Amidst a muffled low roar, the undead former Titan Snow Demon King propped itself up with its arms and slowly stood. Snow and ice were shaken off its massive body, and the residual charcoal on the corpse fell away as well.
The roar it let out was quite peculiar. Compared to the usual roars of the Titan Snow Demon race, it carried a bit more sharpness and eeriness.
As the grey six-pointed star array beneath its feet rotated, sensing the aura of this Undead Titan Snow Demon King, Chen Junting simply went all in and directly opened the gate to the Undead Demiplane.
With the gate wide open, the Undead Titan Snow Demon King was instantly drawn to the aura of the Undead Demiplane. If it weren't for Chen Junting's control holding it back, it probably would have plunged right in.
Under the circulation of the six-pointed star array, a peculiar energy could be felt surging outward, seamlessly merging into the Undead Titan Snow Demon King's body, causing its aura to climb at an astonishing rate.
And this was precisely the reason Chen Junting had opened the gate to the Undead Demiplane. Although the former Titan Snow Demon King's cultivation in life had been exceptionally powerful, it had been dead for far too long. Aside from its corpse remaining robust, it no longer had much residual energy left.
And unlike Tyrant, who had a massive amount of destructive energy from a minor plane to replenish it, it could only rely on the energy of the Undead Demiplane to help the Undead Titan Snow Demon King elevate its cultivation. Otherwise, its strength would probably only barely reach the level of a ninety-fifth-rank Title Douluo. That would simply be too weak.
No matter what, after being transformed into an undead, it at least needed to restore its combat power to the level of a ninety-sixth or ninety-seventh-rank Title Douluo.
As the snow, ice, and charcoal fell away, a grey luster began to appear on the Undead Titan Snow Demon King's body.
Nether-green flames flickered. Its overall framework was a fleshless skeleton; one couldn't tell at all that it had been a Titan Snow Demon in life.
It looked like a bona fide skeleton giant.
"The transformation succeeded?"
"Is this what an undead creature is?"
"Can it still be considered my father?"
"..."
One beast, one comment—they discussed animatedly. Amidst their amazement, a hint of doubt was also mixed in.
Hearing this, Chen Junting actually answered the Titan Snow Demon King's confusion. "Strictly speaking, he can no longer be considered your father. Your father died a hundred thousand years ago, and his soul has already dissipated. Undead creatures generally fall into two categories of transformation. First, there are those with lingering souls. Once transformed, they are intimately connected to their original bodies, essentially acting as another version of themselves; in a way, it's similar to an external avatar. Second, there are those without any soul remnants. The successful transformation of this type of undead means a new soul is born within the corpse. Aside from the corpse being the same, the soul is completely different—it can be said to be a new life. Your father falls into this second category."
The Titan Snow Demon King nodded as if he only half-understood.
Whatever. As long as it could guard the Extreme North, it was fine.
"But..." The Titan Snow Demon King sized up the Undead Titan Snow Demon King before him. "Won't this ruin our image?"
It was just bones plus eerie green fire; it looked a bit horrifying.
"Is that so?"
Chen Junting looked it up and down. "Then let's change it."
Saying this, he formed hand seals and sketched out a series of runes.
Ice Empress Body Protection; Snow Dance Ultimate Ice Domain.
A major soul skill and a major domain skill were deciphered into runes by Chen Junting and carved onto the Undead Titan Snow Demon King's body.
Suddenly, ice surged.
An extreme chill instantly erupted from the Undead Titan Snow Demon King's body. Using the skeleton as a foundation, layers of ice froze over it, and the surrounding snow drifted like layered tides, climbing up to adhere to the creature's form.
Using ice as flesh, and snow as skin. In no time at all, a lifelike Titan Snow Demon King was presented before the beasts. Aside from the unchanging nether-green soul fire in its eye sockets, it didn't look like an undead creature at all.
"Roar—"
A deep roar echoed out. The Undead Titan Snow Demon King clenched its fists and heavily smacked its ice-and-snow chest, causing a bit of ice to shatter and fall away.
But in the blink of an eye, the fallen ice and snow returned to their original positions.
"How is it?"
"Perfect."
"Then I'll start setting up the array."
As his voice fell, Chen Junting got to work. With a gentle movement of his hands, the array runes of the Heavenly Tribulation Array instantly pierced through the ground, reaching the underground temple to link up with the Extreme Cold Array. With the Undead Titan Snow Demon King as the array's eye, countless runes densely covered the area.
Relying on his proficiency from setting up this array multiple times, in just a short moment, the second core array—the Heavenly Tribulation Array—took shape.
"Alright."
As the array setup concluded, Chen Junting exhaled a breath of turbid air. He reached out and pointed, and without the soul beasts dodging, a stream of information, accompanied by spiritual power, was transmitted directly into their minds.
"This is the method to activate the grand array."
After giving the soul beasts enough time to digest the activation method, Chen Junting explained, "At the end of the day, this grand array is meant to help you resist foreign enemies, so its activation requires drawing upon the Power of Faith from the Ice God's statue."
"The Power of Faith originates from the soul beasts of the Extreme North, so I employed some methods to allow the Power of Faith to distinguish invading foreign enemies, guaranteeing that the array won't cause friendly fire."
"Besides that..."
Chen Junting pointed at the Undead Titan Snow Demon King and explained its profound aspects. "The array has its limitations. The divine nature does not leave the core region of the Extreme North, so the array's range will, at most, only affect this specific perimeter. But the Undead Titan Snow Demon King is different. It is a special kind of creature; it can go anywhere under the heavens. I've even linked it to the grand array as the core of the Heavenly Tribulation Array. Wherever it goes, the Heavenly Tribulation Array follows. It's just that the power will weaken significantly. Also, the Extreme Cold Array is immobile."
Having said that, he looked at the soul beasts of the Extreme North.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Chen Junting nodded in satisfaction and moved on to another topic. "Next, I will also help you set up a Heaven-Deceiving Array, but the same rules we discussed will still apply together."
"No problem."
Following that, the crowd of 100,000-year soul beasts and the two Beast Kings each ordered their clansmen to bring heavenly and earthly treasures, handing them over to Chen Junting for him to similarly set up the Heaven-Deceiving Array in this region.
However, this Heaven-Deceiving Array also utilized the Power of Faith from the Ice God's statue to make distinctions. While it wouldn't harm the soul beasts of the Extreme North, its range was strictly confined to this mountain range before them.
Similarly, once a Beast King facing a heavenly tribulation—without confidence in surviving—entered this Heaven-Deceiving Array, it meant they could no longer leave this mountain range until the tribulation finally descended.
But to the soul beasts, this was no issue at all.
Meanwhile, just as Chen Junting finished setting up the Heaven-Deceiving Array, deep underground in the Ice God's temple, Huo Yuhao's soul core condensation had reached its final stage. All that remained was to draw it into his Dantian.
"Brother Gu, I'm ready."
After condensing his soul core and recovering his soul power and mental energy, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and solemnly nodded at Gu Tianchen.
"Then let's begin."
Gu Tianchen assessed Huo Yuhao. After confirming his condition, he nodded and said, "Old Chen's advice is that you should first integrate the Ultimate Ice soul core into your lower Dantian."
"The lower Dantian?" Huo Yuhao murmured, turning his gaze inward to inspect his Dantian.
"That's right."
Afterward, Gu Tianchen clarified Chen Junting's intentions.
"Because you condensed a soul core before becoming a Title Douluo, it means you will need to condense a second soul core when you break through to Title Douluo, and a third soul core when you break through to Limit Douluo."
"Three soul cores, belonging to the upper, middle, and lower Dantians respectively. Your attributes are Ultimate Ice and Spiritual, which takes up two of them. Ultimate Ice resides in the lower Dantian, the Spiritual attribute in the upper Dantian, and finally, this third one will reside in the middle Dantian to harmonize the two."
"I understand."
Huo Yuhao acknowledged and looked at his soul core.
Just like how it felt when he was condensing it, the soul core before him seemed to contain an endless, terrifying aura capable of devouring everything. The moment Huo Yuhao looked at it, he felt a powerful suction trying to pull his soul out.
The next second, with a thought, he guided the soul core forward.
The soul core spun and pressed close to Huo Yuhao's lower abdomen.
Blue light melded, and the soul core integrated.
Huo Yuhao's body violently shuddered.
In an instant, a unique chill belonging exclusively to the Ultimate Ice erupted from within Huo Yuhao. The terror of this chill was so immense that Gu Tianchen, standing not far away, subconsciously took a step back.
Huo Yuhao's upper garments were instantly shredded into strips by the power of the soul core. On his back, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion tattoo was triggered, looking lifelike and extraordinarily domineering. At the same time, his hair fluttered and danced on its own, though there was no wind.
As Huo Yuhao entered deep meditation, Gu Tianchen sensed the pervasive spatial power in the surroundings and began to comprehend it as well.
After all, he wasn't far from the point of condensing his own soul core. Huo Yuhao's process served as a highly valuable reference for him, helping him avoid taking the wrong path when his time came.
As time passed, the Ultimate Ice soul core was completely accommodated into Huo Yuhao's lower Dantian, and he slowly awoke.
Sensing the rhythm of the soul core in his lower Dantian, a look of joy immediately appeared on his face. "Brother Gu, I succeeded."
"It's good that you succeeded."
After confirming that Huo Yuhao was fine, the two of them set off, leaving the Ice God's temple. They then used the Void Gate to leave the underground and returned to the ice field of the Extreme North.
The moment they stepped out of the Void Gate, they were met with several gazes, and Chen Junting's voice rang out. "Success?"
"Success."
"Good."
At this time, Gu Tianchen looked around and realized that aside from Chen Junting, the Snow Empress (as a Spirit Soul), and Little Bai, the other soul beasts were nowhere to be seen. "Where did they go? Have they already left?"
"The arrays have been fully set up, so they naturally went to fulfill their promises." Chen Junting spoke while estimating how much time had passed since they came out. "About two days have passed. Since the business here is settled, it's time to go."
Gu Tianchen nodded slightly; naturally, he had no objections.
However, Chen Junting shifted his gaze to the Snow Empress, and then it landed on Little Bai. "Snow Empress."
By just calling her name, the Snow Empress knew what Chen Junting was going to say. With an apologetic expression, she looked at Little Bai. "Little Bai, I'm sorry. Mom has let you down."
The single word "Mom" instantly softened Little Bai's gaze.
Reverting to his true form, he rubbed his massive nose against the Snow Empress. "Sno... Mom, my life was given to me by you. You raised me, made me strong, and helped me become the king of the Ice Bear clan. Everything I have was given by you. You have nothing to be sorry for; there's no need to apologize."
The Snow Empress lovingly patted her good boy's head. She seemed to be muttering to herself, but she was actually explaining things to Little Bai.
"Little Bai. On this land of the Extreme North, once I am gone, only you and your clan will have the qualifications to challenge Ah Tai. But in terms of overall strength and potential, Ah Tai is superior. Moreover, his personality makes him much more suitable to get along with the entire Extreme North than you are."
"So, after weighing everything, I chose Ah Tai."
Hearing the Snow Empress's explanation, Little Bai fell into a long silence.
To be honest, he was quite unconvinced. But deep down, he knew the Snow Empress's judgment wasn't wrong.
Little Bai nudged the Snow Empress with his nose again, his tone pitiful. "Then what am I supposed to do from now on?"
Little Bai was absolutely certain that with his temper, he could hold back for a few centuries while Ah Tai ruled as the Extreme North's king. But after a few centuries, who knew when he might suddenly lead his clan to challenge him.
Hearing this, a look of struggle flashed across the Snow Empress's face.
Actually, she wanted to take Little Bai away with her.
Even though the Extreme North would lose a Beast King-tier combatant, for the sake of the region's stability, it would be a worthwhile trade.
But if she took Little Bai away, where could he go?
Become a Spirit Soul?
But the Snow Empress was very clear about Chen Junting's plans. His ninth Soul Ring was already locked onto the Evil Empress; he didn't need Little Bai.
As for the others…
Although they had a chance at becoming gods, the probability wasn't high. Letting Little Bai gamble his future on such a slim chance... the Snow Empress couldn't make up her mind.
Just as she was agonizing over it, "How about this."
A sudden voice broke through her thoughts.
Chen Junting walked up to Little Bai and rubbed his head. "How about you come with me and be my mount? Just like tens of thousands of years ago, before Sea God Poseidon became a god, he also had a Demon Spirit Great White Shark as his mount."
"You want me to be your mount?"
Instantly, Little Bai's bear face scrunched up in displeasure.
"What? Feel like you're losing out?"
Chen Junting joked with a smile. "If you become my mount, when I become a god in the future, I can take you up to the God Realm with me. Plus, from now on, you can stay by your mom's side. How about it, Little Bai? You don't want to leave the Snow Empress either, do you?"
Hearing this, Little Bai seemed to make up his mind. He took a step back and said with a serious tone, "You need to earn my approval!"
(Little Bai: If I just become a mount just like that, wouldn't I lose too much face? Let's fight first. Win or lose, whether I approve or not is entirely up to me, Little Bai.)
Chen Junting saw right through Little Bai's little scheme, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. As his Heavenly Eye opened and closed, the Zhuxian Array Diagram flew out.
Gripping the Seven Kill Sword in hand, with the Array Diagram suspended above his head.
"No problem."
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