163: Chapter 163: Qian Renxue and the Snow Emperor's Late-Night Conversation

Midnight had passed, and all was silent.

Heaven Dou City had fallen into slumber, with only the occasional long, resonant sound of a watchman's clapper from afar, deepening the stillness of the night.

In the inner courtyard of the residence, the lights in Snow Empress's room were not completely extinguished; a faint, soft, ice-blue glow seeped through the window lattice.

It was the shimmer naturally emitted by her own Soul Power and the laws of ice.

Inside the room, Snow Empress had not yet gone to bed.

She wore a water-blue silk slip nightgown; the fabric was thin and soft, clinging tightly to her exquisite, curvaceous figure.

Two slender straps hung over her rounded, fair shoulders, revealing a large expanse of skin as translucent as jade.

Her delicate collarbones shone with an alluring luster under the light.

The hem of the nightgown barely covered her thighs, and her two straight, long legs, as if carved from mutton-fat jade, were casually exposed to the cool air.

She stood quietly by the window, pushing it open just a crack, letting the cool night breeze, carrying the faint fragrance of the courtyard's plants, drift in and stir her long, silver-white hair.

Her ice-blue eyes gazed at the bright, clear moon hanging high in the deep night sky, but her expression was somewhat vacant, as if piercing through the cold moonlight to look toward a more distant, more void-like place.

Breaking through the seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation should have been a cause for celebration, meaning she possessed at least one hundred thousand years of peaceful time, during which she would not need to worry about the next tribulation for a very long time.

Yet, in her heart, there was not much joy; instead, it was entangled with an unprecedented, complex, and unfamiliar train of thought.

As the ruler of the Far North, governing the endless ice plains, overlooking billions of ice and snow Spirit Beasts, and possessing power approaching godhood, she should have been an existence detached from worldly affairs, free and unfettered.

Yet now, she was following a human youth, living in this human city, worrying about his safety, and even... incorporating him into a very special position in her long life.

Was this truly a clever arrangement of fate, allowing her to encounter this variable at the moment of near-death, thereby changing her predetermined path of destruction?

Or was it that... she had, unknowingly, actively or passively, stepped onto a fork in the road completely different from her original destiny?

If fate had been altered, then where would the future of Snow Empress lead?

To remain in the Far North ice plains and continue to be that eternally lonely Ice and Snow Empress?

Or... to continue along this already deviated path? But what lay ahead?

Confusion, like the night outside the window, quietly enveloped her heart.

For the first time, she felt such a clear confusion about the direction of her seemingly endless life.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Just then, three soft and restrained knocks broke the silence of the room, interrupting Snow Empress's chaotic thoughts.

"Senior Snow Empress, are you asleep?" Qian Renxue's ethereal and melodious voice, carrying a hint of hesitation, came from outside the door.

Snow Empress's ice-blue eyes shifted slightly, pulling back from her distant thoughts.

She did not turn around, simply responding in a cold, calm voice: "No. Come in."

With a creak, the door was gently pushed open, and a figure walked in, then turned around to close the door behind her.

The person who entered was also wearing only a nightgown, made of pale golden silk.

The style was equally simple, with two slender straps hanging over similarly rounded shoulders.

Only the color was different from Snow Empress's water-blue, making her skin appear even whiter than snow.

She had long hair like flowing gold, draped smoothly over her back; her stunningly beautiful face, set off by the ice-blue glow, appeared even more noble and holy, like an angel descending to the mortal World.

It was none other than Qian Renxue.

The two stood facing each other, both wearing cool slip nightgowns, both revealing breathtakingly graceful figures and peerless beauty.

One had a temperament as cold as ice, with hair as white as snow, like a fairy from the Moon Palace who did not eat mortal food, standing alone in the World.

The other had a noble and holy temperament, with dazzling golden hair, like the embodiment of light and justice, carrying an inviolable majesty.

They could be described as spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each excelling in their own way, yet miraculously, in this quiet night, they formed a harmonious and pleasing scene.

Snow Empress looked at Qian Renxue, who had walked in, a trace of doubt flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

Although she and Qian Renxue lived under the same roof, they did not interact much on a daily basis, especially at such a private, late-night hour.

She took the initiative to ask: "It's so late, is there something you need from me?"

Qian Renxue walked to the center of the room without getting too close.

Maintaining a proper distance, she met Snow Empress's gaze calmly and replied in a gentle voice: "Nothing major. Just some words I wanted to chat with you about, Senior. Regarding your plans for the future."

"Plans for the future?"

Hearing this, Snow Empress's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and the confusion in her ice-blue eyes deepened as she asked: "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

Qian Renxue's tone remained calm but carried a sense of earnest inquiry: "Now that you have successfully passed the seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation, Senior, your cultivation has greatly advanced. For at least the next one hundred thousand years, you need not worry about heavenly tribulations. Your lifespan is long, nearly immortal. However..."

She paused, her gaze shifting to the bright moon outside the window before turning back to Snow Empress's face: "For us, the situation is different. Xiao Jing and Dong'er are already successors to Divinities. Inheriting their God Positions and ascending to the Divine Realm is only a matter of time. Perhaps ten years, perhaps a hundred, but it will certainly not be too long. When that time comes, we will inevitably have to leave the Douluo Continent and head to that higher-level World."

"So, what about you, Senior?"

Speaking to this point, Qian Renxue's gaze became sharp and direct as she asked: "Do you choose to follow us and ascend to the Divine Realm together, or... once everything settles, return to your ice plains in the Far North and continue being that unworldly, yet eternally lonely Ice and Snow Empress?"

Her question was direct, yet it hit the core of the matter.

Although she did not know specifically how Snow Empress and Lu Jing had met, or how they had built such deep trust.

But judging from the actions—Lu Jing sparing no cost to help Snow Empress pass her tribulation, and Snow Empress, after Lu Jing went missing, unhesitatingly venturing deep into the Star Dou Great Forest alone to find him—

the bond between the two had long since surpassed that of ordinary companions or allies; it was more like close friends who could entrust their lives to each other, or even... family.

With this bond, would they continue on together, or would they part ways here?

Snow Empress was silent.

This question touched exactly upon the core of the confusion she had been thinking about while standing by the window just moments ago.

Return to the Far North?

Return to that ice plain she had ruled for hundreds of thousands of years, continuing to live day after day, year after year, a life that seemed supreme but was actually cold and lonely?

Looking at the familiar ice and snow, listening to the howling cold wind, with only those Spirit Beast subjects who revered her but could never truly understand her by her side?

But, follow them to the Divine Realm?

In what capacity would she go?

A powerful Spirit Beast from the lower realm that did not belong to the Divine Realm?

An outsider who might be viewed with hostility and guarded against by Divinities?