"What are you going to do to her?!"
Muxue clenched her teeth and cried out toward Huo Yuhao, who was standing in front of the blank-eyed Weina.
However, in her weakened state, her shout was pitifully faint, almost drowned by the roaring blizzard. It was like a struggling candle flame amidst a storm. Even so, Huo Yuhao noticed it. But he didn't respond.
He simply continued to stare at Weina's stunned face, the corner of his mouth curling into a subtle smirk.
'Unexpected. Truly unexpected. I actually captured the highly esteemed princess of the Heavenly Soul Empire here.'
The significance of capturing Princess Weina was tremendous. It meant that without sacrificing a single soldier, the Sun Moon Empire could imprison the sole legitimate heir to the Heavenly Soul Empire's throne—the one person ranked directly below the emperor himself. After all, the Heavenly Soul Empire had no crown prince; Emperor Xue had no sons, only this extremely gifted daughter.
With such a hostage, the Sun Moon Empire would gain incredible leverage. If used wisely, it could turn the tide of future wars. When the time for the Sun Moon Empire's holy conquest came, they wouldn't have to face three kingdoms. It might only be two.
Thinking of this, the smirk at the corner of Huo Yuhao's lips grew even colder, causing Muxue, who stood behind Weina, to feel a chill down both her body and soul. Was her kind and noble princess friend really about to fall into the hands of a villain?
Huo Yuhao slowly raised his hand toward Weina's forehead. This small movement became the last straw that shattered Muxue's composure.
In desperation, she screamed at Huo Yuhao,
"Stop! Do you even know who she is?!"
This was the only method Muxue could think of to try and save their lives.
Although her voice was still weak against the blizzard, this time, Huo Yuhao finally turned his gaze toward her. Feigning curiosity, he deliberately put on a confused look and asked with interest, "Oh? Her identity?"
Facing his inhuman, icy gaze, Muxue shivered from head to toe.
Still, she summoned her courage as if grabbing onto a lifeline and stammered,
"Th-that's right! She's Princess Weina of the Heavenly Soul Empire! If you harm her, the imperial cavalry will—"
Suddenly, Muxue's voice froze.
She caught sight of Xue Di behind Huo Yuhao—her gaze was even colder and more terrifying than his. At that moment, Muxue completely lost her ability to speak.
'That's right... We're standing against an existence like her. What threats could we possibly make?'
Realizing this, Muxue's will completely crumbled.
Her body collapsed to the ground, and under the suffocating pressure of Xue Di's aura, she lost consciousness.
Watching her pitiful state, Huo Yuhao let out a cold snort. 'You think you can threaten me with status? How laughable.'
Huo Yuhao shifted his gaze back to Weina.
After pondering for a moment, he struck quickly with a swift chop of his hand, knocking Weina unconscious as well. He then said calmly, "Xue Di, kill the remaining six guards. They're just insignificant royal escorts. As for these two—a princess and a noble's daughter—they're valuable. We'll bring them back to the Sun Moon Empire."
Xue Di nodded slightly, finding no issue with his decision.
In an instant, and without a sound, the six guards—who hadn't even understood what was happening—were wiped from existence, leaving behind not a single sign of life.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao threw the unconscious Muxue and Weina into the necromantic demi-plane, setting up food and basic life-support fields inside to keep them alive.
After handling the prisoners, Huo Yuhao's thoughts turned to the body of the Body Sect's Third Elder, the Rank 95 Super Douluo. A spiritual-type powerhouse like him surely had many valuable possessions—especially soul bones.
Thus, Huo Yuhao walked up to the corpse, releasing a destructive force that reduced the elder's body and severed head to dust, leaving behind only a few soul tools and three shimmering soul bones. Though Huo Yuhao had rarely engaged in looting, he was surprisingly skilled at it, casually collecting the items with a practiced air.
"Hmm, not bad. This old thing sure dropped a lot of gold."
Glancing over the soul tools and soul bones, Huo Yuhao quickly stuffed them into his ninth-grade storage soul tool ring. He didn't immediately inspect the soul bones in detail—mainly out of respect for the Ice Bear King Xiaobai, who was still present.
In just a short while, it was as if nothing had ever happened at that spot. All traces of the eight humans had vanished completely.
Watching Huo Yuhao and Xue Di's seamless, almost casual cleanup, both Meng Hongchen and the Auspicious Beast felt a chill creep up their spines.
This one man and one beast... were terrifying.
Xue Di made no attempt to bury the fallen soul beasts. The creatures of the Extreme North had no such custom.
In their culture, freezing under the eternal snow and ice was the purest and most honorable return to nature.
Mounting the Ice Bear King Xiaobai once again, Huo Yuhao said in a low voice,
"Let's search the area for a while longer. If we still find nothing to solve Meng Hongchen's bloodline issue, we'll head to the Dou Ling Empire and search for the Myriad-Year Ice Cavern."
As they traveled, Huo Yuhao thought about the three soul bones he had collected.
"The thirty-thousand-year Purple Spirit Lynx skull… It's a spiritual-type soul bone, so it suits me, but it's just average. For my six core bone slots, nothing less than a hundred-thousand-year quality should be acceptable."
"The fifty-thousand-year Earth King torso bone… Interesting, but still nothing impressive. It's probably a strength-type bone prepared to complement his spinal martial soul."
Days passed as they searched the Extreme North, but ultimately, they found no solution for Meng Hongchen's bloodline purification, nor any suitable treasures.
Thus, after safely storing Xiaobai into the necromantic demi-plane, the group crossed the Arctic Pole and exited the Extreme North from the other side.
They continued southward and covertly slipped into the territory of the Dou Ling Empire, eventually finding a small inn in a northern border city that didn't require identity papers.
After settling down, Huo Yuhao began inspecting the treasures he had looted from the Third Elder.
Sadly, not every soul bone could compare to the ones Huo Yuhao already possessed. Still, the last soul bone he checked stirred his curiosity.
"Hmm? This... this is a spinal bone."
Huo Yuhao stared in surprise at the long, delicate spine before him. He hadn't even known that a full vertebra could exist among soul bones. Given its structure, it clearly wasn't an external attached bone either.
(End of Chapter)
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