Aboard a massive airship—
Xu Cheng was studying a map.
Currently, the southern part of the Extreme North and the northern region of the Star Luo territory were both occupied by garrisons from the Sun Moon Empire, forming a pincer formation around the entire central part of the original continent.
The basic deployment of the Sun Moon Empire was now complete.
Next came the slow, boiling-the-frog phase.
Although he hadn't found any device from the Clear Sky Sect that connected to the God Realm, having read the original works thoroughly, he naturally knew who stood behind the sect. If he really went all out to destroy them, it would likely alert a certain God King.
And then there was Ah Yin of Shrek Academy.
Unresolved threats like those couldn't be tackled directly just yet. Trying to bulldoze through them now would only lead to mutual destruction.
Everything would need to wait—Until the All-Continent Soul Master Tournament in three years.
Xu Cheng looked down at the world of snow and ice beneath him. He could vaguely make out towns and houses flashing by in the distance.
If defeating Shrek Academy in the Top 16 last time had shaken its dominance,Then the next time... would lay the foundation for Shrek's burial in history.
"Speaking of which…"
Xu Cheng glanced at the girl beside him.
Xue Ling'er still had her usual indifferent expression, but there was a trace of wistfulness in her eyes.
"Snow Empress, you've awakened?"
"Not fully…"
She replied calmly.
Xu Cheng's mouth twitched.
"I don't believe you."
"While I can channel origin power, I haven't fully recovered yet."Xue Ling'er blinked her pale blue eyes seriously.
"So your... consciousness has returned?"Xu Cheng's throat moved as he swallowed.
The number one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North,A being with over 700,000 years of cultivation,And he hadn't realized she had regained consciousness...
"Correct."
Snow Empress nodded slightly.
Suddenly, the air around them turned icy cold.
What surprised Xu Cheng was that Snow Empress didn't back away or become annoyed. Instead, she maintained a rather close and friendly distance from him.
Even the Titan Snow Demon King's confession had ended with its neck nearly shattered.Let alone this kind of intimate closeness.
Even though it was Xue Ling'er who had initially clung to Xu Cheng—Now that Snow Empress had returned to awareness, she didn't resist?
"You smell nice."
Snow Empress gave her explanation while lightly swinging her slender, snow-white legs, expression calm.
"And… thank you for what you did for the Extreme North."
"Haha, you're being too polite." Xu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"I'm not a tiger. Why are you standing so far away?"
Snow Empress tilted her head up to look at Xu Cheng. Her voice was as clear as spring water.
She patted the seat beside her with her small hand:
"Sit down. Doesn't standing tire you out?"
"…"
Xu Cheng gulped.
She wasn't a tiger, but even a tiger would behave like a kitten in front of her.
Still, he sat down.
"After so many years of cultivation in the Extreme North, this is my first time looking down on it from this perspective."Snow Empress said softly.
"Snow Girl, you're awake!"
Suddenly, from within Xu Cheng's spiritual sea,Mini Ice Empress jumped out, excitedly circling around Snow Empress.
"Yes, Bingbing. With the return of my memories, my perception of ice and snow has become even deeper. This feeling, drawn from the origin of power… I call it Authority."Snow Empress smiled.
"By mastering this power of Authority, perhaps the chances of becoming a god have greatly increased."
"But why fake amnesia?"Ice Empress sounded confused and a bit resentful."You left me to handle everything in the Extreme North, and I ended up making a fool of myself in front of the other beasts."
"Just looking at them once was enough."Snow Empress sighed lightly.
"I was born from the essence of heaven and earth. Over time, the Extreme North has changed greatly. My earliest companions have mostly passed away, worn down by time. Now, Ah Tai and Xiao Bai are younger generations I've nurtured with high hopes. I want them to be able to bear the responsibility of leading the Extreme North when I'm gone."
"But now that the Extreme North has merged into the Sun Moon Empire, my reappearance would be… unsuitable."
She looked down at the vast snowy landscape.
"Ah Tai and the others aren't strong enough to carry the banner of the Extreme North. If we want to protect this land, only the Sun Moon Empire can. So the faith the soul beasts place in me… must begin to fade. And instead, they must begin to believe in the Sun Moon Empire's banner."
"…" Ice Empress was speechless.
She looked a bit depressed.
The Extreme North had existed for who knows how many years. She had always taken pride in being one of the Three Heavenly Kings, and had a deep sense of belonging.
But now, Snow Empress's words left her feeling lost.
The symbol of the Extreme North—Might soon be erased by history.
Though she knew Snow Empress had thought everything through, and that it was for the best,It still hurt.
"Hehe, the symbol of the Extreme North won't disappear."Snow Empress gently cupped the mini Ice Empress in her hands and softly stroked her."In the future, the Extreme North will still exist. The only difference is… the Three Heavenly Kings won't be part of it."
"Every generation of soul beasts has its own responsibilities."
"As long as we've found a way to survive amidst the tides of history, that's already very fortunate. The rest, we leave to fate."
"You've chosen to trust A-Cheng. So have I."
Ice Empress fell silent.
The two—Snow Empress and Ice Empress—were like mother and daughter, or perhaps more like sisters.
"I've been secretly observing him these past few days too."Snow Empress exhaled a puff of white mist."Honestly, at first I was wary—of him, of humans in general. Human deceit runs deep and leaves marks on the beast heart. But…"
"Forget it."
She spoke softly.
Then she stretched out a pale little finger, pointing northward.
"There—that's where Princess of the Sea and her people reside."
Xu Cheng followed the direction she pointed.
They had now crossed the Arctic Circle of Douluo Planet, entering Sun Moon Empire territory.In the direction Snow Empress pointed, the ocean shimmered blue, visibly divided from the pale blue ice sheet.
Waves lapped against the ice, and some penguin-like soul beasts were resting there.
"Princess of the Sea…"
A smile slowly spread across Xu Cheng's face.
The Ice Silkworm Clan was already elite among spiritual-type soul beasts.
But the Princess of the Sea Clan—They were true top-tier.
They could interlink their spiritual power like a giant web, not unlike the Sun Moon Empire's linked defensive soul tools.
Fundamentally, it's still just 1 + 1 = 2,But the key was that they could combine.
What mattered most was that Xu Cheng had discovered—Spiritual power, this rare resource, was invaluable in space.
Because spatial power seemed closely tied to spiritual power...
Even the spatial jump formation he had mentioned earlier required spiritual power to maintain.
If he could further develop spiritual power—
Xu Cheng believed he could uncover the core of spatial law.
The crisis of spatial storms in the God Realm still hung above him like a Damocles sword.
He had just inherited the Destruction God Position. He hadn't even had time to arm wrestle with God King Tang,And the whole God Realm might already be swept away?
How's that fair?
The spiritual net formed by the Princess of the Sea Clan could only be rivaled by the full-powered Tianmeng "Power Bank"—before it had been drained.
"What a shame…"
Xu Cheng clicked his tongue.
If the Tianmeng Power Bank were fully charged,Why would he even need to borrow others' spiritual power?
Based on his estimates, Tianmeng's soul origin after the sacrifice was probably less than one-tenth of its peak when it was a million-year soul beast...
Truly drained dry.
Di Tian, Bear Lord, constantly squeezed him.
Even Evil Emperor nearly dragged him back.
"Sigh… looks like a human's already made it over."
Snow Empress raised her hand to shield her eyes, looking out across the ocean's surface.
"Don't tell me… Shrek Academy?"
Xu Cheng's expression turned strange.
Snow Empress:
"Seems like… yes."
Xu Cheng: "…"
Ice Empress: "…"
Ice Empress glinted schadenfreude in her eyes.
But there was also a flicker of anger:
"Those parasites! They sucked the Star Dou Forest dry, got kicked out of the Extreme North, and now they're trying to invade the ocean? How greedy can they be, always wanting something for nothing!"
Xu Cheng almost couldn't hold back his laughter.
Shrek's Misery Was Real
But Xu Cheng only felt that these guys were practically his lucky stars.
If it hadn't been for Shrek's Body Sect carrying out that sweeping massacre in the Extreme North, then even with Snow Empress and Ice Empress showing up in person, the publicity effect wouldn't have been half as good.
And it was the same with the ocean.
Because in the ocean, he had no personal connections like Ice Empress or Snow Empress. Just earlier, he had been troubled about how to establish a relationship with the sea soul beasts—
And now? Problem solved.
There's nothing better than offering help in a snowstorm to win hearts.
Meanwhile...
"The ocean depths are indeed rich in mineral resources."
Xuan Zi wore a delighted smile.
All around him, various marine soul beasts were fleeing in panic, but they were swiftly captured by Shrek Academy students. They came in all shapes and sizes, with many of them even having cultivation for over ten thousand years.
Their overall quality surpassed that of the soul beasts in the Extreme North.
And the most important thing was—
The Extreme North had very limited numbers of soul beasts. No matter how you looked at it, it could never compare to the Star Dou Forest in quantity. At best, it was just barely enough to pick your teeth. It could never support the soul ring needs of all the powers on the original continent.
But the diversity of ocean species?
That was on a whole other level.
Even the Star Dou Forest paled in comparison.
It was a heaven-sent opportunity—the future of Shrek Academy!
Xuan Zi was grinning from ear to ear.
The frustration of being expelled by Xu Cheng had completely disappeared.
As for the Body Sect?
The ocean was too vast.
Everyone was hunting soul beasts separately, and whatever you found was yours. As for 100,000-year-old soul beasts? Not worth fighting over.
Suddenly—
"Humans! What are you doing?!"
An angry voice rang across the sea's surface.
Waves surged violently, crashing upward in a towering wall of water hundreds of meters high, sweeping countless Shrek Academy students into the torrent.
"A hundred-thousand-year soul beast!"
Xuan Zi's expression turned serious.
He gestured with his hand.
All of Shrek's elders immediately regrouped, cautiously watching the commotion under the waves.
"Humans, leave at once!"
The waters on both sides parted, revealing mermaid-like humanoid figures in the ocean's depths.
Leading them was a noble, elegant, and stunningly beautiful mermaid, whose expression now carried visible anger.
She lived deep under the sea, beneath the Extreme North.
Far from the land, she rarely encountered humans like those in the Star Dou Forest, and thus felt more anger than killing intent toward these sudden invaders.
"It's not just a hundred-thousand-year soul beast,"
Old Song said grimly.
"That one's at least five hundred thousand years."
Xuan Zi nodded slightly, lowering his voice:
"It's fine. I can handle it."
His eyes swept over the mermaids behind the sea princess, a flash of greed flickering in them.
"These dozens of soul beasts all have ten-thousand-year cultivation. If we can take them back to the academy, we won't have to worry about soul beasts for at least a hundred years. And that fierce beast—its bloodline must be extraordinary. It's perfect for Beibei's ninth soul ring."
"But…"
Old Song hesitated.
"Beibei is only a Soul Emperor right now. He's nowhere near ready for his ninth ring. Even if we take her back…"
"Fool! Song Yunzhi, have you gone senile too?"
Xuan Zi shot her a sideways glance.
"Why bring her back to Shrek Academy? We need to mark the location. When Beibei's strong enough, we come back and hunt her."
"You're the one who's senile! Your whole family!"
Old Song snapped back angrily.
"Even if we bring her back, can you even keep her captive? If something goes wrong, the entire academy's safety is at stake."
Xuan Zi chuckled.
"Hmph!"
Old Song snorted, clearly unwilling to back down, even though she secretly agreed.
"I'll hold off the fierce beast. The rest of you, catch the others and go! Don't worry about me!"Xuan Zi shouted.
Earth-yellow soul power surged around him, enlarging his body as he charged straight toward the Sea Princess.
Meanwhile—
Xu Cheng was overlooking the battle below.
His expression was one of complete ease.
Of course, he planned to play the waiting hawk.
After all, offering help when it's desperately needed is far more effective than simply adding icing on the cake.
If Shrek hadn't launched an attack and driven the Sea Princess' clan into a life-or-death crisis, how would she understand the weight of his assistance?
Just as he predicted—
The Sea Princess clan was indeed falling into peril.
Shrek's soul beast hunting operation might as well have been a total mobilization.
Xuan Zi, Old Song, Elder Zhuang—Just counting Super Douluo, they had five,
Plus nine titled Douluo, and countless Soul Sages and Soul Douluo.
They had called up practically the entire inner court.
Even though Shrek had suffered a generational talent gap, the inner court students were still top-notch—no doubt about it.
Especially after Xuan Zi made the decision:The Supervisory Corps would no longer pursue evil soul masters.
This finally brought Shrek's casualty numbers down dramatically.
Because Shrek wasn't stupid.
When they had plenty of genius students, they could afford to throw them into meat grinders.
But now that geniuses were rare, how could they be so reckless?
Thus, even though the Sea Princess clan held the main battlefield, they began to struggle against the sheer weight of Shrek's elite.
"What, still not going to act?"Snow Empress asked calmly.
"No rush," Xu Cheng smiled.
"Shrek Academy focuses on capturing, not killing. And I want to see how powerful the Sea Princess clan's spiritual power is…"
They had once trapped Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er in an illusion so deep, they hadn't even realized it.
Xu Cheng had deduced it only through logic.
That meant—
If the Sea Princess wanted to trap Huo Yuhao in an illusion forever, as long as the logic was airtight, it might really work.
As a master of spiritual power and illusions himself, Xu Cheng was extremely interested.
"Alright then…"
Snow Empress didn't say more.
She watched the various attacks erupting across the ocean's surface, her expression thoughtful.
(End of Chapter)