. The Snow Empress's strength was formidable; from the moment she made her move, her aura completely overwhelmed Ma Hongjun.
Emperor Sword, Unparalleled Ice!
This was a powerful soul skill created by the Snow Empress herself.
The Snow Empress's three ultimate skills:
Sword Palm Commands Heavenly Ice and Snow, Emperor Sword, Emperor Palm, Emperor Frost Heaven;
Emperor Sword, the ultimate in ice sealing, unparalleled in its power.
When the Snow Empress uttered these words, Ma Hongjun felt her powerful aura; her control over ice and snow was simply too strong.
Basically, ice and snow within a radius of a hundred meters, even a thousand meters, were under her control. Moreover,
in the far north, in this environment, the Snow Empress was the true ruler; her domain skill, Emperor Frost Heaven, also known as Snow Dance Shining Sun, could even control ice and snow within a ten-thousand-meter radius. The
Snow Empress raised her jade-white hands, her bare arms flawless.
The power of ice and snow gathered in her hands, and soon, a massive ice and snow giant sword formed.
The Emperor Sword possesses not only formidable offensive power but also a powerful freezing effect.
In the world of ice and snow, no one can rival the Snow Empress's control over ice and snow.
She is the ruler here, the sole ruler.
Although she is considered one of the Three Heavenly Kings, even if the Ice Empress and the Titan Snow Demon King were to fight together, they would not be a match for the Snow Empress.
In the far north, even Emperor Tian is unwilling to fight the Snow Empress.
Against the Snow Empress, Ma Hongjun's Fire Phoenix Martial Soul was severely suppressed.
Ice and fire are mutually restraining; whoever is stronger will prevail.
When facing the Ice Empress, Ma Hongjun could still use the Fire Phoenix to fight her, but he couldn't against the Snow Empress. The Snow Empress was too strong; her ice and snow power was almost at the pinnacle of the mortal realm, comparable to the Ice and Snow Goddess!
If he used the Dragon Soul Martial Soul, Ma Hongjun could still fight the Ice Empress, because the Dragon Soul's soul had recovered considerably. It was once a god-level golden dragon, and even though it had become an ice dragon soul, it was still powerful.
Its soul power was also close to the divine realm; with it present, it could resist the Snow Empress's ice and snow power.
Unfortunately, the Dragon Soul was now needed to protect Xiaobai from harm.
Ma Hongjun was left to face the Snow Empress alone.
His Martial God Spear and Fire Phoenix Martial Soul were already deployed, and his enormous Fire Feather Wind Wings flapped wildly.
Ma Hongjun could only choose to dodge and engage the Snow Empress.
The powerful Emperor Sword had already struck, and Ma Hongjun frantically changed position, trying to escape.
However, within the Snow Empress's domain, he couldn't escape her lock.
The Emperor Sword struck down, the surrounding air solidified, as if time had stopped, and everything was frozen.
A massive beam of icy light descended from above.
There was no way to dodge!
Ma Hongjun frantically flapped his wings, transforming into a streak of fire and flying away.
But the Snow Empress also strode through the snow, closely following behind.
In an instant, the shadow of the giant icy sword grew larger and larger.
"Flame Domain!"
In the icy world, the Snow Empress's speed was also extremely fast, making it impossible to dodge. Ma Hongjun simply unleashed his Flame Domain, his Fire Phoenix Martial Soul shining brightly, all five red soul rings lighting up!
As the flame domain unfolded, Ma Hongjun limited its range to a hundred meters, maximizing its fire attribute.
In the far north, flame domains are inherently limited, but fortunately, Ma Hongjun's focus was entirely on this soul skill, allowing him to compress the domain.
This miniaturized flame domain resembled a blazing sun.
The powerful flames instantly dispelled the freezing force, unleashing Ma Hongjun's speed.
The Emperor Sword attacked fiercely, but the Fire Feather Wind Wings, fused with so many ten-thousand-year soul bones, were incredibly fast, especially with the enhancement of the flame domain.
"Vermilion Bird Feather!"
Ma Hongjun continued his rapid flight, feathers shooting from his wings.
The Vermilion Bird Feather flew out, frantically striking the ice-snow giant sword.
It slowed the giant sword's attack, causing its light to dim and its power to weaken!
The Vermilion Bird Feather only provided a temporary delay; the Emperor Sword remained locked onto Ma Hongjun, continuing its relentless attack. The
Emperor Sword carried powerful freezing force; if Ma Hongjun were struck, he would inevitably be frozen solid.
Even if he could break free of the icy power at that time, it would waste a lot of time.
The Ice Emperor and the Titan Snow Demon King would then catch up.
His entire body was covered in dragon scales!
On his left hand, the Fire Dragon Soul Bone erupted, forming a fiery armor that covered his right arm.
On his right hand, five dark gold claws extended, long and sharp, gathering power.
The Martial God Spear had already been held horizontally in the air by Ma Hongjun using spear control techniques, all the patterns on the spear lighting up!
With both hands raised, his fiery arms and dark gold claws blocked the Martial God Spear.
Ma Hongjun was completely focused, daring not to be distracted!
The Emperor's Sword slashed down,
directly at
the Martial God Spear. The Emperor's Sword transformed into wisps of freezing power, encasing the Martial God Spear in ice. This
powerful icy sword was utterly unreasonable; even the Martial God Spear could not escape its grasp.
Ma Hongjun was struck by this force, coughing up blood, but without hesitation, he released his hands from the Dragon Soul Spear and flew away swiftly.
His body, struck by the Emperor's Sword, would inevitably be frozen, so Ma Hongjun used his Soul Bone and Martial Soul to defend himself.
However, even the Martial God Spear was frozen, demonstrating just how powerful the Snow Emperor was.
Ma Hongjun dared not flee, for Shui Bing'er and the other four were still there; he couldn't abandon them.
So, he simply circled in the sky!
"Snow Emperor, I don't want to fight you, there's no need! This misunderstanding will eventually be resolved, can't you give me a little time?"
Ma Hongjun continued to plead, blood dripping from his lips onto his clothes.
Both his arms had been broken by the force of the Emperor's Sword!
In truth, compared to Xue Di, Ma Hongjun wouldn't be in such a sorry state even without his Dragon Soul Martial Soul. However, because of Shui Bing'er and Xiao Bai, he became hesitant and unable to fight freely, only managing to dodge and pull back.
"I won't believe you until I see Xiao Bai!"
Ma Hongjun's words sounded too good to be true, but the sheer number of red soul rings on his body, and his status as a successor of a god, was inherently mysterious.
Who knew what methods Ma Hongjun used to obtain these soul rings? Xiao Bai's unknown state, which she couldn't sense, was Xue Di's biggest worry.
Bing Di and Titan Snow Demon King also took to the air, but their speed in the air was far inferior to Ma Hongjun and Xue Di's. However,
Ma Hongjun didn't intend to flee, so they formed an encirclement!
If Ma Hongjun had been determined to escape, his Fire Feather Wind Wings, fused with so many 100,000-year-old soul bones, could easily shake off Xue Di!
The Fire Feather Wind Wings possessed extremely powerful fire attributes; Xue Di couldn't possibly freeze them completely in one go.
The three Heavenly Kings surrounded Ma Hongjun!
"If I'm injured or die, Little White will also be affected; it will be trapped in the soul space and unable to escape!"
Ma Hongjun said, hoping the Snow Empress would stop.
"Little White doesn't even know where it is? Do you think I'd believe your lies?
I won't kill you, but I can freeze you first!"
Titan Snow Demon King retorted.
They all knew that Little White's life or death was definitely related to Ma Hongjun, but their inability to see Little White made them suspect that Ma Hongjun was deceiving them, that there were some secrets they didn't know.
Therefore, the Three Heavenly Kings' idea was to freeze Ma Hongjun, preventing him from making any further moves, and then slowly study him.
The Three Heavenly Kings launched an attack on Ma Hongjun.
The Martial God Spear remained frozen, but was not injured. However, Ma Hongjun couldn't summon it. Fortunately, Ma Hongjun wasn't far from the Martial God Spear, and the two were still connected; otherwise, it would have been damaged.
Martial Souls and humans are symbiotic!
Ma Hongjun had no choice but to use his Fire Phoenix Martial Soul to both defend against the Three Heavenly Kings' attacks with his own flames and pull them apart with his Fire Feather Wind Wings!
Despite the immense difficulty, Ma Hongjun didn't use a single trace of his spiritual power.
Ice blades, ice fists, and ice swords rained down on him,
quickly leaving him covered in wounds.
Fortunately, perhaps because she was still worried about Xiaobai, the Snow Empress didn't use her powerful soul skills; her other two ultimate techniques, Emperor Palm and Emperor Frost Heaven, remained unused.
Especially Emperor Frost Heaven, the powerful skill Snow Dance Radiating Sun, could be used in conjunction with the Ice Empress, its power comparable to a human's martial soul fusion technique.
If she had used this skill, Ma Hongjun wouldn't have been able to withstand it at all; even with the help of his dragon soul, he might have been seriously injured.
Now, with the three Heavenly Kings attacking, the Snow Empress was suppressing and wearing Ma Hongjun down.
However, despite not using those powerful soul skills, facing the three, the timid Ma Hongjun, relying only on his Fire Phoenix martial soul, found the battle extremely difficult.
But this difficult fight also greatly improved Ma Hongjun's use of the Fire Phoenix martial soul.
His various soul skills became much smoother!
Ma Hongjun hadn't frequently used the Fire Phoenix's various spirit ring skills, especially given his limited combat experience.
This time, the brutal battle greatly improved his proficiency with fire-type spirit skills,
particularly the Flame Domain, a skill that allowed him to control the area's range.
The smaller the range, the greater the power!
Normally, it extended to a kilometer, but Ma Hongjun had only managed to compress it to a hundred meters at most.
Now, under immense pressure in the battle, Ma Hongjun's ability to compress his domain was greatly enhanced.
From one hundred meters, he broke through to ninety meters, then eighty meters, and then seventy meters!
This was a terrifying improvement; the further he went, the harder it became to compress, but the power also doubled.
The Flame Domain, compressed to a seventy-meter range, was already like molten lava!
The strength of his fire attribute also gave Ma Hongjun greater assurance against the Heavenly King's icy power!
And then there's his Fiery Eye, the soul bone from the 100,000-year-old Fiery Eye Demon Eagle, which has finally been awakened.
The Eagle Eye is arguably the most powerful in the soul beast world. The
Fiery Eye soul bone allows Ma Hongjun to see the three Heavenly Kings in three dimensions, enabling him to better evade their skills!
He's not worried about the Ice Emperor and the Titan Snow Demon King; their ice attributes aren't as strong as Ma Hongjun's fire attributes, so within the flame domain, Ma Hongjun isn't too concerned
about their soul skills. Their skills will at most cause some superficial injuries!
The remaining ice attributes will quickly be dissipated by the powerful firepower and won't be enough to freeze Ma Hongjun.
Only the Snow Emperor; if he's not careful, Ma Hongjun could be frozen.
Ma Hongjun's injuries look incredibly gruesome, but most are superficial. With the torso soul bone, he can hold on a little longer!
The most important thing now is to buy time.
"Dragon Soul, how much longer until Little White comes out?"
Ma Hongjun asked subconsciously.
"Almost there, just a little longer! I've increased the amount of spiritual energy I'm channeling to help it break through!"
Dragon Soul understood the current situation and wanted to help Little White quickly.
Little White's timing for breaking through was truly impeccable.
The Soul Pet Master system was currently in the experimental stage, and any slight mishap could destroy the hard-won trust.
This breakthrough would take over ten days—extremely difficult, a tremendous psychological challenge for both sides.
On the ground, Shui Bing'er and the other four were surrounded by Ice Scorpions and Ice Jade Scorpions, but the two sides were merely in a standoff, not engaging in battle, which slightly reassured Ma Hongjun.
His biggest worry here was Shui Bing'er.
If, in the end, Little White didn't break through in time but still threatened Shui Bing'er, he would have no choice but to summon Little White!
Ma Hongjun was worried about Shui Bing'er, and Shui Bing'er was equally worried about Ma Hongjun.
Seeing Ma Hongjun battling the Three Heavenly Kings in the air, being repeatedly struck, his body ravaged by ice blades and icy slashes,
Shui Bing'er could no longer remain calm, even though she knew she was no match for the Three Heavenly Kings.
However, she still wanted to fight alongside Ma Hongjun, unable to bear seeing him injured alone!
Moreover, both she and Ma Hongjun possessed heart-shaped soul bones formed from Ice Crystal Snow Lotuses; being twin lotuses, they had a telepathic connection.
Shui Bing'er's heart felt cold, its beat slow, and a sense of weakness washed over her.
This was a sign of Ma Hongjun's injury and weakness!
Shui Bing'er summoned her Phoenix Ice Wings and flew into the air!
"Ice Condensation Sword Formation!"
Shui Bing'er directly unleashed the soul skill of her Phoenix Ice Wings soul bone, a skill inherited from the Phoenix God's legacy and fused with the phoenix wing bones.
This was her most powerful soul skill at present.
The sword formation enveloped the nearest Titan Snow Demon King, the phoenix ice wings glowing, countless ice swords swirling and raining down like a storm.
"Clang clang clang..."
Countless ice swords struck the Titan Snow Demon King, but failed to pierce its body.
Its physical defense was too strong; it was impossible to break through.
Shui Bing'er's overall strength is still quite weak, and Titan Snow Demon King is known for its physical strength. Even a Title Douluo might not be able to break through its defenses.
"Overestimating yourself!"
Titan Snow Demon King was angered by Shui Bing'er and said coldly.
"With this kind of strength, you still want to join the battlefield!"
Then it attacked Shui Bing'er with its fist.
It seemed like an ordinary punch, but Titan Snow Demon King's fist, even without using ice power, was equivalent to a Title Douluo's strike.
Shui Bing'er couldn't withstand it!
Ma Hongjun sensed Shui Bing'er when she took flight, and he was extremely anxious.
"Bing'er!"
"Big guy, stop!"
Ma Hongjun shouted, no longer caring about dodging the attacks of Snow Empress and Ice Empress.
Fire Feather Wind Wings flew over at lightning speed.
An ice arrow hit him, and
an ice blade slashed at his torso!
His speed slowed down.
Titan Snow Demon King's fist had already been unleashed, and Shui Bing'er couldn't withstand Titan Snow Demon King's ice domain at all. The speed of Phoenix Ice Wings was suppressed.
"No!"
Ma Hongjun roared, his eyes bloodshot.
The fiery domain compressed again, fifty meters!
Instantly, the ice crystals on his body dissipated.
Ma Hongjun rushed over; he could have had time to interrupt the Titan Snow Demon King's fist and stop it.
But he had been delayed by the attacks of the Ice and Snow Emperors, and now it was too late to stop the Titan Snow Demon King!
Ma Hongjun had only one choice…
"Bang!"
The Titan Snow Demon King's massive fist struck Ma Hongjun's back, while in Ma Hongjun's arms lay the unharmed Shui Bing'er.
Ma Hongjun took the blow.
The Ice and Snow Emperors, watching from behind, saw Ma Hongjun rush forward like a madman, unhesitatingly shielding Shui Bing'er from the punch.
This tender scene moved the Ice and Snow Emperors!
Their speed subtly slowed, and they reconsidered Ma Hongjun.
From the start of the battle until now, Ma Hongjun had been dodging and avoiding combat, only defending, never attacking.
He had been trying to explain, his attitude sincere, his words earnest. Considering the events of the past ten days, everything else proved Ma Hongjun's sincerity.
Now, seeing Ma Hongjun risking his life to save his lover softened their hearts.
Such a person couldn't be a bad person!
His genuine actions didn't seem like those of a heartless liar.
The Snow Emperors hesitated!
Ma Hongjun and Shui Bing'er were sent flying.
Titan Snow Demon King's fist was incredibly powerful.
This punch directly injured Ma Hongjun's internal organs.
Even if his torso and soul bones could repair themselves, it would take time.
But now Ma Hongjun was injured inside and out, making treatment too slow!
"Bing'er!"
Ma Hongjun called softly, looking at her tenderly. Thankfully, she was alright!
"How are you?"
Shui Bing'er's eyes were already filled with tears.
At this moment, the Ice and Snow Emperors had caught up.
Ma Hongjun shielded Shui Bing'er behind him, facing off against the Three Heavenly Kings in the air.
At this point, Ma Hongjun had no way out. With Shui Bing'er here, he couldn't escape.
He had to fight.
If the Three Heavenly Kings continued to press him, he would have to summon the Dragon Soul as a last resort. Were
soul beasts really that difficult to communicate with?
Ma Hongjun looked at the approaching Three Heavenly Kings with a hint of despair. He had been too optimistic.
Titan Snow Demon King threw another punch.
"Is there no room for maneuver?"
Watching the fist grow larger and larger, Ma Hongjun sighed sadly, preparing to unleash the Dragon Soul.
"Seal!"
A clear, melodious voice rang out.
The Titan Snow Demon King's punch was instantly frozen in ice!
The Snow Empress stepped forward, stopping the Titan Snow Demon King and the Ice Empress from attacking!
"I'll trust you one more time!"
(End of Chapter)