Snow Empress had long reached her peak.
Back when she was the Ice Sky Snow Maiden, limited by the different physical structure of spirit beasts compared to humans—her acupoints weren't as well-suited to accommodating two main soul cores—she could only condense yin-yang complementary twin soul cores. Even with Huo Yuhao's direct guidance, she couldn't condense three yin-yang complementary soul cores.
But after transforming into human form, possessing the same innate conditions as humans and having twice condensed yin-yang complementary twin soul cores, she naturally succeeded.
With three yin-yang complementary soul cores and her spiritual power further advanced to the Divine Origin realm, her strength was self-evident.
This was also why Snow Empress's strength was comparable to Emperor Tian's. In terms of foundational configuration, she wasn't far behind Huo Yuhao at the end of the original story.
However, having reached this point, she'd hit a dead end. Snow Empress couldn't see a clear path forward—at least not before breaking through to the divine level.
"So... I'd like you to help me see if there's any way to take another step forward before breaking through to the divine level." Snow Empress looked at Huo Yuhao seriously. "I don't want to be left too far behind."
Gu Yuena could recover to second-class deity level and had various legacies from the Dragon God. Huo Yuhao also had hopes of reaching second-class deity directly, with deep foundation and the super-divine artifact God-Imprint Throne. Both had incredibly bright futures.
Snow Empress didn't want to be left further and further behind after becoming a deity, to the point where she couldn't even stand beside Huo Yuhao.
If she could break through with a stronger foundation, her potential after reaching the divine level would also be greater.
Huo Yuhao met Snow Empress's clear gaze, his thoughts churning.
He had to admit that when he first heard the Snow Empress's words, an impure thought had crossed his mind. He reflected on it.
Snow Empress wasn't complaining or bemoaning her fate—she was simply stating a problem and asking for help from the person closest to her.
And he certainly couldn't let her down.
The two went to the cultivation chamber. Huo Yuhao first asked, "How has the faith power collection been going?"
"The faith power accumulated over ten thousand years is all here."
Snow Empress revealed her rarely shown spirit ring configuration: Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Orange, Orange, Orange, Orange!
Huo Yuhao wasn't surprised by this lavish setup. As the reincarnation of an 800,000-year-old spirit beast, one of the founders of the Spirit Transmission Tower, and someone with deep knowledge of Spirit Souls and spirit rings, it wasn't that difficult for her to have a slightly more extravagant setup.
What Huo Yuhao focused on wasn't these nine spirit rings, but the faint, ethereal pale golden tenth spirit ring beside Snow Empress!
Carefully sensing the faith power and law power contained within this spirit ring, Huo Yuhao smiled.
"This semi-divine seat of yours is pretty well condensed—even better than the materials I originally gave you. With this semi-divine seat, formed from ten thousand years of faith power from the Extreme North, after the Divine Realm is established, you can condense a powerful divine seat through faith."
In the Extreme North, the most revered figure wasn't him, but Snow Empress.
Strictly speaking, he was the Extreme North's chief disciple, while the Snow Empress was the "Empress" of the Extreme North's Forbidden Zone.
Under these circumstances, Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn't let Snow Empress overlook this and waste that faith power.
Ten thousand years ago, to put on the act of creating a divine seat and faking his death, he'd researched methods of collecting faith power and using it to condense a divine seat.
After all, to fake creating a divine seat and his death, he needed something to show for it.
And since the Divine Realm was still present at the time, and he'd received some guidance when meeting Rong Nianbing, his research had gone relatively smoothly. He'd developed various methods for collecting faith power and a semi-divine seat that could absorb faith power and condense it.
Though the semi-divine seat he'd researched would only be most effective in the Divine Realm, it was still a not-insignificant trump card.
He'd passed the corresponding results to Snow Empress.
Ten thousand years had passed, and Snow Empress's gains were considerable.
Judging by the current situation, she seemed to have built on his foundation and improved the semi-divine seat further—excellent.
"But my foundation—"
Huo Yuhao gently interrupted: "Throughout the Douluo Continent's history, your foundation and accumulation rank among the best. Don't sell yourself short. Even the first Sea God only accumulated a thousand years of faith power in the ocean before becoming a deity. His cultivation before godhood probably wasn't stronger than yours, with your two lifetimes combined."
This wasn't mere consolation. With Snow Empress's accumulation before and after transformation, the first Sea God and first Angel God truly couldn't compare.
After all, even in Soul Land I, a Limit Douluo could only live about a thousand years at most. Time naturally limited how much foundation they could accumulate.
If there were a Divine Realm, with Snow Empress's current accumulation, creating her own divine seat would be sufficient—reaching the first-class deity level of the Divine Realm shouldn't be a problem. Whether the self-created divine seat could become one with God King potential like the Emotion God's seat remained uncertain.
But reaching first-class deity was enough to demonstrate Snow Empress's prospects—that was already the Divine Realm's backbone.
Hearing Huo Yuhao's words, Snow Empress felt somewhat relieved.
But she still looked at Huo Yuhao, clearly hoping for some "guidance."
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao offered other options. "You can't improve your divine consciousness further for now. So let's start with divine persona and divine power. I obtained divine power fragments on Devil Island before, and I'll explain the mysteries of divine power to you. Though I haven't condensed a divine persona myself, in a sense I already have one, so I can also guide you."
Though the Creator God imprint hadn't yet become a true divine persona, the special divine persona would ultimately evolve from it. Just by studying the Creator God imprint, Huo Yuhao could learn much about the mysteries of divine personas.
These mysteries would benefit his future condensation of other divine personas, and naturally, he had more than enough to guide Snow Empress on divine personas.
Soon, the two sat facing each other in the cultivation chamber. Huo Yuhao began explaining, bit by bit, the mysteries he'd comprehended from the divine power fragments obtained on Devil Island.
As for divine personas, he'd only just obtained the Creator God imprint and could discuss it after studying it for a while.
But there was one thing to mention in advance.
"Without a Divine Realm at this point, it's difficult for you to directly condense an ice-attribute divine persona. Even if you did, it would only be usable on the Douluo Continent. Try condensing the prototype first—there's no need to rush into finalizing it."
Snow Empress listened attentively to Huo Yuhao's words, occasionally interjecting with questions. Huo Yuhao answered each one patiently. Time in the cultivation chamber seemed to freeze, with only their voices and the fluctuations of their cultivation flowing quietly.
After the session ended, Huo Yuhao watched Snow Empress slowly calm her aura, hesitated, then spoke. "Actually, I have another method—one that could give us a trump card and provide an alternative form of enhancement."
Snow Empress was slightly startled, her eyes bright as she looked at Huo Yuhao. "What is it?"
"Do you remember that treasured location I had you protect ten thousand years ago and the heavenly treasures within it?"
"You mean... the Ice God Lotuses in the Ice God Lake?"
Snow Empress frowned thoughtfully, recalling the situation of those heavenly treasures.
Deep within the Far North lay a wondrous place. Nestled in the heart of the glacier, where temperatures remained below minus sixty degrees year-round, was a lake that never froze. The lake's water was colder than ice, formed by the condensed essence of glacial energy over countless years—a sacred site for the cultivation of ice-attribute soul masters. It was known as Ice God Lake.
And the Ice God Lotuses nurtured within were a top-tier heavenly treasure. For ice-attribute soul masters, they offered immense benefits—consolidating one's origin, greatly enhancing potential, eliminating all advancement bottlenecks, and even catalyzing the sublimation of one's martial soul, granting the possibility of a secondary awakening. (The Ice God Lotus exists as a heavenly treasure in the original story.)
However, while the Ice God Lotus was an excellent ice-attribute treasure, for beings at their level, its effects were already quite weak.
Snow Empress didn't think Huo Yuhao was referring to those effects.
What other use could the Ice God Lotus have?
"Ice God Twin Lotus—a unique existence among Ice God Lotuses, one body with two lives. If two ice-attribute soul masters consume it, they can develop a martial soul fusion skill."
Huo Yuhao explained. "I've done some research on self-combination martial soul techniques. Combined with the Ice God Twin Lotus, we might be able to achieve a martial soul fusion skill between us."
In the Douluo Continent, martial soul fusion skills remained relevant even at the divine level.
Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai, two second-class deities, used their fusion skill to briefly become first-class deities. Tang Wutong and Huo Yuhao's fusion created a non-existent eight-ring deity.
One could say that when martial soul fusion skills became divine soul fusion skills, they often allowed deities to rise a level after merging. Even when the two sides' strength differed significantly, the effect was still considerable.
This was one of the advantages of the Douluo system. Though other systems had similar fusion abilities, they weren't as common as in the Douluo system.
Snow Empress's eyes rippled with emotion at this.
"The Ice God Twin Lotus can actually create a martial soul fusion skill. No wonder you were so interested in the Ice God Lake back then. But if that's the case, why didn't you suggest it earlier? Your Ice Empress martial soul now isn't purely ice-attribute anymore."
"The Ice Empress martial soul's most fundamental power has always been the ultimate ice. You don't need to worry about that."
Huo Yuhao paused, then cleared his throat. "As for why I didn't suggest it ten thousand years ago—first, the twin lotus wasn't old enough back then and wasn't suitable. Second... well, you know the relationships between most martial soul fusion skill users in Douluo."
Snow Empress thought of the close relationships between most martial soul fusion skill users, then thought of her relationship with Huo Yuhao ten thousand years ago. For a moment, she felt: Your reasoning is so sound, I have no retort.
After a moment of silence, Snow Empress's lips curved slightly. "So it's not a problem now?"
"Of course. Didn't I already declare our relationship earlier?" Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow and pulled Snow Empress close. "If you didn't hear clearly, I can say it again."
Snow Empress shook her head, a hint of helpless amusement in her voice. "There's just the two of us. Who are you saying that for? Let's get back to the Ice God Twin Lotus. I already notified Ye Weiyang to come tomorrow for her Fallen Angel martial soul secondary awakening. I'll have her bring the Ice God Twin Lotus as well."
"Then let's do that."
So, the next day.
The sun was high when a tall figure stepped into Mingdu and arrived at Huo Yuhao's doorstep. Dressed in black like ink, with hair tied back and a cool, heroic air about her brows, it was Fallen Heaven Douluo—Ye Weiyang.
Before she could knock, she sensed a spatial power spreading toward her, accompanied by a voice transmission: "Don't resist."
Recognizing Snow Empress's voice, Ye Weiyang didn't resist and was pulled into the newly transformed Undead Plane.
Steadying herself, Ye Weiyang's gaze swept across her surroundings, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
Another plane? Or a pocket dimension?
But with Huo Yuhao and Snow Empress before her, she didn't linger on the scenery. She quickly composed herself and bowed slightly. "Ye Weiyang greets Tower Master Snow Empress, Lord Huo Yuhao."
Her tone was respectful, flawless.
After all, Snow Empress had saved her life, and Huo Yuhao's strength and status also deserved her respect.
"No need for formality." Snow Empress raised her hand to gesture her forward. "Did you bring the Ice God Twin Lotus?"
"Of course." Ye Weiyang flipped her left hand, and a soft light materialized in her palm. As the light faded, a pair of ice-blue lotuses hovered above her palm.
Snow Empress accepted the ten-thousand-year Ice God Twin Lotus and looked at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao nodded and said to Ye Weiyang, "The Demon Plane has now been dealt with by us. From now on, you'll no longer be affected by it in any way. Today, I've called you here for the Demon Lord to perform a secondary awakening on your martial soul."
Ye Weiyang was taken aback.
She'd only been told by Snow Empress to come for an opportunity—she hadn't expected to hear this.
With the Demon Plane resolved, she could pursue cultivation improvement without worry. Ye Hui would surely be at ease as well.
Ye Weiyang composed herself and knelt on one knee solemnly. "Weiyang thanks the two lords for their kindness."
"I said there's no need for formality." Huo Yuhao shook his head helplessly, mobilized the plane's power, and opened a planar passage with a wave of his hand.
On the other side of the passage was Alba, diligently handling Demon Plane affairs.
Thanks to the contractual bond between them, Huo Yuhao could use Alba in the same way a Fallen Angel martial soul wielder would to establish a planar connection—opening the passage was no problem.
Alba, summoned over, was still somewhat bewildered until he noticed the familiar aura on Ye Weiyang. He instantly understood.
Another day of being a tool.
Without needing Huo Yuhao to say more, Alba began performing the bloodline elevation on Ye Weiyang, assisting her martial soul's secondary awakening.
Seeing Ye Weiyang immersed in the process—her bloodline transforming, her spirit power aura rising—Huo Yuhao turned to Snow Empress.
"Judging by her state, after the bloodline elevation, she might be able to take this opportunity to reach Level 98. It should take some time. Let's begin as well."
Snow Empress had no objection. She gently raised the Ice God Twin Lotus, which hovered between them, slowly rotating.
Huo Yuhao stepped forward and stood facing Snow Empress, barely three feet apart. The Ice God Twin Lotus rested between them, its petals slightly opening and closing as if breathing.
Each reached out, each taking one lotus flower, and began to refine it.
This pair of Ice God Lotuses were originally a single entity with two lives, their auras interconnected. When Huo Yuhao and the Snow Empress guided them into their bodies, the two ultimate ice auras quietly converged at the lotus's roots, like two rivers that had each flowed for ten thousand years finally finding their confluence.
Their spirit power, spiritual power, and even their breathing rhythms gradually synchronized under the harmonizing influence of this heavenly treasure.
Their auras resonated. Their minds merged.
With the Ice God Twin Lotus's help, their spirit power and spiritual power gradually achieved fusion.
Unconsciously, a icy light screen formed around them, blue-white radiance enveloping the two. Ice crystal patterns flowed across it unceasingly, making their figures appear hazy and indistinct.
When Ye Weiyang snapped out of her cultivation and looked over, she saw the two with their auras nearly merged as one. She froze.
Weren't Ice God Lotuses ice-attribute heavenly treasures? Why would they be given to the legendary Fire God's reincarnation to use?
And their relationship... seemed rather unusual?
For their auras to merge to this extent meant they had no defenses against each other—completely open to one another. That wasn't something an ordinary relationship could achieve.
But wasn't the outside rumor that Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena were reincarnated deities together, suspected to have been husband and wife in their past lives? Then what did this scene represent? What was the relationship between Huo Yuhao, Gu Yuena, and Tower Master Snow Empress?
Please don't let this be some melodramatic script.
Ye Weiyang's mind was in chaos, questions flooding her thoughts. Ultimately, she felt she shouldn't be here.
Having learned such a secret, she wouldn't be silenced, would she?
While Ye Weiyang's thoughts were in disarray, Huo Yuhao and Snow Empress had already achieved complete fusion of their spirit power and spiritual power.
Neither was an ordinary expert; both knew how to coordinate with the other to complete this step.
After achieving this fusion, the two found that their cultivation efficiency had greatly improved. Snow Empress's heart stirred slightly.
She hadn't expected that using the Ice God Twin Lotus would result in such a high degree of martial soul fusion compatibility.
Even without other gains, just the two of them cultivating together with increased speed was already good.
And perhaps due to the influence of merging with Snow Empress's divine consciousness, Huo Yuhao noticed that his spiritual power, already at the peak of the Spirit Domain realm, had slightly increased.
This seemed... like an opportunity.
***
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