Chapter 172: The Snow Empress Compromises, I Will Protect Your Dao
Inside the cavernous discussion hall, ethereal gray chains pulsed with a faint, ghostly luminescence, suspending the illusory figure of the Snow Empress in mid-air. The biting chill of Ultimate Ice constantly warred against the deep Soul Laws of the Death Saint Mage God. Frost crystallized and shattered along the spectral links, producing a continuous, subtle cracking sound that echoed through the tense silence. Despite her captivity, the Snow Empress's ice-blue eyes radiated absolute coldness and contempt. Even in this desperate situation, her imperial majesty as the absolute ruler of the Far North remained entirely unblemished.
Hearing Liu Yuan's casual suggestion that they should 'chat', she responded with a sneer sharp enough to cut glass.
"Human, put away your hypocritical rhetoric."
Her voice carried the absolute zero of a glacier untouched for ten thousand years, projecting an aloofness that forcefully pushed everyone away.
"In the eyes of your kind, Soul Beasts are nothing more than convenient carriers for Soul Rings and Soul Bones. You went through the immense trouble of releasing me from that wretched iron box, only to use these unheard-of methods to suppress me. Is it not so you can absorb my Origin at the most opportune moment to achieve your own selfish goals? Insidious and cunning. That is the very nature of humanity."
Facing the hostile accusations, Liu Yuan displayed absolutely no annoyance. He stood casually with his hands clasped behind his back. His Double Pupils met the phantom woman's furious gaze with level, unshakeable calm.
"Snow Empress, I freely admit that I have a motive. However, what I seek is not your Soul Ring."
He took a slow, measured step forward. The purple-gold divine light swirling within his Double Pupils deepened, exuding an ancient pressure. "Rather than watching you turn into a lifeless, static ring, I would prefer to make a deal with you. A transaction that will allow you to be reborn, and allow me to gain a truly capable assistant."
"A deal?" She scoffed, her spectral form flickering slightly. "Since when does a prisoner have the right to negotiate a deal?"
"Let us talk about your life, and your future Dao." Liu Yuan's voice rose slightly, each syllable dropping like a heavy stone into a quiet pond.
"You know your current state better than anyone in this room. Your attempt at reincarnation and re-cultivation was forcibly interrupted. Your physical body is entirely destroyed. Your Origin is fractured beyond natural repair. Right now, you are merely a fragile mass of mental energy, one that could dissipate into nothingness at any second. Without outside intervention, even if I do absolutely nothing, you will completely annihilate yourself through the internal consumption of your own remaining energy."
Watching her ice-blue pupils shrink a fraction of a millimeter, Liu Yuan pressed his advantage. "But I can help you gradually recover to your peak state. It will require a process, yes, but I possess the absolute certainty needed to help you reshape your Origin. In exchange, the only price you need to pay is to protect me for a single century."
He let the words hang in the freezing air. "A hundred years is but a brief nap for a Soul Beast who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years. But for the current you, life only happens once. If you fade away here, your endless eras of bitter cultivation in the Far North will completely turn to dust."
The Snow Empress fell into a tense silence. A microscopic crack appeared in the absolute zero of her gaze. She knew the human spoke the truth. A century was entirely insignificant to an entity of her age. Compared to complete, irreversible demise, the requested price was practically a steal.
Yet, it was Liu Yuan's next sentence that pierced directly through her armor and struck her deepest, most guarded fear.
", we arrive at the most crucial point." Liu Yuan tilted his head slightly. "Snow Empress, your seven-hundred-thousand-year limit is rapidly approaching, is it not? If you had not felt the irresistible, destructive might of the Heavenly Dao preparing to descend, someone with your immense pride would never have risked attempting a transformation and re-cultivation with such an abysmally low success rate. The only reason you were in such a desperate hurry to become human is precisely because you have zero confidence in surviving your upcoming tribulation."
The words acted as a surgical blade, slicing cleanly through the dignified facade she had tried so desperately to maintain. Her expression instantly warped into something ugly and defensive. The ambient temperature plummeted erratically as her soul fluctuations underwent a violent, unstable upheaval.
"What if I told you that I possess a method to drastically increase your probability of surviving that seven-hundred-thousand-year tribulation?"
Liu Yuan threw down his final, crushing bargaining chip.
"As long as you successfully weather that lightning, you earn the right to live for another hundred thousand years. Exchanging a mere century of guard duty for a genuine path to the future. You are smart enough to calculate whether this deal is worth your time."
In that fleeting second, genuine temptation flared within the Snow Empress's chest. The promises laid out before her were dangerously alluring. Reshaping her shattered Origin and conquering the great tribulation were the two things she desired above all else.
But that flicker of hope only lasted for a few shallow breaths.
Her rational mind quickly reasserted control. She glared at Liu Yuan, her eyes flooding with renewed suspicion and harsh mockery.
"What a massive joke." She let out a dry, humorless laugh. "A human junior who hasn't even breached Level 60 actually dares to speak so arrogantly? You claim you can help me survive the World-Destroying Lightning Tribulation? Your kind truly are the most deceitful creatures to ever walk this world. To trick me into lowering my guard, you dare to fabricate such an outrageous lie. You are not even a Titled Douluo. On what possible basis should I believe a weakling like you can interfere with the supreme laws of the Heavenly Dao?"
Facing the biting ridicule, Liu Yuan did not bother wasting his breath on empty arguments. He merely turned his head slightly, shifting his gaze toward the empty void just behind his shoulder.
"Elder Yi. Show her our foundation."
The moment the command left his lips, Electrolux, who had been standing in absolute silence behind him, slowly opened his eyes. In those gray irises, deep and vast as a midnight galaxy, a flash of pure, holy radiance ignited.
The old man slowly extended his withered hand. Above his palm, a cluster of soft gray mist materialized, practically overflowing with boundless, surging vitality. This was the pure life essence refined by the Death Saint Mage God's Origin, processed after absorbing two precious pieces of the Gold of Life. He made a gentle pressing motion toward the captive entity. The cluster of mist completely ignored the physical distance between them, phasing directly into the Snow Empress's illusory soul body.
The Snow Empress's soul light, previously dim and flickering from her critical injuries, instantly erupted into a dazzling halo of extreme cold the very second the mist made contact.
A gasp escaped her ethereal lips. She could feel her withered, nearly shattered life core hungrily drinking in the nourishment. Under the soothing wash of the gray energy, the deep soul cracks that had stubbornly refused to heal began closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This was no temporary suppression or cheap trick. This was genuine, foundational Origin repair in the truest sense of the word.
"This... how is this possible?" The Snow Empress murmured, completely stunned. She floated there in a daze, feeling the long-lost Origin power bubbling back to life within her core. The immediate, miraculous effect of this energy easily surpassed every legendary Heaven and Earth Treasure she had encountered in her long life.
"This pure life Divine Sense... just who are you?" She snapped her head up to stare at Electrolux, her icy tone finally cracking to reveal a distinct trace of genuine awe.
Liu Yuan took another deliberate step forward. His Double Pupils locked onto her face, his demeanor shifting from calm negotiation to cold, forceful authority.
"I have proven my capability. Now, you have exactly one chance. The outcome depends entirely on your choice."
He pointed a finger down at the Sealed God Platform resting on the floor, then tapped his own temple, indicating his Sea of Consciousness. "Either you agree to my terms, become my ally, and reside within my Sea of Consciousness so I can restore your strength while you guarantee my safety for a century. Or, I will shove this fragile mass of Origin right back into the Sealed God Platform. And when the day finally comes that I require a high-level Soul Ring or Soul Bone, I will butcher you without a second thought."
He did not yell. His voice remained perfectly level, yet it carried an indisputable, suffocating weight of finality.
"Snow Empress, my patience has a limit. Do you choose to live on and witness a higher realm, or do you choose to cling to your meaningless dignity and rot away inside that iron box?"
A long, deathly silence descended upon the cavernous hall. Du Busi and the surrounding elders subconsciously held their breath, allowing the crushing atmospheric pressure to converge entirely upon the captive spirit.
The Snow Empress stared intently at the young man standing before her. His personal cultivation was indeed shallow, but the terrifying, miraculous methods displayed by the spectral elder standing at his back had forcefully carved out a genuine path of hope.
More, the absolute, ruthless decisiveness swirling within Liu Yuan's Double Pupils made one thing perfectly clear. This human would not hesitate to destroy a priceless treasure if it refused to serve him. As the supreme ruler of the Far North, she did not fear the concept of death. What she truly feared was dying in such a valueless, pathetic, and utterly frustrating manner.
Minutes ticked by like hours. Finally, the rigid tension in the Snow Empress's spectral shoulders slowly melted away. She closed her eyes. The hostile, extreme cold aura that had kept everyone at bay quietly withdrew into her core.
"A hundred years..."
When she opened her eyes again, the glacial hostility had been replaced by a swirling storm of complex emotions. She looked directly at Liu Yuan and exhaled a long breath of freezing mist.
"Fine. I accept your terms. As long as you can restore my strength and ensure I pass the great tribulation, I will protect your Dao for the next century."
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