Snow Empress did not say the rest aloud, but Ice Empress already understood exactly what she meant.
If he failed to awaken the Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul, then this human child would lose any value worthy of Snow Empress's special treatment.
What awaited him would be the cruelest law of nature in the Far North.
Snow Empress would not even need to do it herself. Ice Empress would toss him straight into the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Ice Abyss to feed the Ice Bears. He would be in for it!
"Fine. Since you've decided, I'll listen to you."
Ice Empress nodded. She had always followed Snow Empress's decisions blindly.
Then she looked at the baby boy and curled her lips. "If we're going to raise him for six years, he needs a name, right? We can't keep calling him 'the human child' every day."
Snow Empress pondered for a moment, her deep gaze fixed on the howling wind and snow in the distance. She said softly:
"He was born amid ice and snow, like the purest snowflake in the Far North.
"But he is human in the end, carrying the air of the mortal world.
"In that case, let him be called... Xue Bingchen."
"Xue Bingchen?"
Ice Empress repeated the name twice, and her eyes lit up slightly.
"Snow from Snow Empress, ice from Ice Empress, and dust from the mortal world.
"Hmph. This little brat got off easy with that name. It's practically like he's carrying both our names on him."
Snow Empress smiled faintly and did not argue.
She lowered her head to look at Xue Bingchen in her arms, who seemed to smack his little lips after hearing his own name, and said softly:
"From today onward, you are Xue Bingchen."
Over the following days, an extraordinarily strange yet heartwarming sight appeared within the core zone of the Far North.
The two Rulers of the Far North, whose mere stomps could make the entire northern region of Douluo Continent tremble, actually began clumsily serving as "full-time nannies."
Raising a child was definitely ten thousand times harder for Snow Empress and Ice Empress than facing a hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.
During the first few days, the Extreme North Core Zone was utter chaos.
Although Xue Bingchen's unique physique made him immune to the cold, he was still a baby and needed food.
Where in the Far North could they find breast milk suitable for a human infant?
Watching Xue Bingchen wail from hunger, Ice Empress grew so anxious that she nearly smashed every iceberg within ten miles of the core zone. In the end, Snow Empress remained calm. She ventured deep into the oldest glacial fissure of the Far North and forcibly extracted Millennium Ice Marrow Milk that had been nurtured deep within the earth for thousands of years.
This Ice Marrow Milk contained immense yet gentle life force and Ultimate Ice energy. It was a priceless treasure that even soul beasts could only dream of encountering, yet Snow Empress now used it as Xue Bingchen's "milk powder."
To ensure that Xue Bingchen's fragile human meridians could withstand the energy of the Ice Marrow Milk, Snow Empress would first hold it in her mouth each time, repeatedly purifying and nurturing it with her seven-hundred-thousand-year source power, dissolving its violent chill and leaving behind only the purest, gentlest nourishment. Then she would carefully feed it into Xue Bingchen's little mouth mouth-to-mouth.
Ice Empress was not idle either.
Though she had a proud and tsundere temperament, she also devoted tremendous care to this little fellow whom Snow Empress valued so highly.
To lay the strongest possible physical foundation for Xue Bingchen and greatly raise his future potential, Ice Empress nearly turned every source of heavenly treasures in the Far North upside down.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Polar Snow Lotus growing on frigid cliffs, the Extreme-Ice Millennium Profound Marrow buried beneath a thousand zhang of mystical ice, and even the exceedingly rare Ice Flood Dragon Remnant Bone Powder—all of it was gathered by Ice Empress.
Although Xue Bingchen was only an infant and could not yet cultivate or absorb such terrifying energy on his own, Snow Empress and Ice Empress had their own methods.
At regular intervals, Ice Empress would boil those heavenly treasures into a pot of crystal-clear medicinal liquid.
Then Snow Empress would place the naked Xue Bingchen into the liquid.
While Xue Bingchen soaked in the medicinal bath, Snow Empress would press her cool, soft jade hand against his back and send strands of Soul Power into his body, guiding the enormous energy within the medicinal liquid to wash over his bones, meridians, blood, and even every cell—exceedingly slowly and gently.
Meanwhile, Ice Empress would use her exquisite Soul Power control to massage Xue Bingchen's acupoints, ensuring that every trace of medicinal power was perfectly absorbed by his tiny body without causing the slightest harm.
Under the lavish, no-expense-spared nurturing of the two Rulers of the Far North—so extravagant it could only be called wasteful—Xue Bingchen's body underwent earth-shaking changes.
His skin became increasingly crystalline and translucent, as though it gave off a faint glow.
His meridians were broadened to an outrageous degree, as resilient as Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Silkworm Silk.
Even his bones faintly shone with a jade-like luster, containing explosive potential for strength.
Time always passed silently in the snow-covered Far North.
Spring came and autumn went. Though the Far North had neither spring nor autumn, a full three years had passed in the outside world of Douluo Continent.
On this day, atop a snow mountain that pierced the clouds in the Extreme North Core Zone.
Sunlight shone through thin clouds onto the pristine snow, refracting into countless golden rays.
A little boy who looked about three years old sat on a massive ice boulder at the edge of the mountain, held by Ice Empress.
The boy was exquisitely adorable, his sculpted little face flushed with a healthy rosy color.
Most strikingly, he had short white hair as pure as fresh snow, along with a pair of deep ice-blue eyes identical to Snow Empress's.
This was clearly the result of long-term absorption of the Far North's heavenly treasures and Snow Empress's source aura.
He wore an exquisite little white robe woven from Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Silkworm Silk mixed with Snow Empress's discarded long hair. Not only was it impervious to blades and weapons, but it also regulated its temperature automatically, making him look like a tiny immortal child who had stepped out of a painting.
He was none other than the three-year-old Xue Bingchen.
By now, he could not only run and jump, but was also extraordinarily intelligent. He had long since learned to speak with remarkable clarity.
At that moment, Ice Empress sat beside him.
In human form, Ice Empress still looked like a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl with green twin-tails. Three years had passed, yet her appearance had not changed in the slightest.
She swung her pale little legs, her emerald eyes brimming with excitement and anticipation as she continuously rubbed her hands together.
"Hurry, hurry, little Bingchen! Thanks to you, I actually get to see Snow Empress dance again today!" Ice Empress said excitedly to Xue Bingchen beside her, unable to hide the fervor in her voice.
In the Far North, who did not know that Ice Empress was Snow Empress's number-one fangirl?
For Ice Empress, watching Snow Empress dance was practically the happiest thing in the world.
Xue Bingchen sat on the ice boulder with his little hands supporting his chin. A trace of confusion beyond his years flashed through his ice-blue eyes.
Tilting his little head, he looked at Ice Empress, who was as excited as a little girl, and asked in a childish voice, "Auntie Ice Empress, why is Mama dancing for me? Is it because I obediently finished that bowl of bitter Snow Lotus Soup today?"
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