After Huo Yuhao once again filled the Sea God Divine Position with the Power of Faith directed toward him, he slowly opened his eyes.
However, as soon as his eyes opened, he saw the Snow Emperor standing not far before him. Her ice-blue eyes watched him with a trace of eerie calmness.
"Do you have nothing you want to say to me?"
Her cool voice rang out, carrying a subtle, lingering meaning that left Huo Yuhao momentarily speechless.
But Huo Yuhao's thoughts did not descend into chaos. Having survived a hundred battles, he knew exactly how to respond.
As the saying goes: when in doubt, apologize first!
Calming his mind, Huo Yuhao raised his gaze to meet the Snow Emperor's eyes and said:
"I'm sorry for keeping it from you for so long."
The Snow Emperor did not immediately reply, but instead asked:
"In the previous life, did you win?"
Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment, but he quickly understood. A smile played on his lips as he chuckled softly:
"I won. My self-detonation completely annihilated his physical body and soul. There is absolutely no possibility of his resurrection."
"Is that so? Not bad, then." The Snow Emperor walked slowly to Huo Yuhao's side and sat down naturally, continuing:
"In this life, what do you want to do?"
The Snow Emperor leaned in slightly. This peerlessly beautiful girl wearing an ice-crystal crown, possessing a noble and cold temperament, now had the corners of her mouth curled upward. At this moment, her ice-blue eyes seemed to hold only the youth beside her.
"In this life?" Huo Yuhao paused, his eyes lowering in thought for a moment before he slowly raised his hand.
His well-defined palm glowed slightly red under the sunlight as he lifted it, seemingly trying to touch the light. "No more than wanting to give this world a little more freedom."
"Then," the Snow Emperor moved even closer, a different sort of meaning appearing on her stunning face: "Bring me along?"
"Of course."
Huo Yuhao let out a smile. Without even realizing it, he had naturally taken the Snow Emperor's hand.
However, just as those words left his mouth, the Eye of Destiny at the center of Huo Yuhao's brow suddenly manifested!
At this moment, the fate contract previously signed between Huo Yuhao and the Snow Emperor became a bridge. The massive amount of Power of Destiny that suddenly appeared between heaven and earth used Huo Yuhao as a relay station, flowing entirely into the Snow Emperor's body.
Huo Yuhao watched, momentarily dazed.
As the wielder of the Eye of Destiny and someone who had studied the power of fate, how could he not understand what was happening?!
This was the Planar Will using his hand to bestow a massive amount of destiny upon the Snow Emperor, enhancing her fortune!
One must understand that as the Heavenly Snow Woman born from the ultimate frigid energy of heaven and earth, the Snow Emperor's birth was, in a sense, a blessing from the world—she was effectively the world's biological daughter.
She already possessed supreme talent and immense fortune, which was exactly why her cultivation had reached 690,000 years.
And now, the Planar Will was using the connection between him and the Snow Emperor to bestow such a massive amount of fortune upon her once more. This would undoubtedly cause the Snow Emperor's fate to undergo a secondary transformation, making her the Auspicious Beast of the Extreme North!
In a trance, Huo Yuhao seemed to receive another revelation from the Planar Will.
「My child~ Since I can't give more fate to you, I've given it to your new girlfriend. Do you like it?~」
Huo Yuhao was speechless.
He suddenly realized that the Planar Will's feelings toward him had moved past "doting" and straight into "indulgence"!
But then, what bad intentions could a Planar Will have? She just wanted to give the very best of everything to her own cub~
At this moment, the Soul Beast Soul Masters, who had been happily sparring with their Dharma Bodies to familiarize themselves with their power, all stopped their movements. They looked up at the pillar of destiny descending straight from the sky into the core region of the Extreme North.
Seeing the two figures bathed in that massive power of fate, all the Soul Beasts realized something.
Tribulation clouds gathered in the sky. Within the laws of the plane, a Soul Beast faces a Heavenly Tribulation for every 100,000 years of cultivation. If they survive, they live on; if they fail, they perish.
This was a derivation of the rule that "Soul Beasts cannot become gods."
In fact, were it not for this restrictive rule, a Soul Beast would naturally break through once their cultivation reached 400,000 years.
Even without a Divine Position, they would possess god-level combat power. But under the suppression of the rules, breaking past 400,000 years only brought down increasingly terrifying Heavenly Tribulations.
And now, having accepted so much power of fate, the Snow Emperor could no longer suppress her own Heavenly Tribulation.
Terrifying lightning churned within the clouds. Countless Soul Beasts nearby felt waves of pressure in their hearts.
Heavenly Tribulation was a "special-attack" against Soul Beasts!
Particularly this 700,000-year tribulation—even a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast who had survived one tribulation would be turned to ash if they were even grazed by it.
The Soul Beasts who had retreated to a safe distance watched with worry. Almost all living beings in the Extreme North respected the Snow Emperor, their ruler.
And now, their king was experiencing a life-or-death moment.
They stared intently at the pillar of destiny reaching into the sky, only to see that at a certain moment, the youth made his move.
The Eye of Destiny on his brow suddenly erupted with rose-gold light. In that instant, the tribulation clouds in the sky froze, and their target shifted from the Snow Emperor to Huo Yuhao!
The Heavenly Tribulation crashed down. The golden lightning contained fragments of the laws of destruction. In terms of pure power, this strike had barely reached the level of a God.
But in the next instant, twelve Soul Rings appeared around Huo Yuhao. His Blood Essence surged to reinforce his body as he lunged forward to meet the tribulation!
This was "Deceiving Heaven," or rather, "Fate Grafting."
Briefly grafting a destiny that originally belonged to oneself or another onto a different entity.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao grafted the destiny of the 700,000-year Heavenly Tribulation that the Snow Emperor was supposed to endure onto himself.
His fate was already intertwined with the Snow Emperor's. Add to that the fact that the Planar Will was helping the Snow Emperor become the Auspicious Beast of the Extreme North through him, and their connection became even tighter.
To the point where this wasn't even "deceiving heaven" for Huo Yuhao anymore; it was more like this:
「Mom (Planar Will), the rules are targeting my girlfriend. Help me out, I'll take the hit for her.」
「Sure thing, sweetie. I'll turn a blind eye. Do whatever you want~」
Yes, it was essentially like that.
The Planar Will was forced by the rules from the God Realm to send the tribulation, but she only sent it—she wasn't responsible for anything else, and she even lowered the power of the lightning to the minimum allowed by the rules.
To Huo Yuhao, this level of power was trivial. It didn't affect him at all; it couldn't even mess up his hair.
One could only say the world's favoritism toward him was becoming increasingly severe.
The clouds dispersed, and Huo Yuhao descended. He was still feeling the body-tempering effect of the lightning, which seemed to have made his physique even purer. In the next moment, his vision went dark as he found himself pulled into a slightly cool yet soft and fragrant embrace.