Lan: Far North, Home! Snow Empress's Tenderness!

"This... ignores defense?"

The Ice Empress gasped.

"More than that."

Lan's voice sounded calmly.

"The second hit will carry a kill effect based on the target's remaining HP percentage. Furthermore, while the mark is active, fifty percent of all damage I deal to the target will be converted into my own vitality."

The Ice Empress's small face instantly fell.

"My goodness..."

Percentage true damage, with a kill effect, and lifesteal?

Was there any way for beasts to survive this?

She counted on her fingers. With her defense and HP, if she were hit twice by this move...

The Ice Empress shivered, not daring to think further.

"Then... then what about the second one?"

"The second spirit skill is Tidal Surge Return to Void."

Lan didn't demonstrate again, merely narrating calmly.

"When activated, I can be immune to most physical damage for a short period, and I can transform into water flow for a displacement that cannot be locked onto."

Immunity to physical damage!

Untargetable!

The Ice Empress fell completely silent. Her cute smiling face was now filled with a blank stare.

She walked around Lan twice, as if looking at a monster.

After a long while, she finally managed to utter a sentence.

"Little Lan, I'm going to tell you something from the bottom of my heart."

"Even I, if the level difference isn't too great, would absolutely not be able to take two hits of your 'Abyssal Sea' or whatever it's called, Gari."

"Your skill is too unfair!"

Lan merely smiled faintly at her words.

Just then.

The Snow Empress, who had been seated on the throne, slowly stood up.

Clad in white, she was peerless in her elegance. Merely the act of standing up seemed to dim the light of the entire Ice and Snow Palace.

Her gaze was deep and distant, falling upon Lan with an unprecedented solemnity.

"My child Lan..."

She parted her red lips, her voice not loud, yet echoing clearly in every corner.

"Has the potential to become a god."

Potential to become a god!

These four words struck the Ice Empress's mind like a bolt of lightning from the heavens.

She abruptly turned her head to look at the Snow Empress.

Gods.

They were beings representing supreme authority and eternal immortality in this world.

Even a million-year soul beast, after enduring ten heavenly tribulations, might not dare claim to rival a true deity.

Who was the Snow Empress?

She was the leader of the three great kings of the Far North, a seventy-thousand-year super soul beast, and the empress of the Heavenly Snow Woman tribe.

She was proud, cold, and never praised anyone lightly.

Yet now, she had bestowed upon Lan an evaluation that could be considered the highest tier on the Douluo Continent.

The Ice Empress knew the Snow Empress's troubles.

Seventy thousand years was both an honor and a death warrant that could descend at any moment for the Snow Empress.

The next heavenly tribulation was a matter of life and death.

Therefore, she had the intention to transform and cultivate anew, to pursue that elusive higher realm through another path.

Her current human form was merely an embodiment of energy, not a true transformation.

But now...

The Snow Empress looked at Lan, and for the first time, a flame of ice called "hope" ignited in her ancient, frozen eyes.

The hidden dragon had emerged from the sea, the fledgling phoenix had begun to sing.

Perhaps...

The future for herself and Bing'er did not have to follow that most perilous path of no return.

Perhaps this child, whom she had raised with her own hands, would truly have the ability to pull them up in the future.

"Snow... Sister Snow, you..."

Ice Empress opened her mouth, stunned.

Becoming a god?

Little Lan?

She looked at Lan's face—still calm, yet seemingly more handsome and resolute than it had been three years ago—and couldn't help but recall the image of him at three years old, sleeping while clutching her tail.

This... it didn't seem entirely impossible.

The look in Ice Empress's eyes shifted gradually from shock to wild joy, and then from wild joy to a sense of gratification and pride, as if she were watching a child of her own finally come of age.

She looked at Lan as if she were gazing at a rare, priceless treasure.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she slapped her thigh hard and let out a wail of profound distress.

"Oh no!"

"My roasted Sky Silkworms!"

"It's over, it's over! They must be charred to cinders by now!"

Ice Empress stomped her feet, her small face filled with regret.

"I specifically caught the fattest ones, just thinking about nourishing your body..."

As she spoke, she cast a resentful glance at Lan.

Lan felt a bit helpless, but also couldn't help but want to laugh.

He stepped forward and ruffled Ice Empress's small head.

"Auntie Bing, it's fine. I'll catch more for you next time."

"That's not the same!"

Ice Empress puffed out her cheeks, but seeing the smile in Lan's eyes, her momentum weakened.

She huffed and muttered, "Fine, considering you've become so capable, I'll forgive you."

Snow Empress walked slowly down from her throne. She came to the two of them, her cold, clear gaze carrying a hint of warmth.

"Alright, Bing'er, stop making a scene."

Her voice was not loud, but it made Ice Empress immediately and obediently shut her mouth.

Snow Empress turned her gaze toward Lan, then swept it over Ice Empress, and spoke softly.

"There is only one day left."

A single sentence caused the atmosphere in the hall to instantly turn quiet.

The scent of parting began to permeate the air, silent and stealthy.

Yes.

There was only one day left.

Tomorrow, Lan would head to Skywater Academy together with the human-formed Ice Empress, stepping into that world of humans.

As for Snow Empress, she would head to the Abyss of Frozen Ice, located deep within the Far North, to seek out her little brother who had been slumbering for a long time: the Titan Snow Demon King, A-Tai.

The three of them tacitly chose not to speak again, simply feeling the remaining time they had together in silence.

"Let's go."

Snow Empress was the first to break the silence.

"Today, we aren't going anywhere else; we are going to see the Pillar of Eternity."

The Pillar of Eternity.

It was the oldest and most spectacular wonder of the Far North.

It was not crafted by human hands, but by the work of heaven and earth.

A massive ice pillar, crystalline from top to bottom and thousands upon thousands of meters tall, rose from the center of the Far North Ice Plains, piercing straight into the clouds as if connecting the mortal realm to the divine domain.

Legend had it that this ice pillar possessed a memory.

It recorded every blizzard, every emotion, and every profound mark the Far North had experienced since its inception.

When the three of them stood beneath this heaven-propping pillar, they felt as small as specks of dust.

The surface of the ice pillar was as smooth as a mirror, yet its interior seemed to contain a world of flowing, iridescent light, with countless tiny specks of light floating and drifting within, dreamlike and illusory.

"Legend says that as long as one's will is strong enough, one can use soul power to carve their own mark upon it, to remain immortal for all eternity."

Snow Empress looked up at the ice pillar and said softly.

Upon hearing this, Ice Empress immediately became interested.

"Then I'll go first!"

She let out a delicate cry and placed her fair, tender little hand on the ice pillar.

Emerald green light surged from her palm as she closed her eyes, her expression focused.

A moment later, on the surface of the ice pillar, about two meters from the ground, a line of delicate yet slightly domineering small characters slowly appeared.

"Bing'er will always be Xiao Lan's best Auntie Bing!"

The Ice Empress withdrew her hand with satisfaction, hands on her hips, looking at Lan with a smug expression.

Lan smiled and said nothing. He also extended his hand and placed it on the ice pillar.

He didn't have the grand display of the Ice Empress. He simply gathered his thoughts and soul power into a single point and gently imprinted it.

An ancient and simple character appeared next to the one carved by the Ice Empress.

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