CH 62: Extreme North

"Holy fuck, it's cold!" Ah Li shivered even with the thick coat. Standing in the Extreme North, on the large ground of snow, he deeply regretted deactivating his Orbs even if for a moment. "Yeah, that's what you get for ignoring my words." Skydream scoffed :"I told you Extreme North is extremely cold for beings foreign to it. But no, you just don't listen."

"Well I'm sorry, Mr know-it-all." He scoffed sarcastically, quickly activating his Orbs :"Alright, much better." The others had gotten out as well, looking around curiously. Bibi Dong wasn't in her physical form, it was too cold for that. Even though her body was much stronger than those of her current Soul Power Level, she would still need to constantly use her Soul Power if she didn't want to freeze to death in this environment.

Hu Liena :"Wow, so this is the Extreme North. It's really pretty. Look at the ground, it's all snow as far as the eye can see. It's so cold that even the snow is frozen as we go deeper though. But it's quite dangerous to humans though."

Qian Renxue :"Yeah, it's beautiful and equally as dangerous. Not only are there many Soul Beasts because of lack of hunting and Soul Masters in the northern regions, the environment makes it very dangerous. Forget about trying to fight here, even just staying here for long can kill weak Soul Masters. Xiao Li, you need to be careful."

Bibi Dong, chuckling :"Xue'er, it's alright, no need to worry. This place is dangerous for normal humans, but Li'er is anything but normal."

Ah Li, smirking :"Why do YOU sound so smug about it?"

Bibi Dong, pinching his cheek :"Because I'm like a master to you. Of course I'd feel proud if my disciple became strong."

Hu Liena, pouting :"Master..."

Bibi Dong, chuckling and patting her :"Don't worry, Nana, I'd never forget about my first disciple. No need to be jealous."

Qian Renxue :"Hm, I guess you have a point, mom. I mean, he broke through the wall of a universe, this is nothing."

Ah Li :"Heh, finally some recognition."

Hu Liena :"Huh, don't be so arrogant, you still need to be careful. What's the worth of being so overpowered if you can't activate your Orbs in time?"

Ah Li :"First of all, I'm not arrogant, I'm confident. Big difference between the two. Second of all, Instincts, remember? My Orbs will automatically activate if I'm about to die or in any extreme danger."

Hu Liena :"Oh, right, I forgot about that. Anyway, so we're here to find a 100,000-year Soul Beast right now."

Ah Li :"A nearly 400,000-year one, to be specific."

Hu Liena, tightening lips :"Still sounds crazy."

Ah Li :"Of course it is. We're here to catch a nearly 400,000-year Ice Jade Scorpion, labeled the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress and Ice Empress, the second strongest Soul Beast in the Extreme North and convince her to become my Soul Spirit. Who would believe that? Nobody would believe it if they heard it."

Skydream :"Hehehe, don't worry, boss. I'm sure I'll be able to convince her!"

Qian Renxue :"But how though? I get that becoming a Soul Spirit won't kill a Soul Beast, but it's still losing freedom and becoming a simple ghost."

Skydream :"Simple, it's because she'll die if she doesn't do this. Soul Beasts will go through a Thunder Tribulation every 100,000-years of their cultivation. And the more they progress, the deadlier the Thunder Tribulation becomes. No matter how powerful Bing Bing is, she still won't be 100% sure she'll pass the Thunder Tribulation.

And if she doesn't, she'll either die right away, or after some time. If she understands the pros and cons of becoming a Soul Spirit, she'll definitely agree. After all, becoming a Soul Spirit not only means a Soul Beast won't need to cultivate until 1,000,000-years, which is an extremely long time, it also means they won't need to risk dying to Thunder Tribulations.

We can just assist a Soul Master and help him become a God if we find the right one. And even if the Soul Master can't become a God, we'll still have a relatively easier life compared to being a simple Soul Beast and having such a slow speed in cultivation. The risk of dying with a Soul Master as his Soul Spirit is a lot lower than living by ourselves."

Nightmare :"Skydream is right. Forget about 100,000-years, managing to live long enough to reach even 10,000-years without being killed by either Soul Masters or Soul Beasts is already an accomplishment. You have no idea how dangerous the life of a Soul Beast is."

Qian Renxue :"I see. You have a point. By the way, do you know this Ice Empress, Skydream?"

Ah Li :"Hm? You haven't told them your story, Skydream?"

Skydream :"No, boss. We were too busy explaining everything about you and everything for me to explain anything more than just being here to get a new Soul Spirit."

Ah Li :"Oh, I see. You have told them we're doing it to get a new Martial Soul, right?"

Qian Renxue/Hu Liena :"TO WHAT?!"

Ah Li :"Guess not. Sister Goddess, can you explain it to them while Skydream guides me to Ice Empress's location?"

Bibi Dong :"Alright, leave it to me."

Skydream :"Let's go, boss! I can't wait to see Bing Bing again!"

Ah Li, smiling :"Alright then, lead the way."

And so, their journey continued. Not for long however. Ah Li had a lot of plans prepared, so he couldn't waste time even for a moment as long as he hadn't taken those Immortal Herbs. If he knew one thing, it was that fortune favored heaven's chosen. And although it had extremely bad taste, he still didn't know how it would assist Tang San out of nowhere. So he needed to finish his business here as fast as possible, then immediately go to Dugu Bo's garden.

After that, he didn't know what he would do with all the extra herbs. Maybe he would make the wildest weed ever. Getting high over Immortal Herbs, who would ever imagine doing that? The thought made him chuckle despite never having gone anywhere near drugs or even smokes and cigarettes.

"Alright, we're here." Skydream informed upon reaching the destination. It was a giant castle-like place made out of ice, a gorgeous view that made even Ah Li marvel. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen whether in person or on the internet. And the others seemed to think so as well.

Skydream :"Okay, boss, just as we planned?"

Ah Li :"Yeah, I'll leave it to you. It worked in the original timeline, so it'll work now as well. Even if it doesn't go exactly as planned, we can definitely work something out. So don't be nervous and do your best."

Skydream :"You got it. First, you go and hide in that igloo hidden and left by me. Bing Bing shouldn't be able to find you for a bit since she'll focus on me and I'll hide your breath."

Doing what he said, he sat there and waited. Skydream went back into his Spiritual Sea, before he gathered all of the 10 marks which contained his powers and were placed in Ah Li's Spiritual Sea. Controlling them, he exited the noiret's Spiritual Sea and went on to start the plan.

Skydream :"Alright, wish me luck!"

And with that, he flew away. Keeping an eye out with his Spiritual Power, Ah Li heard an unfamiliar and pretty female voice leave Skydream and spread around into the distance :"Bing'er, I want to go away for a while. There's something I want to tell you." And with that, the plan began.

After a while of chaos outside, Ice Empress trying to kill or at least hurt Skydream, but getting trapped in the end, the silkworm called for Ah Li :"Boss, come out." He walked out, surprising Ice Empress with how unaffected he looked. From what she could perceive, he was only a Lv 33 Soul Elder.

Even if he hadn't frozen to death with the coldness of the core parts of the Extreme North, he should have been at least shivering like a leaf on a windy day. But he looked completely unaffected, as if the coldness that even some Soul Beasts native to this land couldn't handle was just normal weather to him.

Ah Li saw the trapped Ice Empress in a golden cocoon. She was a scorpion whose beauty had reached the pinnacle. She was roughly 1.5 meters long and had two colors on her body. One was the color of ice, and the other was a jade green color.

The front end of her body had four layers stacked above each other, and each layer was longer than the previous one by a third of a meter. Her head lay on the front most layer, and her silver-white mouth shone with an ominous, cold light. The front of her body was covered with a type of special layer protruding outwards.

They were shaped like hexagons and shone with an incomparably bright luster, and were akin to a diamond in shape. They covered the front section of her body, and her six slender legs. Her two pincers were both a meter long, and they were both covered with the strange diamond-like hexagonal protrusions. Only the foremost parts of her pincers were covered in a mirror-like silverish-white color just like her mouth.

Her eyes were yellow, as if two yellow diamonds had been embedded within her sockets. They were also hexagonal, and the flickering of their crystal-like yellow light gave off a feeling similar to that of a gem glistening. Unlike the finely segmented tail of an ordinary scorpion, the tail of the Ice Empress only had five segments.

Each segment shone with an alluring jade-green light that was filled with luster. Her five segments were identically colored, and the segment nearest to her upper body was the widest of the five. The further away from her body, the narrower it got. The last segment was also inlaid with the diamond-like protrusions, and the very tip of her tail similarly flickered with a mirror-like, silver white luster.

But at the moment, her spirit in the human form was revealed outside, a beautiful girl with green hair and in a pretty dress, without any might and risk of harming him. Not like there was any to begin with. But well, they wanted to negotiate, not fight. And so, the negotiations and convincing began.

It didn't take long. Just like Skydream had said, once the Ice Empress had heard everything and weighed the pros and cons, she agreed in the end. The biggest factor of convincing her was actually the presence of Nightmare. She didn't trust Skydream, and had suspected him to be taking advantage of her.

But seeing Nightmare, and the three Soul Rings and External Soul Bone all belonging to him as proof, her trust in the plan grew a lot. She had seen Skydream's three 1,000,000-year Soul Rings as well, but just didn't trust him as much. After all, being a race of Soul Beasts that rely mostly on illusions to survive and being a 1,000,000-year Soul Beast, he could have the ability to fake the Soul Rings belonging to him.

Ah Li, smiling and reaching out a hand "So? Ice Empress, do we have an agreement?"

Ice Empress :"Tsk, do I even have a choice? That bastard has locked me up in this damn thing. But I'm not a fool either. If this truly was simply harmful to me without any benefits, even if I was going to die, I would fight with all my might. However, if what you have said is true, then it is worth the risk."

Even though she looked somewhat annoyed, she still shook his hand. Ah Li smiled :"Then let's hope for the best as partners. Welcome to the family. You'll see the rest later." Making her arch an eyebrow :"The rest? Do you have other Soul Spirits!" The noiret shook his head :"No, it's complicated. You'll know later, so don't worry about it."