"Haah... haah..."
A burst of ragged breathing shattered the deathly silence.
At the center of the ruins.
A woman in a long emerald-green dress hovered in midair.
She didn't appear to have suffered much harm, though her hair was a little disheveled.
The most striking thing about her was the gemstone ornament at her chest, glowing with a greenish light.
Its radiance wasn't dazzling, yet it contained a rhythm that was profoundly mysterious.
With every flicker, the violent wind elements around her grew more docile, like loyal subjects paying their respects to a king.
The Emerald Swan, Bi Ji.
And across from her.
A thick layer of frost covered the ground.
The Ice Empress knelt on one knee. She had lost.
In the back garden of the City Lord Mansion in Godwind City.
Before Feng Xiaotian could even take his leave, the emerald figure on the horizon had already drifted gracefully toward them.
There was no earth-shaking pressure, nor any air of arrogance.
Bi Ji folded away the emerald wings behind her and touched down lightly on the grass. She didn't even bend a single tender blade.
Her features were gentle, but her eyes held a weariness she could barely conceal, along with a trace of deep reverence.
When she reached the stone table, this Ferocious Beast of lofty standing in the Star Dou Forest actually bowed formally to the young man drinking there.
"Your Majesty."
"I have completed the task."
Venti set down his stemmed glass. His emerald eyes swept over Bi Ji before settling on the "Vision" glowing at her chest.
"Looks like that little scorpion was quite the handful."
Venti said with a beaming smile, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
"Have a seat."
"Feng Xiaotian, pour this beautiful lady a glass of apple cider."
Feng Xiaotian hurriedly picked up a clean glass. Faced with a Ferocious Beast whom even Titled Douluo might never get the chance to meet, he could feel his palms sweating.
Bi Ji thanked him and didn't refuse, taking a small sip.
The sweet wine slid down her throat, slightly calming the Soul Power surging inside her.
"The Ice Empress of the Far North certainly has a fiery temper."
Bi Ji set down her glass and reported softly.
"If not for the wind-element affinity Your Majesty bestowed upon me, along with the boost from this Vision, my skill in healing alone would never have been enough to stop her Ultimate Ice from freezing me into a statue."
"But by the end, she had no choice but to admit defeat."
A complex look flickered in Bi Ji's eyes as she said this.
Just a few hours earlier.
On the Far North Ice Plains.
She hadn't utterly overwhelmed the Ice Empress with brute force. Instead, she had relied on the ceaseless wind elements, which could dissolve Ultimate Ice, to drain the Ice Empress of all her Soul Power.
That power didn't belong to her, nor did it fall within the realm of Soul Beasts.
It was a divine gift.
"As long as she's convinced."
Venti swung his legs and even whistled contentedly.
"Since she's accepted defeat, I imagine they'll make their decision soon."
The Core Circle of the Far North.
The cold wind howled, and snow swept across the land.
The temperature here was so low it was almost unbearable. Even steel would grow as brittle as glass.
Inside a crystal-clear ice palace.
Two peerlessly beautiful figures stood facing one another.
One wore a long emerald-green dress, her twin tails hanging playfully behind her. She was the Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North.
But at that moment, her face was pale, and a smear of dried blood still marked the corner of her mouth. Her usually proud eyes were filled with defeat.
"Elder sister!"
"I refuse to accept this!"
The Ice Empress gritted her teeth and slammed a hand against the Ten Thousand Year Mysterious Ice Bed beneath her.
"We both know what level Bi Ji used to be!"
"She was just a walking Milk Bottle! What could she do besides heal people?"
"But today... today, she could actually control that strange wind!"
"It was like the wind had eyes! No matter how violently I unleashed my Eternal Frozen Domain, she could easily dispel it, and even turn it around to drain my Soul Power!"
"That power definitely wasn't hers!"
Across from her.
A woman in a snow-white gown stood quietly.
Her hair was as white as fresh snow, her skin fair, and her eyes ethereal. She seemed to be the embodiment of the Far North Ice Plains itself—noble, sacred, and untouched by earthly dust.
The ruler of the Far North.
The Snow Empress.
Listening to the Ice Empress's complaints, the Snow Empress's cool expression barely changed. She merely let out a soft sigh.
"Bing'er."
"Can't you see it yet?"
The Snow Empress's voice was cool and clear, yet carried a power that pierced straight to the heart.
"You said it yourself. That wasn't Bi Ji's power."
"A healing-type Ferocious Beast who had never been much good at fighting was able to easily defeat you, a Ferocious Beast with three hundred and ninety thousand years of cultivation, after receiving that person's gift."
"That person..."
"What kind of existence must he be?"
The Ice Empress froze.
The rage that had filled her moments ago was instantly doused by the question.
That was right.
The one who granted power was always more frightening than the one who wielded it.
Bi Ji was merely a piece on the board, placed there casually by that human called Venti. She might even have been nothing more than a messenger.
Even the messenger could pin her down and grind her into the dirt.
What about the one behind it all?
"Besides..."
The Snow Empress turned around and gazed through the ice palace windows toward the distant south.
"The Sky Curtain appeared, and King of Ten Thousand Monsters and Xiong Jun were listed one after another."
"This world has changed."
"The Star Dou Forest has Di Tian holding down the fort, and now it seems they've also made contact with Your Majesty Venti."
"What about the Far North?"
"Besides the two of us sisters, who else can hold up the sky over this land?"
The Ice Empress opened her mouth to argue, but found she had nothing to say.
The Titan Snow Demon King, that big fool?
She might as well expect the sun to rise in the west as count on him to stand against those terrifying monsters.
"Then... what do you think we should do, elder sister?"
The Ice Empress asked cautiously.
"Bi Ji passed on an invitation from Your Majesty Venti. He wants us to form an alliance."
"Should we accept?"
The Snow Empress fell silent for a moment.
She raised her head and looked toward the Sky Curtain, where golden light shimmered.
Just then.
The images on the Sky Curtain changed again.
The dark green haze cleared, replaced by snow-white purity.
Amid the falling snow, a line of golden characters slowly appeared.
[Strength Ranking · Ninth Place]
[Name: Snow Empress]
[Species: Heavenly Snow Woman (690,000 years of cultivation)]
[Affiliation: Ruler of the Far North]
[Martial Soul (true form): Ultimate Ice and Snow, Emperor's Palm, Emperor Sword, Emperor's Cold Heaven]
As the ranking was announced, the Snow Empress's peerless beauty was reflected in the eyes of every living being across the continent.
Beautiful.
It was a pure beauty that transcended species and gender.
But beneath that beauty lay a terrifying chill, cold enough to freeze the soul.
Six hundred and ninety thousand years!
More than a hundred thousand years of cultivation above the tenth-place King of Ten Thousand Monsters!
That was the weight behind the Far North's ruler.