Ten days later, the wind and snow had just cleared.
The swirling snow that had filled the sky finally ceased. Several gaps opened in the lead-gray clouds, and thin sunlight spilled over the snowy plains of the Far North, setting the accumulated snow glittering.
The Ice and Snow Emperors came to visit again.
This time, they had brought a special little soul beast with them-in the Ice Empress's palm, she carefully cradled a snow lotus, crystalline from top to bottom.
Snow lotuses were among the few healing-type soul beasts in the Far North. They were natural treasures in their own right, weak in attack but exceptionally gifted at healing.
Throughout the long years, they had always been prey coveted by many soul beasts. Their kind had been hunted almost to the last, their numbers once dwindling to the brink of extinction.
Only later, when they gained the protection of the three rulers of the Far North and migrated as a clan into the core region, did things change. The Snow Empress even issued an order forbidding any soul beast from preying upon the Snow Lotus Clan, finally giving them room to breathe.
The Snow Lotus Clan had never failed to live up to that protection. Gentle by nature, they often took the initiative to heal injured soul beasts and cure their ailments-even when the injured were natural enemies that had once hunted them.
It was precisely this gentleness that earned them the respect and affection of almost every soul beast in the Far North. Many soul beasts would even protect them of their own accord.
By now, their standing in the Far North was much the same as that of the deeply revered Emerald Swan clan in the Star Dou Great Forest.
An ordinary snow lotus bloomed with only one