"Ice Empress, are you sure the Snow Empress is here?"
The Ice Empress had led them around the entire palace for several minutes, yet they had not seen a single soul.
Lin Xiao was somewhat puzzled.
"Uh, she should be drinking tea in the palace at this hour."
The Ice Empress looked a little embarrassed. She scratched her head, her mind racing like the wind.
Lin Xiao could hardly bear to watch.
"Well, why don't you try releasing a little of your aura?"
The Ice Empress's eyes lit up. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of that?
She strode over to Lin Xiao in two steps and patted his shoulder with a smile.
"Not bad! You're so clever. Why didn't I think of that?"
The corner of Lin Xiao's mouth twitched, but he said nothing more.
Once the Ice Empress released a little of her Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion origin power,
a graceful figure descended from the sky.
It was none other than the Snow Empress.
"Bing'er, I was cultivating behind the palace just now. What did you need me for?"
The Snow Empress spoke softly, then her expression turned cold as she looked at Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi.
Seeing Xuan Zi, whose aura was not much weaker than her own, she was just about to speak.
Then she noticed the faint blue-green light surrounding Lin Xiao.
As a Heavenly Snow Woman born and nurtured by the Douluo Plane,
and the ruler of the Far North,
the Snow Empress was also favored by the plane.
A portion of the Far North's fortune rested upon her as well.
Thus, the moment she first saw Lin Xiao,
his aura, reminiscent of one of her own kind, and his immense power of fate left her with only one thought:
He smells so wonderful. Why do I suddenly feel as though I like him a little?
Seeing that the Snow Empress had fallen into a daze at the sight of him, Lin Xiao stepped forward and spoke first.
"Hello, Snow Empress. You can call me Lin Xiao. I came to the Far North today because there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you."
Lin Xiao held out his hand.
"Oh, yes. All right."
For some reason, the Snow Empress suddenly took Lin Xiao's hand.
And she seemed inclined not to let go.
The Ice Empress beside her began to panic.
"Xue'er!"
She spoke up to remind her.
"My apologies. This way, please."
The Snow Empress came back to her senses, and her face flushed faintly when she realized she had been a little impolite.
"It's fine. Let's go."
Lin Xiao wore a somewhat strange expression.
It was true that his identity as the Child of Nature made him akin to a god in the Myriad Demon King's eyes.
But the Snow Empress?
The Snow Empress, who always wore a cold expression and kept her distance from others, had actually fallen into a daze because of his identity-and even blushed.
The contrast was astonishing.
Anyone who knew no better might have thought she had fallen in love.
They followed the Snow Empress into the bedchamber where she usually rested.
Lin Xiao sat down in a chair, while Xuan Zi remained standing quietly behind him like an elderly bodyguard.
The Snow Empress sat down on the other side with the Ice Empress.
She brewed Lin Xiao a pot of tea.
Then she slowly poured the warm tea into a jade cup.
"I looted this tea from the Storage Rings of some human Soul Masters who came to the Far North to hunt soul beasts. I thought it was quite good. Try it."
Lin Xiao nodded and took a small sip.
The warm tea flowed slowly from his mouth down his throat.
It tasted refreshing with a hint of bitterness at first, followed by a delicate tea fragrance and a lingering sweetness.
"Not bad. It really is good tea."
Looking at the six-year-old Lin Xiao before her, the Snow Empress smiled.
"A little brat like you knows tea?"
She spoke teasingly.
Meanwhile, the Ice Empress beside her was utterly entranced.
Even she rarely saw the Snow Empress smile.
It was so beautiful, so captivating!
As though that smile could melt ice and snow, the Ice Empress melted beneath it as well.
She lay beside the Snow Empress like a lovestruck fool.
Grinning foolishly, she stared straight at her.
Watching the Ice Empress lose her mind, the Snow Empress helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Lin Xiao, Bing'er is always like this. Please excuse her."
"It's fine. The Ice Empress really is rather cute like this."
At Lin Xiao's pointed remark, the Ice Empress instantly snapped out of her daze and glared fiercely at him.
"Hmph! Even if you call me cute, I still won't forgive you."
Then, like a Sichuan opera performer changing masks, she instantly switched expressions again and gazed at her Xue'er with a smile.
The Snow Empress raised an eyebrow, her expression somewhat odd.
It was not because the Ice Empress had failed to catch the teasing in Lin Xiao's words.
Rather, when Lin Xiao had praised the Ice Empress just now, she had actually felt a little jealous.
At the same time, a voice in her heart kept urging her to get to know Lin Xiao properly.
What's wrong with me?
Putting those fanciful thoughts out of her mind, the Snow Empress grew serious.
"Lin Xiao, Bing'er said you could help us survive our upcoming heavenly tribulations. Is that true?"
Seeing this, Lin Xiao nodded and spoke first.
"Yes. Snow Empress, have you ever heard of immortal herbs?"
"Immortal herbs?"
The Snow Empress paused. Of course she knew of them.
"Yes." Lin Xiao then took out two deep-blue, flower-shaped medicinal herbs.
"Thousand-Night Ice Soul Flowers!" he introduced them.
"This immortal herb can greatly enhance the power of your ice and snow, while also granting you the ability to be nourished by ice and snow."
Even an elemental spirit like the Snow Empress
merely recovered faster in the Far North.
But these immortal herbs would allow the two of them to harness the power of ice and snow not only to attack, but also to heal themselves.
In other words,
in the Far North, as long as the snow kept falling and the temperature remained as cold as ever,
the two sisters would be almost impossible to kill.
It was terrifying in the extreme.
Even with the help of the system's free encyclopedia, Lin Xiao had spent ages searching the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before selecting these two flowers.
For ordinary people, this immortal herb might not be all that useful.
It could give an ice martial soul a chance to evolve into ultimate ice, greatly improve their affinity for ice and snow, and raise their soul power by a few levels.
That might have been the extent of its effects.
But once used by the Ice and Snow Emperors,
its effects would be no less than those of a divine treasure!
The Snow Empress's beautiful eyes flickered as she looked at the immortal herbs.
"What do you want from us in return?"
Lin Xiao looked at the Snow Empress.
"I want you!"
Everyone present froze at those words.
A blush spread across the Snow Empress's exquisite face.
The Ice Empress outright hissed.
"Xue'er is mine! Mine! Human, I'm not making this deal with you anymore!"
"No, I mean the entire Far North!"
Lin Xiao clarified.
"The entire Far North? What do you need it for?"
For some reason, the Snow Empress wanted to agree to his request right then, but as the Lord of the Far North, she still asked about Lin Xiao's intentions.
"In the near future, I'll establish a faction of my own. I want the Far North to lend me a hand."
Lin Xiao explained.
The Snow Empress frowned. As a soul beast, she did not want to become involved in conflicts between humans.
Just as she was about to refuse,
"I'd like to invite the two of you to become elders of the faction I establish in the future."
Only after hearing Lin Xiao's words did the Snow Empress breathe a sigh of relief.
"If that's all, then I can agree."
Even without her and the Ice Empress, A-Tai and her adopted son, Ice Bear King Xiaobai, could still hold up the sky over the Far North.
But if the entire Far North sided with a human faction,
they might face widespread slaughter, or even be forced to sacrifice themselves by members of that faction.
The Ice Empress's face flushed with anger again.
She did not understand why Xue'er was so fond of this human child, or why she had agreed so readily.
But seeing that her Xue'er had already agreed,
she could say nothing more and could only nod, agreeing as well.
Before you continue