In Su Yu's eyes, the Ice Empress was just a soul beast.
Although they shared a connection, it was minimal.
If Su Yu needed her soul ring, he wouldn't hesitate to take it.
There was no other choice—after all, the Ice Empress was originally intended to be the soul ring the will of the world had prepared for the Child of Destiny.
Now that he was the Child of Destiny, it could be said that the Ice Empress was specifically destined for him by the world's will.
This was beneficial not only to him but also to the Ice Empress.
Her tribulation was approaching, and she didn't have many years left.
If Su Yu didn't take her, she would eventually perish under the heavenly tribulation.
But if she followed Su Yu, her fate would be vastly different.
Su Yu had a limitless future ahead; becoming a god wouldn't be difficult for him. As long as he didn't fall, he would inevitably ascend to godhood.
Su Yu was a man of integrity, and if the Ice Empress became his soul ring, he would certainly help her when he achieved godhood.
Granting the Ice Empress a god position would be an easy task, wouldn't it?
In other words, following Su Yu would be a win-win situation.
However, Su Yu couldn't be the one to suggest this—it could lead to misunderstandings.
Most importantly, he couldn't let the Snow Empress misunderstand.
Compared to the Ice Empress, Su Yu had a much deeper bond with the Snow Empress.
But that wasn't entirely Su Yu's fault—who could blame the Snow Empress for being so stunning?
Su Yu was very self-aware; he knew he was just a lustful person and wanted to build a harem.
Don't be fooled by his current pure and abstinent appearance—that was only because he was still young.
Give him a few years and see.
In a few years, when he was older, even if he didn't go gallivanting, he would certainly be a charming and romantic man.
He had never claimed to be a serious person.
Whether it was Gu Yuena, the Snow Empress, or Sister Xuan, he couldn't resist any of them.
They were all his type.
Those elegant ladies with graceful figures and enchanting temperaments were exactly what he adored.
Especially since the Snow Empress even had white hair... Hiss!
He couldn't let his mind wander there any longer.
Su Yu shook his head, clearing out those inappropriate thoughts.
In the sea of consciousness, the Skydream Iceworm was still lamenting its stupidity.
Su Yu didn't respond—there was nothing to say. It was dumb.
Su Yu continued using the Wind God Legs technique, speeding toward the Extreme Northern Ice Fields.
Along the way, he encountered several soul beasts.
But as soon as Su Yu released a hint of his Ice Emperor aura, all the soul beasts quickly cleared a path.
The Ice Emperor was a martial soul gifted by the Extreme North, a divine blessing.
In the Extreme North, Su Yu's status was comparable to the Snow Empress.
If Su Yu were powerful enough, he would be qualified to govern the entire Extreme North.
He had the potential and the authority.
Though still relatively weak, his status was high.
Any soul beast in the Extreme North that sensed his aura instinctively avoided him.
With no beasts blocking his way, Su Yu advanced swiftly.
In less than half an hour, he had covered nearly a hundred miles.
His soul power was significantly depleted, so Su Yu slowed down and ate a fruit.
Su Yu carried many unusual items.
Although the system's monthly rewards didn't always provide the most valuable items, they were diverse, and many quirky but useful things had accumulated in his Black Dragon Ring.
After eating the fruit, Su Yu's soul power was restored considerably.
He pressed on.
Repeating this cycle several times, after about half a day, Su Yu entered the core region.
The ground was covered in thick ice dust, and the distorted aurora in the sky cast a faint glow.
Su Yu walked on the dense ice dust, unfazed by the temperature cold enough to freeze a Soul King or Soul Emperor to death.
Upon entering the core area, Su Yu fully released his aura.
Instantly, the weather shifted. Su Yu's martial soul, a divine gift, allowed him to borrow some of the Extreme North's power.
With the aid of the land's natural forces, his aura spread far and wide.
After about a quarter of an hour, the sky lit up with a green glow, turning a brilliant jade hue.
An icy, ferocious aura rushed toward him, transforming into a streak of light that appeared before Su Yu in no time.
The newcomer, about one and a half meters long, was adorned in icy jade-green hues, exquisitely beautiful yet exuding the primal, ferocious aura of an ancient beast.
It was none other than the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion—the Ice Empress, one of the three great rulers of the Extreme North, boasting 390,000 years of cultivation.
Seeing her, a smile crept across Su Yu's face.
In the sea of consciousness, the Skydream Iceworm had gone wild.
It was jumping up and down, eager to meet the Ice Empress, but Su Yu paid it no mind.
"Su Yu, it's been a while since you last came," said the Ice Empress, her silver-white mandibles vibrating as she spoke in a crisp, pleasant female voice.
Su Yu visited the Extreme North to train for several months each year, so he was no stranger to the Ice Empress.
She had even guided him a little on the finer points of ice control, although not extensively.
Su Yu spent much more time with the Snow Empress.
The Snow Empress had a higher level of mastery and was, admittedly, more attractive to Su Yu.
"I've been studying at a human academy recently, so I haven't had the chance to come," Su Yu replied with a light smile.
"A human academy?"
The Ice Empress's tone carried a hint of disdain.
"What do humans know about the Ultimate Ice?"
"Su Yu, only the Snow Empress, and I truly understand the Ultimate Ice. Why waste your time at some human academy?"
The Ice Empress was blunt, but Su Yu agreed with her.
Indeed, on the Douluo Continent, no one understood ice better than the two Ice Emperors.
Both of them embodied the essence of Ultimate Ice.
The Snow Empress's Ultimate Snow was merely a variation of Ultimate Ice—at its core, it was still ice.
"I was just learning other things. When it comes to ice, of course, I'd come to you and the Snow Empress."
"Everyone knows that you two are the undisputed masters of ice," Su Yu said with a smile.
"You've got good taste," the Ice Empress nodded in satisfaction, her gem-like orange-yellow eyes scanning Su Yu.
"Huh, you've broken through to level 40? So quickly?"
Su Yu didn't hide his soul power fluctuations, so the Ice Empress could sense it.
It had only been a little over a year since Su Yu last visited, and he had already advanced from level 30 to level 40.
And with an Ultimate Martial Soul, no less!
"How did you progress so quickly?"
"I had a bit of an opportunity and accidentally reached level 40," Su Yu said with a smile.
The right arm bone from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, a drop of Golden Dragon King blood, and the Ancient Azure Dragon horn bone had indeed propelled his cultivation forward.
These powerful relics had boosted his soul power by four levels.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have reached level 40 so soon.
Without those boosts, it might have taken him nearly a year to reach level 40 through conventional cultivation.
After all, cultivating an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul wasn't easy.
"Opportunities or not, it also speaks to your great talent. Humans are naturally weak, but your cultivation speed is truly enviable."
The Ice Empress sighed. Humans were inherently fragile, but their growth rate was astounding.
Humans with exceptional talent can often reach the strength of a 100,000-year-old soul beast within a century. Some, with even greater talent, might reach the level of a Titled Douluo in just a few decades.
In comparison, while soul beasts are born strong and live long lives, their strength increases very slowly.
Even the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, who had always prided herself on her mastery of Ultimate Ice, couldn't deny this fact.
Moreover, human creativity was something soul beasts could not compete with.
Although the Ice Empress didn't like humans, she was well aware of how terrifying they could be.
"Humans may cultivate quickly, but their lives are short. Even an Ultimate Douluo only lives for a few hundred years, whereas soul beasts can live for thousands, tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand years."
"That's something humans envy too," Su Yu replied with a smile.
The lifespan of soul beasts was something countless humans envied and resented.
The pursuit of immortality was deeply ingrained in human nature.
"Perhaps," the Ice Empress sighed, "but while soul beasts may live long, they cannot achieve eternity."
"Humans, however, have the chance to become eternal."
After living for 300,000 years, 600,000 years, or even a million years, what does it matter? In the end, there will always come a day when it all ends.
But humans are favored by the heavens. The aura of several deities from ten thousand years ago still lingers in the Ice Empress's memory.
Humans have the potential to become eternal gods!
Su Yu didn't deny her words. It was indeed the truth.
The inability of soul beasts to become gods meant they could never achieve eternity.
But wasn't that exactly what he was working toward?
To overthrow the God Realm and lift the restrictions preventing soul beasts from becoming gods—that was his ultimate goal.
As the bearer of the Dragon God's power, and as the young master of the Soul Beast clan, this was a mission he had to complete.
Sensing the heavy atmosphere, the Ice Empress decided to change the subject.
"By the way, you've come here for your fourth soul ring, right? Do you need my help?"
She didn't mind that Su Yu might need to hunt soul beasts. It was something that couldn't be helped.
Without soult rings, it was impossible to grow stronger—that was a law of the world that couldn't be easily changed.
"More or less. Another reason I came was to check on all of you," Su Yu replied.
"I have a feeling that something bad might happen, so I came to see. Seeing that you're fine puts me at ease. By the way, where's the Snow Empress?"
Normally, whenever he released his aura, the Snow Empress would show up. At the very least, she would send the Ice Bear King to fetch him.
But this time, there hadn't been any response.
"You're overthinking it. This is the Extreme North. Even an Ultimate Douluo from your human race wouldn't be able to kill me here. What could happen to me?" the Ice Empress said casually.
"As for the Snow Empress, you have even less to worry about. Even Di Tian couldn't defeat her here in the Extreme North."
She spoke nonchalantly as if there was no danger they could possibly face unless it was a heavenly tribulation. But while the tribulation was approaching, it was still some time away. At the moment, there was no way she or the Snow Empress could be in danger.
"Unpredictable things can happen, and sudden misfortune can befall anyone," Su Yu said seriously.
"Such things are hard to foresee. And the Snow Empress is destined to face a tribulation. It won't be easy for her to get through it."
The tribulations of heaven and earth weren't something one could easily escape from. If you tried to avoid a heavenly tribulation through trickery, you would inevitably face disaster from other sources.
Seeing that nothing had happened to the Ice Empress, Su Yu guessed that the trouble might be with the Snow Empress.
Thinking about the Snow Empress's original path, Su Yu speculated that she might have begun her transformation earlier than expected. If her transformation had started early, then it was natural that trouble would come sooner as well.
With that in mind, Su Yu became even more anxious.
"The Snow Empress is fated to face a tribulation? What do you mean?" the Ice Empress asked, immediately concerned.
Her affection for the Snow Empress wasn't something new. Her heart was deeply tied to the Snow Empress's well-being.
She didn't even have time to ask how Su Yu knew about this.
"Let's not worry about that for now. We need to find the Snow Empress first. Ice Empress, you're fast—take me to her," Su Yu urged.
"Alright, hop on."
For the sake of the Snow Empress's safety, the Ice Empress didn't bother with formalities. She quickly allowed Su Yu to climb onto her back.
"Thanks for your help."
Su Yu leaped onto the Ice Empress's back and sat down, gripping her scales with both hands.
There were probably no other humans besides Su Yu who could sit on the Ice Empress.
In the sea of consciousness, the Skydream Iceworm was already drooling with envy.
It had always dreamed of being close to the Ice Empress, but the reality was cruel.
It loved the Ice Empress, and the Ice Empress loved it too.
But the way the Ice Empress loved it was different—she wanted to eat it.
Yet, even so, the Skydream Iceworm's love for the Ice Empress was deep and unwavering.
"Brother, brother, be gentle. Don't hurt Bing Bing!"
The Skydream Iceworm was heartbroken seeing Su Yu—a tall and strong guy—sitting on the Ice Empress, which was only about 1.5 meters long.
Skydrean was deeply distressed.
Su Yu ignored it and casually blocked the Skydream Iceworm's perception of the outside world.
The Skydream Iceworm, who had been happily watching everything, suddenly found itself in darkness.
"No!"
"Bing Bing!!!"
Its painful wails were so heart-wrenching that anyone who heard them would feel sorrow.
Meanwhile, the Ice Empress sped through the core region with Su Yu on her back.
They were heading toward the Snow Empress's territory.
The Snow Empress resided in the most central part of the Extreme North, where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was the most concentrated.
...
On an ice plateau, the Snow Empress was sitting cross-legged.
A large snow lotus was placed beside her, glowing with soft light, dazzling and beautiful, like a perfect piece of art.
The Snow Empress had already sensed Su Yu's presence, but she didn't have time to respond.
She was in the middle of something crucial.
The Snow Empress plucked the lotus petals one by one and gently placed them in her mouth.
Strangely, the large petals seemed to melt instantly upon entering her mouth.
In just a short while, the Snow Empress had consumed the entire snow lotus.
"Finding this 100,000-year-old snow lotus was truly lucky."
"As for Bing'er, with Su Yu around, there's no need to worry too much."
The Snow Empress murmured softly and then closed her beautiful eyes.
An icy blue light began to emanate from her body, and she gradually transformed into a cloud of white mist.
The mist exuded a bone-chilling cold, and it floated up and down as if it had a life of its own.
As time passed, a faint embryo began to form within the mist.
Yes, the Snow Empress was undergoing the most important step for a soul beast—transformation.
Originally, with the Snow Empress's cultivation nearing 700,000 years, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to transform.
But the Snow Empress had incredible luck and had come across a 100,000-year-old snow lotus.
The snow lotus was a heavenly treasure, and one that had reached 100,000 years was beyond priceless.
With the help of the snow lotus, the Snow Empress now had the chance to transform.