Finally, the aura on Articuno reached its peak, and a dense blue flame-like energy rose around its body.
"Uhh—OHH!!!"
Immediately after, Articuno's eyes flashed, a cross-shaped light appeared above its head, and with a violent flap of its wings, endless blizzards mixed with ice shards erupted outward, centered on Articuno.
"Ice Emperor Body Protection!"
Seeing this, a layer of ice crystals immediately covered the Ice Empress's body as defense against Articuno's attack.
In an instant, the blizzard forced the Ice Empress back hundreds of meters in the air.
"This power!"
Upon being struck by Articuno's attack, the Ice Empress was shocked. She could hardly believe that two humans could unleash such an attack.
Even among ten-thousand-year soul beasts, many killing techniques were nothing more than this.
However, despite her shock, the Ice Empress still coldly snorted with disdain. "Is this your last resort? It's nothing special. It didn't even scratch me."
Although ten-thousand-year soul beasts were powerful, the Ice Empress was one of the three great overlords of the Extreme North in name, a 380,000-year peerless ferocious beast. Ordinary ten-thousand-year-level attacks could not threaten her at all.
Seeing this, both Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er inside Articuno's body felt their hearts sink.
Even such an attack couldn't harm this soul beast at all—just how high was its bloodline level?
At this moment, Articuno spoke with Shui Wuhen's voice: "Beast, don't be arrogant. This is only my full power!"
In the next instant, a gale swept across the battlefield, and countless white snowflakes mixed with hail began to fall from the sky, causing the already freezing temperature to drop even further.
This was the new domain Articuno had created by fusing Blizzard, pressure, and Tailwind—perhaps it could be called the Freezing Domain.
At the same time, due to being in a Martial Soul Fusion Skill state, Articuno's domain had been further stimulated, greatly enhancing its effect.
Almost instantly, the blizzard unleashed by Articuno became even more ferocious, forcing the Ice Empress to retreat continuously.
However, this level of attack was also rapidly consuming Shui Wuhen and his sister's already limited soul power.
No matter how special Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er were, their essence was still a Soul Emperor and a Soul King respectively, and their soul power reserves were extremely limited.
The essence of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill was to combine the soul power of both sides, then select the best aspects from their martial souls and soul skills to achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts.
Fortunately, Shui Wuhen's goal was never to truly defeat the Ice Empress.
The moment the Ice Empress was blown away by the blizzard, Articuno immediately split into more than ten identical figures, fleeing in all directions.
By the time the Ice Empress reacted, those Articunos had already flown far away.
"Clones? No… just illusions!"
After only a brief moment of hesitation, the Ice Empress recognized the technique being used. After all, she had suffered losses from similar tricks before, so she was naturally prepared.
She sniffed the air, then locked onto a direction. A flash of emerald light erupted as she shot off in pursuit.
On the other side, after flying dozens of miles, Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er, due to their depleted soul power, exited the Martial Soul Fusion Skill state and reappeared on Articuno's back.
At the same time, Articuno's majestic body instantly shattered and returned to its original form.
"Haa… haa…"
Both Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er panted heavily, their faces pale. Clearly, with their current level, maintaining the Super Articuno state was still too much of a burden.
Suddenly, Shui Bing'er smiled bitterly. "Brother, do you think we can escape this time?"
"…I don't know."
After a moment of silence, Shui Wuhen replied with difficulty. Facing an opponent capable of resisting Super Articuno, he truly had no solution.
Then Shui Wuhen said softly, "I dragged you into this. I shouldn't have come to the Extreme North Forbidden Land at this time.
But don't worry, I probably understand how that soul beast is tracking us. Next, I'll lure her away."
"Brother, what are you going to do?"
As soon as she heard this, Shui Bing'er immediately became alert. However, in the next moment, a heavy blow landed behind her head. Her vision went dark, and she fell unconscious, her body dropping like a broken kite.
Shui Wuhen caught her unconscious body and said to Articuno, "Articuno, I'm counting on you."
"Uhh."
Articuno nodded, then its body split into two identical Articunos. One of them carried Shui Bing'er and rapidly ascended, flying into the endless violent winds.
Then Shui Wuhen glanced at his departing sister before riding the other Articuno in a different direction.
Not long after Shui Wuhen and Articuno disappeared, a streak of emerald light arrived at their previous location and stopped.
However, the Ice Empress merely looked at it once and coldly smiled. "Trying to mislead me again? This time it's a bit more realistic, but unfortunately, the aura of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow on you cannot be hidden."
With that, the Ice Empress immediately flew toward the direction of Shui Wuhen and Articuno without hesitation.
Although Articuno was already very fast at full power, it was still not comparable to the Ice Empress, and was soon caught up.
After arriving not far from Articuno, the Ice Empress immediately laughed triumphantly. "Heh heh heh! Little brat, run again!"
"Wait, where is that little girl? You tricked me?"
But soon, the Ice Empress realized that only Shui Wuhen was on Articuno, and instantly understood she had been fooled, becoming furious.
"You talk too much!"
However, facing the Ice Empress's reaction, Shui Wuhen's expression remained cold. According to Articuno's decoy speed, Shui Bing'er should already be leaving the Extreme North Forbidden Land. Without his sister holding him back, his mind became even calmer.
"Damn it! To dare play me like this—I will make you wish you were dead!"
The Ice Empress became even more enraged. She swore that once she captured Shui Wuhen and forced him to reveal the location of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, she would make him suffer the most painful torture in the world.
At this moment, the Ice Empress had already reached less than two meters from Articuno, her pincers extending toward Shui Wuhen.
A pale blue barrier appeared, blocking her attack.
"Hmph! That trick again."
Seeing this, the Ice Empress snorted coldly. She did not believe such a technique could be used endlessly, so she launched even more furious attacks, trying to capture Shui Wuhen.
Her judgment was not wrong. Within only a few seconds, the defensive soul skill of Shui Wuhen and Articuno was completely exhausted and entered cooldown.
At the moment the barrier was about to disappear, an ice-blue long blade had already appeared in Shui Wuhen's hand. If the final outcome was death, then he would die in battle.