Far North — Two Empresses and One King

"Do Soul Masters need coal too?" Wu Changkong stood nearby, watching Shui Qinghan tend to the stove.

With the Soul Power cultivation of the few of them, this bit of cold was nothing to worry about.

"Soul Masters are people too. Everyone likes being comfortable."

"The nights in the Far North are long. With coal burning and a thicker quilt, you'll sleep more soundly."

"Get some rest early. Once we enter the Glacier Belt tomorrow, there won't be any hotels for you. Tonight is the last night you can sleep comfortably, so cherish it."

"Okay." Wu Changkong responded, took off his outerwear, and lay down on the bed by the window.

He turned onto his side and watched Shui Qinghan's back as she crouched before the heater.

Shui Qinghan wore a plain woolen shirt. Her long hair was not pinned up in a bun as usual, but hung loosely over her shoulders.

She was lowering her head as she carefully poked at the coals, occasionally using the tongs to turn over a piece so the flames would burn more evenly.

He suddenly recalled the things his father had told him.

About his birth, and about his mother's death.

It had been a midsummer afternoon, so stifling that even the cicadas in the trees were too lazy to chirp.

His mother had been hanging laundry in the yard. Her belly was already huge, yet she still couldn't sit still.

Then the labor pains came without warning, a full half month before her due date.

Before the midwife could arrive, snow began to fall from the sky without any warning.

In the height of summer, the temperature had plunged below freezing within minutes, while heavy snowflakes filled the sky.

His father said it was the strangest weather he had ever seen. Everyone in Water Source Town had run out to witness the June snowfall, whispering that it was a heavenly omen and that a calamity star had been born.

His mother had struggled to give birth to him amid that sudden ice and snow.

Already frail, she had been invaded by the cold during childbirth. She did not last more than a few days before passing away.

Before she died, his mother held him in his swaddling clothes and said to his father in a threadbare voice, "Don't blame this child. He'll surely accomplish something in the future. You must swear to raise him well."

Wu Dachui said it was the only oath he had ever made in his life.

And Wu Changkong knew that the ice attribute he had possessed since birth was likely the source of that June snowfall.

His birth had, in some unseen way, taken his mother's life.

He had never told anyone this secret. He had only buried it in his heart, where it became a thorn that could never be pulled out.

"Why are you staring at me?" Shui Qinghan's voice suddenly rang out.

Wu Changkong swiftly shifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Nothing. I'm going to sleep."

The next morning, beside the gates of Northguard Pass.

The gazes of the four sentries changing shifts across from them simultaneously fell ahead.

These sentries had guarded the border year-round. Usually, all they saw were female merchants bundled up like dumplings or rugged hunters. Where had they ever seen women so mature, beautiful, and distinguished?

The young sentry in the lead was staring so hard his eyes had gone straight.

"You lot, do you think they're pretty?"

"Pretty..."

The young sentry leader blurted it out instinctively, then abruptly came to his senses midway through the sentence.

"C-Commander Shi." The men hurriedly stood straight in fright.

Standing before him was Shi Yue, the renowned commander of Northguard Pass in Northguard City.

Commander Shi looked to be in his early forties. He was broad and burly, with a square face and thick brows. An old scar slashed diagonally from the end of his left brow to his cheekbone, adding a touch of ferocity to his already imposing face.

"I asked whether she's pretty."

"N-No... not pretty."

"Hmph! You've disgraced Northguard Pass! She's President Shui of Skywater Academy, a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse! If you little brats dare stare again, all of you will be sentenced to cleaning latrines for a month!"

The four sentries all lowered their heads in terror. The leader's neck had even turned bright red.

"If you're not heading to your posts, what are you standing around for?"

"Yes!"

They scurried off in disgrace, carrying their spears toward the city wall.

Shui Qinghan stepped forward to face Commander Shi. "Commander Shi, long time no see."

"President Shui, long time no see."

"Why are you so angry?"

"These little brats were only transferred here recently and haven't seen much of the world. Please forgive them for making a fool of themselves. Are you taking students out to hunt Soul Rings?"

"Yes, with my students."

"This time, I'm taking them to hunt Soul Rings on the outskirts of the Far North, and let them gain some experience while we're at it."

Commander Shi's gaze swept across the three young men and women one by one.

Ice attributes, and students personally led by Shui Qinghan—they were surely no ordinary group.

He did not ask further. He merely withdrew his gaze, his expression turning solemn again.

"President Shui, the Far North hasn't been peaceful lately."

"How so?"

"A few days ago, several Soul Beast hunting parties spotted traces of Ice Demon Giant Apes on the outskirts of the Glacier Belt."

"Be extra careful once you enter the Glacier Belt."

"Thank you for the warning, Commander Shi. I'll be careful."

Shui Qinghan nodded. "Once we return from this hunt, I'll find you for a drink."

"Haha, good! It's a deal." Commander Shi grinned and stepped aside to clear the way.

The four passed through the city gate and officially entered the Far Northern Wasteland.

As they continued onward, the snow beneath their feet grew thicker and thicker.

As far as the eye could see, there were only two colors between heaven and earth: a gray-white sky and a snow-white land.

A few twisted dwarf pines, warped by the frigid winds, were scattered across the wasteland. Their branches were covered in icicles, and from time to time, the howls of unknown Soul Beasts drifted from the distance.

Shui Qinghan stopped and looked into the distance.

She turned and instructed them, "From now on, you three stay behind me. Don't leave the group without permission."

"Keep your stamina and Soul Power replenished at all times. Don't try to show off, and don't think wasting Soul Power to maintain a shield means you're safe. True danger often appears only when your Soul Power is exhausted."

"Yes, President." The three answered in unison.

Wu Changkong followed behind Shui Qinghan. He had come here before to hunt his earlier Soul Rings.

And the Far North now was vastly different from what it would be twenty thousand years later.

In later generations, the Far North was a paradise for Soul Beasts and a forbidden zone for humans.

The Snow Empress, Ice Empress, and Titan Snow Demon King—the three great rulers—each occupied their own territory. The ten-thousand-year ice of the core region concealed countless terrifying beings that had lived for a hundred thousand years. Even Titled Douluo did not dare venture there lightly.

But after the Snow Empress and Ice Empress left Douluo Continent with Huo Yuhao, the balance of the Far North changed completely.

Without the protection of the two great empresses, the Titan Snow Demon King could not hold on alone. Human forces took advantage of the opening and began pushing north in force.

By the era of his previous life, the Far North existed in name only. Vast numbers of Soul Beasts had been hunted or domesticated. Many regions had even been developed into breeding grounds specifically for ice-attributed Soul Beasts, their domestication more severe than that of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The source of it all was both humanity's ever-expanding greed and the Spirit Pagoda's gradual corruption under the lure of profit.

He had not thought about those old events for a long time.

Now, standing upon this wasteland that humans had yet to touch, he suddenly realized that the Far North's true golden age was right now, in the depths of the glaciers farther north beneath his feet.

The two rulers of the Far North were sleeping within their own domains, undisturbed by any force.

He wondered whether, once he grew stronger in the future, he might be able to meet the legendary two Ice and Snow Empresses.