Certain exceptionally gifted human geniuses had a tiny chance of awakening a top-tier beast martial soul identical to that of a top-tier soul beast when their martial souls awakened.
Could it be... that this human child possesses some rare ice-attribute physique seen only once in ten thousand years, and the aura within him that shares the same origin as mine is because he may awaken the 'Heavenly Snow Woman' martial soul in the future?
Once this bold speculation surfaced in Snow Empress's mind, she could no longer dismiss it.
If that was the case, then everything made sense.
Only a physique containing the origin of the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul could remain unharmed in the Extreme North Core Zone, trigger such an immense heavenly phenomenon, and make her feel an intimate bond as though she were facing a younger member of her own kind.
At that thought, Snow Empress's peerlessly beautiful face, frozen for countless years, softened unconsciously by several degrees.
She extended her hands, drew the little boy floating in midair closer, and gently gathered him into her embrace.
This was the first time in several hundred thousand years that she had come into such intimate contact with a human life.
He felt unexpectedly soft and warm in her arms.
The little boy seemed to sense the ultimate ice-and-snow origin in Snow Empress's embrace, an aura that made him incomparably comfortable. Unafraid of the wind and snow, he instead wriggled restlessly, burrowing his fluffy little head deep against Snow Empress's soft, full chest. Having found the most comfortable position, he made adorable smacking noises and continued sleeping soundly.
Looking at the exquisitely adorable yet outrageously bold little fellow in her arms, the corners of Snow Empress's lips rarely curved into an exceedingly faint smile—one enough to make heaven and earth lose their color.
She extended a slender, icy-smooth finger and lightly tapped the little boy's pert nose bridge, murmuring softly,
"Fair skin, crystal-clear complexion, and ice elements within his body so pure they have reached the absolute extreme... My guess should be correct."
Just as Snow Empress held the infant boy, immersed in this rare tranquility and novel experience, a hurried, piercing sound suddenly came from the distant snowstorm.
"Sha sha sha—"
Accompanied by that teeth-grating sound, a terrifying frigid storm no weaker than Snow Empress herself swept in.
At the heart of the storm, a colossal beast that seemed carved from the purest diamonds and jade burst through the snow.
It was an enormous scorpion more than four meters long.
Its body was divided into two colors. The front half was covered in dazzling hexagonal diamond-like protrusions that refracted blinding light amid the snowstorm.
The rear half, including its long upraised scorpion tail with a deadly cold gleam at its tip, was a vibrant yet incomparably venomous jade green.
The second of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion with nearly four hundred thousand years of cultivation—
Ice Empress!
The instant Ice Empress's pair of compound eyes, gleaming like yellow gemstones, saw Snow Empress, they lit up.
But immediately afterward, when she saw what Snow Empress held in her arms, her enormous body abruptly froze.
"Whoosh—"
Jade-green light flared brilliantly as the terrifying giant beast rapidly shrank within it.
In the blink of an eye, a petite and delicate figure resembling a human girl of twelve or thirteen appeared before Snow Empress.
In her human form, Ice Empress had dark green twin ponytails that hung smoothly down her back.
Her features were dainty and adorable, her skin as white as snow. She wore an exquisite short dress of jade green and white, exposing a pair of slender, straight, pale legs.
Though she looked like a little girl on the outside, her jade-green eyes held an inviolable pride and viciousness—the imperial aura of one who had long stood at the top and killed without hesitation.
At that moment, the proud Ice Empress stared wide-eyed with her beautiful emerald eyes at the human boy burying his head in Snow Empress's chest and occasionally rubbing against her. She was completely dumbfounded.
"Snow, Snow Empress..."
Ice Empress raised a tender white finger toward the infant, her voice stammering from shock.
"That disturbance just now, shooting straight into the sky and scaring every soul beast in the Far North half to death, was caused by this... this human child? W-where did he come from? And why are you holding him?!"
In Ice Empress's understanding, humans were all greedy, cunning, revolting creatures who would stop at nothing for soul rings and Spirit Bones.
If she encountered a human in the Far North under normal circumstances, she would absolutely blast them into icy fragments with Wrath of the Ice Emperor without hesitation.
Yet now, Snow Empress—the one she admired and loved most—was actually holding a human infant in her arms, and her gaze was so gentle?!
Seeing Ice Empress make such a fuss, Snow Empress gently shook her head. Then, in an even, cool tone, she told Ice Empress in detail how she had found the infant and of her speculation regarding his physique and his possible future awakening of the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul.
"A human with the potential to possess the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul?!"
After hearing Snow Empress's account, the shock on Ice Empress's face not only failed to fade, but deepened further.
She quickly stepped forward, moved close to Snow Empress, and carefully examined the sleeping infant.
Sure enough, just as Snow Empress had said, this fragile human infant had not only failed to freeze to death in the terrifying cold of the Extreme North Core Zone, but even emitted an ultimate ice-attribute fluctuation that made Ice Empress feel faintly alarmed.
Its purity was not even inferior to her own, the strongest of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion race.
Ice Empress fell silent for a long time.
Her dainty brows knitted tightly, as if she were engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
Finally, she raised her head, looked at Snow Empress, and asked solemnly,
"Snow Empress, then how do you plan to deal with him?
Even if he truly might awaken the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul, he is still human.
Humans have short lifespans and insatiable greed.
What if he grows up and turns against the Far North?"
Snow Empress lowered her head slightly, looking at the pure, flawless sleeping face of the infant in her arms. A trace of resolve flashed through her cool eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, her voice remained ethereal but carried unquestionable majesty. "He is an infant bestowed upon the Far North by heaven. The fact that he was born within this Absolute Zero and triggered a heavenly phenomenon proves that he shares an inseverable connection with the Far North."
After a pause, Snow Empress continued, "I will keep him by my side and raise him myself. Humans can awaken their martial souls at the age of six. Six years is merely the blink of an eye to soul beasts like us, who sleep for tens of thousands of years at a time."
"If he truly awakens the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul when he turns six, then he can be considered half of my kin. I will devote all the resources of the Far North to continuing his cultivation, allowing him to become one of the most powerful human experts on Douluo Continent, perhaps even... break the boundary between humans and soul beasts."
At this point, Snow Empress's gaze instantly turned as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice.
"But if, after six years, he fails to awaken the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul, or awakens some other messy martial soul..."
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