The Extreme North.
A killing wind, laden with bitter cold, lashed against the boy's body, yet his eyes did not waver in the slightest. He gazed at the figure before him with a face of perfect composure.
She was a woman of celestial beauty. Snow-white hair cascaded from the crown of her head all the way down to her ankles, and the simple, unadorned robes she wore only made her form seem more flawlessly immaculate.
And yet, despite the appearance of a spirit born from the snow, her identity alone was enough to make even a Titled Douluo blanch.
She was the Snow Empress — sovereign of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North.
"Since this was Ice's own decision, I have nothing more to say about it. Leave the Extreme North. Now."
The Snow Empress fixed her ice-blue pupils on Huo Yuhao, her fury barely leashed beneath the surface of her voice.
"Otherwise, the consequences are yours to bear."
Her own seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation was drawing near — and she held no confidence in surviving it. Her only path forward was to shed her current form and begin cultivation anew before it arrived.
But she could not bring herself to abandon the Extreme North. Nor could she abandon the Ice Empress, who was fast approaching her own four-hundred-thousand-year Thunder Tribulation.
So she had intended to lend the Ice Empress her strength before her transformation — to help her survive the tribulation and, in doing so, lay deeper foundations for the Extreme North's future power.
What she had not expected was to arrive, following the Ice Empress's aura, and find a human.
A human who had absorbed the Ice Empress's Spirit Ring and made her his second Martial Soul.
The Snow Empress regarded Huo Yuhao with a gaze cold enough to freeze stone.
Had Ice not personally appeared to explain the situation — and had the deed not already been done, making killing Huo Yuhao tantamount to destroying the Ice Empress herself — she would never have let him walk away.
Huo Yuhao's expression was grave.
If not for the Ice Empress being present, he would never have sought an audience with the Snow Empress.
Thirteen years had passed since he crossed over to the Douluo Continent and found himself living as Huo Yuhao. In all that time, he had been relentlessly careful. The only risk he had ever taken was venturing into the Star Dou Great Forest to seize two extraordinary opportunities — Skydream and the Ice Empress. He had never joined Shrek. He had never joined the Sun Moon Empire. He had simply watched the continent from its fringes, keeping himself far removed from every conflict at its core.
But today — the very day he had obtained the Ice Empress as his Martial Soul — he had acted entirely against his own nature. Rather than fleeing after the bonding was complete, he had deliberately broadcast his own aura and waited. He had waited for precisely this moment.
Nearby, the Snow Empress seethed with murderous intent. In the distance, the faint rumble of ten thousand beasts in motion drew steadily closer — the Ice Empress's kin and other Spirit Beasts, all converging on her aura.
Inside his Sea of Spirit, both Skydream and the Ice Empress were badgering him without pause, urging him to run.
But Huo Yuhao had no intention of running.
"I'm sorry, Brother Skydream. Ice Empress. I can't leave. Not yet."
His quiet resolve resonated through the Sea of Spirit. "This is the first step down a path that no one else has walked…"
And with that, under the Snow Empress's startled gaze, he stepped forward — closing the distance between them to two meters — and spoke.
"Snow Empress. I want to make a deal with you."
The Snow Empress's expression remained glacial. "What could you and Skydream possibly offer me in a deal? Or are you deluded enough to think I would join your God-Making Plan and become one of your Spirit Rings?"
The Ice Empress, in her desperate effort to keep the Snow Empress from killing Huo Yuhao, had left nothing unsaid. Every detail of Skydream's God-Making Plan had fallen on the Snow Empress's ears.
Admittedly, a Spirit Beast of calamity paired with a million-year Spirit Beast, combined with the rare gift of Twin Martial Souls — Huo Yuhao's ceiling was not low. But compared to this clearly unreliable God-Making Plan, the Snow Empress trusted herself far more.
A Spirit Beast nearing seven hundred thousand years of age, reborn through retransformation — was she truly supposed to be outstripped by a human on his very first cultivation journey?
So the Snow Empress spoke bluntly:
"Human. Do not let your greed consume you. Leave now, or I will freeze you into an ice sculpture of the Extreme North and absorb whatever of Skydream's Origin Energy still lingers inside you—"
"Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow."
Huo Yuhao's quiet interjection cut through her threat. "I have a lead on the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow."
The Snow Empress went still. So did the Ice Empress and Skydream inside the Sea of Spirit — all three of them stunned into silence at once.
"What did you say? The Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow?"
A moment later, Skydream was first to recover, erupting in a rapid-fire string of cries within the Sea of Spirit. "Yuhao! Do you actually have information on it?!"
He would know. He was the one who had spent an eternity lying inside the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Cavern, absorbing the Black Ice Marrow until he had slept himself into a million-year Spirit Beast. No one understood the terrifying potency of the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow better than he did. It was a supreme heavenly treasure capable of raising the God-Making Plan's success rate by dozens of percentage points.
If Yuhao could absorb the Black Ice Marrow, their God-Making Plan would…
Wait. What had Yuhao just said?
He was going to use information about the Black Ice Marrow to bargain with the Snow Empress?
Inside the Sea of Spirit, beneath the Ice Empress's profoundly peculiar stare, Skydream's spirit crumpled.
"Yuhao, you wasteful little— you're going to be the death of me!"
If you had news of the Black Ice Marrow, you tell us first! Why in the world are you using it to pull the Snow Empress onto your side?!
Wonderful. Now their decrepit little band of aged, ailing, and half-broken companions could do nothing but watch helplessly as a treasure of that magnitude was handed over to someone they could never overpower.
The Snow Empress looked at Huo Yuhao with an unreadable expression. She was quiet for a long moment before she spoke.
"Skydream told you about it, didn't it? And this deal — that was its idea too?"
A small Spirit Grandmaster like Huo Yuhao had dared to come to the Extreme North — almost certainly at Skydream Iceworm's urging. And now he was risking his life to negotiate with her. However she looked at it, Skydream was written all over this.
Besides, there was still that nagging mystery of how Skydream had inexplicably broken through to become a million-year Spirit Beast. She felt, perhaps, that she now had the beginnings of an answer.
"Yes," Huo Yuhao answered, his expression unchanged. He let the misunderstanding stand. "Brother Skydream said that, like the Ice Empress, you are not far from your end. That the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow could help you survive your Heavenly Tribulation."
"…"
The Snow Empress was silent. Her elegant brows drew together.
Seeing that she had not refused outright, Huo Yuhao allowed himself to exhale.
As far as he knew, after her failed attempt at a Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Core, the Snow Empress's Origin Energy had been severely damaged. Ordinary heavenly treasures — however precious — could not repair what had been broken, leaving her unable to break through her seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation. That was why she had chosen to shed her form.
But if she could obtain the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow in sufficient quantity… it would not merely be the seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation she could face. She would be in a position to challenge the eight-hundred-thousand-year mark.
On the other side of the silence, the Snow Empress weighed her thoughts and let out a quiet, internal sigh.
This deal — she truly could not refuse it.
The Snow Empress withdrew her killing intent and fixed her gaze on him. "Why come to me for this? If you kept the Black Ice Marrow for yourselves, your God-Making Plan's odds of success would only rise further."
Huo Yuhao cast a brief, veiled glance toward the sky — a sky churning with wind and driving snow — before he answered her directly.
"Opportunities are made for the living. When you're dead, nothing is left. And in this world, there are things more terrifying than death."
"I have no wish to spend my life as someone else's pawn. But growing strong enough to stand on my own takes time — which is why I've come to you. I am offering the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ice Marrow in exchange for your protection, and for the friendship of the Extreme North."
As he spoke, his mind drifted back over the years since he had broken free from Duke White Tiger's Estate.
On the road searching for opportunities, he had stumbled across a Tang Sect master and his disciple by chance.
Trying to enroll in some unremarkable little academy to quietly study what he needed, he had run into a certain young lord on the street, of all things.
Studying at that academy, he had accidentally uncovered records of the Tang Sect's glorious history — and then discovered that the academy itself had been founded by a member of the Tang Sect.
Coincidence after coincidence, all pointing in the same direction.
Even though he had diverged so far from the original Huo Yuhao's path, even though he had kept himself at arm's length from every conflict that mattered — Tang the Great Buddha had never let him go.
The Blue Silver Entanglement was still chasing him.
And yet — what could he do about it, even knowing?
That man was a God King. The overwhelming majority of the other God Kings in the Divine Realm stood beside him. Only the God King of Destruction held views that diverged from his.
But would the God King of Destruction help him because of that? Hand him the Seat of Destruction out of spite?
Ha. A fool's dream.
Never mind the Seat of Destruction — if he did not pledge his loyalty to Tang San, he could not even expect the Seat of the Emotion God to be peacefully bestowed upon him.
Every reality he could see was telling him the same thing: ascending to godhood would not free him from his chains.
The only way out was to remain on the Douluo Continent.
In this life, he would not ascend to godhood.
He would wait — and let the storm come to him.
***
Hello everyone! It's CNBLUE.
This is a new project I'm working on: a Douluo fanfic that I've just uploaded. If you enjoy it, please drop some Power Stones and leave a review — it really helps the story to grow and reach more readers!
Thank you all for your support!