NABC Chapter 221 The Eternal Vow
Chapter 221 The Eternal Vow
Chapter 221 The Eternal Vow
Carrying Huo Yuhao, Xue Di slowly descended from mid-air and walked lightly to the shore of the Ice God Lake.
She gazed at the still pond before her, and a very soft sigh escaped her lips in the cool air.
"Perhaps it won't be long before this Ice God Lake disappears completely. Just like in your memory, thousands of years later, humans completely dominate the land."
The core area of the Star Dou Great Forest is barely surviving, having become a captive enclosure. As for the far north, it has become a utterly desolate wasteland.
Xue Di turned around, her icy blue eyes fixed on the boy in front of her, reflecting his slightly awkward figure.
"Yuhao, I know this isn't your fault. In that future, you did everything you could."
Even if you choose to remain in the lower realm for a hundred years, humanity afterward will still follow the same path.
Not to mention that humans, driven by profit, have almost wiped out land-based spirit beasts, even among spirit beasts themselves, it is not uncommon for them to cannibalize each other due to the food chain and the desire to advance faster.
As the Snow Emperor who ruled the far north for hundreds of thousands of years, she was naturally no stranger to these things.
If it weren't for her constant suppression, the number of soul beasts remaining in the far north would probably be much smaller than it is now.
"Snow Empress, I..."
Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, feeling a tightness in his chest.
Before he could finish speaking, Xue Di shook her head and gently interrupted him.
"Didn't Gu Yuena say you were planning to go back? Although these aren't obligations you have to fulfill, I still hope that you can find a better way to resolve this matter by then."
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao lowered his head, a self-deprecating smile playing on his lips.
"Perhaps this is not an obligation for me. But for you, Snow Empress, how could you possibly remain calm when you truly see that there are no more traces of soul beasts in the far north?"
Just like the gradually drying-up Ice God Lake, some things are ultimately bitter fruits that all life on the Douluo Continent must share.
This is not alarmist.
After being swept away by the spacetime turbulence in the God Realm and losing the God Realm's control, the plane's consciousness was unable to mobilize the ocean energy that occupied 70% of the Douluo Star's surface.
With the continuous extinction of land-based spirit beasts and the constant exploitation of resources, Douluo Star may become completely desolate after a few thousand years.
A refreshing fragrance wafted over, and Xue Di gracefully moved to stand before him.
She reached out her cool hand and gently pinched Huo Yuhao's cheek, slowly lifting his lowered head.
Her icy blue eyes shone even brighter as she stared intently at him, the light deep within them like a pearl in the ocean, holding a faint glimmer of hope.
"In that case, are you willing to share this endless responsibility with me?"
For a moment, Huo Yuhao seemed stunned, but his gaze softened even more.
"Just as you once told me, our destinies have long been intertwined, inseparable."
"Yes, we should have stopped distinguishing between each other a long time ago."
Xue Di murmured softly, seemingly lost in thought.
She slowly released her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, the Heart of the Ice God and the Ice God Lotus appeared out of thin air, hovering in mid-air, each radiating a soft halo.
In the next instant, Xue Di's figure floated up, and as she waved her sleeves, white ribbons extended from the hem of her skirt, like snowflakes falling from the sky, dancing gracefully around her delicate body.
In an instant, everything around dimmed, as if the Snow Empress's dance had stolen all its brilliance.
And at this moment, everything transformed into a pure ice-blue radiance.
Glaciers, snow, and icy winds all lost their original properties at this moment.
There is no longer cold, nor is there warmth; there is only a pure coolness that originates from the depths of the soul.
The icy blue light spread further and further away.
Within sight, the boundary between heaven and earth became blurred, no longer distinguishable, and together they transformed into an icy blue crystal world.
And that graceful white figure dancing was the only pure white in this crystal world.
Gu Yuena stood quietly in front of the Snow Emperor's Palace.
As the icy blue light curtain spread, her amethyst-like eyes narrowed slightly, making it impossible to discern her true thoughts.
Meanwhile, Hyotei and Tenmu, who were also standing to the side, both looked utterly dejected.
In their hands, each held a crystal-clear ice tablet, on which a line of large characters was engraved in the common language of soul beasts.
"I am the incompetent Hyotei" and "I am the Tenmu who only knows how to sleep".
It was fortunate that Huo Yuhao didn't know the language of soul beasts; otherwise, when they saw the contents of these two ice tablets during their parting, Bingdi and Tianmeng would probably have been so ashamed that they would have wanted to crawl into an ice crevice on the spot.
Looking at the icy blue light that had become the core of heaven and earth, Hyotei's eyes widened subconsciously, his tone full of sourness.
"I can't even remember the last time I saw Xue Di dance. Could it be that Xue Di didn't let us follow her so she could dance alone for Yu Hao? That's so cunning!"
"Bingbing, at a time like this, why are you still thinking about these things?"
Tianmeng responded weakly, her head bobbing up and down.
If she hadn't been so mindful of the fact that she absolutely couldn't let the ice card in her hand fall and shatter, she probably would have collapsed to the ground long ago and gone back to sleep.
Ever since she helped Huo Yuhao maintain that large-scale illusion, Tianmeng felt almost completely drained. Recently, she has lost interest in all sorts of things and only wants to sleep.
"That's not the reason. Look at me, you..."
Hyotei abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
She subconsciously looked down at the words engraved on the ice cube in her hand, and at that moment, she truly understood what it meant to be powerless.
Snowflakes are falling, and the north wind is howling.
As the snowflakes danced and fell, the Ice God's Heart, suspended in mid-air, was strongly drawn in, and the icy blue light emanating from it grew even brighter.
The dazzling ice-blue light transformed into shimmering ribbons, swirling and fluttering around the Ice God Lotus.
Stimulated by this pure energy, the Ice God Lotus trembled violently.
Until a tiny flower bud quietly emerges from the original branch and quickly unfolds and blooms.
A faint, refreshing fragrance of snow lotus wafted through the air, soothing the soul.
The new lotus flower grows alongside the original one, its entire body crystal clear, displaying a gradient of ice blue from light to dark, exuding an extremely cool and serene beauty.
Snow Emperor's solo dance did not last very long.
Once the Ice God Lotus successfully transformed into the Ice God Twin Lotus, she gracefully descended from the sky and returned to Huo Yuhao's side.
Even though it lasted for an exceptionally short time, Huo Yuhao was still immersed in the exquisite dance he had just witnessed, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.
Looking at the Snow Empress with a faint smile in front of him, Huo Yuhao subconsciously spoke softly:
"Aren't you going to keep jumping a little longer?"
As the Snow Empress, born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the far north, she can be said to be the daughter of this far north.
The strange phenomenon caused by that solo dance in the snow is a symbol of the power bestowed upon the Snow Emperor by the far north.
Xue Di gently shook her head, the smile on her lips becoming even more pronounced.
With a flick of her wrist, the Twin Lotus of the Ice Goddess floated lightly into her hand.
"What comes next seems more important to me. After all, we can't make the same mistake twice in similar situations."
Before Huo Yuhao could react, the ribbons from Xue Di's sleeves gently wrapped around Huo Yuhao's waist.
A force of moderate strength came, and as the Snow Empress's delicate body moved slightly backward, the two of them fell into the deep blue Ice God Lake together.
The Heart of the Ice God spun in mid-air, emitting an increasingly dense chill that threatened to freeze the very void.
As the temperature continued to drop, the surrounding glaciers began to emit icy blue spots of light, which then poured into the Ice God Lake one after another.
The lake water touched their skin, but instead of the expected biting cold, it carried a gentle warmth that softly enveloped them.
The two people, pressed tightly together, gazed at each other in the water.
Water droplets slid down Xue Di's fair cheeks, across her slender neck, and into the deep cleavage in front of her.
Especially the strange heat emanating from her delicate body, so different from the icy snow, made Huo Yuhao's throat bob slightly, and he spoke somewhat awkwardly.
"Shouldn't we start consuming the Ice God Twin Lotus next?"
His response was Xue Di's lips pressing directly against his.
It wasn't gentle; instead, it carried an irresistible coldness and domineering force, as if all the longing accumulated over the past year was poured into this one kiss.
Even though this was her first time since birth, Xue Di still relied on her instincts to explore everything that belonged to her without restraint.
Those clumsy yet forceful actions were more like using the most primitive methods to fiercely imprint their own unique mark.
Unlike the external heat, the exchange from Xue Di is an extremely cool sensation.
If Hyotei is like a hard ice crystal, requiring you to break through its hard outer shell to taste its sweet coolness, then Yukitetsu is entirely different.
It's more like taking a big gulp of shaved ice on a hot summer day; the smooth, silky coolness doesn't linger on your lips and teeth.
Instead, it instantly swept over Huo Yuhao's limbs and bones, causing his brain to tremble and his body to involuntarily tense up.
"Well……"
After an unknown amount of time, slightly rapid breathing finally escaped from between their separated lips.
A layer of captivating moisture had already formed in Xue Di's icy blue eyes.
Her usually cool voice was now difficult to maintain, and her breath was warm.
Her alluring breath lingered in Huo Yuhao's ear, carrying a hint of annoyance, yet also a sense of self-righteousness.
"I should have done this a long time ago. I should have marked you with my unique mark from the very beginning. But it's not too late now."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Heart of the Ice God, which was suspended above the Ice God Lake, suddenly trembled.
Streaks of icy blue light burst forth, and in an instant, endless radiance flowed overhead, transforming the world into a deep blue realm.
Seeing Huo Yuhao still somewhat at a loss, Xue Di seemed to have planned this all along.
Forcibly suppressing the emotions stirring within him, his tone became extremely authoritative at this moment.
"In my name, the spirit of the Ice and Snow Maiden, I hereby make an eternal vow with you."
boom--
A tremendous sound exploded from top to bottom.
Amidst the howling wind, the twin lotus flowers of the Ice Goddess floating on the lake suddenly burst open, transforming into countless tiny spheres of ice-blue light.
In an instant, drops of condensed icy essence began to continuously overflow from the glaciers surrounding the deep pit of Ice God Lake.
The Ice God Lake, which was originally only the size of a pond, is surging up at a speed visible to the naked eye.
One by one, illusory ice lotuses made of pure energy quietly unfolded and bloomed on the ever-expanding water surface until they covered the entire lake.
When Xue Di uttered a similar phrase to the one that helped him condense his second soul core in his previous life, Huo Yuhao felt his mind go completely blank for a moment.
The countless tiny orbs of light formed by the twin lotus flowers of the Ice Goddess transformed into a surging torrent, continuously rushing towards Huo Yuhao and the Snow Emperor's bodies.
Their hot, delicate bodies pressed tightly together again, and a blue lotus mark appeared on the center of Huo Yuhao's and Xue Di's foreheads respectively.
As if drawn by some innate attraction, Xue Di gently pressed her forehead against Huo Yuhao's.
Gazing into the boy's unique blue-gold eyes and inhaling the sun-like scent emanating from his hair, Xue Di's gaze grew increasingly dreamy.
After an unknown amount of time, when Huo Yuhao came to his senses again, the Snow Empress, whom he had been holding tightly in his arms, had transformed into a dense cloud of white energy, floating on the surface of the Ice God Lake.
The extremely dense primordial energy of heaven and earth continuously converged on the white stream of energy from all directions.
Amidst the swirling mist, the air released even purer ice-elemental energy, and one could vaguely sense that at the core of the airflow, a new life was being conceived and born.
Even though he had lived two lives, this was the first time Huo Yuhao had ever witnessed a soul beast transform into a human.
There was no sound from the surroundings.
But as the lotus mark on Huo Yuhao's forehead gradually faded, Xue Di's clear and cold voice arose spontaneously from the bottom of his heart.
It wasn't aided by soul power, nor did it rely on the transmission of mental energy; it was more like an extraordinary and wondrous telepathy.
"Yuhao, it's up to you now."
The next steps had been planned long ago, and all of this was naturally not just for the Snow Emperor to be reborn as a human.
After Huo Yuhao responded to Xue Di's thoughts with the same wondrous feeling, he chanted an obscure and difficult-to-understand incantation.
A soft golden light shone from the Eye of Destiny that had quietly appeared on his forehead, landing on the white aura.
In an instant, the originally pure white airflow began to show a dazzling golden halo, illuminating an area of hundreds of feet in radius.
(End of this chapter)