The Fortunes of the Far North

The Fortunes of the Far North

"Elder Yi." Huo Yuhao called out softly.

The terrifying pressure vanished in an instant. Chi Qiu hurried over to Huo Yuhao's side, a trace of worry in her pretty eyes.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Someone in my Sea of Consciousness did something for me." Huo Yuhao turned to face Chi Qiu. There was little he could hide from her.

"That aura of death was..."

"Maybe it was that person's ability."

Chi Qiu nodded and didn't ask any more. "Can we still set out for the Far North on time?"

"Of course." Huo Yuhao picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. He still looked a little tired, perhaps because he had just expended too much spiritual power, but he seemed to have just dealt with something important, and his mood had improved since they left Shrek Academy.

"We can set out now. We'll cross Heavenly Soul territory from here, then buy some warm clothes when we reach the northern border town."

Since they weren't in a hurry, the two didn't travel too fast. They would need quite a bit of money along the way, so Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu bought grilled fish as they went to earn some travel expenses. Every so often, they also caught a ride with a merchant caravan.

When they passed near Earth Dragon Sect, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm mentioned that there seemed to be some kind of treasure underground. However, Earth Dragon Sect's experts were still too powerful for Huo Yuhao to provoke, so he marked the spot on his map and planned to come back treasure hunting later.

They also saw several beautiful sights. Chi Qiu's interest in the human world kept growing. Whenever they encountered something she didn't recognize, she assumed Huo Yuhao could explain it to her, only to find him looking just as lost.

When it came to understanding the human world, they were both still young.

At last, after a tiring journey by land and water, they set foot in the northern lands.

The farther north they went, the fewer people they saw. The guide groups that specialized in leading Soul Masters into the Far North had closed up shop for the past few days, saying that a terrifying blizzard had struck the Far North recently, making it unsuitable for Soul Masters to hunt Soul Rings.

Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu each bought a thick padded coat and a pair of shoes suited for walking in the snow.

If Huo Yuhao had been making the trip alone to the Extreme North Core Circle, the gear would soon have become useless, by all accounts. But with Chi Qiu's Ultimate Fire attribute, the clothes and shoes could finally serve their purpose.

Chi Qiu's Soul Power was limited, so she could only change the temperature around them from bitterly cold to merely cold. In those conditions, their coats offered a little warmth.

Even so, the adventure remained extremely difficult. Huo Yuhao kept Spiritual Detection Sharing active the entire time, carefully shaping its range into a fan. A straight-line sweep was too easy for powerful beings to detect, while scanning in a circle consumed too much Soul Power.

The food they'd brought had frozen solid. The two huddled in an icy cave, and Huo Yuhao was about to bite into a block of frozen bread when Chi Qiu snatched it from his hand and warmed it over a flame.

Just then, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice rang out in Huo Yuhao's mind. "This is the place."

Huo Yuhao looked up and said to Chi Qiu, "Qiu'er, Brother Sky Dream will talk to you now."

Chi Qiu nodded in agreement.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes. The Vertical Eye marking on his forehead gradually appeared, then shot out a streak of light. It landed on the snow, first spreading like a shapeless puddle, then swiftly taking human form. A handsome young man stood before them. He waved to Chi Qiu, and the first words out of his mouth shattered the atmosphere completely.

"Haha! It's been ages since I've felt this free!"

"It has. Ever since I can remember, you've been trapped in the Star Dou Great Forest," Chi Qiu said.

"Ouch, no need to bring that up!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gave an awkward laugh and hurried to the point. "Have you decided what to say to Bingbing?"

"Mm." Chi Qiu nodded, ignoring his nauseating nickname for Ice Empress.

"Good. Come with me to the surface, then. Yuhao, you have to hold on. If you can't, neither can I."

"Go ahead, Brother Sky Dream!" Huo Yuhao raised his chin. "You've already dragged me all the way here. Even if I can't hold on, I have to."

The wind howled.

As soon as Sky Dream's nauseating call faded, a dense emerald glow began to churn on the distant horizon. His words had clearly had a powerful effect, though it certainly wasn't because they'd moved her. Most likely, she was furious.

"Ice Empress." Chi Qiu called out. The Eye of Destiny on her forehead opened fully, and the Power of Destiny surged from her body. The distant emerald glow trembled at the sight. Anyone who didn't know what was happening would have thought the world was changing color and disaster was about to strike.

"Emperor Lucky Beast?" Ice Empress's cool voice held a note of shock. The cold suddenly intensified, and a beautiful, icy figure appeared before them.

It was a beautiful, entirely emerald-green scorpion. Strange, diamond-like hexagonal protrusions covered its powerful, delicate legs and pincers.

Its tail was made of segments of exquisitely carved jade, joined together as if they had grown that way. Its stinger was pure silver, matching the land of the Far North, and shimmered with diamond-like flecks of color.

"Why has the Emperor Lucky Beast suddenly come here?" Ice Empress looked coldly toward Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Chi Qiu, though a hint of respect remained in her voice. "Are you an illusion fabricated by that fool Sky Dream, or did he offer you some kind of benefit?"

"Bingbing, is that really what you think of me?" Sky Dream started to protest, but Ice Empress's golden eyes fixed on him, silencing him at once.

"That's not it," Chi Qiu said. "I am the real Auspicious Beast. I had no intention of coming to the Far North, but I sensed that the fortunes here had changed."

As she spoke, the Eye of Destiny on her forehead blazed with light once more. This time, Ice Empress could truly feel it: the Power of Destiny was pure, and could not possibly be faked.

"What's wrong with the fortunes of the Far North?" Her manner was still cool, but she had softened considerably since the start.

"If my senses are right..." Chi Qiu pointed to the Eye of Destiny. "Snow Empress is already gone."

Ice Empress's expression changed drastically. Even Sky Dream was shocked. Deep underground, Huo Yuhao was equally surprised as he maintained Spiritual Detection Sharing.

The Snow Empress Sky Dream had repeatedly praised on the way here as the foremost of the Three Great Kings of the Extreme North was already gone?

Chi Qiu continued, "And just as Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said, you're nearing your Four Hundred Thousand Year Tribulation. The fortunes of the Far North have fallen to rock bottom. Ice Empress, you're fated not to survive this tribulation."

By then, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had turned his gaze away. He was truly heartbroken.

"Auspicious Beast, did Sky Dream bring you here to pronounce the death sentence of the North?"

Ice Empress had quickly recovered from her shock. Now, her eyes were filled with the resolve to face her fate.

"That's not it either." Chi Qiu shook her head. "Someone who may be able to change your fate is right beneath your feet. Yuhao, you can come out now."

What followed was Sky Dream's appearance and his explanation to Ice Empress about becoming a Wisdom Soul Ring. With the Auspicious Beast there to support them, there was no need to use a husk to trap Ice Empress. They had time to move toward the outer regions of the Far North as they discussed the details.

"What are the odds?" By the end of their conversation, Ice Empress had made up her mind.

"With the Auspicious Beast's fortune on our side, ninety-nine percent!" Sky Dream declared confidently, patting his chest. His hand passed straight through it, and he nearly forgot he was only an embodied thought.

"Then stop wasting time. Begin." Ice Empress turned to Huo Yuhao and went over the final details with him once more.

After that, Huo Yuhao's fusion with Ice Empress unfolded just as it had in the previous timeline, so there was no need to elaborate.

On the way back, Huo Yuhao suddenly nudged Chi Qiu.

"Ice Empress has a question for you," he said.

"Go ahead."

"About Snow Empress..."

"Snow Empress didn't truly perish," Chi Qiu said. "From what I can sense, she probably just changed into another form. Then, at some point, her aura suddenly grew very weak. But her fate hasn't vanished. If there's ever a chance to find and save Snow Empress, it will likely have to be Huo Yuhao, with Ice Empress Martial Soul."

Huo Yuhao immediately closed his eyes and fell silent. In his Sea of Consciousness, Ice Empress was extremely agitated, urging him to save Snow Empress someday.

"I will," Huo Yuhao said. "I don't like making promises I might not be able to keep. But you and Brother Sky Dream both trust me so much, so I have to do everything I can. At the very least, I can't let you down after everything you've given me."

With the Spirit Eye Martial Soul granted by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Ultimate Ice of the Ice Empress Scorpion as his Second Martial Soul, Huo Yuhao was probably the only person in the world qualified to say he would save Snow Empress.

"Before that, I have to think about what's right in front of me." Huo Yuhao sighed. "The timing... At this point, Shrek will probably expel us both, won't it?"

Although they had left school early, they hadn't traveled very quickly. Huo Yuhao didn't deny that part of him had intended to leave Shrek for good.

Even so, he planned to slip back to the familiar place where he'd lived for half a year and quietly say goodbye.

The day Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu returned to Shrek City was the start of the autumn term. Autumn rain fell without pause, and the roads were covered in puddles.

He walked up to Shrek Academy's entrance. The first day of term had already passed, and the academy gates were shut tight. A gate guard stood smoking nearby.

Someone around their age was standing at the entrance. The rain had plastered their tousled pink-and-blue hair to their face and neck, strand by strand. They held an overstuffed travel bag, with a Shrek uniform draped over their arm. The uniform was soaked through, too.

Huo Yuhao wasn't sure he recognized them, but he had only ever seen one person with that hair color.

"...Wang Dong?"