Chapter 17: The Fifth Ring, Departure and a Twisted Sense of Humor

The Ice Empress's words were indeed confirmed. Within nearly two and a half months, the myriad races of the Extreme North, having received the decree of the Ice and Snow Dual Emperors, acted almost simultaneously. The regions including the core circle, especially the side near Bing Hai, were turned upside down until not a single suspicious human figure was found, and only then did it stop.

During this period, Shu Yan's soul power level also successfully reached level 53. The further he went, the more difficult it became to increase his soul power by one level. Shu Yan felt this deeply and had a greater realization of the difficulty of cultivating extreme attributes.

I forgot to mention earlier that his fifth soul ring was also extremely special.

After absorbing the vast energy within the Snow Lotus, the Ice Heaven Snow Girl bloodline in his body began to boil. The aura emitted from it merged with the vast essence of heaven and earth and energy he had absorbed, finally transforming into his fifth soul ring. And this black ten-thousand-year soul ring now had an age of about 45,000 years.

In other words, this ten-thousand-year soul ring derived from his own bloodline aura and pure energy was actually equivalent to a soul ring produced by a 45,000-year Ice Heaven Snow Girl. After all, the most fundamental things within it were all produced by himself. Thinking along this line, there was actually no problem with Shu Yan saying this.

This morning, Shu Yan stood on the snowy mountain behind the palace, looking into the distance. The cold wind blew against his face, lifting the thin flying snow on the ground, making everything in the distance become blurred and unclear.

A faint melancholy flashed in Shu Yan's eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.

His concept of time had become somewhat thin, but roughly calculating, he had now stayed in the Extreme North Land for a full eight months. To be precise, he was now a year older, having officially reached the age of thirteen.

Just as he was lost in thought, a faint sound of footsteps suddenly came from behind him. Shu Yan turned his head at the sound and found that the person who had come was the Snow Empress, who had changed into an ice-blue long dress.

The Snow Empress's expression was calm. She walked to Shu Yan's side, her gaze following the direction Shu Yan was looking, and then she said softly: "Are you missing home?"

Shu Yan was slightly startled, then smiled and said: "Something like that, but for me, the word 'home' might be a bit of a luxury."

The Snow Empress was slightly startled, then smiled helplessly.

"Alright, now that the matters in the Extreme North Land have been dealt with, I am very sorry. I am the Lord of the Extreme North, and naturally, I must be responsible for the races that believe in me. The things that happened here were different from the past, and delaying for such a long time has wronged you."

Shu Yan shook his head and said softly: "It's fine as long as the problem is solved. What does a little more time or a little less time matter? It's no big deal."

The Snow Empress nodded, then as if suddenly remembering something, she took out a leg bone emitting a thick aura of earth attributes from somewhere and presented it to Shu Yan.

"This soul bone was also obtained by Bing'er after she killed those soul masters; it happened to come from that Title Douluo. After those humans died, Bing'er's clansmen collected it, but later, because she was too busy, she forgot to hand it to you together, so this time she entrusted me to bring this soul bone to you."

Shu Yan's expression tightened, then he reached out and took the soul bone from the Snow Empress's hand.

As soon as the soul bone was in his hand, a thick and majestic aura instantly appeared in Shu Yan's perception.

Shu Yan pondered for a moment, then said:

"An earth-attribute soul bone, the age is at least over 50,000 years. The soul beast that produced this soul bone should be a top-tier earth-attribute soul beast similar to an Earth Dragon; otherwise, it would be impossible to possess such an aura. I have to say, this is indeed a top-tier soul bone, perfectly suited for an ordinary pure strength-type soul master or defense-type soul master."

"This group of soul masters who defected from the Sun Moon Empire were not ordinarily wealthy. Almost everyone had a few soul bones of average quality on them. Thinking about it, their status in the Sun Moon Empire should have been quite considerable."

While Shu Yan was speaking, he put the soul bone into his pocket. Just kidding, only a fool would refuse a top-tier soul bone delivered for free. Even if he couldn't use it himself, and Xu Jiujiu couldn't use it, keeping it to gather dust here was still better than leaving it in the Ice Empress's hands. What if he had the idea of building a foundation in the future? This soul bone might come in handy then, right? The Snow Empress just smiled lightly but didn't say anything more on this aspect. Only after a moment of silence did she suddenly say:

"Tomorrow, Bing'er will come to find us. At that time, you will lead the way, and I and Bing'er will also go to the human world for a visit..." Hearing this, Shu Yan suddenly raised his head, only to find the Snow Empress looking at him with a smile in her eyes. The wind and snow seemed to bypass the Snow Empress directly; there was a circle of empty space around her. Shu Yan found it hard to describe such a beautiful scene with words.

The Snow Empress smiled and slowly reached out her hand, but paused for a moment in the air before taking the next step. Seeing that Shu Yan still didn't react, she laughed at herself, and her figure slowly disappeared into the wind and snow, leaving only Shu Yan, whose body was slightly stiff, standing in place.

After a long while, Shu Yan smelled the lingering cold fragrance on his cheek, touched his cheek involuntarily, and then laughed silently.

This kind of behavior really didn't look like the cold and noble Snow Empress who was like an Empress...

The departure from the Extreme North Land came faster than Shu Yan had anticipated. The next morning, while the sky was still dim, Shu Yan was shaken awake by the dissatisfied Ice Empress. Looking at Shu Yan's sleepy appearance, the Ice Empress sneered and said:

"What, are you already kidney-deficient? Why do you look like you're about to die? This doesn't look like you, Little Shu..."

Shu Yan said quite speechlessly:

"Where did you learn these words? Remember, don't say those two words to boys casually in the future, otherwise, someone might jump up and fight you to the death."

The Ice Empress raised her head proudly and said:

"Your human characters aren't difficult. I figured them out after pondering for a while. It just so happens that there are quite a few items left behind by humans who died in the Extreme North Land in my clan. I flipped through them when I was free, so naturally, I learned quite a few interesting things..."

Shu Yan rolled his eyes, always feeling that those things left behind by humans were not good things.

Looking at the dark sky outside, Shu Yan sat up from the ice bed, casually draped his outer robe over his shoulders, and followed the Ice Empress, who was clearly in a good mood, out of this side hall.

In the main hall, the Snow Empress sat on the throne in a casual posture. Seeing the two figures, a smile curled at the corners of her lips, and she said: "Are you both ready?"

The Ice Empress went up and hugged one of the Snow Empress's thighs, giggling and saying:

"Don't worry, Xue'er, everything is arranged. During the time we are away, Xiao Bai will lead their Ice Bear clan and our Ice Jade Scorpion clan to continue patrolling the edge of the Extreme North Land. Once any abnormality is discovered, Xiao Bai will notify us through the means you left behind. Besides, aren't there those brainless, strong guys of the Titan Snow Demon clan? You can rest assured..."

The Snow Empress smiled and pinched the Ice Empress's cheek, then slowly stood up. With one step, she was already behind Shu Yan.

The Ice Empress hopped and skipped to keep up with the Snow Empress's pace. Before officially setting off, she seemed to have thought of something fun, went up to the Snow Empress, and said: "Xue'er, you've been so tired these past few days, don't take Little Shu with you when flying. Leave this matter to me. Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of him..."

The Snow Empress looked with interest at Shu Yan behind her, who didn't know what was about to happen, and then nodded gently.

The Ice Empress got the Snow Empress's permission, and the smile on her face became even brighter, but this smile was mixed with a hint of ill intent. Shu Yan didn't know why he felt a deep sense of malice, always feeling that something bad was about to happen...

PS: Thanks to everyone for the tips, collections, follow-up readings, comments, and monthly tickets! (New author kowtowing fiercely to everyone) PS: If you think it's readable, please invest. Let's get a hundred for the author early so I can get a recommendation (covering face) () (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====