Outside the Ice Palace.
The Ice Empress held the Snow Empress's hand. The two women gazed into each other's eyes, too choked with emotion to speak.
"Snow Maiden, are you really not coming with me and Yang Ming to the Heaven Dou Empire?"
Tears brimmed in the Ice Empress's eyes, and she could hardly bear to part.
Yet a secret flicker of delight stirred in her heart, and she thought:
With one powerful rival out of the picture this time, my chances of winning Yang Ming's heart will be much greater!
At the thought of being with Yang Ming, warmth flooded the Ice Empress's heart.
That, however, was not something she would share with anyone else.
The Snow Empress resumed her usual distant expression, one that kept others a thousand miles away. Her sky-blue eyes were clear and translucent, and she stood like a proud plum blossom in the snow as her ethereal voice reached everyone's ears.
"I am the ruler of the Far North. Everyone needs me here. I cannot leave."
A trace of sadness flashed deep within the Snow Empress's beautiful eyes.
In truth, she desperately wished Yang Ming would stay.
After all, just one month of meditation to condense his Soul Core had allowed Yang Ming to transform the Far North completely. If he stayed, perhaps he could bring even greater changes to the region, changes that were precisely what the Soul Beasts living here longed to see.
But her responsibility as the ruler of the Far North forced her to bury those feelings deep within her heart.
If I leave the Far North, what will happen to the other Soul Beasts?
The title of foremost among the Far North's Three Heavenly Kings was both an honor and a shackle.
As the Snow Maiden's close friend, the