"Since you've chosen the ice attribute, why not look for the Snow Empress?" Lu Cheng said with a light chuckle.
"The Snow Empress—the Snow Empress? Are you out of your mind?!" The snowy-white giant worm wore a look of shocked bewilderment as it sized up the youth. It had prided itself on being daring enough to target the Ice Empress, but it never imagined this boy's ambition would be so vast that even it trembled at the thought.
That was one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, a being with over seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, ranked among the top three of the Ten Great Vicious Beasts.
A stomp of her foot would cause an earthquake throughout the entire spirit beast world.
How could it be possible?!
"If we don't try, how will we know?" Lu Cheng's gaze drifted, but in his heart, he was calculating the time.
In the original story, the Snow Empress attempted to transform into human form and was captured using the God-Sealing Platform by a mysterious rank nine Soul Engineer from the Sun Moon Empire who happened to stumble into the core region of the Far North. According to the normal timeline, in about half a year, he would see the Snow Empress in her embryonic form at the Star Luo Imperial Capital auction, the main venue for the Continental Soul Master Academy Competition.
And the timing was just that coincidental.
According to his current timeline—
It was slightly after the point where the original Huo Yuhao headed to the Far North for the Ice Empress's sacrifice. This meant he truly might run into the Snow Empress while she was in the middle of her transformation.
"It's just a try; after all, what if?" Lu Cheng said with a squinting smile.
"Maybe that legendary figure just happens to be transforming into a human and gets harmed by a villain, then I step in to help, and she's so moved she wants to marry me." You never know."
Tianmeng: "..."
"Your imagination is certainly rich enough."
"As for the Ice Empress, that wouldn't be bad either," Lu Cheng pondered.
The Snow Empress's power was beyond doubt; if she became a martial soul, her aptitude would naturally be higher than the Ice Empress's. However, at his current level, he didn't exactly have the right to be picky.
Moreover, if he wanted to save the Snow Empress, he had to do it early. By the time the Sun Moon Empire auctioned her off, the price would be astronomical. Since he had decided to leave Shrek Academy, that sum of over a hundred million gold coins would be truly difficult to produce.
"And now you're being picky?" Not knowing Lu Cheng's thoughts, Tianmeng curled its lip.
"Alright, let's head out to the Far North!"
Lu Cheng gave a grand wave of his hand.
One person and one worm headed straight north.
He was quite a free man. Although he was a second-year disciple of the Shrek Outer Academy, he faced no real constraints. The teachers of his class turned a blind eye; for a monster like him, who was essentially a reserve for the inner court and just in the Outer Academy for prestige, there was no need to interfere too much and invite trouble. Thus, he lived quite a carefree life.
Dragon City.
As the wealthiest and most culturally significant border city of the Heavenly Soul Empire near the Far North, it stood without equal. Here resided two behemoths: the Heavenly Dragon Gate and the Earth Dragon Gate.
Looking at the flourishing city of ice and snow, Lu Cheng's eyes were filled with curiosity.
"I just don't know where the Earth Dragon Gate is."
The cavern treasury beneath it was one of the must-visit spots. It couldn't be helped; that place was a ten-thousand-year profound ice cave. The amount of ten thousand years of profound ice marrow contained within was enough to support the Snow Empress and Ice Empress in passing their next Heavenly Tribulation without any suspense.
—
And its companion crystal, the ice extreme divine crystal, was the crafting material for the number one battle armor, the Ice Extreme War God Armor. It was the world's top-tier ice-attribute crystal, second to none.
"Forget it, business first—"
Lu Cheng hesitated for a moment but abandoned the idea of visiting the Earth Dragon Gate. With his current strength, they wouldn't just hand over the ten thousand-year profound ice marrow, and he couldn't exactly use Shrek Academy's name to pressure them—
The Far North.
On the vast, snow-white earth.
A figure that seemed out of place here was treading through the heavy snow, walking forward step by step.
In the extreme cold of nearly a hundred degrees below zero, no creature could survive except for spirit beasts with innate ice and snow attributes, let alone a handsome youth wearing only thin clothing.
The freezing wind was bone-chilling, yet as it blew past his body, there was no sign of distress.
With the Sun Refining Fire, in a sense, he possessed an extreme Yang body, immune to wind, cold, and frost.
"This is about where we enter the core region of the Far North." Tianmeng popped its head out, looking around with its small eyes full of solemnity.
"How can you tell?" Lu Cheng exhaled a cloud of white mist, full of surprise.
"Temperature," Tianmeng said, curling its lips with pride.
"So the lower the temperature, the closer we are to the core region?" Lu Cheng gazed at the endless white snow, asking with interest.
"In theory, yes. But even in the absolute core, it doesn't reach absolute zero. It's around minus two hundred degrees. Brother Tianmeng was lucky enough to go in once."
"Tianmeng, Mental Detection. The further the better. I need to find traces of the Snow Empress—"
Lu Cheng's gaze gradually turned solemn.
In truth, this trip to the Far North carried some risk. If the Snow Empress was captured by humans first, the Ice Empress would surely lose control. The scene from the original story where she was caught off guard by a sudden attack would be hard to replicate, and if a vicious beast at the peak of three hundred and ninety thousand years lost control—
The consequences were imaginable.
He needed to first determine if the Snow Empress had been captured before making a plan.
"Alright—"
Though a bit confused, Tianmeng chose to comply.
A massive phantom of a giant silkworm nearly a hundred meters long appeared above, and a mental force as vast as the sea silently permeated the ground. Centered on Lu Cheng's body, it spread out in all directions as discreetly as possible.
...A few minutes later.
Tianmeng opened its eyes, its gaze startled and strange.
"The Snow Empress—she's still there, but her state is clearly not right."
"What do you mean?" Lu Cheng's pupils constricted suddenly. Had he really run into the Snow Empress's transformation?
"See for yourself—"
With a complex gaze, Tianmeng shared its mental detection with Lu Cheng. In the next instant, Lu Cheng felt as if his Divine Sense had left his body, soaring from the ground high into the sky above the Far North, taking in everything within a radius of hundreds of miles.
At the coordinates Tianmeng had locked onto...
A mass of snowy-white mist surged. One could vaguely see a humanoid figure formed within it, attacking a white-haired old man with ferocity and rage. The latter dodged repeatedly, but his eyes flashed with intense excitement. In his hand, he held a large, complex spirit tool that emitted a bright light.
If it were the Snow Empress in her prime, there was no doubt she could have easily crushed this intruder with a single strike.
But now the transformation period was the most vulnerable time for a spirit beast. Her former peak combat power was barely a tenth of what it used to be, not to mention she had just endured a Heavenly Tribulation.
Having been suddenly interrupted by that human, she was like a leaking balloon; with every passing second, her aura withered further.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the white-haired old man's aura was steady and his eyes were sharp. It wasn't that he couldn't take down the Snow Empress; he was simply waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Once a weakness was exposed, the consequences for the Snow Empress—
Notes:
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