Inside the secret chamber, the Heal Ball in Liu Yuan's hand emitted a faint pink glow, releasing a gentle vibration designed specifically to soothe and restrain living beings.
Although he longed to immediately subdue this ruler of the Far North, the fanatic gleam in Liu Yuan's eyes was quickly suppressed by reason.
"No… not here."
Liu Yuan swept his gaze across his surroundings.
This secret chamber had been built to the highest specifications using spirit tool alloys, sturdy enough to withstand attacks from Spirit Emperors or even Soul Sages. But if it became the battlefield for subduing the Snow Empress, it would be no sturdier than paper.
Who was the Snow Empress?
She was the leader of the Three Great Kings of the Extreme North, a terrifying ferocious beast with a cultivation of seven hundred thousand years!
Trying to make such a proud existence submit through words alone was absolutely impossible.
Among spirit beasts, only one law was acknowledged—the law of the jungle.
Only by displaying overwhelming strength, power sufficient to make her take him seriously, would any conversation be possible.
"To suppress her, I'll need my strongest trump cards."
Two figures surfaced in Liu Yuan's mind.
Mega Rayquaza.
And the recently obtained Primal Kyogre.
If these two weren't used through Martial Soul Possession, but instead summoned in their true forms…
Either one alone exceeded a hundred meters in length.
Summoning them directly within Sun Moon Imperial City would likely tear through the surrounding districts in an instant, plunging the city into chaos.
Explaining that afterward would be far too troublesome.
"I need to go somewhere deserted."
Having made his decision, Liu Yuan didn't hesitate.
He stored the Heal Ball inside his storage spirit tool, then his figure flickered as he shot out of the secret chamber like a bolt of black lightning.
After leaving the manor, Liu Yuan sped straight toward the wilderness outside Sun Moon Imperial City.
…
Half an hour later.
Deep within a desolate mountain range three hundred miles from Sun Moon Imperial City.
Jagged rocks filled the land, vegetation was sparse, and no trace of human presence could be found for dozens of miles. Only the occasional roar of low-level spirit beasts broke the deathly silence of the night.
"This will do."
Liu Yuan descended from the sky and landed atop a lone mountain peak that had been worn flat by time.
The night wind howled, snapping his robes loudly.
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. Then his eyes sharpened as he reached toward the Void Realm on both sides.
"Come forth!"
"Mega Rayquaza!"
"Primal Kyogre!"
Rumble—!!!
As his words fell, the calm night sky changed in an instant.
On the left, violent winds surged upward.
A terrifying dragon pressure, ancient and majestic as if drawn from the primordial era, roared into the heavens.
The clouds were ripped apart as an emerald-green giant dragon burst forth, its body wrapped in golden, ribbon-like streams of light. Its golden vertical pupils gazed down upon the earth, and with every breath, the surrounding air spiraled into chaos.
This was the tyranny of Delta Stream—the supreme majesty of the ruler of the skies.
On the right side of the sky, the scene was entirely different.
A torrential downpour erupted.
The arid mountain range was instantly swallowed by rain, yet the water never touched the ground. Instead, it eerily suspended in midair, converging into the phantom image of a boundless ocean.
From within that illusion, a colossal deep-blue beast slowly emerged, its size no less imposing than Rayquaza's.
Its body was semi-translucent, with golden, lava-like patterns flowing within. Its dorsal fin spread like clouds hanging from the heavens, radiating the profound weight of the Primordial Sea.
It was Kyogre—transformed through Primal Reversion.
As the two divine beasts descended together, their overwhelming auras overlapped, causing every wild spirit beast within a hundred-mile radius to collapse to the ground, trembling, not even daring to breathe.
This was already the result of Liu Yuan's deliberate restraint. Otherwise, the mere collision of these two pressures would have flattened the entire mountain.
"Hah…"
Standing between the two divine beasts, Liu Yuan felt that familiar surge of power, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
His strength was steadily growing, and his control over these two beings had become far more refined.
"It's time to begin."
Liu Yuan shifted and leapt directly onto Primal Kyogre's massive back.
Beneath his feet was a dense, deep-sea-like solidity. The curtain of rain parted automatically around him, forming an absolute dry domain.
With a flick of his wrist, the pink Heal Ball appeared in his palm once more.
"Snow Empress… I hope you can be a little more reasonable."
Liu Yuan smiled faintly and pressed the activation button, hurling the Heal Ball into the air ahead.
Click!
The Heal Ball opened midair.
This time, it wasn't gentle white light that burst forth, but an extreme chill that seemed capable of freezing the soul itself.
Whoosh—!
The moisture in the air, intensified by Primal Kyogre's presence, instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals, drifting through the sky like snow.
A petite figure slowly emerged amid the swirling frost.
She appeared no more than two or three years old, carved from pink jade, exquisitely adorable.
Yet the confusion that once filled her deep-blue eyes was gone. In its place burned endless cold and towering fury.
As the ruler of the Far North, the Snow Empress possessed intelligence far beyond that of ordinary beings.
Her brief awakening in the secret chamber, coupled with her time within the Heal Ball, had allowed her to fully grasp her situation.
She had been captured by a human.
And it had happened at her weakest moment—when she had chosen to regress into an embryonic form to cultivate anew as a human.
To the proud Snow Empress, this was an incomparable humiliation.
"Human…"
A childish yet murderous voice slipped from her cherry-like lips.
Suspended in midair, the Snow Empress locked her gaze firmly onto Liu Yuan.
"No matter who you are… to dare profane this Empress—die!"
Without another word, she waved her small hand.
Buzz!
The temperature between heaven and earth plummeted instantly toward absolute zero.
"Ice Seal!"
With her cry, countless sharp ice prisms condensed out of thin air. Like a storm of pear blossoms, they screamed through the air toward Liu Yuan.
Each prism flickered with ghostly blue light, carrying a temperature cold enough to freeze and shatter steel.
Liu Yuan's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Hmph."
"Primal Kyogre—Ice Beam!"
The massive beast beneath him let out a deep, whale-like cry.
Buzz—!
A beam of icy energy erupted from Kyogre's mouth.
The Ice Beam collided head-on with the Snow Empress's attack, the two forces grinding against each other before dissipating together.
"What?!"
The Snow Empress's pupils shrank, disbelief flashing across her small face.
Her attack had been blocked?
And…
What was that enormous blue beast? Why did the aura radiating from it make even her, the ruler of the Far North, tremble from the depths of her soul?
And that green dragon spiraling through the heavens—
Only now did the Snow Empress, blinded moments ago by rage, finally notice those two towering existences.
They were life forms that transcended her understanding.
That aura… was it divine?
"This… how is this possible?!"
Her mind shook violently. The failure of her supposedly fatal strike caused her offense to falter for an instant.
And in a clash between experts, a single moment of hesitation was fatal.
Liu Yuan gave her no chance to recover.
Since he had chosen to "reason with strength," he would do it thoroughly—until she submitted from the depths of her heart.
"Mega Rayquaza."
Liu Yuan raised his head, staring at the green dragon coiling across the nine heavens, and spoke coldly.
"Extreme Speed."
Roar—!!!
Mega Rayquaza unleashed a roar that shattered the clouds.
In the next instant, its massive form vanished.
Extreme Speed—a divine technique with terrifying priority—displayed its absolute dominance at that moment.
The Snow Empress felt only a blur before her eyes. A suffocating sense of danger enveloped her entire body as she instinctively tried to mobilize her origin cold energy to defend.
"Empress Palm · Great Cold—"
Too late.
Before her technique could fully form, a terrifying force like a falling meteor slammed into her.
Bang!!!
A deep, thunderous explosion echoed through the sky.
"Ah—!"
The Snow Empress cried out in pain as her petite body was blasted from the air like a kite with its string severed.
Boom!
She smashed violently into the rocky ground below, creating a massive crater dozens of meters wide. Gravel flew as dust billowed skyward.
"Cough… cough…"
As the dust settled, the Snow Empress lay at the bottom of the crater in a miserable state.
Though she hadn't suffered fatal injuries, that brief exchange was enough for her to understand one thing—
The human before her was anything but ordinary.
Even if his physical body was astonishingly weak…
He controlled two terrifyingly powerful spirit beasts.
And even as the Snow Empress, she had to admit that facing those two was extremely troublesome.
At last, she stopped launching reckless attacks.
Seeing this, Liu Yuan revealed a satisfied smile.
"It seems we can finally have a proper conversation."