In a realm of utter chaos—
The Abyssal Saint Lord's expression was one of agitation.
Finally, after countless explorations, he had once again locked onto the coordinates of that plane. He even discovered the cause—it was emitting an extremely faint signal that exposed itself amidst the vast universe.
Like a naive child wandering through a pitch-black forest, ignorant yet lighting a torch, unaware of how many predatory eyes were lurking in the darkness...
A plane without the rule of deities, rich in resources—wasn't this exactly what the Abyssal Plane needed?
It could only be called a stroke of great luck—one that he alone had sensed.
The Abyssal Plane sustained itself by devouring resources from other parts of the universe. Planes like it weren't rare—strong yet rejected by the cosmos. Any God Realm that encountered them would eradicate them without hesitation, treating them like homeless dogs.
To reach the level of a true god, there was only one path—devour. An endless cycle of devouring.
Living in the dark of the cosmos only deepened one's understanding of its cruelty.
"If Mother can devour the Douluo Plane, then surely attaining the Divine King Realm will be effortless. At that point, our Abyssal Plane will finally have a foundation to stand on independently…"
Overlooking the abyss, a flash of hope crossed the Abyssal Saint Lord's eyes.
"This faint signal... please, don't disappear…"
"Abyssal Plane… really is impatient."
Xu Cheng, who had raised his divine rank through the Destruction God Temple, now felt as if he held the universe in his grasp. Gazing down at the entire Abyssal Plane, he was bringing his full force to the Douluo Galaxy—family and all—even bringing his source power.
He was fully committed to taking over Douluo.
But—
Xu Cheng shook his head.
"Kid, you're just part of Lord God King's ten-thousand-year plan… still too naive. In this universe, there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Those who don't obey the law of the Dark Forest will inevitably become prey.
In truth, it was the Abyssal Plane that had exposed itself first.
Otherwise, how could Tang San have begun his ten-thousand-year scheme so early?
But behind the current Abyssal Plane lay the true big boss—the Crimson Mother, at the half-step Divine King level. It was all a tightly woven web. When Tang San schemed against the Abyssal Plane, even he hadn't discovered the Crimson Mother behind it all.
Even when the Abyssal Saint Lord was killed, the Crimson Mother didn't appear. Instead, she created the Crimson Domain, all while the God Realm had been swept away.
Whether it was because she was unaware of the God Realm's disappearance, or simply didn't care about the Douluo Star, one thing was certain: early on, the Crimson Mother was a true old schemer, the type to lie low and hide extremely well.
For now, she didn't need to be regarded as an enemy.
As for the Abyssal Saint Lord, there were still more than four years until his arrival at Douluo Star—enough time for the Sun-Moon Empire to develop rapidly.
Whether or not the Abyssal Saint Lord, who hadn't yet obtained godly power, could withstand the might of the Sun-Moon Empire's interstellar warships remained to be seen. Not to mention, Xu Cheng already had his sights set on the source power of the Abyssal Plane.
As he'd said before—the Netherworld needed a Nether River, a channel to connect all the sub-planes under the God Realm.
Once he devoured the Abyssal Plane's power, the Netherworld could finally become a true God Realm, rather than the "little workshop" it was now. Electrolux's strength would also soar into the Divine King level.
All in all, mantis stalks cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The roles kept shifting—no one could say they were the final victor until the very end.
"Buzz!"
With a spinning of heaven and earth—
Xu Cheng exited his divine form, returning to his original self.
Gentle wind surrounded him. Looking down, he saw the scenery flashing by below—he was clearly en route somewhere.
He had just visited the Star Dou Great Forest.
To his surprise, Di Tian had already issued a ban even without his urging—a pleasant surprise.
After all, with this ban in effect, dissatisfied forces like Heavenly Soul, Dou Ling, even Shrek and the Body Sect—unable to declare war on the Star Dou Great Forest—had only one option left: artificial soul rings.
However, due to her injuries, the Silver Dragon King had fallen back into slumber not long after waking.
Fortunately, Xu Cheng had just gathered the final fragments of the Rakshasa Divine Consciousness. Quietly examining the little girl resting in his spiritual sea, a smile curled on his lips.
With her as a deployable Ultimate Douluo-level force, plus his mecha, he could freely roam the continent—or even venture into ancient secret realms—with little trouble.
But—
There was still Snow Empress.
Xu Cheng fell into thought.
Beside him, Xue Ling'er, seemingly influenced by the recovery of the Snow Empress's divine consciousness within her, had become increasingly attached and dependent on him. She showed no rejection, followed his every word, and her strength continued to return.
As a 100,000-year soul beast who had rebuilt her body, Snow Empress was an exception even in Xu Cheng's well-read knowledge of the original work.
Even during her transformation, she retained her source power and carried a trace of divine power. Even he couldn't predict what heights she would eventually reach.
Maybe... it was because she evolved from an elemental spirit?
Because of her purity, Snow Empress was less like a soul beast and more like the embodiment of authority.
"We're heading back to the Extreme North this time, aren't we?"Seeing Xu Cheng "wake up," Xue Ling'er playfully sat on the airship, swinging her legs while asking.
"That's right," Xu Cheng nodded slightly.
Plans change.
Originally, he only intended to use the Snow Empress's prestige to recruit the Snow Demon Tribe as subordinates and mobilize the Extreme North's resources to cover the Sun-Moon Empire's losses. But with Di Tian's ban and the resulting scarcity of natural soul rings, a new resource war was about to erupt.
Just imagine—
When Shrek and the Clear Sky Sect couldn't obtain soul rings from the Star Dou Forest, and artificial soul rings were too expensive to sustain—what would they do?
Exactly. They'd broaden their horizons.
For example—the Extreme North!
The soul beast population there—both in quantity and quality—was comparable to the Star Dou Forest. With two of the three Extreme North Kings gone, it was practically a natural treasure trove, the second-best choice after the Star Dou Forest.
As for the Demonic Forest—its overlords were too difficult to deal with and it was within Sun-Moon territory. The Sunset Forest? Complete trash. Even with its formation broken, it would need over a thousand years to truly recover.
No one could wait that long.
The Extreme North was located at the northernmost—or perhaps southernmost—tip of the Douluo Star.
The vast layers of ice connected the original continent to the Sun-Moon continent (ps: changed the map setting slightly to match the original novel's description…).
Also, although most soul beasts there were ice-type, aside from the Ice Jade Scorpion King—an extreme outlier—other ice-type soul beasts didn't strictly require ice-type martial souls to be useful. At most, they just wouldn't reach optimal fusion.
Compared to having no soul ring at all, this was still the superior choice.
"Disgusting humans!"
The Ice Empress naturally realized this as well and cursed in the spiritual sea.
"Cough, I wasn't talking about you, A-Cheng." She suddenly remembered that Xu Cheng, their soul beast savior, was also human and quickly toned it down, a bit awkwardly.
"Heh, it's fine. Humans are indeed disgusting," Xu Cheng smiled.
"But terms like filth, purity, good, and evil—all these are part of human nature. You can't view them one-sidedly—that's too simplistic."
"Ahhh, haven't seen the Ice Silkworm Clan in forever. I wonder how they've fared since this ancestor left,"Tianmeng also popped out in the spiritual sea and joined the chat.
"Maybe I wiped them out," Ice Empress snorted.
"You're so cruel, Bingbing!" Tianmeng cried dramatically.
"Ice Jade Scorpions always fed on Ice Silkworms. Back then, I was indeed tempted by your... body (physically)," Ice Empress chuckled softly.
"Aaah…"
Tianmeng twisted exaggeratedly and fled into the distance.
"But if humans and soul beasts could truly coexist in peace… I've never dared imagine such a scene," Ice Empress sighed.
"One day, it will happen," Xu Cheng smiled.
"But to truly intimidate those people won't be easy…"
Xu Cheng looked into the distance, feeling the air grow colder and spotting fur-clad humans and buildings very different from Mingdu below. He knew—they were nearing the Extreme North.
"What should we do then?"Ice Empress had clearly started seeing Xu Cheng as her pillar of strength and asked, a bit anxiously.
If they did nothing, then with giants like Shrek Academy and the Clear Sky Sect, the Extreme North would be stripped bare in no time.
"Trying to restrain them with contracts and such is naturally the most unreliable method. After all, those people's credibility is already completely rotten, and now it even involves their core interests," Xu Cheng said thoughtfully.
"And Snow Empress, neither you nor Tianmeng can return. With the top powers of the Extreme North in decline, outside intervention is the only option..."
"If you two don't mind, I hope to incorporate the Extreme North into the territory of the Sun-Moon Empire. You know well that the Sun-Moon Empire doesn't covet your soul rings. We only need the metal ores and other resources buried beneath the Extreme North."
"Of course, the Sun-Moon Empire won't exploit these endlessly. In the future, some of these resources will be returned to the Extreme North."
When it comes to core interests, conflict is inevitable—and sharp.
That's why even Xu Cheng hesitated a bit before bringing it up.
"Agreed!"
What surprised him was that the Ice Empress agreed almost instantly, without even thinking it over.
"To be honest, if I hadn't seen hope in you becoming a god, as a former ruler of the Extreme North, I would've considered this for a long time…"
"But now that your path to godhood is basically set in stone, raising the level of our vision and embracing a broader outlook—there's no point in nitpicking over such things anymore. Ever since you committed to developing artificial soul rings, you've completely earned my trust. For the Extreme North to have the protection of the Sun-Moon Empire right now… that's the best outcome."
"These are just some insignificant resources—the Extreme North doesn't care about them."
The Ice Empress spoke softly.
"Thank you."Xu Cheng smiled.
With the Ice Empress's approval, there would be almost no resistance during this journey to the Extreme North. After all, with the Snow Empress in a compromised state, only the Ice Empress had the authority to make decisions.
As for the Snow Demon Titan or Little Calamari… they were nothing more than minor players.
"Accelerate!"
Xu Cheng crossed the border of the Heavenly Soul Empire and continued toward the northern region.
As expected—
Just as he entered the outskirts of the Extreme North...
Snow blanketed the earth in pure white, stretching endlessly in all directions.
Xu Cheng immediately frowned.
There were signs of human presence. Though the traces were buried under the snow, with his spiritual perception, he could easily sense many human auras.
And more importantly… it wasn't just one group.
The auras came from multiple directions, and there were powerful individuals among them.
Comparable to Xuanzi or Body Sect-level combatants.
Continuing forward, he spotted signs of battles along the way—there was even soul beast blood left behind. Both the Ice Empress and Tianmeng Iceworm were furious when they saw this. Clearly, with the Star Dou Great Forest under lockdown, various forces had turned their sights toward the more vulnerable Extreme North...
"Rumble!"
Suddenly, a thunderous roar, like an avalanche, echoed from the distance.
The entire glacier seemed to tremble violently.
"That's… Ah-Tai's aura!"The Ice Empress roared in anger.
"What are they trying to do?!"
"They're after hundred-thousand-year soul rings," Xu Cheng said with a slight nod.
They were most likely hunting him—a two-hundred-thousand-year soul beast. With natural soul rings becoming harder and harder to obtain, a target like that was a rare treasure.
More than likely, their goal was capture—to store him for future use.
Judging by Xu Cheng's spiritual sensing along the way, these people hadn't actually killed that many soul beasts yet. It seemed they planned to bag them all at once and bring them back as a living stockpile of resources.
"Don't worry. Not a single soul beast from the Extreme North will be taken by them."Xu Cheng grinned.
Causing trouble for these scavengers—he was more than happy to do so.
"Roar! Humans, get out of the Extreme North!"
A hundred-meter-tall giant, covered entirely in white fur, stood bellowing at the human figures in midair, its eyes glowing blood red.
There were too many powerful opponents.
Just those at the Super Douluo level and above numbered seven or eight. Even if they came from different factions, and each had their own motives, with such a formation, it was almost impossible for him to break through the encirclement.
If he died, it wouldn't matter much—
But now, with the Snow Empress and Ice Empress missing, he was the only one left among the Three Kings of the Extreme North.
If he died too… he couldn't imagine how chaotic a leaderless Extreme North would become.
What would happen when Snow Empress and Ice Empress returned to see their home in ruins?
The Titan Snow Demon King dared not even imagine it.
"Ah-Tai, go! I'll self-destruct to cover your retreat!"Behind him, a massive Ice Jade Scorpion shouted urgently.
It was one of the only remaining hundred-thousand-year soul beasts of the Extreme North—also the leader of the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan.
The two of them were comrades, and battle brothers.
But now…
"Then we'll die together! If it comes to it, I'll self-destruct too! I won't let those despicable humans gain a single thing!"Ah-Tai gritted his teeth.
"If you die, then who will avenge the soul beasts of the Extreme North that they've captured?!"
The Ice Jade Scorpion leader roared angrily.
"Find the Snow Empress and Ice Empress—only they can take revenge for us!"
(End of chapter)