Snow Empress Exposed, Lord of the Far North!

However.

Watching this scene, Snow Empress felt not a shred of joy.

"Ninth place..."

Snow Empress murmured to herself.

"Even I am only ninth."

"What kind of monsters must the eight ahead be?"

"Now that this Golden Ranking has exposed them, all the powerhouses have surfaced. With my strength, it is no longer enough to protect the Far North."

"The only way is an alliance."

"An alliance?"

Snow Empress suddenly shook her head, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Bing'er, we are too naive."

"A so-called alliance is built upon the foundation of equal strength between both parties."

"As we are now, what qualifications do we have to discuss an alliance with His Excellency Venti?"

"If we truly acted as if we were equals, I fear we wouldn't even know how we died."

"..."

Having said this, Snow Empress took a deep breath, a flash of resolve crossing her ethereal eyes.

"Since we must seek a backer."

"Then we must do it thoroughly."

"Rather than putting on airs for the sake of some pathetic dignity, it is better to surrender directly."

"We go to Godwind City."

"We shall stake our lives and fortunes on that Wind God."

Ice Emperor widened her eyes.

"Sister! We are leaving the Far North?"

"But... but our roots are all here. This place has the environment most suited for our cultivation. If we go to the human world, that heat wave..."

Snow Empress raised a hand to cut her off.

"That is exactly what I am gambling on."

"I am betting that since he could bestow the power of wind upon Bi Ji, he can naturally preserve a pure land for us as well."

Outside Godwind City.

A golden streak of light tore across the horizon, its speed reaching the absolute limit.

Qian Renxue was dressed in a golden palace gown, her stunning face etched with a hint of gravity.

She had brought no attendants with her.

The Sky Curtain had undergone an anomaly, and the continent was about to fall into chaos. Only that mysterious youth who had appeared in Godwind City might be the sole variable.

"Godwind City..."

Qian Renxue hovered in mid-air, looking down at the city below, which was enveloped by a massive wind wall.

Even from a great distance, she could feel that pure elemental wind that made her Angel Martial Soul tremble.

Just as she prepared to descend.

A sudden change occurred.

Inside the City Lord Mansion, a cyan pillar of light shot into the sky, piercing directly into the clouds.

Immediately following.

That familiar, flippant voice echoed across the heavens and earth.

"Oh my, oh my."

"This is quite the massive project."

"But since the neighbors are so sincere, as the host, I really must help them move house, right?"

Qian Renxue froze.

Moving house?

What moving house?

The next moment.

Her pale golden eyes constricted violently, and her entire body stiffened in mid-air, even forgetting to breathe.

She saw the northern horizon.

The sky, which should have been cloudless, suddenly darkened.

It was not dark clouds.

It was a landmass!

No.

To be precise, it was an entire, continuous glacial mountain range covered in ten-thousand-year-old snow!

That massive shadow blotted out the sun, carrying an oppressive force capable of crushing everything, flying just beneath the clouds at an incredible speed!

And beneath that colossal glacier.

Countless currents of cyan wind, like millions of giant hands, steadily supported this multi-million-ton behemoth.

There was no violent shaking.

There was no earth-shattering roar.

The wild wind, at this moment, was as gentle as if it were cradling a piece of fragile tofu.

"This... how is this possible?!"

Qian Renxue gasped in shock.

Moving mountains and filling seas!

This was true mountain-moving and sea-filling!

Even her grandfather, who was hailed as invincible in the sky, could not achieve such a feat!

This had completely transcended the scope of a Spirit Master, and even exceeded her understanding of a "god"!

Inside Godwind City.

Countless commoners and Spirit Masters looked up at the sky, their mouths agape, standing like statues.

They watched as that icy world belonging to the Far North slowly drifted overhead, then landed gently on a wasteland to the north of Godwind City.

Rumble—

A faint, muffled sound echoed.

That was the earth accepting its new neighbor.

Immediately after.

A translucent cyan light barrier rose, completely enveloping the glacier that had just landed.

Inside the barrier, snow swirled and the cold was biting, maintaining the original frigid environment of the Far North.

Outside the barrier, Godwind City remained sunny and pleasant, not even a trace of chill leaking through.

A single wall separated two completely different worlds.

In the back garden of the City Lord Mansion.

Venti clapped his hands, as if he had just finished a trivial task.

He picked up his wine glass again and raised it toward the newly arrived "neighbor" in the north.

"Welcome to Godwind Residential District."

"The property management fees here are very cheap, you know."

Only after doing all this did he slowly turn his head.

Qian Renxue hovered in mid-air, her pale golden eyes fixed on the glacier below that completely defied the laws of nature.

That entire chunk of the Far North was like a piece of cake someone had casually sliced off and forcibly inserted into the territory of Godwind City.

And the person who had done all this was sitting in the garden, holding a wine glass, looking completely at ease.

Qian Renxue felt her throat go dry.

She took a deep breath, her Six-Winged Angel wings slowly retracting, and she descended into the back garden of the City Lord Mansion as a streak of golden light.

The moment she landed, the crisp scent of apple cider wafted toward her.

Venti did not even turn around.

He simply swirled the goblet in his hand, watching the amber liquid refract charming halos in the sunlight.

"If you don't mind, would you like a glass?"

"This is a freshly opened vintage; the taste is quite excellent."

The youth's voice was clear, carrying a unique youthful quality, showing no airs of a powerhouse at all.

Qian Renxue looked at the youth she once thought she knew, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Before, she only felt that Venti was mysterious and somewhat hard to read.

But now, this was not just hard to read.

This was clearly an unfathomable abyss.

"Just... how far have you actually reached?"

Qian Renxue did not reach for the cup of wine, instead staring at Venti's back as she asked.

Venti turned around.

His delicate face was flushed with a slight, tipsy glow, and his emerald eyes curved into two crescent moons.

"Which step?"

Venti tilted his head, seemingly pondering the question in earnest.

"Probably the step where I can drink whenever I want and sleep whenever I please, anywhere I like."

Qian Renxue fell silent.

This answer was far from serious.

Yet, paired with the feat of moving mountains and filling seas she had just witnessed, it felt like the absolute truth.

Because one is powerful, one is free.

"Sit."

Venti gestured toward the stone stool opposite him.

"Even though you came to watch the spectacle, since you are here, you are a guest."

"Feng Xiaotian, pour a drink for this... hmm, pour a drink for this lady."

Feng Xiaotian, standing to the side, had long since gone numb.

Too many shocking events had occurred today, so many that his nerves had already become dull.