Calling Snow Emperor... Mom?

They said that the first woman one saw upon opening one's eyes in life was one's mother.

If the first woman I saw when I opened my eyes was Ice Heaven Snow Maiden Snow Emperor...

Then what should I call her?

Extreme North.

Boom~!

A strange bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down from the nine heavens.

There were no dark clouds. Beneath a clear sky stretching for thousands of miles, it struck directly into the northern ice plains.

The instant the lightning hit the ground, countless chunks of solid ice were blasted away.

That bolt of heavenly lightning was not particularly powerful. To the Extreme North, such strength was hardly worth mentioning.

Yet what was strange was this.

The heavenly lightning had pierced straight through the ice layer of the Extreme North, reaching a depth of several dozen meters.

At the point where the lightning had fallen, an aura that annihilated everything slowly spread outward.

Inside the Ice Crystal Palace.

Snow Emperor sat leisurely upon her throne, faint snowflakes drifting around her.

Her features were exquisitely beautiful. Her skin was whiter than freshly fallen snow, while her ice-blue eyes were cold and clear, holding the indifference of a ruler.

Snow Emperor suddenly opened her eyes. Her brows drew together slightly. She had sensed it.

"This aura..."

Although the heavenly lightning's aura was faint, the power within it was incomparably pure.

Even from several miles away, Snow Emperor could sense the terror contained within that aura.

Such an abnormal occurrence.

Even Snow Emperor, who had lived for an unknown number of millennia, was encountering something like this for the first time.

"Interesting."

Snow Emperor rose and stepped out of the Ice Crystal Palace.

As the sovereign of the Extreme North, she was obligated to investigate.

If it was something that threatened the Extreme North, she would erase it without mercy.

Snow Emperor did not hesitate. With a flash, she transformed into a streak of light and flew away.

However, when Snow Emperor arrived, the sight before her shocked her.

The ice pit was dozens of meters deep, its edges smooth as though they had been sliced apart by an absolutely terrifying force.

The aura that annihilated everything was coming from deep within the bottom of the pit.

Snow Emperor lowered her gaze. A trace of solemnity flashed through her ice-blue eyes.

"Though this annihilating aura is still weak, it contains the aura of the laws of heaven and earth."

After pondering for a moment.

Snow Emperor decided to go down and take a look.

Snow Emperor descended through the opening of the pit.

The deeper the ice pit went, the lower the temperature became. The chill in the air had nearly condensed into substance.

This cold was enough to freeze everything, but to Snow Emperor, it was merely ordinary.

Yet as Snow Emperor continued downward, she found the aura increasingly familiar.

Though the other party's aura was weak, it was extraordinarily pure—pure enough to nearly be primordial.

It was as if it, like her, was an innate spirit born from heaven and earth.

No.

It was even purer than an innate spirit.

Her heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

When Snow Emperor descended to the bottom, she finally saw the source of that aura clearly.

It was a baby.

A baby whose life aura was extremely weak, with faint violet lightning flickering across its entire body.

The baby was curled up at the deepest part of the ice pit, wisps of violet lightning arcs surrounding it.

Snow Emperor's pupils contracted slightly.

"This is... an innate lightning spirit?"

She recognized what it was.

An innate lightning spirit.

Just like her, the Ice Heaven Snow Maiden, it was an innate spirit born from heaven and earth.

The difference was that ice was her origin, while lightning was the other's.

After who knew how many years, this was the first time Snow Emperor had encountered a so-called member of her own kind.

In this world.

Innate spirits were exceedingly rare.

An innate lightning spirit.

Snow Emperor had never even heard of one.

Lightning was the power of heaven and earth's punishment. For sentience to be born with lightning as its origin meant that the other party's potential might even surpass her own.

But now, this innate lightning spirit with limitless potential was on the verge of death.

Looking at the baby before her, Snow Emperor felt an inexplicable ache rise in her heart.

She did not know where it had come from, nor did she know why it was a baby.

But she knew that if she turned and left now, this child would undoubtedly die.

"..."

Snow Emperor was silent for a long time.

Then, she slowly reached out and carefully picked the baby up.

Snow Emperor pressed her palm against the baby's back and slowly infused a thread of soul power into him.

The baby's complexion gradually became rosy, and his breathing slowly steadied.

"Mmm..."

In his haziness.

Ling Xiao felt only cold.

A bone-piercing cold.

It was as though the entire world was made of ice, and every inch of his skin was being invaded by the chill.

He wanted to struggle, but discovered that he no longer even had the strength to move a finger.

So even death is cold?

Ling Xiao gave a bitter laugh in the darkness.

In his previous life.

He had been a blind orphan, raised in an orphanage since childhood.

He had never seen light, never been adopted, and never felt a mother's love.

After the orphanage taught him braille, he had touched the first novel of his life:

Douluo Continent.

It had been the only light in his darkness.

He had fantasized about the world of Douluo, about Spirit Hall, about the snow and ice of the Extreme North.

Until he was accidentally electrocuted to death.

At the moment his soul fell into the void, the last thing Ling Xiao thought was:

If only I could visit Douluo Continent myself, just like a transmigrator...

Then he lost consciousness.

When Ling Xiao regained his senses, he felt the bone-piercing cold of the Extreme North.

Gradually, he felt warmth. A gentle and pure power slowly flowed into his body, driving the coldness from his entire body away.

That power was like the gentlest embrace, tightly wrapping around him.

Ling Xiao's consciousness gradually awakened.

Light.

He could feel light.

Ling Xiao froze instantly.

In his previous life, he had lived for twenty full years and had never once seen light.

He did not know what colors the world held. He could only rely on touch and sound to perceive everything.

Ling Xiao suddenly stiffened.

He desperately forced his eyes open, wanting to see what color this world truly was.

Yet the first thing Ling Xiao saw was an incomparably beautiful, cool face.

It was a woman.

A woman so beautiful she seemed unreal.

Her skin was white as snow, and her ice-blue eyes were like frozen ice, clear and profound.

Her long hair cascaded like a waterfall. There was a hint of barely perceptible gentleness between her brows, but more than that, there was an innate coldness and pride.

Ling Xiao did not know who she was.

Ling Xiao had been a blind orphan in his previous life, so he had no idea what Snow Emperor looked like.

He only felt that her embrace was warm—a warmth he had never experienced in his previous life.

Ling Xiao thought he had died, and that the woman before him was his mother in this life.

Ling Xiao stretched out his hand and tightly clutched Snow Emperor's robe. At that moment, he was terribly afraid that this warmth would vanish at any time.

"Mom..."

Ling Xiao used nearly all his strength just to softly utter those two words.

His voice was very faint.

But within this silent ice pit, it clearly reached Snow Emperor's ears.

Snow Emperor's body trembled slightly.

"..."

Snow Emperor remained silent for a long time.

Seeing the baby in her arms, Snow Emperor suddenly recalled that she had once adopted a child.

It had been a little white bear, which had now grown into a regional ruler of the Extreme North.

Though that child's power had long since become formidable, it still called her Mom to this day.

And now, she had found another child.

An innate lightning spirit, an innate spirit born from heaven and earth just like her.

"Forget it."

Snow Emperor let out a soft sigh, a loving curve rising slightly at the corner of her lips.

"Since you have already called me Mom, then I shall adopt you."

As she spoke, Snow Emperor lowered her head slightly and planted a kiss on Ling Xiao's forehead.

"From today onward, you are also the child of my Ice Heaven Snow Maiden."

"Ling Xiao."

"Like heavenly lightning, soaring above the nine heavens—that shall be your name."