point. Cut the nonsense."
Tian Meng choked, then coughed twice in embarrassment. "...I know, I know."
The Ice Empress stared at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's golden silhouette, and unease suddenly welled up in her heart.
Soul Beasts at her level had an instinctive sense of danger.
But after looking at Tian Meng's cowardly appearance, she suppressed that flicker of unease.
What waves could a piece of trash like him stir up against her?
Besides, she truly needed to eat the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
Her four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation was just around the corner. If she didn't eat the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, she would certainly die beneath it.
"Today, I've decided to eat you."
The Ice Empress's crisp voice rang out through the wind and snow. "Die!"
Before her words had faded, the Ice Empress had already transformed into a streak of emerald light.
Ultimate Ice Soul Power backed by four hundred thousand years of cultivation swept toward the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's golden silhouette.
Just as she was about to touch Tian Meng, his golden form suddenly turned illusory.
Then the light blazed, and the Spiritual Origin the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had accumulated over a million years poured out like a vast ocean, engulfing the Ice Empress completely.
The Ice Empress's movements abruptly stalled. She felt as though she had fallen into an invisible quagmire, making it extraordinarily difficult to move.
"Impossible! Tian Meng, how could trash like you possibly restrain me?"
The Ice Empress's voice carried shock and fury. "Couldn't you just obediently die? You dare use your spiritual power like this? Let's see how you get back to your body!"
She quickly realized that he was a spiritual-type Soul Beast. His spiritual power had left his body and was now exerting a spiritual restraint backed by nearly a million years, naturally making it difficult for her to break free. But there were limits to how long his spirit could remain outside his body.
"How long can you trap me? One second or two?"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm smiled. "No need for long. One second is enough."
As soon as he finished speaking, a white membrane of light shot out of the ice house and enveloped the Ice Empress's body with unerring accuracy.
It was the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million-year-old shed skin!
Thin as a cicada's wing, it contained all the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's life essence and defensive power.
The instant the white membrane covered the Ice Empress, she panicked!
She twisted her body frantically, pouring out Ultimate Ice Soul Power as her stinger and pincers tore desperately at the membrane around her.
But the white membrane didn't budge. Instead, it tightened, squeezing her crystal-like carapace until it creaked.
"Sky Dream Ice Silkworm! You piece of trash! This is impossible!"
The Ice Empress's stinger was pressed tight against her body, and her pincers gradually became unable to move as well.
Just like that, the Ice Empress, one of the Far North's Three Great Heavenly Kings, was bound fast.
The Ice Empress jerked her head up. For the first time, fear appeared in her emerald, gem-like eyes. "Tian Meng, don't tell me you... broke through to a million years?!"
The golden light receded, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's form became solid again.
Looking at the Ice Empress, bound tight by his shed skin and unable to struggle any longer, Tian Meng smiled in triumph.
He then raised his right claw and pointed at her. Golden light flashed, and the Ice Empress vanished into thin air.