Aha Got Nailed, Aha Really Lost Face

"This is..."

After she emerged from the cave, a massive frozen throne came into view. A tall woman lay upon it, an ice-blue mask hanging from her waist.

The Snow Empress could clearly feel a stirring in her bloodline.

Was she... a Heavenly Snow Woman?

The woman slowly opened her eyes and stretched lazily.

"Little one, you're here. My name is Xuejian, a 990,000-year-old Heavenly Snow Woman and the guardian of these ruins."

Xuejian looked at the Snow Empress holding up her Emperor Sword, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes.

"Speaking of which, how did you get here? At this depth, it can't have been easy."

"Senior, we only stumbled in here by mistake. If we're disturbing you, we can retrace our steps right now."

"Stumbled in by mistake? That can't be right. Could you have come here without Tianshu's secret orders? Little sister, you're being naughty~"

In an instant, Xuejian appeared behind the Snow Empress.

The Ice Empress's tail instinctively stabbed at her.

Xuejian merely held out a finger and blocked the scorpion's stinger.

"A 300,000-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion? You're young, your strength isn't great, and you haven't developed your Ultimate Attribute properly either. Is this really the best the Far North has to offer now?"

The Snow Empress first pulled the Ice Empress back behind her, and the Emperor Sword in her right hand slowly dissipated.

Against such a formidable enemy, she had no chance of winning.

"What's the situation in the Far North now? I haven't been outside in a long time."

The Snow Empress briefly described the Far North as it was today.

"Heavenly tribulations? Since when did Soul Beasts have heavenly tribulations?"

The Snow Empress froze.

"Haven't there always been heavenly tribulations?"

Xuejian shook her head.

"In my era, there was never any such thing as a heavenly tribulation. From what you're saying... has that love-addled Dragon God kicked the bucket?"

"Senior, as far as I know, the Dragon God has fallen. One half of her, the Silver Dragon King, is now in the Star Dou Great Forest."

Xuejian gave a mocking laugh.

"Then I understand. Looks like the Dragon God placed those restrictions on Soul Beasts. Only someone with his brains could have done something like that."

The Snow Empress said nothing. She seemed to have learned something earth-shattering.

"Senior, there's something I'd like to ask, but I don't know if I should."

"Oh? Ask. You're a junior of my Heavenly Snow Woman clan, after all. I'll answer whatever I can."

"What... exactly is Tianshu?"

Xuejian fell silent for a moment. She hadn't expected the Snow Empress to ask that question.

"Are you sure you want to know? Once you learn some things, you can never go back to your old life."

The Snow Empress looked at the Ice Empress behind her.

"Wherever Xue'er is, that's where I'll be."

The Ice Empress's eyes were full of the Snow Empress. Although she had been an "incompetent husband" so many times, Xue'er was still her favorite Xue'er.

It was a good thing the Snow Empress didn't know what she was thinking, or she would definitely have kicked her out.

"Senior, I want to know."

"All right, then."

Xuejian lightly stamped her foot, and the surroundings changed in an instant. A deep-blue planet floated gently as it spun in space.

"This is our world, the Douluo Plane, and our home. Tianshu is actually an anchor point the universe established in our plane, or you could say it's there to guard its own property."

Xuejian began explaining what the universe and Aeons were.

"Rather than gods, Douluo's gods are really just people with a bit more strength."

As Xuejian said this, her face was full of disdain for those "gods."

"So Soul Beasts were once allowed to become gods... to become stronger beasts?"

Xuejian nodded.

"Actually, there was such a thing as heavenly tribulation, but Soul Beasts brought it on themselves. Its main purpose was to temper the body and improve the bloodline. Danger and opportunity coexisted, but now..."

Xuejian didn't continue, but the Snow Empress understood what she meant.

Heavenly tribulations now existed purely to prevent Soul Beasts from becoming gods.

"The gods of the Divine Realm are nothing but frogs at the bottom of a well. Strictly speaking, our Heavenly Snow Woman clan isn't native to the Douluo Continent."

Snow Empress: "!!!"

Seeing the Snow Empress's astonished expression, Xuejian's face took on a playful look.

"Surprised? Otherwise, why do you think I was with the Frost-Ashen Black Dragon? In the year the dove bore a branch, a strange throne came to this world, followed closely by seven thrones of the high heavens. As for us, we were born of one of them after she descended."

Before Xuejian had finished speaking, she suddenly felt a chill sweep over her.

She jerked her head up and saw a streak of light hurtling straight toward her.

"Fuck!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Xuejian moved to shield the Snow Empress and Ice Empress behind her.

An ice-crystal longsword appeared in her hand.

The sword looked much like the Emperor Sword, yet it was different.

It was as if... the Emperor Sword were its projection.

"Sword of Emperor Snow."

As Xuejian softly uttered those words, a piercing sword radiance flashed along the blade, which stabbed straight toward the azure meteor.

Only when it drew close did the Snow Empress see the meteor clearly.

It wasn't a meteor falling from space at all. It looked more like... a heavenly nail.

An enormous boom rang out. The Snow Empress's vision went black, and she found herself back by the frozen throne.

She shook her head, feeling a little dizzy, then looked at the Ice Empress.

Fortunately, she had only passed out and was otherwise fine. At least she hadn't dropped a Soul Ring.

When she turned around again, three enormous question marks appeared above her head.

"???"

Xuejian was nowhere to be seen. In her place stood a pitch-black figure in tattered clothes.

"Um... Senior Xue, are you all right?"

Xuejian slowly breathed out a puff of black smoke and glanced at the mask on her waist. Fortunately, it had only gained a crack.

"I'm fine. I said a little too much and got nailed for it. No big deal, I only lost 500,000 years of cultivation. I'm used to it."

The Snow Empress's mouth twitched. Used to it? Was this something one could get used to?

Five hundred thousand years! That was more cultivation than the Ice Empress had.

"You only need to remember one thing: in the universe, thousands of races are wiped out and pass into history every day. The Douluo Continent was lucky enough to encounter a chaotic neutral faction."

"Tianshu was essentially the imperial capital in our era."

It took Xuejian quite a while to restore herself to her original state.

"Snow Empress, since you managed to come here, I think you want to become a little stronger too, don't you?"

The Snow Empress looked at Xuejian, became uncharacteristically formal, and knelt without the slightest hesitation.

"Please teach me, Senior!"

Xuejian gently helped her up.

"You've developed your Ultimate Ice far too poorly, but... you're still calling me Senior?"

"Greetings, Master."

Xuejian smiled. This junior wasn't so stupid after all.

But... I only asked her to put on an act with me, and that little bitch really smashed me with it! It hurt so much! Aha really lost face!

So being a Fictionologist was this much fun.