"I know what you're going to ask me: Why do I love her, even though we're from completely different races? Realistically speaking, a difference in race doesn't really matter at our level. Besides, what I'm pursuing is more of a spiritual relationship. You've seen what she thinks of me. To tell the truth, one of the main reasons that I was so eager to become your soul ring was because I simply couldn't wait any longer. I was scared that she'd reach her limit early, and that she'd pass away. Even though I love her, I won't force her to love me. However, I'll do everything I can in order to ensure that she stays alive, no matter what. It's my selfish wish that I can live with her beside me. Even if she ends up cursing me everyday, I'll still be willing to listen to her voice. Do you understand what I'm saying? This is love."
The Skydream Iceworm's voice was filled with several emotions. An intrinsic transformation seemed to have occurred in his usually lazy voice, so much so that even Huo Yuhao was gradually swayed by his words. Huo Yuhao was only twelve after all, thus it was natural for him to not understand what exactly love was. However, he had unwittingly been moved by the Skydream Iceworm's words.
"What if an accident had happened before we found the Ice Emperor? What if you hadn't been able to restrain her?" Huo Yuhao blurted out.
The Skydream Iceworm calmly replied, "There was basically no chance of that happening with my Spiritual Detection. Furthermore, there's no chance that she wouldn't have been restrained by me. When I died, my corpse became the strongest weapon that a soul beast has ever produced in the world. Not to mention her, I'm confident that I could've trapped the first-ranked Snow Emperor if it had been within fifty meters of us. Unfortunately, I could only use it one time. This was the first time that I've fought outside your body after fusing with you, and it will also be the last. The strength of my spirit won't allow me to do this again. After all, I'm your soul ring; I've already completely fused with you. The dangers that you're worrying about couldn't have happened either, as I have a last-ditch skill that allows me to instantly teleport you several hundreds of miles away. As such, I wouldn't have had any problems making sure that you were safe. Yuhao, you need to remember this: Even though I was somewhat vigilant towards you this time, we're still a single entity. We share both our glory and our losses."
Huo Yuhao fell silent. The Skydream Iceworm's lie had hurt him quite a lot, but he felt the sadness in his heart gradually disappear when he heard the Skydream Iceworm's explanation. Afterwards, another feeling took its place.
"I can only do what I do best. Even if there hadn't been any feelings between the Ice Emperor and me, I still would've brought you to this place, as this is the only place where I could utilize all of my abilities to help you find a good choice to awaken your martial soul with."
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, then muttered, "Brother Skydream, is my heart too fragile?"
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "No. I can't blame you for how you reacted. A person's mental state is truly determined by one's past experiences. You just rely too much on me. Haven't you realized it? Whether you're cultivating, undergoing an assessment, or even whenever you encounter danger. Every single time, you subconsciously tell yourself, No matter what, I still have Brother Skydream, or something like, As long as I cultivate diligently, Brother Skydream will help me become even stronger. Am I right?"
Huo Yuhao nodded subconsciously. By this point, the stiffness in his body had more or less receded. His blood had begun to flow quicker as he circulated his soul power, which in turn gradually caused a warm feeling to rise from his body.
The Skydream Iceworm continued, "This reliance can sometimes be a good thing for you, but it can also sometimes be a bad thing. Relying on me too much will cause you to lose your way. You are yourself; you are Huo Yuhao, a human soul master, and a human soul engineer. I, on the other hand, am the Skydream Iceworm. I'm currently an intelligent soul ring. And who do I belong to?"
"Me, " Huo Yuhao replied.
The Skydream Iceworm said, "That's right. I'm your soul ring. Even if I'm an intelligent soul ring, I'm still your soul ring. Therefore, you have to remember that, while I am a part of you, you aren't a part of me. You're my master, and as such, you're the person who rules this body that we share. Because of that, I should be the one who's relying on you; you shouldn't be the one relying on me. If you keep thinking this way, you won't have any feelings of doubt towards me. If it continues like this, I'll have to consider whether or not any of my actions will affect my relationship with you. I'll only be fine if you're fine. Do you understand?"
After hearing the Skydream Iceworm's words, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt his mind clear up. He finally understood what he'd just felt—it was maturity.
In this short period of time, his heart had matured. The hatred he'd accumulated over the past several years seemed to have dulled by a large amount while, more importantly, his heart had matured. His fragile heart had firmed up, and the constant self-reflection he'd done had caused him to discard his resentment.
Once he realized this, his eyes became full of confidence once again.
I'm the master here. I'm the one who will grab the sun and moon, and who will pluck the stars from the sky in the future.
After digging his way out of the ice room, Huo Yuhao climbed out from underneath the snow. Suddenly, Huo Yuhao felt an urge to let out a shout towards the heavens.
"Don't make any noise. Immediately run in the direction I tell you to. The Ice Emperor's clansmen are coming, as they've more than likely sensed her aura disappear. If we don't leave, they'll definitely find us quickly. Now then, we need to quickly leave this place. We can handle the issue regarding the Ice Emperor once we reach a safe place."
"Okay." Huo Yuhao didn't waste any time as he immediately began running towards the direction they'd come from. His mind had cleared up, thus his footsteps had become extraordinarily swift. The Skydream Iceworm's powerful spiritual power concealed all traces of his aura, and there wasn't any need for Huo Yuhao to worry about leaving any footsteps behind. In this freezing world of wind and ice, all traces of his presence were wiped away with a single gust of wind.
As he ran, Huo Yuhao spoke to the Skydream Iceworm, "Brother Skydream, I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted you. However, I'm still angry as, in the end, you still lied to me."
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "Okay, please don't be angry. You'll be able to see how beneficial this adventure was to you once we've taken care of the Ice Emperor."
Huo Yuhao said, "What's the Ice Emperor got to do with me? She's your lover. Don't tell me that you truly have the heart to kill her and make her into my soul ring?"
"Hehehe…." The Skydream Iceworm laughed. "You'll see, but not right now. However, I promise that I'll never lie to you again. You've passed my test."
"What test?" Huo Yuhao asked, a somewhat blank look in his eyes.
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "Your heart, of course. Although your small heart's somewhat fragile, and even though your emotions are affected very easily, I've still felt the complete trust and dependence you have in me. I did say that it wasn't a very good thing for you to do, but it's destroyed the last barrier between us."
Somewhat helpless, Huo Yuhao replied, "That doesn't really make me feel very good."
The Skydream Iceworm chuckled. "What's not good about it? Every experience always has its benefits. This isn't really a bad thing for you. Besides, you'll trust your friends more in the future, and you won't doubt them as easily."
Huo Yuhao replied, "If you won't tell me how you plan to deal with the Ice Emperor, then at least tell me the story between you and her. I want to hear what this 'love' is all about."
"Alright, I'll tell you a little story. Run a bit faster; if we're discovered, all our previous efforts will have been for nought…."
"I'm already running as fast as I can." Huo Yuhao brought his soul power to the maximum as he ran along the surface of the snowy ground using the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Because of both his speed and the packed snow of the Extreme North, he left a trail of shallow footsteps in the snow without actually sinking into it. This was the quickest way he could move forward.
The Skydream Iceworm said, "I've been in love with the Ice Emperor for two hundred thousand years. I'd just woken up from my sleep back then, and I was about to find another place to continue sleeping. But then, she suddenly appeared. She'd been looking for the Ten Thousand Year Ice Pith. Unfortunately, this Brother had already eaten all of it. The first time we met, we were both astonished. You've seen my original body; it's beautiful, it's big, it's round, and it has a golden luster to it. Well, she was very beautiful too. The first time that I saw her resplendent body and her large, jade-green tail, I was deeply captivated by her. In particular, I was charmed by her cool temperament. She looks the most beautiful whenever she's cursing at me. To me, it doesn't matter even when she wants to kill me; her personality's just that perfect."
Huo Yuhao was left somewhat speechless when he heard this. "Brother Skydream, I don't think you need to continue anymore. I just can't sympathize with the love between you soul beasts. Also, I can't help but say that you're really infatuated with her. Even when she's trying to kill you, you still find her perfect! Hahahaha…"
Enraged, the Skydream Iceworm yelled, "Huo Yuhao, how dare a stinky brat like you laugh at me. Do you really think that I wouldn't dare to destroy your spiritual sea!?"
"I don't believe you. If you have the ability to do it, do it. However, if you destroy my spiritual sea, you're screwed as well. And if that happens, you won't be able to see your Ice Emperor ever again. Are you really willing to go through with that? If you are, come at me! I'm not scared of you."
"You…" Huo Yuhao's words had struck the Skydream Iceworm's soft spot. He indignantly replied, "Getting too intimate really isn't good for me! Now that we've gotten closer, you're no longer afraid of the consequences for insulting me! I feel like I've lost out on this deal…."
Huo Yuhao snorted. "Haven't you heard the phrase 'being put at a disadvantage sometimes gives you an advantage'? Whatever, quiet down a bit. I don't wanna get distracted."
This time around, Huo Yuhao had truly unleashed the entirety of his potential. In his current situation, one where he couldn't guarantee when he would even get to eat, he dashed wildly onwards in a way that seemed to overdraft his body. Only when his soul power was fully drained would he stop, shove two mouthfuls of snow into his mouth, then meditate.
He didn't even consider eating the frozen food that he'd brought with him.
The drain on his physical energy by merely relying on water to replenish his energy could be imagined, but he didn't have a choice. Repeatedly urged on by the Skydream Iceworm, he continued to run for twenty-eight hours straight. By that point, he'd finally left the core regions of the Extreme North and had arrived back at the border.
"Pu—" Huo Yuhao fell to the ground atop the thick snow. He wasn't able to crawl back up no matter what the Skydream Iceworm said.
The excessive overdrawing of his physical strength had caused him to enter a state of extreme tiredness. Fortunately, the surrounding temperature had increased considerably once he'd reached the outer areas of the Extreme North. At the very least, it had become a bit easier for him to hydrate himself by eating snow.
"I can't do this anymore, Brother Skydream. I just can't run anymore. I have to rest. If I don't eat any longer, I'm going to die." Huo Yuhao muttered inwardly.
Huo Yuhao gasped for air as he lay atop the snow, which caused bursts of white mist to unceasingly emerge from his mouth. His vision had become blurry, and waves of dizziness were assaulting him. Currently, he was weak to the point that he wasn't even able to activate his Spiritual Detection. The only thing he wanted to do right now was sleep. He'd never felt like this before, even during the most difficult moments of his training in Shrek Academy.
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "Let's do it here then. I just did a quick search. It's relatively quiet for around a hundred miles around us. As such, there shouldn't be any soul beasts roaming about. However, Yuhao, you can't rest yet; your true test is coming now."
"Ah? You still want to test me? Just let me die." After his last conversation with the Skydream Iceworm, their relationship had evidently improved by a significant amount. At the very least, Huo Yuhao had less misgivings when he conversed with the Skydream Iceworm.
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "Are you sure you don't want to take this test?"
"What test?" Huo Yuhao asked, speechless.
The Skydream Iceworm smiled mysteriously. "Why did we come to the Extreme North in the first place?"
"To awaken my martial soul! What, are you saying that you want to take care of the Ice Empress right now?" Huo Yuhao finally came back to his senses. However, he really didn't have any strength left. Just attempting to sit up took half of the little energy he had left, thus he chose to lie back down.
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "Right. I'm going to use my shedded skin to trap the Ice Empress' body, then use my spiritual power to create a spiritual prison that'll trap her temporarily. However, even though my spiritual power is my origin energy, I won't be able to maintain it for too long. The Ice Empress's so strong that I can't truly trap her for long."
Curious, Huo Yuhao asked, "What's a spiritual prison?"
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "It's a skill that's activated by spiritual power. After I gave up my body in order to fuse with you, the origin of my spiritual power became independent from my body, allowing me to use a few skills. Unfortunately, my spiritual brand fused even further with you after I left your body. As such, I won't be able to do this again. As of now, I can truly only be your subordinate. You need to prepare yourself as well, as there's a prerequisite for the Ice Empress to fuse with you and become your martial soul—she has to do it of her own accord. However, even if she willingly agrees, you'll still have to withstand an enormous amount of pressure. It won't be as easy as it was when I fused with you in the Great Star Dou Forest. At that point in time, I was fully drained of my energy. All I had left was my spiritual origin. Contrary to myself, she's a true three hundred thousand year soul beast; her cultivation is even at the 399,000 year rank. You definitely won't be able to absorb such a terrifying amount of power by yourself. As such, I'll have to seal her energy up in order to make sure that you won't explode. However, this will still come as an enormous shock to your body. Thus, you'll have to persevere no matter what. If you don't, all three of us are screwed. Do you understand?"
Huo Yuhao nodded. "I understand. But… will the Ice Empress really agree?"
The Skydream Iceworm smiled mysteriously. "Even though we've lived for so many years, we're actually more afraid of death than you humans. After all, is anyone truly willing to give up an extremely long life? No matter how much she looks down on me and how unwilling she is, preserving her own life is still more important! The reason that I created a situation like this was to force her; besides, those descendants of hers won't even be able to find us. Just watch me. You just need to lie down and stay still."
Huo Yuhao's eyes slowly lit up, while a strong golden light flickered within them. Immediately afterwards, he felt the mind-numbing cold. Even though it wasn't as intense as the freezing cold parts of the Extreme North, he shivered instinctively, and his body curled up subconsciously. The Skydream Iceworm had evidetly taken his shedded skin away.
A ball of golden light emerged from in between Huo Yuhao's brows, then slowly rose into the air. It was only a golden dot when it emerged, but it gradually expanded as it rose. In the blink of an eye, it had become a disk of light with a one meter diameter.
The light that the golden disc had suddenly began to become illusory. If you were to look directly at it, your gaze would be sucked into a seemingly bottomless abyss.
A light flashed, and a figure emerged from the golden disc. The instant it appeared, the golden light in the air disappeared. A fist-sized ball of golden light surged out from Huo Yuhao's forehead and proceeded to float in midair. The trapped figure within was the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
Currently, she'd already been trapped by the Skydream Iceworm's shedded skin. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't get free. After all, the Skydream Iceworm's shedded skin was the crystallisation of his million years of cultivation. Even though his energy—which he'd accumulated after many years—had been continuously sucked out by the powerful soul beasts of the Great Star Dou Forest to the point where he'd almost dried up, he'd deliberately nourished his body with his energy during the extraction process. If it hadn't been for his durable body, he would've died god knows how many times already.
After choosing to give up his body in order to fuse with Huo Yuhao, the Skydream Iceworm's shedded skin had become an extremely valuable treasure. Even with the Ice Empress's terrifying level of energy and soul power, she had still been unable to break free from it. Its durability could be seen from this. Only, Huo Yuhao's current cultivation was far too weak to control it, thus only the Skydream Iceworm himself could do so. However, the drain on his spiritual origin would be extremely large whenever he used it, and as such, he could only use it at extremely important moments.
"Ice Empress, stop resisting. You've already tried so many times, you should know that it's useless by now." The Skydream Iceworm said in its distinctively lazy voice.
The Ice Empress replied coldly, "What do you want?"
The Skydream Iceworm gently said, "I only want to stay with my beloved forever."
"This is your way of showing me your love?" After thinking it over for an entire day or so, the Ice Empress had already come to the understanding that she'd been duped. At that time, if she hadn't been so close to the Skydream Iceworm, his plans would definitely have failed. Unfortunately, there was no use in her crying over spoiled milk. She'd already fallen into the Skydream Iceworm's hands, and she wasn't able to escape from this strange power. An existence like the Ice Empress, someone who had lived for almost four hundred thousand years, naturally wouldn't give up easily. Thus, she could only rely on her other abilities to escape from this strange power that she couldn't seem to resist.
The Skydream Iceworm smiled slightly. "Don't be so impatient, listen to me."
The Ice Empress replied coldly, "What did you say? You said that you loved me? If you really love me, then why haven't you released your true body? I've already fallen into your trap, so what do you have to be afraid of?"
The Skydream Iceworm sighed. "I'm naturally not afraid of you, it's just that there's no way for me to let you see my true body! My true body no longer exists. Haven't you realised that you've been looking at my spiritual origin all this time, not a virtual body? After ruling over your domain for so long, you've lost your cautiousness. If you hadn't, I definitely wouldn't have succeeded so easily."
The Ice Empress was stunned. Astonished, she replied, "What? You only have your spiritual origin? So your body…" At that moment, she finally noticed Huo Yuhao, who was lying on the ground. Because of the cold, Huo Yuhao's face had already turned somewhat pallid. Fortunately, his resistance to the cold had increased by a large amount after his journey to the core regions of the Extreme North.
"You couldn't be referring to this human, right? Even though you've trapped me, I can easily tell how insignificant he is, just by using my eyes. Is he your puppet?"
"No, no, of course that's not the case. He's my host, or rather, he's my master. The current me is a soul ring that belongs to him; you should know about the soul rings that these humans have. On the other hand, I'm the continent's first ever intelligent soul ring."
The Ice Empress cried out involuntarily, "What? You've actually become a human's soul ring? How can this be?! Even though you're a piece of trash, you've still lived for this long. How could a human's fragile body withstand your enormous energy?!"
The Skydream Iceworm smiled bitterly. "Don't bring that up. My tragedy began with you. At that point in time, you were so persistent on eating me… there was no way that I wouldn't run away! I still needed a body to continue loving you, thus I drifted along the ocean and reached an area down south…"
The Skydream Iceworm used the most miserable voice he could muster as he recounted his experiences from the past hundred thousand years. Huo Yuhao had already heard his story, but the Skydream Iceworm used a much more sorrowful tone as he explained it to the Ice Empress. Moreover, he described himself with a much more miserable tone, describing how he'd been 'beaten up till he was a mass of bruises', and how 'death would have been preferable to living'.
"…You know how terrifying limits are to us. You also know that no soul beast has lived longer than me. Even though I'm only a piece of trash in your heart, I'm still an old piece of trash who's lived long enough. My energy's foundation had been drained, and I was about to reach my next limit soon. However, I've already lived for this long—I naturally didn't want to die! I believe that you feel the same as I do. I can sense that your limit will arrive within a hundred years. Because of that, you're extremely worried."
"You and me, we both don't want to die. We've already lived this long; how could we be willing to simply turn into pile of dust? As such, I've found the best way to get past this."
The Skydream Iceworm's story finally aroused the interest of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. She subconsciously asked, "How?"
The Skydream Iceworm replied in a low voice, "By creating God."
"Creating God?" The Ice Empress was stunned. She immediately became even more curious. "What do you mean by creating God?"
The Skydream Iceworm replied in a low voice, "My beloved, let me ask you this: Which race on this continent has the highest potential of all?"
After becoming ensnared in the Skydream Iceworm's words, the Ice Empress subconsciously followed his train of thought. "Are you referring to humans?"
If you're not up-to-date on DD1, this chapter has a reference/spoiler to something that happens in it. Forewarning.
The Skydream Iceworm nodded forcefully. "Right, humans. Even though there are some noble soul beasts like you, who are innately born with a powerful physique, you have to admit that we're much worse than humans in terms of talent. Although a human's body can't even be described as insignificant in the face of your Ice Jade Scorpion clan, they can still compete with your ten thousand year, or even hundred thousand-year-old clansmen after cultivating for several decades. Why is that? It's because they have a different amount of potential than us. Humans have frail bodies and short lifespans. However, their potential has allowed them to obtain the blessings of the heavens; they're incomparable. This is the advantage the humans have, and yet is also something we lack."
"Most importantly, we can't even hope to strive for the peaks that humanity can reach. Do you still remember that incident that happened ten thousand years ago?"
The Ice Empress replied, "The Heavens and the Earth changed color; a God was suddenly born."
The Skydream Iceworm said, "Right. At that time, I sensed the appearance of at least five Gods. Moreover, two of the Great Star Dou Forest's Great Beast Kings fell. They were both powerful existences who resided within the core regions of the Great Star Dou Forest, and even though they were somewhat inferior in terms of cultivation to those sleeping fellas who absorbed my energy, the races that they belonged to were extremely domineering. One of them had the same Titan bloodline that the Titan Ice Devil King has, while the other had the bloodline of dragons. Despite this, they both still fell. However, they didn't fall because they were killed by their enemies, but because they were used to complete the most powerful human who existed ten thousand years ago—the person who later became the most powerful God."
At that point, the Skydream Iceworm stopped for a moment. Afterwards, he continued in an even deeper voice, "Ice Empress, we both know the truth. Only Gods have an unlimited lifespan!"
The Ice Empress fell silent. Striking while the iron was hot, the Skydream Iceworm continued, "Whenever we soul beasts reach a hundred thousand years of cultivation, we can choose to re-cultivate as a human. However, there are an extremely small number of us who actually dare to re-cultivate. This is because we simply have no way of guaranteeing that we can cultivate and break through to the Titled Douluo stage in a short hundred years of time. Even if we did manage to break through, it would be very hard for our lifespans to exceed five hundred years. To us, becoming a God is a mere fantasy. The Douluo continent has been around for over a hundred million years, and we soul beasts were around before humans even existed. However, how many of us were actually able to use the method of re-cultivation to achieve an unlimited lifespan as a God?"
"This is also the main reason why soul beasts like you who have noble bloodlines are unwilling to re-cultivate into a human, am I right?"
"I'm not willing to try that vague and unreliable method, nor am I willing to die a premature death during the process of re-cultivation. I've chosen another method as the next best option. That is, to create a God. By creating a deity, even though I won't be a God, I'll still be able to follow this God, and will possess an unlimited lifespan by becoming part of this God. As such, I've chosen to become a soul ring. Not just any soul ring either, but an intelligent soul ring. I want to use my power to help him become a God, step by step."
"You're right. I'm just a piece of trash in your eyes, but I still have my million years of cultivation. Once I became an intelligent soul ring, I was able to give him a total of four soul skills, double that of you hundred thousand year soul beasts. Even though I wasn't able to give him a soul bone, I was able to give him a martial soul, making him into a person with innate twin martial souls. This young man is only twelve, but he's been gradually revealing his talent with my help. He has a much calmer attitude than his peers, along with the willpower to cultivate assiduously. If he has my help, why can't he become an existence like that person ten thousand years ago. Why can't he become a God?"
At this point, the Ice Empress was finally moved. She solemnly asked, "How confident are you?"
The Skydream Iceworm replied, "By myself, 30%. After all, I'm not good at attacking. As such, I can't give him the ability to protect himself. However…"
When he reached this point, he suddenly paused.
"'However' what?" The Ice Empress asked, doubtful.
The Skydream Iceworm said, "I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking of finding another human and trying to create a God like me. And you're right to think like that. There are many areas in which you're stronger than me. If you tried to create a God, you'd definitely be more successful than me. However, you've forgotten one thing: Your spiritual power isn't anywhere near as strong as mine. More importantly, do you even have time to do the research that I've already done? You don't even have a hundred years left, but I've already spent several tens of thousands of years thinking about this feat. Furthermore, it took me several experiments before I was finally able to succeed. You don't have time to even do a single experiment. Even if I were to let you go, the path I'm going down isn't suitable for you."
"Then what are you bullshitting about with me for!?" The Ice Empress immediately flew into a rage. The trace of hope that had just appeared in her heart had instantly and mercilessly been obliterated by the Skydream Iceworm. It would've been strange if she hadn't been infuriated.
"I'm naturally not bullshitting you. My beloved, how could I be willing to let you die? Since I've told you about this method, I naturally have a way to help you! It's true that it isn't realistic for you to create a God by yourself, as you wouldn't be able to find a human able to withstand fusing with you, much less guarantee that you'll be able to maintain your consciousness and your complete spiritual origin. However, I have experience in this! I've already done it! Moreover, your chances of success will be multiplied by ten, at the very least, with the protection of my powerful spiritual origin. Right now, if I do it by myself, I only have a 30% chance of creating a God. However, if you were to work with me, our chances would increase to 50%, minimum! Isn't a, minimum, 50% chance to live forever worth us fighting for?"
The Ice Empress was left slightly blank. She finally understood the Skydream Iceworm's motive for explaining so much to her. A pair of crystal-yellow eyes fell upon Huo Yuhao's body, a somewhat astonished look in them.
Huo Yuhao had silently listened to the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress' conversation. His body felt extremely cold due to the weather, but he felt extremely passionate inwardly. He couldn't help but admit that the Skydream Iceworm's words were very inciting. This was especially so to the Ice Empress, who was nearing her life's limit. The dawn of this hope was simply too attractive to her. It was no wonder that he'd brought the Ice Empress here; he knew that he'd be safe with his knowledge. He was simply poking the Ice Empress' weak spot!
Would the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion really become his second martial soul, and his second martial soul's first soul ring? This… she was the second-ranked Empress of the Extreme North's Three Emperors!