The Snow Empress Adopts and Nurtures

"A human infant?"

Snow Empress stepped forward, looking down at Lan in the snow with a tone of inquiry.

"He is quite extraordinary, not a mere mortal. To think he can withstand the icy onslaught of the Far North, and even harness it for his own use."

She paused, then added.

"Even a Spirit King would not last long in this environment."

Ice Empress leaned in, her emerald eyes curiously examining Lan as if he were a rare treasure.

"Xue'er, look how well-behaved he is; he isn't crying at all."

She extended a finger, cautiously poking Lan's cheek.

Soft and warm.

Ice Empress's eyes brightened even further.

She suddenly turned to look at Snow Empress, her face filled with a hint of mischief and anticipation.

"Xue'er, why don't we... adopt this child, just like a human couple would?"

Snow Empress was slightly taken aback by these words.

She lowered her head and looked at Lan once more.

Coincidentally, Lan was also gazing at her with a pair of dark, bright eyes—eyes that were clear to the bottom, yet deep enough to seem as if they could perceive everything.

There was none of the ignorance expected of an infant, only a profound stillness.

Snow Empress's heart was inexplicably touched.

In this land of only cold and solitude, perhaps such a special little life could bring a different shade of color.

She remained silent for a moment, then gave a gentle nod.

"Very well."

Ice and Snow Residence.

This was the dwelling of Snow Empress and Ice Empress, a massive cavern naturally formed from ten-thousand-year profound ice.

Ice Empress rushed inside, cradling the swaddled infant in her arms.

"Little one, we're home!"

Snow Empress followed behind, shaking her head helplessly at Ice Empress's lack of composure.

She stepped forward, took Lan from Ice Empress's arms, and rocked him with gentle movements.

"Let me hold him, let me hold him!"

Ice Empress was impatient, acting like a child begging for candy.

Snow Empress rolled her eyes at her, but still handed Lan over.

Ice Empress held Lan in her arms with great satisfaction, her face glowing with a maternal radiance, though she likely hadn't realized it herself.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

Just then, an ill-timed sound emerged from the swaddling clothes.

Lan's stomach had growled.

He was hungry.

The smile on Ice Empress's face stiffened.

"He... he seems to be hungry."

She looked down at her own chest, as flat as an ice sheet, then instinctively looked up at the curvaceous and well-endowed Snow Empress beside her.

Ice Empress's eyes were full of suggestion as she spoke cautiously:

"Xue'er, why don't... why don't you feed him?"

The corner of Snow Empress's mouth twitched imperceptibly, her cold, clear voice tinged with a hint of embarrassment and annoyance.

"I am a spirit of ice and snow; how could I have such things?"

Ice Empress realized her mistake, and then she too was troubled.

"Then what should we do?"

Snow Empress pondered for a moment, her gaze falling back onto Lan with a flicker of softness in her eyes.

"Go catch an Ice Bear; it will serve perfectly to nurse him."

The moment the words left her lips, Ice Empress's emerald eyes lit up instantly.

"You got it!"

She replied, her figure flickering as she transformed into a streak of emerald light, vanishing into the wind and snow.

Her efficiency was astonishing.

The Snow Empress watched the direction in which she had departed, a trace of helpless, faint amusement appearing on her cold, elegant face, before she lowered her head to look at Lan in her arms.

The little one was staring back at her quietly with a pair of pitch-black eyes, showing not the slightest sign of crying or fussing.

"You are quite the composed one."

The Snow Empress extended a slender finger and gently tapped the tip of Lan's nose; the sensation transmitted from her fingertip was icy, yet carried the warmth of life.

Lan blinked, not dodging away.

He felt no fear toward this woman who resembled a goddess of ice and snow; on the contrary, he felt an inexplicable sense of closeness to her.

Before long.

"I'm back!"

The Ice Empress's boisterous voice approached from afar.

She walked back with ease, carrying a massive Ice Bear in one hand as if it were a mere chick.

That Ice Bear had at least ten thousand years of cultivation, yet at this moment, it was completely limp, its four limbs dangling powerlessly, its pair of bear eyes filled with fear and despair.

It had only been sleeping in its own territory; how had it been kidnapped by the two Sovereigns of the Far North?

Bear life was hopeless.

"Thud."

The Ice Empress tossed the Ice Bear onto the ground, causing the ice surface to tremble.

She clapped her hands and hurried excitedly to the Snow Empress's side.

"Xue'er, look, I caught the fattest one; it must have plenty of milk!"

Having said that, she rubbed her hands together and circled the shivering Ice Bear twice, seemingly studying where to begin.

"This... how do you squeeze it?"

The Ice Empress was stumped; she poked the Ice Bear's belly, her entire face written with "I don't know how."

The Snow Empress watched from the side without speaking, only the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, hooking into a faint, elusive smile.

The Ice Empress seemed to think of something; her eyes darted, and she let out a mischievous giggle.

A flash of light surged over her body, and her tall, imposing figure instantly transformed into a little girl with long, ink-green hair, standing only as tall as the Snow Empress's waist.

The little girl was carved from jade, her large, emerald eyes blinking—truly adorable—though that mischievous, troublemaking spirit had not changed in the slightest.

She said to the Ice Bear, which was so frightened it was nearly losing its soul, in a milky, childish voice.

"Be a good bear, Big Sister is going to give you a check-up."

As she spoke, she reached out with two small hands and began to grope the Ice Bear.

The scene was, for a moment, quite comical.

Lan lay in the Snow Empress's arms, watching this scene, and deep within his pitch-black eyes, a trace of a very faint smile flashed by.

These two soul beasts were rather interesting.

After fussing for a long time, the Ice Empress finally found the way, only to be stumped by another problem.

"Xue'er, what should I put it in?"

She looked up at the Snow Empress, looking pitiful.

The Snow Empress finally chuckled, her voice as pleasant as ice bells.

She extended her fair hand and made a light grasping motion toward the air.

In an instant, countless ice crystals gathered from thin air, spinning rapidly in her palm, shaping themselves, and finally transforming into a crystal-clear ice cup carved with exquisite snowflake patterns.

The ice cup did not look like a mundane object; it radiated a faint chill, yet it was as delicate as a peerless work of art.

The Ice Empress's eyes went wide.

"Wow!"

The Snow Empress handed the ice cup to her, her tone still cold, yet carrying a hint of doting.

"Go."

"Alrighty!"

The Ice Empress in her little girl form took the ice cup, filled it with warm beast milk in a few quick motions, and ran back as if presenting a treasure.

"Xue'er, quick, don't let the little one go hungry."

The Snow Empress nodded, took the ice cup, and adjusted her posture to hold Lan more securely in her arms.

She lowered her head and, with her free hand, carefully supported the back of Lan's neck, bringing the edge of the ice cup to his lips.

A stream of warm liquid flowed slowly along the rim of the cup into Lan's mouth.

It carried a hint of a raw, sweet scent, yet it was filled with the aura of life.

Lan sucked quietly.

He could feel that the body holding him, despite radiating an aura of ice and snow and feeling slightly cool to the touch, transmitted a warmth from the embrace itself that he had never experienced before—a warmth sufficient to melt the soul.

In his past life, he was a cold blade.

In this life, he lay in the warm embrace of an "iceberg."

This feeling was truly marvelous.