Douluo Continent: My name is Lu Mingfei, and my martial soul is Lu Mingze.

Just as Hyotei was about to refuse, she suddenly felt the mental force binding her loosen abruptly.

It wasn't that the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm withdrew on its own; it was torn open from the outside by something.

A white figure emerged from the wind and snow.

Snow Emperor.

She raised one hand, her fingertips glowing with an icy blue light, and the golden light membrane of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm was torn open like paper in front of her.

The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm froze completely, its round body shrinking back, its voice trembling: "Snow Snow Snow Snow Emperor—"

Snow Empress ignored it, walked up to Ice Empress, looked her up and down to make sure she wasn't injured, and then turned to look at Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm felt as if the ice crystals all over its body were about to melt under the gaze of those deep blue eyes.

It has lived in the far north for a million years, and what it fears most is not the Ice Emperor, but the Snow Emperor.

"Go on," Xue Di said calmly. "Tell me about that god-making plan you just mentioned."

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm paused for a moment, then began to speak frantically.

It recounted its plans for Huo Yuhao, the layout of the dual martial souls, the principle of symbiosis between soul beasts and humans, and the theoretical basis for avoiding the rules of the God Realm, speaking with great enthusiasm and detail, ten times more so than when it had spoken to Bingdi.

After it finished speaking, it looked at Xue Di with expectant eyes.

Xue Di paused for a second, then said, "No need."

"What?"

"We have a better way out." Xue Di's tone was as calm as if she were just saying that the weather was nice today.

The Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm opened its mouth, as if to say something, but upon meeting the Snow Empress's deep blue eyes, it swallowed back all the words that were on the tip of its tongue. Having lived for millions of years, it knew one thing well—when the Snow Empress said it wasn't necessary, it was best not to ask why.

Xue Di turned around to leave, but after taking two steps, she suddenly stopped.

"Bing'er".

"Um?"

"Is there a 200,000-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion that's about to undergo its tribulation?"

Hyotei's body stiffened slightly, then her expression turned somewhat grim: "Yes. Her cultivation has reached its peak; at most, the Heavenly Tribulation will arrive in two more years."

"Will it pass?"

Ice Emperor remained silent for a long time before finally shaking her head, her voice muffled: "She won't survive. Although the 200,000-year Heavenly Tribulation is younger than the 400,000-year one, her foundation is insufficient, and being a pure ice attribute, she's completely countered by the lightning tribulation. I think the success rate is less than 10%."

"And there's no way I could help her."

Snow Empress nodded, then said something that stunned both Ice Empress and Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm.

"Go ask her opinion. If she's willing, let her follow this fat worm and try out its god-making plan."

Hyotei suddenly looked up: "Yuki?"

"It's better to take multiple paths at the same time than to go down one path to the end." Xue Di's voice remained calm.

"We'll try Lu Mingze's path, and let Tianmeng try hers. Whichever path leads to success first, the others will follow. It's too hard for soul beasts to live in this world; more choices mean more lives."

Hyotei was silent for a few seconds, then nodded: "I'll go ask her."

She turned and disappeared into the snowstorm.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm lay there blankly, its mind still reeling.

The Ice Emperor failed to deceive them, and the Snow Emperor escaped, but—a 200,000-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion?

That's not bad at all!

Although it's not as strong as Ice Emperor, it's enough for Huo Yuhao as his second martial soul.

Moreover, if this path proves successful, demonstrating the feasibility of the deity-making plan, then the Snow Empress might even change her mind—

Thinking of this, the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm couldn't help but wriggle its round body, and little stars appeared in its eyes.

Huo Yuhao, who was in the corner, witnessed the whole thing and was completely stunned.

He hid behind a snowdrift, wrapped in the mental energy shield given to him by the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, watching from beginning to end, with only one thought in his mind—what were these soul beasts saying? What about creating a god? What about a second martial soul?

Wasn't he supposed to come to the far north to obtain a spirit ring?

Why is there suddenly a need for a second martial soul?

Tianmeng Bingcan's voice rang in his mind, her tone full of delight: "Yuhao, your brother Tianmeng has found you a great opportunity, just wait."

Huo Yuhao: "..."

Inside the cave, Lu Mingfei lay on the animal skin, staring idly at the cracks in the cave ceiling.

Two figures walked in, bringing with them a gust of cold wind.

Snow Emperor and Ice Emperor.

Lu Mingfei sat up abruptly, instinctively shrinking back.

Xue Di walked up to him, looking down at him. Her long, silvery-white hair fell down from her shoulders, and her eyes showed no emotion.

Lu Mingfei felt a chill run down his spine from her gaze and was about to say something inappropriate to ease the tension when Xue Di spoke first.

"We've decided to give it a try."

Lu Mingfei blinked.

Want to give it a try?

What to try?

Then he realized—they were talking about Lu Mingze's plan, the plan of the Four Great Monarchs.

Lu Mingfei's first reaction was not happiness, but panic.

He opened his mouth, his mind racing with one thought: How can I, Lu Mingfei, a level 20 Soul Master who hasn't even acquired a second Soul Ring, possibly appoint two Soul Beasts that are hundreds of thousands of years old as the Four Great Monarchs?

He didn't even know what an investiture ceremony meant.

"Lu Mingze!" he screamed inwardly, "You come out here! What do you mean by bestowing titles upon the Four Great Sovereigns? How am I supposed to bestow titles? Explain yourself clearly!"

With his mind completely calm, Lu Mingze didn't utter a single word.

"Lu Mingze, stop pretending to be dead!"

There has been no response yet.

Lu Mingfei gritted his teeth and cursed Lu Mingze's ancestors for eighteen generations in his mind. Then he realized that Lu Mingze's ancestors were also his ancestors, so he could only shut up in frustration.

He raised his head, met Xue Di's deep blue eyes, and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Um... ladies, could I ask why you suddenly changed your minds? Couldn't you have considered it for a couple more days?"

Xue Di did not answer.

Hyotei snorted coldly from the side, flicking their tail hook: "Enough nonsense. We agreed, so when are you going to start?"

Lu Mingfei felt sweat beading on his forehead.

He called out to Lu Mingze in his mind again, but there was still no response. That little bastard Meimei hid, leaving him to clean up this huge mess all by himself.

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath and decided to stabilize the situation first.

"Well... the matter of bestowing titles upon the four monarchs isn't something that can be done casually." Lu Mingfei tried to make his voice sound as confident as possible. "It requires preparation, it requires the right timing, it requires..."

"What do you need?" Hyotei raised its tail hook again.

Looking at that cold light, Lu Mingfei swallowed back all the nonsense he was about to say.

"I'll do it as soon as possible," he said.

Hyotei's tail hook slowly drooped down.

Xue Di glanced at him, said nothing, turned around and sat down on the other side of the cave.

Hyotei lay beside her, his two pincers crossed in front of him, his posture still so elegant.

Lu Mingfei sat on the animal skin, his body stiff and his mind buzzing.

The Ice Emperor and the Snow Emperor were whispering something on the other side. He couldn't hear them clearly, but he vaguely heard words like "two hundred thousand years," "Tianmeng," and "Huo Yuhao."

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "What does this have to do with me? I can't even handle my own affairs."

He closed his eyes and began frantically searching his mind for any memories related to "the investiture of the four monarchs".

There was nothing there.

When his martial spirit awakened, Lu Mingze appeared, dressed in a suit and holding a glass of red wine, looking like an adult.

He always thought it was just bad luck that he had gotten a weird martial soul, and never thought that it would come with some kind of "conferment" function.

Lu Mingfei cursed Lu Mingze a hundred times in his heart.

On the other side of the cave, Hyotei lowered his voice and spoke to Yuki-tei.

"Xue'er, is that guy reliable?"

Xue Di glanced at Lu Mingfei and remained silent for a second.

"Unreliable."

"Then why—"

"But his brother is reliable."

Hyotei's tail hook swayed slightly, and it remained silent.

But she felt that both of them were unreliable.