After Beiming Yuan and the two women swam into the cave dwelling, the Ice Empress immediately released a green light, dispelling all the darkness inside.
Crystal-clear crystals grew throughout the cave dwelling. Bathed in the green light, they filled it with dreamlike beauty.
The crystals came in all shapes and sizes, shimmering with flowing colors.
The three of them felt as though they had entered a fairyland.
"So it really is Ice Extreme Divine Crystal!" Looking at the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal glowing blue beneath the green light, the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress both smiled.
"Take it all."
The corners of Beiming Yuan's lips curved into a smile.
The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress nodded, then each used Ultimate Ice to pull all the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal from the cave dwelling.
Afterward, all the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal went into Beiming Yuan's Ice Jade.
Once they had collected the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal, the three left the cave dwelling and dived again, going deep into the cold spring's source to claim the true supreme treasure.
The cold Qi in the depths was astonishing. To venture inside, one needed both a powerful cultivation and Ultimate Ice.
As it happened, the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress had both.
They took Beiming Yuan into the spring's source and descended into a dark cavern. There was no spring water around them, but the cavern was filled with terrifyingly frigid Qi.
This cold Qi not only penetrated to the bone marrow, but could also freeze the soul.
The cavern was tiny, only ten square meters in area and less than one and a half meters high. Beiming Yuan and the two women had to squeeze in almost on top of one another, close enough to clearly smell each other's scent.
Pressed together as they were, Beiming Yuan could feel the Snow Empress's softness and her perfectly curved figure.
As for the Ice Empress, Beiming Yuan had experienced hers many times and was very familiar with it.
"Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow!"
The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress looked at the dozens of ice pillars around them, their faces full of excitement.
The pillars were snow-white from end to end. Even beneath the Ice Empress's green light, they remained snow-white, without the slightest trace of another color.
"Xue'er, Bing'er, how much Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow do you need to get through your heavenly tribulations safely?" Beiming Yuan lowered his head to look at the two women in his arms.
The Ice Empress thought for a moment, then replied, "Seven or eight pillars should be enough."
"Then take a little more."
Beiming Yuan smiled. "Take fifteen. After you get through your four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation, raise your strength a little more and stabilize it at the Peerless Douluo level."
"Hehe, thank you, Xiao Yuan!" The Ice Empress giggled and immediately kissed the corner of Beiming Yuan's mouth. Then she flew over to the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, leaping for joy, and began to absorb it.
Of course, she did not absorb and refine it all at once. She absorbed part of it first and sealed the rest inside her body.
Getting through a heavenly tribulation was not so easy. Besides needing a core supreme treasure like Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow to help, she also had to prepare other things.
"What about you, Xue'er?" Beiming Yuan asked, looking at the Snow Empress.
"I need more than twice as much as Bing'er." The Snow Empress smiled meaningfully.
"Then take twenty-five pillars," Beiming Yuan blurted out, with scarcely a moment's hesitation.
"Xiao Yuan, won't you regret it?"
The Snow Empress's eyes trembled slightly, and she said seriously, "Although your strength is low right now and you can only absorb it slowly, once your cultivation improves, you'll absorb it faster and faster."
"You may not yet understand how precious Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow is. To ice-attribute beings, it's a god-level supreme treasure that can only be chanced upon, not sought."
Beiming Yuan had given her twenty-five pillars of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow without a second thought. She was deeply moved, and the feelings in her heart spread wildly.
The Snow Empress understood it clearly, but she could not resist.
With a supreme treasure before them, even blood relatives could turn against each other and become enemies.
"There's nothing to regret." Beiming Yuan smiled faintly and said calmly, "You and Bing'er are just as hard to come by, and your place in my heart is far above all this Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow."
At those words, the Snow Empress's eyes trembled a little more.
Looking at the young man before her, she suddenly realized that, without noticing when it had happened, she had come to think him more precious than Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.
"Xiao Yuan, if you left Bing'er out, I'd be happier." The Snow Empress smiled faintly.
"If Bing'er heard that, your perfect image in her heart would come crashing down." Beiming Yuan laughed in surprise.
"Hmph~"
The Snow Empress gave a proud little huff. Then, while the Ice Empress was absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, she decisively wrapped her arms around Beiming Yuan's neck and kissed him.
In the cramped cavern, the Snow Empress was practically pressed against Beiming Yuan.
Though their robes lay between them, they could clearly feel the beauty of each other's bodies.
"Mmm..."
The Snow Empress kissed awkwardly, knowing nothing about it.
Beiming Yuan immediately took an inch and asked for a mile, taking every advantage of the Snow Empress. His large hands also found themselves grasping her sensitive spots.
After a long while, their lips parted.
"Xiao Yuan, your hands..." The Snow Empress looked down, narrowing her eyes. The faint smile on her lips carried a hint of danger.
"Hands? What hands? My hands are right here." Beiming Yuan calmly withdrew his hands, looking as though he knew nothing at all.
"Hmph!"
The Snow Empress snorted, glanced at the Ice Empress, who was still absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, then leaned close again and whispered in Beiming Yuan's ear, "Xiao Yuan, who's prettier, me or Bing'er?"
"Bing'er is cute and pretty. You're cool and aloof and beautiful."
"So which do you like?"
"Both."
"Pervert!"
The Snow Empress spat out the word, but said nothing more. Instead, she beckoned with her jade-like hand, and energy enveloped thirty pillars of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.
Before long, the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress had taken down all the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.
The Ice Empress took fifteen pillars.
The Snow Empress took twenty-five.
The remaining five belonged to Beiming Yuan. Those five alone would take him a long time to absorb.
Now that the three of them had taken the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal and the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, this place would slowly lose its value over time.
The lingering cold currents could still sustain the cold spring for several years.
"It's a pity this place isn't in our Far North."
"Otherwise, with the temperatures in the Far North, we'd only need to leave one pillar of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, and given enough time, new Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow would be born."
Looking at the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave before her, the Snow Empress could not help letting out a sigh.
"After we become gods, things more precious than Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow will be nothing to speak of." Beiming Yuan did not have many regrets.
"Xiao Yuan, why does the way you talk about becoming a god make it sound so easy?" The Ice Empress looked at him strangely.
"It's not that easy. I'm nervous too." Beiming Yuan chuckled softly.
"..." The corners of the Snow Empress's and the Ice Empress's mouths twitched, and their gazes grew more doubtful. They could not see the slightest trace of nervousness on Beiming Yuan's face.
"All right, we've taken everything we came for. Let's go," Beiming Yuan said.
The two women nodded and prepared to leave.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, both women sensed a presence approaching. The other party seemed to have jumped into the cold spring as well and was slowly diving deeper.
Seeing their reactions, Beiming Yuan asked, "What is it?"
"Xiao Yuan, someone's coming. It should be that Soul Saint from the Shui Family." The Ice Empress carefully sensed the other party's presence.
"Now that the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal and the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow are gone, the cold spring's temperature is bound to change. I imagine the woman noticed something amiss when she came to cultivate and came to investigate," the Snow Empress said.