Your Excellency Snow Maiden, Monarch of Ice and Snow!

"The matter is settled."

The Snow Empress's voice was as cold as dripping ice springs, yet it carried a trace of softness that was difficult to detect.

She spoke with an air of indifference.

"That bunch of blind fools from the Titan Snow Demon Clan have already been taught a lesson."

"The newly appointed patriarch was clamoring for revenge; he was far too noisy."

"So, I killed him while I was at it."

This understated sentence struck Liu Ruyan and Shui Bing'er like a bolt of lightning, leaving them chilled to the bone.

Kill... she killed the patriarch of the Titan Snow Demon Clan?

That was one of the overlords of the Far North!

His strength was at least that of a soul beast nearing one hundred thousand years of cultivation!

Just like that... she killed him as an afterthought?

Who on earth is this woman?!

Lan slowly opened his eyes at this moment. He looked up at the Snow Empress, his expression calm.

"Aunt Xue."

He responded, then spoke as if reporting a trivial matter.

"On the way back, I ran into a few stragglers, so I cleared them out as well."

Upon hearing this, the Snow Empress's indifferent expression changed abruptly.

"What?"

"You took action?"

She stepped forward, completely ignoring the two petrified teachers and students from Skywater Academy beside them.

"Are you hurt? Let me see!"

She pulled Lan up from the rock, cupped his face, and examined him meticulously.

Seeing his complexion was normal, she grabbed his arm to check him up and down, her soul power quickly circulating through his body.

Lan felt somewhat helpless.

"Aunt Xue, I'm fine."

"They were just a few ten-thousand-year-level snow demons."

Only after confirming that he was truly unscathed did the Snow Empress let out a long sigh of relief.

She glared at Lan with feigned reproach, and then, she performed an action that nearly made Liu Ruyan and Shui Bing'er's eyes pop out of their sockets.

This stunningly beautiful woman, powerful enough to make one tremble, actually reached out her arms and pulled the youth tightly into her embrace.

She rested her chin gently on Lan's shoulder, her voice laced with lingering fear.

"You are not allowed to do that again."

"Your safety is what matters most; leave those small fry to me."

Lan's body stiffened for a moment, but he soon relaxed, raising his hand to pat her back gently.

"Understood, Aunt Xue."

Liu Ruyan and Shui Bing'er stood rooted to the spot, their minds blank.

Aunt Xue?

This form of address...

They looked at the woman who was as powerful as a deity, then at the youth held in her arms, who looked calm and even a little helpless.

The world, at this moment, seemed to have become somewhat surreal.

Lan had long since grown accustomed to Aunt Xue's sudden displays of intimacy.

Beyond a little helplessness, his heart was filled with a warmth that had long been carved into his very marrow.

He did not even notice that not far away, the young girl from Skywater Academy, who had just been quite favorably impressed by him, had turned paler than the ice and snow of the Far North.

Shui Bing'er's heart sank bit by bit.

She watched the youth held in the arms of the stunning empress, watching the calmness and sense of normalcy on his face.

The budding feelings that had just emerged, before they could even sprout, were frozen into ice shards by this jarring scene before her.

So... he already has a girlfriend.

And she is someone... so powerful that even looking up to her felt suffocating, and so beautiful that she couldn't even muster a shred of jealousy.

Her own little thoughts from just moments ago, in his eyes, were perhaps nothing more than a joke.

Shui Bing'er gathered all her courage.

"Is she... your girlfriend?"

Liu Ruyan also recovered from her shock, her gaze complex as she looked toward Lan.

Lan finally broke free from the Snow Empress's embrace; hearing the sound, he turned his head to look at Shui Bing'er.

Lan looked at her without answering.

Some things were too troublesome to explain.

His silence, in Shui Bing'er's eyes, was no different from an admission.

That final spark of hope was extinguished completely.

Liu Ruyan sighed, walked over, and gently patted her back, though she did not know how to offer comfort.

Just then, that cold, snow-like voice rang out once more, carrying a hint of obvious mockery.

"You little child, what kind of messy things are you thinking about?"

The Snow Empress stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Shui Bing'er in the corner, a rare trace of a smile flitting through her ice-blue eyes.

"I am Lan's elder."

That short sentence made Shui Bing'er jerk her head up.

E... Elder?

The Snow Empress seemed very satisfied with her reaction, her tone remaining indifferent.

"You may address me as, Your Excellency Snow Maiden."

Liu Ruyan shuddered: "Your Excellency?!"

On the Douluo Continent, only a nine-ring Titled Douluo was qualified to be honored as "Your Excellency"!

The Snow Empress ignored her shock, her gaze falling back onto Lan.

Lan also spoke at the right moment, breaking the stalemate.

He looked at Liu Ruyan and Shui Bing'er, his tone returning to calm.

"I still have some matters to attend to."

"In three days, I will come to Skywater Academy to find you."

Having said that, he spoke no more.

The Snow Empress reached out and naturally wrapped her arm around Lan's waist.

The next moment, a gentle surge of soul power lifted them both, slowly rising into the night sky.

Lan did not resist, allowing the Snow Empress to hold him.

Looking up from the ground, one could see the pair of figures flying higher and higher against the backdrop of the star-filled sky and brilliant aurora.

The bright moonlight plated that plain white dress in a layer of holy silver radiance, and her snow-white hair danced in the night wind, as if a deity were carrying her messenger back to a divine kingdom above the firmament.

It was a picture so breathtakingly beautiful that it was enough to be remembered for a lifetime.

Liu Ruyan and Shui Bing'er stared upward in a daze, only slowly withdrawing their gazes once those two specks of light had completely vanished into the horizon.

Shui Bing'er touched her own face and suddenly felt that it was a little hot.

At the core of the Far North, a palace constructed of ten-thousand-year black ice stood in silence.

This was the Ice and Snow Residence.

Lan followed the Snow Empress's figure and landed quietly.

Inside the palace, a jade-green figure was lying bored on the ice-crystal throne, her beautiful legs swinging gently.

It was none other than the Ice Empress.

Seeing the two of them return, her emerald eyes lit up instantly, and she flipped off the throne.

"Little Lan, Sister Snow, you're back!"

Lan looked at her and nodded, acknowledging the greeting.

He walked to the center of the palace, his gaze sweeping over the two soul beast emperors who treated him as their own.

He took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"Aunt Xue, Aunt Bing."

"I have decided to leave the Far North and go to Skywater Academy."

As the words fell, the surrounding air seemed to freeze for an instant.

A flicker of imperceptible emotion flashed through the Snow Empress's sky-blue eyes, but she only nodded slightly.

"Go."

"This is a necessary trial on the path of the strong."

The Snow Empress's voice had not yet fully faded.

"Wuu wuu!"

A piercing, wailing cry erupted without warning.

"You little heartless thing!"

"It's only been a few days, and you're already thinking of running off!"

"Are you sick of us?!"

Before anyone could react, a jade-green blur had already pounced over.