Across the snowy plains, two figures advanced side by side.
One of them was a prince-like youth with long, ice-blue hair flowing past his shoulders—it was none other than Zhou Sichen, who had once again fused with A Da.
The other figure wore an emerald-green suit of armor, radiating a faint yet menacing aura. Despite this, the armor exuded a captivating elegance unique to feminine designs.
Zhou Sichen glanced at the armor and gently massaged his brow. "Are you sure you want to steal the Titan Snow Demon King's treasured Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow?"
The armored figure nodded lightly. The Ice Emperor's originally crisp and cool voice now carried a mechanical, almost synthesized tone due to the armor's modulation. "We've come all this way; it wouldn't feel right to leave empty-handed."
"Besides, in this form, that oversized fool shouldn't be able to recognize me. At most, he'll think I failed my tribulation and that my remains were salvaged by humans and turned into a soul tool. And in the entire continent, only the Sun Moon Empire has the technology to produce a soul tool of this level…"
Hearing the Ice Emperor's words, Zhou Sichen couldn't help but reveal a strange expression.
It's only been a few days. Had she already been corrupted by Tianmeng's mischievous influence? She was even trying to shift the blame now?
Still, Zhou Sichen wasn't one to object to profiting from the Extreme North. If he could exploit its riches, he'd gladly do so without hesitation.
Zhou Sichen nodded and sighed lightly. "In that case, let's stick to the original plan. You draw the Titan Snow Demon King away while I sneak into its lair using the Mimicry Core's concealment to snatch some Extreme Cold Ice Marrow."
The Ice Empress Armor's crystalline yellow visor flickered slightly. "Perfect. This is also a good opportunity to test the armor's combat potential. Wouldn't want any surprises when it really matters."
As her words fell, the armor erupted with terrifying soul power. In a few flashes, she vanished without a trace.
Zhou Sichen watched her depart, activating the Mimicry Core to envelop himself entirely as he stealthily crept toward the Titan Snow Demon King's domain.
The Ice Emperor had already disclosed the location of the Snow Demon King's treasure chamber—along with some of its secrets. Whether Zhou Sichen could retrieve anything would depend on his luck and skill.
Silently, Zhou Sichen offered a prayer for the Titan Snow Demon King: Whatever you lose today, may you one day be repaid—probably.
Just like the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan, the Titan Snow Demons were among the most powerful races in the Extreme North.
This wasn't just due to their two supreme ancestors, but because every member of the race was extraordinarily powerful.
Zhou Sichen moved carefully through the snow-covered peaks and valleys of the sacred land, following the route the Ice Emperor had provided.
At that moment, an overwhelming pressure descended upon the Titan Snow Demon's territory. Zhou Sichen looked up to see the entire sky bathed in a jade-green hue.
The Ice Emperor had made her move.
A furious roar rang out from deep within the domain. "Ice Emperor! What are you up to this time? You think I'm easy to push around?!"
Moments later, a massive beast over a hundred meters tall appeared. It radiated a fearsome, dominating presence that seemed to tear the green sky asunder.
The Ice Empress Armor faced off against the Titan Snow Demon King. Standing at just two meters tall, she wasn't even the size of the king's nostril.
Yet their auras clashed equally, forming a stalemate.
Then, as the Snow Demon King's roar echoed, it paused, eyeing the Ice Empress Armor with confusion. "Something's off. You're not the Ice Emperor... but this aura…"
The mechanical voice of the armor let out a cold chuckle. "Heh. So, you're one of the Extreme North's Three Heavenly Kings, the Titan Snow Demon King? I've come today to test the might of this armor. If all goes well, your hide might make a fine new suit for me…"
With that, the Ice Emperor launched the first attack—bold and direct.
Though the Titan Snow Demon King was brash, it wasn't stupid. Instantly, countless possibilities flashed through its mind.
But what it didn't want to believe was... that the Ice Emperor had truly perished? That she had failed her tribulation, and her remains had been turned into a soul tool by humans?
The Titan Snow Demon King roared in fury. There was no point in thinking—capture this interloper first and interrogate later.
Zhou Sichen, watching the Snow Demon King being drawn away by the Ice Emperor, felt not the slightest ripple in his heart. He slipped deeper into the Titan Snow Demon's domain without hesitation.
Along the way, he encountered numerous thousand-year Titan Snow Demons. Upon reaching the core area—where the Snow Demon King resided—he even saw one guarding the place with a cultivation level of one hundred thousand years.
Fortunately, the Mimicry Core's concealment was flawless. As long as Zhou Sichen didn't release any soul power, he could move undetected among these massive creatures.
Eventually, he reached the palace of the Titan Snow Demon King. No other Snow Demons entered this place—it was, after all, the royal residence.
Which was perfect for Zhou Sichen to explore at his leisure.
The Ice Emperor could likely stall the Snow Demon King for about half an hour. But the palace was massive—given that the king could still be dozens of meters tall even when shrunk, the residence was correspondingly vast.
Half an hour might not be enough.
Luckily, Zhou Sichen had a cheat.
He refrained from using soul skills to avoid detection, but Tianmeng could still use spiritual detection.
After scanning the area, they locked onto one of several treasure rooms.
This particular vault had neither doors nor traps—testament to the Titan Snow Demon King's overwhelming confidence.
After all, who would ever dare sneak across its entire territory, break into the royal palace, and help themselves to its treasures?
Zhou Sichen laid eyes on a massive, hundred-meter-long ice jade bed in the center of the treasure room and couldn't help but feel tempted.
Though not as precious as the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow, the bed was still a rare treasure. For any soul master, cultivating on it would accelerate healing...
For ice-attribute soul masters, it could significantly boost their cultivation speed.
But Zhou Sichen had only one true target: the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow—or even better, the Ten-Thousand-Year variant.
Inside a nearby ice cavern, he spotted the icy-blue glow of the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow. Tianmeng grew excited. "Jackpot! It might not compare to the marrow I devoured back in the day, but this stash is excellent. With a bit of purification, it could greatly enhance an ice-attribute soul master's control over the element—maybe even help someone reach the pinnacle of Ice!"
Zhou Sichen grinned and immediately pulled out a storage-type soul tool, sweeping the Extreme Cold Ice Marrow into it without hesitation.
He was already stealing—there was no need to play nice.
He even sliced off a massive chunk of the hundred-meter-long jade bed. When brought back, it could easily be turned into three to five smaller ones for humans to use.
Tianmeng warned him, "Sichen, time's almost up. If that big guy returns, we're in trouble. Let's move!"
Zhou Sichen didn't get greedy. He backtracked along the exact route he had used to sneak in, moving much faster now that he knew the terrain.
As he exited the Titan Snow Demon Clan's mountain range, he spotted a massive shadow passing overhead.
Looking up, he saw the Titan Snow Demon King returning alone.
Tianmeng chuckled. "Icey really pulled it off! Just a remnant armor made from her body was enough to keep that beast occupied."
Zhou Sichen smiled as well. "Looks like I'll be able to rely on the Ice Emperor for a lot more in the future."
Tianmeng said, "Of course! My Bingbing is the strongest. Let's hurry to the rendezvous point and find her. She's using her spiritual origin to control the armor in a battle against the Titan Snow Demon King. I'm worried something might go wrong."
Zhou Sichen nodded. Once they were far enough from the mountain range where the Titan Snow Demon Tribe resided, he immediately accelerated at full speed toward the location they had agreed upon with the Ice Empress.
Although everything had been rushed this time, Zhou Sichen felt he had gained a lot. He'd acquired some great treasures, and his face was lit up with a joyful smile.
Tianmeng found the whole experience thrilling—sneaking into the home of one of the three Great Kings of the Extreme North and stealing from such a superpower was exhilarating just to think about.
And Tianmeng had even bigger ambitions. Once he became strong enough, he'd just recruit the Titan Snow Demon King as a little underling—and all of its treasures would become his!
After all, people need to have dreams. Tianmeng had been asleep for nearly a million years—who knew how many dreams he'd had in that time?
Not long after Zhou Sichen had left, an enraged roar echoed through the mountain range where the Titan Snow Demon Tribe lived:
"Damn human! I swear, we are mortal enemies from this day forward! Arghhh! My Ultimate Ice Essence! My Profound Ice Jade Bed!"
But Zhou Sichen was long gone by now and couldn't hear the Titan Snow Demon King's furious howls. He soon arrived at the designated location on the outskirts of the Extreme North, where he saw the Ice Empress Armor sitting cross-legged, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to recover her soul power.
When she saw Zhou Sichen arrive, the Ice Empress spoke weakly, "The armor is indeed powerful. Even the Titan Snow Demon King, going all out, couldn't harm me in the slightest. I toyed with him for a bit and then left as I pleased. He couldn't even catch up."
"The only downside," she added, "is that operating the armor consumes a portion of my spiritual origin. If I control it for too long, it could damage my foundation, especially with my current strength."
Zhou Sichen nodded. He gently placed his hand on the armor, which instantly transformed into a brilliant green light and flowed into his back, forming the elegant and imposing Emerald Ice Emperor Scorpion tattoo.
The Ice Empress's spiritual origin also returned to Zhou Sichen's spiritual sea, where it could recuperate properly.
Thinking back to how desperately the Titan Snow Demon King had fought, the Ice Empress couldn't help feeling a little touched. "That brute really thought I'd failed my tribulation and that my physical body had been recovered and modified by the Sun Moon Empire… I suppose he didn't entirely waste the kindness I showed him in the past."
Tianmeng, seeing the Ice Empress compliment another male soul beast, immediately poured cold water on the mood. "Ice Empress, have you considered… maybe he was just after your physical body? To absorb your energy?"
The Ice Empress froze, then shot a glare at Tianmeng Iceworm. "Get lost!"
Still, she had to admit—it wasn't entirely impossible.
The Ice Empress then shrank down into her mini Emerald Ice Emperor Scorpion form and found a comfortable spot to lie down. "I'm going to sleep for a while to recover. Don't disturb me!"
As she said this, she gave Tianmeng a sharp look. Clearly, she knew why her recovery had gone so smoothly earlier. It was a warning: don't touch her again, or else…
Tianmeng shuddered under her icy stare and muttered to himself, Bingbing, I've done everything for you… why don't you appreciate me?
He felt like crying—he had given so much, but the Ice Empress remained indifferent. His heart ached!
Zhou Sichen couldn't help but comment, "Tianmeng, we're men. Instead of making silent sacrifices and sneaky gestures, sometimes it's better to be bold and straightforward."
"Sneaking around like that might come across as creepy or off-putting to her. Worst-case scenario, she just ignores you. But you should show some real backbone—let her see your true manly charm."
Tianmeng was stunned. What Zhou Sichen said made so much sense. He'd lived for nearly a million years, and yet he'd been outdone by a teenage boy?
Damn it!
Zhou Sichen retrieved the armor and the Ice Empress. He checked the armor's status: originally, it had enough energy for three uses. Now, only two remained.
Still, the armor had performed admirably. It sustained no damage and, after this full-power clash with the Titan Snow Demon King, its performance had essentially been stress-tested and optimized. Zhou Sichen could now be confident in its reliability.
He had to admit—Elder Yi really was a priceless treasure. It was just like the saying: "An elder in the house is like a treasure in the family!"
This trip to the Extreme North had been a complete success for Zhou Sichen. After obtaining his fifth soul ring, although the contracted soul beasts from the Book of Contracts didn't boost his soul power directly, the previous absorption of the Ice Empress's soul ring and soul bone had already pushed his level up several stages.
Now, with the fifth soul ring, his soul power naturally surged to rank 54.
Just a month ago, during the school holiday, he had only been at rank 48. Now he had reached 54, and his gains in strength and foundation were immense.
When he returned to the academy, he'd finally get a chance to test the abilities of the elders.
In the upcoming tournament, he could even borrow Elder Mu's power to compete—bringing glory to the Light Holy Dragon once more.
Of course, that was only if Elder Mu agreed.
Otherwise, there was no way Zhou Sichen could force a drop of blood from an Ultimate Douluo.
Ambushing him wouldn't count… but that would be too much like betraying his teacher and ancestors.
Zhou Sichen admitted he wasn't exactly a good person—but he wasn't that far gone.
There were still three days left until the new semester began—just enough time for Zhou Sichen to return to Shrek Academy. He didn't like being late.
On his way back, Zhou Sichen fell into deep thought.
He had instructed Tianmeng to search for a Mirror Image Beast on the outskirts of the Extreme North—not simply to find one, but in hopes of encountering the Snow Empress, should she have failed her tribulation.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The Snow Empress had likely already been captured as a soul beast embryo. If he wanted to form a contract with her, his only chance would be at the Star Luo Empire's upcoming auction.
And even then, his chances of success were slim. The most likely opportunity would be during the Body Sect's surprise raid on the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
In the original story, even Huo Hang managed to pull that off. And Zhou Sichen now far surpassed the original Huo Hang in every way—he was confident he'd have a shot.
Zhou Sichen had already made plans for the future. After the tournament ended, he would leave the academy and begin traveling the continent.
Over the past year, he had learned almost everything he needed to, and seen enough of the world. Elder Mu certainly wouldn't stop him from going on a journey.
He planned to report directly to the Body Sect and reveal his extraordinary talent. Zhou Sichen didn't believe that even someone like Du Busi, the Poison Douluo, could ignore him.
He also wasn't afraid of Du Busi having ulterior motives. With all the power and trump cards Zhou Sichen had now, escaping from a rank 98 Title Douluo should be within his ability.
In fact, once he arrived, they'd probably treat him like royalty. Dragon Aotian might even end up serving him tea!
You could call the people of the Body Sect unreasonable or brash—but when it came to their own, they were truly loyal.
In his heart, Zhou Sichen was genuinely looking forward to visiting the Body Sect.
****
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