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However, before the Red King or the Emperor Auspicious Beast could respond, a new voice appeared. This voice was filled with immense excitement and even a slight tremor. It suddenly emerged from Tang Chen's spiritual sea and echoed beneath the emerald green sky.
"Bingbing! My dearest Bingbing! I finally see you again!" the voice cried out. "Do you know how much I have missed you!"
The appearance of this voice was very poorly timed. Yet, it carried a strange and strong emotion. Tang Chen was preparing to respond to the Snow Empress's questions, but he could not help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Beside him, Rui'er's golden eyes flashed with surprise and curiosity.
Hearing this voice, the Snow Empress's icy body visibly stiffened for a moment. Her murderous gaze shifted instantly. She fixed her eyes intently on Tang Chen, or more specifically, the location of his spiritual sea. Her eyes were filled with disbelief as she spoke.
"This voice... is it Tianmeng? You... are you actually still alive?" she asked. "As expected of the longest-lived fellow in our Extreme North Land, you are quite hard to kill!"
These words were full of deep emotion. They were accompanied by a terrifying mental force that she released without thinking. This force formed an invisible wave of sound. The snow on the vast ice plain below was lifted up as if by a giant hand. It soared over three meters high like a sudden burst of white waves.
Facing the Snow Empress's shock, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice suddenly became incredibly gentle. It even sounded like it was trying to be romantic.
"Snow Empress, you have not died yet, so why shouldn't I be alive?" he asked. It seemed as if he were lost in beautiful memories. "Do you remember what I said back then? I said if I didn't die, one day, I would definitely become your companion."
"Tianmeng, you are looking for death!" the Snow Empress shouted.
Her clear voice was now filled with a killing intent so strong it felt solid. The emerald green sky around her suddenly grew darker, turning into an oppressive dark green color. This intense killing intent crashed down like a falling glacier.
The Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had an invisible protective field made of mental force around Tang Chen's body. It was usually a hundred meters wide, but under the impact of this terrifying killing intent, it suddenly shrank. It was instantly compressed to a radius of only ten meters. This showed just how scary the Snow Empress's mental force was when she was angry.
However, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm showed no fear at all. On the level of mental force, his million-year foundation was very real. He merely smiled slightly. His mental fluctuations remained calm and elegant. His voice even carried a power that could bewitch people.
"No, I am speaking from my heart," he said earnestly. "I have lived for a million years, and for most of that time, I have been sleeping. Deep in my heart, the only one who can move me this much is you."
As he spoke, his voice grew deeper. Then, he offered the ultimate temptation that no Spirit Beast could ever resist.
"Snow Empress, I did not come back this time to die," he stated. "I came... to help you achieve godhood."
"Achieve godhood?" the Snow Empress repeated. Her voice rose, filled with extreme sarcasm and disdain. The dark green sky trembled along with her voice. "What a huge joke!"
"Even the Beast God, Di Tian of the Star Dou Great Forest, could not take that step after hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation," she mocked. "And you, a worm who only eats and sleeps, dare to talk about becoming a god in front of me? Tianmeng, have you been sleeping for so long that your brain has turned to mush?"
She continued, her voice growing colder. "Moreover, have you forgotten? My race is your natural enemy! Since you dare to come back, I dare to eat you! It just so happens that eating your million years of cultivation might help me survive the next Heavenly Tribulation!"
Facing her naked killing intent, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm did not get angry. Instead, he chuckled mentally. His voice was still gentle and even a little bit playful.
"Of course I know you are my natural enemy, but so what?" he asked. "Who says that I cannot fall in love with my natural enemy?"
His tone became serious and full of affection. "Because of this, my love for you is even purer. It goes beyond the boundaries of our races!"
"What a pity," the Snow Empress replied. Her voice remained bone-chillingly cold and full of disdain. "You are not worthy of my affection. The strong prey on the weak. That is the law of this world."
"However, I am still very touched," she said with a cruel edge. "You are actually willing to offer yourself as food for me. You want to merge with me in this way. How could I not accept your deep affection?"
"You should be able to feel that I am getting closer to you," she warned. "Wait for me. In a quarter of an hour... no, perhaps even faster, I will be by your side. I will fulfill this love of yours. I will treat you well. I will chew your body and your energy little by little, until they are completely a part of me. This is the merging you want, isn't it?"
These bloody and twisted words were enough to make anyone with a weak mind collapse. However, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm seemed used to her attitude. He sighed helplessly inside Tang Chen's spiritual sea.
"Bingbing, can't you be a little bit gentler?" he asked. "You are always so cold and bossy. No wonder you are still single."
At this point, he suddenly changed the topic. With a dangerous curiosity, he brought up a forbidden topic. It was a joke that had long moved through the Extreme North Land, but no one ever dared to mention it to her face.
"Oh, right, I have always wanted to ask you something. Is that joke that everyone tells in the Extreme North Land true? Do you... really like the Ice Empress?"
This sentence was like lighting a fuse on a bomb. The aura around the Snow Empress suddenly choked. The dark green sky became so dark it looked like dripping ink. Extreme shame and killing intent surged instantly.
However, before this terrifying intent could strike, the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm threw out an even more shocking fact. His tone carried a hint of smugness.
"Oh, and I forgot to tell you. I have now become someone else's spirit ring. So, if you want to eat me... I am afraid you won't be able to do it."
"What?!" the Snow Empress cried out.
As soon as he said those words, her aura stopped fluctuating. Her shame and anger were replaced by immense shock. Her eyes, which were like those of a scorpion and glinting with emerald light, stared at Tang Chen with disbelief.
The Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was a treasure with a million years of cultivation. He was like a moving source of energy for heaven and earth. How could he have actually become a human's spirit ring? It seemed impossible. Who could possibly have the ability and the opportunity to do such a thing?
In the next moment, the Snow Empress finally revealed herself. She had said she would need a quarter of an hour, but she appeared much faster. The dark sky turned emerald green again. A beam of light drew a line across the sky. In a flash, the Spirit Beast appeared opposite Tang Chen.
"Hehe..." a cold sneer rang out. It was full of mockery and disdain.
"Tianmeng, do you think that just because you became a spirit ring, I cannot do anything to you?" she asked. "What a naive and foolish worm!"
At this moment, frost energy rose from her jade-like body like cold flames. The faint blue light at the stinger of her tail became very dazzling.
"At worst, I will just eat this human along with your soul origin!"