She raised her hand, and a snow lotus formed from ice crystals appeared in her palm. It spun once, then turned into a streak of light and sank into the space between her brows.
The Snow Empress turned to Mu Chen.
After her breakthrough, her ice-blue eyes had grown deeper, like two miniature glaciers. She walked up to Mu Chen, fell silent for a moment, then spoke her second sentence.
"You kept your promise." The Snow Empress's voice was colder than before, but beneath that chill lay something difficult to name.
She glanced back at the ice peak, nearly sheared in half by the heavenly lightning, then at the wound in her palm, now healed. Finally, she looked toward the space between Mu Chen's brows. She knew the Ice Empress was there.
"Bing'er sacrificed herself for you. From today onward, I'll protect you in her place."
Mu Chen paused in surprise.
The Snow Empress's tone was mild, as if she were speaking of something insignificant, but the light in her ice-blue eyes brooked no doubt.
The Ice Empress had laid down her life to pave a road for him to the summit of the Far North. The Snow Empress would spend the rest of her life guarding that road for him.
In the Sea of Consciousness, the Ice Empress's remnant soul trembled faintly. She said nothing, only gazed silently at the Snow Empress through Mu Chen's senses. A faint smile appeared on her exquisite, translucent face.
It was not the cold sneer of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, nor the majesty of one of the Far North's Heavenly Kings. It was the relief of finally seeing her companion safe and sound after four hundred thousand years.
Mu Chen clasped his hands in a solemn salute. "Thank you, Snow Empress."
The Snow Empress gave a slight nod. Then she turned toward the Ice Empress's remnant soul in the Sea of Consciousness, and her voice suddenly became tender—so tender that even the winds of the Far North held their breath.
"Bing'er, once I've taken care of things here, I'll come find you. The Far North needs a new guardian. After I've made the proper arrangements, I'll go to the human world as your guardian. From now on, wherever you are, I'll be there too."
The Ice Empress's remnant soul turned her face away in the Sea of Consciousness and gave a huff. Her voice quivered with a hint of awkwardness. "Who wants you to come find me? Take care of your own Far North. Don't let me come back and find you've made a complete mess of it."
The Snow Empress chuckled softly and did not call her out.
The commotion caused by the Snow Empress's breakthrough to seven hundred thousand years lasted for three whole days in the Core Area of the Far North.
The aftershock of the heavenly tribulation shaved nearly a hundred meters off the ice peak. Shattered ten-thousand-year-old ice came cascading down from the summit, piling at its foot into a jagged wasteland of ice and rock.
The air still held the scorched smell of ionized lightning, mingled with the distinctive, cool sweetness left by the refining of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow. It swirled through every ice fissure in the Core Area, lingering without dispersing.
Within a thousand li, all Ice Soul Beasts lay prostrate in their dens, their heads buried deep beneath the snow. They dared not move. Even though the pressure of a seven-hundred-thousand-year tribulation had faded, the lingering fluctuations of the world's laws were enough to inspire instinctive fear.
At dawn on the fourth day, two vast auras approached at once from different directions in the Core Area.
Mu Chen stood at the foot of the half-collapsed ice peak, with the newly ascended Snow Empress beside him. He made no attempt to release his Soul Power, but the chill radiating naturally from the Ice Empress's Left Arm Bone formed a faint, ice-blue halo around him.
The Snow Empress stood half a step to his side, her white robes as pure as snow and her long hair cascading like a waterfall. Her aura after the breakthrough was even deeper and more restrained than before, like a volcano hidden beneath the ice.
The ice plain to the east split open first.
A huge white bear paw thrust out from beneath the ice and slapped the frozen ground, making the entire earth tremble.
A moment later, a white figure as large as a hill rose from the snow. It was the Ice Bear King, Xiaobai.
It was several times larger than an ordinary ten-thousand-year-old Ice Bear. A layer of natural ice-crystal armor covered its snow-white fur, and every step left a paw print several inches deep in the ice.
Its eyes were two sapphire-blue gems set in its furry face, making it look honest and gentle. But every Soul Beast that had ever lived in the Far North knew how terrifying it was: Ice Bear King Xiaobai, with a cultivation of over two hundred thousand years, was the Snow Empress's foremost general.
The glacier to the west cracked and collapsed with a rumble. An even taller figure emerged from within it, standing over fifteen meters high. Its entire body was made of ten-thousand-year-old ice, and under the dim light of the sky, it gleamed pale blue.
With every step it took, a fresh layer of ice formed beneath its feet, as if the Ice Element of the Far North were bowing to it of its own accord.
The Titan Snow Demon King, A-Tai, had a cultivation of three hundred thousand years. He was the ruler of every Titan Snow Demon in the Core Area and the largest Soul Beast in the Far North.
"Mom!" Xiaobai called from far away, its voice utterly at odds with its size and filled with an urgency unbecoming of a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast.
It ran on all fours with an awkward gait, like a brown bear sprinting through the snow after someone had stolen its honey. Ice chips flew dozens of meters into the air behind it. "Mom, are you all right? That heavenly tribulation just now—" When it reached her and saw the Snow Empress standing there unharmed, its obsidian eyes lit up.
Then it noticed Mu Chen. The expression on its bear face shifted from concern to confusion, then from confusion to wariness.
"Human?" Xiaobai's nose twitched twice. A low growl rolled up from deep in its throat as the pressure of a two-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast bore down on Mu Chen like a tangible force. "Mom, this human?"
The Snow Empress raised a hand, barely moving. Xiaobai immediately fell silent and obediently sat on the ice, its massive body as still as a suddenly frozen mountain.
A-Tai stopped too, standing dozens of meters away with his head lowered. The Titan Snow Demon King could not speak; the Titan Snow Demon Clan had no vocal organs. But he showed the same respect through his actions.
"He is Mu Chen," the Snow Empress said, her voice cool. "From today onward, every Soul Beast in the Core Area of the Far North will treat him as they would me. Also, I'm going to the human world."
Xiaobai froze, confusion deepening on its bear face. It looked from the Snow Empress to Mu Chen, its furry paw absently scraping the ice.
It did not understand. The human world? The foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, going to the human world? But there was no room for discussion in the Snow Empress's tone. Xiaobai had followed her for tens of thousands of years. It knew.
"Lady Snow Empress," Xiaobai asked, changing the subject. "How long will you be gone?"
The Snow Empress did not answer. She turned and looked north, farther into the Far North.
"I called you here to entrust you with something." The Snow Empress turned back, her voice once more cool and composed, and looked from Ice Bear King Xiaobai to Titan Snow Demon King A-Tai. "I'll be leaving the Far North for a while. While I'm gone, Xiaobai and A-Tai will jointly manage all affairs in the Core Area. From today onward, the Ice Bear Clan and the Titan Snow Demon Clan will form an alliance and guard the borders of the Core Area together. If the Ice Soul Beasts in the outer regions make any unusual moves, deal with them yourselves. Don't wait for me."