After Tian Chen got up, he rubbed his head.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the Ice Empress and Snow Empress beside him!
"Sisters, where are we?" Tian Chen asked in confusion.
"Brat! We're at the heart of the Lake of Life!" the Ice Empress explained.
The Snow Empress said nothing. She merely raised her hand, sending a wisp of cold from her fingertip to settle against Tian Chen's forehead.
Her voice was soft, yet carried a barely perceptible urgency. "Don't ask so many questions yet. Her Majesty brought you here while you were unconscious! Get some rest!"
Tian Chen nodded repeatedly and immediately lay back down!
The scene reminded him of his childhood, when the Ice Empress and Snow Empress had taken turns caring for him.
She knelt beside Tian Chen and lightly tapped her fingertip. Her soul power lifted the liquid gold of life, shaping it into a soft waterbed that held the boy securely.
Ripples spread in rings of scattered silver light, like a veil of gauze.
The Ice Empress bent over him, the slight swell of her chest brushing faintly against Tian Chen's arm. A crisp, mint-like fragrance enveloped him.
She lowered her head to carefully examine the unhealed cracks around his collarbone. Flecks of heartache filled her golden slit pupils, but her tongue remained merciless. "Brat, you peed all over me when you were little, and now that you've grown up, you're still making trouble for me."
The Snow Empress gave the Ice Empress a cool glance without speaking, then raised her hand to rest it on Tian Chen's forehead.
Her long hair spilled down, its ends brushing Tian Chen's ear with the cool sweetness unique to ice and snow, like mint.
The Snow Empress spoke so softly he could barely hear her.