The Far North lay at the northernmost edge of the Heaven Dou Empire. To reach it, one first had to cross a stretch of coniferous forest known as the Ice-Sealed Forest.
The Ice-Sealed Forest was also a Soul Beast forest. However, the conditions here were harsh and the temperatures bitterly low, so only Soul Masters with ice attributes came here to hunt the Soul Beasts they wanted.
Beyond the forest lay a vast expanse of white, with not a single other color in sight.
Unlike the Far North in the Douluo II timeline, in the Douluo I timeline, humans rarely set foot in the Far North, let alone catch sight of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North.
Di Tian was utterly speechless. They could have reached the Far North as fast as possible, but Lan Yu had refused, saying that sooner or later, he had to become a true "Dragon Knight"!
Though he had no idea why this human had suddenly gone off the deep end, Di Tian chose to respect his decision.
"Is this the Far North? The ice-elemental aura really is rich." Lan Yu took a deep breath, feeling the Ice-Fire Element stars grow especially active.
"Di Tian, did Sky Dream Ice Silkworm tell you the exact location of the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave?" Lan Yu asked.
Di Tian nodded slightly. "He said it was deep in the core region of the Far North, but that bug couldn't remember exactly where."
"Forget it. We can't count on that fat bug. We'll look for it ourselves." Lan Yu headed forward, the crunch of snow beneath his feet ringing out without pause.
Luckily, he had the Ice and Fire Dragon King's source power. Otherwise, Lan Yu would already have been frozen into a popsicle.
Di Tian walked behind Lan Yu, serving as little more than a backdrop.
With Di Tian there, none of the Soul Beasts they encountered dared to cause trouble. They caught his scent from far away, then turned tail and ran like the wind.
They were still a thousand li from the core region of the Far North when a layer of emerald light suddenly spread across the distant horizon.
The pitch-black sky turned emerald in an instant, a clear, alluring green whose beauty seemed ready to transform the entire sky into one enormous piece of imperial jade.
"Di Tian, why have you come to the Far North?!" A crisp voice rang out from all directions.
The voice came with a terrifying sonic shockwave. The snow on the ground was swept up three meters into the air, but to Di Tian, it was nothing more than a cheap trick.
"Hmm? There's a human here, too? Di Tian, since when did your Star Dou Forest start associating with humans?"
"Empress Ice, we're not here for you. We're looking for the Snow Empress," Di Tian said in a low voice. His own voice became a terrifying sonic shock wave, rebounding the Ice Empress's show of force.
"What do you want with Xue'er?" A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in the Ice Empress's heart.
"You'll find out when you see the Snow Empress," Lan Yu said.
The Ice Empress said nothing. She had clearly noticed that something about Lan Yu was different.
Then a streak of emerald light flashed across the sky, and a tiny, bratty girl appeared in Lan Yu and Di Tian's sight.
The Ice Empress was tiny, just five feet tall, and adorable. She also bore the distinctive features of an Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. Compared with the Silver Dragon Fish, Gu Yuena, she had her own charms.
She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her face full of wariness.
Among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, the Ice Empress ranked tenth. Facing Di Tian, ranked first, she was clearly no match for him.
"Di Tian, why have you brought a human to my Far North?" Just then, an ethereal, beautiful voice rang out across the frozen landscape.
Di Tian's brow lifted. "Snow Empress, you've finally appeared."
The next second, an even stronger force of ice and snow surged toward them from afar at incredible speed.
Feeling the extreme cold in the wind and snow, as if it could freeze space itself, Di Tian's dragon eyes filled with caution.
After all, this was the other party's home turf. Even Di Tian couldn't be sure he could beat the Snow Empress.
If they couldn't come to an agreement and a fight broke out, he wouldn't have any attention to spare for Lan Yu, the weak human.
Soon, a stunning white-and-blue figure descended lightly beside the Ice Empress, carried in on the wind and snow.
A force of freezing cold swirled around her. Only now did Lan Yu feel a little discomfort.
Interesting! Half-asleep and half-awake, the Ice Dragon King sensed the frigid power of ice and snow and couldn't help offering a verdict.
The Snow Empress's beautiful, sky-blue eyes rested on Lan Yu and Di Tian, whom he sheltered in front of himself. Her gaze was calm and undisturbed.
Her long, snow-white hair fell to her ankles. A white dress clung to her flawless figure, lending her an air of purity and otherworldly grace. She was like a plum blossom in winter, sacred and untouchable.
"Di Tian—and a human?" The Snow Empress parted her lips. Her cool, ethereal voice echoed through the frozen landscape. "You've come looking for me. What do you want?"
Di Tian said nothing, instead turning to look at Lan Yu, who had put himself in front of him.
"Why are you looking at me? The Snow Empress rules the Far North. If I just came out and said it, wouldn't I be frozen into a popsicle on the spot?" Lan Yu said.
Di Tian let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He couldn't understand why his two Ice and Fire uncles had taken a liking to this human who kept going off the deep end.
These past few days, he'd nearly been driven mad.
"Snow Empress, we came here for one reason: to make you his Contract Beast," Di Tian said, looking at Lan Yu.
In an instant, the power of ice and snow around them surged even more violently, grew sharper, and turned bone-chillingly cold.
"What did you say?!" The Ice Empress's pretty face blazed with fury. "Impossible! Xue'er can only be mine. She'll never be some so-called Contract Beast, and she'll never give herself to a human!"
At those words, Di Tian felt he'd stumbled upon a startling secret. The Snow Empress's delicate body trembled slightly, then she fixed a dark glare on Di Tian and Lan Yu.
"Don't even think about it!" the Snow Empress snapped.
"Then we'll have to settle this the hard way!" Soul Power surged inside Di Tian like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
But behind Di Tian, Lan Yu quietly began drawing the Summoning Element Star Map.
The moon-white radiance was concealed by the surging ice and snow around them, while Di Tian did an excellent job of masking the fluctuations of magical energy.
Before long, the Star Map was complete, and the magic took effect!
The moon-white energy shot straight toward the Snow Empress. By the time she and the Ice Empress noticed it, it was already too late.
Moonlight-like radiance instantly engulfed the Snow Empress, and she let out a scream.
"Damn you!!!" The Ice Empress roared. "You dared to harm Xue'er! I'll unleash a beast tide. Even if it leaves the Far North severely weakened, I'll fight your human cities and the Star Dou Forest to the death!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she tried to break through the layer of moon-white light. But with the Ice Empress's power, she couldn't break the barrier formed by the "Summoning Element."
"Damn it!" The Snow Empress clenched her teeth. "Wretched human..."
"With this contract, Snow Empress, you won't get away!"
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