Douluo Continent.
The Far North, core region.
A palace made of ice and snow stood there. Inside, a breathtakingly beautiful woman walked slowly toward the bedchamber in the rear.
Her jade feet were bare, and the exquisite white dress she wore slipped slowly from her body, revealing skin as white as snow, flawless and untouched, with a soft, lustrous sheen.
Step by step, she entered the pool, letting the icy water swallow her calves, knees, thighs... until it reached just below her collarbones.
The woman was bathing in a cold spring. Its waters were far below freezing, and ordinary living creatures immersed in a spring at such a temperature would surely perish.
But as the Snow Empress, foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, she found this degree of cold perfectly "mild."
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a tremendous crash came from above the palace. An unidentified object smashed through the roof and landed squarely in the pool.
With a splash, a great spray of water rose in front of the Snow Empress.
For an instant, the Snow Empress was stunned.
At the same time, the object that had fallen into the water floated up, and a pair of big, bright eyes stared blankly at the Snow Empress.
It was... a human baby boy, and just like the Snow Empress, he was stark naked!
One big and one small, they stared at each other for a long time.
Then.
"Boom-"
The Snow Empress's presence surged forth like a raging flood and a rampaging beast. A terrifying pressure descended upon the entire palace, and every snowflake for miles around trembled.
"Human!" The Snow Empress flew into a rage. She immediately grabbed the baby boy by one short leg and instinctively stood up, putting all her beauty on display.
The baby boy's eyes slowly widened as he hung upside down. He stared straight at her, taking in every inch of the Snow Empress in an instant.
Whether from internal heat or something else, blood seeped from the baby boy's nose, ran backward, and finally dripped into the cold spring below.
"..."
The Snow Empress also realized what had happened. Light flashed over her body, and an exquisite long dress instantly appeared, concealing all her beauty.
But it was already too late.
The baby boy had seen everything he should have seen and everything he shouldn't have. He had seen it all.
"Human, I'll tear you to pieces!" A blush flashed across the Snow Empress's face, but icy killing intent appeared in her eyes.
Even Bing'er had never seen such beauty, yet a human baby boy had laid eyes on it, and he had even shamelessly gotten a nosebleed.
To the Snow Empress, it was nothing less than the sky falling.
The Snow Empress was in the grip of fury and had no mind to consider the many mysteries surrounding the baby boy's sudden arrival. Right now, all she wanted was to kill.
"Hum!"
Just as the Snow Empress was about to strike, an intricate, complex mark suddenly appeared between the baby boy's brows, and an ancient, sacred presence spread out.
Under that presence, the baby boy fell unconscious.
Gradually, the ancient, sacred presence grew stronger and stronger, finally gathering into a pillar of icy blue light that shot into the sky.
The sight alerted the entire Far North.
"That's the presence of the Ancient Ice God!" The Ice Empress, who had been on her way to the core region to find the Snow Empress, trembled, and instinctive reverence rose in her heart.
She dared not delay and hurried toward the Snow Empress's palace.
The other creatures of the Far North saw the sight and bowed from afar, every one of them reverent.
The Ancient Ice God was the faith of the Far North, and they were all the Ice God's people and subjects.
"How could this be? Lord Ice God..." Inside the palace, the Snow Empress's jade hand froze in front of the baby boy, unable to come down.
The Ice God's presence on the baby boy had not stopped her.
But the Snow Empress could not bring herself to strike, because she knew the baby boy in her hand was no ordinary child. He had countless ties to the Ancient Ice God.
Gradually, the Snow Empress calmed down and fell into thought.
How had the baby boy suddenly arrived without her sensing him? How had he smashed through ten-thousand-year-old ice? And why hadn't he frozen to death?
The answer was obvious: it had to do with the Ancient Ice God!
This human baby boy was no ordinary child!
In an instant, the Snow Empress's gaze toward the baby boy became extremely complicated, and a trace of heartfelt, instinctive reverence flitted through her eyes.
Though she was foremost of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, she too believed in the Ice God.
"Xue'er!"
A clear, youthful voice rang out. Green light flashed outside the hall, and a girl with twin ponytails, dressed in white and green, ran in.
Though she looked small and adorable, she was in fact the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, the second of the Heavenly Kings of the Far North. She possessed nearly four hundred thousand years of cultivation, and her strength was second only to the Snow Empress's.
As soon as the Ice Empress entered, she saw her Xue'er holding a stark-naked baby boy in her hand. The Ancient Ice God's presence was emanating from him.
"Bing'er." The Snow Empress turned to glance at the Ice Empress and nodded slightly before returning her gaze to the baby boy in her hand.
"Xue'er, this baby boy is..." The Ice Empress walked over to the Snow Empress. Besides instinctive reverence, there was a trace of puzzlement in her eyes.
If she hadn't known the Snow Empress, she might have suspected that the Snow Empress had given birth to a child behind her back.
"Bing'er, he just fell from the sky..." The Snow Empress explained what had happened, automatically leaving out the part where the baby boy had seen her naked.
"This..."
The Ice Empress was dumbfounded. She had no idea what was going on.
The only thing they knew now was that the baby boy had a connection to the Ancient Ice God.
As the Ice and Snow Empresses looked the baby boy over, the Ice God's presence on him began to recede.
"Xue'er, what should we do? Raise him?" the Ice Empress asked.
The Snow Empress pondered for a moment, her gaze resting on the mark gradually fading between the baby boy's brows. She nodded. "He has a connection to Lord Ice God. We'll raise him, and besides..."
The Snow Empress narrowed her eyes slightly and said no more.
Whenever she thought of the baby boy seeing her naked, she couldn't help feeling a surge of frustration.
"Xue'er, besides what?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, right, Xue'er, why does this little fellow have a nosebleed? And why did it run all the way to the top of his head? A backward nosebleed?"
"...Nervousness and internal heat."
Six years later.
The Far North, core region.
A beautiful, dreamlike halo of seven colors shimmered in the sky. The ground was covered in pristine white snow, and as far as the eye could see, everything was white.
Cold winds blew from time to time, sending snowflakes and fine ice swirling through the air.
Not far away stood a palace of ice and snow.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
Footsteps sounded as a boy trudged through the snow toward the palace. The snow was deep enough to reach above his knees.
Astonishingly, the boy wore a white robe of moderate thickness, yet he could move freely through the bitterly cold world of ice and snow.
When the boy stepped onto the stairs at the palace's main entrance, the snowflakes and fine powder clinging to him fell away, drifted on the wind, and vanished.
"Whew~"
The boy took a deep breath and walked into the ice palace. Though he appeared calm, he was inexplicably worried. I'm not a native of the Douluo Continent. I wonder if I can awaken a Martial Soul.
The boy was none other than Beiming Yuan, whom the Ice and Snow Empresses had adopted.
Six years ago, Beiming Yuan's body had grown young again, regressing into infancy, and then a mysterious force had brought him to the Douluo Continent.
Having "restarted" his life, he had descended upon the Far North and happened to land right in the Snow Empress's home. Worse still, the Snow Empress had been bathing in a cold spring at the time.
Even after six years, he still hadn't forgotten what he saw in that one glance.
He couldn't forget it. He simply couldn't.
The Snow Empress was very fair, very beautiful, and very alluring.