The Snow Empress's Instructions

She raised her hand, and a snow lotus condensed from ice crystals emerged in her palm. The lotus rotated once in her hand before transforming into a stream of light that submerged into her brow.

Snow Empress turned around to look at Mu Chen.

Her icy blue eyes had become even more profound after the breakthrough, resembling two miniature ice plains. She walked up to Mu Chen, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke her second sentence.

"You kept your promise." Snow Empress's voice was colder than before, yet within that coldness, there was something indescribable.

She glanced back at the ice peak that had been nearly leveled by the heavenly lightning, then looked at the healed wound on her palm, and finally cast her gaze toward Mu Chen's brow; she knew that Ice Empress was there.

"Bing'er sacrificed herself for you. From today on, I shall protect you in her stead."

Mu Chen was slightly stunned.

Snow Empress's tone was very flat, as if she were speaking of a trivial matter, but the light in those icy blue eyes allowed for no doubt.

Ice Empress had paved a path to the peak of the Far North for him with her life, so Snow Empress would spend the rest of her life guarding that path for him.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, Ice Empress's remnant soul trembled slightly. She did not speak, merely watching Snow Empress quietly through Mu Chen's perception, a faint smile appearing on her translucent, exquisite face.

It was not the cold sneer of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, nor the majesty of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, but the relief of seeing a companion safe and sound after forty thousand years of time.

Mu Chen bowed solemnly to Snow Empress: "Many thanks, Snow Empress."

Snow Empress nodded slightly. She then turned toward the direction of Ice Empress's remnant soul in the Sea of Consciousness, her voice suddenly becoming extremely gentle—so gentle that even the winds of the Far North held their breath.

"Bing'er, once I finish handling matters here, I will come to find you. The Far North requires a new guardian; once I have arranged everything properly, I will head to the human world as your protector. From now on, wherever you are, I shall be."

Ice Empress's remnant soul turned her face away in the Sea of Consciousness and let out a huff, her voice carrying a trace of unnatural trembling: "Who asked you to come find me? Tend to your own Far North; don't let me find it in a mess when I return."

Snow Empress chuckled softly, not exposing her.

The commotion from Snow Empress's breakthrough to seven hundred thousand years lasted for three full days in the Core Area of the Far North.

The aftermath of the heavenly tribulation leveled the ice peak by nearly a hundred meters, and shattered ten-thousand-year-old ice cascaded down from the summit, piling up into a jagged ruin of ice rocks at the foot of the mountain.

The air remained filled with the scorched scent of ionized lightning, mixed with the unique, cold, sweet fragrance of refined Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, swirling incessantly through every ice crevice in the Core Area.

All ice-attribute Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast within a thousand miles lay prostrate in their respective lairs, burying their heads deep beneath the ice and snow, not daring to move. Even though the pressure of the seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation had dissipated, the lingering fluctuations of the laws of heaven and earth were enough to make them instinctively feel fear.

On the morning of the fourth day, two massive auras approached simultaneously from different directions of the Core Area.

Mu Chen stood at the foot of the half-collapsed ice peak, with Snow Empress, who had just completed her breakthrough, by his side. He did not deliberately release his soul power, but the cold ice aura naturally circulating from the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Left Arm Bone formed a faint, icy blue halo around him.

Snow Empress stood half a step to his side, her white clothes like snow and her long hair like a waterfall. Her aura after the breakthrough was even more profound and restrained, like a volcano hidden beneath layers of ice.

The ice plain to the east cracked first.

A giant white bear paw reached out from beneath the ice and slammed onto the frozen earth, causing the entire ground to tremble.

Immediately following, a white figure the size of a small mountain stood up from the ice and snow: the Ice Bear King, Xiao Bai.

His size was several times larger than an ordinary ten-thousand-year ice bear, and his snow-white fur was covered in a layer of natural ice crystal armor. Every step he took on the ice left a paw print several inches deep.

His eyes were like two sapphire beads embedded in his furry bear face; he looked honest and docile, but any soul beast that had lived in the Far North knew the terror of this ice bear. Ice Bear King Xiao Bai, with over two hundred thousand years of cultivation, was the primary general under Snow Empress.

The glacier to the west shattered amidst the tremors. An even taller figure emerged from the glacier, standing over fifteen meters tall, its body composed entirely of ten-thousand-year-old solid ice, shimmering with a pale blue luster under the dim sky.

With every step it took, new layers of ice would automatically condense beneath its feet, as if the ice elements of the Far North were actively paying homage to it.

Titan Snow Demon King, A-Tai, with three hundred thousand years of cultivation, was the co-lord of all Titan Snow Demons in the Core Area and the largest soul beast in the Far North.

"Mother!" Xiao Bai began shouting from afar, his voice completely mismatched with his size, carrying an urgency inconsistent with his status as a two-hundred-thousand-year fierce beast.

He ran on all fours in a somewhat clumsy manner, like a brown bear that had been robbed of its honey, sprinting wildly across the snow with ice shards flying dozens of meters high behind him. "Mother, are you alright? That heavenly tribulation just now..." He ran up close and saw Snow Empress standing there unscathed, and his obsidian-like eyes immediately lit up.

Then he noticed Mu Chen, and the expression on his bear face shifted from worry to confusion, and then to vigilance.

"Human?" Xiao Bai's nose twitched twice, and a low growl rolled from the depths of his throat. The pressure of a two-hundred-thousand-year soul beast pressed toward Mu Chen like a physical force. "Mother, this human?"

Snow Empress raised her hand with a light movement. Xiao Bai immediately shut his mouth, his massive body sitting obediently on the ice like a suddenly frozen snow mountain.

A-Tai also stopped, standing dozens of meters away and lowering his head. The Titan Snow Demon King could not speak, as the Titan Snow Demon race lacked vocal organs, but he expressed the same respect through his actions.

"He is Mu Chen," Snow Empress said, her voice cold. "From today on, all soul beasts in the Core Area of the Far North are to treat him as they treat me. Also, I am going to the human world."

Xiao Bai was stunned, the confusion on his bear face deepening. He looked at Snow Empress, then at Mu Chen, his furry claws unconsciously scratching the ice.

He did not understand. Going to the human world? The head of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North going to the human world? But there was no room for negotiation in Snow Empress's tone. He had followed Snow Empress for tens of thousands of years and could tell.

"Lord Snow Empress," Xiao Bai asked, changing his question, "how long will you be gone?"

Snow Empress did not answer. She turned around and looked toward the far north of the Far North.

"I summoned you here to entrust you with a task." Snow Empress turned back, her voice returning to its usual coldness, her gaze sweeping over Ice Bear King Xiao Bai and Titan Snow Demon King A-Tai. "I will be leaving the Far North temporarily. During my absence, all affairs in the Core Area will be jointly managed by Xiao Bai and A-Tai. From today on, the Ice Bear race and the Titan Snow Demon race are to form an alliance to jointly guard the borders of the Core Area. If there is any unusual activity from the ice-attribute soul beasts in the outer regions, handle it yourselves; there is no need to wait for me."