Douluo Continent: The Ruler of Time, Reigning Supreme

Chapter 111 Snow Emperor
At this moment, the Soul Skill has completely transcended the scope of Soul Skills. Even the divine skills of the gods in the God Realm, or even the super divine skills, pale in comparison to the effect of this moment.

Thinking of Ishtar, who hadn't responded to him in his spiritual sea, and sensing that faint aura, Yin Chen already knew how Ishtar had obtained this soul skill.

No wonder Istaru said before that he would definitely obtain a soul skill that could be used in this far north. It turns out that he didn't actually read the script, but directly gave him a cheat code.

Thinking of this, Yin Chen felt a warmth in his heart. Although Ishtar usually ignored his harassment, she still cared about him.

As time moved forward, in the valley on the outskirts of the far north, Yin Chen was fully absorbing and refining that ten-thousand-year soul ring, while Istaru forcibly altered his soul skills within his spiritual world.

Deep within the far north, in the coldest and most remote part of the Arctic ice plains, in an absolute forbidden zone shrouded in perpetual snow and wind, a change that could alter the entire landscape of the far north is quietly taking place.

This is a majestic, towering mountain range of ice crystals, seemingly formed from ancient, unmelting ice, piercing straight into the gray sky.

On the summit of one of the steepest and most isolated snow-capped peaks, there was a strangely small, cold pool, only a few feet in diameter.

The pool water was not liquid, but a solid, extremely cold aura so dense it could not be dissolved. It rose and swirled, yet strangely remained condensed, like a magnificent gem inlaid on a mountaintop, constantly emitting a chilling white mist.

In the center of this cold pond, a lotus flower, its entire body sculpted from ice and snow, is quietly blooming.

It has no distinction between roots, stems, and leaves, as if it were a spirit born from this extreme ice.

The petals are layered upon each other, presenting a translucent snow-white color, crystal clear, as if countless tiny ice crystals and starlight are slowly flowing inside.

At the heart of the lotus, a soft and pure icy blue halo pulsates slightly, like a sleeping heart. With each pulsation, it stirs the ice elements in the surrounding world to rejoice, emitting a unique fragrance that is both refreshing and chilling.

This is a rare treasure of heaven and earth—a snow lotus that is 100,000 years old.

Beside the cold pond, a peerless white figure stood silently.

She wore a long dress that seemed to be woven from falling snow, the hem of which moved without wind, rippling out layers of ice crystals.

Her long, silvery-white hair, reaching her ankles, flowed like a waterfall of moonlight, dancing wildly in the wind and snow, with fine stardust seemingly condensed between the strands.

Her skin was even whiter and more translucent than the ancient ice, and her features were so exquisite that they surpassed the limits of any description. Between her brows was the chill and aloofness of the Arctic ice plains that had remained unchanged for millennia. Her pair of ice-blue eyes were as clear as a lake deep in a glacier, reflecting the purest ice and snow in the world, yet they were also so profound that they seemed to contain the vicissitudes of seven hundred thousand years.

She is the undisputed ruler of this vast northern land, the third among the ten ferocious beasts, and possesses a terrifying cultivation of nearly 700,000 years—the Snow Empress.

At this moment, this goddess, who is aloof and incomparable, and like the embodiment of ice and snow, is slightly bowing her head, her gaze fixed on the 100,000-year-old snow lotus in the cold pool.

In the depths of those usually calm and collected eyes, a rare and extremely complex ripple appeared, containing longing, determination, and a hint of barely perceptible... unease.

This 100,000-year-old snow lotus was a serendipitous discovery she made here a hundred years ago.

Although it has not developed sentience, the essence of heaven and earth and the origin of ice it contains are unimaginably vast, giving it many incredible effects.

What captivated the Snow Emperor the most was the ancient text's record that it might help ferocious beasts, which had long surpassed the 100,000-year limit, break the rules of heaven and earth and transform into human form.

For a 100,000-year-old soul beast, transforming into a human is a gamble, a choice to shed its beastly form, embrace a human form, and pursue the elusive path to godhood in another form.

However, the price is equally enormous—they will lose the formidable cultivation of a 100,000-year-old soul beast, comparable to a Title Douluo, and their almost endless lifespan, becoming a frail human, starting from scratch. Furthermore, if they cannot break through to the God level within a hundred years, they will die of old age like mortals. For this reason, very few 100,000-year-old soul beasts choose this thorny path, and those who do mostly perish in the treacherous human world.

As for beings like the Snow Empress, whose cultivation has reached nearly 700,000 years, according to common sense, they have long since completely lost the possibility of taking human form. Her only path is to constantly face increasingly terrifying heavenly tribulations until she is reduced to ashes under the lightning tribulation, or to survive by chance and launch an attack on the threshold of one million years.

But this 100,000-year-old snow lotus gave her an unprecedented glimmer of hope.

It might be able to protect most of her original power, so that after she takes human form, she won't have to start from scratch and can retain a considerable amount of self-defense power.

For Xue Di, who was about to face her seventh heavenly tribulation and felt that her chances of surviving the tribulation were slim, this was undoubtedly a beacon of light in the darkness and a glimmer of hope in her desperate situation.

Transforming into human form, though the future is uncertain, is still better than being completely reduced to ashes under heavenly tribulation.

She longed to live, to see that vast, supposedly wondrous world occupied by humans, and even more so, to pursue that legendary, unattainable realm of gods.

"Hyotei..."

Xue Di silently recited that name in her heart.

For something this important, she needs a strong person she can absolutely trust to protect her.

Of the three kings of the far north, only the Ice Emperor, who had been with her for hundreds of thousands of years, was her only choice.

She had made up her mind that after making some preparations, she would go to find the Ice Emperor, and then return to this place to refine the snow lotus and fight for that sliver of hope.

However, just as Xue Di was feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety about the future—

Changes occur suddenly.

Her icy blue eyes suddenly sharpened like ancient ice, and the previously restrained aura around her, like that of a sleeping glacier, erupted suddenly.

An invisible pressure, like a tangible tsunami, swept outwards from her center, instantly displacing the howling wind and snow on the peak and creating an absolutely silent and cold realm.

"Who?!"

A cold, sharp rebuke, like an ice blade slicing through frozen air, carried a chilling killing intent.

As she spoke, the space around Xue Di began to distort and fluctuate unnaturally, like a stone being thrown into a calm lake.

The next moment, figures clad in heavy black robes, exuding a chilling and deathly aura, stepped out of the void like ghosts.

One, two, three... a total of sixteen figures.

They silently surrounded Xue Di in the center, their positions seemingly random, yet subtly forming a mysterious formation, blocking all her possible escape routes.

(End of this chapter)