"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
The Ice Empress immediately urged Zhang Lan on, her tail hook swaying gently as its emerald light cast a cold, eerie shadow over the Snow Empress.
"I suggest we find the Snow Empress first."
"What if-and I do mean what if..."
"What if her breakthrough failed, and the Snow Empress decided to reincarnate as a human?"
"And while she was still an embryo, a human happened to scoop her up?"
"What would we do if they sealed her inside a Soul Tool?"
What Zhang Lan described was precisely the Snow Empress Embryo that would eventually appear at the Starry Sky Auction House.
But they had failed to recognize her, believing she was merely an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Embryo.
In truth, Zhang Lan was not sure when the Snow Empress had decided to reincarnate and cultivate anew. She might already have begun, or even been scooped up by someone.
"What? How is that possible!"
The Ice Empress's voice abruptly rose, and her emerald-green tail hook shuddered violently. Clearly, the possibility had shocked her deeply.
"Forget it. Let's hurry."
She said no more, lowering herself to signal Zhang Lan to climb aboard.
Once Zhang Lan was on her back, the Ice Empress pushed off the snow with all six legs. Emerald light pierced the wind and snow like an arrow as she rushed toward the Snow Empress's place of seclusion.
Emerald light cleaved through the blizzard as the Ice Empress raced across the snow at astonishing speed.
With every landing of her six legs, she had already shot another hundred meters forward.
Zhang Lan lay low on her back, his Gravity Dome automatically contracting into a thin membrane that hugged his body and kept out the oncoming blizzard.
The deeper they went, the lighter the wind and snow became.
Only an ancient silence remained between heaven and earth, as though even time had frozen.
Only when a vast canyon appeared at the edge of their vision did the Ice Empress begin to slow.
Both sides of the canyon were clear throughout, like two mirrors thrusting from the earth toward the sky.
Countless fine patterns could faintly be seen flowing around the canyon entrance, resembling some ancient seal.
The Ice Empress stopped a hundred feet from the canyon, all six feet lightly touching the ground as she leaned forward.
Zhang Lan leaped off her back. The instant his feet touched the ice, an indescribable chill shot through his soles and into his marrow.
The temperature here was several times lower than in the places they had passed.
"Snow Empress!"
The Ice Empress's voice echoed around the canyon.
"I'm here. Are you all right?"
There was no response.
The Ice Empress's tail hook lifted slightly, her crystalline yellow eyes fixed on the depths of the icy cliffs.
"Something is wrong with Xue'er's aura."
The Ice Empress's voice sank.
"It's chaotic. As though a force is rampaging out of control inside her."
Before her words had faded, a muffled boom erupted from deep within the canyon, followed by countless cracks bursting through the surrounding ice and snow.
Azure light surged from the cracks like a trapped beast struggling to escape.
Threads of scarlet ran through that light, as though ice and fire were devouring each other.
"Xue'er!"
The Ice Empress abruptly charged several steps forward.
"Don't come any closer."
A voice came from deep within the canyon.
It was cold to the extreme, like glaciers that had never melted grinding against one another, yet it carried a trace of weakness that could not be concealed.
The cracks around the canyon slowly healed. The azure light gradually receded, and the scarlet threads vanished with it.
A moment later, a white figure emerged from the icy cliff.
She stood half a head taller than the Ice Empress's human form. Her long, snow-white hair fell to her ankles, each translucent strand seemingly carved from the purest ice crystal.
Her face was exquisitely beautiful, almost unreal, but a sickly pallor now covered it, and her lips were so pale that their color was barely visible.
Her white dress trailed over the ice. With every step, an ice lotus blossomed beneath her foot before fading away.
The Snow Empress stopped. Her icy gaze swept over the Ice Empress, settled on Zhang Lan, then returned to the Ice Empress.
"You brought a human."
Her tone was flat, betraying neither pleasure nor anger.
"It's urgent."
The Ice Empress dispensed with pleasantries and went straight to the point.
"Your aura is in such chaos. Did your breakthrough fail?"
The Snow Empress fell silent for a moment, then nodded lightly.
"I was only one final step away from Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores."
Her voice remained cool, but now held a barely perceptible bitterness.
"When I condensed my second Soul Core, the powers of ice and fire would not merge."
"With the second Soul Core failing to condense, even my first Soul Core began to destabilize."
She raised her hand, and a fist-sized orb of light appeared in her palm.
Within it, two lights, one blue and one white, spun and collided furiously. Each collision sent scarlet sparks flying, and the entire orb trembled precariously, as though it might explode at any moment.
"My seven-hundred-thousand-year tribulation will come in three years."
The Snow Empress lowered her hand, and the orb dispersed.
"In my current state, I don't even have a thirty-percent chance."
The Ice Empress's tail hook slowly drooped.
She and the Snow Empress had known each other for tens of thousands of years. Though they were usually wary of each other and seldom met, as fellow members of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, she understood better than anyone-
The Snow Empress's pride was no less than her own.
To admit aloud that she had only a thirty-percent chance meant setting aside the last of her dignity.
"And why have you come to see me?"
The Snow Empress's gaze returned to the Ice Empress.
"You never leave your territory lightly."
The Ice Empress glanced at Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan nodded slightly.
"Two things."
The Ice Empress drew back her gaze, her voice steady.
"First, this human knows where to find ten-thousand-year Profound Ice Marrow."
"With that Profound Ice Marrow, you might still have a chance to condense your Soul Cores anew."
The Snow Empress's pupils abruptly contracted.
Without pausing, the Ice Empress continued:
"Second, Tian Meng has returned."
"He and this human have devised a god-making plan, to cultivate this human into a god."
"I agreed to become his Second Martial Soul."
The Snow Empress's gaze snapped toward Zhang Lan. In that instant, he felt as though his soul had frozen solid.
Unlike the Ice Empress's gaze, hers held no killing intent, but something even more terrifying-
It was the scrutiny of one who looked down upon all creation, as though a deity standing above the clouds were examining an ant.
"God-making?"
The Snow Empress repeated the words, her tone so calm it sent a chill through him.
"The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm-that worm who escaped from me ten thousand years ago-now intends to create a god?"
"Yes."
The Ice Empress answered for Zhang Lan.
"He's in this child's Sea of Consciousness right now."
"His spiritual power is stronger than it was ten thousand years ago."
The Snow Empress remained silent for a long time.
Only the wind wailed across the ice field.
"Ten-thousand-year Profound Ice Marrow."
At last, she spoke, her gaze locked on Zhang Lan.
"Where?"
"Dragon City, in the Heaven Dou Empire."
Zhang Lan met her gaze without the slightest retreat.
"In the Earth Dragon Sect's secret grounds, beneath the Cold Spring."
The Snow Empress frowned slightly.
She had never known much about human cities.
"If you know there is Profound Ice Marrow in the Earth Dragon Sect's secret grounds, why haven't you retrieved it yourself?"
The Snow Empress's voice remained icy.
"Because without Ultimate Ice, no one can venture deep into the Ice Soul Domain at the very bottom of the Cold Spring."
Zhang Lan answered frankly.
"Sister Ice Empress can enter with her Ultimate Ice, but the quality of the Profound Ice Marrow she retrieves would be far below what you could obtain in person, Snow Empress."
"More importantly-the Earth Dragon Sect is a human sect, after all. If Sister Ice Empress barged into a human city as a Soul Beast, it would cause too much of a stir."
"But if you went in human form, Snow Empress, no one would see through you."
Before you continue