Tang San's mouth twitched slightly, and he hurriedly shoved those nonsensical thoughts out of his mind.
"It's fine, it's fine."
He shook his head and forced a smile as he explained, "The Divine Realm's affairs have been a little complicated lately. I'm just tired. I'll be fine after I rest for a while."
Then he hurriedly added, "Xiao Wu, don't worry about me. I'm fine."
"By the way, there are still some things I need to deal with over at the God Realm Committee. I'll go take care of them first."
Before his words had even faded, a flash of blue divine light appeared, and Tang San vanished from the Sea God Temple.
The whole thing happened so quickly that Xiao Wu didn't even react. She stood rooted to the spot, dazed, her outstretched hand still hanging in midair.
A moment later, she slowly lowered her hand, and the light in her eyes dimmed.
Looking at the empty hall, she sighed softly.
"Third Brother..."
"What's been going on with you lately?"
The Sea God Temple fell silent once more. Only her soft sigh lingered, echoing through the vast hall, as if it held endless loneliness that refused to fade.
Deep within Ice God Great Rift Valley, Snow Empress and Xu Tianyao followed the mysterious guidance farther and farther in, until at last they found the source of the strange disturbance.
It turned out to be a small pool of icy water, dark blue in color, with wisps of white vapor constantly rising from its surface.
Just approaching it was enough to tell that the thing was frighteningly cold. If you fell in, tsk, tsk, tsk—you might not die, but you'd certainly freeze half to death.
Snow Empress furrowed her brows as she studied the pool. "Could it really be beneath this pool?"
Ice God Great Rift Valley stretched for countless miles in every direction, and this was the first time she had ever seen this pool.
Such a well-hidden place really could be the site of the Ice God's inheritance.
"Human, don't move around once we're down there. Stay close to me, understand?" Snow Empress released another thread of Soul Power, enveloping Xu Tianyao from head to toe.
Without waiting for his answer, she leapt straight into the pool with him, while Xu Tianyao stared in terror.
Once they entered the pool, Snow Empress's protection kept the cold from penetrating to the bone, though he could still feel it.
At last, he got a clear look at what the pool was really like.
From the surface, it looked like a small pond, but inside was another world. Rather than a pond, it was more like a passageway.
The passage stretched downward, completely filled with frigid water. Looking down, he couldn't see the bottom.
Traveling through this spatial tunnel gave him a strange sensation, much like crossing through time and space.
As the seconds passed, they descended deeper and deeper. The temperature kept dropping, and the pressure underwater kept rising, yet the pool's bottom remained unfathomably deep, with no end in sight.
Xu Tianyao gradually began to feel unwell. He looked over at Snow Empress and saw that her expression hadn't changed at all. He couldn't help admiring her.
With Snow Empress there, nothing would happen to him. But the ever-increasing pressure and the steadily dropping temperature were ultimately too much for his seven-year-old body to endure.
In a daze, Xu Tianyao sank completely into sleep.
Yet by falling asleep, he missed many things. All he knew was that he had a wonderfully sweet dream.
He dreamed that he saw a towering figure, but he couldn't make out what the figure looked like.
Still, the presence radiating from that figure filled Xu Tianyao with awe.
Xu Tianyao knew that this person was extraordinary, and that this dream was no mere coincidence. So he tried to remember something.
The scenery in the dream, the figure's movements, or even the words he spoke.
In the end, Xu Tianyao only managed to hear a few indistinct murmurs: "The world will's favor... let me... all for the sake of..."
The murmurs came in broken fragments, and Xu Tianyao couldn't make them out clearly. All he could remember was that hazy sentence.
Before long, a bone-piercing chill swept over his body again, making him shudder all over and finally rousing him from his stupor.
When he opened his eyes and saw the scene around him, he realized they had left the icy spring and Ice God Great Rift Valley.
Just as when they had come, Xu Tianyao was lying on a platform made of ice crystals, with Snow Empress guiding it as they headed back.
When Snow Empress saw that the human boy had woken up, she recalled everything that had happened beneath the pool, along with what the Ice God had said.
She actually turned her head to look at Xu Tianyao and said something that left him completely baffled.
"Human, what exactly did you mean by the cooperation you mentioned before? Perhaps we can discuss it."
Hearing Snow Empress extend an olive branch, propose cooperation, and take the initiative to show goodwill, Xu Tianyao paused in surprise, then began explaining his plan to her in detail.
He didn't know why Snow Empress's attitude had changed so quickly, but it surely had something to do with the Ice God.
The Ice God had sent Snow Empress to take him to the site of his inheritance, then deliberately kept him from waking up so they could meet in his dream.
And the Ice God hadn't left him any benefits or inheritance. Xu Tianyao had no idea what he was planning.
But for now, it seemed the other party meant him no harm and was even supporting Snow Empress in helping him. That was enough.
A few hours later, a sudden blizzard descended. Kong Deming sensed something unusual and felt a familiar presence. His heart leapt with joy, and he flew out of the snow cave where he had been hiding.
Kong Deming saw that Xu Tianyao didn't seem to have been hurt and that his complexion had improved considerably. He was even talking with that Soul Beast about something. Kong Deming's heart immediately tightened.
He hurried over, pulled Xu Tianyao behind him, and watched Snow Empress warily.
Xu Tianyao then told Kong Deming the outcome of his conversation with Snow Empress.
Snow Empress had just received some unknown benefit and completed the transformation that had been forcibly interrupted. She had also agreed to go with Xu Tianyao to the Sun Moon Empire and enter human society to cultivate.
Until Snow Empress could protect herself, Xu Tianyao would use the power of the New Sun Moon Empire to protect her with everything they had.
In return, Snow Empress would find him a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the Far North that was nearing the end of its lifespan and have it sacrifice itself to him, helping him break through his bottleneck.
Kong Deming stared in surprise at Xu Tianyao and the woman whose aura was so hard to pin down.
He had no idea what the two of them had done while they were away, but somehow they had managed to negotiate such an outrageous deal.
Still, no matter how he looked at it, this was an arrangement that could only benefit him, Xu Tianyao, and the Sun Moon Empire.
Never mind how much a Hundred-Thousand-Year ice-attribute Soul Beast sacrificing itself would benefit Xu Tianyao.
Once Snow Empress transformed, her fate would be in their hands, and she would no longer pose a threat. In the future, it wouldn't be out of the question to leave her as Tianyao's final Soul Ring.
Even if they didn't kill her, a genius with the Heavenly Snow Woman Martial Soul and the Ultimate Ice attribute could still have a chance of reaching the pinnacle in the future.
She would grow up in the Sun Moon Empire, deeply bound to the Empire.
If she truly grew powerful one day, that would be nothing but a boon for the Empire.
And so, although all three had their own agendas, they reached a common understanding.
Once Snow Empress summoned the Hundred-Thousand-Year Cold Moon Snow Falcon and it completed its sacrifice, this journey to the Far North would come to a perfect end.
Before you continue