"This day marked the beginning of a new god."
Xiao Yan stood amid the snow swirling through the sky, becoming the new king of the kingdom of ice and snow.
A huge tattoo had appeared on his back.
The tattoo covered nearly his entire back. Six long legs curled around his ribs, its pincers rested on the backs of his shoulders, and its long tail ran down his spine, the stinger ending on his right buttock. It was the likeness of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.
Aside from the tattoo, the greatest change was to Xiao Yan's arms, each of which was covered in a layer of diamond-like grains.
The grains were densely packed, each one hexagonal and the size of a mung bean.
Taken together, his arms shone with a dazzling luster, their brilliance playing off the enormous tattoo on his back.
Xiao Yan raised his arms and examined them closely in the light reflected from the snow.
A layer of diamond-like hexagonal grains covered his forearms, fine and even, each one resembling a carefully carved crystal.
"Bone Spirit Cold Flame can actually become even more powerful when I circulate it through here?"
Xiao Yan murmured to himself, slowly spreading and clenching his fingers. He could clearly feel that Bone Spirit Cold Flame had grown more formidable. "As expected of one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North. She's raised my physical strength another level."
In the Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice carried undisguised exhaustion and excitement. "Xiao Yan, from now on, you have the greatest talent on the Douluo Continent!"
"Thanks for the effort. How's the Ice Empress now?"
"She's fine. She'll wake up after a while." Tian Meng paused. "By the way, what level is your Soul Power at after merging with the Ice Empress?"
Xiao Yan closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment. He was already at level forty.
"Tian Meng, help me conceal the color of the Soul Ring on my Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul."
Tian Meng chuckled. "Easy. Simulation is the greatest ability of our Ice Silkworm Clan! I'm the god among gods of the Ice Silkworm Clan."
A strand of golden light slipped out from between Xiao Yan's brows, circled once above his head, then landed on the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's Soul Ring.
A moment later, the red-gold four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring retracted its glow, its color slowly changing until it settled into a deep purple that looked no more than a thousand years old.
"Not bad." Xiao Yan nodded slightly.
"Of course!" Tian Meng was smug for two seconds before his voice drooped again. "I need a rest too... that took too much out of me... Be careful..."
With that, he sank into the depths of the Sea of Consciousness and fell silent.
Xiao Yan withdrew his attention. He had advanced too quickly, and his Soul Power couldn't keep up with his body, putting it at risk of collapse.
What was more, he now had Triple Martial Souls, something that had never appeared in the history of the Douluo Continent!
"Ultimate Ice and my Bone Spirit Cold Flame can still maintain a balance, but the Heavy Xuan Ruler has the Mental Attribute, and it's already having some trouble controlling those two abilities."
Xiao Yan rubbed the space between his brows and set the matter aside for the time being.
Now that he had reached level forty, he might as well strike while the iron was hot and absorb a Soul Ring before returning to his clan.
Having made up his mind, he looked around, found a hollow ringed by ice mounds, and shaped a snow house before crawling inside to wait for the clan's Soul Saint to come for him.
Although he could fend off the cold by circulating his Soul Power, the Far North was far too cold. If he spent Soul Power every moment, he wouldn't have time to run when he encountered danger.
Three minutes after sending out his message, Xiao Yan heard an eagle's cry from inside the snow house.
He's here.
Xiao Zhong, whose Martial Soul was the Swift Shadow Wind Eagle, was a level seventy-six Soul Saint!
"Uncle Zhong!"
Xiao Yan burst out of the snow house with a shout.
A cyan figure then descended before Xiao Yan, swift as lightning.
Xiao Zhong had a stern face and eagle eyes sharp as lightning. Only when he saw that Xiao Yan was safe and sound did his heart settle, though his expression remained tense. "Young Master, we should leave quickly. I'm afraid some terrifying change has taken place in the Far North."
When Xiao Yan subdued the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, he had caused quite a commotion, triggering a disturbance in the Far North. Xiao Zhong, who watched over Xiao Yan at all times, had naturally noticed the unusual change.
So now he wanted to take Xiao Yan back to the clan.
"There's no danger now, Uncle Zhong. I've broken through to level forty!" Xiao Yan refused.
"Let's go..." The words were on Xiao Zhong's lips, but when he caught on, they turned into an exclamation. "What?! Level forty?!!"
"That's right." Xiao Yan didn't explain everything, leaving Xiao Zhong to fill in the blanks himself.
Uncle Zhong had been his father's playmate since childhood. Though they weren't brothers, they were closer than brothers, and Xiao Yan could trust him absolutely.
On hearing this, Xiao Zhong filled in the blanks with who knew what and merely asked, "So you still want to absorb a Soul Ring before going back?"
"Mm!"
"Then we'll do as you say." Xiao Zhong nodded in agreement.
The two hit it off at once.
Xiao Zhong then carried Xiao Yan through the sky, the two heading south.
Generally speaking, even flying Soul Masters didn't dare fly over the Far North, because it was extremely easy to get lost.
If they accidentally strayed into a Ferocious Beast's territory, they would end up in pieces, a bit here and a bit there.
However, Xiao Yan had memories from merging with the Ice Empress, which naturally included information on the distribution of Soul Beasts in the Far North.
Xiao Zhong stopped with Xiao Yan above a snowy valley.
An icy river wound through the valley floor. A thick layer of ice covered its surface, but something could faintly be seen swimming slowly beneath it.
It was an ice python, silver-white all over and about six meters long. A single horn grew from its head, its tip emitting a pale blue glow.
"It's an Ice Silkworm about thirteen thousand years old..."
Xiao Yan recalled what he knew of Ice Silkworms from the Ice Empress's memories.
"When it comes to Simulation, they really are favored children of the Far North!"
He stood at the edge of the snowy valley, looking down at the silver-white figure swimming beneath the icy river, the black Heavy Xuan Ruler in his hand.
"You'll do."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Xiao Yan descended from the sky, gripping the Heavy Xuan Ruler in both hands, cold white flames swirling around him!
Like a demon-quelling lord descending from heaven, truly a god of Tai Sui among mortals!
Boom!!!
A tremendous crash rang out through the snowy valley!
Xiao Yan passed through the swirling snow and landed precisely in the ice!
The Heavy Xuan Ruler!
Came crashing down like a mountain!
The ice chi, an Ice Silkworm in disguise, instinctively stiffened its back, and the blue glow at the tip of its horn began to flicker violently.
Struck by the rush of water as Xiao Yan smashed down, it was still dizzy and hadn't recovered its senses.
The ice chi's head jerked sharply to one side, and its body rolled helplessly in the icy river, smashing the surrounding ice, which was several feet thick.
Its mental perception was indeed exceptional. For that very reason, Xiao Yan used sheer force to overcome every trick!
Before Xiao Yan's eyes, the One-Horned Ice Chi whipped its long tail madly, reared proudly out of the shattered ice, and opened its enormous mouth to let out a shriek.
Visible blades of pale blue ice came slashing toward Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan dodged sideways. The ice blades sliced through an ice wall behind him, carving a bottomless crack into it.
He didn't dare slow down, because the Ice Silkworm had far too many ways to escape!
The hexagonal diamond grains on Xiao Yan's arms suddenly burst into emerald-green light.
Bone Spirit Cold Flame poured from his palms, surging onto the black Heavy Xuan Ruler!
The ruler's body was like an abyss of ink, its heavy edges gleaming with a chilling light!
At that instant, it seemed as though the cold of the entire icy river had been drawn out and gathered on the ruler.
Sensing that extremely dangerous presence, the One-Horned Ice Chi simulated by the Ice Silkworm felt instinctive fear. It could no longer maintain the Simulation and revealed its true form.
It wanted to retreat, but besides still being unable to react after the impact, the natural suppression of a higher-ranked Soul Beast made it difficult for it to move!
Xiao Yan gave it no chance.
He brought the ruler down in a slash.
A cold white ruler light cut through the air, leaving a trail of ice crystals that lingered for a long time, and struck precisely into a gap in the armor on the Ice Silkworm's neck!
The instant the ruler light touched flesh and blood, the cold of Ultimate Ice flooded into the wound, freezing every meridian and blood vessel around it.
The Ice Silkworm's enormous body froze in place.
The last glimmer in its eyes struggled for a moment, then went dark. Its three-meter-long silver-white body crashed onto the shattered ice, sending ice chips flying through the air.
Xiao Yan landed back on the ice, all the flames drawing back into his body.
He walked over to the Ice Silkworm's corpse and pressed a hand to its forehead, slowly channeling Soul Power into it.
He drew out a deep black Soul Ring. It rotated slowly, emitting the pressure characteristic of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.