"Go make the arrangements. I will let Su Qingxue know that I can shelter her and her younger brother from the wind and rain."
"Sure thing. Leave it to me, Your Highness."
Xu Tianran's trusted aide thumped his chest in assurance, then swaggered out of the crown prince's bedchamber.
As he watched that trusted aide leave, Crown Prince Xu Tianran's gaze immediately darkened.
"Your Highness, you..." Seeing that Xu Tianran's expression was off, Ju Zi asked cautiously.
"Once this matter is over, have someone dispose of him. I have no need for someone with so little understanding of rank serving under me."
At those words, Ju Zi's heart shook violently!
Not long ago, that man had risked his life to save the crown prince. Otherwise, the crown prince most likely would not have lived to see today.
Thus, to thank him, Crown Prince Xu Tianran had personally told the man that he could be more casual in his presence from then on and need not really treat him as the crown prince.
Ju Zi had been there when he said those words, so she had heard them too.
Yet hardly any time had passed since that incident-it had not even been three months since the man saved the crown prince-and now the crown prince actually wanted him executed for being a little casual in his presence.
A chill filled Ju Zi's heart. She silently warned herself that no matter what the crown prince said to put her at ease in the future, she absolutely could not forget the relationship between sovereign and subject.
Otherwise, she might not even know how she had died.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Ju Zi answered with the utmost respect. She no longer felt any envy for the casual relationship between that man and Crown Prince Xu Tianran. All that remained was fear.
Fear that one day, some slight mistake of hers would displease Xu Tianran. When that happened, even death might be a stroke of luck.
In a small town within the Far North.
Su Yun sat in a heated room at the inn, sipping tea as he admired the snowy scenery, looking quite relaxed.
But that comfort did not last long. The warm teacup in his hand suddenly turned ice-cold. A snowflake appeared on the previously warm tea, and then the entire cup of tea froze solid.
"Quite pretty, just a little cold."
Setting his teacup on the table and ignoring the teapot that had cracked from the cold, Su Yun turned to look ahead of him. There stood an exquisitely beautiful woman with long, snow-white hair.
"A pleasure to meet you, Snow Empress. Could you rein in this cold a little? My current cultivation isn't enough to make me completely impervious to heat and cold. If this is meant to put me in my place, please spare me."
At Su Yun's words, the Snow Empress's gaze chilled, and the look she directed at him grew a few degrees sharper.
"What, you don't think possessing Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow means you can have me dancing in your palm, do you?"
Su Yun shook his head. "How could I? As the empress of the Far North, you naturally have your pride. How could I possibly think a mere bit of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow would let me have you dancing in my palm?"
"I merely wish to ask you for a favor. As for this Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, it is just a trifling payment."
Hearing this, the Snow Empress's expression softened slightly. The next moment, even the surrounding air was no longer so cold.
People lived for their dignity. Though the Snow Empress was not human, she had held a position of authority for so long that, if forced into doing something, she might well lose her head and explode outright, heedless of her own life.
But simply changing the wording and giving her a way to step down made the situation completely different, even though the task itself remained the same.
"You're a reasonably clever human. Speak, what favor do you wish to ask of me?"
The Snow Empress leaned against a throne formed from snow. When she spoke again, her voice no longer released cold that could cause frostbite.
"It's nothing major. My clan recently offended some people, so I hope you can shelter me and my clan for a while. Of course, it won't be long. A hundred years will suffice. Once a hundred years have passed, those people should have died of old age."
The Snow Empress: "..."
"Tell me, whom do you want killed? Mere humans aren't worthy of my regard. Since you know what's good for you, I'll simply kill them for you. There's no need for so much trouble."
Su Yun thought of Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao, then considered the strength the Snow Empress had never really displayed in the original story. He was not quite sure whether she could kill those two single-handedly, though he could not put it that way.
"I don't know where they are either. I only know my clan has offended someone. Since I also happened to have information about Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, I thought of seeking your protection."
"I can shelter you, but a hundred years is too long. I still have the Far North to protect. Eighty years."
"Deal."
The Snow Empress: "..."
Was cutting it by only twenty percent too little?
"Snow Empress, please swear an oath to the Ice God that, as long as you obtain enough Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow for you and the Ice Empress to survive this heavenly tribulation, you will shelter my clan for eighty years."
The Snow Empress felt she had been played. But then she recalled that Su Yun's request for eighty years of protection for the Su Clan was conditional on her obtaining enough for herself and the Ice Empress to survive their heavenly tribulations. Since she currently had no other means of surviving hers, she did not dwell on it.
"I, the Heavenly Snow Woman of the Far North, swear to the Ice God: if this person can help me obtain enough Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow for me and the Ice Empress to survive this heavenly tribulation, I will shelter him and his clan for eighty years. Should I break this oath, may the Ice God forsake me and all my cultivation dissipate."
Listening to the Snow Empress's words, Su Yun gradually let out a breath of relief.
Once Soul Beasts gave their word, they would not go back on it. This had screwed Soul Saints over miserably in the original story, but put to good use, it could allow the Su Clan to safely pass through its most dangerous period of growth.
After all, Tang Jia San Shao had never torn up the established rule that Soul Beasts kept their promises.
"Here's to a happy partnership. Let's go. The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow is in Dragon City. It's a little far from here, but at your speed, we should arrive before long."
At this, the Snow Empress frowned. "The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow is in a human city?"
Su Yun nodded. "Yes. Otherwise, you should have found it long ago after all these years, shouldn't you?"
"Indeed, but..."
The Snow Empress looked out at the land that did not belong to the Far North, her brows drawing together slightly.
She had been played too quickly just now, and the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow was far too important to her. For a moment, she had overlooked the value of her Soul Ring and Soul Bones to humans. Thinking back now, she had actually forgotten to guard against the possibility of humans coveting her.
Still, this posed no difficulty for the Snow Empress. After only a moment's hesitation, she opened her mouth and spat out a Snow Pill.
"Eat this. I will shelter you and your clan, but your clan must not harm me either. This Snow Pill can accelerate your cultivation, but if I die, it will explode inside your body, making you perish along with me."
Looking at the Snow Pill the Snow Empress offered him, Su Yun could not help recalling reading the Douluo comic in his previous life. Back then, to prevent Tang San from secretly harming him, Dugu Bo had also spat out a Poison Pill for Tang San to swallow.
Tang San had retched for a long time back then, and it had thoroughly disgusted Su Yun in his previous life too.
Now that something similar had befallen him, Su Yun glanced at the Snow Empress, then put the Snow Pill in his mouth and swallowed it without any hesitation.
Only by enduring the bitterest hardships could one rise above others. This little hardship was merely a little wind and frost.
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