The Snow Empress's Dream

Yu Xiaogang left the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect in desolation.

Aside from a few people close to him, no one in the entire family actually cared. Even those who learned of the matter merely sighed, thinking that this good-for-nothing had finally left.

Although Yu Tianjue did not care about Yu Xiaogang's situation, he still heard the news of his departure from Yu Tianheng.

Upon hearing this, Yu Tianjue let out a long sigh of relief.

If that guy had stayed in the family, Yu Tianjue would have been genuinely worried that he would come running every few days, all for the sake of that so-called method for the secondary evolution and mutation of his martial soul.

Fortunately, this water ghost had finally left.

Yu Tianheng was still worried about whether Yu Xiaogang would be bullied after leaving the sect... To this, he could only say that Yu Tianheng was overthinking it.

Not long after leaving the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, Yu Xiaogang would encounter Flender and Liu Erlong, and the three of them would go on to forge the reputation of the Golden Iron Triangle. After that came the infamous, taboo romance between siblings that Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong were so fond of.

It had to be said, although Yu Xiaogang was a failure as a man, his luck with women was truly quite good.

Bibi Dong, Liu Erlong... Yu Tianjue found it hard to imagine what exactly Yu Xiaogang had used to attract these two women.

However, none of that had anything to do with him anymore, because he had now arrived at the edge of the Far North.

The Far North was located to the northwest of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's territory, separated by the Frozen Forest.

However, while passing through the Frozen Forest, Yu Yuanzhen did not stop at all, leading Yu Tianjue directly into that vast, treeless ice plain.

Although the Frozen Forest was also home to many ice-attribute soul beasts, compared to the Far North, the variety of soul beasts in the forest was far smaller, their strength relatively weaker, and there were simply no powerful races to be found.

Only the Far North could satisfy their needs.

As far as the eye could see, everything was a vast expanse of white, with cold winds howling. Yet, Yu Tianjue did not feel the slightest bit of cold or loneliness; instead, he felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had returned home.

After all, he had lived in the simulated world for decades...

While Yu Tianjue looked around, Yu Yuanzhen was observing him as well.

Perhaps due to his martial soul, Yu Tianjue did not show any signs of discomfort and did not seem to feel the cold at all; on the contrary, it gave him the impression that the boy was like a fish in water...

Yu Tianjue's ability to adapt to the environment far exceeded his expectations.

Yu Yuanzhen suddenly became interested. "Tianjue, you have learned much of the family's knowledge since childhood. Although your martial soul is not the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, all paths lead to the same destination. Tell me, what kind of soul beast would be best for your first soul ring?"

What kind of soul beast?

Except for special martial souls like the Rainbow Dragon, the vast majority of dragon-type martial souls followed the path of the pure, fierce assault system, so the hunting of soul rings naturally leaned toward the same types of soul beasts.

And as for the assault-type soul beasts of the Far North... he was more than familiar with them.

"I would prioritize ice-attribute sub-dragons of the Far North, such as the Frost Sub-Dragon or the Cold-Spine Ice Dragon. Second to those would be soul beasts with immense strength, such as the Ice Bear, the Titan Snow Demon, or other races with powerful physical bodies."

Hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen nodded in satisfaction.

"You are quite right, but you have overlooked another type of top-tier soul beast."

As he spoke, Yu Yuanzhen paused slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "The Ice Jade Scorpion, a top-tier predator of the Far North. A pair of ice pincers is their most lethal weapon. If you could hunt an Ice Jade Scorpion for a soul ring, it would likely grant your little black dragon a claw-type soul skill. Moreover, if you are lucky, such a top-tier soul beast might even drop a soul bone."

???

Hunting an Ice Jade Scorpion for a soul ring again?

The moment Yu Tianjue heard those three words, his entire body felt an indescribable resistance—in the simulated world, the Ice Empress had sacrificed herself for him, completing his final soul ring, but it had also left him with immense regret in that life simulation.

But upon further thought, Yu Tianjue breathed a sigh of relief.

Ice Jade Scorpions lived in the core area of the Far North; it was rare for them to wander to the outer perimeter. Even if one or two were to chase a soul beast into the outer area, it was unlikely that they would happen to be of the exact age suitable for him to absorb, right?

That would be far too coincidental.

"Let's go, let's look around first. In this vast ice plain, finding a soul ring that suits you is no easy task."

Far North, Core Area, Ice and Snow Palace.

The Snow Empress sat on her throne made of pure ice, lost in a daze.

In the last few days, she had been having strange, inexplicable dreams, and the content of these dreams was essentially the same.

In the dream, she found an infant on the verge of freezing to death in the outer reaches of the Far North, brought him back, cared for him meticulously, and raised him to adulthood, all with the goal of cultivating him into a god to rewrite the fate of herself and the Ice Empress.

It was a pity that the final outcome was exceptionally tragic.

To complete the divine trials, the Ice Empress chose to sacrifice herself for him, and in order to keep her alive, he chose to die in her arms, injecting a sliver of the divine power he had mastered into her body before he passed away.

The dream did not end there.

She begged the Ice God to resurrect him, but the Ice God expressed helplessness—even the Ice God had been moved by his actions.

With no other choice, she could only hold the human's corpse in profound grief and bury him in the frozen snow. For the time that followed, all she could do was silently watch over that grave, which was so close yet so far.

With the sliver of divine power he had injected into her body, her cultivation grew rapidly, and she soon reached the heavenly tribulation of eight hundred thousand years. Just as he had said before he died, the tribulation was no longer a difficult problem for her.

In just ten thousand years, she broke through nine hundred thousand years, becoming a supreme fierce beast truly capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Di Tian.

But she had lost everything.

She had lost the Ice Empress, and she had lost the companionship of the one who had long since shared a deep bond with her.

Snow Empress remembered every detail of the dream with absolute clarity. She remembered the human she had named Tian Jue in every stage of his life—as an infant, a child, a youth, and a young man—right up to the moment he died in her arms. She remembered everything that had transpired between him, herself, and Ice Empress, down to the most minute details.

It felt so real that it did not seem like a dream at all, but rather a story that had truly unfolded and existed.

She was the Ice Sky Snow Maiden, a soul beast; she was not meant to dream often like humans did, which made this situation all the more peculiar.

Snow Empress even felt that this was guidance from the Ice God, whom she had always revered. For this reason, she had made several special trips to the outer perimeter of the Far North, searching for the infant that had appeared in her dreams.

Regrettably, she ultimately found nothing at all.