422. Four Skills

Clang!

As the Ice Emperor and her companions "amicably exchanged words," the Ice Prison Chains fell to the ground.

“All done, it’s unlocked,” the Snow Empress said softly, her voice gentle as she thoughtfully adjusted Qian Renjue’s collar.

Pressing her lips together, she looked up at Qian Renjue.

“Mm, thank you,” Qian Renjue nodded, feeling a bit flustered under her gaze and quickly shifting his eyes away.

The Snow Empress tilted her head, as though trying to follow his purple eyes, causing a faint blush and a hint of awkwardness to appear on Qian Renjue’s face.

“Ah—”

Atai’s miserable cry rang out again.

Boom!
The ground shook, followed by Xiao Bai’s angry and distressed voice.

“Atai! You squashed all the food!”

“It’s all the Ice Emperor’s fault!”

“...”

Qian Renjue and the Snow Empress both turned toward Xiao Bai, their purple eyes gleaming with confusion.

It was hard to imagine what it must have looked like when the Ice Emperor lifted Ah Tai.

The Snow Empress, however, seemed unfazed.

If not for her preference for peace and quiet, the Extreme North might have been a much noisier place.

At that moment, Ah Tai was sprawled on Xiao Bai’s pudgy body while the snacks were crushed beneath them.

Slap! Slap!

The Ice Emperor stomped on Atai, dusting off her hands as she coldly snorted with her hands on her hips.

“All you do is eat, eat, eat! If you two love eating so much, I might as well bury you both together!”

The Snow Empress, ever the peacemaker, instinctively stepped in.

“Alright, Bing’er.”

“But Sister, these two are just too infuriating!”

The Ice Emperor, still huffing, jumped down and ran toward Qian Renjue.

The Snow Empress pursed her pink lips. She could understand Ah Tai and Xiao Bai—after all, those snacks were indeed quite delicious.

Watching the two fierce beasts scrambling to salvage the snacks, she waved her hand calmly.

“Ah Tai, Xiao Bai, I still have some here. You can take them and share.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the bag of snacks Qian Renjue had brought her appeared by her side.

“Thank you, Mother!” Xiao Bai cheered, rolling toward the Snow Empress without hesitation.

Ah Tai scooped up everything on the ground, snow and all, and hurried after him.

The Snow Empress carefully picked out the candied hawthorns and handed the bag to Ah Tai.

“If there’s nothing else, you two can head back now,” she said lightly.

“No problem.”

Ah Tai nodded. “If you ever need help, just let me know—just don’t knock me down first.”

“That won’t happen again,” the Snow Empress replied, glancing subtly at Qian Renjue from the corner of her eye. She had knocked Ah Tai down previously to prevent him from causing trouble when he saw a human.

Qian Renjue’s eyes showed a trace of surprise, and he couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t expected the Snow Empress to have such a fierce side.

“Good, I’ll take my leave then.”

Ah Tai nodded again, giving Qian Renjue a curious glance before grabbing the bag of snacks and sprinting away.

He knew Qian Renjue held a great secret, but the two towering figures of the Snow Empress and the Ice Emperor were not forces he could challenge.

“Goodbye, Mother!” Xiao Bai called out, quickly chasing after Ah Tai.

“Ah Tai! You blockhead, don’t run so fast!”

As he spoke, the entire icy hill began to tremble.

Xiao Bai reverted to his true form—a massive ice bear as large as a small mountain, its silvery-white body shimmering.

He roared fiercely like a true beast, his soul power surging around him, fangs bared. Yet, his roar was directed at the towering hundred-meter-tall Titan Snow Demon King ahead:
“If you keep running, I’ll have Mother deal with you!”

“Haha, what an idiot Xiao Bai is!”

The Ice Emperor couldn’t help but laugh.

“...”


Qian Renjue felt a few black lines form on his forehead. He had thought Xiaobai was about to fight.

“They’re not usually like this,” the Snow Empress said hesitantly, noticing Qian Renjue’s expression.

Qian Renjue chuckled.

“I think it’s actually quite nice. Otherwise, the icy plains would be a bit too dull.”

“Hmph! Smooth talker,” the Ice Emperor snorted coldly, still unimpressed by him.

Qian Renjue glanced at her briefly but didn’t bother to respond.

The Snow Empress looped her arm around the Ice Emperor’s and said softly,
“Qian Renjue, let’s go back to the cave. It’s too noisy out here.”

“Alright,” Qian Renjue agreed with a nod.

Before the words had fully left his mouth, the roars of Xiao Bai and Ah Tai echoed in their ears.

The Snow Empress frowned slightly. She reached out her delicate hand, grabbed Qian Renjue’s, and began heading toward the cave.

“Hey, human! Don’t forget to take the Ice Prison Chains with you,” the Ice Emperor called, pointing at the chains on the ground.

Those chains had taken them a lot of effort to obtain and couldn’t just be left there.

“No problem,” Qian Renjue replied. He understood that they were no ordinary chains.

If he took them to Gengxin City for refinement, they might be turned into excellent weapons.

With a simple gesture, the chains disappeared into his system space.

“Let’s go, Snow Empress,” Qian Renjue said with a smile, holding her cool and delicate hand as they walked toward the ice cave.

The Ice Emperor gritted her teeth, deliberately slowing her pace to try and separate the two.

But to her dismay, the Snow Empress simply let go of her arm and focused on keeping up with Qian Renjue, walking so closely it was as if she couldn’t bear to be apart.

“Sister?!” The Ice Emperor blinked in confusion, then stomped her foot in frustration.
Why was her sister ignoring her too?!

“Hurry up, Bing’er,” the Snow Empress called out casually before turning her gaze to Qian Renjue and asking curiously,
“Qian Renjue, how do you find the soul skills Bing’er gave you?”

“They’re quite powerful,” Qian Renjue replied with a satisfied smile.

The Ice Emperor had bestowed him with four skills in total:

Two soul skills: Ice Emperor Armor (a defensive skill) and Falling Ice Coffin (a control and attack skill).

Two soul bone skills: Ice Emperor’s Wrath (a single-target attack) and Extreme Cold Ice Storm (an area attack).


“I’m glad you’re pleased,” the Snow Empress said, relieved.

The Ice Emperor caught up, coming to Qian Renjue’s side and pouting.

“Why wouldn’t he be? That’s nearly a 400,000-year soul ring and soul bone!”

Before she could finish her sentence, the Ice Emperor let out a startled cry as her body transformed into emerald-green light and shot into Qian Renjue’s body.

“Bing’er?!” The Snow Empress looked at Qian Renjue in confusion.

“What just happened to her?”

“Don’t worry, she’s fine,” Qian Renjue reassured her with a smile, gently squeezing her hand.

“It’s the contract’s binding. Her true form can’t stay outside for too long and can’t stray more than a thousand meters from me.”

“Hmph! Human, are you feeling smug?!” The response came not from the Snow Empress but from the Ice Emperor’s haughty voice.

The emerald-green light condensed on Qian Renjue’s shoulder, taking the form of a tiny Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor.

“Bing’er?” the Snow Empress exclaimed with delight.

The form seemed to be a spirit body, only the size of a palm, but incredibly solid—almost indistinguishable from a physical entity.


---

In the Infernal Frozen Purgatory:

While Qian Renjue was absorbing the 100,000-year soul bone of the Scarlet Flame Lion, Qian Renxue’s Angel God’s Nine Trials, Second Trial was nearing its end.

In a world devoid of sunlight, land, or sea, there was only an endless expanse of clouds. Lightning crackled, fierce winds howled, torrential rain poured, and frost raged.

The golden Six-Winged Angel couldn’t land. Even during rest, she could only free-fall, before soaring upward again to break through the cold, stormy thunderclouds.