The Ice God Palace's colors had grown much duller.
Before her death, the Ice God had gathered all her energy into the Ice God Pearl.
Meanwhile, the Ice God's divine seat also resided within Lin Xiao's mind.
Seeing Lin Xiao emerge, the Snow Empress slowly roused herself from meditation.
She looked at Lin Xiao.
"Did you gain anything?"
Lin Xiao nodded.
"I met the Ice God herself!"
Startled, the Snow Empress hurriedly pressed him.
"The Ice God? How is she? What exactly happened?"
Lin Xiao fell silent for a moment.
"She died tens of thousands of years ago. What spoke to me just now was only a fragment of her divine soul."
The Snow Empress immediately looked dejected.
The delicate hand she had just raised slowly fell back to her side.
"She died? So it was just as I suspected..."
"But..."
Lin Xiao changed tack, looking at the Snow Empress with a broad smile.
"She gave me her divine artifact and the Ice God's divine seat. She told me to use this divine seat as a dowry and marry you!"
Lin Xiao spoke boldly. After all, he really did possess the Ice God's divine seat.
Naturally, he had to tease the Snow Empress a little.
"She said members of the Soul Beast Clan can't become gods, but as the Heavenly Snow Woman, you might be able to absorb the Ice God's divine seat, break through that restriction, and become the first Soul Beast to attain godhood!"
Then, with a thought, Lin Xiao brought the Ice God's Divine Position into his hand.
As she gazed at the icy-blue, embryo-shaped divine seat radiating pure, exalted divine power.
The Snow Empress's face inexplicably flushed.
She looked at herself, then at Lin Xiao, who was only six years old.
First, she pondered for a moment.
She did not doubt the truth of Lin Xiao's words.
After all, with her cultivation and Heavenly Snow Woman bloodline, she could clearly sense that what lay before her was the genuine divine seat of the Ice God.
If Lin Xiao was telling the truth, then the Ice God's Divine Position would offer her new possibilities and hope. This gift alone was enough to keep her from rejecting him.
If Lin Xiao was lying, then, having begun the Ice God's god trial, he could do whatever he wanted to her. Not only would she be unable to resist, she would have to cooperate.
Whether this was a hidden plot or an open scheme, she had no way out.
Besides, why would a six-year-old child, even one who seemed somewhat mature, use something like this as an excuse to deceive her?
After all, judging by Lin Xiao's status and talent, his ultimate potential was beyond her imagination.
Perhaps the Ice God had entrusted her to Lin Xiao out of concern for her as a member of the Heavenly Snow Woman lineage.
As for her own feelings.
She had felt fond of Lin Xiao from the very first moment she saw him.
She always felt an urge to gather him into her arms.
Now that the Ice God had spoken and the chance to attain godhood lay before her, the Snow Empress naturally wanted to seize that future.
At the same time, however, she felt somewhat at a loss.
She walked up to Lin Xiao a little bashfully and gently took his hand in her delicate one.
"Let's go back down first."
Her voice had grown shy.
Lin Xiao froze. As he recalled, the Snow Empress wasn't a silly fool like the Ice Empress.
She believed me?
But it took him only a second to accept reality.
At the same time, wild delight surged within him.
Lin Xiao calmed himself and nodded, then the two flew back down.
Xuan Zi and the Ice Empress were staring each other down below.
The Ice Empress was growing impatient.
The two had gone inside and still hadn't come out after so long.
On top of that, an inexplicable agitation and nervousness stirred in her heart.
It felt as though she was about to lose something.
So she kept glaring at Xuan Zi.
Xuan Zi wasn't annoyed. He simply smiled as he stared back at the Ice Empress.
Every so often, he took out his wine flask and had a sip.
The little scorpion before him was frantic, but she couldn't hit him, nor could she beat him.
All she could do was wear a resentful expression and whimper. How miserable.
What bliss.
Just as the two continued their standoff.
They suddenly withdrew their gazes and looked up into the sky.
The Snow Empress had already brought Lin Xiao safely back to the ground.
"Young master!"
"Xue'er!"
The Ice Empress and Xuan Zi spoke at the same time.
Then they glared at each other again before eagerly scampering over to Lin Xiao and the Snow Empress, respectively.
"Young master, did you gain anything?"
Xuan Zi spoke first.
Lin Xiao nodded with a smile, then looked at the Snow Empress.
He said meaningfully,
"I certainly gained a great deal~"
He had little interest in the Ice God Pearl or the Ice God's Divine Position.
It was merely the divine seat of someone who had only been a First-Level God even at her peak.
But at this point in time, he had used that divine seat to gain the Snow Empress, someone even stronger than Xuan Zi, as his wife.
He could lie awake all night in delight.
Looking at Xuan Zi, then at the Snow Empress.
Lin Xiao felt his courage swell considerably.
If the Snow Empress could successfully begin the Ice God's god trial.
Then he could stop eating beef altogether.
After all, Spirit Hall also had two beings capable of wielding divine power.
Under normal circumstances, the Snow Empress could indeed keep them pinned down, but once they used divine power, the situation could turn around at any moment. (In the original, their feats without divine power or divine artifacts were at most demigod-level.)
But once the Snow Empress could draw upon the Ice God's divine power.
That sole problem would also be eliminated.
He had already begun fantasizing about his future life as an invincible protagonist.
How he would show off spectacularly before everyone, how he would straighten out and teach the Tang-style Father and Son a lesson, along with the Grandmaster.
At the thought, the corners of Lin Xiao's mouth practically curled up to the heavens.
"Hey, little Lin Xiao, what did you do in there?"
The Ice Empress took a couple of steps forward and leaned closer, asking curiously as she watched Lin Xiao grinning like an idiot.
But the Snow Empress simply gave her head a gentle pat.
"Bing'er, be good. You must be more polite to Lin Xiao, understand?"
The Ice Empress held her head, looking at the Snow Empress in confusion and hurt.
"Xue'er, why? What exactly happened up there? Why are you scolding me..."
The Snow Empress's earlobes turned a little pink.
Looking at the pitiful Ice Empress.
She still couldn't bring herself to hide it from her.
After hearing the Snow Empress recount her experience in the Ice God Palace.
The tail behind the Ice Empress drooped, and she became utterly listless.
She looked at Lin Xiao, tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Lin Xiao, you... if you dare bully the Snow Empress, I'll bite a chunk of flesh off you even if it kills me! Do you understand?"
Seeing the Ice Empress look both aggrieved and fierce.
Lin Xiao smiled at her.
"Bing'er, why say that? It's not as though you won't be able to see Xue'er anymore."
Hearing him switch from calling her the Ice Empress to Bing'er.
The Ice Empress first froze, then a blush spread across her cheeks.
"What do you mean? Don't tell me you want both of us! You pervert! I never imagined you'd be so lecherous at such a young age!"
The Ice Empress pointed at him, her face filled with disbelief.
"Yes, I'm lecherous. So what? I want to catch you all in one net. So what?"
Lin Xiao spread his hands, smiling broadly.
"The Ice God Pearl recognizes only me and Xue'er, and in a little while, I'll personally give Xue'er the Ice God's Divine Position.
That makes me, at the very least, the successor to the Divine Inheritance worshipped in the Far North, doesn't it?
After all, if I wanted to, I could begin the Ice God's god trial myself.
So would you dare disobey me?"
At Lin Xiao's words, the Ice Empress fell somewhat silent.
Her little mouth parted slightly. She wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out.
She went completely quiet.
Just then, the Snow Empress stepped forward and gently embraced the Ice Empress.
"Bing'er, we'll always be together. Right?"
The Ice Empress nodded.
"Exactly. I'll become the Far North's new Ice God, and Lin Xiao will eventually become a god too. What will you do then?"
The Ice Empress shook her head.
"So there's nothing bad about this, is there?"
The Ice Empress instinctively nodded, then shook her head. After pondering for a moment, she finally nodded again.
She looked at Lin Xiao's face, covered in the triumphant grin of someone whose crafty scheme had succeeded.
She wanted to go over and give him a vicious beating, but she still lowered her fists and folded her arms across her chest.
With a huff, the Ice Empress turned her head away.
Lin Xiao had already brought this matter up with the Snow Empress during their descent.
Over their long years together, the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress had developed an extraordinarily deep bond.
She was also extremely reluctant to part with the Ice Empress.
So she had come up with this little performance, hoping to keep the Ice Empress with her.
That way, they could continue to be together.
Lin Xiao would also pick up a green-haired little girl of a wife at the Super Douluo level for free.
Naturally, he had no objections whatsoever and was utterly delighted.
Before you continue