An Ordeal of Extreme Pain

When she heard the Skydream Iceworm's words, the Ice Empress couldn't help but hesitate. "Are you sure?" Once she made her decision, she'd naturally have to work hard for it. If she failed, even if she could let her spiritual origin return to her main body, she still wouldn't be able to escape her next bottleneck. As such, how could she not be cautious?

The Skydream Iceworm replied, "If you work together with me, we'll have at least a 90% chance at success. The remaining 10% will depend on Yuhao himself. Here, I'll introduce you two. Yuhao, this is Snowy. Er… I meant to say Ice Empress. Anyway, this is the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion who is the second-ranked Empress of the Extreme North's Three Emperors. Ice Empress, this is Huo Yuhao. He has the spiritual-type Spirit Eyes, as well as the foundation for an ice-type martial soul that I laid the groundwork for. Currently, his ice-type martial soul needs a main soul ring. Or, to put it better, it needs another intelligent soul ring like me. You could say that his ice-type abilities are currently blank slates, thus he needs you to fuse with him to gain them. Once you've fused with him, you won't just become the first soul ring of his ice-type martial soul; you'll become his martial soul. As such, his second martial soul will be you, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion!"

"Hello, Ice Empress." Huo Yuhao said. His voice was extremely moderate as he tried not to excessively reveal the emotions he was currently feeling.

The Ice Empress hesitated for a moment, then said, "Hello. I hope that you'll be able to persevere through this process. If you can't, all of our efforts will have been for naught, and we'll all have to face the consequences." Unlike when she spoke to the Skydream Iceworm, she was much gentler to Huo Yuhao. Perhaps it was because she would soon become a part of Huo Yuhao's body that she was naturally willing to be friendly towards this tiny human.

When the Ice Empress had made her choice, she had done so somewhat begrudgingly. However, despite her choice being as such, she had immediately changed her position on the matter after making her decision. Huo Yuhao inwardly admired the speed at which she'd changed her attitude. Even though the Ice Empress hadn't formally become his martial soul and soul ring, he already felt that she was somewhat more reliable than the Skydream Iceworm.

The Skydream Iceworm said, "We've already reached the outer regions of the Extreme North. With the Ice Empress' body as a deterrent, only the Snow Emperor would dare to approach us. Even the Titan Ice Devil King himself will avoid this area once he senses the Ice Empress' aura. As such, there shouldn't be any issues regarding our safety here. Now then, we need to discuss how the fusion will proceed. Ice Empress, I'll tell you the method with which you can fuse with Huo Yuhao, so let's talk over it for a bit."

Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea quietened down. In order to avoid affecting his mental state, they didn��t want him to know how the fusion would proceed. Thus, the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress communicated with each other using some other method.

After a short period of time passed, Huo Yuhao heard the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion let out a long sigh, "If we do it this way, it's true that there's a high chance we'll succeed. However, Huo Yuhao's body is still somewhat fragile and weak, so we'll need to change the order of the fusion. We'll first need to strengthen his physique before completing the entire fusion. Since I'm going to become an intelligent soul ring, I want to transfer as much of my strength as possible to him."

The Skydream Iceworm said, "Are you saying that you want to transfer your bone, your soul, then your ring last?"

The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion said, "Right. If we use your method, we'll have an 80% chance of succeeding at most. You're still underestimating the amount of power I have. My soul power is extremely tyrannical, and even if I restrain it whilst continuously sealing it, some of it will still leak out. I'm afraid that Huo Yuhao won't be able to withstand this spillover. Thus, I think it's better to be a bit more careful."

The Skydream Iceworm's voice changed, turning gentle as he said, "Snowy, so you do trust me even this much. If we do this, we'll directly destroy your body, leaving you with no room for escape at all. I'm really moved!"

"Just die, will you?" The Ice Empress' cold voice rang out. "When have I ever left a path of escape for myself when I'm doing things? Since I've made my decision, I'll have to go all-out. If I'm scared of the slightest thing, I'll only let my opportunities run away. Stop dawdling about with me. Skydream, don't forget that all of my power will appear in Huo Yuhao's body once I've fused with him. At that time, hmph, hmph."

"Uhh…" Hearing the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's words, the Skydream Iceworm immediately turned more moderate than before.

Huo Yuhao was somewhat puzzled, "Ice Empress, what do you mean by 'bone then soul'?"

The Ice Empress had a much better attitude towards him. Patiently, she said, "According to Skydream's method, I'll directly become your martial soul by molding the ice-type martial soul he gave you. After that, the energy within my body will become your soul ring. You're a human soul master, so you should know that we hundred thousand year soul beasts will definitely produce a soul bone. I'm not an exception to that. Though I've already cultivated for nearly four hundred thousand years, I can't turn my fleshy body into even more soul bones. However, the soul bone I'll drop will be much more powerful than one dropped from an ordinary hundred thousand year soul beast. Furthermore, I can decide its shape, turning it into any soul bone you choose. Because of that, I've decided to first help you fuse with your soul bone. This way, your physique will be strengthened by an extremely large amount. After that, I'll assimilate my soul power with your body, and because you already have my soul bone, the fusion process will be much easier."

Now Huo Yuhao thoroughly understood what she had meant. It was no wonder the Skydream Iceworm had said that the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion would have no room for retreat by doing this. Right! Her body would have to be sacrificed in the first step in this scenario, and if she failed, she might die. Sure enough, it was a method that left no ways out. This also gave Huo Yuhao an extremely favourable impression of her. Solemnly, he said, "Ice Empress, how do you need me to help you out?" At this moment, he didn't say any words of gratitude. This was because both parties were mutually benefiting from each other in the first place. To the Ice Empress, fusing with her would be the most successful outcome.

The Ice Empress said, "Because I'm doing this of my own volition, there won't be any problems with you fusing with my soul bone. Under my control, the energy contained within my soul bone won't leak out. However, there's a problem with that. You'll have to withstand an enormous amount of pain. I've already thought about it, and to you, the most suitable soul bone I can give you is the spine. Due to my four hundred thousand years of cultivation, I'm confident in replacing your entire spine, your ribs, and your sternum. Due to the overly enormous amount of energy my soul bone contains, your entire skeleton will be remoulded by my soul bone. This process will be relatively long, and extremely painful. You'll feel as if all your bones are being disassembled and reconstructed. Can you withstand this amount of pain? My energy can protect your body, but it can't protect your mind. If you're unable to endure the pain and your mind collapses, everything will all be wasted."

Huo Yuhao's knowledge of soul bones wasn't lacking after his studies in Shrek Academy. Of the six soul bones, the most valuable bones were the skull and torso bone, followed by the four limb bones. What was referred to as the torso bone was in reality the spine, and not all the bones within the torso. For example, there were the ribs and the sternum, which were referred to as additional soul bones if a soul master found and fused with them. These additional soul bones had value comparable to that of a hundred thousand year soul ring, and they would give special and powerful abilities to their users.

Though the Ice Empress was only giving him a single soul bone, this soul bone was already equivalent to a torso bone and two additional soul bones! Regardless of what soul skill he obtained from her, it would possess an incomparably large amount of strength. Furthermore, hundred thousand year soul rings and soul bones would give him two soul skills each. It was no wonder the Skydream Iceworm had emphasised that as long as he was able to break through to Rank 20, he would experience a world-shaking transformation in strength!

"Ice Empress, I can endure it. No matter how painful it gets, I'll be fine." Huo Yuhao's voice was very sincere. After all, strength couldn't be obtained with mere empty promises. If one didn't give up anything in return, how could you gain a harvest? During this past year, he had cultivated with practically twice the effort of the other students. This was the reason why he had his current level of power. When such an opportunity was placed in front of Huo Yuhao, he would absolutely not cower regardless of how intense the pain would be.

The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion said, "Okay. Since that's the case, let's not waste any more time."

The Skydream Iceworm said, "Yuhao, we'll be starting your fusion with the soul bone. Take your Secret Law Soul out. We'll be using it as a medium to help you fuse with the Ice Empress' soul bone. This way, the process will go a little quicker and you'll feel much less pain. You'll even be able to prevent unnecessary leakages of energy during the fusion process."

Huo Yuhao hurriedly retrieved the Secret Law Soul from his Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges. So the Secret Law Soul was actually meant to be used in this way.

With a deep voice, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion said, "Huo Yuhao, are you ready?"

Huo Yuhao nodded forcefully, "Start!"

The instant the word echoed out, a chilly sensation immediately blossomed in his mind. Huo Yuhao instinctively shivered, feeling as if he had fallen into a cavern of ice. This was somewhat different from how he had felt in the ice room in the Extreme North. At this moment, the chilly sensation had appeared in his soul itself, making it seem as if his mind had been frozen solid.

The Ice Empress' voice rang out, "I'll use the cold to numb your pain, so as to reduce the pain you'll feel to the very minimum. However, your body isn't fully developed yet, so I'll have to be extremely careful while fusing with your original skeleton. Because of this, this process will go on for a very long time. For the sake of attaining maximum effectiveness, you can't pass out. The only way I can make a few adjustments based off your body's instinctive reactions is if you remain conscious."

At this moment, Huo Yuhao was no longer able to respond. The Ice Empress didn't leave any ways out for herself, so there was naturally no way she could change her plan.

A jade-green light flourished in Huo Yuhao's mind, and his Spirit Eyes instantly turned jade-green accordingly. The Skydream Iceworm appeared to have gone completely silent, allowing the Ice Empress to carry out the fusion process.

Two rays of jade-green light shot out from Huo Yuhao's eyes, accurately landing on the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's body. This, in turn, caused her 1.5 meter-long body to immediately shake violently. This was especially true for her long tail, which undulated unceasingly and violently with a jade-green halo. The diamond-like hexagonal protrusions on her body released an even more dazzling luster.

Huo Yuhao faintly heard the Ice Empress let out a long sigh. Right after that, he felt an immense sensation of cold that instantly numbed his body and soul.

The ground Huo Yuhao was lying on suddenly shook, and he floated into the air, supported by a jade-green light. On the other hand, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's main body rapidly flew over to his body.

An intense jade-green light wildly fluctuated towards the tip of her tail. When the jade-green light turned dark-green, the Ice Empress suddenly swung her tail, viciously stabbing it into Huo Yuhao's tailbone.

Huo Yuhao's body shook violently for a bit. He only felt as if his tailbone had instantly been run through by something. That sharp and pointed object pierced through his skin, muscles and flesh, and buried itself firmly into his skeleton.

This sort of pain that came from one's mind was something that humans were simply unable to withstand. Huo Yuhao instantly widened his mouth, and his eyes protruded as if they were about to pop out of his eye sockets. His body started trembling violently, and the Secret Law Soul he held in his hands instantly tumbled to the ground.

Though Huo Yuhao had already prepared himself for the arrival of this pain, he was still a human! Even if his body was already numbed somewhat by the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's extreme cold, he instantly lost the ability to breathe.

In this exact moment, a golden dot of light suddenly lit up between Huo Yuhao's eyebrows. The gentle golden light instantly covered his head, turning his spiritual sea gold as well. Gently and rhythmically, the golden light protected Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, which had started undulating violently. It resembled a mother's hand as it gently pacified his soul, which was experiencing an amount of pain that had reached the limit.

The Skydream Iceworm had made his move. With the Skydream Iceworm's help, Huo Yuhao's body softened a little bit. However, the Ice Empress had already started the process of fusing her soul bone with Huo Yuhao's body.

Another ray of jade-green light lit up, covering the Secret Law Soul. Immediately, the soul bone turned jade-green before dissolving at an astonishing pace. After turning it into a fist-sized globe of liquid, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion opened her mouth and inhaled it.

Originally, the Ice Empress had planned to harmonize her soul bone using the Secret Law Soul. That way, the amount of pain Huo Yuhao suffered would be greatly reduced. However, she now chose not to do so. This was because she wanted to test how much a measly human like Huo Yuhao could endure.

The results of that test astonished her. Though Huo Yuhao's body had instantly reached the limits of what he could endure, the Ice Empress could tell from his body's reaction that Huo Yuhao's body was unexpectedly extremely durable, soft, with very few impurities within it. Most importantly, though his spiritual sea was fluctuating violently, it showed no signs of collapse. Even if the Skydream Iceworm hadn't made a move, he would not have have been destroyed because of the pain.

A trace of admiration appeared in the Ice Empress' heart. The amount of talent and potential humans had was truly incomparable, even to that of a noble soul beast. Naturally, she only felt feelings of admiration. If she were given the choice to become a human, she would definitely not be willing to do so. Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to break through her limits during her hundred thousandth year of cultivation. Instead, she would've chosen to transform into a human and re-cultivate.

After all, no matter how talented humans were, their lifespans were just so. Even the strongest human beings had no way at all to compare with soul beasts in terms of lifespan.

After the liquid formed by the Secret Law Soul was absorbed by the Ice Empress, it was filtered into a wisp of green light that flowed into Huo Yuhao's body. He only felt a gentle feeling of warmth resembling the Skydream Iceworm's shedded skin that had previously protected his body, causing the previously intense pain to immediately decrease drastically. The spasming pain was still there, but he was feeling much better than before.

As this occurred, Huo Yuhao's chest started moving up and down vigorously. He greedily gasped for the surrounding cold air in big mouthfuls. At this moment, his body started sweating profusely, even in this freezing cold region of the Extreme North, so much so that he nearly pissed and shat himself. It was obvious how intense that surge of pain was.

After Huo Yuhao's cotton clothes absorbed the sweat secreted by his body, they were instantly torn to pieces by the jade-green light. Only the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges escaped the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's power, due to the Skydream Iceworm's earlier warning.

Huo Yuhao's naked body was very sturdy; his one year's worth of bitter training in Shrek Academy hadn't gone to waste. However, his current skin was astonishingly white, making it practically identical to the snow on the ground. More astonishingly, amidst his deathly pale skin, traces of jade-green light were slowly pouring into his spine, spreading throughout his torso.

The first place the jade-green light went to was naturally his spine. After that, the liquefied jade-green light slowly made its way upwards, causing Huo Yuhao's ribs to turn into branches of jade-green light. Then, it slowly headed further up.

The terrifying, spasming pain in Huo Yuhao's body followed wherever the jade-green light went. He did all he could to endure it, but his body's reaction to it was still extremely violent. Only, he was simply unable to move due to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's control.

Huo Yuhao unceasingly told himself, Persevere, persevere. No matter what, I can't give up. It was difficult for him to endure the pain, but he was currently completely focused on numbing his senses. The Ice Empress had told him that the thing she was most afraid of was his mind collapsing the moment he could no longer persevere. If that happened, all of their previous efforts would have been for naught. Since that was the case, all he had to do was to protect his mind. As for his body, he would just leave it to the Ice Empress; she wouldn't just let him die, after all.

With this thought in his mind, Huo Yuhao stubbornly continued to numb his mind unceasingly. Astonished, the Skydream Iceworm discovered that the few tools he'd created to help Huo Yuhao protect his mind hadn't been needed at all. The spiritual origin of the Ice Empress was currently residing in Huo Yuhao's body, and she naturally noticed this miraculous scene. This was the first time that she had a whole new level of respect towards the Skydream Iceworm. Though the human the Skydream Iceworm chose was young, and his strength wasn't worth mentioning, he actually had a willpower that was this tenacious. This was an immensely good thing!

The Skydream Iceworm stealthily revoked the influences he'd made towards Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, silently guarding him by the side. Huo Yuhao being able to withstand this pain by himself was naturally for the best, as this was an extremely good grindstone for his spiritual power. This would strengthen his willpower, causing enormously large benefits towards his future cultivation and growth.

By the time the jade-green light covered all the bones in Huo Yuhao's torso, the jade-green light on the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's body began to dim.

The soul bone created by the Ice Empress' main body was naturally the quintessential part of her strength. Though this process of reconstruction was painful, the future effects of this soul bone would vastly exceed that of Huo Yuhao's other soul bones. This would bring enormous benefits to his growth.

Though the Skydream Iceworm was a million year soul beast, in terms of who could give Huo Yuhao the most well-rounded benefits, he would definitely lose out to the Ice Empress. The Ice Empress had a noble bloodline, and she was a natural monarch. Moreover, she had cultivated for such a long time. Thus, the increase in strength she could give Huo Yuhao would definitely be a comprehensive one. Naturally, Huo Yuhao could only withstand an extremely miniscule amount of her total strength, so a large amount of it had to be sealed away. As Huo Yuhao's tolerance increased, the amount of strength she released would progressively increase. However, Huo Yuhao's potential would reach an extremely astonishing degree. To many soul masters, increasing one's soul power during the later soul ranks would prove to be very challenging. However, the issue of having insufficiently strong soul skills would absolutely never occur to him. As for what he would grow to be in the future, even the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion didn't know.

Their method of creating God was completely unprecedented, even on the entire Douluo Continent. It had to be known that the Skydream Iceworm had used a full hundred thousand years of time to complete the basic preparations of this plan. Even if he had easily fused with Huo Yuhao, he had actually sealed up his spiritual origin and divided it into many pieces. This process had been completed at a much earlier time. Moreover, there were even more minute preparations he had to make. Even now, he was giving instructions and assistance to the Ice Empress while she fused with Huo Yuhao by relying on his powerful spiritual power. All of this had to be accomplished for the fusion to succeed.

Huo Yuhao's body trembled incessantly. A layer of ice beads had already formed on his skin; that was created by his sweat freezing up. Traces of blood had already started seeping out from his seven apertures, causing the layer of skin underneath the ice beads to be completely red. The speed at which the blood within his body was circulating had already reached an astonishing degree. If this were anyone else, they would've already exploded and died. However, the powerful spiritual origins of the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion were currently protecting Huo Yuhao's body.

The speeding up of his blood circulation was something that inevitably occurred due to him fusing with the Ice Empress' soul bone. On the other hand, the two of them were protecting Huo Yuhao's internal organs, meridians, flesh, and bones. This was equivalent to them covering his inner body with a layer of film. No matter how quickly his blood circulated, it couldn't break through the defensive perimeter the two of them had created.

The intense undulations caused by Huo Yuhao's blood, his pale skin, and his jade-green bones which could be seen from the outside sketched a terrifying image. Only, Huo Yuhao's eyes were still golden. Though the Skydream Iceworm didn't help him protect his spiritual sea, he still had to protect his martial soul.

As an intelligent soul ring, the Skydream Iceworm was the main martial soul of Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes, as well as the person who would control everything related to the future Spirit Eyes. After the Ice Empress fused with him, she would control the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion martial soul. All in all, Huo Yuhao would become a true wielder of twin innate martial souls.

In the beginning, the jade-green lights were merely strands of string that covered his spine, sternum, and ribs. As time passed, however, these strands of jade-green light started gradually expanding and widening, creating an outline of Huo Yuhao's entire skeleton.

The pain Huo Yuhao felt began to change yet again. The previously spasming pain gradually transformed, and an alternating feeling of extreme cold and extreme hot began to spread throughout all of the bones in Huo Yuhao's torso.

That was truly an amalgamation of ice and fire! The first moment would be so cold as to make him shiver, but the moment right after that was so hot that it evaporated all the ice beads off his body. The qi and blood in his body was starting to surge like a tide. During the extreme cold, his entire body would freeze up; during the extreme heat, the blood within his body would boil up, causing tiny beads of blood to form on his skin.

The extreme cold changed to extreme heat, and the extreme heat changed to extreme cold. The violent changes in Huo Yuhao's body temperature made it seem like it was being smelted. Although his willpower was extremely strong, he gradually began to hallucinate. This was entirely different from the unadulterated pain he'd gone through earlier. This was as if he had been thrown off an extremely tall building before being violently smashed onto the ground. He was simply unable to withstand this feeling.

It could be said that Huo Yuhao was basically the person who'd endured the most violent bouts of pain during fusion with a soul bone, even in the entire history of humanity. One reason behind this was due to his excessively low cultivation, and another reason was due to the overly high quality his soul bone had.

Even if the Ice Empress was already controlling it to the best of her ability, her soul bone was still an existence older than three hundred thousand years! She had sealed an overwhelming majority of her power within it, but it still had an extremely large effect on the still-developing Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao was even starting to become somewhat muddle-headed. No matter how strong his willpower was, he was still unable to continue resisting such violent bouts of pain. At this exact moment, the Skydream Iceworm's spiritual power surged into his body, rousing him back to his senses. At the same time, he shielded Huo Yuhao's spiritual origin, reducing the pain he was suffering by a slight amount.

The Skydream Iceworm wished to temper Huo Yuhao's willpower, but he would never just stand idly as he walked towards the path of ruination. Sensing that Huo Yuhao was about to reach his limit, he made a move immediately to give him a buffer.

Though Huo Yuhao had been tortured to the point where even dying was preferable, he immediately and acutely sensed the Skydream Iceworm's actions. He was now extricated from the extreme pain he had been feeling, and though the alternating hot and cold feelings were still there, he was now feeling much better. Composing himself, his nearly-collapsed spiritual power immediately began to gather.

By the time he'd gathered nearly all of his spiritual power, the Skydream Iceworm's protection disappeared. The extreme level of pain began to descend upon Huo Yuhao's body again.

Huo Yuhao inwardly let out a sorrowful roar, Brother Skydream, are you playing with me?!

A long time passed, but Huo Yuhao was simply unable to even think. Whenever his mind was about to collapse, the Skydream Iceworm would appear in a timely manner and relieve him of his pain to a certain extent. Comparatively, this made it somewhat easier for Huo Yuhao to endure it.

If the Skydream Iceworm had made his move at the beginning, lowering the pain Huo Yuhao had to withstand, then the amount of pain he withstood would have been maintained at a certain baseline from the start till the end. However, that didn't mean that he wouldn't collapse. And if he did collapse, the Skydream Iceworm's hands would have been tied. Even if he was able to persevere in a situation like that, maintaining one's mind at a consistent level of pain would do him no good at all.

However, the current situation they were in was slightly different. Though he would suffer an even greater amount of pain, the Skydream Iceworm only acted as a buffer whenever he made a move, relaxing Huo Yuhao. At the very least, Huo Yuhao would be able to recover a certain amount of strength during this buffer period.

After going through this cycle of pain and relief for a few times, Huo Yuhao understood what was going on. His Brother Skydream was clearly using this as an opportunity to temper his willpower! If this were any ordinary person, they might be unceasingly waiting for the Skydream Iceworm's help. However, Huo Yuhao was different from them. Training in Shrek Academy for a year had cultivated a 'when the going gets tough, the tough gets going' kind of mentality in Huo Yuhao. He clearly understood that the more he worked during cultivation, the more he would get in return.

Because of this, even though the Skydream Iceworm's protection gave him a certain amount of safety when he needed it, it also gave him an extra amount of confidence. As his body continued to withstand the pain, his willpower continued to increase. The gap of time between the Skydream Iceworm's every action got increasingly longer, and Huo Yuhao's willpower became increasingly stronger as well.

This discovery involuntarily stunned the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress. A feeling of admiration towards a small human like Huo Yuhao had arisen in these two pinnacle existences. Even consummate-level soul beasts like them might not be able to persevere under such an intense level of pain. However, Huo Yuhao was able to do so. With the Skydream Iceworm's limited help, he had actually persisted the whole time.

Day became night, and night became day again. The jade-green light on Huo Yuhao's body was becoming increasingly intense, and the alternating colors of red and white on the surface of his skin began to weaken more and more. However, the qi and blood within Huo Yuhao's body was much, much stronger than when he had originally started the fusion process.

Though the Ice Jade Empresss Scorpion had only fused an extremely miniscule part of her energy with Huo Yuhao's qi and blood, it was an extremely beneficial supplement to him. That was the origin energy of an Empress whose cultivation neared four hundred thousand years!

Through this nourishment, a transformation started to occur in Huo Yuhao's muscles, bones, and internal organs. Even if he didn't receive any limb or skull bones, Huo Yuhao's physique was comprehensively strengthened at this moment. Following the strengthening of his physique, the amount of pain he suffered now gradually decreased.

Currently, the Skydream Iceworm no longer needed to make a move anymore. Huo Yuhao could now withstand the pain caused by the alternating heat and cold by relying on his own willpower. He could even sense his qi and blood strengthening increasingly, and his body becoming more and more sturdy. As his soul power was stuck at the bottleneck of Rank 20, he was unable to determine how much his soul power had increased. However, there was no doubt that with his currently weak cultivation, the amount he would be strengthened by would definitely not be small, even if the Ice Empress had sealed her own power. At the very least, there would be no problem with him increasing his soul power by one or two ranks.

"Yuhao, you have to be careful now. Right now, the fundamentals of your fusion with the soul bone have been completed. The only thing that's left is the complete fusion between it and your bones. I'm going to seal the power of the soul bone in your skeleton, allowing you to progressively absorb it in secret. It's very possible that the pain you'll suffer during this last step will exceed that of the previous parts of the fusion. You'll have to persevere. Even Skydream might not be able to give you any help during this process, and it'll take two hours or so. If you can endure it, you'll be able to possess this soul bone I��m giving you."

The Ice Empress' voice had become much gentler. The way she addressed Huo Yuhao had changed slightly as well, and her exhaustion could be heard in the tone of her voice. After all, she was fusing her own body with Huo Yuhao's! This was equivalent to ripping out her own bones and fusing them with Huo Yuhao's body. Though her cultivation was immensely strong, the amount of pain she had withstood was definitely not less than Huo Yuhao's. Only, the amount of willpower she'd obtained after cultivating for several hundreds of thousands of years far exceeded anything that Huo Yuhao could even compare to.

Huo Yuhao took a deep, deep breath. As he continued to endure the pain coming from the fusion, he no longer spoke. Right now, all he could do was convey a stubborn and resolute conviction towards the Ice Empress.

Was the Skydream Iceworm truly unable to protect Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea? The answer was naturally a definite no. The Ice Empress only said this in order to strengthen Huo Yuhao's willpower by another level. Only in a situation with no way out would he be able to stimulate his potential to its greatest possible extent.

However, the very instant the last bout of pain started, Huo Yuhao's body suddenly jolted. His spiritual sea surged violently, nearly collapsing in an instant.

He was able to endure pain, and he was also able to withstand the alternating hot and cold. At this moment, however, what he suffered was a kind of pain he was nearly unable to withstand. That was, an itch.

The instant the Ice Empress made her move, Huo Yuhao felt a violent itch come from every part of his torso. It was as if there were an innumerable number of ants that were crawling about his veins and bones. This itch dug all the way to the bone, and it was omnipresent.

In that instant, Huo Yuhao's only thought was to thoroughly destroy his own body and scratch it ferociously, stopping this bout of pain.

Huo Yuhao's body was convulsing and shaking violently, but he was simply unable to control it. This acute bout of pain was causing the bones in his entire body to unceasingly release sounds of cracking.

The Skydream Iceworm was solemnly lying in wait; he had already prepared to make a move at any time. Once Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea showed any signs of collapse, he would not hesitate to intervene.

The Skydream Iceworm clearly understood that at this moment, the Ice Empress was also enduring the same pain that Huo Yuhao was. Even the spiritual power of one of the Extreme North's Three Emperors was shivering and fluctuating violently. From this, it could be seen how intense this pain was. However, the foundations of its transformations would only be completed after Huo Yuhao finished fusing with the Ice Empress' soul bone. It wasn't hard for her to become Huo Yuhao's martial soul and soul ring, but maintaining her consciousness and all of her intelligence was a difficult task.

The Skydream Iceworm didn't worry about the Ice Empress; the only thing he worried about was Huo Yuhao not being able to persevere!

Huo Yuhao's pale gold spiritual sea surged violently, occasionally trembling, occasionally rumbling like a sea wave. His jade-green bones gradually turned dark-green, then went back to jade-green. During this continuous process of transformation and fusion, he felt the most violent bouts of pain.

It's itchy, this itch is killing me. Huo Yuhao felt as though he wouldn't be able to continue enduring this pain anymore. This inhuman amount of pain was truly stronger than the two previous tortures he'd previously experienced.

In the end, a few cracks started to appear in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea. If these cracks continued to grow larger, they would definitely cause an explosion in the end. The instant his spiritual sea was thoroughly destroyed, Huo Yuhao's brain would die.

The Skydream Iceworm unhesitatingly made a move, causing an intense golden light to rapidly surge towards Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea.

However, it was at this exact moment when Huo Yuhao's nearly hysterical voice suddenly rang out in the Skydream Iceworm's mind. "Don't help me! I can do it, I can do it!"

The Skydream Iceworm was left staring blankly for a moment. He could hear the stubbornness in Huo Yuhao's voice. On the other hand, Huo Yuhao's roar seemed to signal his counter-attack. The cracks that densely covered his spiritual sea miraculously started to close.