Yao Yang

Snow Empress lowered her head to look at that tiny face, and the corners of her lips unconsciously lifted.

She did not know why she was smiling, either.

Perhaps it was because she had not come into contact with such a frail life for far too long.

Or perhaps because... this feeling was unexpectedly nice.

Holding the infant, she flashed away toward the depths of the Far North Core Circle.

The Ice and Snow Palace stood atop an iceberg in the deepest part of the Far North Core Circle.

Calling it a palace was somewhat generous. It was merely a structure piled together from countless pieces of black ice by the Soul Beasts of the Extreme North. Soul Beasts were not humans, after all, and lacked such dexterous hands, so the craftsmanship was naturally crude and simple.

Yet because of that, this palace of ice and snow possessed a rugged beauty. Under the sunlight, it refracted halos of seven-colored light, like a fairyland from myth and legend.

Just as Snow Empress landed outside the palace gates, a slender green figure came to greet her.

She was a petite twin-tailed girl, barely around one and a half meters tall, yet the aura surrounding her was powerful enough to suffocate anyone. She wore an exquisite green dress, her long hair the same color. Her features were delicate like those of a porcelain doll, and her skin was fair as jade.

Most eye-catching were her golden eyes. They looked innocent enough, yet contained a wildness and dominance that could not be concealed.

Ice Empress.

"Xue'er, did you find out? Hmm?"

Ice Empress had just been about to speak when her gaze fell upon the infant in Snow Empress's arms. Her eyes instantly widened, her golden pupils filled with disbelief.

"Why are you carrying a human baby?!"

Snow Empress shook her head and carefully adjusted the infant in her arms. "When I arrived, this was the only thing I saw. And..."

"I think he is far from ordinary."

"Far from ordinary?" Ice Empress became interested and skipped over. "Put him down, put him down! Let me see!"

She bounced on her feet, but she was only as tall as Snow Empress's legs and could not see the infant's face at all.

Seeing Ice Empress's impatient look, Snow Empress could not help but chuckle.

Her figure shrank slightly, reducing her form from over three meters tall to only about one meter eighty. Then, she placed the infant on a nearby table carved from ice crystal.

Ice Empress immediately leaned over.

She extended a slender jade-like finger and carefully poked the infant's cheek.

Soft.

Warm.

"Huh?"

A trace of surprise flashed through Ice Empress's eyes. She had lived in the Far North for hundreds of thousands of years and had long grown accustomed to the cold.

Yet when she touched this infant, she felt an indescribable sense of comfort, like suddenly encountering a ray of sunlight amid snow and ice.

"There is something this warm in the Far North?" she exclaimed. "He is like a little sun."

As she spoke, her gaze shifted downward and landed on somewhere she had never seen before.

What was that?

Curiously, Ice Empress reached out a finger and poked the infant's little birdie.

Soft, tiny, and rather unusual.

She could not help laughing. "Xue'er, look at this little thing. It is pretty interesting."

Snow Empress: "..."

Before she could stop her, the infant on the table suddenly opened his eyes.

They were a pair of rather beautiful, large eyes, black and white distinct, clear as two pools of spring water. At that moment, those eyes were fixed on the twin-tailed little girl poking his little birdie.

One big, one small—their eyes met.

Ice Empress's finger was still there, frozen in place.

"He is awake?" she said delightedly, with no sign of stopping her hand.

The infant blinked.

Ice Empress blinked.

The infant blinked again.

Ice Empress blinked again.

Then...

"Waaah..."

A thunderous cry instantly echoed throughout the entire Ice and Snow Palace!

Damn twin-tailed little girl!

If I do not avenge this, I swear I am not human!

Ice Empress paused, guiltily withdrawing her hand. "Why... why is he crying?"

Snow Empress irritably slapped away Ice Empress's hand, which was still hanging in the air. "Isn't it because you were playing with him like that?!"

She reached out to pick up the infant, but her movements were as stiff as those of a child holding a sword for the first time. She had lived for seven hundred thousand years, killed countless enemies, and protected countless Soul Beasts, but she had never soothed a baby.

The infant cried even louder.

Snow Empress's hand froze in midair, and she was completely at a loss.

Ice Empress scratched her head. "Stop crying, stop crying. I will not poke it anymore..."

The infant ignored her and kept crying.

The two rulers of the Far North stood before a baby, staring at each other in helpless dismay.

"Could he be crying because he is hungry?" Ice Empress suddenly had an idea. "How about we give him some milk?"

Snow Empress looked down at the infant. After a moment of silence, she slowly raised her head and looked at Ice Empress.

Her gaze carried a hint of confusion beneath its innocence.

Ice Empress: "..."

"You do not even know that?"

Snow Empress said nothing.

But her silence already explained everything.

Ice Empress let out a deep sigh.

The dignified ruler of the Far North, an ice spirit who had lived for nearly seven hundred thousand years, did not even know how to raise a child.

Fine, fine. Who else but Ice Empress herself was so knowledgeable?

Half an hour later.

Ice Empress dragged a Snow Ice Bear that had just given birth back to the Ice and Snow Palace. It was a massive mother bear, its eyes filled with terror and despair. Having been seized by the two great beasts of the Far North to serve as a wet nurse, it had never experienced anything this thrilling in its life.

Ice Empress pointed at the mother bear's belly and said to Snow Empress, "There. Let it feed him."

Snow Empress looked at the trembling mother bear, then at the infant in her arms, who was crying so hard he could barely catch his breath. At last, she made a decision.

She carefully brought the infant close to the mother bear.

Instinctively seeking food, the infant quickly stopped crying.

For a time, the only sound in the Ice and Snow Palace was the infant's contented suckling.

Ice Empress crouched nearby, propping up her chin as she watched. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity.

"Xue'er," she suddenly said, "where do you think this child came from?"

Snow Empress shook her head. "I do not know. When I arrived, he was alone."

"Alone?" Ice Empress frowned. "How could an infant possibly survive alone in the Far North? Even human Soul Masters would not dare guarantee their survival in a place like this, would they?"

"That is why I said he is far from ordinary." Snow Empress's gaze settled on the infant.

She merely watched that tiny life quietly—watched him drink his fill, watched him gradually calm down, watched him fall into a deep sleep after he finished eating.

Tear tracks still lingered on that small face.

But his brow had already relaxed, and the corners of his lips curved slightly upward, as though he were having a pleasant dream.

Snow Empress reached out and gently wiped the tears from his face.

Her movement was unbelievably gentle.

Ice Empress watched the scene, the light in her eyes flickering uncertainly.

After a long silence, she suddenly said, "Xue'er, let us raise him!"

Snow Empress raised her head and looked at Ice Empress. Ice Empress's earnest expression was reflected in those sky-blue eyes.

She did not hesitate.

"Even if you had not said it, I would have raised him."

Ice Empress paused, then laughed. She leaned toward the infant and extended a slender finger. This time, she did not poke anywhere she should not; she merely gently poked his cheek.

"Then let us give him a name!"

Snow Empress thought for a moment, her gaze falling upon the faint golden glow around the infant. In this world of ice and snow, he was like a warm little sun—utterly out of place, yet unexpectedly harmonious.

"Look at how this little fellow is like a little sun," she said slowly. "Let us call him... Yao Yang?"

"Yao Yang?"

Ice Empress repeated it twice, and her eyes lit up.

"Yao Yang... a radiant sun..."

She nodded. "That works!"

Snow Empress reached out and gently picked up the infant.

Snow Empress lowered her head to look at him, a tender smile appearing on her lips—one she did not even notice herself.

Outside, the wind and snow still howled.

But within the Ice and Snow Palace, there was now an extra ray of sunlight.