She raised a hand to wipe the faint trace of blood from the corner of her mouth, then suddenly smiled. It was a slight, gentle smile, yet as breathtaking as the first snow lotus blooming atop an icy peak.
She accepted her defeat without reservation. She had lost to someone truly stronger.
She turned to Fang Fan, her voice calm and firm:
"I agree. I hope that, as Bing'er said, following you will let me see a different world."
A second Soul Spirit Contract Array unfolded across the snow.
The Snow Empress's tall, slender figure dissolved into silver-white motes of light. Her formidable 690,000 years of cultivation surged into Fang Fan like a blizzard.
Fang Fan's Soul Power soared again, breaking through two levels to reach level ninety-five.
The Snow Empress became the Netherworld Sword's third Soul Ring, a scarlet halo flowing along its blade.
Silver-white patterns of ice and snow intertwined with dark-gold titan markings and the blue-green Azure Sky Scale Pattern. Ice, strength, and slowness fused along the blade into a terrifying killing move.
The contract was complete.
Nourished by Fang Fan's returning Soul Power, the Snow Empress crossed the 700,000-year threshold of cultivation. Her heavenly tribulation dissolved before it could strike.
She took human form, her long silver-white hair dancing lightly in the wind.
She looked down at her new body and felt the unprecedented power surging within her. At last, genuine warmth appeared in her icy eyes.
The Ice Empress stepped forward, and the two sisters who had spent hundreds of thousands of years together exchanged a smile.
"Snow Sister, how's my eye for talent?"
The Ice Empress lightly nudged the Snow Empress's elbow with a slender pincer. A hint of pride she showed only to her sister flashed through her emerald compound eyes.
After hundreds