Far North Land

Snowflakes howled across the plains on the frigid wind. As far as the eye could see, heaven and earth were the same color, as though they stood in a world of nothing but white.

A snowflake happened to slip into An Lengye's hood and land on her neck. The bone-piercing chill made her shudder instinctively.

An Lengye pursed her lips and looked toward the old man beside her, wanting to say something.

Before the words could leave her mouth, she happened to notice a slender figure amid the distant blizzard when she looked up.

"Is that... a person?"

Unlike them, the figure did not seem to be bundled up tightly. He wore only a simple white fleece jacket. If not for his short black hair, An Lengye had no doubt he would have blended into that pristine world, impossible to distinguish from it.

An absurd feeling suddenly welled up in her heart. When she tried to get a better look, he had already vanished completely into the snowstorm.

"Was that really a human?"

Yet the next second, the old man beside her seemed to have sensed something terrifying, and his expression changed abruptly.

"Run!!!"

Without giving An Lengye any chance to react, the old man grabbed the back of her collar and sprinted wildly in the direction they had come from, as if they would die on the spot if they were even a second too late.

"Grandpa?"

What was happening?

The gale roared past her ears. Just as the bewildered An Lengye felt a terrifying aura approaching from behind, she instinctively turned around. The sky, already obscured by dark clouds, had grown even dimmer. A dazzling golden pillar of light shot into the heavens from the direction where that young man had disappeared.

"What is that...?"

Since her grandfather was carrying her as he fled anyway, An Lengye simply focused on everything unfolding before her, branding this scene—like the might of heaven itself—into her mind for the rest of her life.

"Ice Empress, I'm here. Do you dare come out and meet me?"

A majestic voice rang through heaven and earth like thunder, accompanied by an aura that made even her soul tremble as it rapidly spread across the boundless snowfield.

Before long, an equally terrifying aura erupted from a spot far opposite the golden pillar. Like a drop of pigment falling into water, dreamy emerald-green color spread through the gray-white clouds in great swathes.

"Skydream? Is that you?"

A crisp female voice rang out, and An Lengye clearly felt her grandfather, who was carrying her away, accelerate once more.

After an unknown amount of time, they finally escaped to the edge of the Far North Land.

The old man, having narrowly survived disaster, set An Lengye down and panted heavily.

"Grandpa, are you all right?"

As An Lengye patted the old man's back, she looked behind them at the golden light and emerald clouds that had completely vanished, unable to stop a lingering fear from rising in her heart.

"I'm fine."

After catching his breath for a few moments, the old man waved his hand with the same lingering fear on his face.

"Luckily, those two soul beasts weren't targeting us. Otherwise, whether we could have made it back alive today would have been uncertain."

An Lengye's eyes widened. "Those were two soul beasts!? But I clearly saw—"

"Anything with such terrifying power must be a soul beast over a hundred thousand years old. We must have happened upon them fighting over territory, which was why we were lucky enough to survive. As for that boy who looked human, I noticed him too. He was likely the transformed form of one of those Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts."

Listening to the old man's analysis, An Lengye recalled the slender figure walking through the blizzard and nodded lightly.

"Grandpa, then my Soul Ring..."

"We can only think of another way." The old man was clearly badly frightened. He shook his head and sighed. "Let's head back first and discuss it later."

"Okay."

Meanwhile, inside a cave somewhere in the Core Region of the Far North Land.

A scorpion about one and a half meters long, with an emerald-green tail, looked at the human boy before her with mixed emotions. After her spiritual origin had been branded, her voice rang directly in Huo Yuhao's mind.

"What should I do?"

"Bingbing, I knew you'd agree."

"Wasn't it because you threatened me!?"

Ice Empress glared at the miniature Skydream Iceworm in Huo Yuhao's hand, her tone full of annoyance.

"Don't think I agreed because of you. If you provoke me again, I'll self-destruct right away!"

Skydream Iceworm shrank back a little, but his tone could not conceal his excitement.

"All right, all right, I'll stop talking. Yuhao, you can begin."

"Wait, there's one more thing."

Huo Yuhao, who had barely spoken until now, looked directly at Ice Empress, his tone solemn.

"Ice Empress, can you contact Snow Empress?"

For some reason, although the process of negotiating with Ice Empress had been much the same as in his previous life, she had agreed noticeably faster this time. She had revealed her spiritual origin with almost no hesitation, displaying complete sincerity.

This gave him an idea. In his previous life, Snow Empress had transformed into a human through the Hundred Thousand Year Snow Lotus. While she was still an embryo, she had been captured by humans and eventually ended up being auctioned off. All of that had happened after Ice Empress became his intelligent Soul Ring.

As long as Ice Empress was willing to help him summon Snow Empress now, what had happened in his previous life could be completely prevented.

As soon as he said this, Skydream Iceworm was the first to lose his composure. He instinctively raised his head, and terror showed humanlike in his pair of tiny golden eyes.

"Yuhao, this isn't something to joke about. Snow Empress isn't someone we can provoke."

"Don't worry, Brother Skydream. I just need to discuss something with Snow Empress."

Skydream clearly wanted to say more, but when he thought of the inexplicable sense of closeness he felt toward Huo Yuhao, he suddenly fell silent.

Ice Empress was also visibly stunned. She had not expected this human to be so bold that he wanted her to help him contact Snow Empress.

"I can, but what are you planning to do?"

Looking at this boy who did not make her feel guarded at all, Ice Empress's heart was filled with indescribable emotions.

Honestly, she felt as if she had gone mad, trusting a human and agreeing to become some sort of soul spirit.

Yet only she knew that she was not actually that resistant to it. As for why—

It was because she sensed from this human a tacit understanding that felt as though they had spent countless years together. She had never felt such closeness even with Snow Empress.

On top of that, her end was indeed approaching. If she did not find a way to live on, she would truly die. Then Skydream had appeared before her as an example of the Soul Spirit Contract, giving her a choice to survive.

With all those factors combined, she had accepted the offer without much hesitation, simply going along with the situation.

But just because she could agree did not mean Snow Empress would!

"If you want Snow Empress to become your soul spirit too, I can tell you that it's almost impossible."

"Snow Empress won't be as easy to persuade as I am. She's even prouder than I am. She would rather die in a heavenly tribulation than become a human's Soul Ring. No matter how miraculous your Soul Spirit Contract is, she won't agree—and you may even be putting your life in danger."