Successful Absorption

Ice Emperor just assumed it was nonsense. Had it been any other time, she would have slapped him away, but now that she was at someone else's mercy, she had no choice but to suppress her anger for the time being.

"I'm curious. Since you're so confident, why not just take over his body? That way, you wouldn't have to rely on others," Ice Emperor suddenly asked, as if remembering something.

Upon hearing this, Tianmeng let out a bitter smile, and his voice became somewhat solemn. "This world has always been hostile toward us soul beasts. The fact that I've come this far is purely a stroke of luck. When I broke through, my energy was on the verge of extinction, which is why I didn't attract a heavenly tribulation. If not for that, I might not have survived to this day. It takes us soul beasts a long time to reach a hundred thousand years, while humans, with their unique advantages, only need a few decades. The heavens are truly unfair," Tianmeng's voice clearly carried a tone of resentment by the end.

After pausing to calm himself, Tianmeng continued, "Soul beasts are targeted in every way. So, taking over someone's body is impossible. And that little brat isn't as simple as you think."

As he spoke, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm looked somewhat frustrated. Normally, having such a bigshot around him would make most people seek his advice, forming a dependence. But Huo Yuhao had completely ignored him lately. To put it bluntly, it felt like he was being treated like a pet pig.

Outside, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, and two figures appeared in front of him. In addition to Tianmeng, there was also a young girl wearing a bright green floral dress, with twin ponytails. Just like Tianmeng, her body also had a semi-transparent quality to it.

Looking further back, the golden silkworm cocoon had disappeared, and in its place stood a white, semi-transparent, insect-like shell, within which a greenish scorpion was wrapped.

It turned out Tianmeng wasn't at ease. He feared that Ice Emperor, once freed, might turn against them. So, he only allowed her spiritual essence to come out, while her body remained trapped.

Next, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm explained his plan to Huo Yuhao, which was essentially the same as what he had said to Ice Emperor. Ice Emperor also asked for several promises from Huo Yuhao, which boiled down to her agreeing to be his soul ring under the condition that he would respect her and, once he ascended to godhood, release her and help her rebuild her body.

These conditions weren't difficult, and Huo Yuhao agreed readily. Compared to Ice Emperor's sacrifice, these promises were negligible.

Next came the fusion of the soul ring. With Huo Yuhao's current cultivation, he couldn't withstand Ice Emperor's energy, so, just like with Tianmeng, most of the energy from the soul ring had to be sealed beforehand. Before this, Ice Emperor suggested that Huo Yuhao absorb the soul bone produced by her main body. This way, his body would be greatly strengthened, allowing him to handle more energy from the soul ring.

However, Huo Yuhao politely declined, explaining that due to the peculiar nature of his cultivation method, he could no longer absorb soul bones.

Although Soul Forging Technique allowed Huo Yuhao to have far more soul power than others of the same rank, it also slowed his cultivation speed. To give an analogy, a normal person would have one dantian, while Huo Yuhao had millions of dantian. Though the situation wasn't that exaggerated, trying to manage so many at once inevitably slowed his progress.

It had only been a few months since Huo Yuhao absorbed the external soul bone, and he had only recently noticed that his cultivation had slowed even further. After careful observation, he realized that every time his soul power passed near the soul bone, it felt obstructed. Fortunately, the situation was slowly recovering, but the process would take a long time.

This was why Huo Yuhao had rejected Ice Emperor's soul bone. While soul bones were tempting, if absorbing one meant significantly slowing down his cultivation, it would be a bad trade. Without a solution, he was determined never to absorb any more soul bones.

In the snowy field, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged, eyes closed. A circle of dazzling light surrounded him, blood-red and eerie. The red glow shone on his body, adding an air of mystery.

Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes. The process of absorbing the soul ring had been nerve-wracking. Fortunately, with Tianmeng's prior experience and Ice Emperor's full cooperation, it had been completed without incident.

Without having to try, the information of the soul ring appeared in Huo Yuhao's mind. When a soul beast over a hundred thousand years old becomes a human's soul ring, it produces two soul skills.

The soul skills brought to Huo Yuhao by Ice Emperor were "Ice Emperor's Pincer" and "Ice Emperor's Shield". Ice Emperor's Pincer, when activated, would make the arms and palms extremely hard, with a layer of crystal armor on the surface, making them indestructible.

Ice Emperor's Shield would create a layer of ice crystal armor around the body, a purely defensive soul skill.

After retracting his martial soul, Huo Yuhao's frostbite disappeared, and in the midst of the snowy world, he felt a sense of ease, as though he were in his element.

He glanced at the body of Ice Emperor beside him—no, now it should be called a corpse. Huo Yuhao gently extended his hand and pointed. A large amount of ice quickly wrapped around Ice Emperor's body, freezing it into a three-meter-high ice block in an instant.

After doing this, Huo Yuhao suddenly froze, then bitterly smiled. He helplessly communicated in his spiritual sea, "Tianmeng, Ice Emperor, I don't have a storage soul tool. Do you have any way to store Ice Emperor's body?" As he spoke, his spiritual body entered his spiritual sea.

Tianmeng, hearing this, lit up with excitement. In a flash, he appeared beside Huo Yuhao, handed him his molted shell, and winked, "Take this and go out. You don't need to activate it. It will automatically store Ice Emperor's body." Tianmeng tried to keep his tone calm, though in his mind, he was imagining various inappropriate scenarios.

Huo Yuhao looked at Tianmeng's expression and felt something was off, but he couldn't pinpoint what. Nonetheless, seeing that Ice Emperor didn't object, he followed suit.

Outside, Huo Yuhao's hand now held a transparent white insect shell, less than an inch long, which, judging by its shape, looked identical to the one Tianmeng had used to trap Ice Emperor earlier.

In the next moment, the white insect shell suddenly shot toward Ice Emperor's corpse. A flash of white light passed, and both the shell and Ice Emperor's body disappeared without a trace.

In the spiritual sea, Tianmeng was gently caressing the white insect shell in his hand, grinning widely, fully displaying his infatuated expression.

Huo Yuhao felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't expected Tianmeng to be so persistent, not even sparing the corpse. Truly, his taste was peculiar—Ning Caichen would have to bow down in admiration.

"You freak, get lost." Ice Emperor kicked Tianmeng Ice Silkworm over, snatched the insect shell from his hands, and kicked him again.

"My dear, I traveled so far for you, how can you be so heartless?" Tianmeng wailed, his face filled with grievance.

Ice Emperor was furious, her expression murderous, "If your body were still here, I'd promise to tear your filthy mouth apart."

Huo Yuhao shook his head. Wasn't Tianmeng a masochist, always looking for trouble? And why had he suddenly become so cheeky? Was it because Ice Emperor had already become his soul ring, and he felt like the deal was sealed? It seemed like now was Tianmeng's true nature showing through.

"Ahem, Tianmeng, let's talk about my third soul ring now. Also, there's something else I need Ice Emperor's help with." Huo Yuhao suddenly looked serious, actually trying to change the subject.

"Hmm?" Ice Emperor looked at him, somewhat puzzled.

"You should know where Snow Emperor is, right?"

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(End of Chapter)