When she heard Snow Empress's words, Zi JI's brows shot up.
Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and a complicated look flashed through them.
She hadn't expected that another version of herself from this world had followed them here. Was it the aura that had come from the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest earlier?
At the time, she'd been focused on protecting Gu An and hurrying along, so she hadn't paid close attention.
Thinking back now, that aura, almost identical to hers, had clearly belonged to another Hell Demon Dragon King.
So it hadn't been her imagination. The Zi JI of this world had sensed her presence too.
"Did she sense my aura and come all this way to investigate...?"
Zi JI murmured to herself.
Ice Empress had also sensed the aura rapidly approaching.
Her perception wasn't as keen as Snow Empress's.
But she was a Ferocious Beast too, and they were on the wide-open, unobstructed ice fields of the Far North.
A Dragon Clan aura was charging straight at them without the slightest attempt at concealment. It would have been harder not to notice it.
But it was precisely because she had sensed it that Ice Empress's expression grew even more complicated.
She stared hard at Snow Empress's profile, biting her lip.
Snow Empress had actually believed what that human brat had said.
And now Ice Empress believed most of it too.
If there really was another Zi JI, then those things about the future were very likely true.
In the future, she really would scheme against Snow Empress, using "rescue" as an excuse to send her to a human to become his daughter.
Although... if that future were real, wouldn't it mean Snow Empress would stay with her all along?
She wouldn't have to think about Metamorphosis and Re-cultivation anymore. She wouldn't have to worry about Snow Empress leaving the Far North. She could see Snow Empress every day...
Ice Empress abruptly shook her head, trying to fling the thought from her mind.
But the thought seemed to have taken root. The moment she shook it off, it sprang right back.
Her little face flushed red, then pale, as she gritted her teeth.
She wanted to say something to Snow Empress to explain herself, but after opening her mouth for a long while, she couldn't get a single word out.
At that moment, the other "Zi JI," who had just entered the Far North, also sensed the three Ferocious Beast auras in the distance, all utterly undisguised.
She raised a hand to hold down the long hair the cold wind had blown across her forehead and looked toward the direction the auras came from.
One was Ice Empress.
The other was even stronger, vast as the sea and almost fused with the ice and snow of the entire Far North. There was no doubt that it was Snow Empress.
And the third—
She felt the bloodline resonance within her, sharing the same source as that aura.
The aura of a Hell Demon Dragon King!
An aura exactly like her own!
"Zi JI's" breathing grew slightly quicker.
"I knew I hadn't imagined it!"
But with things like this, she was starting to feel a little afraid to go over.
What if all three Ferocious Beasts attacked her at once?
Ice Empress and Snow Empress had never had much to do with the Star Dou Great Forest. In fact, they'd always minded their own business.
Now a Ferocious Beast from the Star Dou Great Forest had wandered onto their territory, and across from her was another Hell Demon Dragon King who had appeared from who knew where.
If a fight broke out, she'd be one against three. She wouldn't even have a chance to fight back!
While she was still hesitating, the three auras locked onto her all at once.
Three Ferocious Beast-level psychic forces fell upon her simultaneously.
"Zi JI's" heart lurched. She knew that even if she wanted to run now, it was too late.
Trying to outrun the Heavenly Snow Woman in the Far North was just asking to die.
Since that was the case, she wouldn't run.
Taking a deep breath, "Zi JI" suppressed her unease.
She stomped down hard, turning into a streak of purple light as she charged straight toward the source of the three auras.
She had to find out where this other Hell Demon Dragon King had come from!
At the same time,
as Zi JI hurried toward them, Huo Yuhao, who had set out several days earlier and traveled day and night, finally entered the Far North.
A thin layer of white silk wrapped around him.
The Cicada Molt shed by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm emitted a faint Soul Power fluctuation, shielding him from the bone-chilling cold outside.
If he hadn't had this treasure, his meager Soul Power cultivation would have turned him into an ice sculpture long ago.
But even with the Cicada Molt protecting him, Huo Yuhao was still far too weak.
He took every step with great care.
Despite his pitiful strength, he could still tell that something was badly wrong with the atmosphere in the Far North.
An indescribable sense of oppression hung in the air.
Huo Yuhao hunched his shoulders, exhaled a puff of white mist, and felt his lips turn purple with cold.
He swallowed nervously and cautiously asked the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness, "Brother Sky Dream, are you sure we came to the right place?"
"Why does the atmosphere feel so strange here...? It's way too quiet around us. Quiet enough to be scary."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm didn't look any better.
It huddled in Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea, its plump silkworm body trembling involuntarily.
As a million-year Soul Beast with immensely powerful mental strength, it could sense things much more clearly than Huo Yuhao!
The atmosphere in the Far North wasn't merely tense. It felt as if the whole place could explode at any moment.
Especially those three completely undisguised auras!
Ice Empress, Snow Empress, and a Dragon Clan aura that made it gnash its teeth in hatred.
Of course it knew Zi JI's aura!
It had been squeezed dry for who knew how many years in the Star Dou Great Forest by Di Tian and his gang of bandits!
It remembered every one of those bastards clearly!
Especially that cold-blooded Hell Demon Dragon King—the greediest woman of the lot! She'd drained no small amount of mental strength from it!
Knowing that, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm still had no intention of backing down.
Its eyes rolled as it carefully sensed the auras in the distance, and an idea suddenly occurred to it.
It didn't think the Ferocious Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest could get along with the two overlords of the Far North.
It knew Ice Empress's temper best: violent and proud, she respected no one but Snow Empress.
Zi JI wasn't as old as Bingbing or Snow Empress. If a conflict broke out, wouldn't that be the perfect chance to fish in troubled waters?
And even if there wasn't a conflict, it could make one happen!
"Don't panic, don't panic, Little Yuhao. Big Bro's got your back. You won't die!"
"But you really do need to be careful. There seem to be a few Ferocious Beasts gathered up ahead. Let's sneak over quietly and try not to disturb them."
"When they start fighting, we'll take advantage of the chaos and scoop up the spoils!"
Huo Yuhao felt a pang of unease, but they were already here, and he had no other choice.
He gritted his teeth and nodded, then crouched low and crept step by step through the thick snow toward the strongest auras.
As they quietly drew closer,
the "Zi JI" of this world finally crossed the last stretch of icy forest and reached the clearing, where the atmosphere was so tense it seemed ready to freeze.
Before she could even steady herself, her gaze landed on the five figures opposite her.
Snow Empress stood in the very center, dressed in white as pure as snow.
Ice Empress stood beside Snow Empress, glaring at her with an extraordinarily complicated look.
Then there was a human boy with black hair and black eyes, held in a woman's arms.
And that woman—
Zi JI's gaze fixed on her.
The same long purple-black hair. The same features.
But that face looked a little more mature than hers, with a deeper, colder beauty between the brows. Her figure was fuller, and her bearing steadier.
The woman was looking at her too. Two pairs of identical violet eyes met across the swirling snow.
The "Zi JI" of this world went completely blank.
She instinctively raised a hand to touch her own face, then looked at the version of herself opposite her.
Even though she'd suspected as much, she still nearly lost it when she saw her own face in person!
Her whole mind was buzzing.
Looking the same was one thing, but why was your cultivation over a hundred thousand years higher than mine?!