Chapter 50: Child of Destiny

When a beast chooses to transform into human form, it first seals away the immense energy within its body layer by layer. In other words, no matter how formidable that beast might be, it cannot unleash even a tiny fraction of its true power right now!

A one-hundred-thousand-year soul ring and soul bone, completely harmless and ready for the taking...

As if sharing a telepathic connection, the five of them exchanged subtle glances, their eyes shifting away with a twinge of a guilty conscience.

No matter how fiercely loyal they felt toward the Empire, in the face of such heaven-sent fortune, maintaining self-restraint was easier said than done.

Just as the atmosphere turned slightly delicate among them:

"Boom!"

A vast, ocean-like and majestic aura surged from the horizon, traversing a thousand miles in a single instant and instantly sweeping away the biting winds and freezing snow that blanketed the entire Extreme North, leaving a stark, clear void in its wake.

Ghostly clouds converged, making the very sky seem to press downward under that terrifying might.

"What is that?"

Feeling that horrifying aura, Tiansha Douluo shuddered all over, feeling as though he had been reduced to a mere mortal once again, left at the mercy of the sweeping tide that shook heaven and earth, utterly devoid of any power to resist.

"It's a Limit... This must be the power of a Limit Douluo! Everyone, run—!"

Tiansha suddenly let out a harrowing shriek, grabbed the soul engineer behind him with one hand, and watched as his seventh soul ring flashed with the most blinding radiance of his life. He instantly activated his True Avatar of the Martial Soul and fled madly toward the south.

In this Extreme North, there was only one true monarch worthy of the title.

That was the Snow Emperor!

A definitive and unquestionable powerhouse comparable to a Limit Douluo!

If she was indeed the one issuing this warning strike, their only remaining path to survival was to flee while they still had their wits about them.

"Humans?"

The Snow Emperor, who was in the midst of channeling her origin power, suddenly paused. She first opened her eyes to glance briefly in the direction where the figures were fleeing, and then cast her gaze toward the source of that aura.

For some reason, this powerful aura actually felt somewhat familiar to her.

It felt as though she had sensed it somewhere inside an ice-marrow cave hollowed out by worms.

Swish—

The Snow Emperor's mind, typically as tranquil as still water, surged abruptly, her heart filled with turbulence: "The Ice Jade Emperor Worm?!"

A divine-grade existence that had effortlessly passed its million-year tribulation simply by eating and sleeping, the ultimate tonic for every soul beast in heaven and earth!

If she could harvest even the tiniest speck of origin power from this creature, she would no longer need to ponder over the agonizing path of reincarnation and recultivation.

The Heavenly Tribulation?

She could easily survive even three waves cascading down all at once!

"This is truly... a generous gift~"

***

The Snow Emperor reached out and summoned the snow lotus into her palm. Although she could currently only wield about forty percent of her peak strength, it was still more than enough to surpass an ordinary Super Douluo.

That silkworm could simply never be her match.

...

"Tianmeng! What are you trying to do? Let me go!"

The emerald-green scorpion, whose entire body shimmered like jade, struggled fiercely, but the layer of light enveloping her tightened inexorably. The energy contained within it rapidly invaded her body, sealing every single drop of her soul power.

"Hehe~ *Sluuurp*~ Don't worry, we are merely helping you survive the great tribulation and seizing a chance to ascend to the Divine Realm~"

Tianmeng, having condensed his spiritual entity, wore a crafty, eerie grin as drool continually dripped down, much to Huo Yuhao's near-speechless dismay.

As for the teacher dispatched by Shrek...

Having unlocked his full power, Tianmeng had almost flawlessly simulated the Snow Emperor's formidable coercion, and he happened to be leading the way right in front of Huo Yuhao.

For now, one could only wish the man a peaceful, uninterrupted slumber.

"Shouldn't we get going?"

Huo Yuhao broke the silence, then pointed toward the pitiful Soul Saint lying like a corpse nearby.

Normally, even if someone was knocked unconscious at close range by the sheer pressure of a beast, they would recover within five or six hours. If they dragged their feet too long, there was no telling if he would wake up before they finished their business.

"Rest assured~"

Tianmeng tossed a golden ball of light into Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea: "Unless I recall this strand of spiritual energy, he will remain fast asleep forever."

Time to wrap things up!

Having successfully captured the scorpion of his dreams, Tianmeng maneuvered the silkworm casing, intending to pack her away first and release her only when they reached the outer edges of the Extreme North, where he would slowly persuade her to surrender.

With Huo Yuhao—an outrageously potent first ring—acting as a living witness, along with the shattered divine throne and the mysterious old man inside the spiritual sea serving as physical evidence, coupled with his own mixture of intimidation and enticement, Ice Empress would have no choice but to believe in his god-creation plan.

Pity...

"Ice Jade Emperor Worm! You have quite the audacity!"

An abrupt, frosty voice interrupted his actions. Along with the voice came a powerful aura that shook the soul, carrying a pure, bone-chilling cold that froze marrow.

The very instant this chill descended, the surrounding air cracked and popped. Minute ice crystals, so tiny as to be nearly invisible to the naked eye, accumulated into a thick fog and condensed into fine snow, transforming a radius of several hundred meters into an extreme, frosty realm.

A slender hand covered in a cold, pale fluorescence flickered lightly, and the silkworm casing entrapping the Ice Empress instantly lost all its brilliance as the newcomer effortlessly shattered it.

"Snow... Snow... Snow Emperor?"

Gazing at the slender figure before him, formed almost entirely of pure ice and snow, the smile on Tianmeng's face gradually stiffened.

Wasn't she usually secluded in the deepest part of the core zone, never showing herself lightly?

Why would she manifest here on the periphery of the Extreme North?

"Ice Silkworm! As the oldest soul beast in the Extreme North, you actually stoop to colluding with humans and preying upon your own kind!"

A dense wave of murderous intent surged within the Snow Emperor's eyes.

If her original intention had merely been to extract a portion of origin power to survive this heavenly tribulation, right now, she genuinely harbored the desire to completely devour Tianmeng.

"No, no... Wait a moment!"

Facing this 690,000-year-old snow sprite standing at the very apex of soul beasts, Tianmeng stammered incoherently for a moment:

"Listen to me explain! I have a method that allows soul beasts to preserve their souls after a sacrifice. As long as Huo Yuhao—this human I have chosen—becomes a god, we will all achieve eternal life and ascend to the Divine Realm! We will no longer be threatened by the Heavenly Tribulation!"

"Hmph..."

The Snow Emperor let out a cold laugh: "It has been ten thousand years since anyone last ascended to the Divine Realm. How can you guarantee that he possesses the qualifications to ascend and become a god? Rather than gambling a chance on you, I might as well take your origin power in exchange for multiple opportunities to survive the tribulation!"

Tianmeng felt a sudden ache in his teeth.

Making the Snow Emperor drop her hostility and gamble along with him was a daunting task; it would take an immense amount of persuasion.

Yet, the most urgent matter right now was saving someone—Huo Yuhao was exposed completely unprotected beneath the Snow Emperor's might!

Realizing this, Tianmeng panicked and looked back, terrified that some mishap might have befell the boy.

And then.

He saw Huo Yuhao sitting quietly in place, a wisp of golden flame burning deep within his pupils. A faint golden fire slowly emerged around him, swaying gently and melting away the snow and ice within a yard of his body.

"Interesting..."

An aged whisper echoed. The consciousness of Elder Yi stepped out of the spiritual sea for the very first time, standing suspended in mid-air as his gaze lingered on the Snow Emperor with a hint of hesitation: "—A ninth-tier elemental sprite? Not quite right, it should probably be classified as a tier nine-and-a-half."

A divine throne.

Divine consciousness.

And...

The Ice and Snow Emperors glanced sidelong at Tianmeng, who was quietly pulling back his silkworm casing.

There was a quasi-divine beast as well?

"Hiss~"

The two soul beasts, whose combined ages exceeded a million years, felt for the very first time in their lives what it truly meant to encounter a Child of Destiny.