"We're here. This is where Mom and I live."
Xiao Bai crouched halfway down and opened her plump left paw, letting Yang Xingchen, who had been holding on to it, jump down from her palm.
"My heavens, Snow Empress, doesn't living in such a huge palace feel too empty?"
Yang Xingchen looked up at the ceiling, which stood even taller than Xiao Bai, surveyed the pillars around him, two or three meters thick and carved with all sorts of patterns, then lowered his head to stare at the floor tiles made of ice beneath his feet.
Although the Snow Empress had built this palace out of ice, it was no less awe-inspiring to Yang Xingchen than the buildings he had seen in his previous life.
"Xiao Bai usually comes inside to sleep, so I specifically designed it to fit her size."
"To me, palaces and wealth are merely worldly possessions. As long as they meet my needs and are convenient to use, that is enough."
Before she had found Xiao Bai, the Snow Empress, who had already cultivated to the Ferocious Beast level, had still lived in a little snow hut only as tall as a person.
Later, because Xiao Bai kept growing larger, the Snow Empress had been forced to abandon that little snow hut and build the palace Yang Xingchen now saw.
"Wait a moment, you two. I'll send Mom a message to come home."
After speaking to Yang Xingchen and the Snow Empress, Xiao Bai turned and walked over to an ice pillar near the Snow Empress's throne, pouring most of her power into it.
The Snow Empress had specially made this ice pillar so that Xiao Bai's presence could be transmitted to her through the Heaven and Earth Yuan Power of the entire Far North.
Xiao Bai's mom had just found a mature thousand-year heavenly treasure and was about to pick it when she sensed Xiao Bai's presence.
(To distinguish between the two Snow Empresses, the Snow Empress of the Douluo I era will mostly be called Xiao Bai's mom from now on.)
"What is going on? I have only been gone a short while, and Xiao Bai is already using this method to contact me? Could a human Soul Master be targeting her?"
Xiao Bai's mom immediately thought of the three Limit Douluos who had made their names on the continent several decades ago.
If one of them had brought their own forces to hunt Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, Xiao Bai might be in danger.
At that thought, Xiao Bai's mom casually pulled up the heavenly treasure and flew toward the palace at a speed far beyond that of ordinary people.
"A human Soul Master with only two rings? Wait, why do you carry my presence?!"
The moment Xiao Bai's mom stepped into the palace, she locked onto Yang Xingchen, who was crouching beside Xiao Bai in utter boredom, and sent the pressure of over six hundred thousand years surging toward him.
"Because I am right here in his Spiritual Sea!"
Sensing Xiao Bai's mom's hostility, the Snow Empress instantly moved in front of Yang Xingchen, dissolving her pressure into a gentle breeze.
"Devious human Soul Master, you actually dared impersonate me to deceive Xiao Bai."
Looking at the impostor before her, whose presence was identical to her own but whose strength was only at the ten-thousand-year level, Xiao Bai's mom raised her hand, preparing to kill them both with one strike.
"Mom, wait! Hear their explanation first. You'll see things differently once you've heard it!"
Sensing her mother's killing intent, Xiao Bai hurriedly spoke up and stopped her.
At those words, Xiao Bai's mom paused. She had not expected Xiao Bai to say that, but out of trust in her, she still chose to listen.
"Very well. Let me hear your excuses."
Only after sensing Xiao Bai's mom's killing intent gradually fade did the Snow Empress silently disperse the attack she had just been charging.
Although the current Snow Empress could only wield power at the ten-thousand-year level, she knew the weak points of Xiao Bai's mom's attacks perfectly well.
Hiding behind the Snow Empress, Yang Xingchen let out a long breath. Even with the Snow Empress protecting him, the killing intent Xiao Bai's mom had just displayed had left him drenched in sweat.
The Snow Empress personally stepped forward and told Xiao Bai's mom how Yang Xingchen had fished her into this timeline, why they had come to the Far North, and how they had met Xiao Bai.
Wait, was the Snow Empress really this bold?! She actually told Xiao Bai's mom her devouring plan outright!!
Yang Xingchen quietly studied Xiao Bai's and her mother's reactions. On their way here, the Snow Empress had never told him she would lay her cards on the table with Xiao Bai's mom.
With something this shocking, Yang Xingchen did not believe Xiao Bai's mom would actually give the Snow Empress an answer.
"I agree, but I have one condition for carrying out this plan."
Wait, she really agreed? Xiao Bai's mom, do you know this plan means eating you?
Yang Xingchen studied Xiao Bai's mom's expressionless face in surprise. No normal person or normal Soul Beast would agree to this, would they?!
"As long as it is within my power, speak freely."
The Snow Empress naturally understood that showing her hand so abruptly was somewhat risky, but she knew herself. She would not let an opportunity like this slip away.
But they had encountered Xiao Bai just after setting out. Otherwise, under their original plan, they would already have possessed the strength to devour Xiao Bai's mom directly by the time they met her.
"Ten years from now, you and I will fight without drawing on the Far North's Heaven and Earth Yuan Power. Whoever wins will take the lead in the devouring."
Xiao Bai's mom did not like being passive, and anyone with eyes could tell that whoever led the devouring would ultimately become the dominant self.
Even ten years was enough to turn one person into two different people, let alone ten thousand years.
Ultimately, the Snow Empress and Xiao Bai's mom were separate individuals.
"We accept this ten-year pact!"
Yang Xingchen, who had been unable to get a word in all this time, finally had a chance to express his opinion.
Still considering the matter, the Snow Empress heard Yang Xingchen speak with such confidence and could not help turning to look at his certain expression.
To gain the strength to fight Xiao Bai's mom within ten years without relying on Heaven and Earth Yuan Power, Yang Xingchen would have to withstand the seventh seal.
But the Snow Empress could not even guarantee that Yang Xingchen would be able to withstand the sixth seal within ten years, let alone the seventh.
"What do you think? My patience is limited. If you delay any longer, I will change my mind."
Xiao Bai's mom was also taking a gamble, essentially. Everything the Snow Empress had said was her own reasoning, with no facts to back it up.
But with Yang Xingchen, who had the potential to become a god, added to the equation, even if what the Snow Empress had described could not be achieved, she would still be able to survive.
"Agreed. Ten years from now, I will bring Xingchen to see you. I hope you will not be too surprised then!"
Pressed for an answer by Xiao Bai's mom, the Snow Empress hesitated no longer. She and Yang Xingchen were grasshoppers tied to the same string. Yang Xingchen should not be foolish enough to have made no preparations at all.
Of course, the Snow Empress also believed that, with Yang Xingchen's luck, he would surely fish up something that could turn things around over the course of ten years!
"I look forward to fighting you. Xiao Bai, see our guests back."
Having learned that Xiao Bai's opportunity to break through did not lie in the direction she had been searching, Xiao Bai's mom no longer planned to continue her search.
Ten years was certainly not enough for cultivation, but it was more than enough to hone her moves.
"This way, you two!"
Following her instructions, Xiao Bai crouched halfway down and opened her palm for Yang Xingchen to jump onto, then carried him out of the palace.
On the return journey, once Yang Xingchen had some time to spare, the Snow Empress finally asked him in his Spiritual Sea why he had so rashly agreed to Xiao Bai's mom's terms.
"Getting you to withstand the sixth seal within ten years is already the limit of what I can do."
"If Xiao Bai's mom leads the devouring, I will ultimately be pulled out of your Spiritual Sea, and even if you survive, you will be gravely wounded and crippled."
Without this ten-year pact, the Snow Empress was confident that she could bring Yang Xingchen, once he was in his twenties, to subdue Xiao Bai's mom, who was only a little over six hundred thousand years old.
"There's a treasure land on the Douluo Continent called the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It's where the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings fell, and it holds heavenly treasures rarely seen in the outside world."
"As long as we can get there and consume the heavenly treasures growing there, forget the ten-year pact-even becoming gods won't be impossible!"
Having come all the way to the Douluo Continent, how could Yang Xingchen possibly pass up a taste of the Ice and Fire Mandarin Duck Pot, number one on Douluo's must-eat list?