The assassin's soul merged into Lin Xiao's body. After moving a certain distance away, the tearing sensation from before similarly disappeared.
As a human, Lin Xiao could no longer feel the attraction that the Holy Emperor statue exerted on the remnant souls drifting between heaven and earth, and his thoughts gradually calmed down.
Looking back on it, whether it was the Star Dou Great Forest or the soul beast gathering places within the Sun Moon Empire's borders, traces of the Holy Spirit Cult seemed to be everywhere. Naturally, they would not overlook the Far North either, so discovering the methods left behind by the Holy Spirit Cult here was nothing surprising.
As he was thinking this, Lin Xiao suddenly sensed something and looked up into the sky, his brows slightly furrowing.
Although he knew that soul beasts dying in soul beast gathering areas was an extremely normal occurrence, from the moment he discovered the statue until now, two waves of souls had already drifted past him.
He didn't know if other places beyond his perception were the same as here, but if they truly were, wasn't the frequency of these soul beast deaths a bit too high?
This didn't seem like natural deaths; rather, it felt as though the soul beasts were fighting against something, or perhaps there was internal conflict among the soul beasts themselves.
"What did you just see there?"
On Electrolux's side, Lin Xiao had at least explained in his mind the sequence of events that had just occurred, but on the Snow Empress's side, she knew nothing about what had happened.
She couldn't sense the souls drifting outside while inside the Soul-Guiding Pendant, and she only knew that along the way, Lin Xiao had not reacted to the one just now.
After all, this was her territory, so she naturally couldn't feel at ease about something that had appeared out of nowhere and made Lin Xiao so vigilant.
Lin Xiao was about to speak when he suddenly paused again.
If the Snow Empress learned what had happened here, she probably wouldn't allow the Holy Emperor's statue to continue existing.
This place was deep within the core circle of the Far North, rarely visited by humans and almost devoid of even soul beast traces. Perhaps to avoid affecting the absorption of those remnant souls, Zhongli Wu had not left an overly powerful array on that ice house.
Destroying it actually wouldn't be difficult; even a soul master with cultivation lower than Lin Xiao's could likely force it open using soul power.
However, he didn't believe that Zhongli Wu would leave behind the Holy Emperor statue without any contingency plans. Once Zhongli Wu discovered what happened here, what Lin Xiao would face would likely far exceed the danger of an ice house protected by an array.
Thoughts surged in Lin Xiao's mind, one idea after another rising to the surface. After a long silence, the Snow Empress also sensed something was wrong and spoke again, "What exactly did you see?"
Lin Xiao's eyes shifted slightly, and he finally spoke, though he didn't answer directly. "I want to know, in the past, how many soul beasts died each day in the Far North?"
The Snow Empress paused for a moment before slowly replying, "Actually, not many. Unlike you humans, once the creatures of the Far North become soul beasts, their lifespans become extremely long."
"Even natural deaths, due to their extended lifespans, would be spread out over different times and not concentrated on the same day."
"I see." Lin Xiao nodded. "Then I probably understand what has happened here."
"Someone has set up an array here to attract remnant souls, continuously drawing the souls of deceased beings from across the entire Far North to gather toward this place."
"I still don't know that person's exact purpose, but to achieve their goal sooner, they not only spread the news of your and the Ice Empress's disappearance among the surrounding soul masters but also incited fights among the soul beasts."
"Impossible." The Snow Empress interrupted Lin Xiao with absolute certainty. "Even if Ice and I are not here, there's still Ah Tai leading all the soul beasts of the Far North."
"The environment here is harsh; most soul beasts can only survive by banding together. How could internal fighting possibly occur? Ah Tai would never sit idly by."
"I also said this is just my guess." Lin Xiao's understanding of the Far North was naturally inferior to the Snow Empress's, but there was one thing he remembered very clearly.
As fellow 200,000-year soul beasts, the relationship between the Ice Bear King Xiao Bai and the Titan Snow Devil King wasn't particularly harmonious. It was only under the Snow Empress's restraint that Xiao Bai had never vied for the position among the "Three Great Heavenly Kings."
After the Snow Empress's disappearance, even if Xiao Bai still obeyed her words, the Titan Snow Devil King might not necessarily hold any reservations toward the Ice Bear King. As long as a single rumor stirred a thread of suspicion in its heart...
Inciting discord was something the Holy Spirit Cult was equally skilled at. Even with human-like intelligence, how could naive soul beasts resist the Holy Spirit Cult's mastery of the complexities of the human heart?
Zhongli Wu's goal might not be to make the Titan Snow Devil King and Ice Bear King completely turn against each other, but causing chaos in the Far North would already be enough.
"But I think this is the guess closest to the truth."
"You—" The Snow Empress was about to speak again, but after uttering just one word, she immediately fell silent.
Lin Xiao waited for a while but heard no continuation, unsure what she had thought of.
Looking at the now-blurred ice house in the distance, Lin Xiao slowly retreated backward.
"You've already seen the current state of your territory; we should head back now."
Though he said this, for some reason, Lin Xiao's steps as he left were not as quick as when he had arrived, as if he were waiting for something.
The continuously falling snowflakes soon buried Lin Xiao's footprints, completely erasing any trace that he had been here. His ears were once again filled with nothing but silence when, at that moment, the Soul-Guiding Pendant at his waist faintly flickered with light.
The corners of Lin Xiao's mouth seemed to curve upward slightly as he quietly extended his spiritual power.
"You said earlier that you wanted to bring me back to my territory once."
"Indeed." Lin Xiao nodded upon hearing the Snow Empress's words. "This is already deep within the Far North's core circle; you've seen the changes here."
"I still want to return to my residence once more."
"Your residence?"
"I'll guide you in the direction." The Snow Empress paused for a moment. "Don't worry, no soul beast would dare approach the place where I reside; there won't be any danger."
Lin Xiao looked at the continuously flickering Soul-Guiding Pendant. Without thinking too long, he quickly turned and walked in the direction the Snow Empress indicated.
Soon, a gently undulating hilly area appeared in his view. It stood out particularly in the flat snowfield, but upon closer inspection, one could quickly realize it was merely accumulated snow piled up over who-knows-how-many years.
Deep within the hills formed by the accumulated snow, there was a surprisingly simple courtyard nestled there. It looked quite plain and seemed somewhat mismatched with the Snow Empress's status.
"I don't have the same needs as you humans. I casually built these just to have a shelter for cultivation." As if sensing Lin Xiao's thoughts, the Snow Empress explained.
"There are no mechanisms or traps inside, nor are any needed. You can just walk right in."
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