The Ice Empress finally accepted reality.
"Then what should we do next?"
The Snow Empress came up behind Lin Xiao, rested her hands gently on his shoulders, and asked softly.
Indeed, Tang San was only six now. He had probably only just obtained his first Soul Ring.
Lin Xiao had already finished a large portion of what needed doing before Tang San turned twelve and the real plot began.
All that remained was probably cultivation, shuttling between two places.
It really is time to settle down and consolidate my gains.
Lin Xiao thought this, then turned to the Snow Empress.
"Come have some fun with me, then we'll focus on cultivating. How does that sound?"
"All right."
She had already successfully triggered the Ice God's God Trial.
The First Trial required her to survive her seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.
Now that she had the divine artifact, the Ice God Pearl, along with an immortal herb to assist her.
Surviving the tribulation was practically a done deal.
Although the Ice Empress had no God Trial, a single immortal herb was likewise enough to help her survive this tribulation. Her next one would not come for another hundred thousand years.
So, as for the chance to relax that Lin Xiao proposed.
Neither of them had any objections.
The Snow Empress had already grown accustomed to her role as his future wife.
She gently embraced Lin Xiao, letting the back of his head rest against her chest.
"Then where should we go first?"
Lin Xiao considered it for a moment.
"Let's head back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well first. I can show you where we'll cultivate, and where our future sect will be based."
"All right."
Inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Dugu Bo sat cross-legged in meditation, faint poisonous mist swirling around him.
Dugu Yan was cultivating beside him as well.
Dugu Yan was eleven now. After absorbing the Golden-Patterned Clematis, not only had her Martial Soul evolved into a Jade-Scaled Emerald Flood Dragon.
It had also gone from having only a poison attribute to possessing both poison and metal attributes.
After Martial Soul Possession, her appearance was a soft, translucent green, as though carved from jade.
At that moment, she was waking from meditation.
At eleven, she had originally possessed rank twenty-one Soul Power, enough to qualify as a genius.
After absorbing the immortal herb and obtaining a Soul Ring, she had reached rank twenty-nine.
Being rank twenty-nine at eleven had made Dugu Yan somewhat proud.
She could not imagine anyone being more talented than her.
At the same time, however, a thread of doubt lingered in her heart.
When her grandfather gave her the immortal herb, he had warned her that their Dugu Family would become subordinate to a major power.
Even after meeting Zhang Lexuan and spending several days with her while she stayed temporarily with the Dugu Family to familiarize herself with Heaven Dou City.
She still did not really believe that this older girl, only a little older than herself, could have the ability to recruit her grandfather.
Dugu Yan had even wondered whether this older girl was a new grandmother her grandfather had found after enjoying a second spring of romance.
Only after her grandfather warned her that this older girl was an honored guest serving that power did she understand a little.
At the same time, she grew even more curious about the person truly behind it all.
"The Young Master is back!"
As Dao Protectors summoned by Lin Xiao.
They could sense Lin Xiao's approximate location.
The moment Zhang Lexuan saw Lin Xiao flying toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
She immediately flew to its outskirts to meet him.
Dugu Bo woke upon hearing her, too.
He looked toward the outskirts of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where two unfamiliar, powerful ice-attribute auras were approaching.
Lin Xiao's aura was among them as well.
Before long.
Lin Xiao landed steadily beside Dugu Bo with the Ice and Snow Emperors and Xuan Zi.
Dugu Yan looked curiously at Lin Xiao.
She had expected an old man, but to her surprise, he was so young.
He looked much younger than she was.
Lin Xiao was also sizing up Dugu Yan.
Compared with the same point in the original story, her Soul Power was much higher now.
After all, Dugu Yan was four or five years older than Tang San, yet he had only been rank thirty-seven during his Soul Fighting matches at the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City.
That was six years from now.
At her current pace of development, Dugu Yan might well be firmly in the forties by then.
"Young Master!"
Zhang Lexuan spoke first, looking at the Ice and Snow Emperors with a hint of puzzlement.
They all simply stood there looking at one another.
"Dugu Bo, how have things been?"
Lin Xiao coughed twice to ease the awkwardness.
"This old servant has fully stabilized his cultivation at rank ninety-two and is pushing toward rank ninety-three. I may reach it in the near future."
Dugu Bo turned sideways and pulled Dugu Yan over.
"This is my unworthy granddaughter. After absorbing the immortal herb, she has reached rank twenty-nine at eleven."
Seeing her grandfather behave so deferentially, Dugu Yan suddenly grew nervous.
"Hello, I'm Dugu Yan. Please guide me."
"Mm, seeing you once is better than hearing about you a hundred times. Miss Dugu Yan, you truly are an impressive genius."
After a brief exchange of polite flattery.
Lin Xiao took the Snow Empress's hand.
"Dugu Bo, Sister Lexuan, this is the Snow Empress, and beside her is the Ice Empress.
"They are the Soul Beast rulers of the Far North.
"They are also my future wives."
Looking at the Snow Empress, whose aura was even stronger than Xuan Zi's.
Dugu Bo sucked in a breath of cold air.
"Congratulations, young friend Lin Xiao!"
Inwardly, he became even more firmly committed to the path he had chosen.
A Soul Beast ruler even stronger than Xuan Zi, a Peerless Douluo.
On the one hand, Dugu Bo marveled inwardly at the dangers of the Far North.
On the other, he admired Lin Xiao for winning even such powerful Soul Beast rulers as his wives.
Truly a man of divine ability!
Zhang Lexuan also nodded gently, stepped forward, and shook the Snow Empress's hand.
"I'm Zhang Lexuan."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries.
Lin Xiao left Xuan Zi at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
After all, the Ice Empress and Snow Empress were respectively at the peak of rank ninety-eight and the rank ninety-nine demigod level.
Whether he went to the Worship Hall to have tea with Qian Daoliu or directly provoked the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King.
There would be no problem.
So, while he nurtured his relationship with the two women, Xuan Zi, that third wheel, was naturally left at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
As hired muscle, he could also help Zhang Lexuan with some of the dirty, tiring work.
After all, Lin Xiao remembered that Qian Renxue was still playing house as an undercover agent in Heaven Dou.
Lin Xiao planned to formally establish his own organization, the Spirit Pagoda, six years later and announce it to the world.
That was right. He still intended to follow the old Soul Spirit path.
On the one hand, he trusted his luck enough to believe the system would roll Soul Spirit technology for his next reward.
On the other, there was not much of a better alternative.
After all, he belonged both to the human side and to the Soul Beast side.
Old Jack had raised him, and he could not forget that kindness.
The Soul Beast Clan had given him the greatest help, and he could not forget that either.
So, the application of Soul Spirits and how to balance relations between humans and Soul Beasts.
Were left to Zhang Lexuan to agonize over.
Of course.
As the inner courtyard's senior sister, she had more or less detected Snake Lance and Pufferfish during her investigations after arriving in Heaven Dou City.
The Heaven Dou Empire did not even have a Titled Douluo, yet one of its princes had two Titled Douluo-level figures by his side.
She believed Xuan Zi and Lin Xiao, who had arrived in Heaven Dou City before her, must have noticed them too.
Lin Xiao: I hadn't.
Since the Young Master remained unmoved, he naturally had his own considerations.
She had always trusted the Young Master's wisdom.
Thus, she had continued observing Xue Qinghe.
Now Xuan Zi could spare the time to help her as well.
Naturally, Zhang Lexuan would not speak out of turn by bringing it up again.
She would simply await the Young Master's next orders.
Lin Xiao: Actually, I don't know anything, hehe.
And so Lin Xiao departed rather hastily with the Ice Empress and Snow Empress.
The others returned to their respective tasks as well.
Only Dugu Yan sat down to cultivate with her mind still somewhat bewildered.
Heading south, the three traveled thousands of miles, finally reaching the coast at the southernmost edge of the continent.
The azure Great Sea stretched endlessly, sea and sky meeting in a single line above a vast expanse of blue waves.
A gentle sea breeze brushed their faces.
Although the Far North also bordered the ocean, its year-round cold kept those waters an icy sea throughout the year.
Even the warmest summer could not melt its ancient ice.
Now, the Great Sea revealed her warm side.
The Snow Empress could not help letting out a long breath, her face filled with contentment.
They had traveled from Sunset Forest to the southernmost Great Sea. Even with her strength as a Limit Douluo, it was dusk by the time they arrived.
The sun was slowly sinking.
Only half of it remained above the sea.
The other half was formed by its reflection on the water.
It was like yin and yang coexisting.
The Snow Empress lay on a beach chair, while the Ice Empress used her pincers to bury Lin Xiao in sand.
Only his head remained exposed.
After admiring her handiwork for a while.
The Ice Empress went to the edge of the surf, lightly touching the waves with her jade-white feet.
The soft, downy sea breeze gently lifted the hem of her emerald-green dress.
Clear laughter rang along the shore.
There was no one else on the beach, though at the distant harbor, a handful of fishermen were securing their boats and preparing to head home.
Everything was so beautiful.
Night fell.
Lin Xiao booked a room with a large bed.
The Snow Empress was out on the balcony, enjoying the breeze.
The Snow Empress saw Lin Xiao approach.
"What is it?"
Lin Xiao said nothing. He simply came to her side, gripped the railing with both hands, and gazed at the myriad lights twinkling ahead.
"So, did you have fun tonight?"
The corners of the Snow Empress's lips lifted slightly, and a faint, tender glow bloomed in her eyes.
"It was quite nice. Living amid ice and snow year after year, I had no one to talk to and nothing new to see.
"Only after coming to your human world today did I discover how many enjoyable things there are.
"Humans truly are a remarkable species. Those ordinary people are so weak.
"Yet they can create so many novel things."
"Yes."
Lin Xiao picked up where the Snow Empress had left off.
"Ever since the Soul Tools of ancient times, humanity has been able to stand tall in this world not just because of talent with absurdly high ceilings and low floors.
But even more because of wisdom."
At his words, the Snow Empress nodded gently without arguing.
After all, among those she knew, there were Xiong Jun of the Star Dou Great Forest and A-Tai of their Far North.
They revered strength above all else.
Yet human technology had already reached a point where she struggled to understand it.
Even if all these things were only meant to make life easier.
What if, one day, they could manufacture weapons of the same caliber?
What would things look like after tens of thousands of years?
Lin Xiao had once mentioned something during their idle conversations on the road.
In the Ice God's memories, there had once been a Second-Level God in the Divine Realm called the Mechanical God.
Although he had not come from the plane of the Douluo Continent.
Through forging taken to its utmost limits, he had forged weapons in his own plane powerful enough to slay gods.
A trace of worry showed in the Snow Empress's eyes.
Would the future weapons of the people of the Douluo Continent be capable of that, too?
Where would the future of Soul Beasts lead?
She was, after all, the sovereign of all the Soul Beasts in the Far North.
Noticing the Snow Empress's concern, Lin Xiao gently took her hand.
"I'll find a way to reconcile humans and Soul Beasts."
"Not just in the Far North, but for all Soul Beasts! Someone once entrusted me with that."
The Snow Empress murmured a soft assent, her eyes filled with tenderness.
She trusted Lin Xiao.
Over the next few days, they traveled around the continent, enjoying themselves.
The bustle and splendor of Heaven Dou City.
The solemn atmosphere of Star Luo City.
Sugar figurines, paper folding...
Delicious food, fun things to do.
The three of them tried almost everything, even sea fishing.
All Lin Xiao remembered was the Ice Empress clumsily wielding a fishing rod as she battled a huge fish.
The Ice Empress had to control her strength precisely, afraid that her overwhelming brute force would snap the rod clean in two.
After all, the fishing rods Lin Xiao had bought were generally meant for low-level Soul Masters to use for sea fishing or recreation.
Although they were considered high-end, they were still an awkward fit for a strength-oriented Super Douluo like her.
Controlling her strength was child's play to her.
But the whole experience simply did not feel very pleasant.
In the end, after the Ice Empress battled it for fifteen minutes, a thousand-year-old giant cuttlefish successfully flopped onto her head and personally dyed her hair black.
That left the other two laughing at the Ice Empress for a long time.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
They had begun to grow a little bored, so they returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The Ice and Snow Emperors built an ice house by hand beside the icy spring.
It served as their little temporary home.
Lin Xiao cultivated in the mornings and sparred with the Ice Empress in the afternoons.
Before you continue