"Xue'er, thanks."
Beiming Yuan smiled. "I can hardly repay this kindness. I can only wait until I've made a name for myself and repay you then."
"Hm?" The Snow Empress froze. She had never expected Beiming Yuan to change how he addressed her.
"Xiao Yuan, what... what did you call the Snow Empress?" The Ice Empress glared at him and huffed, "You're not allowed to call her that. Only I can call her Xue'er!"
"Aren't I the Ice God? Surely I have that little privilege?" Beiming Yuan looked at the Ice Empress, an utterly harmless smile on his face.
"You!"
The Ice Empress was annoyed, but she couldn't argue with him.
"At worst, I'll call you Bing'er from now on too," Beiming Yuan said.
"You..." The Ice Empress blushed, even less able to argue.
"Xiao Yuan, you are the new Ice God, but you're not a true Ice God yet." The Snow Empress narrowed her eyes and gave him a meaningful smile.
Though Beiming Yuan suddenly calling her "Xue'er" made her a little uncomfortable, she didn't really mind it.
For one thing, their years together hadn't been for nothing.
For another, she was pleased to see Beiming Yuan's attitude of "not fearing the strong."
"I'm practicing my courage in advance, preparing to face the strong in the future."
"Using Bing'er and me to practice your courage?"
"Mm."
"You've got some nerve. I hope you won't disappoint Bing'er and me, or else..." The Snow Empress smiled playfully, a hint of ill intent appearing in her eyes. "Your days ahead won't be easy."
Seeing the ill intent on the Snow Empress's face, Beiming Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked instinctively, "How hard could they be?"
"Isn't it obvious? We'll beat you up, of course!" The Ice Empress waved a little fist at Beiming Yuan, looking adorably fierce as if she were ready to give him a beating.
They did respect the Ice God, but for now, Beiming Yuan's title as Ice God didn't match the reality.
"Heh." Beiming Yuan chuckled but said nothing more.
In fact, he quite liked the way they got along. The Ice and Snow Empresses hadn't treated him with excessive deference because he was the Ice God; they still regarded him as "family."
"If you disappoint Bing'er and me, then you won't have any freedom to speak of," the Snow Empress suddenly said through voice transmission.
Beiming Yuan was taken aback, not quite understanding.
"Is it so hard to understand?" The Snow Empress looked at his expression and continued through voice transmission, "Your talent is exceptional. If you have children with an Ultimate Ice partner, your descendants will surely be no weaklings either."
"..." Beiming Yuan's mouth twitched. He understood a little of what the Snow Empress meant, and he hadn't expected her to be so "ruthless."
"Have children with whom? You or Bing'er?" Beiming Yuan instinctively asked through voice transmission.
"What do you think?"
The Snow Empress's voice sounded calm, but it also concealed a trace of shyness and fluster.
If Beiming Yuan hadn't seen every inch of her body, and if he hadn't possessed such powerful talent and the Ice God's inheritance, she would never have made such a decision.
After all, this was a "good thing" that killed two birds with one stone.
If Beiming Yuan became the new Ice God, everyone would be happy.
If Beiming Yuan failed to amount to anything, she would borrow a term from the human world and "rule from behind the curtain," using Beiming Yuan to restore the Ice God's glory in the Far North.
Of course, that would also be an indirect windfall for Beiming Yuan.
There was no helping it. He was the one who had seen her body.
He wanted to avoid taking responsibility? No chance!
"Xue'er, I think you should both have my children, and keep having them," Beiming Yuan suddenly said through voice transmission, his audacity reaching higher than the heavens.
The Snow Empress's face stiffened, and she nearly fell from the sky with Beiming Yuan. Looking at the harmless smile on his face, she felt a sudden surge of anger.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
After a few punches, Beiming Yuan stopped smiling, behaved himself and learned his lesson.
"Xue'er, did... did you really have to hit Xiao Yuan?" Seeing Beiming Yuan like that, the Ice Empress couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him.
"Do you know what he's planning to do?"
"What?"
"He's so young, yet his lustful audacity reaches the heavens."
"Huh?" The Ice Empress froze, not understanding what she meant at all.
The Snow Empress didn't explain further. Instead, she picked up speed with Beiming Yuan in her grasp, flying in a certain direction. She had sensed a Soul Beast there.
"Choose one of these three Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. They should meet your requirements for your Ice and Snow Fan Martial Soul."
"The first is an eight-hundred-and-seventy-year-old Cold Hell Spider. It can provide you with a control-type Soul Skill and comes with a powerful ice poison."
"The second is an eight-hundred-and-thirty-year-old Snow Spirit Tiger. It should be able to provide you with a powerful attack-type Soul Skill with a slight control ability."
"The third is an eight-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Blizzard Ice Butterfly. Its attack and control abilities are both average, rather like your Ice and Snow Fan Martial Soul."
On the ice field, the three Hundred-Year Soul Beasts felt no fear when they sensed the presence of the Martial Soul in Beiming Yuan's hand. Instead, respect welled up in their hearts.
That presence not only commanded respect from the depths of their hearts, but was also their faith.
Beiming Yuan studied the three Soul Beasts before him and pondered for a moment before choosing the Blizzard Ice Butterfly. "That one. It has both attack and control, and it's old too, nearly nine hundred years. It's worth a try."
The Snow Empress nodded and gave a light wave of her jade hand, sending the other two Hundred-Year Soul Beasts away.
"Xiao Yuan, do it quickly. Give it a clean death." The Ice Empress casually unleashed a blast of ice, freezing the Blizzard Ice Butterfly's body, lowering the temperature of the blood throughout its body and numbing its limbs to a state near death.
Beiming Yuan nodded. His Ice and Snow Fan closed and transformed into the Ice and Snow Blade, and he killed the Blizzard Ice Butterfly with a single strike.
The next moment, a Yellow Soul Ring formed above the Blizzard Ice Butterfly's corpse, giving off waves of Soul Power.
Beiming Yuan sat cross-legged and circulated his Soul Power, drawing the Soul Ring toward him until it hovered above his head. He began absorbing the Soul Power contained within it.
"Hum..."
The Yellow Soul Ring flickered, and a halo of light also settled over Beiming Yuan.
The Snow Empress and Ice Empress stood guard beside him, quietly watching the changes in Beiming Yuan.
Surprisingly, Beiming Yuan absorbed the Soul Ring very smoothly, encountering almost no resistance. He only had to endure the vast Soul Power it contained.
Time passed bit by bit, and Beiming Yuan spent nearly a day absorbing the Soul Ring.
"Hum!"
Once the absorption was complete, the Yellow Soul Ring vanished, and Beiming Yuan's Soul Power surged rapidly.
Level twelve, level thirteen, level fourteen!
Absorbing a Hundred-Year Soul Ring nearly nine hundred years old allowed Beiming Yuan to jump several levels in succession, officially becoming a level-fourteen Soul Master.
"Whew..."
Beiming Yuan opened his eyes and gently breathed out a puff of cold air. With a slight movement of his thoughts, the Hundred-Year Soul Ring he had absorbed quickly descended from above his head, flickering with light.
"Xiao Yuan, how is it? What's the Soul Skill?" the Ice Empress asked.
Beiming Yuan nodded and smiled. "My First Soul Skill is called Ice and Snow Seal. Its power is average, but its control effect is excellent. It has two forms. I'll show you both."
Beiming Yuan stood up with the Ice and Snow Fan in his hand, looking rather like a graceful young gentleman. He was still young, though, and his bearing was somewhat immature.
"Whoosh-"
Beiming Yuan turned his right hand, raised the Ice Fan and swung it naturally. A diamond-shaped shard of ice flew out and struck a partially exposed rock in the distance, freezing it into a block of ice.