Snow Empress: Master, are you satisfied with my Soul Skills?

Really?!

Ice Empress transformed into a pretty girl with delicate emerald green hair, her two pigtails swinging back and forth, her pretty face full of surprise and suspicion.

That's the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow. Tian Meng was able to advance to a million-year cultivation level thanks to this stuff. For ice-attribute Soul Beast, it's an absolute must-have, even more precious than Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus. If what she encountered earlier wasn't a snow lotus but the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, then the Snow Empress wouldn't have needed to risk transforming into human form, but would have directly chosen to break through the next Heavenly Tribulation bottleneck.

It has existed for over 800,000 years, placing it on par with top-tier Ferocious Beast such as Di Tian and Evil Eye.

"Tell me where that thing is, I'll go get it right now..." Ice Empress said urgently.

"In a cave within Dragon City, a human territory, located in the southern part of the Earth Dragon Sect Far North, bordering the human realm," Lu Cheng said quickly, taking a deep breath.

"No, that's not necessary."

Snow Empress suddenly spoke, her nearly 1.8-meter-tall, slender, and graceful figure looking down at Lu Cheng. Her noble and ethereal sky-blue eyes were gentle and beautiful. "I choose to sacrifice myself for him, to become his Martial Soul."

"Snow Empress, you..." Ice Empress looked surprised, then said with some anxiety.

"This is my choice, Bing'er," Snow Empress said softly.

"But the place he mentioned isn't too far from here. I can retrieve it in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Everything Mingdu in time. Snow Empress, why..." Ice Empress was somewhat irritable and frustrated, but dared not disobey Snow Empress's words, and sullenly spoke.

"He clearly didn't want to reveal this information, and I would have sacrificed myself for him, but he did say it, personally pushing away the sacrifice of a Soul Beast with over 700,000 years of cultivation from the Far North..." Snow Empress said softly.

"That's not fair to him."

"..."

Ice Empress fell silent.

"A-Tai is coming soon, remember to stop him for me..." Snow Empress said slowly.

Ice Empress turned her head away without saying a word, but glistening tears still clung to the corners of her eyes.

"Silly girl, I'm not dead." Snow Empress said helplessly, like a gentle older sister, bending down and extending her fair and flawless hand to wipe away the tears with her delicate, white fingers, and gently patting Ice Empress's head.

"I am merely offering myself as a sacrifice to him; I will return someday in the future."

"At that time, I might already be a god."

"But before that, I still need to ask you to protect the children of the Far North..."

"Boom!"

The earth trembled.

A wave of snow seemed to rise around them, and as the white mist dissipated, a colossal figure that blotted out the sky slowly emerged. Upon seeing this, the Titan Snow Demon King's eyes instantly turned red, and he was about to strike the boy who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, enduring torment and pain.

But in the next instant, the rough, giant hand covered in snow-white, hard hair abruptly stopped in mid-air.

"If you want the Snow Empress to die completely, her soul scattered, then do it." A delicate, pretty little girl with two pigtails spoke slowly, her face bearing an indifferent expression that belied her age.

"Roar~"

The enormous creature took a dejected step back and then sat down on the ground.

Her voice unconsciously lowered a few decibels.

"Big worm, the Snow Empress sacrificed herself to him... is that alright?" the Ice Empress asked calmly.

"... This..." A hesitant, timid expression materialized in his palm.

How could it guarantee a 100% success rate? The Snow Empress had already failed to transform into human form, was still in the embryonic stage, and had suffered severe injuries. It could only be said that the success rate was not low.

Ice Empress's eyes flashed dangerously. "If we fail, you won't survive either!"

"Don't worry, I sacrificed myself to Xiao Cheng, so we're in the same boat. I couldn't escape unscathed long ago," Tian Meng sighed.

I don't know how much time passed.

The surrounding snowflakes fell thicker and thicker, obscuring the boy's figure beneath the heavy snow, as if all life had been drained away, leaving him deathly silent.

Just as Ice Empress's patience was about to run out.

A crack appeared on the thick snow, followed by more and more cracks. Finally, Lu Cheng's body burst through the heavy snow, and between his brows, a complex yet ancient light blue pattern was revealed, like the purest snowflake in the world.

"Third Martial Soul, Snow Maiden!"

As his eyes slowly opened, an extremely imposing aura emerged from this seemingly insignificant body.

"Bing'er, A-Tai..." Lu Cheng uttered a female voice.

"From now on, the Far North is yours."

"Alright!" Ice Empress slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his eyes softening considerably, yet still tinged with a hint of longing and reluctance.

The next instant, Snow Empress's eyes changed, as if the real Snow Empress had returned to this body, and Lu Cheng had truly logged in.

"..."

He clenched his fist, feeling the abundant power within his body. After the Snow Empress was born, he no longer needed to use the Fire of Essence Sun to ward off the extreme cold of nearly two hundred degrees below zero. Instead, it was as if he had completely merged into the snowfield, becoming one of the thousands of snowflakes.

Feeling the cold, I even felt a sense of enjoyment.

While becoming his third Martial Soul, the Snow Empress also gifted him a 700,000-year-old left leg bone, which was the source of his pain during the absorption process. She poured a huge amount of primal power into the left leg bone, and then he absorbed it. Although this avoided the risk of self-destruction, the pain was unavoidable. A thick layer of blood scabs fell from the surface of his skin, and his face became even more fair and handsome.

His Soul Power naturally soared to level fifty-seven.

"As your First Soul Ring, I'm also giving you three Soul Skill, which are the signature techniques I've made famous: Emperor Sword, Emperor's Palm, and Emperor's Cold Heaven."

"If you like, you can give it a try."

Snow Empress materialized her true form beside Lu Cheng and spoke in a gentle and soothing tone.

"Emperor Sword, Peerless Ice Extremity!" Lu Cheng didn't hold back either. The seven hundred thousand-year-old orange-gold demonic sword beneath his feet had seven golden patterns that appeared and disappeared, making it look even more majestic and powerful.

A long, icy sword slowly materialized in his hand, but to everyone's surprise, a delicate hand emerged from behind him, grasping Lu Cheng's hand as if embracing the young man from behind.

"..." Lu Cheng's eyes showed some surprise.

"Concentrate." A clear and pleasant voice rang in my ears.

Lu Cheng's eye twitched.

He had no choice but to obey the Snow Empress, while two dangerous gazes fell directly on him from not far away, and the pressure from the two Ferocious Beast made him feel like he had thorns in his back.

"Slay!" the Snow Empress uttered softly.

The scale and momentum were quite impressive.

A pale blue sword aura covered in frost suddenly slashed forward, stirring up layers of snow waves. When the white mist dissipated, a ravine hundreds of meters long and ten meters deep appeared on the originally empty and unmarked snow.

"Master, this is one of my ultimate techniques, the Emperor Sword."

"Not bad..." Lu Cheng nodded subconsciously, but his body stiffened for a moment. What did you call me?!