The Lanhun at Lin Xiao's waist flickered incessantly, but the events that had just transpired left him momentarily unaware of it. When he finally collected his thoughts and extended his mental power once more, the Snow Empress's voice rang out, carrying a hint of urgency.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Lin Xiao smiled lightly. "It's rare to see you show concern for someone."
The Snow Empress seemed to pause for a moment. "Since you acted for the sake of the Extreme North, I naturally do not wish for you to come to harm because of it."
"Thank you for your concern. I'm alright." Lin Xiao did not press further, shaking his head. "However... if everything goes smoothly for me, the Extreme North should never again experience something like what happened before."
"Truly?"
"Of course it's true." Lin Xiao replied with a smile, his eyes narrowing as he gazed far into the direction of the Sun Moon Empire.
What he referred to, naturally, was the fragment of divine consciousness. No matter why Zhongli Wu had erected the statue of the Holy Emperor here, as long as he took away that fragment of divine consciousness, Zhongli Wu would naturally no longer come here to do such things.
"Sigh." The Snow Empress let out a long sigh, her tone carrying a faint trace of cool detachment.
"Back then, I chose the path of recultivation precisely because I had no confidence in facing the next heavenly tribulation."
"Since I did not fall to the heavenly tribulation, my outcome is destined to become a spirit ring for you humans. Perhaps becoming your spirit ring wouldn't be so bad after all. I hope you truly manage to live a long life."
Hearing this, the smile on Lin Xiao's face completely faded, gradually turning serious. He raised his hand and held the Lanhun before his eyes, gazing at the faint white light within it.
"Snow Empress..."
Lin Xiao had never imagined such words would come from the Snow Empress's mouth. No—perhaps, despite her resolute will, she too wished to see the human world.
After all, the original Snow Empress had personally said that if Huo Yuhao ultimately failed to become a god, she would be willing to once again compress her origin and accompany another human to experience more of the world.
Perhaps it was a helpless choice with no other path, or perhaps she truly yearned for a more vibrant world. But regardless, more than two years of companionship had ultimately caused some change in the relationship between him and the Snow Empress.
"Rest assured, I won't let you regret it."
Lin Xiao gently exhaled, looked around, stored the Lanhun away, and then spoke softly in his mind.
"Teacher, let's do it here."
"Are you ready?"
"Mm."
Lin Xiao nodded. In the next moment, soul power surged within his body, and the Gate of the Undead appeared before him once more.
This time, however, he did not wait for the Snow Empress inside to act. Instead, he took the initiative, leaping up and flying straight into it.
Facing the power of a 700,000-year spirit beast head-on, Lin Xiao did not have absolute confidence in his heart. Therefore, he wanted to maximize his chances of victory as much as possible.
Within the undead plane, his soul power could continuously replenish through the connection of the Gate of the Undead with the outside world, while the Snow Empress could not replenish hers. Naturally, it was the ideal battlefield.
Upon entering the undead plane, a breath unique to the dead instantly swept over him. Yet Lin Xiao felt no discomfort whatsoever. Soul power circulated within his body, and an extreme aura of death emanated from him, allowing him to feel even more at home, like a fish in water.
The ground in the distance was scattered with remnants of ice shards, and the undead creatures within had long since vanished under the Snow Empress's attacks.
Although the undead plane resembled a true world, it was ultimately much smaller. Over the past two years, she had vented her power freely within it to the point that the temperature of the entire undead plane had dropped considerably.
As if sensing Lin Xiao's arrival, the Snow Empress's figure instantly halted. She turned and headed toward his location.
Six black and two red, eight soul rings rose around her body, with the seventh soul ring radiating a brilliant blood-red glow.
Lin Xiao showed no carelessness. The moment he acted, he unleashed his Martial Soul True Body.
One after another, Higanbana flowers blooming with the aura of death unfurled across this half-plane belonging to the dead. The two auras were surprisingly intertwined and amplified one another, as if these flowers were meant to bloom in this place all along.
A faint chill touched his exposed skin. The Snow Empress's figure was drawing ever closer. Lin Xiao abruptly raised his hand, and his eighth soul ring likewise began to shine.
"Eighth soul skill—"
As a 400,000-year spirit beast, the Great Elder naturally provided two soul skills. One was the domain ability capable of stripping souls, while the other was a pure offensive soul skill.
"Blood Souls Share Sorrow."
As the words fell, countless Higanbana flowers burst into full bloom, then transformed into streams of light converging toward Lin Xiao's hand. A terrifying aura emanated from him. Then, an invisible ripple spread outward.
There was no explosion, no blinding light, only an imperceptible ripple that radiated from Lin Xiao at the center, dividing the interior and exterior into two separate worlds.
The outside remained the original undead plane, but inside, it was as if some force had erased everything. Apart from Lin Xiao himself, nothing else existed.
The Snow Empress seemed to instinctively sense that something was wrong, yet the pride of a 700,000-year spirit beast compelled her not to dodge or evade. She gathered her soul power and struck forward.
Her palm seemed to meet an invisible wall. The body of a 700,000-year spirit beast actually began retreating slowly, while her soul power rapidly dissipated as it resisted Lin Xiao's attack.
When the full power of a 400,000-year soul skill was directed into an attack, its might was imaginable. If it were the complete Snow Empress, she might have handled it with ease. But with her soul lost and only instinct remaining, she could only allow her soul power to continuously drain away.
Seeing the Snow Empress block his eighth soul skill, Lin Xiao felt no panic in his heart. From the very beginning, he had known that to defeat the Snow Empress head-on, he could only start by depleting her soul power.
However, just as everything was proceeding according to Lin Xiao's expectations, the Snow Empress in front suddenly let out a sharp cry. The aura around her body abruptly surged upward.
Lin Xiao's expression changed drastically.
The Snow Empress's aura was no longer pure, yet at the same time, her soul power was actually beginning to recover.
"Teacher?"
"She is absorbing the power of the undead plane."
A thought stirred in Lin Xiao's heart. This half-plane he occupied had been created by Yi Lai Ke Si using his own power. It was not a place suited for the living to survive, nor did it possess power that the living could absorb.
Only a soul master like Lin Xiao, who possessed the death attribute himself, could feel at ease here. Anyone else entering would only experience the instinctive discomfort of the living toward a realm of the dead.
Even the Snow Empress should likewise be unable to absorb the power here.
As he pondered this, the entire undead plane underwent another change. The temperature dropped even lower, and layers of frost gradually covered the ground.
"This situation isn't right. Retreat outside first."
"Mm." Lin Xiao slowly withdrew his soul power, his figure continuously retreating in the process. Once he had pulled a sufficient distance from the Snow Empress, his speed suddenly increased as he entered the Gate of the Undead that had appeared out of thin air.
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