Snow Empress watched them struggle in their death throes, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.
"Ants dare dance around in front of me?"
Then she turned her wrist. The Ice Crystal Sword swept a circle through the air, and a cold moon rose from its tip.
Where its light passed, the Yin-Yang Stasis Domain began crumbling from the edges inward.
Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes widened, his golden gaze filled with disbelief.
He desperately poured the Soul Power remaining in his body into the domain, trying to steady it as it teetered on the brink of collapse. But that icy-blue force was simply too strong. It was utterly crushing.
Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was like a three-year-old waving a wooden sword at a fully armed knight in front of Snow Empress. They weren't even in the same league.
"Old Ghost! Hold on!" Chrysanthemum Douluo's voice rasped with a hint of despair.
Ghost Douluo said nothing. He couldn't hold on any longer.
Snow Empress's Ice Crystal Sword fell.
Icy-blue sword energy flew from its blade.
The sword energy silently sliced through Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, then faded into the darkness of the ice cave.
Chrysanthemum Douluo froze.
He remained in the hand-seal pose, hands crossed in front of him, golden petals suspended around his body.
His eyes no longer moved.
A thin red line ran across his chest, from his left shoulder to his right ribs. Blood welled along it and dripped to the ground one drop at a time, making faint pattering sounds.
Ghost Douluo's body stiffened where he stood, then crashed heavily to the ground.
Snow Empress withdrew the Ice Crystal Sword. She glanced at the two corpses on the ground, then at Luo Yun.
"Anyone else?"
"No." Luo Yun replied.
Snow Empress nodded, became a streak of icy-blue light, and sank back into Luo Yun's palm.
Ice Empress also became a streak of emerald-green light and returned to Contract Space. The ice cave fell completely silent.
Luo Yun turned and walked back to his mother.
Shen Yinshuang still leaned against the ice wall, covered by Luo Shang's outer robe. Her face remained pale, though she looked a little better than before.
The Source of Life had healed most of her injuries, but she couldn't recover from such extreme exhaustion in a short time.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and her brow furrowed slightly, as if she were having a bad dream.
Luo Yun crouched beside her and took her hand. Emerald-green light flowed slowly from his palm into her body.
This time, he didn't urge the Source of Life to work at full power. He let it flow like a gentle stream, nourishing his mother's weakened body little by little.
Shen Yinshuang's eyelids twitched. Then, slowly and with difficulty, she opened them.
The first thing she saw was the ceiling of the ice cave, riddled with cracks and icicles.
Her gaze moved slowly from the ceiling to the ice wall, from the wall to the broken ice on the ground, then from the shards to the child crouched beside her, holding her hand, his body covered in blood.
The child's hair was black, and so were his eyes. There was no crimson killing intent, no dark-purple destruction—only the pure, clear black she knew so well.
Shen Yinshuang's eyes flew wide open.
"Xiaoyun?"
Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, but the moment those two words left her lips, Luo Yun's body trembled slightly.
His eyes reddened. With the crimson fading from them, they were now full of tears.
"Mother." His voice was so faint it sounded like he was speaking in a dream.
Shen Yinshuang abruptly sat up and pulled Luo Yun into her arms.
The movement was too sudden, and it tugged at her wounds, but she felt no pain.
Only one thought filled her mind.
Her son—her son was still alive. Her son had come back.
"Xiaoyun... Xiaoyun..." She repeated his name over and over, like a prayer.
Her hands moved across his back, checking that his body was whole.
Luo Yun's clothes were stained with blood and flecked with ice, marked by all the traces of battle, but Shen Yinshuang didn't care. She only held him, clinging tightly as if she could press him into her very body.
His mother was squeezing the breath out of him, but Luo Yun didn't struggle.
He closed his eyes and buried his face against her shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of his mother.
There was no smell of blood or burning—only the scent he had known since childhood.
His tears fell.
From the moment Frost Ridge City had burned, he hadn't cried.
He hadn't cried while slaughtering Spirit Hall Soul Masters in the ruins, while killing death-row convicts in the dungeon, while cutting his way through a hundred battles in Slaughter City, or while conquering Ice Empress and Snow Empress in the Far North.
But now he cried silently, his tears falling one by one onto his mother's clothes and spreading into a small, dark patch.
Luo Shang leaned against an ice pillar, watching the mother and son embrace. His eyes reddened too.
He turned away and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then turned back to look at them, a smile on his lips that he didn't even realize was there.
Their whole family had reunited.
After who knew how long, Shen Yinshuang finally let go of Luo Yun, but she still clutched his sleeve tightly, as if afraid he might run away.
She looked him over from head to toe: his hair, his eyes, his nose, his mouth, every scar on his body. Her lips trembled. She wanted to say so much, but a thousand words caught in her throat. In the end, only one sentence came out.
"You've lost weight."
Luo Yun froze for a moment, then smiled.
The smile was faint and tear-streaked, but it was the first time he had truly smiled since leaving Frost Ridge City.
"Mother, you've lost weight too."
Shen Yinshuang's tears fell again, but this time she smiled—laughing through her tears, crying through her laughter, like a madwoman.
Luo Shang crawled over from beside the ice pillar, wrapped both mother and son in his arms, and said nothing. He simply held them tightly.
The ice cave fell quiet.
Only the wind poured in through the entrance, bringing the Far North's distinctive chill and the scent of ice and snow.
Much later, Luo Yun spoke.
"Father, Mother, let's rebuild Frost Ridge City."
Luo Shang's hand paused.
He released them and looked at his son. After a moment of silence, he shook his head.
"Xiaoyun, our reputation... Spirit Hall has accused me of colluding with the Soul Beasts of the Far North." Luo Shang's voice was low, tinged with an indescribable bitterness.
"The people and officers in the Northern Territory who once followed me have all been killed by Spirit Hall. If we go back now, we'll be walking straight into a trap. I don't mind dying, but you and your mother..."
"Father." Luo Yun interrupted him. There was no killing intent or anger in his black eyes, only a weighty steadiness that put people at ease.
"We'll gather our strength in secret first. There's no need to rush into rebuilding."
Luo Shang looked at him without speaking.
Before you continue