Snow Empress Mom? Ice Empress Auntie

Hearing the title "Mama," the corners of Ice Empress's eyes twitched slightly, though she quickly returned to normal.

After all, Xue Bingchen was the first child Snow Empress had ever adopted, and these two soul beasts, who had lived for a combined million years while remaining single, had absolutely no experience raising a child.

Since it was their first time acting as elders, they naturally had to refer to the ethical systems of human society.

In the human world, the female elder who raises a child is typically called a mother.

Therefore, from the moment Xue Bingchen began to babble, he naturally called Snow Empress "Mama."

As for Ice Empress, he called her "Auntie Ice Empress."

Although Snow Empress had rarely shown a blush of confusion on her ten-thousand-year frozen face when she first heard the title, she eventually accepted it under the assault of Xue Bingchen's innocent and guileless gaze.

And Ice Empress, while complaining about why she was relegated to "Auntie," actually quite enjoyed the little guy's reliance on her.

Ice Empress reached out a finger and flicked Xue Bingchen's forehead, correcting him:

"You little fool, it's certainly not because you drank the soup.

Even though you are only three years old, your constitution has already been tempered by us with countless heavenly treasures to be even more formidable than the cubs of ten-thousand-year soul beasts."

Ice Empress's expression turned serious. She looked toward the wind and snow in the distance, her tone filled with a trace of reverence and longing as she explained softly:

"Because Snow Empress believes that the origin of the Dance of the Heavenly Snow Woman is contained within the wind and snow of this world.

The 'Dance of the Heavenly Snow Woman' is not only the most beautiful dance in the world, but also the concrete manifestation of Snow Empress's insights into the Ultimate Ice and the laws of the Far North.

Although you cannot cultivate yet, your body has been cleansed by the supreme treasures of the Far North until it is pure and flawless.

Snow Empress hopes to let you watch this Dance of the Heavenly Snow Woman more often, allowing your soul and body to feel and harmonize with that ultimate icy rhythm in advance.

In this way, when you reach the age of six, the probability of awakening the 'Heavenly Snow Woman' martial soul will be greatly increased."

At this point, Ice Empress reached out her fair, delicate hand to ruffle Xue Bingchen's soft white hair, pouting as she said:

"Snow Empress has gone to great lengths for your sake, little one.

You must know that in this Far North, aside from me, even those ten-thousand-year soul beast overlords would be instantly frozen into ice sculptures and have their souls extinguished if they dared to steal a single glance at Snow Empress dancing.

You little brat, I truly don't know what kind of incredible luck you've stumbled upon."

Xue Bingchen nodded as if he understood, a glimmer of contemplation flashing in his clear, ice-blue eyes.

In truth, even Snow Empress and Ice Empress did not know that as he grew older, fragments of images and vocabulary would inexplicably surface in Xue Bingchen's mind.

He looked at the vast, white expanse of the Far North ice field before him, looked at Ice Empress beside him who had transformed into a green-haired girl with twin tails, and even recalled the cold, aloof Snow Empress who always held him and used her origin power to nourish his body; a sense of familiarity that could not be described in words always welled up in his heart.

This familiarity was not merely because he was born and raised here.

It was a form of recognition that seemed to transcend time and space, deeply branded into the depths of his soul.

"Far North... Snow Empress... Ice Empress..."

Xue Bingchen silently repeated these names in his heart.

He always felt that he had heard these names a long, long time ago, in a completely different world.

Moreover, it seemed that an extremely vast memory was sealed within his mind.

Whenever he tried to touch that seal, he would feel a wave of slight dizziness.

He had a strong intuition that perhaps only when he reached the age of six, truly awakened his so-called "martial soul," embarked on the path of cultivation, and possessed stronger spiritual power, would he be able to recall that sealed memory in its entirety, and truly understand who he was and why he had been born in this forbidden zone of extreme cold.

"Whoosh—"

Just as Xue Bingchen was pondering to himself, the biting cold wind that had been howling at the peak of the snow mountain suddenly stopped without warning.

No, it did not stop; it submitted.

The violent ice and snow elements drifting in the air seemed to sense some supreme summons at this moment, instantly becoming incredibly docile.

The snowflakes falling from the sky were no longer chaotic; instead, as if controlled by an invisible giant hand, they swirled and danced in mid-air, eventually paving a crystal-clear carpet of ice and snow atop the mountain peak.

"She's here!"

Ice Empress's eyes lit up instantly. She stood up from the ice rock in excitement, her gaze fixed intently on the deepest part of the wind and snow.

Accompanied by a refreshing yet chillingly cold fragrance, a flawless, graceful figure slowly stepped through the air from the swirling snow.

She was still wearing that pure white dress without any superfluous decoration, her long silver hair dancing in the wind behind her, as if woven from the purest ice crystals in the world.

Her beauty was peerless, her temperament as cold and aloof as an immortal, untainted by the dust of the mortal world.

Every time her jade feet landed, a palm-sized ice-blue lotus would naturally bloom in the void, supporting her steadily.

Walking on lotuses, the sovereign of ice and snow.

This was the supreme ruler of the Far North, Snow Empress.

Snow Empress landed lightly in the center of the mountain peak.

Her eyes, which were usually as indifferent as ten-thousand-year black ice, melted slightly upon seeing Xue Bingchen sitting on the ice rock and Ice Empress standing to the side, revealing a rare, gentle expression like a spring breeze.

She did not speak, merely nodding slightly to the two of them, before slowly raising her arms, which were as perfect as mutton-fat jade.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Seeing this, Ice Empress immediately raised her hands in excitement and began to clap vigorously.

The crisp sound of applause echoed across the desolate peak of the snowy mountain, as if it were the sole accompaniment to this dance of the century.

Xue Bingchen reacted immediately. Mimicking the Ice Empress, he stood up from the ice rock, clapped his two short, chubby hands together with all his might, and shouted at the top of his tender, childish lungs:

"Mommy dances so beautifully! Mommy is the best!"

"Pfft..."

Hearing this praise from Xue Bingchen—devoid of any technical nuance but brimming with innocence and attachment—the Ice Empress couldn't help but roll her eyes, though an irrepressible smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

She had long since grown accustomed to this.

After all, the Snow Empress was the one who had first plucked Xue Bingchen from the wind and snow, and for the past three years, she had been the one most devoted to feeding him Ice Marrow Milk mouth-to-mouth and cleansing his marrow with her own origin power.

Although neither of the two Rulers of the Far North had ever raised a child and could only clumsily imitate human ethics to nurture him, those crisp cries of "Mommy" from Xue Bingchen had long since, without her realizing it, melted the Snow Empress's heart, which had been lonely for hundreds of thousands of years.