[But shortly after you were born, the Soul Beasts your parents had just hunted down returned with their clan.]
[The already wounded mercenary group had no chance to fight back and could only flee in disarray. As the Soul Beasts relentlessly pursued them, your parents accidentally left you behind.]
[But those dangerous Soul Beasts did nothing to helpless little you. After pursuing your parents for a while, they chose to leave.]
[In the frozen wasteland, you were left alone to endure the biting wind.]
Helplessness.
Cold.
Despair.
As the cold wind swept over you, the quilt wrapped around your tiny body seemed unbearably thin.
Yu Tianjue had never imagined that the so-called Life Simulation would feel so real.
The howling wind was like a sharp knife, ceaselessly slicing at his tender face, though he had been born only a short while ago. His helpless body filled him with despair. He couldn't change a thing; he could only lie quietly in the swirling snow and wait to die.
Who knew how much time passed?
Perhaps it was only a fleeting moment, or perhaps an eternity. A figure suddenly appeared beside Yu Tianjue.
She had a delicate, breathtakingly beautiful face. Pure white hair fell from the back of her head all the way to her feet, light as if formed from ice and snow, without a single strand of another color. Her tall, slender figure was perfectly proportioned, and her skin was pale and translucent. She wore only a simple white dress, without a single ornament, like a plum blossom blooming alone amid winter's frost—elegant and peerless.
It looked like...he'd been saved?
No, perhaps he wasn't entirely safe yet.
Yu Tianjue could see that the figure seemed hesitant, as though she was considering what to do with him.
Only when Yu Tianjue felt he was about to freeze to death did she finally move.
She reached out and carefully lifted him into her arms.
[After a fierce internal struggle, Snow Empress ultimately chose to save you.]
[As the ruler of the Far North, Snow Empress made the cold wind vanish the instant she picked you up. The knife-like chill that had nearly killed you disappeared as well.]
[You survived and were taken by Snow Empress to the Ice and Snow Palace in the Core Circle of the Far North.]
[There, you met another ruler of the Far North: Ice Empress, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.]
[Ice Empress was deeply puzzled by Snow Empress's decision to bring you back. She believed that humans and Soul Beasts were enemies. Even if Snow Empress didn't want to kill you herself, she should have turned a blind eye and let you die in the cold.]
[But it was Snow Empress's decision, so although Ice Empress didn't understand it, she didn't do anything about it.]
[But soon, Snow Empress and Ice Empress faced a difficult problem: as a newborn baby, you needed milk to fill your stomach. With no other choice, Ice Empress grumbled as she went to the nearest town in the Far North and bought the formula a baby needed.]
[And so, you gradually grew up under the care of Snow Empress and Ice Empress.]
Time flew by, and the years slipped past.
Perhaps because of the system's simulation, Yu Tianjue felt time was passing at breakneck speed, like hitting fast-forward while watching porn. In no time at all, several years had gone by.
Still, Yu Tianjue retained his memories of those years.
He remembered Snow Empress gently telling him stories about the Far North. He remembered Ice Empress complaining about him while always looking after him and keeping him safe. He had also met the Titan Snow Demon King, who wasn't particularly kind to him, and Ice Bear King Xiaobai, who was always grinning like a fool.
By his reckoning, it was about time for him to awaken his Martial Soul.
But Snow Empress and Ice Empress never mentioned Martial Soul Awakening. It seemed they already regarded him as one of their own.
That lasted until his sixth birthday.
Ice and Snow Palace.
The inside of the palace was entirely different from the world outside. Beyond its walls, the wind howled and snow billowed, but Yu Tianjue felt little cold inside—only a refreshing coolness.
"Tian Jue."
Snow Empress softly called him by the name she had chosen herself, her expression somewhat conflicted. After six years of caring for him, she had long since developed something akin to familial affection for Yu Tianjue. If she could, she truly didn't want him to become a Soul Master.
More precisely, she didn't want him to walk the same path she had once dreamed of for herself.
But when she thought of the approaching tribulations that awaited her and Ice Empress, Snow Empress steeled herself and slowly poured her immense Soul Power into Yu Tianjue's body.
Yu Tianjue could clearly feel a trace of Soul Power appear within him. But it caused him no harm; instead, it seemed to be guiding him, constantly drawing out the Martial Soul he already possessed.
[With Snow Empress's guidance, you awakened your Martial Soul. Like your mother, you awakened the exceedingly rare Ice Dragon Martial Soul. And Snow Empress sensed that your Soul Power had reached the Innate Full Soul Power level.]
[You excitedly asked Snow Empress and Ice Empress about Innate Full Soul Power and your Martial Soul, but you didn't notice Snow Empress's expression turn complicated for an instant.]
[Soon, under Snow Empress's guidance, you began your cultivation journey. Ice Empress often sought out natural treasures suited to you.]
[And so, you made rapid progress. At just nine years old, your Soul Power reached level twenty. But Snow Empress still didn't let you obtain a Soul Ring; she only told you to keep cultivating.]
[When you were twelve, your Soul Power Level reached thirty. That was when Snow Empress found three Soul Beasts and had them sacrifice themselves for you.]
[At the same time, Snow Empress told you everything.]
[Snow Empress had saved you because she wanted to raise you into a god. Knowing she couldn't overcome her tribulation, she had tried to use this method to let herself and Ice Empress attain a different kind of immortality. That was why they had cared for you so attentively and raised you so devotedly—and why they had even found several Soul Beasts to sacrifice themselves for you, despite knowing you couldn't absorb them.]
Looking at Snow Empress and Ice Empress standing before him, Yu Tianjue fell silent.
Perhaps Snow Empress had saved him at first only to keep him alive and use him.
If this path failed, Snow Empress would find another way. Perhaps that truly had been what she intended at the time. But the years of care she had given him, and her kindness in saving him from freezing to death in the snow, were real.
The affection between them was real, too.
So Yu Tianjue didn't hesitate for long before agreeing.
He would become a god and help Snow Empress and Ice Empress survive.