The normal version had been given to Nan Qiuqiu because Huo Yuhao would not have been able to get so many Divine Ice Crystals without her mother’s help. The armor Huo Yuhao was wearing was made of Divine Ice Crystals which contained ice spirits. In other words, this set of armor possessed life energy.

  The formation arrays within the interior of the armor were all carved from Divine Ice Crystals. They were all completed by Huo Yuhao, who had used his Ghostcarving Blade and Sigh of the Frozen Goddess, Morning Dew Dagger. Without these two items, he would not have been able to even cut the crystals.

  Huo Yuhao could not bear to wear this set of armor all the time. Because his cultivation was still lacking a bit, he did not have the ability to fully control the immense power of the armor.

  Xuan Ziwen had said that this was one of the most perfect products he had ever seen in his life. All of the diagrams and papers were completed by Xuan Ziwen and Huo Yuhao together. However, Huo Yuhao did all the work, Xuan Ziwen while supervised him.

  Xuan Ziwen had said that this armor could not be used by anyone else. Without an Ultimate Ice martial soul, there was no hope for a cultivator to control this armor after wearing it. At the same time, Xuan Ziwen had factored in Huo Yuhao’s personal characteristics when designing the Icy War God’s Armor. He had also managed to design the Spiritual Control system that the Sun Moon Empire’s Illustrious Virtue Hall had been unable to produce successfully despite multiple attempts.

  This Spiritual Control system’s functionalities were contingent on the user’s powerful spiritual ability and his or her ability to withstand spiritual pressure. These criteria made it almost impossible for any normal person to use this armor. If a normal cultivator were to attempt to connect his or her spiritual power to the system, the person would either immediately die from the shattering of his or her spiritual sea, or turn into a lunatic.

  The armor was designed with all these considerations in mind. However, Xuan Ziwen admitted that he was not sure if Huo Yuhao was able to fully harness the potential of this Class 9 soul tool. Nonetheless, it would at the very least be able to perform at the level of a top-tier Class 9 soul tool. With this armor, he was confident of challenging any Class 9 soul engineer in the Sun Moon Empire.

  The most mystical part about the armor was its main material. It was impossible to find another armor in a million years which was built from Divine Ice Crystals with ice spirits!

  Huo Yuhao had never worn it for two main reasons. First, he was confident in his own abilities. Second, he was not confident of being able to control the armor properly. He was worried that he might accidentally kill a soul beast if he were to put on the Icy War God’s Armor. If that were to happen, there would be no chance of repairing his relationship with the Merfolk.

  Afterwards, both Tang Wutong and he were suddenly transported into the deep ocean. Hence, he never found an opportunity to put the armor on. But right now, under the control of the Snow Empress, he was about to put on this top-tier Class 9 soul tool outside of Tang Sect for the first time.

  “Let’s go!” The Snow Empress signalled Tang Wutong. Following which, she activated the flying soul tool that came along with the armor, and they sped back in the direction they came from.

  The Icy War God’s Armor was a human-shaped soul tool. The biggest advantage of human-shaped soul tools was how they were a comprehensive fit for their users.

  The entire design of the armor was conceptualized with close-combat in mind. This was necessary to harness the powerful effects of the Divine Ice Crystal, as well as Huo Yuhao’s very own Ultimate Ice martial soul’s power.

  Of course, close-combat, in this case, did not mean a purely physical kind of combat. It merely meant combat within a short range.

  After flying for a couple of minutes, the sea beneath them started to become tumultuous. Waves crashed against one another with increasing intensity as the seawater reached higher and higher against the buffeting winds.

  The Snow Empress had long foreseen this, and hence, she brought Tang Wutong higher up into the sky.

  The powerful martial soul combination skill that the Merfolks had used to displace the sky and sea could only be used within a certain range. Beyond this range, the effects would be heavily reduced, or even be rendered ineffective.

  As the seawater beneath them continued to surge, the Snow Empress brought Tang Wutong to an altitude of four thousand meters. This was an altitude that normal merfolk would never be able to reach. The threat from their martial soul combination technique was naturally invalid at this height.

  The Princess of the Sea emerged from the ocean with a furious look on her face. She rode on a wave, with her gigantic fishtail swinging at the back. Her daughter stood by her side as both of them surged into the skies with the support of the seawater and waves beneath them.

  With their current cultivations, they would naturally be unable to fly. Also, when they left the seawater, their powers would be reduced drastically. Hence, they had to use the seawater to support them into the skies.

  After all, the Ice Sea was a vast sea. When the Princess of the Sea put in more power to lift herself higher, more water vapor would be released into the air, resulting in increased humidity.

  As the air became increasingly viscous and humid, the absolute speed advantage that the Ice Empress and Tang Wutong possessed disappeared. They had no choice but to slow down.

  Tang Wutong realized how both Huo Yuhao and herself had belittled the Merfolk. They might not be able to fly, but they still possessed several methods to counter flying entities.

  At this instant, streaks of grey light suddenly shot up from the surface of the sea as they sped in the direction of the Snow Empress and Tang Wutong.

  Even though Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had encountered these soul beats before, they did not know what they were.

  However, the Snow Empress knew they were called Demonic Blades. They were an extremely special kind of fish. Their bodies were incredibly sharp and tough. Even though they might not possess any elemental characteristics, they had incredible penetrative ability.

  After every attack, they had to retreat into the sea to accelerate before their next attack.

  Actually, they were not supposed to be able to attack at such a high altitude. They were only able to do after the Princess of the Sea had raised the sea level.

  The Snow Empress let out a cold snort as she tapped the air with her hand. The rich water element in the air was also beneficial for entities which specialized in ice-type abilities.

  Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice!

  Large snowflakes started to materialize out of thin air as strong winds started blowing in the sky. The Demonic Blades which had just risen into the air were immediately blown away by the snowy winds. They were unable to get close to the Snow Empress and Tang Wutong.

  “Huh?” The Princess of the Sea was obviously surprised by what she had just seen. Both the Snow Empress and her were the leaders of the Extreme North. While she governed the sea, the Snow Empress governed the Extreme North Ice Field. Hence, she had definitely seen the Snow Empress execute her three ultimate techniques.

  While the Ice Sea was definitely the home ground of the Princess of the Sea, the Snow Empress could also share the home ground advantage because of its cold environment.

  “Empress’ Chill! How is a human supposed to know the Snow Empress’ skill? Unless…” The Princess of the Sea could not believe that an entity as strong as the Snow Empress would actually become a human’s soul ring.

  The attack from the sea started to subside, and the Snow Empress and Tang Wutong also stayed where they were. After all, it was almost impossible for them to breach the encirclement—formed from throngs of aquatic soul beasts—led by the Princess of the Sea at the Ice Sea.

  “Princess of the Sea!” The Snow Empress’ clear voice reverberated in the air. She slowly descended from the sky as she kept her gaze on the Princess of the Sea, who was floating on a wave crest.

  “This voice… you are?” The Princess of the Sea was a little confused as she stared at Huo Yuhao, who was wearing full-body armor.

  A projection flickered as the Snow Empress drifted out from Huo Yuhao’s body before floating beside him. Following which, Huo Yuhao’s eyes turned jade-green as the Ice Empress took control of his body.

  “Snow Empress?” After seeing the Snow Empress in her material form, the Princess of the Sea was shocked beyond belief.

  “Yes, it’s me. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. How have you been?” The Snow Empress nodded politely.

  In the Extreme North, while the Ice Sea was under the jurisdiction of the Princess of the Sea, the strongest entity was still the Snow Empress. Hence, among the soul beasts of the Extreme North, the Snow Empress was still the strongest.

  The Princess of the Sea frowned. “Snow Empress, why are you here? Do you know what’s with this human? Please don’t tell me you came here with him.”


  The Snow Empress nodded and said, “That’s right. I came here with him. We were planning to discuss some matters with you. But I did not expect the usually gentle Princess to be so aggressive as to attack us directly.”


  A strange expression flickered across the Princess’ face. “Snow Empress, are you intending to help him put in a few good words? Do you know how much harm humans have done to us—aquatic soul beasts—in the past few years?”


  The Snow Empress was stunned as she asked, “How were the humans able to harm your people when all of you are in the middle of the Ice Sea? Forgive me, but I really haven’t heard of this before.”


  The Princess of the Sea gritted her teeth angrily as she replied, “Humans have been hurting us for the past few years. Two years ago, a few humans entered the Ice Sea to look for me. They were extremely powerful, and we were hopelessly naive because of our limited interactions with them. We would not actively attack them as long as they didn’t hurt our people.”


  “And when these people found me, they asked me to cooperate with them. I was very perplexed because I did not know of many matters in which it was possible for humans to collaborate with us aquatic soul beasts. Driven by my curiosity, I dug deeper.”


  “Those humans told me how they were trying to invent an entirely new cultivation method. This new method would enable humans to gain abilities which were similar to those of soul rings without killing any soul beasts. They told me how this could potentially resolve the conflict and animosity between soul beasts and humans.”


  After hearing what the Princess of the Sea had said, Tang Wutong’s eyes widened in disbelief. Even the Snow Empress was shocked by what she had just heard. Both of them looked into each other’s eyes. None of them had thought that the issue would be so complicated.

  The Princess of the Sea continued, “Human soul masters are often required to hunt soul beasts in order to obtain soul rings. Because we—aquatic soul beasts—rarely come into contact with humans, we are seldom the hunting targets of humans. Hence, we didn’t possess much hatred or animosity with them. Thus, after hearing what they had to say, we became even more relaxed as we inquired about the details of their plan.”


  “They said they had come up with an ability called Spirits. When dying soul beasts become spirits, their lives will be extended. In fact, the stronger the soul beast, the likelier it was for it to strengthen the human soul master and extend his or her life after it became a Spirit. In return, the soul beast was also able to extend its life. As long as it continued to live, anything was possible in the future.”