The Snow Empress looked down at the tiny face, a faint smile unconsciously curving her lips.
She didn’t know why she was smiling.
Perhaps it was because she hadn’t encountered such a weak life form in too long.
Perhaps it was because…
this feeling was unexpectedly good.
Holding the infant, her figure flickered, and she flew towards the depths of the Far North’s core circle.
…
The Ice and Snow Palace was situated atop an ice mountain in the deepest part of the Far North’s core circle.
Though called a palace, it was merely a structure built by the Spirit Beasts of the Far North using countless pieces of profound ice.
Spirit Beasts were not humans after all, lacking their dexterity, so the craftsmanship naturally appeared rough and simple.
But precisely because of this, this palace made of ice and snow possessed a rugged beauty, refracting colorful halos under the sunlight, like a wonderland from myths and legends.
As the Snow Empress landed at the palace entrance, a graceful green figure came to greet her.
It was a petite twin-tailed loli, no more than 1.5 meters tall, yet the aura emanating from her was powerfully suffocating.
She wore an exquisite green dress, her long hair the same color, her features as delicate as a porcelain doll, and her skin as fair as jade.
Most striking were her golden eyes, which, despite appearing innocent, contained an untamed wildness and dominance that was hard to conceal.
The Ice Empress.
“Xue’er, did you find out?
Hmm?”
Just as the Ice Empress was about to speak, her gaze fell upon the infant in the Snow Empress’s arms.
Her eyes instantly widened, her golden pupils filled with disbelief.
“Why are you still holding a human infant?!”
The Snow Empress shook her head, gently cradling the infant.
“When I arrived, I only saw this little infant.
And…”
“I feel he’s not simple.”
“Not simple?” The Ice Empress became interested, hopping closer.
“Put him down, put him down, let me see!”
She jumped, but her height only reached the Snow Empress’s leg, making it impossible to see the infant’s face.
Seeing the Ice Empress’s eager expression, the Snow Empress couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
Her figure subtly shrank from over three meters tall to about 1.8 meters, then she placed the infant on a table carved from ice crystals.
The Ice Empress immediately leaned in.
She extended a slender, jade-like finger and carefully poked the infant’s cheek.
Soft.
Warm.
“Oh?”
A hint of surprise flashed in the Ice Empress’s eyes.
She had lived in the Far North for hundreds of thousands of years, long accustomed to the cold.
Touching this infant now, she felt an indescribable comfort, like encountering a ray of sunshine in a world of ice and snow.
“There’s something so warm in the Far North?” she exclaimed.
“Like a little sun.”
As she spoke, her gaze shifted downwards, falling upon a place she had never seen before.
What was that?
The Ice Empress curiously extended her finger and poked the infant’s little pecker.
Soft, small, and quite unique.
She couldn’t help but laugh.
“Xue’er, look at this little thing, it’s quite interesting.”
The Snow Empress: “…”
Before she could stop her, the infant on the table suddenly opened his eyes.
They were a pair of rather beautiful large eyes, clear black and white, pure like two springs.
At this moment, these eyes were fixedly staring at the twin-tailed loli who was poking his little pecker.
One large, one small, their eyes met.
The Ice Empress’s finger was still there, her movements frozen.
“Awake?” she said happily, but her hand showed no sign of stopping.
The infant blinked.
The Ice Empress blinked.
The infant blinked again.
The Ice Empress blinked again.
Then…
“Wah…”
A loud cry instantly resounded throughout the entire Ice and Snow Palace!
Damn twin-tailed loli!
Unless this revenge is exacted, I swear I am not human!
The Ice Empress’s hand paused, and she guiltily withdrew it.
“He…
why is he crying?”
The Snow Empress unhappily slapped away the Ice Empress’s still-hovering hand.
“It’s all because you were playing with him like that!”
She reached to pick up the infant, but her movements were as stiff as a child holding a sword for the first time.
She had lived for 700,000 years, killed countless enemies, and protected countless Spirit Beasts, but had never soothed an infant.
The infant cried even louder.
The Snow Empress’s hand froze in mid-air, completely at a loss.
The Ice Empress scratched her head.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, I won’t poke anymore…”
The infant ignored her and continued to cry.
The two Dominators of the Far North now stood before an infant, looking at each other, completely helpless.
“Is he crying because he’s hungry?” The Ice Empress suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
“Should we feed him some milk?”
The Snow Empress looked down at the infant, remained silent for a moment, then slowly raised her head to look at the Ice Empress.
Her gaze was innocent with a hint of bewilderment.
The Ice Empress: “…”
“You don’t even know that, do you?”
The Snow Empress did not speak.
But her silence said it all.
The Ice Empress sighed deeply.
The dignified Lord of the Far North, a nearly 700,000-year-old Ice and Snow Spirit, didn’t even know how to raise a child.
Oh well, who told her, the Ice Empress, to be so knowledgeable?
Half an hour later.
The Ice Empress dragged a recently cubbed Snowfield Ice Bear back to the Ice and Snow Palace.
It was a massive mother bear, her eyes filled with terror and despair, having been captured by the two great Vicious Beasts of the Far North to be a wet nurse; she had never experienced anything so thrilling in her life.
The Ice Empress pointed to the mother bear’s abdomen and said to the Snow Empress, “Here, let it feed him.”
The Snow Empress looked at the trembling mother bear, then at the infant in her arms who was crying uncontrollably, and finally made a decision.
She carefully brought the infant close to the mother bear.
The infant instinctively searched for a food source and soon stopped crying.
For a moment, only the infant’s satisfied sucking sounds remained in the Ice and Snow Palace.
The Ice Empress squatted beside him, propping her chin on her hand, watching the scene with curious eyes.
“Xue’er,” she suddenly spoke, “Where do you think this child came from?”
The Snow Empress shook her head.
“I don’t know.
When I arrived, he was the only one.”
“Only one?” The Ice Empress frowned.
“How could an infant survive alone in the Far North?
Even human Spirit Masters wouldn’t be guaranteed to survive in this place, right?”
“That’s why I said he’s not simple.” The Snow Empress’s gaze rested on the infant.
She simply watched the tiny life, watched him feed contentedly, watched him slowly quiet down, and watched him fall into a deep sleep after finishing his meal.
On his tiny face, there were still unshed tear stains.
But his brows had relaxed, and the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, as if he were having a good dream.
The Snow Empress reached out and gently wiped away the tear stains on his face.
Her movements were incredibly gentle.
The Ice Empress watched this scene, the light in her eyes flickering.
After a long silence, she suddenly spoke, “Xue’er, let’s raise him!”
The Snow Empress looked up at the Ice Empress.
Her sky-blue eyes reflected the Ice Empress’s serious expression.
She didn’t hesitate.
“I would have raised him even if you didn’t say so.”
The Ice Empress was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
She leaned close to the infant, extended a slender, jade-like finger, this time not poking where she shouldn’t, but gently poking his cheek.
“Then let’s give him a name!”
The Snow Empress thought for a moment, her gaze falling on the faint golden light shimmering around the infant.
In this world of ice and snow, he was like a warm little sun, out of place, yet unexpectedly harmonious.
“This little fellow is like a small sun,” she slowly said.
“Let’s call him…
Yaoyang?”
“Yaoyang?”
The Ice Empress repeated it twice, her eyes lighting up.
“Yaoyang…
dazzling sun…”
She nodded.
“Okay!”
The Snow Empress reached out and gently picked up the infant.
The Snow Empress looked down at him, a gentle smile appearing on her lips, one she herself hadn’t noticed.
Outside, the wind and snow still howled.
But within the Ice and Snow Palace, a ray of sunlight had been added.
See you in the next one!