Ice Emperor, the Little Loli!

Faced with Ice Emperor's explosive reaction, Snow Emperor seemed to have expected it. She merely raised her eyes and smiled knowingly.

She had long anticipated that Ice Emperor would react like this.

"Binger, calm down."

Snow Emperor lowered her gaze to Beiming Lieyang in her arms, the corners of her lips curling slightly.

"Child, this is your little aunt. Just call her Auntie Bing."

Beiming Lieyang was happily nursing when he heard that. Only then did he reluctantly let go and turn to look at the little loli with twin ponytails.

Ice Emperor?

Beiming Lieyang blinked, staring at the petite Ice Emperor before him, whose youthful face looked like that of a young girl. For a moment, he was dazed.

A legal loli.

Ice Emperor widened her eyes and leaned closer, curiously examining the human infant. "Xuer, where did you pick this one up? How could there possibly be a human infant in the Far North?"

Snow Emperor briefly recounted what had happened earlier.

How she had sensed spatial fluctuations, how she had found the baby wrapped in golden light inside an ice pit,

and how she had nearly been bewitched by that bead, only for the child to pull her back in the end.

When she heard that the bead had nearly bewitched Snow Emperor's mind, Ice Emperor's smile froze. She abruptly grabbed Snow Emperor's sleeve, and even her voice changed pitch.

"Xuer, are you alright?! Where's that evil thing? Why haven't you thrown it away yet?! It was brought by a human infant, so why did you bring him back too...?"

"Whatever the case, this child helped me break free from it."

As Snow Emperor spoke, she suddenly recalled something, and the corners of her lips rose slightly.

"On the way back, I also happened to obtain a Ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus and a Ten-thousand-year Mysterious Ice Marrow."

"What? A Ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus?" Ice Emperor was stunned for a moment before her eyes went wide. "And a Ten-thousand-year Mysterious Ice Marrow?!"

She abruptly turned and leaned close to Snow Emperor, blazing light erupting from her golden eyes.

"Where is it? Let me see! Ten-thousand-year Mysterious Ice Marrow?! Didn't that stuff go extinct ages ago? The Far North hasn't seen any in who knows how many years!"

As she spoke, a glistening sheen had already appeared at the corner of her mouth. She was practically drooling.

Snow Emperor chuckled and took out the ice-blue crystal, as thick as a baby's arm, from her robe. She waved it before Ice Emperor's eyes.

Ice Emperor's gaze stuck firmly to it. Like her soul had been hooked away, she leaned forward and muttered, "What pure energy... I want to eat it so badly..."

"Binger." Snow Emperor put it away and helplessly swatted aside the paw reaching toward it. "I still have a use for this."

Ice Emperor reluctantly withdrew her gaze. She understood that Snow Emperor was preparing for the future, but there was only one piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow, not enough to do much with.

She turned to look at the little baby happily nursing in Snow Emperor's arms, her golden eyes filled with complexity and wonder.

"You're saying... you only found those things after picking up this child?"

Snow Emperor nodded with a smile.

Ice Emperor stared at Beiming Lieyang for quite a while, then reached out and poked his plump cheek.

"This little guy... his luck is absurdly good, isn't it? You found a Ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus and Ten-thousand-year Mysterious Ice Marrow right after bringing him back? I've stayed in the Far North for hundreds of thousands of years and only come across things like that a few times."

Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow was one of the most precious resources in the Far North.

After so many years of mining and fighting over it, it had become extremely scarce. Even she had only encountered it a handful of times over the years.

Her golden eyes flickered as she leaned closer. "And this luck... isn't it a little too strange? Why do all the good things keep coming to you?"

"Binger, quiet down." Snow Emperor reached out and stroked Ice Emperor's head.

"If not for this child, I might truly not have returned. He saved me, and he also seems capable of suppressing that bead."

Ice Emperor choked, the words "he's human" immediately getting stuck in her throat.

She looked at the blue bead lying quietly in Beiming Lieyang's swaddling clothes,

then at Snow Emperor's calm yet resolute eyes. In the end, she sighed as though deflated.

Fine, at least...

he had saved Xuer.

Though the bead was strange, the fact that this human infant could suppress it was certainly extraordinary.

Besides...

this little guy's luck really was outrageously good. Maybe he truly was a lucky star.

Beiming Lieyang secretly let out a sigh of relief nearby.

Just now, he had truly feared that Ice Emperor would fling him out of the Ice Crystal Palace in a fit of rage.

But the instant he relaxed, his stomach let out another uncooperative growl.

He lowered his head to look at his empty mouth, then raised his head to look at Snow Emperor.

Then, as naturally as could be, he wriggled closer into her arms and resumed nursing.

Ice Emperor stared at the scene in utter disbelief. "He... he's eating again?!"

Ice Emperor was actually a little envious at this moment.

She could not help muttering, "This little brat... he really doesn't stand on ceremony at all."

Snow Emperor looked down at Beiming Lieyang, who was happily feeding in her arms, and the smile at her lips deepened.

After grumbling to herself for a while, Ice Emperor could not help leaning closer again. She curiously reached out and poked Beiming Lieyang's cheek.

The instant she touched him, Ice Emperor's golden eyes widened slightly.

An indescribable warmth flowed into her fingertips, like a ray of winter sunlight falling upon ice and seeping through it, soothing her to the bone.

"Huh?" Ice Emperor poked him again, the curiosity on her face growing even stronger.

"Xuer, why is this child so warm? He's like a little sun. I've lived in the Far North for so many years, but I've never touched anything so comfortable..."

As she spoke, her gaze involuntarily shifted downward and landed on something she had never seen before.

What was that?

Ice Emperor curiously extended a finger and lightly poked his little thing.

"Uh..."

Beiming Lieyang's body suddenly stiffened.

"Xuer, look!"

As though she had discovered a new toy, Ice Emperor lifted her head and smiled excitedly at Snow Emperor. "This little thing is pretty interesting!"

Before Snow Emperor could stop her,

Beiming Lieyang abruptly released his latch and turned to look at the twin-tailed little loli, whose face was full of curiosity.

One big, one small—their eyes met.

The mischievous smile on Ice Emperor's face did not fade in the slightest.

"Waaah!!!"

Beiming Lieyang's wail instantly echoed throughout the Ice Crystal Palace.

Damn twin-tailed little loli!

Startled by the sudden crying, Ice Emperor jerked her hand back and guiltily withdrew her finger. "Hey, hey, hey, don't cry! Don't cry! I won't poke it anymore!"

Snow Emperor irritably swatted away Ice Emperor's paw, drew Beiming Lieyang closer into her arms, and softly soothed him.

Taking advantage of the situation, Beiming Lieyang burrowed into her embrace and cried even more dramatically.

Ice Emperor scratched her head guiltily, then leaned over and awkwardly patted his back. "Alright, alright, your little aunt was wrong, okay? Stop crying, stop crying..."

When Ice Emperor saw that he had finally stopped crying, she immediately sighed in relief. Then she could not help laughing. "The little brat really holds a grudge."

She gently pinched Beiming Lieyang's cheek. The wariness and distance in her eyes from before had vanished, leaving only curiosity and affection. "Still... he's pretty fun."

Beiming Lieyang looked at her sparkling golden eyes and silently made a note of it.

But since you know how to soothe me, I'll put this grudge on hold for now.

Ice Emperor had no idea that this little infant was already plotting how to settle the score later.

She only felt that the more she looked at him, the more lovable he became. Unable to resist, she leaned closer and poked his tiny hand, calling with a beaming smile, "Little thing, say 'Auntie Bing' for me?"

Beiming Lieyang rolled his eyes.

Of course, with an infant's limited facial control, that eye roll only looked like his eyes spinning around once to Ice Emperor.

Ice Emperor's heart melted. "Xuer! This little cub is so fun!"

"Hehe, come on, smile for me. Smile." Ice Emperor could not help grabbing his little hand, trying to pose him.

Snow Emperor watched the interaction between the one big and one small, the smile in her eyes growing deeper.

Snow Emperor had been here for hundreds of thousands of years, yet this was the first time she had seen Ice Emperor care so much about a living being.

"Oh, right, does he have a name yet?" Ice Emperor suddenly remembered something. "How about I give him one?"

"He does." Snow Emperor smiled, her gaze falling on Beiming Lieyang's warm little face.

"There is snow in Beiming, a land of bitter cold, yet he brings warmth from this severe chill. Like a blazing sun rising over Beiming—Beiming Lieyang. What do you think?"

"Beiming Lieyang..." Ice Emperor repeated it, then pouted in disappointment. "I thought I could name him Bing Nuannuan."

Beiming Lieyang rolled his eyes furiously upon hearing that.

What kind of weird name is that? Bing Nuannuan?

If I had that name, how would I ever face anyone in the future?

Hmm.

Forget it. Nothing matters more than food.

He immediately snuggled closer into Snow Emperor's arms and began nursing again.