Chapter 134: Snow Empress’ Questioning

A soul beast that bore some resemblance to a bull was trudging with difficulty against the piercing cold wind in the Extreme North.

But don't be fooled by its bovine appearance—any soul beast that could survive in the Extreme North was no ordinary creature.

Its thick, long fur was a dirty, yellowish-white, making it look like a wriggling lump of mud against the pristine white snow. Its broad, branched horns were even longer than the height of a full-grown adult. Its limbs were thick and sturdy, and even the dense fur couldn't completely conceal the powerful muscles underneath.

Amidst the howling blizzard of the Extreme North, it was unclear where this bull-like soul beast was heading.

Suddenly, without warning, the snow beneath its hooves collapsed. A strange, black-colored soul beast shot out from below.

That creature was equally unkempt in appearance, looking like a unicorn fish that had grown limbs.

The unicorn fish bit down on the bison's front leg. The latter abruptly lowered its head, slamming its massive horns onto the attacker's back. The collision between horn and scale produced a resounding clang, akin to metal striking metal, and the resulting shockwave sent the accumulated snow on the ground flying into the air.

"Hah! Territory dispute: Wild Bull Dragon. Territory dispute: Ice Fish Dragon!"

A pitch-black rift tore open in the sky, and a certain Three-Eyed Golden Lion peeked its head out from the spatial crack, reciting the words in a flat, monotone voice.

A middle-aged man with long black hair stepped out from the same dark rift. The terrifying tear in the sky then silently healed itself, as if it had never been there.

Di Tian glanced down at the two fighting soul beasts with some disdain. "How do these two even resemble dragons?"

As if sensing something truly terrifying, both soul beasts immediately ceased their battle. Trembling in fear, they scrambled to flee, rolling and tumbling away as fast as they could.

Since their appearances closely resembled creatures endemic to the tundra, Wang Rui couldn't exactly tell Di Tian the truth. So, he made something up on the spot.

"Their names reflect the ordinary soul beasts' longing to evolve into dragons."

Di Tian shook his head but did not refute Wang Rui's words.

The fusion between Huo Yuqing and the Ice Empress had reached its final stage. She had already passed the most dangerous and critical part of the process, and the remaining fusion would be much easier. With Bi Ji overseeing it, Wang Rui's presence wasn't necessary.

To prevent the overly anxious Three-Eyed Golden Lion from licking its own paws bald, Di Tian had simply dragged Wang Rui along to the borders of the Extreme North's core region.

At this moment, the terrifying aura of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King was being unleashed without restraint. An immense wave of dark energy spread outward. Though the sky remained clear and cloudless, it inexplicably dimmed. Even the pure white snow on the ground seemed to take on a murky hue, proclaiming the arrival of the Beast God of the Star Dou Forest in the Extreme North.

They were waiting for the ruler of the Extreme North to come to them.

"What powerful dark energy! Even though I've lost most of my memories, I can still feel my disgust. I must have hated all dark-element beings that represented evil in my younger days…"

Electrolux's voice echoed in Wang Rui's mind. After a pause, his tone turned curious.

"Your light energy is so pure—how can you stand being surrounded by such thick darkness?"

"Probably because I'm not human. I'm a soul beast," Wang Rui replied absentmindedly as he gazed toward the heart of the Extreme North, where the energy of fate was at its strongest—the place where the Ice Sky Snow Woman resided.

"Beasts and humans perceive light and darkness differently. Humans are physically limited—they instinctively fear the dark and long for the light, which is why their concept of light and dark is often tied to good and evil. But beasts are different. Most creatures can still function normally at night. Darkness is just as much a protector of life as light is.

"To us, light and darkness are merely the cycles of day and night—endless, ceaseless, and unrelated to morality."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered Electrolux's obsession with skeletal dragons. His tone became wary as he raised his voice.

"Di Tian is my adoptive father. Don't even think about it."

Electrolux clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Tch, you ruined my fun by saying that in advance."

Wang Rui: ?

He rolled his eyes internally but didn't take Electrolux's words seriously. After all, that old man was devious.

This was the border of the Snow Woman's territory.

Directly stepping into her domain would be as crude as breaking into someone's home uninvited. Di Tian's decision to stop at the edge was the most basic form of respect for the ruler of the Extreme North—his released aura was essentially the equivalent of knocking on the door.

Wang Rui's visit had two purposes: first, to lend a hand to the Ice Sky Snow Woman, and second, to negotiate a cooperation agreement between the Extreme North and the Beast Sect.

The world's situation was turbulent. With the Beast Sect's emergence imminent, Wang Rui intended to implement a revolutionary contract and soul spirit system. However, such a change would inevitably threaten certain interests.

When profits are at stake, conflicts are bound to arise—and in this world, conflicts are ultimately settled by force. If humanity suffered significant losses in large-scale clashes with soul beasts, the Divine Realm would surely intervene to "maintain balance." Wang Rui needed to avoid direct confrontations between humans and soul beasts.

But that didn't mean military deterrence wasn't important.

At this critical juncture, if he could elevate the overall strength of the Extreme North's soul beasts, it would be beneficial to the entire soul beast faction. And if he could establish a mutually beneficial resource exchange, that would be even better. After all, the Extreme North possessed many unique and irreplaceable resources.

Moreover, the Ice Sky Snow Woman was the third strongest ferocious beast in the current era. If she could successfully overcome her tribulation and officially attain a 700,000-year cultivation, she might be able to influence the battle's outcome—so long as the Divine Realm didn't intervene.

After fusing with Huo Yuqing, Wang Rui's control over the power of fate had undergone a qualitative change.

Although he still couldn't easily overwrite the future, he was now able to directly influence certain predetermined outcomes—such as the fate of Snow Empress in the original story—actively altering fate instead of having to work in the shadows like a worm slowly gnawing away at it.

The best possible outcome of this negotiation would be for the Ice Sky Snow Lady to cooperate, allowing Wang Rui to use the power of fate to help her overcome her tribulation, thereby officially establishing a partnership between the Extreme North and the Beast Clan.

However, unless the Ice Sky Snow Lady had completely lost her mind, she would never agree to let an unfamiliar soul beast interfere with her tribulation. Wang Rui scoffed. The moment of tribulation was when a soul beast was at its most vulnerable; one careless mistake, and she might end up becoming someone else's nourishment. And Snow Empress, without a doubt, held no fundamental trust in the soul beasts of Star Dou.

Putting himself in her shoes, if Wang Rui had a tribulation to undergo, he too would rather die than allow an untrustworthy stranger to watch.

An outcome somewhere between good and bad would be Snow Empress refusing Wang Rui's help but heeding his advice to hide herself well, avoiding detection by humans and successfully reincarnating.

Wang Rui cast another glance toward the distant snow mountain where Snow Empress resided.

At this moment, she still hadn't moved… For a soul beast of her level, such a slow reaction was rather unusual.

She was probably trying to find a way to settle that soon-to-bloom hundred-thousand-year-old snow lotus.

To be honest, no matter how hard Wang Rui thought about it, he couldn't figure out how Snow Empress got captured by humans in the original work. Most likely, Tang Jia San Shao had given humans an overpowered cheat.

Using the snow lotus as a medium to seal her own power in order to reincarnate and cultivate anew… The Three-Eyed Golden Lion let out a cold snort. Such were the laws of the Douluo world—no soul beast could escape them. Even if Snow Empress sealed herself as a ten-year soul beast, she would never get another choice. It sounded nice, but in reality, it was nothing more than forcibly seizing the body of a hundred-thousand-year-old snow lotus that was about to take human form. At the moment of its rebirth, she would merge with it, using her absolute advantage in spiritual power to take over the newly born human body, completely shattering the consciousness and will of the original snow lotus. Then, she would seal her power within herself in the form of soul rings, completely occupying that blank vessel.

…Theoretically speaking, it was somewhat similar to the puppet named "Di Feng" that Wang Rui had created. However, the Ice Phoenix King had already died back then, and even though Wang Rui had fused an immense amount of the Gold of Living Beings into the remaining body, all he got was a puppet with a limited level of strength—one that was only close to resembling a living person.

Yet, if Snow Empress used this method to reincarnate, she wouldn't be able to wield her former strength in the short term. This meant that the core of power in the Extreme North would inevitably be left vacant… Wang Rui didn't believe that the Ice Sky Snow Lady would dare to appear in her weak, reborn state to lead the soul beasts of the Extreme North.

Snow Empress's hold over the Extreme North was indeed strong, but that was entirely based on her unparalleled strength. Once she lost that strength… she would have to face the bloody claws and fangs of the soul beasts struggling to survive in the bitter cold.

"Everyone pushes a falling wall, and thousands strike a broken drum"—this saying held true even in human society, which had moral restraints. In a world of soul beasts, where there were no such restraints…

Even her own kin would turn greedy eyes upon her. After all, the Snow Lady species was born with human-like intelligence, making them a very ambiguously defined type of soul beast. Ordinary Snow Ladies and the Ice Sky Snow Lady were fundamentally different, and naturally, there wasn't much kinship between them.

However, by the time Snow Empress cultivated back to the peak where she could suppress the Extreme North once more… would she really be faster than Huo Yuqing?

By then, who would truly be in charge of the Extreme North would no longer be certain.

Of course, the worst-case scenario would be Snow Empress directly turning hostile and confronting both Di Tian and himself head-on. Wang Rui cautiously considered the possibility. Based on the limited information he had on Snow Empress, this possibility was not zero.

But on their side, they had the near-invincible Beast God. Not much of a problem.

Wang Rui stared at Di Tian's hair, which was still slightly swaying in the cold wind all the way down to his heels. Eventually, he couldn't resist the temptation and reached out his paw to scratch it.

Di Tian cast him a glance but said nothing. Such was the nature of feline creatures—no matter how convoluted their thoughts might be, they would still occasionally be driven by instinct. Compared to the one in his own family, this auspicious beast was already much better.

Thinking of An Wen, Di Tian's face took on an unreadable expression, but it quickly vanished without a trace.

"She's here," he said in a deep voice, shifting slightly to partially shield the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, who was about the same height as his human form.

A peculiar chill emanated from the heart of the Extreme North. In that instant, the sky and earth, the ice and snow, all seemed to be covered in an additional layer of cool blue.

A figure, as white as snow, drifted into view.

No—"maiden" was merely a term used to describe her light and graceful posture. Her demeanor, however, exuded a chilling arrogance, as icy and piercing as the endless snowy plains. Her gaze, the sharpness of her brows and the corners of her eyes, carried an undeniable forcefulness and authority. There was no doubt that she was the true ruler of this land.

"Beast God." Snow Empress gave a slight nod. Her voice was cold and deep, as if she spoke with ice in her mouth. Her ice-blue eyes swept over Wang Rui indifferently but did not linger. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Di Tian.

"Snow Empress." Di Tian returned a slight nod.

The Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King and the Ice Sky Snow Lady stared at each other in silence. Cold and darkness clashed noiselessly, pressing against each other. Eventually, it seemed that they had reached some kind of unspoken understanding.

Snow Empress raised a hand and tucked a strand of ice-blue hair behind her ear. This unconscious little gesture added a trace of fleeting warmth to her otherwise frostbitten presence, making her seem slightly more human… Yet the words she spoke next were sharper than shattered ice.

"Beast God, why do you Star Dou soul beasts tolerate a so-called 'auspicious beast' who betrays the interests of soul beasts and harbors a heart for humanity?" she asked flatly.