The hazy sensation of weightlessness gradually cleared, and the scenery around her shifted, then rearranged itself.
White astral winds ravaged the mountaintop without rhyme or reason, their shrieks like those of demons. Flecks of sunlight spilled through the gaps, scattering across the smooth, mirrorlike ground and the Ice Extreme Palace, built entirely of pure crystal, where light and shadow shimmered.
Snow Empress stood on the steps before the open palace doors, her right hand resting on the transparent, polished railing. Her elegant white dress fell past her ankles, yet outlined her alluring figure to perfection.
Everything around her was so familiar, yet so monotonous. She had lived here for five hundred thousand years.
Why had she said "had"?
Snow Empress froze, a flicker of confusion crossing her mind. Yes, why "had"? Hadn't she always lived here? She'd only occasionally gone out, and those outings had always been brief.
Last night, after resolving to choose a different path, she had done something rare: skipped her cultivation. She'd told Ice Empress, then returned to her bedroom to sleep.
Perhaps her nerves, frayed by the danger she'd faced for so long, had finally relaxed when a chance of survival appeared. She'd slept soundly, and even dreamed.
A dream?
As she tried to recall it, a sudden pain throbbed in her head.
She raised her snow-white wrist and gently rubbed her temple, easing the ache as she tried to sort out her thoughts.
But when she tried again, the memory vanished like smoke in the wind. She couldn't remember a thing.
Unable to make sense of it, Snow Empress set the matter aside for now. Perhaps it was a premonition of what a top powerhouse might face in the future. She'd had such premonitions before, though they had mostly been instincts. Dreams like this