As Li Zhexian spoke, he slightly bent his arms, lowering his face. His face was barely three inches from the Snow Empress's exquisite features.
The two looked into each other's eyes...
Suddenly,
A surge of spiritual power spread out from between Li Zhexian's brows,
Flowing straight into the Snow Empress' mind.
The method of Spirit Soul was revealed to her completely, without the slightest concealment.
"To form an equal contract with a Spirit Beast…
To attach the Spirit Beast to a Spirit Master's Spirit Ring…
To preserve the Spirit Beast's memories…"
"From then on, to share honor and shame as one…
And to evade heavenly tribulation…"
Her pupils contracted sharply.
This was no mere variation on the ancient Spirit Ring system.
This was… a different path altogether. A new structure, a new cultivation paradigm, one capable of reshaping eras.
Even as the ancient ruler of the Extreme North, she felt vertigo at the implications.
Such a system… must have originated from a true god. Where did this child obtain it?
Her thoughts were cut short by the hoarse, blood-tinged voice directly above her:
"Senior Snow Empress… what is your decision?"
The Snow Empress met those dark, unwavering eyes.
Her slender fingers clenched for an instant, then loosened.
With her personality,
Even if Li Zhexian had done great favors for the Extreme North, even if he had risked his life to save her—
If he had proposed the Spirit Soul method under normal circumstances, the Snow Empress would have refused without hesitation.
So what if she had the potential to become a god?
If ascending to the Divine Realm meant relying on someone else's power, she would rather not become a god at all.
But now—
At this very moment,
The roars of battle between the Evil Emperor, Ice Empress, and Skydream Ice Worm thundered in her ears.
She could vaguely hear the Ice Empress' muffled groans and Skydream Ice Worm's pained cries.
Before her—
The fifth round of the heavenly tribulation was ending.
Blood dripped unceasingly from Li Zhexian's lips.
His raised arms trembled, and dense cracks continued to spread across his glazed body.
The Snow Empress suddenly relaxed her clenched hand.
Her lips parted slightly:
"I… am willing."
The syllables barely dispersed before the Snow Empress suddenly flipped her hand and pressed it against the ground. A delicate yet terrifyingly resolute burst of force pulsed outward.
Her slender body arced upward like a falling snowflake reversed by the wind.
In the blink of an eye—
Already inches from him—
Already close enough for their foreheads to touch.
Their brows pressed together.
Their noses brushed.
Their breaths became one.
A wondrous resonance, ancient and profound, rippled outward between them—silent like moonlit ice, yet vast enough to stir the soul of heaven.
Time itself seemed to slow.
The drifting snow halted its descent, suspended in the cold air like frozen stars.
All winds grew still.
All sound vanished.
Only the rhythm of two merging souls remained.
At Li Zhexian's side—
The Clear Spring Wine Gourd manifested with a soft chime.
Like a spirit gently awakened, it circled around the pair, its ceramic body glowing with faint ripples of clear light, as if blessing the ritual.
…
Far away, dozens of miles from the site of the Heavenly Tribulation—
The Ice Empress and the Skydream Ice Worm fought side by side against the weakening but still monstrous Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor.
Even after unleashing time power, the tyrant had not fallen.
And even weakened, it was terrifying.
"Hey! You! Yes, you—calling yourself the 'Evil Emperor'!"
In his snowy humanlike form, the Skydream Ice Worm snorted coldly, spiritual power surging like a blizzard, giving him an ethereal, mysterious presence.
"When it comes to spiritual power, I'm number one under heaven!"
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
Skydream Ice Worm lifted his head proudly.
His vast spiritual power swept up endless snow, forming a massive blue torrent of icy will.
Where it passed, frost marks spread, the air froze, as if a primordial glacier were overturning—rushing straight toward the Evileye Tyrant Emperor.
The Evil Emperor's gigantic eye—now dimmer—suddenly flashed with crimson light.
A violent, chaotic, utterly destructive crimson torrent of spiritual power surged forth to meet the attack.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
The two spiritual power torrents collided in mid-air with earth-shaking force.
Ice-blue and crimson tore at each other, birthing a storm of pure spiritual devastation.
The surrounding ice plains collapsed with thunderous force, cliffs hundreds of meters tall fractured and fell, and the swirling snow was blown into vapor, becoming a vast cloud of white mist.
However—
After only a few breaths—
The blue torrent began to whine under unbearable pressure, shattering piece by piece.
The Evil Emperor's spiritual power torrent crushed the icy flood like rotten wood, blasting Skydream Ice Worm away like a severed kite string, sending him tumbling thousands of meters and gouging a deep trench in the ice.
Though he was a million-year spirit beast of the spiritual system, he was exactly as the Ice Empress had said...
He possessed the quantity accumulated over ages but lacked the quality honed through tempering.
Faced with the Evil Emperor's spiritual power, which was refined like a blade and tyrannical like a prison, his vast but scattered spiritual power was no match.
"Cough… cough!"
Skydream Ice Worm struggled to lift its head, its soul-body flickering dimly.
Nearly half of its once-mighty spiritual form had already been scattered.
It hurriedly said:
"I concede! I concede!"
"You're number one in the world!"
If not for the depth accumulated over its million-year lifespan—
Clashing head-on with the Evil Emperor's strike
Might have obliterated its soul entirely.
Seeing the Evil Emperor advancing, riding its rolling, blood-colored clouds that pressed down like the sky itself collapsing—
Skydream Ice Worm panicked and looked at the Ice Empress beside it.
Only to see her staring blankly into the distance where the heavenly tribulation raged.
"Ice Empress!!"
Skydream Ice Worm shouted in both urgency and anger:
"You lecture me like you know everything—yet look at you now! Enemy right in front of you and you're daydreaming! What kind of ruler of the Extreme North behaves like this?!"
It was the first time it had ever spoken so boldly to the Ice Empress.
After saying so—
Its soul-body quivered in fear.
But the Ice Empress did not become angry at its reprimand.
Her figure flickered, appearing silently at Skydream Ice Worm's side.
"Don't worry, Ice Empress ."
Skydream Iceworm glared fiercely at the Evil Emperor sweeping toward them and said:
"The Snow Empress will be fine."
"In fact… this might even be a great opportunity for her."
The Ice Empress exhaled slowly.
Countless ice crystals condensed from thin air and drifted downward.
Deep within her eyes—
A sharp killing intent blossomed.
"Disturbing Sister Xue's tribulation..."
"You deserve to die!"
BOOM—
BOOM—!!
Without hesitation—
The Ice Empress and the Skydream Ice Worm launched themselves at the descending Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor once more.
…
Meanwhile—
In the radiant Divine Realm.
Within the Cloud Summit Plaza, two divine silhouettes stood side by side, gazing down upon a projection of the Extreme North.
The Evil God, Ji Dong, broke the silence.
"Li Zhexian is truly extraordinary."
There was a rare edge of admiration in his tone.
"Without stepping into the Divine Realm, he has already grasped the power of time.
And he even obtained a glimpse of the future—creating the Spirit Soul method."
"After this crisis… he will wield power at the absolute peak of mortals."
"Perhaps he truly can forge a god position of his own."
"Heh."
The Asura God only gave a cold, dismissive laugh.
Ji Dong did not take offense—
Instead, his expression turned solemn as he looked seriously at the ancient god beside him.
His own time as a god was still short.
Though he bore the title of God King—
Compared to the Asura God, who had stood in the Divine Realm for endless ages, he was still young.
"Li Zhexian's talent is indeed enough to be called unparalleled through the ages."
"Twelve sections Heaven Piercing Sword Bones—
On the ninth sword, he already comprehend time."
"But precisely because of that, the road ahead is perilous. Creating a godhood demands acknowledgment from at least three God Kings… and an immense accumulation of faith."
"And for Li Zhexian—he must master all twelve sword forms before ascending."
"He advances too swiftly, too fiercely. For him… my Asura God position may truly be his best choice."
After saying this—
The Asura God remained silent for a moment.
The divine might swirling around him stirred the clouds beneath their feet into spiraling vortices.
A long moment later,
His deep voice sounded again:
"Of course…"
"If Li Zhexian truly manages to create a god position—"
"With all the powers he commands…
The god he becomes would be far from ordinary."