Ye Yu stood upon the snow.
Behind him, the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul had already been summoned. Towering sky-high, its roots anchored deep into the endless white snow, unmoved despite the howling wind and swirling flurries.
Ye Yu had also summoned the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree sub-body in which the Skydream Ice Worm resided, setting it down upon the snow.
The Skydream Ice Worm manipulated several roots from the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree sub-body, intertwining and fusing them into the plump, elongated form of its silkworm body from before—
only now, it shone like translucent crystal-blue silver, as though a starry sky glittered within.
In Skydream Ice Worm's long-awaited gaze—
From within the cave, a figure slowly crawled out.
It was an Ice Jade Scorpion—yet this one was exquisite beyond compare, like a work of art wrought from ice and jade.
About one and a half meters in length, its body was patterned in pure ice-white and verdant green.
Its crystalline carapace glistened, the forebody layered with four ranks of diamond-like hexagonal plates, tightly overlapping.
At its head, silver-white mandibles gleamed with a cold, cutting light.
Its massive pincers, each a full meter long, were also sheathed in those diamond-like hexagonal plates—save for the smooth, mirror-like silver-white of the claws themselves.
Its eyes shone golden-yellow like twin topaz gems.
Behind trailed its long tail—five segments in all, each a vivid jade-green glimmering with icy luster.
At the very tip, the hooked stinger was pure silver-white, plated with diamond facets save for the mirror-smooth needle point, wickedly sharp.
"Ice Empress! It's Ice Empressi!"
The Skydream Ice Worm cried out in delight the moment it laid eyes on her.
When Ice Empress emerged from the cave, however, she froze slightly at the sight before her.
The Ice Skydream Ice Worm's current form—woven from the branches of a Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree sub-body into a plump, elongated blue-crystal silkworm—was utterly beyond her expectations.
What happened to this iceworm? Why does it look like this?
Then her gaze shifted to Ye Yu, and her heart surged with both alarm and fury.
A human!
The Skydream Ice Worm had brought a human here.
Could it be they intended to join forces to kill her?
Ye Yu, upon seeing Ice Empress, gave a faint smile. His mind stirred—
and in the next moment, thick, massive roots of the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree erupted from beneath the snow, lashing upward into a writhing wall of blue crystal.
They sealed off the cave entrance behind Ice Empress.
Simultaneously, countless roots—like colossal blue-crystal serpents—coiled toward her.
"—Hss!"
Ice Empress hissed in fury, an ear-splitting cry echoing in the icy air.
A surge of ice-white light erupted from her body, expanding in all directions, sweeping the surroundings with a suffocating cold—
Domain of Perpetual Ice.
As the ruler of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan—the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion—
Ice Empress's ice attribute had long since reached the pinnacle of Ultimate Ice.
In theory, it could harm even the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul.
But Ye Yu's cultivation now utterly surpassed hers.
His Martial Soul's innate ice–fire immunity had likewise strengthened—completely nullifying even Ultimate Ice Spirit Abilities.
In an instant, the roots of Ye Yu's Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree ignored the Domain of Perpetual Ice entirely, binding tight around Ice Empress's Ice Jade Empress Scorpion body.
Impossible!!
Her heart surged with shock and rage—
that her Domain of Perpetual Ice had failed to shatter the abilities of a human whose Martial Soul was a blue crystal tree.
Such a thing was unthinkable!
No plant Martial Soul should be able to withstand our Ice Jade Scorpion clan's ice attribute Spirit Abilities!
Once Ice Empress was restrained, the Skydream Ice Worm guided its silkworm body forward through the sub-body's roots, grinning.
"Bing Bing, long time no see!"
"I've missed you so much, I could die!"
"This time, I'm back to give you a heaven-sent opportunity."
"From now on, we can be together forever!"
Its tone was full of anticipation and longing.
"A heaven-sent opportunity?"
Bound fast by the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree's roots and realizing she could not break free, Ice Empress gave a cold laugh.
"Tian Meng, judging by your form… you've already become this human's Spirit Ring, haven't you?"
"Your so-called heaven-sent opportunity—don't tell me it's letting this human hunt me, too—
and turning me into his Spirit Ring?"
Though she didn't know how the Skydream Ice Worm had managed to remain conscious after becoming a human's Spirit Ring, the lack of its original body—and its entirely blue-crystal-tree form—left no doubt.
It must have become a Spirit Ring.
"No, no, no!"
The Skydream Ice Worm shook its head fervently, speaking with earnest conviction.
"Bing Bing, you've misunderstood!
"It's true I've become Lord Ye Yu's Spirit Ring, but not an ordinary Spirit Ring—I'm an Intelligent Spirit Ring!
"And it was entirely my choice.
"My cultivation had already broken through one million years, meaning I faced the Million-Year Lightning Tribulation.
"With my strength, there was no way I could survive it.
"So I devised the Intelligent Spirit Ring Method—becoming a human's Spirit Ring, relying on my spiritual attribute and immense spiritual power to retain my consciousness.
"That way, I could avoid the tribulation."
Here, Skydream Ice Worm spoke with pride.
"And Lord Ye Yu is a once-in-all-history prodigy among human Spirit Masters!
"Only twenty-two years old, yet already at the realm of Limit Douluo.
"In the future, he will surely become a god!
"When he does, I, as his Intelligent Spirit Ring, will ascend with him—and live forever. Isn't that wonderful?"
After a round of lavish praise for Ye Yu, Skydream Ice Worm continued.
"As a million-year Spirit Beast, when I became Lord Ye Yu's Intelligent Spirit Ring,
"I didn't just give him a million-year Spirit Ring—I gave him two Martial Souls.
"One of them is an incomplete ice-attribute Martial Soul, without a 'soul' of its own.
"Bing Bing, your cultivation is close to four hundred thousand years now, isn't it? About to face the Four-Hundred-Thousand-Year Lightning Tribulation?
"That tribulation is almost certain death for our kind.
"But if you voluntarily sacrifice yourself to Lord Ye Yu, you can avoid it.
"You might not be able to keep your consciousness entirely by yourself, like I did—
"but if Lord Ye Yu accepts your sacrifice, that third Martial Soul will take the form of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
"Compared to being hunted, a voluntary sacrifice lets your soul remain whole, sealed within the Spirit Ring.
"Then, by relying on the connection to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Martial Soul, you could attach yourself to it—retaining your awareness just like me.
"As long as Lord Ye Yu permits, you could stay with the Martial Soul forever, and one day ascend to godhood with him.
"Isn't that wonderful?
"That's the great opportunity I've brought you. Well? What do you say?"
The Skydream Ice Worm looked at Ice Empress with pride and eager expectation.
Ye Yu then spoke, his tone calm.
"Frankly, whether you sacrifice yourself or not—
"if I kill you and absorb your Spirit Ring, the third Martial Soul will still become the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
"But, for Skydream Ice Worm's sake, I'm giving you this chance.
"Don't waste it."
Ice Empress's heart sank as she listened, her emotions a tangle of unwillingness and fury.
She didn't want to lose her freedom and become a human's vassal.
Yet the looming Four-Hundred-Thousand-Year Lightning Tribulation was undeniable—
at most she had ten thousand years before facing it, and she had no confidence in surviving.
Moreover, even if she refused, Ye Yu could kill her and still get exactly what he wanted.
In the end, weighing all gains and losses—
She made the only choice that served her best interest.
"...I am willing to sacrifice."