The more Ice Empress thought about it, the more likely it seemed. She stomped her feet in panic.
"Doomed, we're doomed! One brain was already stupid enough—if he grows a second one, won't he turn into a monster?! No, this is far too serious! Even the mighty Ice and Snow Empresses can't do anything about growing a second brain! This definitely isn't something heavenly treasures can fix. I must immediately capture that healing-type Title Douluo—no, I'm bringing every Soul Master in the human world who knows how to treat illnesses to the Far North!"
Seeing Ice Empress acting as though she faced a great enemy, as if she were about to destroy the world at any moment, Xue Bingchen was so choked up that he could not speak for a while.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain that it was only a metaphor. But when he saw the utterly serious look in Ice Empress's eyes, he suddenly felt that, with the vocabulary of a three-year-old child, it would be difficult to explain to this four-hundred-thousand-year-old "antique" what "growing a brain" meant.
"Pfft..."
Just as the tension reached its peak, a soft laugh, like melting ice springs and blooming flowers, suddenly rang out atop the snowy mountain.
The one who laughed was Snow Empress, who held Xue Bingchen in her arms.
At that moment, the nervous worry on Snow Empress's breathtakingly beautiful face had already been replaced by a gentle smile that eclipsed heaven and earth.
She gently shook her head. Wisdom glimmered in her deep eyes, which seemed able to see through the essence of all things.
She had already realized that not only was Xue Bingchen's body completely fine, but her three meticulous examinations earlier had not been mistaken either.
The reason this little fellow had suddenly suffered a headache and fainted was not because he was sick or "growing a second brain."
"Ice, enough. Stop with those terrifying thoughts. Don't worry, Chen'er is fine."
Snow Empress extended a hand and gently stopped Ice Empress, who was still on the verge of going berserk. Then she lowered her head and looked tenderly at Xue Bingchen in her arms. A proud curve rose at the corner of her lips as she softly said,
"If I'm not mistaken, Chen'er must have watched my Dance of the Heavenly Snow Woman and had his soul touched by the laws of Ultimate Ice, giving him a moment of enlightenment. That immense amount of law-related information flooded into his mind at once, and his young spiritual power could not bear it for the moment. That is why he felt dizzy and muddled."
As she spoke, Snow Empress stretched out a slender finger and gently scraped Xue Bingchen's pert little nose, smiling indulgently.
"This little fellow truly is a genius. He merely watched it once, yet he was able to resonate with the laws. What he called 'growing a brain' would, in the terms of human Soul Masters, probably mean that his spiritual power had broken through, or... that some bloodline had awakened early."
"Enlightenment?! Resonance with the laws?!"
Upon hearing Snow Empress's explanation, Ice Empress's anxious expression instantly froze. Then, wild joy erupted from her eyes like a volcano.
She abruptly turned around and stared fixedly at Xue Bingchen, so excited that even her voice trembled.
"Snow Empress, you mean... this little fellow's constitution truly perfectly matches the origin of our Far North? He's only three years old, and before he has even awakened his martial soul, he can already understand your Dance of the Heavenly Snow Woman?!"
Ice Empress excitedly rubbed her hands together and paced back and forth, her eyes blazing with fanatic light.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! I knew all those heavenly treasures I found for him over the past three years hadn't gone to waste! Could it be... that little Bingchen will truly awaken the legendary Heavenly Snow Woman martial soul when he turns six?! If that's really the case, then won't the Far North give birth to an unprecedented super genius?!"
Seeing Ice Empress dance with joy, overwhelmed by surprise and delight, Snow Empress's smile gradually faded somewhat.
She gently stroked Xue Bingchen's soft white hair, her gaze growing complicated.
A trace of imperceptible resentment and a sigh quietly flashed through the depths of her ice-blue eyes.
Snow Empress silently sighed to herself.
She cast a slightly resentful glance at Xue Bingchen, who was still scratching his head with an innocent look on his face.
"If... Chen'er weren't human, but a Heavenly Snow Woman like me, born from the unique blessings of this Far North, how wonderful would that be..."
This thought had circled through Snow Empress's mind countless times over the past three years.
As the time she spent with Xue Bingchen day and night grew longer, Snow Empress discovered in shock that this human child's constitution was so extraordinary that it was simply inconceivable.
He seemed to be a perfect vessel born for Ultimate Ice. Whether it was the immense vitality of Millennium Ice Marrow Milk or the domineering chill of Polar Snow Lotus, he could accept it all and fuse with it perfectly.
If Xue Bingchen had been a soul beast, a descendant of the Heavenly Snow Woman Clan, Snow Empress would have had absolute confidence that even if she failed in her future attempt to reach that illusory godly realm, even if she perished without surviving the terrifying seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation—
Xue Bingchen would still absolutely possess the qualifications and ability to flawlessly take over the entire Far North, become the next Ruler of the Far North, and continue protecting its countless people.
But reality was incomparably cruel.
He was human.
Compared to the long lives of soul beasts, which lasted tens or even hundreds of thousands of years, human lifespans were far too brief.
A mere hundred years was nothing more than a slightly longer sleep to Snow Empress and Ice Empress.
If Xue Bingchen could not break free from humanity's shackles and become a god, then a few hundred years from now, no matter how peerless he was or how invincible beneath heaven, he would ultimately be unable to escape the merciless erosion of time and become a handful of yellow earth upon the Extreme North Ice Plains.
Whenever she thought that, a few hundred years from now, she might have to watch with her own eyes as the child who had grown up in her arms and called her "Mother" countless times aged and died, Snow Empress's cold heart, hard as stone, would ache so sharply that she could barely breathe.
"No... I will never allow that to happen!"
Snow Empress's eyes instantly became incomparably resolute, even revealing a determination to defy heaven itself.
She looked at Xue Bingchen in her arms and silently swore to herself,
Since you carry all the hopes of Ice and me, and since you have enjoyed the most vital and abundant resources of the entire Far North before even awakening your martial soul, then your future must never stop at the limits of mortals!
Snow Empress hoped that this human child, whom she regarded as her own, could shatter the iron rule that had stood on Douluo Continent for tens of thousands of years and set foot upon the legendary path to godhood!
"If that day truly comes, and Chen'er can become a god at level one hundred, break the shackles of lifespan, and attain immortality..."
That image surfaced in Snow Empress's mind: she and Ice Empress stood side by side atop the Far North, watching Xue Bingchen clad in divine rings as he ruled over the world.
When that time came, she and Ice would surely proclaim with immense pride to all of Douluo Continent, and even to the lofty God Realm,
"Look! This is a god personally raised by the Ice and Snow Empresses, with the full foundation of the Far North poured into him!"
Before you continue