At that moment—
Bathed in divine radiance, Qi Lin stood quietly, and for the first time, the Ice Empress began to believe Skydream Iceworm's words.
Perhaps Qi Lin truly could reach the hundredth rank and become a god.
Gu Yuena tilted her head slightly, gazing at the boy radiating sacred light. Her beautiful eyes sparkled with brilliance.
Within Qi Lin's spiritual sea, the Skydream Iceworm, now clear-headed once more, continued, "Ice Empress, have you made your decision?"
The Ice Empress's gaze flickered. Her heart was already moved.
There were only a little over ten thousand years left until her four-hundred-thousand-year life limit. She had no confidence in surviving the tribulation that awaited her then.
Since death was inevitable, why not gamble everything—just like the Skydream Iceworm?
She was the Ice Empress, one of the three kings of the Extreme North. Could she truly lack the courage Skydream had?
She didn't think for long.
"Fine," she said decisively. "What do I need to do?"
"Hahaha! I knew you'd agree!"
"Of course, even if you didn't, Her Majesty the Silver Dragon King would've forced you to."
"Silver Dragon King?" Ice Empress's expression shifted as she looked instinctively toward Gu Yuena.
She's a soul beast?!
But why had she never heard of the Silver Dragon King?
And from the way Skydream spoke, she wasn't even her match.
She was the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, nearly four hundred thousand years old! Even among the savage beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest, she ranked among the top three in combat power.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on this. She coldly snapped, "Enough nonsense—what do I do?"
"Alright, alright."
"Ice Empress, when I sacrificed myself to Qi Lin, I didn't give him a powerful soul bone, but I did grant him a second martial soul."
"However, his second martial soul is like a blank slate—it lacks an origin."
"So, I want you to do as I did—merge your spiritual origin with his and become the wisdom soul ring of his second martial soul."
The Ice Empress nodded. "I can do that. But can he withstand it?"
"He's so young. Shouldn't we wait a few more years?"
"Just fuse boldly. Don't be fooled by his age—Qi Lin is already level sixty."
"Plus, you might not know this, but his first soul ring has already reached the two-hundred-thousand-year level."
"Given that, if you seal off a bit of your origin during the fusion, there'll be no problem."
Hearing this, the Ice Empress looked at Qi Lin in astonishment.
This human boy—so young, yet already a Soul Emperor?
Perhaps... I really can follow him and ascend to godhood.
"Very well. I'll release my spiritual origin now."
As she spoke, a soft emerald glow spread from her body, gathering into a glowing sphere at the stinger on her tail.
This was the Ice Empress's spiritual origin.
The moment she released it, the surrounding temperature plummeted, and her body collapsed to the ground, as if losing all support.
The glowing sphere drifted toward Qi Lin's forehead and merged into him.
In the next instant—
Within Qi Lin's spiritual sea!
The Ice Empress's origin transformed into a shimmering emerald scorpion.
But when she saw the seemingly infinite expanse of Qi Lin's consciousness, she let out a startled cry.
"This... this is his spiritual sea?"
"Hehehe, Ice Empress, we meet again!"
A plump little silkworm floated over comically.
It was Skydream Iceworm.
But before he could approach, the Ice Empress let out a cold snort.
"Get lost!"
A terrifying burst of icy force erupted from her and sent Skydream flying.
In the Extreme North, the Iceworm race was a food source for most soul beasts. Over the past hundreds of thousands of years, the Ice Empress had devoured tens of millions of iceworms—she held no affection for Skydream.
Had this not been Qi Lin's spiritual sea, she might have eaten Skydream on the spot.
Doing so might even let her survive another two tribulations.
"You're so vicious!" Skydream wailed, his voice filled with pain.
He knew the Ice Empress couldn't kill him here, but it still hurt!
The Ice Empress simply said coldly, "Get as far away as you can. If you come closer again, it won't end with just a blast."
Skydream shrank his round little body.
"Fine, I'll leave!"
—Outside the spiritual sea—
The Ice Empress's voice echoed in Qi Lin's mind.
"Qi Lin, prepare yourself. I'm about to begin the full fusion of my origin with you."
Qi Lin nodded.
"Go ahead. I'm ready."
"Once we're fused, you'll gain the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion as your second martial soul."
"You'll be the first human ever to awaken it."
Hearing that, Qi Lin looked at the Ice Empress's radiant, crystalline form.
It was beautiful, no doubt—but not very imposing.
If only it looked a bit more majestic and powerful... he thought with a trace of regret.
Meanwhile, the fusion process began.
A frost-like mist spread from Qi Lin's body, enveloping him.
Within the haze, he felt no discomfort—only a sense of disorientation, and the world around him began to blur.
This feeling...
It was just like when he obtained his second and third soul rings.
Suddenly, the scene changed!
A grand, awe-inspiring sight appeared before him.
A colossal cliff stretched endlessly skyward. Atop the cliff, a majestic, divine beast coiled in silence, surrounded by five-colored clouds and swirling violet aura.
As if sensing Qi Lin's presence, the creature opened its deep, abyssal eyes and looked directly at him.
They locked gazes for a moment.
Then, the vision slowly shattered and faded.
Returning to himself, Qi Lin could still remember it all vividly.
"What was that creature? It felt... familiar."
As he wondered, the Ice Empress's voice rang out, filled with excitement.
"The origin fusion is complete! Now we just need to fuse the soul ring to finish everything!"
As soon as she spoke, a blood-red soul ring with four golden lines formed around the Ice Empress.
However, the fourth golden line was noticeably shorter than the others.
It was incomplete—since she hadn't yet reached the full four hundred thousand years.
Guided by her power, the ring slowly merged into Qi Lin's body.
The process was smooth.
In just half an hour, the ring was fully integrated.
The Ice Empress's body then slowly faded, leaving behind a soul bone that glittered like frozen crystal.
Her 390,000-year torso bone.
"It's done!"
Her cold voice carried a trace of joy.
She had expected the process to be dangerous—yet Qi Lin had handled it all perfectly.
"Qi Lin, try invoking your martial soul. The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion I granted you is one-of-a-kind in this world."
Qi Lin raised a brow.
When his consciousness entered the fused state again, he had a feeling that something unexpected might happen.
Sure enough—his second martial soul wasn't the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
Fate had once again answered his plea!
In the next second, Qi Lin activated his martial soul—
A majestic beast's shadow appeared behind him.
It had a dragon's head with icy horns, ice-blue eyes, scales of frozen crystal, and was wreathed in freezing mist.
This was Qi Lin's mutated second martial soul—
Mystic Ice Qilin!
Qi Lin... was a Qilin!