Xue Tianyu considered it for a moment.
"That works too."
"With Bing'er by my side, she can help take care of the trivial matters I can't be bothered to handle myself."
Seeing Xue Tianyu take the initiative and agree, the last trace of Ice Empress's hesitation vanished in an instant.
"Good, I agree!"
"Now that I think about it, going out to see the colorful human world with Tian Yu sounds pretty nice."
With their parting at hand, Snow Empress could no longer suppress the surging emotions within her.
She suddenly spread her arms wide and, completely unconcerned with propriety, pulled Xue Tianyu into a tight embrace.
She pressed herself right against Xue Tianyu's face.
The unique, icy fragrance of Snow Empress filled Xue Tianyu's nose and mouth, making it difficult for him even to breathe.
After holding him for quite a while, Snow Empress finally let go, reluctant to part.
She rose slightly onto her toes and left an exceedingly gentle, warm kiss on his smooth forehead.
The tender touch on his forehead sent a powerful ripple through Xue Tianyu's heart, and his gaze grew deeper still.
"Tian Yu, be safe out there. If you run into an enemy you can't defeat, don't try to tough it out."
A crystal-clear tear glistened in the corner of Snow Empress's eye as she softly admonished him, like an ordinary woman seeing off a loved one on a long journey.
Xue Tianyu nodded firmly, meeting her gaze with unshakable resolve.
"Don't worry. Once I become strong enough to ignore every rule in this world, I'll come back and take you away from here."
"When that day comes, we'll be together forever and never part again."
Hearing that solemn promise, the gloom on Snow Empress's face vanished, and she broke into a smile a thousand times more enchanting than the snows and winds of the Far North.
"It's a promise!"
"Let's seal it with a pinky swear!"
Like an innocent little girl, Snow Empress held out her fair, translucent pinky.
Xue Tianyu smiled and reached out his hand as well, linking his finger tightly with Snow Empress's soft one and sealing the promise between them.
Time passed, and the people of Skywater Academy had been waiting in the snow for a long while.
The Far North's sky gradually darkened. The temperature around them plunged once more, and even their breath instantly froze into ice crystals.
The bitter wind cut across their faces like knives, stinging terribly.
Shui Lanxin paced back and forth, her brows tightly knitted.
"It's nearly dark. The nights in the Far North are terrifying. Why hasn't that child come back yet?"
"Could something have gone wrong along the way?"
Shui Bing'er folded her arms across her chest, trying her best to stay calm as she reassured everyone.
"Teacher, you're worrying too much."
"He's so young, yet he already has five Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings. His strength is far beyond that of an ordinary person."
"Anyone who can survive in the Far North has long since made it their own backyard. How could he possibly be in danger?"
But the students behind her were clearly not as optimistic as Shui Bing'er. Several huddled together, shivering as their teeth chattered uncontrollably.
"But he's been gone so long!"
"What if he really changed his mind and left us out here in the middle of nowhere? If we run into a high-level Soul Beast, we wounded lot are done for."
Shui Bing'er turned around and met the eyes of her wavering classmates, her voice firm.
"He would never do that!"
"Let's wait a little longer. He'll come!"
The moment she finished speaking—
Roar!!
A deafening, savage beast's roar suddenly exploded from the icy ravine behind them.
The tremendous sound waves swept outward like a physical force, shaking the snow loose from the surrounding mountains and triggering a small avalanche.
Immediately afterward, the earth began to tremble violently, as if some colossal, immensely heavy creature were rapidly drawing near.
The group turned around in alarm and stared fixedly in the direction of the sound.
A White Giant Bear over ten meters tall lunged out of the blizzard.
Its body was covered in fur as hard as ice spikes. Its eyes were blood-red, and its savage presence was so suffocating it seemed to choke the air around them.
The instant Shui Lanxin recognized the creature, her face turned paper-white, and terror warped her voice beyond recognition.
"Not good!"
"It's a Ten-Thousand-Year Frost Giant Bear!"
"Everyone, get back! This beast is extremely dangerous. Whatever you do, don't let it set its sights on you!"
At the mention of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the students were so terrified they nearly lost their souls, and screams rang out one after another.
Their Soul Power was already depleted, and they were still injured from the earlier battle. Now, faced with such a savage beast, they didn't even have the strength to run.
Several girls' legs gave out beneath them. They collapsed into the snow, crying out in despair.
The Frost Giant Bear immediately locked its gaze on the weakened humans and roared again.
It raised its enormous paw, as big as a small mountain, and swung it toward them without mercy, the wind howling around its blow.
The gap in strength was simply too great. Even Shui Lanxin, a Soul King, was rooted in place by the terrifying pressure of the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, her body rigid and unable to move.
As the enormous paw blotted out the sky and came crashing down, Shui Bing'er bit through her tongue, forcing herself back to her senses with a stab of searing pain.
She desperately wrung out the last trace of Soul Power in her body.
"First Soul Skill, Ice Ring Armor!"
A crystalline suit of armor instantly took shape above everyone's heads, glowing pale blue as it tried to block the fatal strike.
But the Frost Giant Bear's furious attack was far too terrifying.
Crack!
The moment its paw struck the Ice Ring Armor, the seemingly sturdy defense shattered like paper. It didn't even hold for a second before breaking into countless tiny shards of ice.
Just then—
The ferocious Frost Giant Bear abruptly halted its attack, its enormous paw hanging suspended in midair.
A deeply human look of terror flashed in its blood-red eyes, and every ice-spike strand of fur stood on end.
It was as though it had sensed an immensely terrifying primordial nemesis.
The bear didn't dare look at them again. Its massive body jerked around at an awkward angle.
It stumbled and scrambled in the opposite direction, letting out a frightened whimper as it fled wildly into the distant blizzard, as if it had seen a ghost. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.
The sudden turn of events left the people of Skywater Academy, who had closed their eyes and awaited death, completely stunned.
Shui Bing'er cautiously opened her eyes and stared blankly in the direction the bear had fled, her face full of confusion.
"What... happened?"
"It was about to get us. Why did it suddenly run away?"
Just then, the howling blizzard abruptly fell still.
A familiar, slender figure walked calmly into view, emerging from the opposite direction in which the bear had fled.
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