“Yuhao, you smell so nice.”
“…”
Huo Yuhao carefully slipped his arm out of Skydream’s embrace.
Looking at Sister Skydream’s fair, slightly chubby cheeks, he curiously gave one a poke.
When she showed no sign of waking, he simply left the Spirit Sea Realm and continued on his journey.
The moment Huo Yuhao was gone, Skydream sat up rather guiltily, a faint blush still lingering on her face.
Last night, after watching Huo Yuhao settle down to rest in the Spirit Sea Realm, she had suddenly felt the urge to hug him while sleeping for some reason.
And being pressed against him like that really had felt incredibly comfortable.
But she liked Bing Bing!
Didn’t what she had done last night count as cheating?
Bing Bing might not know about it, but Skydream still felt terribly guilty.
Still, sleeping while hugging Yuhao had been so comfortable.
She had felt more secure than when she slept alone by more than ten thousand times.
“Skydream, Skydream, how did you become this kind of woman?
From now on, I’m swearing off temptation!”
Skydream took a deep breath and made up her mind.
She would forget everything that had happened last night and take it as a lesson…
“Ah~ I can’t forget it at all~”
Her face burning red, Skydream covered it with both hands and rolled around the Spirit Sea Realm.
Wait!
Didn’t most humans follow a one-husband, one-wife system?
Huo Yuhao was a man, and Bing Bing was a woman.
There was no conflict at all!
As that thought occurred to her, a relieved smile gradually spread across Skydream’s face.
“Back to sleep, back to sleep…”
…
The moment Huo Yuhao crossed the boundary marker of the Heavenly Soul Empire, a freezing wind began howling past his ears.
As he continued north, the snow beneath his feet gradually gave way to hard-packed ice.
Everywhere he looked, heaven and earth were swallowed by a hazy expanse of white.
Snow was swept up by the fierce winds like countless icy blades, lashing against his body.
Fortunately, he had Skydream Ice Worm’s shed shell.
Not only could it shield him from most of the extreme cold, but it could also conceal Huo Yuhao’s presence from other Soul Beasts.
It could be said that aside from having no offensive ability, Skydream was practically maxed out in every other respect.
“By the way, Sister Skydream, how are you planning to lure the Ice Empress here?”
“Easy.
Just hide inside the section of my shed shell I separated for you and watch Sister work her magic.”
Skydream leaned back and struck an arrogant pose before releasing her Spiritual Power outward.
As a powerful spiritual fluctuation spread through the area, Huo Yuhao’s 1,000-Year Soul Ring quietly appeared.
The Soul Ring gave off a lustrous glow as it slowly revolved around his body.
The pale-golden light in Huo Yuhao’s eyes gradually began to change, and control of his body slipped away from him.
At that moment, he felt his perception expand outward at incredible speed, as though he were flying high above the ground and looking down upon the world below.
Across the vast core region of the Extreme North, the light suddenly dimmed, as if day and night had abruptly switched places.
An invisible majesty spread outward from Huo Yuhao’s body, accompanied by terrifying Spiritual Power.
At the same time, his bright purple Soul Ring began to change.
It forcibly turned blood-red before finally transforming into a golden Soul Ring filled with boundless majesty.
The nine clusters of golden light left behind from their fusion flew out of Huo Yuhao’s body and layered themselves together, gradually taking shape until they condensed into a golden figure identical in appearance to Huo Yuhao.
“Ice Empress, I know you’ve sensed my presence.
I, Skydream, have returned for revenge.
Do you dare come out and face me?”
As soon as Skydream finished speaking, the sky grew darker.
Heavy clouds pressed downward, making the atmosphere between heaven and earth increasingly oppressive.
Huo Yuhao could sense tens of thousands of nearby Soul Beasts fleeing in terror.
Just as his heart began pounding faster and excitement made his entire body restless, he suddenly noticed the world outside changing.
The pitch-black clouds overhead began to churn.
Immediately afterward, a layer of emerald-green light spread across the sky from the north.
In an instant, the black sky turned emerald green.
The dazzling color made it seem as though the heavens themselves had transformed into an enormous emerald gemstone.
At the same moment, the oppressive atmosphere in the air vanished completely.
“Skydream, you’re actually still alive?”
The voice carried a terrifying sonic force.
Wherever it passed, the snow covering the ground exploded upward.
“Ice Empress, if you’re still alive, why shouldn’t I be?”
“Hah.
So you came here this time to let me eat you and survive my Heavenly Tribulation with ease?”
The Ice Empress’s crisp voice rang out once more, carrying both arrogance and a trace of impatience.
A flash of emerald light streaked past, and an emerald-green scorpion appeared before the golden figure Skydream had created.
The front half of the Ice Empress’s body was covered in hexagonal, diamond-like protrusions that gleamed with an icy white color.
She had two hexagonal eyes resembling yellow diamonds and a five-segmented scorpion tail.
Her entire body was emerald green, narrowing from the base toward the tip of the tail, while her sharp stinger gleamed silver.
“Ha, you finally showed yourself, Bing Bing.”
“Who gave you permission to address this Empress by that name?”
The Ice Empress could not stand the blissful expression on Skydream’s face.
Her raised stinger suddenly flashed, and a beam of light instantly pierced through Skydream’s body.
But Skydream’s form seemed almost incorporeal, and the attack passed straight through her.
“Bing Bing, that won’t work on me.
Now watch this!”
Skydream smiled faintly as a small spherical container appeared in her hand.
“Come serve my purposes, Ice Empress!”
Skydream took aim at the Ice Empress and hurled it toward her.
Realizing something was wrong, the Ice Empress attacked again, but her strike passed straight through the little sphere as well.
The instant it drew close to her, she suddenly felt herself slowing down, while everything around her seemed to turn thick and sluggish.
Terrifying Spiritual Power engulfed her like a vast ocean, trapping her within it.
No matter how fiercely she struggled, it was useless.
Worse still, the restraining force was growing stronger at an astonishing rate, squeezing her body until it began to creak.
From Huo Yuhao’s perspective, the Ice Empress, one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, had been completely subdued by Sister Skydream’s shed shell just like that.
“That’s amazing…”
“Yuhao, hurry!
The Ice Empress’s clansmen will be here soon.
Run in the direction I told you.”
“Got it.”
Without another word, Huo Yuhao turned and sprinted back the way he had come.
With Skydream’s Spiritual Power concealing him, there was no need to worry about being discovered.
As for his footprints, in this bitterly cold world of ice and snow, a single gust of wind would erase every trace.
…
Huo Yuhao did not stop completely until he reached an open clearing.
“All right!
Time to start negotiating!”
A cluster of golden light emerged from between Huo Yuhao’s brows and slowly floated into the air.
The point of light gradually expanded, becoming a disc of golden light roughly a meter in diameter.
With a flash, a figure emerged from the golden disc.
The instant it came out, the golden light in the air disappeared as well.
A golden sphere no larger than a fist then emerged from Huo Yuhao’s forehead.
Trapped inside it was none other than the Ice Empress, whom Skydream had just captured.
Skydream immediately leaned her face close, wearing an expression that practically begged to be punched.
“Bing Bing, this is exactly the expression I wanted to see.
That look where you’re dying to kill me but can’t do a thing about it.
Ohoho~”
“You…!”