Chapter 154: Ice Empress's Little Schemes
Qi Tian's slight movement woke the Snow Empress. At her level, even the tiniest disturbance would draw her attention.
Or rather, she didn't really need to sleep at all anymore.
The Snow Empress opened her eyes and saw Qi Tian stirring. Faced with her cool, icy gaze, all of Qi Tian's thoughts instantly vanished.
"Snow Empress, did I wake you?" Qi Tian asked.
The Snow Empress stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. Meanwhile, the Ice Empress's soul inside Qi Tian was secretly laughing.
"Ice Empress, what are you laughing at?" Qi Tian asked.
The Ice Empress didn't answer. Naturally, she was laughing because she'd just seen Qi Tian suffer a setback.
Two days earlier, her relationship with the Snow Empress had grown closer, and the two had already agreed to address each other as sisters.
'This guy is calling big sister like that—he doesn't even realize he's already exposed, does he?'
'I wonder if big sister will do something to him,' the Ice Empress thought to herself.
But what completely shattered the Ice Empress's expectations was that the Snow Empress didn't do anything to Qi Tian at all. Instead, she opened her arms toward him.
Qi Tian naturally pulled the Snow Empress into his embrace and gently coaxed her back to sleep.
"Damn it!"
The Ice Empress couldn't stand watching anymore. As a soul beast, she naturally possessed a sense of possessiveness as well.
Even though Qi Tian was using her body to cuddle with the Snow Empress, she still felt a sour, uncomfortable feeling in her heart.
'Next time, I'll only let this guy control my body when I can't maintain human form anymore!' the Ice Empress thought.
She wasn't a transformed soul beast. Although her cultivation allowed her to take on a human form, she couldn't maintain it for very long.
At present, she could only sustain her human form for a few days. Once that limit was exceeded, she would revert to her true form—the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress.
Even so, she was already extremely impressive.
The soul beast kings of the Star Dou Great Forest—the Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape—couldn't even transform into human form at all.
As for the Sea God's mount, the Demon Soul Great White Shark, its human form still carried very obvious non-human traits and could only be maintained on land for a single day.
By contrast, aside from some jade-scaled demonic markings resembling tattoos, the Ice Empress was almost no different from a human.
Watching Qi Tian hold the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress decided not to let him sleep peacefully and began to harass him.
"Qi Tian, that Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well you mentioned to the Snow Empress—where exactly is it?" the Ice Empress asked.
"Why are you asking that?" Qi Tian was a bit puzzled.
The Ice Empress replied, "When you're not around, Snow Empress and I can't travel."
"If we know where that Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well is, then when you're gone, I can take Snow Empress there myself."
"If we always have to wait for you before we can move, Snow Empress will start to suspect something."
The Ice Empress's reasoning was sound, but what she didn't know was that Qi Tian had already completed his task—so even if the Snow Empress found out, it wouldn't really matter.
Still, Qi Tian didn't hide anything and answered directly, "The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well is in the center of the Sunset Forest."
"There's a medicinal garden belonging to the Spirit Hall there, and there may be Spirit Hall soul masters guarding it."
"If you run into Spirit Hall soul masters, don't injure them casually. Otherwise, you'll attract real powerhouses, and that'll be troublesome."
"Spirit Hall has two Ultimate Douluo and six elders above rank ninety-six. You probably won't be able to deal with them."
The Sacred Pillar Douluo of Sea God Island couldn't leave the island without a divine oracle.
But Spirit Hall's elders were different—they could roam freely and even go to Sea God Island.
This was likely related to the Angel God. Rumor had it that the Angel God might have reincarnated as Qian Renxue, which was why Spirit Hall's elders faced far fewer restrictions.
"Mm-hmm, I got it!" the Ice Empress replied excitedly.
She had already planned it out—first, she'd get the location of that so-called Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well out of Qi Tian's mouth, then she'd secretly go investigate it herself.
If there really was danger, she could make preparations in advance. When the time came, who would be ambushing whom then!
As the King of the Extreme North, she had subordinates of her own. She was still capable of commanding some of the hundred-thousand-year soul beasts of the Extreme North.
What the Ice Empress hadn't expected was that Qi Tian would give everything away so easily.
'Didn't he even consider setting an ambush for me and the Snow Empress?' The Ice Empress thought to herself.
Still, for Snow Empress's safety, she decided to personally go scout the place first.
"Ice Empress, I have a secret technique to pass on to you. It might help you survive your four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation," Qi Tian said.
Seeing the Ice Empress so energetic, Qi Tian took the opportunity to pass on the soul core method to her as well.
Although Snow Empress also knew how to condense a soul core—and planned to attempt condensing a second one ten thousand years later, possibly passing that method on to Ice Empress as well—Qi Tian's soul core technique came from the system.
It should be more comprehensive and more refined.
Even if it differed from Snow Empress's method, they could cross-verify the two approaches, refine the technique, and accumulate experience in soul core condensation.
"Huh? What secret technique are you talking about?"
The Ice Empress thought she had misheard. Was this human actually going to teach her a cultivation method?
Qi Tian continued, "The soul core condensation method—forget it—once the Snow Empress wakes up, I'll explain it to both of you together."
He looked inward and realized that the Ice Empress hadn't condensed a soul core yet. Her cultivation path might differ somewhat from Snow Empress's.
"No! I want to hear it right now. Snow Empress doesn't even need to sleep—wake her up quickly!" Ice Empress urged.
Qi Tian ignored her, holding the soft, fragrant, cool Snow Empress in his arms as he continued sleeping.
Snow Empress couldn't hear Ice Empress's voice at all. Nestled in Qi Tian's embrace, she slept soundly and peacefully.
The Ice Empress kept pestering Qi Tian, but he didn't respond again.
Over the past few days, he had been exhaustively "retaliated against" by Bibi Dong. As a rank ninety-nine Ultimate Douluo, her physical endurance was no joke.
Although Qi Tian's body was fine, he was mentally drained and ended up sleeping until the sun was already high in the sky the next day.
In the morning, seeing that "Ice Empress" still hadn't woken up, Snow Empress thought something had gone wrong.
"Bing'er? Wake up!" Snow Empress gently pushed Ice Empress's body.
Qi Tian jolted awake. Looking at Snow Empress's exquisitely delicate face so close to his, he silently praised her in his heart.
"Snow Empress, what's wrong?" Qi Tian asked in confusion.
Snow Empress let out a quiet sigh of relief. She had thought something had happened to the Ice Empress, but now it seemed she had merely slept a little longer.
Seeing the relieved look in Snow Empress's eyes, Qi Tian knew she had been worried about Ice Empress.
That made sense—what four-hundred-thousand-year soul beast would sleep so soundly in a completely unfamiliar place?
Snow Empress's concern for Ice Empress made her seem even more human, Qi Tian thought.
At that moment, the Ice Empress began urging Qi Tian again, pressing him to pass on the method.
"Snow Empress, I obtained a method for condensing a soul core. Do you want to learn it?" Qi Tian asked.
The Snow Empress froze. She was in the process of preparing to condense her second soul core, and Qi Tian actually possessed such a precious technique?
This human… seemed rather decent after all. Sensing Qi Tian's goodwill and concern, Snow Empress nodded.
"Alright. I'll explain it verbally. You can also share your own experience with me—I haven't condensed a soul core yet either," Qi Tian said.
Snow Empress nodded and listened quietly as Qi Tian began explaining the method.
Qi Tian held nothing back. Every technique he obtained, he never kept to himself.
In his view, passing techniques on to others didn't hinder his own cultivation in the slightest.
And with his ability to protect himself, he wasn't afraid of being stabbed in the back.
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End of Chapter