Chapter 198: Di Hantian—One Crazier Than the Other

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"Tsk, as expected of the Snow Empress—she doesn't hold back in the slightest," Su Yu sighed in admiration. 

The Snow Empress was originally a fearsome beast with 700,000 years of cultivation before taking human form and starting anew. The age of the soul rings she granted herself differed greatly from those of ordinary 100,000-year-old soul beasts. 

Her first three soul rings were already purple. After Su Yu inquired about the specific process of soul ring condensation and later, when Huo Yuhao asked about her innate soul ring, she discovered she could increase the years of the soul rings she already possessed. 

By distributing her 700,000 years of cultivation across seven soul rings, each ring could reach at least 100,000 years. 

However, her cultivation wasn't fully unsealed yet. Before reincarnating as a human, her soul power had been far too immense. Even if she cultivated to Rank 95 in her human body, she might not be able to completely absorb it. 

Now, seven soul rings floated around the Snow Empress—black, black, black, black, black, red, red! 

Five black, two red! 

More than two years ago, with Su Yu's help, her human body had fully developed, and she had broken through to Rank 70. 

Now, after more than two years, she had reached Rank 79 and had been stuck at this bottleneck for six months. 

Progressing at a rate of roughly four levels per year seemed fast, but the Snow Empress had already overcome the most challenging stage for an Ultimate Ice user—Rank 30 to Rank 70. With the abundant resources of the Extreme North, her growth speed wasn't too outrageous. 

With the natural treasures left behind before she took human form, the most advanced simulated training environment, and even the pure essence of soul power from her former beast body, even gaining four levels a year felt a bit slow. 

"Rank 79... At this rate, she's catching up to me." 

Su Yu's breakthrough to Rank 70 and the Snow Empress's advancement to Soul Saint had only been a few months apart. 

Now, both of them were stuck at Rank 79. 

Su Yu, however, hadn't been at this bottleneck for as long as six months. 

If he truly calculated it, his soul power had probably increased less than the Snow Empress's during this period. 

"If someone can match my progress, it just means I can go even faster." 

Su Yu let go of his concerns about whether his cultivation speed was too absurd. If anything, he now felt that growing even faster wouldn't be unreasonable. 

"How is this possible?" 

The seven evil cultivators of the Holy Spirit Cult, their hands stained with countless lives, felt a chill run down their spines. 

The biting cold, the absolute frost—it was as if they had been thrown into an ice cellar. 

That ethereal silhouette, those indifferent eyes—it was as if their fates had already been sealed. 

But what terrified them the most were the seven soul rings floating around her. 

A Soul Saint! 

And her soul ring configuration—five black, two red! 

Xu Tianran shot up from his seat in shock. Beside him, Zhongli Wu's soul power fluctuated violently, causing the ground beneath his feet to crack under the pressure. 

Jing Hongchen's pupils contracted sharply. 

"How is this possible?" 

Aside from Xiao Yu, was there really someone else capable of such a feat? 

But the most shaken of all were the members of Shrek Academy. 

"Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Martial Soul? Five black, two red?" 

Although they had sensed a similar aura before, seeing the Snow Empress's Martial Soul and her terrifying soul ring combination with their own eyes left the Shrek team members stunned. 

They all turned toward Su Tong. 

"Sister Su, do you… do you know this Snow Woman from the Snow Demon Sect?" Xiao Xiao asked softly. 

In the past, simply possessing twin martial souls was enough to be considered a genius. Yet, in this generation alone, there were not only Xiao Xiao herself, Wang Dong, and Huo Yuhao but also multiple Ultimate Martial Souls appearing one after another. 

More importantly, these individuals had shattered the myth that Ultimate Martial Souls cultivated slowly. Even between Rank 30 and Rank 40, their growth speed had far outpaced ordinary soul masters. 

Su Yu, Su Tong, Huo Yuhao, Snow Woman… 

Weren't Ultimate Martial Souls supposed to be rare? 

Weren't they supposed to be difficult to cultivate? 

At this moment, Su Tong remained silent, deep in thought. 

Yan Shaozhe and Fan Yu's expressions shifted repeatedly, their faces dark with concern. 

This Snow Woman was far too powerful! 

With her soul ring combination and martial soul, if Shrek Academy had to face her in battle, victory would be uncertain. 

Their only possible advantage was that her teammates seemed weak. 

A single Soul Emperor paired with five Soul Kings—if Shrek Academy focused their efforts correctly, they could quickly eliminate the weaker members and then have all seven of their members gang up on the Snow Woman. 

That would be their best possible strategy. 

They were already thinking about how to counter the Snow Demon Sect's team if they encountered them in battle. 

The freezing aura engulfed the entire arena, and snowflakes began to drift from the sky. 

A bitterly cold wind howled through the air. 

With just a wave of her hand, the Snow Empress summoned a blizzard. 

A ten-meter-wide storm of swirling ice and snow formed instantly. 

It was a small storm in size, but its destructive power was terrifyingly condensed. 

As soon as the match began, the Holy Spirit Cult team hesitated for a brief moment due to the Snow Empress's soul ring configuration. However, they quickly regained their composure and charged toward the Snow Demon Sect team. 

Their strategy was identical to what Yan Shaozhe and Fan Yu had anticipated. 

The seven members of the Holy Spirit Cult immediately realized that their best course of action was to eliminate the six other members of the Snow Demon Sect first—then surround and overwhelm the Snow Woman. 

This was likely their only chance to break the stalemate. 

One second. 

It only took a single second. 

The Holy Spirit Cult's fastest member—also a Soul Saint—had barely reached the center of the stage when a raging blizzard, summoned by the Snow Empress, came crashing toward him. 

In this year's Continental Soul Master Tournament, the presence of a third Soul Saint should have caused an uproar. 

Yet, it didn't even stir a ripple. 

That's right—the Holy Spirit Cult members were all evil soul masters. Their cultivation methods defied common sense. Even though they were under twenty years old, with the Holy Spirit Cult's specialized training, one of them had already reached Soul Saint level. 

Yan Feng—Martial Soul: Ice Bone Dragon. His soul ring configuration consisted of two yellow, two purple, and three black rings. Ice-blue dragon scales covered his body, and behind him stretched a pair of bone wings, linked by shimmering blue-gray energy, spanning six meters wide when fully extended. 

Using the advantage of flight, Yan Feng accelerated instantly, crossing a hundred meters in a single second. 

Yet, what awaited him was the blizzard the Snow Empress had casually summoned. 

Ice-blue soul power surged from Yan Feng's body as a deep dragon's roar erupted from within. 

The Ice Bone Dragon martial soul possessed the bloodline of a true dragon and wielded formidable ice attributes. In addition, since Yan Feng cultivated as an evil soul master, his martial soul's strength was on par with, if not superior to, Bei Bei's evolved Radiant Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. 

The other six members of the Holy Spirit Cult also possessed extremely sinister martial souls. 

Yet, the shock and dread that should have accompanied the simultaneous appearance of seven terrifying martial souls were completely overshadowed by the Snow Empress. 

Five black, two red. 

Her very presence crushed their fear of the evil soul masters, their terror of undead beings, and even their astonishment at Yan Feng's status as a fellow Soul Saint. 

A Soul Saint. 

A Soul Saint under twenty years old. 

In any other tournament, such a figure would have been unthinkable. 

Yet, in this year's competition, there were already three of them. 

Su Yu's soul ring colors remained questionable, but few doubted the number of rings he possessed. There were skeptics, of course, but the sheer pressure emanating from Su Yu made even the most argumentative individuals hesitate—his aura alone felt too overwhelming for a mere Soul Saint. 

The Snow Woman's soul rings were also outrageously powerful, though slightly less shocking than Su Yu's. Unlike his, however, her rings followed a more conventional color progression—without any strange orange or multi-colored hues. 

Somehow, that made her feel all the more convincing. 

Especially with her cold and regal demeanor—the kind of presence befitting an emperor. 

It made defying her seem unthinkable. 

Let alone questioning her legitimacy. 

Yan Feng, despite being a Soul Saint, ended up as the least remarkable one on the battlefield. 

His presence felt oddly insignificant—hardly worthy of the Soul Saint title. 

And his performance fully justified that lack of presence. 

The Snow Empress's casually summoned blizzard, infused with Ultimate Ice and profound ice-based intent, struck Yan Feng head-on. 

The moment he made contact, his body was shredded by countless ice shards, his figure tossed violently through the air as he was engulfed by the raging storm. 

She hadn't even relied on her soul rings—yet the disparity between them was glaringly obvious. 

Even with the power of a dragon, the Ice Bone Dragon martial soul was effortlessly suppressed by the Snow Empress. This was the overwhelming skill gap brought about by 700,000 years of cultivation. 

Yan Feng's fifth soul ring glowed as he activated a ten-thousand-year soul skill, briefly halting the relentless onslaught of ice and snow. 

Even Ultimate Ice was momentarily slowed by his undead frost. 

The ice-blue bone wings trembled, whipping up a violent storm that lashed out, disrupting the blizzard swirling around them. 

The forces collided—neutralizing each other. 

Hovering in midair, Yan Feng stared at the Snow Empress, his expression grave. 

She hadn't even used her soul rings, yet her power had already reached such an overwhelming level. Even after activating his fifth soul skill to enhance his bone wings and unleashing a hurricane, all he managed to do was cancel out a fraction of the storm within her blizzard. 

But the Snow Empress showed no signs of being restrained by Yan Feng's presence. With a mere lift of her hand, another wave of massive ice pillars formed, crashing down toward the six remaining evil soul masters. 

"Is this a domain?" 

The way she so effortlessly summoned and controlled ice and snow, bending the storm to her will, made one immediately think of a domain. 

Within this blizzard, she held absolute authority. 

With such an environment, the Snow Empress could seamlessly weave her self-created soul skills into battle. 

"This is one of the Snow Empress's Three Absolutes—**Imperial Frost Heaven: Snowdance Glorious Sun.** A domain-type ultimate skill. I just didn't expect her to forgo integrating this ability into her soul rings after taking human form," Ice Empress remarked from within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea. 

Huo Yuhao had recognized the technique as well. 

However, Ice Empress's comment suggested something deeper—Snow Empress had chosen not to bind her Three Absolutes to her soul rings. 

When soul beasts reached the peak of their cultivation, they could refine their abilities into soul rings—especially those not tied to bloodline inheritance. Given that the Three Absolutes were not a product of lineage, Snow Empress *could* have transformed them into soul ring skills. 

After all, soul rings naturally enhanced a soul master's ability to utilize their techniques. 

This was why most transformed soul beasts would integrate their strongest techniques into their soul rings. 

"Snow Empress and Yu-ge have met before. They even trained together for some time. I think she must have come to understand and accept Yu-ge's philosophy on soul skill classification, which is why she chose not to fuse the Three Absolutes into her soul rings," Huo Yuhao speculated. 

His guess was both right and wrong. 

The Snow Empress had indeed heard Su Yu's theories on soul skills and understood the benefits of mastering techniques outside of soul rings. 

However, soul rings existed for a reason. 

Su Yu had discussed this very topic with her before. 

Huo Yuhao, on the other hand, had never fully grasped the fundamental principles behind soul rings—when Su Yu had explained it to him, he simply wasn't at the level to understand. 

To put it bluntly, Snow Empress was someone worth discussing the deeper nature of soul rings with. 

Huo Yuhao? He was just a student being taught a lesson—he hadn't even mastered his own self-created techniques yet. What was the point of discussing the essence of soul rings with him? 

The **Three Absolutes** were the pinnacle of Snow Empress's lifetime achievements. Naturally, she intended to use soul rings to refine them to an even greater level. 

She had initially planned to compress them into her ninth soul ring. 

But she had since changed her mind. 

Instead, she refined the Three Absolutes into her **seventh soul ring**. 

Her seventh soul skill was still a standard Martial Soul Avatar—but it served as a bridge, linking the Three Absolutes to the rules of this world. 

As a result, she could unleash her Three Absolutes without needing to activate a soul ring skill. 

Which led to the situation unfolding before them now. 

**"Imperial Frost Heaven: Snowdance Glorious Sun!"** 

Huo Yuhao recognized the Snow Empress's domain technique. 

And he wasn't the only one. 

This was her signature move—the very reason the Extreme North remained an untouchable forbidden zone for humanity. 

Dragon Douluo Long Xiaoyao, as well as Kong Deming, who was observing from the shadows, both recognized this technique as one of the Snow Empress's Three Absolutes. 

The sheer intensity of Ultimate Ice infused with hurricane-like force transformed the battlefield into the Snow Empress's personal stage. 

Her six teammates hadn't even made a move—yet all seven evil soul masters were already trapped under her control. 

At this moment, Su Yu had an urge to comment: 

**"Now *this*… is what a true control-type soul master looks like."** 

In the shadows, Long Xiaoyao and Kong Deming wore solemn expressions as they gazed at the Snow Empress. 

They hadn't paid much attention before—but now that they took a closer look, the truth became clear. 

That regal aura. 

That commanding presence, as if she alone ruled over all. 

Could there be any doubt? 

That was **the Snow Empress.** 

And she had taken human form. 

What's more—she had already reached the high-tier Soul Saint level. 

Neither of them had any intention of making a move against her. 

After all, the Snow Empress was once the ruler of the Extreme North—an existence of terrifying power. Even after taking human form, it would be foolish to underestimate her. 

A 700,000-year-old beast capable of transforming? 

Have you *ever* heard of such a thing? 

The usual rule was that once a soul beast took human form, they lost access to their former strength. 

But what if the Snow Empress could reverse the process? 

What if she could revert back to her true form—retaining the power she once held? 

At minimum, a Limit Douluo would have to fall just to take her down. 

And even then… 

Would it be worth it? 

The primary goal of hunting the Snow Empress would be her **soul ring** and **soul bones.** 

But absorbing such a powerful soul bone would be a waste. 

No, her soul ring was the true prize. 

Which meant she couldn't be killed outright. 

She would need to be captured alive. 

And that made the challenge even greater. 

Long Xiaoyao, knowing about Ye Xishui's second martial soul, didn't even consider this option. 

At least, not unless Ye Xishui herself voiced interest. 

As for Kong Deming—despite needing another soul ring, he had no intention of targeting the Snow Empress either. 

After all, while soul rings of *sufficient quality* could be absorbed regardless of type… 

A **Sun Martial Soul** enhanced by the **Snow Empress's** soul ring? 

Kong Deming wasn't about to risk blowing himself up. 

And as for whether he considered obtaining the Snow Empress's ninth soul ring for Su Yu… 

That thought never even crossed his mind. 

Kong Deming had once struggled to find a suitable hundred-thousand-year soul beast for himself. Naturally, he had asked his disciple about his future soul ring requirements so he could send people out to locate the right spirit beast in advance. 

But when Su Yu responded… 

Kong Deming immediately realized— 

**He was overthinking it.** 

It wasn't that he *didn't* want to help his disciple. 

It was that he **couldn't.** 

And the Snow Empress's true identity? 

It wasn't just those two Limit Douluos who recognized her. 

Zhongli Wu, Poison Undying, and Xuan Zi—all of whom were **Rank 98 Hyper Douluos**—had also caught on. 

The two most powerful figures on the scene had dismissed the idea. 

But these three? 

One was crazier than the next. 

(End of Chapter)