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"Brat, do you think I still have a choice?" the Ice Emperor sighed. "I was already extremely uneasy because my tribulation was approaching. Actually, if you hadn't appeared just now, I would have basically been persuaded by that fellow Tianmeng and already developed the idea of sacrificing myself to that Huo Yuhao. Your appearance merely gave me another option."
"Your innate talent and potential far exceed that Huo Yuhao. Moreover, you seem to be enveloped by a vast destiny comparable to his, merely in a sealed state. But when you get close to me, that seal seems to loosen. Perhaps, I am the key to unlocking your destiny. If I have to choose between you and him, I choose you. It also happens to let that trash Tianmeng see how much more outstanding the person I, the Empress, chose is compared to its choice."
"Many thanks for your appreciation, Ice Emperor!" Yuwen Tuo smiled. Obtaining the Ice Emperor's Soul Ring made this trip worthwhile.
"The only problem now is whether you can withstand my nearly 400,000-year Soul Ring. If I sacrificed myself to Huo Yuhao, Tianmeng would likely use its million-year spiritual power to assist him, but you don't seem to have any backing," the Ice Emperor said with concern.
"I do. My backing is myself. My Ghost Valley Sect's Technique of Assimilation, when you sacrifice yourself, will be as if you're sacrificing your soul along with your body; there will be absolutely no danger," Yuwen Tuo said confidently.
The Ice Emperor nodded, "Hehe, Ghost Valley... I've never even heard of this sect, yet it possesses such a profound cultivation method. Truly, there are heavens beyond heavens. Even though I, the Empress, have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, I am still an ignorant one."
"Ghost Valley is a small sect, so not many know of it. I'll properly introduce it to you later. Good things shouldn't be delayed; why don't we start now? Our god-making plan," Yuwen Tuo said.
"Decisive in action, with great courage, good! Then let's do it!" the Ice Emperor said resolutely. "For safety's sake, during the sacrifice, I will try my best to restrain my soul power and spiritual power. During that time, you will be in extreme pain. You absolutely must remember not to faint, otherwise, all our efforts will be in vain. Your Sea of Consciousness is incomparably resilient; I, the Empress, believe you can endure it!"
"Additionally, you are a human Soul Master, so you should know that we 100,000-year Soul Beasts invariably produce a Soul Bone. I am no exception. This Soul Bone of mine will be even stronger than those produced by ordinary 100,000-year Soul Beasts. Moreover, I can decide its form; apart from an external Soul Bone, any of the six conventional body parts will do. I've decided to first help you complete the fusion of the Soul Bone. This way, your physique will be greatly enhanced, making it much easier to absorb the Soul Ring afterward. Among the six major parts, the strongest should be the Torso Bone, which is the spine. However, this time, I, the Empress, have decided to first transform into a Skull Bone and fuse with you."
"Exactly what I intended!" Yuwen Tuo said, understanding the Ice Emperor's meaning.
Firstly, if his Martial Soul was purely the Tool Martial Soul Xuanyuan Sword, then the Torso Bone would indeed be most suitable. But in reality, since it was the Xuanyuan Sword Soul primarily based on his soul, then the Skull Bone, which enhances spiritual power and soul strength the most, actually took precedence. As long as Yuwen Tuo's spiritual power increased, the Xuanyuan Sword formed from his soul would become sharper and harder, and its ability to tear apart an opponent's soul would also grow stronger.
Secondly, Yuwen Tuo's other Martial Soul was, after all, Fire—a physical attack Martial Soul. Using Ice as the Torso Bone was not suitable for the use of this Martial Soul. Although, due to the inclusive nature of pure fire, there wouldn't be any negative effects, there wouldn't be much enhancement either.
Yuwen Tuo's torso would best be augmented by a strength-type Soul Bone that didn't conflict with fire.
"Then, let's begin!!!"
The Ice Emperor roared, and a blood-red barrier suddenly unfurled. The Ice Emperor transformed back into her original form, a large, emerald-green scorpion. And this large scorpion directly pressed against Yuwen Tuo's chest, burrowing into his body.
Yuwen Tuo silently recited the mental cultivation method, employing the Technique of Assimilation, turning the Ice Emperor's body into molecules bit by bit, reducing the resistance during their fusion.
When the Ice Emperor's body completely merged into Yuwen Tuo's, he felt an extreme chill that instantly numbed both his soul and body.
Truly worthy of being 400,000-year Extreme Ice. Even with the sacrifice plus the Technique of Assimilation, it's still so unbearable.
But it was merely unbearable. The Ice Emperor discovered that this human's body was extremely resilient, with almost no impurities within. Most importantly, his Sea of Consciousness was as stable as Mount Tai; even her power could only create ripples within it.
This human said his soul had collapsed once. It was hard to imagine how powerful this person's spiritual power must have been before his mental collapse; likely no less than that of a god.
She also guessed that Yuwen Tuo was probably not just a simple thirteen-year-old boy. His experiences within that River of Time far exceeded thirteen years. If the Ice Emperor wasn't mistaken, he should be the reincarnation of some incredible figure, and had retained his past life's memories.
This was the ultimate reason the Ice Emperor chose him: because his cultivation was different from others. Others called it cultivating to become stronger, while he called it recovering his original cultivation. Such a person's cultivation speed was undoubtedly much faster.
A feeling of envy welled up in the Ice Emperor's heart. Human talent and potential... indeed, no Soul Beast with a noble bloodline could compare, especially the human before her, who was practically a monster.
Yuwen Tuo had no secret Soul Bone techniques to assist him, nor the protection of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power. All he had was his own strength.
"It is indeed very painful, but this pain is also extremely exhilarating!" Yuwen Tuo cried out.
To him, the pain of fusing with a 400,000-year Soul Ring was nothing compared to the exhilaration of his power increasing.
He still had many dreams that required strength to achieve. Revenge was only one of them. A more important ideal was that he might still have a chance to save the grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunts in his village.
Within that Soul Ring, there was a trace of the Kunlun Mirror's power. Even if it was just a trace, it was a sliver of hope!
Relying on this obsession, Yuwen Tuo, in his most lucid state, absorbed the Ice Emperor's power as much as possible.
During the fusion process, the color of the Xuanyuan Sword's first Soul Ring gradually changed, from purple slowly turning black, and the blackness continued to deepen.
This innate Soul Ring would grow stronger as Yuwen Tuo's spiritual power and body strengthened. It had finally reached the ten-thousand-year level, and definitely more than just ten thousand years.
And the Ice Emperor's Soul Ring also settled into the second position on the Xuanyuan Sword. The originally three golden-patterned Soul Ring began to show a fourth golden pattern, faintly at first, then solidifying completely.
Finally, as a golden sword light shot straight into the sky, even the clouds were torn apart by this radiance.
Yuwen Tuo had succeeded. The Soul Bone and Soul Ring had perfectly merged into his body.
Moreover, the two Soul Rings immediately disappeared within the body of the Xuanyuan Sword.
Only the sword's shadow was visible, not the Soul Rings. Yuwen Tuo's Xuanyuan Sword Soul shared the same ability as Ghost Douluo's Ghost Martial Soul from Spirit Hall back then.
After all, both were Soul Martial Souls; one was a Sword Soul, the other a Ghost Soul. It seemed this type of Martial Soul had the ability to conceal Soul Rings. This ability was quite useful for Yuwen Tuo.
Sun Moon Empire, upon the imperial throne. A middle-aged man with a majestic face was leaning back on the throne, resting with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he felt a palpitation and opened his eyes.
"Imperial Father, what's wrong?" Below, a handsome young man in a wheelchair looked at the middle-aged man with apparent concern.
"Your Imperial Father dreamed of your missing younger brother again. Tianran, is there still no news of him? Imperial Father entrusted you with the task of finding him; you have disappointed Imperial Father for too long."
The handsome young man was the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, Xu Tianran. And the person he called Imperial Father was, of course, the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.
"Imperial Father, back then, younger brother was carried away by that woman while she was still pregnant before he was even born. Your son is just as heartbroken as you are, just as worried about younger brother. That year, your son finally obtained some news, knowing he had ended up in the Heavenly Soul Empire.⁴ That place is the heartland of the Douluo Continent, and very close to Shrek Academy. It's inconvenient for people from our Sun Moon Empire to go deep. Therefore, your son sent them to help. Who knew they would act so extremely, to the point of... to that village of younger brother's..."
Xu Tianran said with anguish, "Causing younger brother to go missing as a result, truly, your son deserves ten thousand deaths."
The Sun Moon Emperor waved his hand, "Enough, stop with the useless talk. The lives and deaths of a group of lowly commoners are insignificant. But the bloodline of my Sun Moon Empire cannot be allowed to wander in the Heavenly Soul Empire. He can die, but he cannot live in a region outside the Sun Moon Empire."
From the Sun Moon Emperor's words, it could be heard that his urgency in finding his son was not out of love, but purely because he didn't want the imperial bloodline to be lost outside.
Coincidentally, Xu Tianran also thought the same way. No crown prince wished for more younger brothers. He wished that so-called younger brother would die outside; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked those people to look for him.
The Sun Moon Empire indeed couldn't openly search in the Heavenly Soul Empire, but couldn't they conduct secret investigations under hidden identities?
Sending those people, Xu Tianran harbored ill intentions from the start.
"Imperial Father, actually, your son is not completely without news of younger brother. Recently, your son found out that he might have been at Shrek Academy all along. However, your son is not certain if that person is indeed younger brother because, according to the intelligence your son gathered, his Martial Soul inherited neither yours nor that woman's. Your son feels that either your son investigated incorrectly, or... you were..." Xu Tianran paused, on the verge of saying outright, Imperial Father, you might have been cuckolded.
In reality, that Martial Soul was not entirely unrelated to the Sun Moon Imperial family. Xu Tianran was deliberately trying to sow discord.
"What?" The Sun Moon Emperor suddenly flew into a rage. "Tianran, at all costs, bring that child back! Your Imperial Father will personally investigate. If it's a misunderstanding, all is well. Otherwise, that bitch and that bastard child, Your Imperial Father will have them torn into a million pieces!"
"Yes, Imperial Father. Your son receives the decree."
At this moment, in another imperial city, a pair of identical-looking blonde women were playing chess.
One was a mature version, the other a youthful version. One look, and it was clear they were either mother and daughter or biological sisters.
The mature version, the older sister, was just about to place a piece when her heart suddenly fluttered. She misplaced the piece, turning her game into a dead end.
The youthful version, the younger sister, asked doubtfully, "Sis, what's wrong with you?"
Her older sister had always been calm and composed; how could she suddenly make such a low-level mistake as misplacing a piece?
"It's nothing, my mind just wandered for a moment," the older sister said.
Her fingers lightly pressed the area over her heart. She thought inwardly, 'What's wrong with me? Why did I suddenly think of that bastard? Hasn't he been dead for a long time? I heard the village was burned down; it's impossible he's still alive. I'd already forgotten him long ago.'
On Yuwen Tuo, the long-suppressed power of destiny had finally awakened for the most part. And the awakening of this power seemed to have triggered quite a few butterfly effects.
The biggest butterfly was in the heavens!
Upon a mysterious throne, a man clad in a purple robe rose from his seat. "A new star is rising. This sword qi contains the aura of the Saintly Way and endless destructive power. Hehe, interesting. Unexpectedly, there's another Child of Destiny on the Douluo Continent. Previously in a state of slumber plus seal, has it awakened now due to obtaining powerful strength? Moreover, that Old Sixth doesn't seem to have discovered it yet. The destiny on this child seems to have deliberately concealed itself only from that Old Sixth, yet intentionally allowed me to sense it. Could it be that the Will of the Continent is protecting this child? Good judgment, knowing I'm much better than that Old Sixth."
"Serves that fellow right for even sending his daughter away, only to find a worse one. It's just a pity for Little Seven. Forget it, it's his own daughter after all. Then, this better Child of Destiny, I shall be the one to nurture him."