"Isn't Sister Xue made of clay?"
"What can you do besides bully people?"
Gu Wuchen sat up too, a teasing smile on his face.
"You're provoking Sister Xue!" the Snow Empress said with a cold snort.
Gu Wuchen spread his hands. "If Sister Xue thinks so, then I suppose I am!"
"Although you're an ordinary nine-eight-seven, you've successfully provoked Sister Xue. If I don't show you what I can do, I'm not leaving today."
The Snow Empress said no more. She silently chanted in her heart and gave a command, and the soul imprint hidden within Gu Wuchen began to take effect.
Gu Wuchen felt an incredibly powerful force inside him merging with his soul and the Dustless Sword.
The force traveled back and forth through his meridians, filling him not with cold, but with an exceptionally warm current.
"The first power I'm granting you is the unlocking of your current Soul Skills."
"Snow Dust Ice Blade!"
With a thought from Gu Wuchen, the Dustless Sword came out of its sheath.
A layer of blue ice formed along the Dustless Sword's blade.
"What's this?" Gu Wuchen asked in confusion.
The Snow Empress looked at Gu Wuchen's astonished expression and secretly rejoiced.
"This adds my origin ice blade, doubling the sharpness of your slashes. Hitting a target triggers Absolute Zero Ice Seal, directly freezing the flow of the target's Soul Power for one to two seconds. Those at the Soul Grandmaster level cannot resist it."
"It's a powerful trump card for fighting other opponents," the Snow Empress said with a smile.
This was definitely a hidden trump card.
"Dustless Ice Heart, Snow Spirit Protection!"
"Far North Resonance, Ten Thousand Beasts Submit!"
"These two have different effects. The first can increase your spiritual power and weaken skills whose spiritual power exceeds your own by seventy percent."
"Second, you'll have the presence of the ruler of the Far North. All Soul Beasts of the Far North Ice Plains will have a natural affinity for you and will never attack you unprovoked. Ice-type Soul Beasts under one hundred thousand years old will hold you in absolute awe, and you can command them directly. In ice and snow illusions, your Soul Power recovery will also double."
These were absolutely good things. The soul imprint she had condensed contained her own origin power.
She had thought Gu Wuchen would be utterly shocked and would come snuggle up to her again, but instead he looked as if he had seen it all before.
Why was it so different from what she had imagined?
"Aren't you shocked? These effects are all excellent, and every time you unlock a Soul Skill, you'll unlock another effect!"
Gu Wuchen pretended to be completely indifferent. "It's all right, I guess."
He was actually a little surprised, but he just wanted to take the Snow Empress down a peg.
The smile froze on the Snow Empress's face. She stood there stunned, her pretty ice-blue eyes wide and round. As if she hadn't heard him clearly, she asked again:
"Impossible. Little Wuchen, you're not happy with my power?"
As the absolute ruler of the Far North, she wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the countless Soul Beasts and Soul Masters who fought tooth and nail to beg her for a sliver of her origin power.
Today, she had poured her heart out and unsealed the origin abilities she had kept hidden at the bottom of the chest for this brat. She had eagerly waited for him to smile with delight, hug her arm, and tell her how amazing Sister Xue was, only to get a careless "It's all right, I guess" in return?
Seeing her stunned expression, Gu Wuchen almost burst out laughing. Instead, he deliberately kept his little face straight and nodded calmly. "Mm, it's all right. Nothing special."
This time, the Snow Empress was truly hurt. The corners of her mouth drooped at once, and even the ice-blue tips of the hair hanging over her shoulders seemed to wilt.
She scooted farther into the bed, turned her back, and curled up into a little ball. Even her voice took on a plaintive, nasal note, and she looked so forlorn that she seemed ready to cry but had no tears.
She was both angry and aggrieved. If I'd known this brat didn't care, I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to unseal the origin imprint!
She had worried every day about him being bullied in Spirit Hall and wanted to leave him more trump cards, yet he didn't take them to heart at all.
Seeing that she really had wilted, Gu Wuchen could hold it in no longer. He burst out laughing and reached out to tug gently on her cool sleeve. "Sister Xue, don't be sad."
The Snow Empress ignored him and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders, plainly sulking.
Gu Wuchen smiled helplessly, leaned close to her ear, and coaxed her gently:
"I was just teasing you. I'm actually really happy and pleasantly surprised. The abilities you gave me are so amazing, Sister Xue. I couldn't be happier."
The moment he finished speaking, the Snow Empress whirled around.
Her eyes were still a little red, but they instantly widened as she glared at Gu Wuchen in a huff. Before he could react, she pounced on him and pinned him to the bed.
She pinched his fair, soft cheeks with both hands and shouted angrily:
"Oh, Little Wuchen! You actually dared to fool me! I was kind enough to share my origin power with you, and you dared to tease me!"
With his cheeks pinched, Gu Wuchen could barely speak and could only whimper for mercy. "Sister Xue, I was wrong! I was wrong! You just looked so pleased with yourself, so I wanted to tease you!"
"Tease me?" The Snow Empress raised an eyebrow and pinched a little harder, though she didn't really use much force. "Do you know how many people beg Sister Xue for a little power, and she can't even be bothered to give it to them? And you dared to turn your nose up at it!"
"I didn't turn my nose up at it! I was really surprised!" Gu Wuchen hurriedly blinked to show his sincerity. "Sister Xue's abilities are the best in the world! My jaw nearly dropped just now; I just held it in and didn't say anything!"
The Snow Empress snorted and finally let go, though she remained in a huff, standing with her hands on her hips as she looked down at him.
"If you dare fool Sister Xue again, I'll freeze you in the Far North's profound ice for three days and three nights and let you taste the power of Ultimate Ice. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you, I hear you!" Gu Wuchen nodded quickly and rubbed his reddened cheeks. Seeing that she was clearly still angry but couldn't help the corners of her mouth secretly turning up, he couldn't help laughing.
His gaze made the Snow Empress's face grow hot. She reached out and poked his forehead. "What are you laughing at? You love laughing so much!"
"Because Sister Xue rubbed off on me." Gu Wuchen put on a shameless look. "That's what Sister Xue said."
"That's not the same! You're not allowed to copy me. That's mine alone," the Snow Empress retorted.
That hateful Little Wuchen actually dared to imitate her.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. The Snow Empress rolled her eyes at Gu Wuchen. "I'll let you off for now."
She then turned into a streak of light and darted into the space between Gu Wuchen's eyebrows.
Gu Wuchen was curious too. Who could be visiting in the middle of the night?
He opened the door and found it was Hu Liena, whom he had met during the day.
"What brings you here?" Gu Wuchen asked.
Hu Liena said pitifully, "My teacher scolded me, and I couldn't sleep. I thought, since you could break through my charm, maybe I could find a way to improve with your help."
When she returned to the Pope's Palace, her teacher, who had been perfectly fine before, had given her a tongue-lashing the moment she arrived, putting her in a terrible mood.
After thinking it over, she could only turn to the opponent she had faced during the day. Perhaps, through his experience of it, she might find a chance to improve.
Otherwise, she would have to be supervised in her cultivation every day, with no time to herself. That would be truly miserable!
So she had to find a way to improve.
"I'm not sure you'll be able to find one with me."