On the way back to Shrek, they flew only while leaving the Far North. Once they reached the Heaven Dou Empire, they switched to traveling on foot. They had agreed to let the Ice Empress take in the scenery, so naturally they couldn't fly straight back to Shrek the whole way.
The three headed south. Huo Yuhao followed behind Jiang Che, his steps much lighter than before. Successfully fusing with his Second Martial Soul had left him brimming with energy, and even his Soul Power flowed more smoothly.
But every so often, he stole a glance at the Ice Empress. Ever since he'd learned from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm that she was a Ferocious Beast nearing four hundred thousand years old, his gaze had been filled with curiosity and undisguised awe.
The Ice Empress noticed him looking and swept him with her cold, yellow-diamond eyes. "What are you staring at?"
Huo Yuhao shrank his neck and shuddered in fright. He hurriedly looked away and stammered an explanation. "N-nothing..."
Jiang Che walked at the front, his long silver-blue hair stirring in the breeze. He didn't look back, yet he could clearly sense the movements of the two behind him.
These days aren't bad, he thought. Back in his previous life, when he'd read the book, he'd always felt that Huo Yuhao had suffered too much. He didn't know his father, his mother had died young, his stepmother abused him, and his brothers bullied him. After finally getting a million-year Soul Beast as a cheat, he'd still been manipulated like a chess piece by a God King.
Now that Jiang Che was here, he had snatched the Ice Empress away, but he'd also given Huo Yuhao a twenty-thousand-year Silent Frost Ice Phoenix embryo as compensation and helped shield him from plenty of trouble.
He figured Huo Yuhao's path this time would be much easier than in the original story.
The group fell silent for a moment. Then Jiang Che slowed his pace and turned his head toward the Ice Empress.
"Ice Empress, once we get back to Shrek, I'll help arrange your identity."
The Ice Empress arched a delicate brow, her voice still cool. "What identity? It's not as if we can say I'm a four-hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast transformed into a human."
"Of course not." Jiang Che chuckled. "Only you and I know for now that you're my Soul Spirit. We'll tell everyone else you're my younger sister, a gifted talent who reached the Soul Emperor realm at sixteen."
The Ice Empress gave a soft snort but didn't object.
She was no longer a Soul Beast. Her aura and appearance were no different from those of a human Soul Master. As long as she didn't reveal her origins herself, no one would be able to tell.
As for her age, the Ice Empress looked down at her own twelve- or thirteen-year-old appearance and felt at a loss for words.
A dignified member of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, a four-hundred-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, had to pretend to be a little girl.
But then she thought of Jiang Che's promise that she might one day ascend to the Divine Realm and gain eternal life, and decided she could put up with this little indignity.
"What about my strength? You can't really expect me to pretend to be a Soul Emperor. If danger strikes, can I fight?"
Jiang Che considered it. "Just say you have a Mutated Martial Soul, the Ice Jade Scorpion. As for your strength... don't reveal too much for now. Once we're back on Sea God Island, I'll have Mu En arrange an identity for you. With Shrek's reputation behind you, no one will question it."
The Ice Empress nodded and said nothing more.
"By the way, you'll need a human name, too. Otherwise, it'll feel strange to keep calling you Ice Empress and all that." Jiang Che suddenly remembered.
"Mm... Call me whatever you like. I don't mind." The Ice Empress couldn't be bothered thinking of a name and tossed the question back to Jiang Che.
"Fine. Let me think..." After a moment, Jiang Che said, "When other people are around, I'll call you Bingbing. When we're alone, I'll call you Bing'er. How does that sound?"
At Jiang Che's words, the Ice Empress seemed to think of something. She looked at him as if she wanted to object, but in the end, she said nothing, which counted as accepting it.
Seeing that the Ice Empress had accepted, Jiang Che felt affirmed in his naming skills. But when he looked at Huo Yuhao again, his expression suddenly turned strange. He thought of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm residing in Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness.
If he remembered correctly, in the original story, after Huo Yuhao won the Ice Empress's acceptance, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had called her "Bingbing" this and "Bingbing" that.
Now Jiang Che was calling her that, too. Suddenly, he felt like he was the one having an affair, while the wronged party stood right in front of him, too angry to dare say a word.
Huo Yuhao walked ahead without giving it much thought. Listening to their conversation only deepened his admiration for Jiang Che.
To subdue a Ferocious Beast of the Ice Empress's caliber and make her his Soul Spirit, then arrange everything so thoroughly—his senior really did think of everything.
He quietly asked the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness, "Brother Sky Dream, why didn't you find someone as powerful as Senior to work with back then? He seems so much stronger than me."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice rang out weakly. "You think I didn't want to? But someone as powerful as Jiang Che doesn't need me. He's already strong enough on his own. If I'd tried to work with him, he might not have thought much of me."
"Besides, back then, I had no way of running into him. Even if I had, I wouldn't have had the chance to speak."
By the time dusk settled in, the three of them had reached a small town on the border of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Calling it a small town was generous. It was really just a settlement made up of several rows of wooden houses, home to fewer than five hundred families. Two guards in leather armor stood at the gate, holding crude spears. When they saw Jiang Che and the others approaching, they gripped their weapons warily.
Jiang Che paid the guards' gazes no mind and walked straight into town.
He wore an ordinary silver-blue robe, but its fabric and craftsmanship were clearly far from common. Add to that the imposing presence that surrounded him, and the townspeople began staring and whispering among themselves.
"Who are those three? They don't look like ordinary people."
"That young man in silver-blue has such a striking air about him. Could he be a disciple of some major sect?"
"That little girl beside him is pretty, too, but her eyes are so cold. It's hard to get near her."
"The boy behind them is nothing special, though. He looks like an attendant."
At the word "attendant," Huo Yuhao's face flushed slightly, but he said nothing. Given his strength and status, he really was little more than Senior's attendant.
Jiang Che found the only decent inn in town, asked for three first-class rooms, and had the innkeeper send up some hot food.
Back in his room, Huo Yuhao washed up, changed into clean clothes, then sat at the table and wolfed down his meal.
During these past few days in the Far North, he'd subsisted mostly on the provisions he'd brought with him. They'd been cold and hard. Now, eating a hot meal made him feel as if he could cry with happiness.
In the room next door, Jiang Che and the Ice Empress sat facing each other, with hot tea and pastries laid out on the table.
"Don't you think you're going a little overboard taking care of that Huo Yuhao?" The Ice Empress picked up her teacup and took a small sip. Finding it not very tasty, she set it back down. Through the curling steam, her yellow-diamond eyes watched Jiang Che.
"What makes you say that?" Jiang Che picked up his own teacup and took a leisurely sip.
"You gave him a Silent Frost Ice Phoenix embryo, promised to help him get a Spiritual-type Soul Ring, and personally escorted him back to Shrek." After setting down her teacup, the Ice Empress tapped the edge of the table with her slender fingers. "Most people don't get treatment like that."
Jiang Che smiled but didn't answer directly.
He couldn't exactly say, Because I know Huo Yuhao is a child of destiny who'll become a god in the future. If I treat him well now, he can be my little brother once he ascends.
Although he now had the World Shielder and no longer needed to worry about Tang San watching him from the shadows, Huo Yuhao's potential was undeniable. Better to build a good relationship now than become enemies later.
Besides, Jiang Che understood Huo Yuhao's character. In the original story, despite enduring countless hardships, he'd always held on to his kindness and integrity. Someone like that was worth befriending.
"I like him," Jiang Che said simply.
The Ice Empress didn't seem satisfied with that answer. She gave a soft snort and didn't press him.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Che suddenly spoke. "Bingbing, have you thought about what you want to do from here on?"
The Ice Empress was slightly taken aback. A trace of bewilderment passed through her yellow-diamond eyes.
She really hadn't thought about it. Back in the Far North, her goal had been clear: survive the tribulations.
Now the threat of the tribulations was gone. She had become Jiang Che's Soul Spirit and no longer needed to worry about survival. Instead, she didn't know what to do.
"I don't know. I suppose I'll do my best to help you become a god." The Ice Empress was silent for a long while before answering softly.
Before you continue