"Who exactly are you people?"
Lin Jiayi on the side asked, but the man didn't respond. Instead, he laughed for some reason, as if he were crazy.
Lin Xiao exchanged a glance with Lin Jiayi and was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed.
A bone-piercing chill instantly enveloped his entire body.
This... Snow Emperor?
Lin Xiao abruptly looked toward the passage. Unbeknownst to him, a thick layer of ice had formed on the metal-paved corridor, and the vapor from his breath condensed into ice crystals almost instantly, falling to the ground.
An immense aura was approaching closer and closer along the passage.
Glancing once more at the shadowy figure, Lin Xiao immediately understood.
Du Busi had brought people to hold back the other experts of Mingde Hall outside. This person must have been sent in to search for the so-called "100,000-year embryo." For some reason, an accident had occurred, and the Sealing God Platform had been shattered...
The Snow Emperor had escaped.
"Hahaha, what 100,000-year soul beast? That's not a 100,000-year beast at all! We've all been deceived! All of you will die here with me!"
The figure was clearly under extreme tension when he sensed the Snow Emperor's aura. In his panic, he had fled to this dead end, and his state of mind had shifted dramatically.
Lin Jiayi's body trembled slightly from the cold as he hurried to Lin Xiao's side, following his gaze toward the passage outside.
"Lin Xiao, I'm the one who brought you here. I'll do my best to hold her off. Take 'Plan Number One' and find a chance to escape."
Seeing Lin Jiayi extend the starlight sapphire toward him, Lin Xiao did not accept it. Instead, he gently pushed his hand away.
"Teacher, wait for the right moment and leave here yourself."
"Lin Xiao, you—"
Lin Xiao shook his head, preventing Lin Jiayi from continuing.
If it were him holding back the Snow Emperor, there might still be a slim chance for a moment. But if Lin Jiayi stayed, it would be no different from sending him to his death.
"Teacher, since you know my background, you should know that my strength surpasses that of an ordinary soul master. When the time comes, I'll do my best to hold her off for a while. Teacher, go find other experts to help me."
Before Lin Jiayi could respond, a shrill howl echoed through the passage.
"Despicable humans, all of you die!"
The surrounding temperature seemed to drop even further because of this voice. Thick layers of ice spread upward, as if trying to freeze Lin Xiao's legs in place.
With a stomp of his foot, the ice on the ground shattered instantly, sending countless fragments flying. Lin Xiao's seventh soul ring shone brightly, and countless higanbana flowers bloomed atop the solid ice.
Raising his hands lightly, higanbana flowers swirled around him. Lin Xiao's eyes were filled with shades of deep blue and blood red.
Lin Jiayi retreated repeatedly to the side, suddenly feeling even colder. But it was different from before. Earlier, it had been physical coldness; now, it felt like the chill in his heart when life reached its end.
Yet both were bone-piercingly cold, to the extreme.
"Crack—crack—"
The surrounding metal deformed under the extreme cold, emitting crisp sounds. A faint white mist suddenly emerged from the passage, rushing straight toward Lin Xiao.
Light shone from his left leg bone as soul power surged toward his left leg. The soul bone skill, Lingering Fragrance, was unleashed.
What he hadn't expected was that this piercing cold seemed to freeze even the flow of soul power within his body.
In just a momentary stagnation, half of Lin Xiao's body was completely covered in ice and snow. His entire left arm seemed to have lost all sensation, as if it no longer existed.
The illusion Lin Xiao had left in place shattered with a "crash." Another figure, bearing half a body of ice and snow, slowly emerged. He opened his mouth slightly, but what came out was not air; it was a mouthful of ice shards.
This was a 700,000-year soul beast.
Lin Xiao had faced the Great Elder head-on before, but at that time, although the Great Elder was a 400,000-year soul beast, he had just endured a heavenly tribulation, and his strength was less than half of his usual.
Now, Lin Xiao faced the Snow Emperor of 700,000 years, the strongest soul beast on the entire continent besides Di Tian and the Evil Emperor.
Even though her transformation into human form had been interrupted and she had been imprisoned in the Sealing God Platform for several years, she was not at her peak. Still, she was far, far stronger than the Great Elder had been back then.
In just one encounter, Lin Xiao's heart sank. He had just been thinking he could hold out for a moment, but now it seemed he had been too optimistic.
Glancing sideways at Lin Jiayi beside him, Lin Xiao took a deep breath. The cold in his mouth reminded him of swallowing seawater beneath the ice sea.
Raising his hand and pointing, countless floating cannons rose densely into the air. Beside him, the invisible Sealing God quietly appeared.
Though ordinary people could not see Sealing God, who had become a soul, with the Snow Emperor's 700,000-year cultivation, she clearly sensed something. The white mist grew denser, and the aura around her intensified.
"Boom—"
A loud explosion rang out. Countless beams from the soul guides fell upon the white mist, piercing through it to strike the ground and walls. In an instant, the entire room shook violently. Several soul guides fell from the already-damaged ceiling, smashing to pieces on the floor.
"Hmph."
A muffled grunt came from within the white mist. The mist floating at the room's entrance seemed to thin slightly, and a figure faintly appeared before Lin Xiao's eyes; it looked like a small child.
But as the aura around her condensed, the figure grew visibly taller, her form becoming increasingly slender.
It seemed the Snow Emperor, who had already become an embryo, was regrowing, reclaiming the power she once possessed.
The Snow Emperor did not understand soul guides, but she knew this array of floating cannons posed a threat to her. She raised her right arm, pointing her index finger skyward. Streams of ice-blue light gathered into her hand.
In an instant, a sharp blade condensed in her grasp. With a swing of her right arm, ice-blue light swept across half the room, and dozens of arrayed floating cannons were instantly sliced in two.
Lin Xiao lowered his head slightly to glance at the severed parts on the ground. Through the smooth cut surfaces, he could see that the soul guide arrays inside were shattered beyond recognition.
Clearly, before the long sword in the Snow Emperor's hand had fallen, those soul guide arrays had already lost function under the extreme cold.
Lin Jiayi's expression changed drastically. Unlike the Snow Emperor, he knew that Lin Xiao's soul guides were already at level seven. Yet under that single sword strike from the Snow Emperor, the metal was as fragile as paper.
Lin Xiao had no time to consider what Lin Jiayi was thinking. Seeing the Snow Emperor raise her sword again, the remaining soul guides lit up once more. Beams of light shot from their muzzles, not falling immediately but converging toward a single point.
Then, a dazzling white beam collided with the ice-blue long sword. The surrounding air exploded violently, as if even more intense than the earlier blast.
And amid the blinding light, the soul rings around Lin Xiao also shone brilliantly.
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