However.
Snow Empress, watching this scene, showed no joy at all.
"Ninth place..."
Snow Empress murmured to herself.
"Even I'm only ninth."
"What kind of monsters are the eight ahead of me?"
"Now that the Golden Ranking has exposed them, all the powerful are coming out of the woodwork. With my strength, I'm not enough to protect the Far North anymore."
"Only an alliance can help us."
"An alliance?"
Snow Empress suddenly shook her head, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.
"Bing'er, we were too naive."
"An alliance is built on the foundation of both sides having equal strength."
"What right do we have to talk about an alliance with Lord Venti?"
"If we really acted as though we were equals, we might not even know how we died."
"..."
At this, Snow Empress took a deep breath. A resolute glint flashed in her ethereal eyes.
"If we're going to find someone to rely on,"
"then let's do it properly."
"Rather than putting on airs for the sake of that pitiful scrap of dignity, we may as well surrender outright."
"Let's go to Godwind City."
"We'll stake our lives and everything we have on that Wind God."
Ice Empress's eyes widened.
"Big sister! We're leaving the Far North?"
"But... but our roots are all here. This place has the best environment for our cultivation. If we go to the human world, that scorching heat..."
Snow Empress raised a hand to stop her.
"That's what I'm gambling on, too."
"I'm betting that since he could grant Bi Ji the power of wind, he can also preserve a sanctuary for us."
Outside Godwind City.
A golden streak of light tore across the sky at incredible speed.
Qian Renxue wore a golden ceremonial gown, a grave expression on her peerlessly beautiful face.
She had not brought any attendants.
The Sky Curtain had changed, and the continent would soon fall into chaos. That mysterious young man who had appeared in Godwind City might be the only variable.
"Godwind City..."
Qian Renxue hovered in the air, gazing down at the city wrapped in a vast wind wall.
Even from far away, she could feel the pure wind element stirring her Angel Martial Soul.
Just as she was about to descend,
a sudden change occurred.
A pillar of azure light shot into the sky from the City Lord Mansion, disappearing into the clouds.
Immediately afterward,
that familiar, carefree voice echoed across heaven and earth.
"Oh, my."
"This is quite the undertaking."
"But since our neighbor has shown such sincerity, surely I, as the host, ought to help them move in, don't you think?"
Qian Renxue froze.
Move in?
What was he talking about?
In the next instant,
her pale golden eyes contracted sharply. She went rigid in midair, forgetting even to breathe.
In the northern sky,
the clear sky, which should have stretched cloudlessly for thousands of miles, suddenly darkened.
It wasn't a bank of clouds.
It was a landmass!
No—
More precisely, it was an unbroken stretch of glacial mountains, blanketed in snow that had lasted ten thousand years!
The enormous shadow blotted out the sky, pressing down with enough force to crush everything. It flew toward them along the clouds at an unbelievable speed!
Beneath the vast glacier,
countless streams of azure wind, like millions of enormous hands, held aloft the colossal mass weighing billions of tons.
There was no violent shaking.
No deafening roar of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting apart.
At that moment, the raging wind was as gentle as if it were cradling a piece of fragile tofu.
"H-how is this possible?!"
Qian Renxue cried out.
Moving mountains and filling seas!
This was truly the power to move mountains and fill seas!
Even her grandfather, who was hailed as invincible in the skies, could never have done something like this!
This was entirely beyond the bounds of Soul Masters—not to mention beyond her understanding of "gods"!
Inside Godwind City,
countless citizens and Soul Masters stared up at the sky, their mouths gaping, frozen like wooden statues.
They watched as the snowy world of the Far North passed slowly overhead, then settled gently onto a stretch of barren land north of Godwind City.
Rumble—
A faint, muffled sound rolled across the land.
The earth was welcoming its new neighbor.
Immediately afterward,
a translucent azure barrier rose, completely enclosing the glacier that had just landed.
Inside the barrier, snow fell in torrents and the air bit with cold, preserving the Far North's original frigid climate.
Outside the barrier, Godwind City remained sunny and mild. Not even a trace of cold escaped.
Just one wall apart,
and yet they were two entirely different worlds.
In the rear garden of the City Lord Mansion,
Venti clapped his hands, as though he had just finished some trivial little chore.
He picked up his wineglass again and raised it toward the new "neighbor" to the north.
"Welcome to Godwind Residential District."
"The maintenance fees here are very cheap."
Only after finishing all that did he turn around at an unhurried pace.
Qian Renxue hovered in midair, her pale golden eyes fixed on the glacier below, which defied every law of nature.
The entire Far North looked like a piece of cake someone had casually cut away and forcibly fitted into Godwind City's territory.
And the person who had done it was sitting in the garden, wineglass in hand, looking utterly at ease.
Qian Renxue felt her throat go dry.
She took a deep breath. The six wings of the Six-Winged Angel behind her slowly folded away, and she descended into the rear garden of the City Lord Mansion in a streak of golden light.
The moment she landed, the crisp fragrance of apple wine wafted toward her.
Venti didn't even turn around.
He simply swirled the goblet in his hand, watching the amber liquid catch the sunlight and gleam.
"Would you like a glass, if you don't mind?"
"It's a freshly opened vintage. The taste is quite nice."
The young man's voice was clear, full of youthful vigor, and carried not the slightest trace of a powerful figure's arrogance.
Qian Renxue looked at the young man she had once known, her heart a tangled mess.
She had once thought Venti mysterious, someone she couldn't quite see through.
But now, this wasn't a matter of being unable to see through him.
He was an unfathomable abyss.
"You... just how far have you reached?"
Qian Renxue didn't take the offered wine. Instead, she asked while staring at Venti's back.
Venti turned around.
A faint flush colored his delicate face, and his emerald eyes curved into crescent moons.
"How far?"
Venti tilted his head, seeming to give the question some serious thought.
"I guess I'm at the point where I can drink whenever I want and sleep whenever I want."
Qian Renxue fell silent.
It was a thoroughly unserious answer.
But after what he had just done—moving mountains and filling seas—it somehow sounded like the truth.
Because he was powerful, he was free.
"Have a seat."
Venti pointed to the stone bench opposite him.
"Even if you came to watch the show, you're a guest now that you're here."
"Feng Xiaotian, pour this young lady... hmm, pour her a drink."
Feng Xiaotian had long since gone numb.
So many shocking things had happened today that his nerves had grown dull.