Now I'm the First to Arrive

"All right, Ice Sky Snow Lady's time has passed. Now it's Snow Lady's turn."

Hearing Snow Empress's words, Huo Yuhao, whose mind was already a muddle, blankly raised his head and looked at Snow Empress's face in confusion.

A flush suddenly spread across Snow Empress's face. "Dad, did you miss me?"

In an instant, Huo Yuhao felt as though he had been struck by lightning. His entire body froze.

Huo Yuhao's pupils abruptly contracted to pinpoints. Countless thunderclaps seemed to explode beside his ears, crushing Snow Empress's shyly spoken "Dad" into deafening thunder.

The icy mist of the Ice God Palace instantly twisted and spun before his eyes. The sudden blush on Snow Empress's holy, imposing face was like a red-hot branding iron searing itself into his retina. He could even clearly see the pink tint at the corners of her eyes, her slightly lowered eyelids, and the faintly coquettish expression that was utterly unlike the words "Ice Sky Snow Lady."

"Y-you... what did you say?" Huo Yuhao's voice seemed to squeeze out of a rusty iron pipe. Every word trembled, and even his Spirit Eye had turned bloodshot from the absurd shock.

How was this possible?

Before him stood the ruler of the Northernmost Land, Snow Empress, who had lived for seven hundred and eighty thousand years and could freeze heaven and earth with a wave of her hand! She was the being who had just been discussing the "World Will" and the "Child of Destiny" with him! How could she suddenly... suddenly call him "Dad" in such a soft, sweet voice?

Just moments ago, Huo Yuhao had still been completely certain that although his memories of the future were somewhat scrambled, the person before him was merely Snow Empress of the Northernmost Land. Yet Snow Lady's cry of "Dad" was something he could only have heard in his future memories!

His mind was like ice struck by a heavy hammer, instantly webbed with cracks. All his previous struggle, anger, and confusion became insignificant before those two words, leaving behind only an overwhelming sense of absurdity.

Snow Empress—no, she should be called Snow Lady now—saw his stunned expression, and a hint of teasing flashed through her crimson pupils. She gently tilted her head, her silver-white hair sliding over her shoulders with fine ice crystals scattered through it. "What? You don't recognize me?"

"I... you... no... this..." Huo Yuhao could barely form a complete sentence.

Seeing Huo Yuhao's dazed look, Snow Empress suddenly laughed. Her laughter was as crisp as wind chimes shattering ice beads, carrying a touch of cunning and playfulness as it instantly dispersed the solemnity of the Ice God Palace. Snow Lady's red eyes curved into crescents, and the pink at their corners bloomed outward, brighter than the first dawn over the icy plains.

"What? Did I scare you?" She floated closer, her silver-white hair brushing Huo Yuhao's arm and leaving behind a faintly cool tickle. "The one who spoke to you about the 'World Will' and the 'Child of Destiny' just now was Snow Empress. The one acting cute with you now is Snow Lady. Is that not allowed?"

Huo Yuhao's head buzzed as though countless ice needles were wildly stabbing about inside it. He looked at this face that was both familiar and strange—bearing the imposing contours forged over seven hundred and eighty thousand years, yet also the lively expression of a young girl. Two utterly extreme temperaments blended perfectly within her, only making him even more confused.

"B-but you're Snow Empress..." he finally forced out a complete sentence, though his voice still trembled. "You've lived for seven hundred and eighty thousand years..."

"So what?" Snow Lady tilted her head and poked his stiff cheek. Her icy fingertip carried a trace of teasing. "No matter how long one lives, family still has to be acknowledged when the time comes. When you watched me dance in the Northernmost Land in the future, and when you accepted the submission of its people, you didn't resist in the slightest—are you trying to deny it now?"

Snow Lady's poke made Huo Yuhao jolt, and he instinctively stepped back half a pace, only for her to seize his wrist in passing. Her fingers were slender and cool, but her palm held a strange warmth. That warmth crept up along his meridians, somehow clearing his chaotic mind a little.

He lowered his head to look at their clasped hands, then raised it to see the sincerity in Snow Lady's eyes—a sincerity hiding a nearly imperceptible dependence, like a lost child who had finally found the way home. Fragments from deep within his memories suddenly surged forth: the Snow Lady of the future had been like this too. She would cling to him for hugs, nap on his shoulder while he cultivated, and gaze at him longingly with those red eyes as she called him "Dad."

As Snow Empress's face before him merged with the Snow Lady in his memories, Huo Yuhao suddenly realized that the person before him was both Snow Empress and Snow Lady.

At some point, the icy mist in the Ice God Palace had grown soft, floating around them like cotton candy and refracting rainbow-colored light. Huo Yuhao looked at the smile on Snow Lady's lips and felt the warmth lingering around his wrist. The overwhelming absurdity in his heart quietly faded somewhat, replaced by a far more complex emotion—shock mixed with bewilderment, and within that bewilderment, a trace of... fluttering that he himself was unwilling to admit.

"I..." He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, only to find that all words seemed pale and inadequate.

Seeing him like this, Snow Lady smiled even more brightly. The teasing in her red eyes gradually softened into gentleness. "All right, I'll stop teasing you." She released his wrist and floated back toward the icy clouds. The aura around her slowly settled, the pink at the corners of her eyes faded, and Snow Empress's cool aloofness returned. "Do you believe me now? I am both Snow Empress of the Northernmost Land and your Snow Lady."

Huo Yuhao stood where he was, her warmth still lingering at his fingertips. As he watched Snow Lady's figure, he suddenly felt that perhaps from the moment he had stepped into the Northernmost Land, he should not have used memories of the "past" or "future" to confine everything before him.

He took a deep breath and suppressed the last trace of resistance in his heart. The confusion in his Spirit Eye gradually faded, leaving only helplessness that made him not know whether to laugh or cry, along with a trace of... indescribable softness.

"Then..." He cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound more normal. "Snow Lady... did you need something from me?"

At his words, Snow Lady's red eyes instantly lit up. The icy mist around her exploded with a bang, turning into ice crystals dancing through the air, as if cheering for the way he had addressed her.

"Of course I do!" she replied happily, extending her hand toward him. "Yuhao, you really remember me. It seems the World Will didn't lie to me!"

"This time, I was the first to arrive! You have to remember it well—I'm the first one!"

"Do you still want to watch me dance? I'll take you to see it now."

Huo Yuhao looked at the anticipation in her eyes, then thought of the "saving the world" they had just been discussing. He could only feel that his life truly had no limit to how absurd it could get.

Yet he still reached out and took that hand, both cool and warm.

Perhaps being a little absurd was not such a bad thing.

At the very least, it allowed him to truly feel that he was different from the one in his memories, that he was truly living a life that belonged to him, rather than walking a path confined by so-called "memories of the future."