Before setting out for the Far North, he decided it was best to be cautious. He spent 3,000 Subversion Points in the System Mall and redeemed a [Peerless Douluo Experience Card], holding it in his hand.
"Even if I'm going to court someone, I still need to have the truth in my hands."
Looking at his balance after the system deducted the points, Qian Xunji silently did the math. It wasn't that he wanted to bully anyone with his power. But when facing a 700,000-year-old Ferocious Beast, if he couldn't even speak to her as an equal, she wouldn't give him the chance to open his mouth.
When he entered the Far North once again, the bone-chilling wind still cut like a knife.
Qian Xunji made his way with practiced ease to the unfathomably deep Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Abyss.
However, when he folded away his Twelve Wings of Light and slowly descended onto the cliff at the abyss's edge, the sight before him gave him pause.
There was no world-destroying blizzard, nor the merciless Emperor Sword that seemed capable of cleaving the heavens.
On the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Platform, Snow Empress stood quietly.
She still wore that elegant gown woven from pure ice and snow. Her long, snow-white hair fluttered gently in the breeze, and her ice-blue eyes—which had always regarded all living things with the cold indifference one might show ants—now resembled a deep, tranquil spring as they calmly watched Qian Xunji descend.
There was no killing intent, no anger. The air was filled only with a complex, contemplative stillness.
Seeing this, Qian Xunji immediately abandoned the idea of using the Experience Card. He completely concealed his aura and, like an ordinary traveler, slowly made his way down the ice rocks. He stopped ten paces from Snow Empress.
"I told you this would be the last time." Qian Xunji's voice was gentle, without its usual sharpness.
"What's your answer?"
Snow Empress didn't answer right away. She lowered her stunning eyes slightly, gazing at the ice beneath her feet, smooth as a mirror and reflecting their figures, then parted her lips. "To be honest, I haven't fully made up my mind."
Qian Xunji stood quietly without pressing her, giving her all the time she needed.
"Over these past few months, I sent someone to the human world to find out more about you and Spirit Hall."
Snow Empress raised her head again. A trace of undisguised admiration flashed through her clear eyes.
"You promoted the General Theory of Martial Souls, broke the great sects' monopoly on knowledge, and helped Soul Masters from the common folk. You even protected the mutants regarded as useless. That courage and breadth of vision have certainly made me see you in a new light."
A hint of emotion entered Snow Empress's voice. "I've seen too many sanctimonious humans who would stop at nothing to hunt us Soul Beasts for Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. But you do seem different from those sect masters and emperors who live only for their own selfish desires."
Qian Xunji silently breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he'd taken the right approach with his grassroots initiatives and public education over the past few months. The boost to her goodwill had taken effect right away.
However, before the smile on his face had fully bloomed, Snow Empress's tone suddenly shifted.
The calm Ice Abyss grew colder without warning. A trace of chill entered Snow Empress's ice-blue eyes, along with a hint of reproach and resentment.
"But I also heard something else rather interesting." Snow Empress looked Qian Xunji in the eye, her tone rising slightly with a cool, oppressive edge.
"Several months ago at Jialing Pass, you not only dealt a devastating blow to the Clear Sky Sect, but also abducted the Star Luo Empress in front of all the major powers on the continent and brought her back to Spirit Hall?"
Qian Xunji's heart gave a thump, and a layer of sweat instantly broke out across his back.
What was this? Wasn't her background check on a potential partner a little too thorough? She'd even dug up his romantic misdeeds?
Recalling that night in the underground chamber beneath Pope Hall... Qian Xunji couldn't help feeling guilty.
Under Snow Empress's clear gaze, which seemed able to see straight through him, Qian Xunji's thoughts raced.
Lie? Lying to this clever spirit of the Far North, who'd lived for 700,000 years? If she caught even the slightest hint that something was amiss, all the trust he'd built would collapse in an instant, and he'd never get another chance.
"Phew..."
Qian Xunji took a deep breath and cast away all thoughts of making excuses. He decided to come clean, putting aside his frivolity and nonchalance as his expression turned serious and open.
"Snow Empress, I don't want to lie to you, and I won't."
Qian Xunji met her gaze frankly, his voice steady.
"That night, I did bring the Star Luo Empress back to Spirit Hall. My primary purpose was to utterly shatter the royal dignity of the Star Luo Empire and break their spirit. But..."
He paused briefly, then gave a self-deprecating smile. His tone held the candid sincerity of an ordinary man:
"I have to admit, I'm a perfectly normal man with a sound mind, and I'm still unmarried. On top of that, I'd already been turned away twice by you, so I had some pent-up frustration. Faced with a beauty of such incomparable allure, I did have a fleeting, improper thought in that moment."
At this, Snow Empress's brow furrowed despite herself, and tiny ice crystals began to form in the air around them.
"But!"
Qian Xunji changed tack, fixing Snow Empress with a burning gaze. His voice grew utterly resolute and fervent. "Just as that impulse was about to get out of hand, all I could think of was your proud figure standing in the swirling snow. That face, that image, brought me to my senses in an instant."
"So I held to my principles. I absolutely did not have any actual relations with her, and at dawn the very next morning, I sent someone to return her to the Star Luo Empire safe and sound." Qian Xunji let out a long breath.
"That's the truth. I'm not lying to you."
I'm only selectively keeping a tiny bit from you... Just a tiny bit... Qian Xunji grumbled silently to himself.
Snow Empress listened in silence, her ice-blue eyes fixed on Qian Xunji's face as though judging whether his words were true.
After a long while, the chill that had nearly frozen the air slowly began to recede.
Although Qian Xunji admitted that he'd wavered for a moment, his unvarnished honesty—laying bare the most genuine weakness of human nature—actually helped Snow Empress quietly relax.
Still, the pride of the Ruler of the Far North meant that hearing Qian Xunji call another woman a "beauty of incomparable allure" stirred a rare flicker of annoyance in her heart, along with an unrecognized twinge of jealous bitterness.
"You human men... you're all cut from the same cloth. Hmph!" Snow Empress turned her face away slightly, her tone tinged with mild reproach. But the killing intent that had kept everyone at a distance had completely vanished.
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