Immortal Martial Emperor

In the inner courtyard of the Xu Family estate, inside Hong Yu's room.

The entire room was filled with a dense red glow. Waves of scorching heat billowed outward, causing the plants around the small courtyard to wither and die as the intense temperature boiled the life out of them.

Xu Wudi, Xu Rongchang, and the other powerful members of the Xu Family sensed the disturbance and rushed over.

But the scorching temperature kept them from getting any closer.

"What on earth is Hong Yu doing? He's not in danger, is he?" Xu Wudi frowned with worry.

Xu Rongchang shook his head. "If I'm not mistaken, he must be Refining something. It would be best if we didn't disturb him."

"Patriarch, the temperature is too high, and it's spreading. The pond in the rear garden has already evaporated by more than half! If this continues, I'm afraid the entire Xu Family estate will catch fire!" an Elder said with a wry smile.

Hong Yu's reputation had gradually begun to spread.

They all knew that the key to whether the Xu Family could survive this calamity had shifted from Xu Wudi to Hong Yu.

Naturally, they didn't dare to have any complaints about him.

Xu Rongchang frowned, then waved his hand. "All of you, follow me. We will set up a Barrier around Hong Yu's courtyard to prevent the high temperature from destroying the rest of the estate. But remember, under no circumstances are we to disturb Hong Yu!"

"As you command!"

The group of experts quickly dispersed.

As one of the top powers in the Ice Kingdom, the Xu Family's foundation was naturally strong.

With so many experts taking action, a blue Barrier of light enveloped Hong Yu's room. The rolling waves of heat were finally contained, completely sealed within the area immediately surrounding his room.

The Xu Family experts spread out, standing guard to prevent anyone from disturbing Hong Yu.

Inside the room...

Hong Yu was drenched in sweat. Logically, his current cultivation should have long since made him immune to heat and cold, yet now his clothes were soaked through.

One could only imagine how terrifying the temperature inside the room was.

"Goddammit, this bizarre Desolate Beast is way too strong! Just its skeleton possesses such terrifying power. If the Nine Dragon Celestial Cauldron hadn't been suppressing it, that last surge of energy would have been enough to burn the entire Xu Family estate to ash!" Hong Yu spat in frustration.

The moment the spit left his mouth, it turned into a wisp of white smoke with a HISS.

Hong Yu rolled his eyes.

But in his eyes, a light of excitement danced.

'It's a bit difficult to suppress, but if I can merge this skeleton into the Godslaying Spear, there's bound to be an extra surprise! Haha!'

Hong Yu took a deep breath.

He pushed the Primordial Gang Fighting Technique to its absolute limit. The Infinite Golden Core within his Dantian surged wildly with the Power of Primordial Gang.

He continuously poured it into the Nine Dragon Celestial Cauldron.

The five blood-red dragon markings spun even faster. Inside the Nine Dragon Celestial Cauldron, the Godslaying Spear glowed crimson as streaks of fire coiled around it.

As the fiery energy surged and coiled, the surrounding Desolate Beast skeleton was caught in the spinning flames. Enveloped by the fire, the bone-white skeleton began to show signs of melting.

At that moment, Hong Yu's torrential Spiritual Power surged into the cauldron.

His Spiritual Power formed an invisible hand, grabbing the melting skeleton and the Godslaying Spear and smashing them together with a BOOM.

Amidst the frenzied surge of energy, they began to fuse.

"ROAR!"

A deep beastly roar suddenly erupted from the skeleton. The roar carried an extremely powerful energy fluctuation. In that instant, a black Beast Soul shot out from the bones, ramming against the Nine Dragon Celestial Cauldron in an attempt to escape.

Hong Yu's eyes widened. 'Holy crap, there was a Beast Soul hidden inside?'

A Beast Soul!

This was the equivalent of a human's Soul.

Normally, when a person dies, their soul perishes with them. The same is true for beasts.

However...

...experts at the Primordial Spirit Realm, or certain powerful Desolate Beasts, could preserve their Soul even after their physical body had perished.

A human expert of the Primordial Spirit Realm would merge their Soul into their Primordial Spirit.

They could survive through their Primordial Spirit, but a Primordial Spirit could not last long—three to five years at most. Therefore, after their physical body was destroyed, a Primordial Spirit Realm expert would typically possess another body to be reborn as quickly as possible.

The Demon Owl was one such example.

He had used Hong Renjie's body to be reborn.

"But it's just a fragmented Beast Soul. Hehe, according to the *Initial Understanding of the Dao of Artifacts*, if a Beast Soul is smelted into a Primordial Weapon, it can give birth to a Soldier Soul!" Hong Yu laughed heartily.

He began to channel his power into the Nine Dragon Celestial Cauldron even more hysterically, suppressing the fragmented Beast Soul and forcing it to merge with the Godslaying Spear.

「Two days later.」

On this day, the entire Ice Kingdom was immersed in a grand, festive atmosphere.

Xu Wudi had changed into a brand-new, fiery red leather armor, with the Fifth-Grade Primordial Weapon Hong Yu had given her—the Dragon and Phoenix Long Whip—hanging at her waist.

She was the picture of valiant heroism, a woman who could rival any man.

She stood hovering in the air, her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she gazed at the still-glowing red room, a trace of worry in her eyes. "Hong Yu, the Ice Tower is about to open. Why haven't you come out yet? Did something unexpected happen?"

Beside her...

...Xu Rongchang frowned and said in a low voice, "Wudi, the Ice Tower is about to open. You should head there first. When Hong Yu emerges from his seclusion, Father will bring him over immediately."

"But..."

Xu Wudi hesitated.

Xu Rongchang stared at her and said gravely, "Wudi, don't forget that the entire Xu Family rests on your shoulders!"

"Alright."

Xu Wudi bit her red lip and whispered softly, "Hong Yu, you have to be okay!"

With a reluctant heart, Xu Wudi flew toward the massive tower in the very center of the Frozen City.

Watching Xu Wudi's departing figure, a Xu Family Elder said in a low voice, "Patriarch, it seems the Second Miss has deep feelings for Vice Chairman Hong."

Xu Rongchang nodded and murmured wistfully, "What young woman doesn't dream of love?"

"Patriarch, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could keep Vice Chairman Hong as the Xu Family's son-in-law? After all, having him would be the same as winning over the Spiritual Craftsman Guild!" another Elder said.

The other Elders' eyes lit up.

But Xu Rongchang just gave a bitter smile. "That's impossible."

"Why?"

the Elders asked, confused.

Xu Rongchang gave a deep look in Hong Yu's direction, then gazed up at the endless Celestial Universe. His eyes were profound as he sighed quietly, "A golden fish is not a creature of a small pond. A young man like Hong Yu can never be bound by a place like the Ice Kingdom..." After a pause, he muttered in an even lower voice, "Perhaps... even the Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom won't be large enough to contain him."

Hearing this...

...the surrounding group of Xu Family Elders looked at each other in dismay.

...

「The Ice Tower.」

It was a magnificent and enormous structure, rumored to be a giant ice tower that fell from the sky a thousand years ago.

After generations of exploration by the experts of the Ice Kingdom, and at the cost of countless lives, the secrets of the Ice Tower were gradually discovered.

The Ice Tower contained a total of nine layers.

Each layer was an independent spatial world, filled with various dangers, but also accompanied by various opportunities.

For example, the treasure-filled cavern residences of supreme experts, rare Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, the legacies of great masters, and so on...

In short, any expert with enough strength and talent who entered the Ice Tower would experience astonishing progress and growth after leaving.

This time, the annual Ice Sealing Festival had arrived right on schedule.

The Ice Tower was opening once more!

All the young prodigies of the Ice Kingdom had gathered at the Ice Tower.

They were divided into several factions, led by the major powers from within the Frozen City.

The strongest group was naturally the Royal Family. After all, the entire Ice Kingdom belonged to them. Their side had a total of three hundred people.

Crown Prince Landy sat at the center, like the moon surrounded by stars.

After the Royal Family came the faction led by the Cheng Family, the Tang Family, and the Blood Demon Palace.

The three great families combined had over two hundred people, with the Blood Demon Palace contributing the most experts, accounting for half of their number.

Tang Rui, the genius of the Tang Family, ranked fifth on the Ice Kingdom's True Dragon List.

Cheng Hao, the genius of the Cheng Family, ranked eighth on the Ice Kingdom's True Dragon List.

And the senior-most disciple of the Blood Demon Palace: a demonic-looking youth in a cyan robe, his eyes slightly closed, with a blood-red mark like a third eye on his forehead.

Blood Cyan Robe, second on the True Dragon List!

Aside from Xu Wudi, and the deceased Qi Feng and Qi Tian, all the geniuses on the True Dragon List were gathered here.

Tang Rui and Cheng Hao were clearly wary of Blood Cyan Robe. The two of them stood close together, keeping some distance from him.

Just then...

A commotion rippled through the crowd.

A streak of fiery red light whistled through the air. It was Xu Wudi of the Xu Family, the one who ranked first on the True Dragon List.

Xu Wudi landed abruptly in the plaza before the Ice Tower. A group of scattered experts from the surroundings quickly gathered around her. They were the third faction, composed of the various experts allied with the Xu Family.

They were the smallest in number.

Only about sixty people!

"Second Miss, you've finally arrived!"

"The Blood Demon Palace has joined forces with the Tang and Cheng Families. Second Miss, we must be extra careful during this exploration of the Ice Tower!"

Xu Wudi frowned and looked toward the Blood Demon Palace faction, her eyes narrowing. "I know."

Then, Xu Wudi instructed everyone to sit down and wait for the Ice Tower to open.

From the direction of the Blood Demon Palace...

...a shifty-looking youth glanced at Blood Cyan Robe, seemed to receive an order, and then nodded before walking toward Xu Wudi.

The youth was quite cunning.

He was well aware of Xu Wudi's strength, so he stopped several dozen meters away and began to speak with a foul mouth, "Well, well, isn't that the Second Miss Xu? I heard you found yourself a little lover boy. Someone even caught the two of you getting it on in the wild! Tsk tsk, the Second Miss of the Xu family is a noble lady from a great house. How could you do something like that?"

Although this world respected the strong above all else...

...a woman's reputation was still incredibly important.

Hearing him slander Xu Wudi like this, all the experts in the Xu Family's faction were furious.

But the youth just sneered and took a step back. Behind him were the experts of the three great powers—the Tang Family, the Cheng Family, and the Blood Demon Palace. With over two hundred people against sixty-some, the difference in strength was obvious.

The overwhelming momentum suppressed the Xu Family members, leaving them angry but afraid to speak out.

The youth, feeling secure, taunted, "Tsk tsk, is the Second Miss angry out of shame? Now that I've exposed your dirty little secret, are you thinking of silencing me?"

"Do you believe I won't tear that filthy mouth of yours apart?" Xu Wudi's eyes flashed coldly as she snapped.

But the youth just laughed out loud. "Tear my mouth apart? Second Miss Xu, no matter how strong you are, you can't stop wagging tongues. The filthy things you've done will be known to everyone sooner or later. Damn it, you're just a slut who sleeps around, but you pretend to be some noble Saintess. It's fucking disgusting."

"Say that again!"

Xu Wudi snorted coldly.

The youth's legs went soft, and he felt a pang of fear.

But then, a trace of bloody light shot out from Blood Cyan Robe behind him and entered his body. The fear in the youth vanished instantly.

Thinking about the Shelter Blood Cyan Robe provided, his courage swelled, and he began to clamor loudly, "So what if I said it? What can you do to me? You're a slut, and that Hong Yu is your illicit lover! I'm telling you..."

As the youth was shouting, he suddenly sensed the sound of something tearing through the air above him and instinctively looked up.

A foot descended from the sky and landed on his head with a THUD.

The youth's head was slammed directly into the ground, where it burst open. Blood splattered, and the foul language came to an abrupt halt. Into the silent plaza, a cheerful voice tinged with a smile slowly rang out...

"Sorry, I'm late!"