The Ice Empress lowered her head with difficulty, her emerald eyes staring at the snow pill guarded by layers of petals, where the Snow Empress's final Origin lay dormant.
She knew she didn't have much time left.
Light Feather Douluo's 'God's Punishment: Extinction' arrow, which contained the power of light, had not only pierced her heart but also severely eroded her life Origin.
If not for her majestic vitality as a 390,000-year-old super Soul Beast forcibly supporting her, combined with the Ultimate Ice's Seal on the wound, she would have died on the spot long ago.
Her final wish was merely to find a relatively safe corner and then inject all her remaining life Origin into the snow pill without reservation.
At the cost of her, the Ice Empress's, complete extinction, she would exchange for the possibility of the Snow Empress regrouping her elements and gaining new life.
This was the last thing she could do for Xue'er, and it was her duty and redemption as a Great Northern King and a dear friend.
However, fate had played a cruel and absurd joke on her.
Meeting these two humans halfway, she had originally intended to simply vent her pent-up anger toward the Hall of Rebirth and humanity, crushing two eyesore insects.
Who could have imagined that one of those 'insects' would be a Prodigy like Caelus, someone who completely disregarded common sense.
The dignified Ice Empress, one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North who had dominated the World for countless years, famous in the Soul Beast World and notorious in the human World, was actually... actually set up by a mere four-ring Spirit Ancestor human youth using such unheard-of, unseen methods.
One could even say she was beaten to the ground without any power to resist, even having her cheek poked by the opponent's finger as he commented, 'You're dying soon.'
This feeling of frustration was even harder to bear than her heart being pierced.
But, it was precisely within this frustration and powerlessness that a faint spark named 'hope' was ignited.
This human youth, the abilities he possessed... were too bizarre, too powerful.
With power that touched the underlying rules of the Universe, if it were him, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad choice.
The instinct to survive, along with her worry for the Snow Empress, began to clash with her long-held beliefs.
However, her deep-rooted prejudice and hatred toward humans firmly imprisoned her thoughts.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the scenes of human Soul Masters hunting Soul Beasts for spirit rings and Spirit Bones were vivid in her mind; she had also seen too much of the cunning, greed, and betrayal among humans.
Entrusting the Snow Empress and her own hope to a strange and bizarre human youth?
This left her incredibly conflicted and hesitant.
Trust, or destruction?
Compromise, or walk toward the end with pride?
The Ice Empress fell into an unprecedented, intense internal struggle.
In her emerald eyes, light flickered violently—sometimes fierce, sometimes confused, sometimes desperate, and sometimes flashing with a trace of imperceptible longing... and Caelus, standing before her, took in all of the Ice Empress's emotional changes.
He did nothing, just waiting quietly.
What needed to be done, he had already done.
Yes, to some extent, this encounter with the Ice Empress was not a pure coincidence.
In the story he and Istaroth co-wrote, they had anchored 'meeting the Ice Empress carrying the Snow Empress's Origin' as an important plot node.
This was a tributary they had forcibly guided out of countless chaotic possibilities, expending enormous energy.
But this 'writing' was not an omniscient God Mode.
His and Istaroth's power could currently only manipulate a rough framework and direction.
Like writing a story outline, one can set 'where the protagonist meets whom,' but cannot precisely control every detail, every line of dialogue, and every heartbeat during the meeting.
Zhang Lexuan being instantly heavily injured by the Ice Empress, nearly killed in a second—this thrilling scene was completely beyond Caelus's expectations and control.
The power consumed to write the future, especially Istaroth's power, was immense.
To finely manipulate every detail would require mental force and control over the Law of time far beyond what they could currently reach.
Therefore, when unable to fully control the details, information and psychology became Caelus's most important weapons.
The reason he so generously explained the bug-like effect of his Fourth Soul Skill to the Ice Empress was not just to satisfy her wish to die understanding, but also a calculation.
He was showing the Ice Empress his uniqueness, his value.
This seemingly honest explanation was like placing a heavy bargaining chip on the scales of the Ice Empress's heart.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the swaying scales in the Ice Empress's heart to finally tilt toward the future he desired, under the interwoven influence of multiple factors: despair, pride, the desire to protect the Snow Empress, and the fear and hope toward his power.
The wind and snow seemed to become more urgent at this moment, as if urging for a final answer.
In the Ice Empress's emerald vertical pupils, various complex emotions—anger, unwillingness, pride, despair—interwove and collided like a storm, finally settling into a deep, do-or-die calm.
Her personality was inherently very decisive.
Once she decided on a path, even if there was a bottomless abyss ahead, she would not hesitate to take the plunge.
She looked up, no longer looking at the snow lotus in her arms that gave her the last bit of warmth, but instead casting her gaze directly at Caelus. Her voice, though weak, carried a sense of determination:
"Human, do you want to make a deal?"
Hearing this, the corner of Caelus's mouth twitched upward imperceptibly, and a smile appeared on his face.
He knew that the future he was waiting for, the one he and Istaroth had 'written,' had finally arrived at this moment.
Although all of this largely followed the'script' they had set, the moment the Ice Empress said those words herself, Caelus still quietly breathed a sigh of relief deep inside.
He knew better than anyone how noble and treacherous the powers of time and fate were; they were certainly not something his current meager cultivation could play with at will.
Istaroth had once solemnly warned him.
Those who toy with time and fate will eventually be toyed with by time and fate.
Therefore, Caelus was never blindly confident because he possessed 'This Moment, That Moment'.
He always maintained a deep sense of awe.
He wrote the beginning and direction of the script, but was always ready to welcome the script's rampage, deviation, or even complete rewrite.
Maintain awe and proceed with caution—this was the rule he set for himself.
"A deal?"
Caelus quickly retracted that fleeting smile, replacing it with a coldness and wariness that fit the current situation, even carrying a hint of perfectly timed mockery.
"You're about to die, what do you have to trade with me? And don't forget, we are enemies; you just tried to kill me and Senior Sister."
The acting that needed to be done could not miss a single step.
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