After Xu Jiujiu finished absorbing the Soul Ring, Chu Qing said:
"You two should head back first. I'm planning to stay in the Far North and train for a while longer."
Tang Wutong was puzzled.
"Isn't that jade marrow bed enough for you?"
Chu Qing said:
"Of course it is, but experiencing the real environment is better for cultivation."
Xu Jiujiu was puzzled when she heard that and said:
"As far as I know, your Martial Soul doesn't have the ice attribute either, does it?"
A flash of blue light passed through Chu Qing's eyes as he said:
"It's needed for the combat technique I'm cultivating."
Xu Jiujiu nodded and said:
"All right, we'll wait for you outside. Be careful."
Tang Wutong still wanted to follow, but Chu Qing said bluntly, with disdain:
"Don't hold me back."
Tang Wutong gritted her teeth in displeasure, clenched her fists, and said viciously:
"Then freeze to death in there."
After saying goodbye to them, Chu Qing headed deeper into the Far North.
He had thought it over. The Ice Empress was too dangerous, but he could go see whether he could pick up a windfall from the Snow Empress.
Although the Snow Empress's Soul Ring wasn't compatible with him, he had set his sights on the domain skill among the Snow Empress's Three Absolutes, Emperor's Cold Heaven: Snow Dance Under the Glorious Sun.
He used Man Faced Demon Puppet, the Soul Skill of his external finger bone. Disguising himself with the scent of an Ice Jade Scorpion's corpse, he concealed his true body beneath it and made his way across the ice field.
With this cover, even when he encountered Soul Beasts with a strong sense of territory, they merely roared warnings for him to leave quickly after he released part of the pressure of his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
The farther in he went, the more bitter the cold became.
The Far North was so vast. Where was he supposed to find the Snow Empress?
He worried that if he went any farther, he would probably freeze to death in there first.
As he considered whether to retreat, the temperature around him suddenly plummeted.
He immediately realized something was wrong and controlled the Ice Jade Scorpion to look around, but found no Soul Beasts.
What's going on?
As he wondered, his scalp suddenly tingled, and a bone-piercing chill swept through his entire body.
Snowflakes danced in the sky, slowly gathering into a human form.
It was a woman with skin of ice and bones of jade, clear as ice and lustrous as jade.
Her long white hair hung down her back all the way to her feet, and her sky-blue eyes were ethereal and clear, as if they could see through everything in the world.
Her slender figure was flawless. Though her long white dress bore not a single ornament, it made her look so noble and breathtakingly beautiful.
The Snow Empress!
Chu Qing immediately realized what sort of existence she was, and his scalp tingled.
What frightened him even more was that the Snow Empress slowly descended straight from the sky and stood on the Ice Jade Scorpion he was using as a disguise. Her voice was as cool and clear as the moon:
"Take me to your Ice Empress."
Bitterness filled Chu Qing's heart. How was he supposed to know where the Ice Empress was?
Besides, he didn't know the Ice Jade Scorpion's language, so he could only control it to shake its head, praying nonstop that she wouldn't discover him.
Chu Qing had meant to say he didn't know, but the Snow Empress thought he was unwilling. The chill in the air seemed about to condense into solid form.
"You dare defy me? Do you think that just because you're one of the Ice Empress's people, I'll..."
As she spoke, the Snow Empress suddenly sensed that something was wrong. She raised a hand, and an icicle instantly formed, radiating a terrifying pressure.
Realizing his cover was blown, Chu Qing immediately shouted:
"Spare my life, Snow Empress! Please let me say a few words first."
The Snow Empress stopped and flew to the side, though the icicle beside her did not dissipate.
Chu Qing revealed himself and forced a smile.
"I am Chu Qing. Greetings, Snow Empress."
"I am a child of destiny."
The Snow Empress frowned, and the icicle beside her began spinning furiously.
"A human child of destiny must be destroyed. Otherwise, when will we Soul Beasts ever have our day?"
"Ah!"
Chu Qing was stunned when he heard that and hurriedly shouted:
"Stop, stop, stop!"
"Snow Empress, I know you won't survive your next heavenly tribulation. I can help you!"
The Snow Empress's heart stirred the moment she heard that.
She had been going to find the Ice Empress because she had planned to help her one last time before taking human form, so that the Ice Empress could protect her path in turn.
If there was a way to break through the seven-hundred-thousand-year bottleneck, she naturally didn't want to take human form.
The icicle beside her immediately dissolved into snowflakes, and she said:
"Bug, if you really have a way, I won't kill you. I can even give you a Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus."
A bug?
Chu Qing's mind jolted. He summoned the Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake from his Sea of Spirit and said:
"Please look, Snow Empress. This is called a Soul Spirit."
"A Soul Beast can exist as a Soul Spirit and retain its intelligence, then be resurrected after becoming a god."
Faced with the Snow Empress, the Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake shrank back, not daring to approach.
The Snow Empress, however, looked at this new form of life with curiosity and asked:
"Were you coerced by this human?"
The Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake shook its head and hissed, flicking its tongue.
Surprise showed in the Snow Empress's eyes as she listened. She nodded, then raised her eyes to Chu Qing and asked coldly:
"Bug, you have some nerve, actually wanting me to become your Soul Spirit."
Chu Qing smiled wryly and immediately shook his head.
"A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."
"Look, my Martial Soul doesn't even have the ice attribute."
But the Snow Empress kept staring at him coldly and asked:
"How did you make this crawler go from thirty years to a hundred thousand years after it became a Soul Spirit?"
She found it inconceivable.
Chu Qing looked at the Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake in displeasure. How had it blurted out everything it shouldn't have said?
The Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake hurriedly slipped into Chu Qing's Sea of Consciousness, trembling uncontrollably under the pressure of the Snow Empress's presence.
"A baptism of destiny."
Chu Qing steeled himself and said:
"I told you, I'm a child of destiny, someone certain to become a god."
The Snow Empress appraised him, then formed a deep-blue ice sword in her hand and shot it at Chu Qing.
Chu Qing sensed that the presence on the sword wasn't too powerful and understood that the Snow Empress was testing his strength. He immediately activated a Soul Skill he had created based on the Soul Skill of the Shield Armor Spirit Rhinoceros Left Arm Bone.
"Moon-Gazing Armguard: Gather."
The shield contracted around him. As the ice sword shot toward him, he gathered Soul Power in his left hand and reached out to catch it, breaking it inch by inch.
"Bug, you can take a strike from me at equal strength. You do have some ability."
As the Snow Empress spoke, hesitation flashed in her eyes. She said:
"If the Ice Empress and I both cooperate with you, will you still be confident of becoming a god?"
"I'll take your Seventh Soul Ring slot, and if the Ice Empress takes another, it shouldn't affect you too much."
Chu Qing found himself in a difficult position and said:
"Although I'm honored to have earned your approval, if I absorb two ice-attribute Soul Rings, I'm afraid I'll ruin my Martial Soul."
The Snow Empress nodded, then controlled the wind and snow to snatch Chu Qing into the air. She carried him away at great speed, speaking as she flew:
"Bug, that isn't up to you. From now on, you're my slave."
"Ah!"
Chu Qing panicked a little and hurriedly said:
"Snow Empress, I really can't absorb two Ferocious Beast Soul Rings with the same ice attribute."
"I know where there's ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow. Absorbing it should be enough to get you both through this heavenly tribulation."
The Snow Empress paused briefly, then continued flying and said:
"That's useful information, but for now, bug, be quiet and let me think."
Seeing her brows tightly furrowed, Chu Qing ventured weakly:
"If you're going to find the Ice Empress, I'm afraid you'd better hurry."
"Why?"
Chu Qing made something up:
"I'm a child of destiny. I can sense some of the workings of heaven and earth."
"That's also how I know you won't survive your next great limit. And right now, I can sense the Ice Empress's presence in the world gradually weakening."
The Snow Empress was startled and suspicious. She hadn't sensed anything herself.
But anxious as she was, she immediately increased her speed.