The moment Qian Renxue whispered, "I've found you,"
She turned toward the others, her eyes bright with anticipation.
"Below us… he's here."
Qian Daoliu didn't hesitate.
He swept his granddaughter into his arms, golden divine light enveloping both of them, and descended with a roar of soul power. The thick, ancient ice cracked beneath their feet, fracturing like a shattered mirror as his power cleaved a path through centuries of frozen time.
Guang Ling Douluo, having just finished cleaning up the last of the snow beasts, clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"You guys never wait for me…"
He leapt after them with incredible agility, his Martial Soul glowing feather bow dissolving into mist behind him.
After several minutes of vertical descent through layers of glacial formations, they finally reached a hidden ice cavern—immense and hauntingly beautiful. Crystal stalactites hung like frozen spears from the ceiling, and the walls shimmered faintly with hues of blue, violet, and silver.
It was a silent, sacred place untouched by time.
Qian Renxue stepped forward, holding the compass. The needle trembled, pulling strongly in a direction beyond a curtain of thin mist.
"There," she said with quiet certainty.
....
Not far ahead, buried deep within a cocoon of ice and snow, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm stirred.
He had been half-asleep, digesting the vast essence of the Ice Essence he'd consumed decades ago, slowly transforming, preparing for a slumber that might last centuries. But now he felt danger.
Two.... strong soul masters? One of them… impossibly strong.
Panic surged through his bloated, worm-like body.
They're coming straight for me!
Without thinking, he activated his innate Simulation ability, blending his spiritual aura with the surrounding ice, masking even his heartbeat from ordinary detection. Over millions of years of survival, he had mastered how to hide.
But then…
He felt it.
The presence of a little girl leading the way.
She was getting too close. And she was looking directly at him.
Suddenly, her voice rang out like a blade of fate.
"Tianmeng, I know you are close and hiding using your simulation skill."
'What?!'
His entire body quivered.
'How… how does she know my name?!and even my skills'
For the first time in of thousands of years, the hiding Tianmeng felt instinctual fear.
'Run. Run now—'
But before he could channel energy to his soul core and burst out, her next words froze him in place.
"I know a method that can make the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress fall in love with you."
His brain practically short-circuited.
'Scorpion Empress…? My dream goddess?!'
He trembled, indecision tearing at his frozen thoughts. Suspicion, hope, and confusion battled in his mind.
And then—
"Either way, you cannot run or hide."
She gestured calmly to the side, where an old man in golden robes stood with his hands behind his back. His long blonde hair fluttered despite the still air, and a golden cross of light shimmered faintly behind him.
"This is my grandfather. His cultivation is level 99, known as the Peerless Angel Douluo. A Demigod in this continent."
Tianmeng's massive soul body froze.
'Demigod?!'
A level 99 grandpa with a terrifying girl who knows too much.
'Where did this absurd team come from!?'
Tianmeng groaned internally.
'If what this girl said is true, then I really can't escape. That old man… is just too strong. He'll catch me in an instant if I try anything stupid. But… if I take the girl hostage, they wouldn't dare move recklessly. She's obviously important.'
After thinking for a while Tianmeng Ice Silkworm finally made his choice.
A dangerous glint flashed in Tianmeng's small, golden eyes. With a mental command, he cancelled his Simulation skill. The faint shimmering mist that veiled him like invisible ice cracked and dispersed.
The air in the cavern grew heavier.
Qian Renxue blinked calmly as the massive creature revealed itself from the shadows.
Her purple-golden eyes reflected the sight of the legendary beast before her.
A plump, fat, and absurdly large silkworm emerged from behind a ridge of ice.
Its head was almost comically round, more than a meter in diameter, yet shimmered like jade carved by divine hands. The creature's entire body stretched over seven meters, its smooth white jade-like surface glowing faintly in the dim cavern light.
Its skin was semi-translucent, almost crystal-like. Underneath the surface, halos of light danced slowly, moving like gentle waves trapped under an ice sheet.
Atop its massive head, two small eyes flickered with an intelligent golden light, filled with caution—and calculation.
But what truly caught Qian Renxue's attention were the patterns.
Golden runes were engraved along the length of Tianmeng's enormous body, spaced precisely. Each one shimmered like a brand of power, hinting at the vast spiritual and soul force contained within.
She counted them quickly—ten golden patterns in total.
'Ten segments… that means this soul beast's cultivation has truly surpassed the mythical limit of 1,000,000 years.'
Even Qian Daoliu's calm eyes narrowed slightly. A soul beast of this age was beyond anything recorded in human history.
Guang Ling Douluo whistled softly, half in awe, half in amusement. "This is the guy we were chasing for a month? He looks like a dumpling."
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm ignored Guang Ling Douluo's "dumpling" remark with the grace of a thick-skinned thousand-ton worm and instead focused on what really mattered to him.
"Can you really… make Bing Bing fall in love with me?" he asked, his golden eyes shimmering with a mixture of desperate hope and deep insecurity.
Qian Renxue blinked.
Then she sighed.
'This… this worm's brain circuit really is really abnormal.'
She had read it in the novel, but seeing it in person still left her speechless. How could a creature this old be so naïve? Did he really think a fierce beast like Ice Jade Scorpion Empress, who nearly ate him, would ever be interested in a cowardly, gluttonous silkworm who simulated death to escape?
She shook her head, brushing off the ridiculousness of it all, and calmed her thoughts.
Still, she had to use what worked.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, stepping forward, her voice calm and confident, her golden hair catching the light of the glowing cavern. "When I become a god… you'll become my god beast."
Tianmeng's glowing eyes flickered. "God beast…?"