Lan Makes a Move! Shui Bing'er is Stunned!

The Snow Empress slowly stepped forward and stood beside the Ice Empress.

She reached out her hand, not to poke Lan on the forehead, but to gently brush aside a strand of soaked white hair from his cheek.

The icy touch of her fingertips was the same as it had always been.

"Lan'er."

The Snow Empress spoke softly, her voice carrying a gentleness Lan had never heard before.

"This is not a game."

"I know."

Lan nodded.

"But you are my family."

He paused, then added another sentence.

"This is my home."

Defending one's home was a matter of course.

By the hot spring, silence fell once more.

The Ice Empress pursed her lips, wanting to say something, but was stopped by a single look from the Snow Empress.

The Snow Empress looked at Lan, watching him for a long time.

It was as if she were trying to see deep into his soul through those eyes.

After a long while, she sighed softly, and a faint, extremely faint smile appeared on her cold, aloof face.

"Very well."

"You have grown up; it is time you went out to face the wind and snow."

The Ice Empress grew anxious.

"Xue'er, are you serious? Taking him there is too dangerous!"

"It is of no consequence."

The Snow Empress's gaze remained fixed on Lan.

"With us here, how could we let him get hurt?"

Her words were light, yet they carried a reassuring power.

Having said this, the Snow Empress performed an action that even the Ice Empress found unexpected.

She leaned down, opened her arms, and gently, completely pulled Lan—who had just stood up from the water—into her embrace.

This hug carried no soul power.

There was only the cold, crisp aura belonging to the Snow Empress herself, like ten thousand years of ice and snow, and a trace of warmth that had never been revealed before, belonging only to a mother.

Lan's body stiffened instantly.

He was a head taller than the Snow Empress, and as she held him, he could only lower his head, his nose filled with the crisp scent of snow lotuses from her hair.

"Protect yourself."

The Snow Empress's voice rang out right by his ear, as soft as a feather.

"This is your first battle in the true sense, and it is the coming-of-age gift I bestow upon you."

Lan's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly.

He slowly raised his arms and, somewhat awkwardly, hugged back the woman who had raised him for eighteen years.

"...Very well."

A single word spilled softly from his throat.

The Ice Empress, standing to the side, watched this scene, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

She merely snorted and turned her head away, though her eyes were inexplicably turning red.

"So mushy it's sickening."

The Snow Empress released him.

The warmth of the hot spring seemed to still linger on Lan.

The Ice Empress pouted and turned her head to the side, muttering something, but in the end, she did not object again.

The decision to leave was set.

Lan changed into a sharp, black combat outfit, his long silver hair tied back simply.

In his hand, he held a short blade with a peculiar design.

Abyssal Tide Hunter.

At the same time.

In the Far North, the wind and snow raged on as always.

Two figures trudged with great difficulty across the vast, snowy plains.

Walking in front was a young girl, roughly fourteen or fifteen years of age, her long, water-blue hair fluttering in the wind, making her exceptionally conspicuous.

Her figure was slender and graceful, already showing signs of a beauty that could topple cities, though her pretty face was currently filled with exhaustion and tension.

The girl's name was Shui Bing'er.

Behind her was a woman who still possessed a lingering charm, holding a staff and scanning her surroundings with a guarded expression.

Liu Ruyan, a level 61 Spirit Emperor and Shui Bing'er's teacher.

"Teacher, how much longer must we walk?"

Shui Bing'er caught her breath, the white mist she exhaled instantly scattered by the frigid wind.

"Almost there, Bing'er."

Liu Ruyan comforted her.

"The map indicates that there is an Ice Crystal Forest ahead; it is highly likely that a spirit beast suitable for your fourth spirit ring dwells there."

Shui Bing'er nodded and was just about to speak.

Suddenly, the ground shook without warning.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Heavy footsteps approached from the distance, as if some colossal behemoth were charging toward them.

Liu Ruyan's expression shifted.

"Not good! Hide, quickly!"

However, it was already too late.

Several massive figures emerged from the wind and snow, surrounding the two of them completely.

They stood over five meters tall, their bodies covered in filthy, long white fur, their muscles knotted, and their blood-red eyes glinting with greed.

Titan Snow Demons!

And there was more than one!

Liu Ruyan trembled with rage as she pulled Shui Bing'er behind her.

"Beasts!"

"Bing'er, run! Teacher will hold them off!"

Liu Ruyan let out a sharp cry, and her spirit rings lit up instantly.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black—the six spirit rings signaled her strength as a Spirit Emperor.

The lead Titan Snow Demon let out a roar and slammed a palm toward them.

Liu Ruyan's sixth spirit skill was shattered instantly, and she was sent flying back like a kite with a broken string, a mouthful of blood spraying onto the snow, a glaring, vivid red.

A ten-thousand-year Titan Snow Demon, its strength comparable to a thirty-thousand-year spirit beast!

It was simply not something a six-ringed Spirit Emperor could contend with.

"Teacher!"

Shui Bing'er let out a cry of alarm, tears welling up in her eyes.

She watched as a giant, filth-covered hand reached out to grab her.

Just then.

A flash of silver, like a fleeting glimpse of a startled swan, suddenly appeared.

Clang!

A crisp sound of metal clashing rang out.

That giant hand was steadily blocked by a seemingly unremarkable short blade.

Shui Bing'er was stunned.

Liu Ruyan also struggled to lift her head, her eyes filled with disbelief.

In the wind and snow, a figure had appeared out of nowhere, standing before them.

It was a young man.

With silver-white hair and dressed in black combat attire, his frame was tall and straight, his back radiating a sense of solitary pride.

He held the blade in one hand, not moving an inch.

"Run!"

Liu Ruyan shouted with all her remaining strength.

"That is a ten-thousand-year Titan Snow Demon! You are no match for it!"

Shui Bing'er snapped back to her senses and shouted in anxiety.

"Little brother, danger!"

Lan did not turn around.

He did not even acknowledge the cry from behind him.

Those pure white eyes merely gazed calmly at the few rampaging Titan Snow Demons before him.

It was as if he were looking at a group of dead things.

Slowly, soul rings rose from beneath his feet.

One.

Two.

Three.

Six.

Purple, purple, black, black, black, black!

Two purple soul rings, four black soul rings!

The moment those six soul rings appeared, the entire world seemed to fall silent.

The wind stopped.

The snow ceased.

The roars of the Titan Snow Demons became lodged in their throats.

Shui Bing'er and Liu Ruyan were struck as if by lightning, standing frozen on the spot.

A youth who looked no more than a teenager.

A Soul Emperor?

And...

What kind of hellish soul ring configuration was this?!

Two thousand-year, four ten-thousand-year?

This... how could this be possible?!

Just as the two were reeling in shock, the youth's indifferent voice rang out across the snowfield.

Without a ripple of emotion, it reached everyone's ears with perfect clarity.

"Darkness grants me light."

As the words fell.

He raised his other hand.

"Darkness Domain, activate!"

In an instant, with Lan at the center, endless darkness spread wildly in all directions like ink dropped into clear water.

It was not a pitch-black darkness where light was swallowed.

Rather, it was something purer—a sense of detachment originating from the depths of the soul.