"I don't understand. Why didn't you act? Why?"
After agonizing over it all night, Ice Emperor arrived at Snow Emperor's palace, demanding to know why she hadn't killed those inherently evil humans.
"Ice Emperor, calm down." Snow Emperor looked at Ice Emperor's resentful expression, her twin tails trembling as she spoke, and couldn't help but sigh. "What would we gain from killing them?"
"Or could the seal in Blizzard Valley be restored to its original state?"
"That's no excuse to let them go! You didn't even try, letting those humans walk all over us. A 690,000-year-old Snow Maiden—by human standards, that's a level 99 Title Douluo!"
"Even if the Dark Devilgod Tiger is there and we might not kill them all, we could at least intimidate them."
"The Extreme North cannot be insulted!" Ice Emperor plopped onto a nearby chair, her face dark. "Just the sight of that Dark Devilgod Tiger pisses me off."
A few years ago, the Evil God Tiger had sneaked into the Extreme North.
Then, taking advantage of her distraction, it had infiltrated her tribe. If she hadn't returned quickly, the Ice Jade Scorpion race would have been wiped out.
A creature like the Dark Devilgod Tiger wouldn't just eat half and leave the rest. Even so, under the erosion of its dark power, some of her kin had still perished.
Snow Emperor could tell that Ice Emperor's hatred for humans wasn't really about the seal.
She hadn't even mentioned the seal much to Ice Emperor over the years. The root of Ice Emperor's resentment wasn't humans—it was the Dark Devilgod Tiger who called herself Tokisaki Kurumi and lived among them.
"Ice Emperor, that Dark Devilgod Tiger is no longer a spirit beast. Can't you see that?"
"So what if it is? So what if it isn't?" Ice Emperor's face twisted with fury. "Blood must be repaid with blood!"
"We can't keep all of them here. That's why I didn't act." Snow Emperor sighed. "Or do you want the Extreme North to be completely destroyed?"
"What do you mean?" Ice Emperor frowned.
Instead of answering immediately, Snow Emperor walked to the palace window and gazed outside.
"If we can't keep them all, why make enemies?" Snow Emperor murmured. "That little girl, Ning Rongrong—her soul rings weren't obtained by hunting spirit beasts."
"As a Snow Maiden, my nature leans toward harmony. I can sense the resentment in soul rings taken from slain spirit beasts, but that child is different..."
"What does that have to do with us?" Ice Emperor sneered. "At most, it just means humans have changed their cultivation methods. If I want to kill them, why should I care how they cultivate?"
"If we can't eliminate them all, making enemies like this—what would that mean?"
"Bing'er, you're hundreds of thousands of years old. You're not a child anymore." Snow Emperor sighed. "A Soul Sage in her teens—barring accidents, she'll undoubtedly become a human Limit Douluo, or even... reach level 100 and ascend to godhood."
"Snow Emperor!" Ice Emperor shot up from her chair. "She's human! We're spirit beasts! What does a human becoming a god have to do with us?"
"Do you remember Poseidon? That hypocritical bastard." Ice Emperor's face twisted with anger.
Twenty thousand years ago, a man named Poseidon had come to the Extreme North to hunt for soul rings. She and Snow Emperor had joined forces to drive him away.
"That deceitful scum tried to trick us into following him to conquer the seas, even tried to get us to sacrifice ourselves! Promised to revive us after he became a god."
"He did become a god. But what about his followers?"
"They were just tools for him to gather faith. The spirit beasts who sacrificed themselves for him—their kin, left without protection, were slaughtered by other sea spirit beasts."
"Humans are inherently evil."
"Perhaps." Snow Emperor sounded resigned. "But Ice Emperor, that human made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"What offer?" Ice Emperor looked puzzled.
"That in the future, she'll do her best to help us find the Ice God's legacy."
"Tch—" Ice Emperor scoffed. "Human words are lies from the devil. Who even knows if the Ice God's legacy still exists?"
"Snow Emperor, you're not young either—a 690,000-year-old spirit beast, and you fall for such obvious tricks?" Ice Emperor glared, exasperated. "One of these days, you'll get tricked into being sold off in the human world."
"I don't believe it, but I have no choice." Snow Emperor gazed at Ice Emperor's furious face and sighed. "I'm at 690,000 years of cultivation now, and you're at 390,000. For us spirit beasts, growing stronger is far too difficult."
"No matter how much we suppress it, in at most ten thousand years..."
"We'll face our next heavenly tribulation. I have no confidence in surviving it. Do you?"
"Hmph. Life and death are fated; wealth and honor lie with heaven." Ice Emperor gritted her teeth. "I, Ice Emperor, would rather die under the 400,000-year tribulation, be blasted to ashes by lightning, than believe another word of human deceit."
"To put it bluntly, if we endure, we can still live for ten thousand years. If we let humans fool us, we'll be ashes in a hundred."
"Those spirit beasts who were tricked into taking human form by sweet words—told they'd cultivate faster and ascend to godhood at level 100—how many of them turned to dust after a century? Did they become gods? Did they become buddhas?"
"Humans are inherently evil."
"No matter what, I'll make them pay." Ice Emperor concluded firmly.
Snow Emperor: "..."
"Ice Emperor, your prejudice against humans is too deep." Snow Emperor walked over and gently stroked Ice Emperor's twin tails, trying to cool her anger.
"The seal in Blizzard Valley was left by the Ice God—that much I'm certain of. That it will only last a few more decades is also likely true, based on what that Ancient Ice Phoenix said."
"We don't have ten thousand years to wait..."
"But... but..."
"Humans may be evil creatures to spirit beasts."
"Still, I see a unique opportunity in her." Snow Emperor sighed. "You've noticed the Dark Devilgod Tiger's condition too, right? It seems to have sacrificed itself, yet it doesn't quite look like it."
"I once visited the Star Dou Great Forest. Do you know what I learned there?" Snow Emperor had kept this to herself, never mentioning it to Ice Emperor.
"What?" Ice Emperor was puzzled.
"Spirit beasts cannot become gods."
"Why?" Ice Emperor instinctively pressed.
"The God Realm forbids it." Snow Emperor stated. "You must have noticed—after reaching 100,000 years, our strength grows much slower than humans'."
With each tribulation, countless spirit beasts perish—only one in ten survives.
Yet even after passing, their power only increases by a sliver.
And humans?
In just a short time, they can go from level 95 to 99.
"Ice Emperor, perhaps you haven't observed closely enough." Snow Emperor met her gaze. "If we can't break these shackles, we'll never truly protect the Extreme North."
"Say it simpler. I don't understand."
Snow Emperor: "..."
Why did Ice Emperor's intelligence plummet whenever she was around?
Snow Emperor sighed. "Compared to a thousand years ago, the density of spirit beasts in the Extreme North—even in the Star Dou Great Forest—has decreased significantly."
"Though many spirit beasts haven't noticed, if this continues, spirit beasts will inevitably go extinct."
"Unless human cultivation methods change."
"Then let's slaughter all the humans." Ice Emperor's eyes gleamed with killing intent.
"Impossible." Snow Emperor shook her head. "The gods stand behind humans."
"The reason I agreed to that girl's proposal... I suspect the Ice God's inheritance is connected to the Blizzard Valley's formation."
"You mean..."
"Mm. If natural ascension is impossible, what about inheriting the Ice God's position?" Snow Emperor said. "As a Snow Maiden, I should be the most qualified to inherit it. So why not try?"
"For the future of the Extreme North—and for you, Bing'er—we must make a choice."
"Snow Emperor..." Ice Emperor sighed. "I understand. I'll do my best to help you."
In the palace, a faint tremor in space drew the attention of both Ice Emperor and Snow Emperor.
The air slowly split apart, as if forcibly torn open.