You Vile, Weak Human!

Hearing Snow Empress's words, Ice Empress looked at Qian Qizhou in displeasure. Unconcealed hostility and savagery instantly flared in her eyes.

This human! What right did he have to be so close to Xue'er?

"Human!" A piercing, ear-splitting mental roar, brimming with fury and loathing, slammed straight into Qian Qizhou's mind!

The next moment, Ice Empress's enormous scorpion tail shot toward Qian Qizhou's chest without warning.

"Watch out!" Snow Empress cried out. She hadn't expected Ice Empress to suddenly launch an attack.

Qian Qizhou's pupils contracted sharply as an overwhelming sense of mortal peril enveloped him.

Engulfing Lightning appeared in his hand in an instant. Without hesitation, he poured all his strength into it and held the blade across his body, blocking Ice Empress's strike.

"Clang—!!!!!"

The emerald-green tip of the scorpion tail slammed into the blade of Engulfing Lightning!

"Boom—!!!!!"

A deafening clash of metal rang out, and then a terrifying blast of energy burst open like a tsunami.

Qian Qizhou felt an unimaginable force surge toward him, accompanied by a terrifying chill.

"Pfft!"

His throat turned sweet with blood. The skin between his thumbs and forefingers split open as he gripped the blade, and he was sent flying backward like he'd been struck by an iceberg. He couldn't resist at all.

"Xiao Zhou!" Snow Empress's expression changed. She appeared in the path of Qian Qizhou's flight in an instant, catching him in a gentle, icy-blue glow.

Though she'd helped him shed some of the force, Qian Qizhou was still deathly pale and weak, clearly suffering from serious internal injuries.

Chen Xin and Gu Rong's expressions changed dramatically as well. Their Martial Souls appeared in an instant, and they were about to make a move.

"Ice Empress!" Snow Empress stepped in front of Qian Qizhou and shouted at her. Anger even showed in her icy-blue eyes.

At her words, Ice Empress's enormous body paused slightly. Her scorpion tail withdrew, but the savagery and hostility in her eyes didn't fade. Instead, she looked at Snow Empress with confusion and hurt.

Nearby, Qian Qizhou clutched his chest and finally managed to steady himself with Snow Empress's help. He could only smile wryly.

This really was a disaster out of nowhere. He'd just recovered from his old injuries, and now this sudden tail strike had given him new ones.

Seeing the blood spilling from the corner of Qian Qizhou's mouth and his weakened state, Snow Empress's anger flared even hotter.

She whipped around to face Ice Empress and unleashed the full, terrifying pressure of her seven-hundred-thousand-year cultivation, bearing down on her!

"Ice Empress! You've gone too far!"

Ice Empress's enormous body shuddered. Faced with that far greater pressure, she instinctively felt afraid.

Though she was also a ruler of the Far North, she was powerless against Snow Empress, whose cultivation was higher and bloodline nobler.

"Hiss..." Ice Empress let out a timid, aggrieved whine. Her huge pincers and scorpion tail drew in slightly, and she didn't dare make another move.

But Snow Empress wasn't about to let the matter go so easily. She flashed forward, appearing before Ice Empress's enormous head. She raised her jade-white hand and delivered a seemingly feather-light slap.

"Thump!"

With a muffled sound, Ice Empress's massive body was knocked rolling away by that single blow, crashing hard into a distant mountain.

She let out a pained shriek but didn't dare fight back, lying obediently on the ground.

Only then did Snow Empress give a cold snort and ease some of her pressure. "Stop being so willful."

Ice Empress lowered her head, looking utterly aggrieved, and finally behaved.

She understood now. That human held an extraordinary place in Xue'er's heart.

Snow Empress turned and returned to Qian Qizhou's side. Seeing how pale he was, a hint of apology passed through her eyes.

She raised a hand and sent a stream of Soul Power into him to stabilize his injuries, then said to Chen Xin and Gu Rong, "It was a misunderstanding. I'll keep her in check."

Ice Empress's enormous body wriggled. Amid a flash of emerald-green light, she quickly shrank and obediently settled behind Snow Empress.

After returning to the Pure Land of the King, Qian Qizhou began his miserable recovery all over again.

Snow Empress still insisted on preparing his meals herself...

Fortunately, her pure Soul Power continued to heal him, and his injuries were recovering steadily enough.

Meanwhile, a new resident had joined the Pure Land: Ice Empress.

Most of the time, Ice Empress quietly lay beside Snow Empress.

But whenever Snow Empress wasn't nearby, Ice Empress looked at Qian Qizhou with undisguised wariness and scrutiny—and a trace of... disdain?

It was as if she were saying, "What right does this weak human have to earn Xue'er's favor and care?"

Qian Qizhou couldn't help feeling helpless about it.

He'd tried to show her kindness, like sharing some of his porridge with her in an attempt to share their hardships.

But Ice Empress had merely flicked it aside with her scorpion tail, looking at him as if he were an idiot trying to poison her.

Qian Qizhou understood now. This scorpion was a die-hard Snow Empress fan, with a deep-rooted prejudice and hostility toward the human race.

"Hey, human." Ice Empress's voice suddenly rang in Qian Qizhou's mind, full of impatience and a hint of arrogance.

"How much longer are you going to lie around here recovering? Xue'er spends Soul Power on you every day, and you're shameless enough to accept it without a care."

Qian Qizhou didn't even raise his eyelids. He continued circulating his Soul Power and calmly retorted, "First, I have a name. It's Qian Qizhou."

"Second, do you really not know whose fault it is that I need to recover?"

Ice Empress's scorpion tail abruptly stopped, then lifted in a fit of embarrassment and anger. "Hmph! You're the one who got so close!"

"Weak human, you dared to stand so close to Xue'er in front of me. You deserved to get hurt!"

"Oh?" Qian Qizhou opened his eyes and looked at her playfully. "So the mighty four-hundred-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion is jealous?"

At that, Ice Empress was so furious her face turned red. "You! Vile, weak human! If Xue'er weren't protecting you, I would have..."

"Would have what?" Qian Qizhou interrupted her, speaking unhurriedly. "Hit me with your tail again? Then wait to get beaten up by Sister Snow again?"

"Impudent! You dare mock me?!"

"I wouldn't dare," Qian Qizhou replied helplessly, waving his hand. "I'm just stating the facts."

"Besides, a friendly reminder: the sofa you're lying on right now used to be mine."

"By your logic, shouldn't you, the noble Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, find something used by a vile, weak human like me disgusting?"

Ice Empress: "..."

She abruptly looked down at the soft sofa beneath her, then up at Qian Qizhou's half-smiling expression, and was left speechless.

Throw it away? She couldn't bear to.

After all, the Far North was nothing but ice. There was nowhere else this comfortable to lie down.

Keep lying there? Then it felt like she'd lost face.

"Hmph! I'm not going to argue with a sharp-tongued human like you!"

In the end, she could only turn away in a huff, coil her tail around herself, and pretend to close her eyes and rest.