One li north of Dragon City.
Nan Qiuqiu curled up beside a rock, wrapped in a thick blanket, her little face flushed red by the cold wind.
Ling Luochеn stood beside her, gazing toward the Far North Ice Plains to the northwest.
The sun had begun to set, though it had little strength left, staining a small patch of the horizon a dusky yellow. Everywhere else, the view was awash in chilly, shadowy blue.
Ling Luochеn glanced back at Nan Qiuqiu.
"Qiuqiu, why don't you go back first? Don't stay out here in the cold."
Hearing someone speak to her, Nan Qiuqiu's drooping eyelids flew open. She shivered all over and shook her head as though the cold had jolted her awake.
"Sister Luochen, we have to wait until Mom and Brother Tianqing come back."
Nan Qiuqiu had stayed by Ling Luochеn's side all of last night and had barely slept. After keeping watch outside all day as well, her frail body simply couldn't hold out.
"Qiuqiu, listen to me. I'm an ice-attribute Soul Master, so I can keep watch here for you. If your mother comes back and finds you've fallen ill, how am I supposed to answer to Aunt Nan as your big sister?"
"Go back and wait first, all right?"
A rare tenderness appeared on Ling Luochеn's cool face. She reached out to stroke Nan Qiuqiu's somewhat dry skin and looked at her expectantly.
"Then, Sister Luochеn, can we wait until dark? If they still haven't come back by then, I'll go back to the sect."
"Mm."
Ling Luochеn nodded in satisfaction and patted Nan Qiuqiu's little head.
After a day of waiting, Ling Luochеn no longer knew quite how she felt. Still, the Far North's environment was indeed favorable to her cultivation, and her spirits had recovered considerably.
I hope Tianqing and Aunt Nan both come back safely, Ling Luochеn sighed inwardly.
"Hmm-"
Nan Qiuqiu had just looked into the distance when she let out a strange mumble.
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, then opened her big, round eyes wide and looked into the distance again.
On the horizon beneath the setting sun, two dark figures were walking toward Dragon City.
"Mom-"
Nan Qiuqiu cried out and rushed excitedly toward them.
Ling Luochеn looked in the same direction. Her eyesight was much better than Nan Qiuqiu's, and she saw two figures, one in white and one in pink. She could even see Xiao San running toward Nan Qiuqiu beside them.
Ling Luochеn felt the weight hanging over her heart finally lift.
An inexplicable emotion rose within her, and without thinking, she followed Nan Qiuqiu, running toward them.
"Mom-"
Like a swallow returning to its nest, Nan Qiuqiu plunged into her mother's arms.
As for Ling Luochеn...
As though because Nan Shuishui's arms were already occupied, she threw herself into Yu Tianqing's embrace instead. Her eyes were damp with tears, and she clasped his back tightly with both hands, mumbling:
"You're back. That's wonderful..."
Heaven only knew how tormented she had been during that day of waiting. Now that she saw Yu Tianqing and Nan Shuishui were both safe and sound, the emotions in her heart naturally needed an outlet.
But this left Yu Tianqing in a difficult position.
He held both hands behind his back, not daring to touch Ling Luochеn at all, and let the girl cry in his arms.
Wait!
Ling Luochеn, aren't you the "Ice Fairy"?
Show a little restraint, hey!
Yu Tianqing turned his head and stole a glance at Nan Shuishui.
Their eyes met. Oh no, this is bad...
Though Nan Shuishui was holding Nan Qiuqiu in her arms, she was looking at him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
Yu Tianqing hurriedly held out both empty hands to show his innocence.
Nan Shuishui raised an eyebrow, signaling him to put his arms around Ling Luochеn.
Yu Tianqing glanced at the beauty with her face buried in his chest. Feeling the girl's soft, delicate body, he found her genuinely pitiable, but his heart and thoughts wandered for only a moment before he hastily waved his hands at Nan Shuishui.
No, I only love you, Shuishui.
Nan Shuishui glared at him with her lovely phoenix eyes, and Yu Tianqing instantly understood.
If you don't listen this time, there won't be a next time for us.
Yu Tianqing looked as though he had bitten into a bitter melon, only to be met with an even sterner look from Nan Shuishui.
Alas-
Yu Tianqing sighed inwardly and resigned himself to his fate.
As the saying went, as long as the red flag at home remained standing...
My beloved consort, you've really made me suffer!
Yu Tianqing wrapped his arms around Ling Luochеn's slender waist. It was slim and had the firmness of a young body, an entirely different sensation from Nan Shuishui's shapely waist.
Ling Luochеn's delicate body merely trembled once when Yu Tianqing put his arms around her, then she relaxed. Listening to his strong heartbeat and feeling his warmth, Ling Luochеn felt utterly at ease.
I wish this moment could last forever...
"Tianqing, I'll take Qiuqiu back to the sect first. You take Luochen to absorb the Soul Ring."
Watching the heartwarming sight of the two youngsters embracing, Nan Shuishui's beautiful eyes flickered. Then she waved and prepared to leave with Nan Qiuqiu.
"Mom, isn't Brother Tianqing coming with us?"
"Be good, Qiuqiu. Brother Tianqing and your sister Luochen still have important things to do. Let's go home first. Look how cold you are, you poor child..."
Hearing Nan Shuishui's words, Ling Luochеn started like a startled fawn, but all she did was turn to watch Nan Shuishui leave, a faint blush appearing on both cheeks.
"Soul Ring?" she asked, a little puzzled.
"Mm. Come with me."
Yu Tianqing led her back in the direction he had come from, where a scorpion stood, green from head to tail.
"An Ice Jade Scorpion?"
"Mm, your fifth Soul Ring."
Yu Tianqing brought Ling Luochеn to a stop in front of the Ice Jade Scorpion and nodded at it.
The Ice Jade Scorpion glanced at Ling Luochеn before it. The green light on its body flared, and its hard shell took on a somewhat translucent quality.
A moment later, a beam of green light shot straight toward Ling Luochеn.
The sacrifice began.
Ling Luochеn had no time to think before she was sitting cross-legged.
It truly was a windfall from heaven.
Ice Jade Scorpions were among the finest of ice-attribute Soul Beasts, their ice attribute considerably purer than that of other Soul Beasts.
Yu Tianqing squatted on the ground, bored out of his mind, standing guard for Ling Luochеn. He was also curious whether Ling Luochеn could evolve to possess Ultimate Ice, as Nan Shuishui had said.
In his view, a so-called Ultimate Attribute was simply a matter of purity.
Just as in his previous life, even gold couldn't be said to be one hundred percent pure.
On the Douluo Continent, an Ultimate Attribute was likewise no more than a qualitative change brought about by a quantitative change once an attribute's concentration reached a certain level.
Compared with ordinary attributes, cultivating an Ultimate Attribute required refinement to obtain higher-purity energy.
Although cultivation became slower, its power would also be considerably greater than that of normal cultivation.
Ling Luochеn was still only a Soul Ancestor. He didn't know whether the ten-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion's essence could bring her that far through sacrifice.
The sky gradually darkened. With the clear sound of ice crystals shattering, Ling Luochеn opened her eyes, her blue eyes shining brightly in the night.
A look of joy flashed across her face. Seeing Yu Tianqing beside her, Ling Luochеn threw herself at him without the slightest hesitation.
Over the Far North wilderness, the stars and moon hung high, and a rare aurora appeared in the night sky.
With no one else around, Ling Luochеn naturally had no need to conceal her excitement. She knocked the unsuspecting Yu Tianqing to the ground, gave him a light kiss on the cheek, then looked at him with a smile.
"Tianqing, thank you!"