Immortal Martial Emperor

"WHOOSH!"

The thick snow suddenly exploded, sending a vast, white flurry whistling toward him.

A powerful blast of energy rushed straight for his face.

The wind shrieked menacingly, and the raging blizzard felt like blades scraping across his face, stinging with pain.

Hong Yu's eyes widened. In a flash, he activated Tyrant's Walk, his speed becoming astonishingly fast as he raced through the blizzard like a storm himself.

In an instant, he dodged the attack.

The very instant he evaded the white figure's sneak attack, he abruptly turned, perfectly aligning himself with it as he shot his hands out with a WHOOSH to grab the creature.

"ROAR!"

It felt icy cold in his grasp. With the immense strength in his five fingers, Hong Yu squeezed down, and the monster let out a low growl.

"You dare ambush me? You're courting death!"

He took advantage of the momentum, yanking it forward and lashing out with a vicious kick.

The force behind that kick was terrifying.

If it landed, forget a living creature—even a mountain would crumble.

The monster seemed to know how powerful the kick was and began to tremble violently. But Hong Yu's hands were like steel pincers; no matter how the beast struggled, it couldn't break free.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, the monster stopped struggling.

And Hong Yu's kick landed squarely on it.

However...

"BANG!"

With a spray of snowflakes, Hong Yu's kick caused the white figure to explode.

But strangely, the monster didn't bleed. It wasn't even made of flesh and blood—it was composed entirely of snow.

'Something's wrong!'

A warning flared in Hong Yu's mind.

He instinctively shifted his body dozens of meters away. The moment he moved, the spot where he had just been standing exploded with a BOOM.

The white monster had reappeared.

"SWISH!"

As if having learned its lesson from the last failed ambush, the monster didn't linger after its missed attack. Its form flickered, and it vanished once more.

In its place, it left behind only a white snowman.

'What kind of monster is this? It can swap its real body with a snowman in an instant?' Hong Yu's gaze sharpened, his eyes like two burning torches radiating a brilliant light.

In the middle of the snowy night, Hong Yu was like a bright lamp, his gaze sweeping in all directions.

Suddenly, Hong Yu's breath hitched. 'There it is!'

Of all the techniques in Tyrant's Walk, he was most proficient with Thunder Step. With a roll of thunder and a BOOM, he appeared a hundred meters away, raised his hands, and slammed them down toward the ground.

"BANG!"

The entire snowy field erupted.

The meters-deep snowfield shattered. Amidst a cry of "WAAH," a white figure was violently blasted out of the snow by Hong Yu, landing heavily to the side.

"ROAR! ROAR!"

The white monster let out a series of low growls. It seemed that last blow had injured it badly, and it clutched its chest as it tried to get up.

Why would Hong Yu let it escape again?

He took an Arrow Step forward and planted his foot on the white monster's back. The creature struggled in vain, then seemed to prepare to use its substitution trick to escape again.

A playful and disdainful smile touched Hong Yu's lips. "The same trick won't work twice!"

As he spoke, a flicker of light appeared in Hong Yu's eyes, and a blue gleam shot into the beast's body.

"Gah?"

The white monster's body trembled, a look of confusion filling its eyes.

Hong Yu kicked it over onto its back, finally getting a clear look at its true form. It was an ape with fur as white as snow.

"A Snow Ape?"

Little One's surprised voice echoed in his mind.

With a thought, Hong Yu sent the creature into the inner space of the Profound Celestial Tower and projected a part of his consciousness inside to form a spiritual avatar.

This was an ability he had gained after unlocking the second layer of the Profound Celestial Tower.

He could form an avatar inside the Profound Celestial Tower with his Spiritual Power, but sending his physical body inside was still a ways off. He would probably need to unlock the fourth layer to do that.

"Huhu!"

The moment Hong Yu appeared, the Little Beast Huhu leaped onto him and started rummaging around on his head, messing up his hair until it looked like a bird's nest.

Hong Yu pulled Huhu off, patting its head in frustration. "Hey, little guy, what did I do to you?"

"Hu! Huhuhu..."

The Little Beast Huhu brandished its fluffy fists, pouting angrily, its jewel-like eyes filled with resentment.

Nearby, Little One chuckled. "What did you do to it? This little fella woke up a few days ago and has been desperate to get out. You wouldn't let it, so it's been going stir-crazy!"

"Huhu!"

The Little Beast nodded eagerly.

It pointed at Little One, who was holding his big pipe, then at Xingtian in the distance, who was shrouded in black energy, diligently cultivating the Five Yin Demon Prison. Then, its chubby little body fell to the ground and rolled back and forth.

After it was done rolling, it plopped down and started drawing circles on the ground with one finger.

Every so often, it would look back at Hong Yu with a resentful gaze.

Hong Yu blinked. "..."

Little One burst out laughing, clutching his stomach as he explained, "It's saying that I ignore it, and Xingtian is busy cultivating. It's so bored here all alone that it has to play dead by itself. It's incredibly bored and wants you to take it outside!"

Hong Yu felt even more helpless.

This Little Beast was just too weird!

'Playing dead all by itself? Only Huhu could come up with something like that, right?'

Picking Huhu up, Hong Yu smiled. "Alright, I'll take you out with me in a bit, okay?"

"Huhu!"

The Little Beast's eyes lit up. Its black, jewel-like eyes curved into crescents, and it nuzzled Hong Yu with its fluffy head, as if trying to curry favor.

Hong Yu patted its head and looked at Little One. "Little One, you said this is a Snow Ape? You recognize it?"

"Mhm, I've seen a group of Snow Apes before. Back in... uh, well, anyway, back when I followed my old master, I roamed the heavens and earth, oversaw the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and witnessed the Cosmos and Primordial Chaos. You have no idea, my reputation back then echoed through the ages, a testament to loyalty..."

Seeing Little One about to launch into another boastful tirade, Hong Yu cut him off in frustration. "Alright, alright, that's enough. Let's not talk about your grand legends for now. Just tell me, what's the deal with this Snow Ape?"

"Hmph, fine!"

Little One was clearly reluctant to let go of his epic tales. "You really don't want to hear them? Aren't you curious?"

"..."

Hong Yu rolled his eyes.

Defeated, Little One could only explain patiently, "Snow Apes are an intelligent race, but they don't have much combat power. Their greatest skill is using the Substitution Technique for sneak attacks."

"The Substitution Technique?" Hong Yu's eyes lit up.

He clearly remembered the strange method the Snow Ape had used to escape just now.

'If I learned a move like that, wouldn't I be able to escape from any opponent, no matter how strong?'

Little One rolled his eyes and poured cold water on his idea. "Don't even think about it. That's a Snow Ape's innate ability. The so-called Substitution Technique is just a use of spatial abilities, allowing them to swap their position with another location in an extremely short time. For example, if you were attacking me, I could use Space Conversion to swap places with Xingtian. That way, you wouldn't be able to hit me and would have to face him instead!"

"Hiss!"

Hong Yu sucked in a sharp breath.

A technique like that was practically heaven-defying!

Just imagine...

Two experts are fighting. You gather all your energy for a ultimate move, and just then, your opponent uses Space Conversion to teleport a powerful Desolate Beast in front of you.

Then they can just sit back and watch the show while you're forced to fight the Desolate Beast to the death!

It was the perfect move for screwing people over!

Little One said, "It's not as simple as you think. A Snow Ape's Space Conversion ability grows stronger as it ages. This one can swap places with snow, which means it's over a hundred years old. If you want to swap with a living creature, you'd need at least a thousand years of practice to do it!"

"I see!"

Hong Yu nodded.

Just then, the Snow Ape finally came to its senses. It instinctively prepared to use Space Conversion to escape.

But to its despair, it discovered that its Innate Divine Techniques didn't work inside the tower's space.

The Snow Ape stared at Hong Yu and Little One in horror. Huhu also tilted its head, looking at the Snow Ape curiously.

"Don't be afraid, we mean you no harm!" said Little One.

The Snow Ape looked at Little One suspiciously, sniffed at him, and then showed a hint of friendliness.

But when it looked at Hong Yu, it bared its teeth.

Hong Yu rubbed his nose. He knew this one held a grudge.

He then said, "If you hadn't ambushed me, why would I have attacked you?"

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The Snow Ape chittered softly.

Hong Yu looked at Little One, who translated, "It says you stepped on its head, so of course it had to attack you!"

"..."

Hong Yu was even more speechless. 'For fuck's sake, who the hell would know you were hiding under the snow?'

Little One stifled a laugh and continued talking with the Snow Ape off to the side. After a while, his face was alight with excitement. He looked at Hong Yu and said, "Young man, your lucky day has arrived!"

"Hm?"

Hong Yu looked at Little One in confusion.

Little One said, "The Snow Ape told me that a tribe of Snow Apes lives here in the world of the Ice Tower's First Layer. Normally, they hide deep within the snow and might not venture out even once in several hundred years. But recently, their tribe's High Priest has fallen ill, so they've come out to find a cure!"

"What does that have to do with good luck?" Hong Yu asked, puzzled.

Little One chuckled. "It has everything to do with it! Let me tell you, besides Space Conversion, the Snow Ape race's greatest skill is their brewing technique. According to it, their High Priest is over a thousand years old, which means they must have some Thousand-Year Snow Ape Brew!"

"Thousand-Year Snow Ape Brew? A type of wine? I don't even like to drink..."

Little One's face darkened. He leaped high into the air and whacked Hong Yu on the head with his big pipe, exasperated. "Thousand-Year Snow Ape Brew! This is something that ranks in the top one thousand on the Heaven and Earth's Marvels List! An ordinary person who drinks a single mouthful can go from being too weak to truss a chicken straight to the Celestial Soul Realm."

"Hiss!"

Hong Yu was stunned. "One mouthful can get an ordinary person to the Celestial Soul Realm? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"What's so exaggerated about it! If you can get your hands on some Thousand-Year Snow Ape Brew, you could definitely break through a minor realm in a short amount of time. More importantly, it has a high chance of causing your Spiritual Power to mutate, granting you a partial Spatial Transfer ability!"

Little One chuckled, speaking with a smug look on his face.

A fiery passion surged in Hong Yu's eyes.

Spiritual Power had various types, including the Object Manipulation System, the Mental Attack System, the Spatial System, and so on.

Among them, the Spatial System was undoubtedly the strongest and rarest!

Some powerful Spiritual Power Cultivators of the Spatial System could even teleport thousands of miles at will.

Just imagine...

If he had that kind of ability, he could use his Spiritual Power to perform a Spatial Transfer during a fight, suddenly appearing behind his opponent to attack.

The results would be absolutely incredible!

At this thought, Hong Yu looked at Little One with burning eyes. "Quick, ask it how we can find the Thousand-Year Snow Ape Brew."

Little One grinned, beckoned to Hong Yu, and said something that nearly made him fly into a rage...