Snow Empress's Embrace, Teaching the Titan Blood Demon Race?!

"Pfft..."

The Ice Empress looked at the masterpiece before her and finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

She extended a finger and tapped the solid ice encasing Lan with great interest, producing a crisp "clack-clack" sound.

"Oh my, this is truly... what a magnificent living ice sculpture."

Just then, another figure, even colder and more noble, slowly approached.

Her snow-white long dress trailed across the ground, unstained by a single speck of dust; the person who had arrived was none other than the Snow Empress.

The Snow Empress glanced at the frozen Lan, then at the Ice Empress, who was laughing until she doubled over, and a rare trace of a smile flickered through her cold, clear eyes.

She walked up to the ice sculpture and extended a jade-like palm, gently stroking Lan's frozen chest.

The icy sensation transmitted through the solid ice, causing Lan's body to tense involuntarily.

Feeling the smooth, powerful muscle lines beneath her palm, the Snow Empress nodded slightly and commented indifferently, in the tone of someone admiring a work of art:

"Hmm, the form is not bad."

The form is not bad?

The corners of Lan's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

He felt like a rare animal being gawked at.

As soon as the Snow Empress finished speaking, she gave a light wave of her slender hand.

"Crack."

The indestructible mysterious ice shattered inch by inch from bottom to top, transforming into the purest ice elemental energy that merged back into Lan's limbs and bones.

The heat of the hot spring rose once again.

Lan stretched his somewhat stiff body and stood up from the water.

Water droplets slid down his well-defined muscles, and his long silver hair clung wetly to his back.

He looked at the Ice Empress, whose smile had yet to fade, and then at the Snow Empress, whose expression had returned to its usual coldness, and spoke calmly.

"Aunt Snow, Aunt Ice."

This greeting carried not a shred of the previous embarrassment, as if nothing had happened at all.

The Ice Empress was just about to tease him a few more times, but the Snow Empress suddenly sighed softly, causing her to swallow her words.

The atmosphere quietly turned heavy.

"What is it, Aunt Snow?"

Lan keenly sensed the change.

The Snow Empress looked toward the distance, at the land covered by endless wind and snow, her eyes becoming profound.

"It is the Titan Snow Demon Clan."

She spoke slowly, her voice as cold as ever, yet tinged with a hint of gravity.

"Recently, they have been very restless."

The Ice Empress beside her took over, her tone filled with obvious disdain and anger.

"Restless is an understatement! Those bastards are burning, killing, and looting; they've done every evil deed imaginable, and several weak ice-plain races have already been wiped out by them!"

Lan's brows furrowed slightly.

"What about the Titan Snow Demon King... A-Tai?"

The A-Tai he spoke of was the most loyal warrior under the Snow Empress, the king of the Titan Snow Demon Clan, and possessed formidable strength.

With him around, the Titan Snow Demon Clan had always kept to themselves.

"A-Tai went to the deepest part of the Far North Ice Plains."

The Snow Empress said softly.

"He is undergoing his two-hundred-thousand-year great tribulation, and there has been no news of him for many years."

The Ice Empress let out a cold snort.

"So that bunch of things in the Titan Snow Demon Clan all think A-Tai has died under the heavenly tribulation. Now that the clan has a new little brat as their patriarch, he is full of ambition and is actually dreaming of unifying the entire Far North."

The Snow Empress's gaze fell back onto Lan.

"I am considering how to deal with them."

Lan remained silent, listening quietly.

This matter seemed more complex than he had imagined.

He heard the Ice Empress continue, her voice dropping lower, carrying an irrepressible fury.

"The most critical point is that the Titan Snow Demon Clan has always had a powerful bloodline, with their only drawback being an extremely weak reproductive ability, so their numbers have never been high."

"However..."

She paused, a flash of disgust crossing her emerald-green eyes.

"That new patriarch came up with a vicious method. They began to wantonly hunt down human soul masters entering the Far North, capturing some of the women alive and bringing them back to the clan..."

Lan's white eyes suddenly constricted.

He instantly understood the implication behind the Ice Empress's unfinished words.

"They... forced those human women to bear offspring for them."

The Ice Empress's voice was as cold as ice.

"Those born hybrids possess both the formidable physique and ice-snow talents of the Titan Snow Demon Clan, as well as the rapid growth and cultivation speed of humans. In just a few short years, the population of the Titan Snow Demon Clan has skyrocketed, and their strength has soared along with it."

"Nowadays, the overall strength of their entire clan has likely surpassed that of my Ice Jade Scorpion clan."

By the hot spring, a deathly silence fell.

Only the "hissing" sound of fine snow falling into the water remained.

After a long while, the Snow Empress's cold, clear voice broke the silence, carrying an unquestionable resolve.

"Since A-Tai is not here."

"I shall act on his behalf to properly discipline these ignorant, wicked spawn."

The moment her words fell.

A cold, emotionless mechanical voice abruptly echoed in Lan's mind.

[Ding!]

[Key plot node detected, triggering main quest: Cleaner of the Far North.]

[Quest Description: The actions of the Titan Snow Demon Clan have crossed the bottom line. Assist the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress in purging the rebellious Titan Snow Demons and hunting down their new patriarch.]

[Quest Rewards: Soul Power Level +3, 100,000-year Soul Ring, one random Soul Bone, system permission upgrade.]

Lan slowly raised his head.

Those pure white eyes reflected the falling snowflakes, deep and bottomless.

He looked at the Snow Empress, then at the Ice Empress, his thin lips curling into a faint arc.

"Aunt Snow, Aunt Ice."

"Count me in on this."

Lan's voice was not loud, but it was like a pebble cast into the momentary silence.

The Ice Empress's emerald eyes widened instantly, as if she had heard some grand joke.

"Huh?"

She let out a snort of laughter, her jade hands on her hips, as she walked to the edge of the hot spring and looked down at Lan.

"Little Lan, haven't you woken up yet?"

"Do you know what we are going to do? We are going to raid the lair of an entire clan! This isn't you going to the back mountain to catch snow rabbits."

The Ice Empress extended a finger and poked Lan's forehead unceremoniously.

"With that small frame of yours, what can you do? Serve as a snack for them?"

Lan did not dodge.

He allowed the Ice Empress's finger to poke his forehead, merely looking at her calmly.

"Aunt Ice, I am no longer a child."

"Oh?"

The Ice Empress raised an eyebrow, amused by his little-adult demeanor.

"Still talking back. Xue'er, listen to this, the kid's wings have hardened, and he dares to challenge us."

The Snow Empress did not speak.

She simply watched the youth in the water quietly.

His long silver hair clung to his shoulders; amidst the rising steam, those pure white eyes were clear and firm, without the slightest wavering.

It did not look like a joke.

And it certainly did not look like a momentary impulse.

Lan's gaze shifted past the Ice Empress and landed on the Snow Empress.

"Aunt Snow, I can help."

His tone was flat, yet it exuded an unquestionable confidence.

The system has issued a quest.

He said this second half in his heart.