When she saw the cold, indifferent gaze of the Snow Empress spirit, Rui Beast's eyes lit up with surprise. She focused carefully on the aura being released and her expression changed drastically.
This soul spirit... was an ice-type ferocious beast! And its power level—clearly not low at all.
How many such ice-type beasts were there in the world? By all counts, probably only the three Great Kings of the Extreme North.
Putting together the clues and comparing the appearance before her, Rui Beast quickly came to a conclusion.
"This... this... Snow... Snow Empress?"
Her small jaw nearly hit the ground. The dignified leader of the three Great Kings of the Extreme North, the third-ranked among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, had become a human's soul spirit?
The Snow Empress nodded with a frosty expression.
"That's right. Hello, Rui Beast. If you meet Di Tian again, remember to pass along my regards."
With those words, her figure gently floated away, retreating back into Huo Yuhao's spiritual world.
Rui Beast was too stunned to speak. She couldn't wrap her head around why the Snow Empress had become Huo Yuhao's soul spirit.
Seeing her shock, Huo Yuhao simply waved his hand and said,
"Well, as you can see, that's just how it happened. A lot of things transpired, and in the end, I was able to have the Snow Empress accompany me. Besides, we're bound by a true equal soul spirit contract, meaning she retains her full strength and shares her power with me. So, there's no need to worry about any real danger on our trip to the Extreme North."
Rui Beast was speechless.
What could she say to that? With the Snow Empress accompanying them, their trip to the Extreme North might as well be a sightseeing tour.
And so, after some preparation, Rui Beast, Huo Yuhao, and Meng Hongchen said their farewells to Jing Hongchen and headed north together, directly toward the Extreme North.
Jing Hongchen had no concerns either. After all, with the Snow Empress on their side, she was practically a guardian deity for their entire clan now.
Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen wore their grade-nine bionic peregrine falcon flight soul tools and soared through the air at high speed. Behind them, Rui Beast followed using a grade-six life-attributed flight soul tool that Huo Yuhao had quickly crafted for her.
As Rui Beast watched the couple flying hand-in-hand before her, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun and gliding through the sky with their streamlined emerald wings, she felt a strange flutter in her chest.
'So this... is what humans call love?'
Love did exist among soul beasts, but only among those who had cultivated for over a hundred thousand years and developed enough spiritual awareness. Even then, their long lifespans dulled emotional intensity, making love a rare and distant thing.
The older soul beasts in Star Dou Forest, who were like mentors and elders to Rui Beast, had never taught her anything about love. Her only concept came from watching the ambiguous interactions between Di Tian and Bi Ji by the Lake of Life.
After transforming into human form, Rui Beast found her emotions growing richer. During her journey from Star Dou Forest to Huo Yuhao, she had observed the human world more deeply—especially the couples she saw everywhere.
With her ability to faintly perceive fate, she could vaguely "see" the destinies of those couples. Most of their relationships didn't last long.
But the bond between Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen... it glowed with an intensity and permanence that even she couldn't believe.
She shifted her gaze from the couple to the distant horizon.
'Will I... also have a love like this one day?'
That thought brought a complicated feeling to her heart. She chuckled to herself.
'But someone like me, with the power to perceive fate... how could I possibly have a normal relationship? If I can already see the ending, how can I fall in love like a normal soul?'
Still, it didn't trouble her for long. As the Imperial Auspicious Beast, even if she died after living as a human, she could return to her beast form. Falling in love with a human? Their lifespans were too short. The inevitable pain would be unbearable. And as for other soul beasts... she stood at the apex. No one could stand as her equal.
'This is my fate—to carry the burden of destiny, not to fall in love.'
Resolving her thoughts, Rui Beast smiled and continued flying forward, her eyes fixed on Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen.
The trio didn't enter the Extreme North immediately. That evening, they landed in Frostmoon City, a key stronghold in the northern part of the Sun Moon Empire.
After the Northern Duke fled with his followers and wealth, abandoning vast northern lands, the royal family took direct control of the region.
One of Xu Tianran's trusted aides, who was also a royal family member, had been dispatched to the duke's estate in Frostmoon City to oversee regional governance.
That part wasn't important. What mattered was that once the empire gained full control of the north, it could finally begin large-scale resource exploitation.
Especially the rich mineral deposits near and even within the Extreme North. One of Huo Yuhao's missions for this trip was to unite the soul beasts of the region with the help of the Snow Empress and Ice Empress, attempting to forge a cooperative relationship between the soul beasts and humans—particularly in mining.
Even more importantly, he hoped to make the Extreme North the first soul beast habitat where the soul spirit system could be openly and peacefully promoted.
Huo Yuhao had already decided on the name of the soul spirit organization affiliated with Mingde Hall: Spirit Transference Hall. A simple, familiar name.
If Spirit Transference Hall could one day grow to the scale of the Spirit Pagoda from the original timeline ten thousand years in the future, he could barely imagine what kind of force Mingde Hall itself would become.
Looking even further ahead, Huo Yuhao didn't plan to destroy Shrek Academy entirely. Its reputation on the continent was too great. Even the royal family of the Sun Moon Empire held the school in high regard.
Instead, he planned to slowly reform it, eventually merging it with the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy into the continent's most prestigious institution, under the banner of Mingde Hall.
(End of Chapter)
---
This Fanfiction Has Been Completed on Patreon.
Support me if you like this Fanfiction.
Patreon,com/Fallen_Archangel_
(Remove comma for dot.)
Leave a 5 star Review and a Power Stone.