ALL NOVEL Chapter 81: Choice
"That Miss Xue... she wouldn't, would she?"
"Right, definitely not!"
"She's like a fairy, how could she possibly steal my candied hawthorns..."
Su Luoheng kept reassuring himself in his heart.
He channeled his soul power into the bracelet's space, and the items within appeared one by one before his eyes.
At the same time, his expression became quite complicated.
The space was still packed: food, seasonings, cooking utensils, soul tools, and even soul bones, all neatly in place.
Except... except for the candied hawthorns! They were truly gone. Not a single stick left!
Su Luoheng's mouth twitched, and he helplessly rubbed his forehead.
A powerful and esteemed senior would actually steal his candied hawthorns, even though there were items in there far more valuable?
Was it just because he didn't offer them in the beginning? Did she really hold a grudge that long?
His current mood matched the complexity of his expression.
Because of this, even he didn't notice that the image of the young woman in his heart had deepened a little more.
...
...
Meanwhile.
On the other side, the young woman, who had already walked some distance away, seemed to recall something. She paused and looked back in the direction she had come from, a playful glimmer in her clear, lively eyes, and a faint smile curved on her lips.
He must have noticed by now, right?
'I wonder what his expression is like?'
If not for the fact that she hadn't returned to the Extreme North Ice Field in a long time, she would have liked to travel the human world a little longer...
Thinking of this, a trace of regret appeared in the girl's eyes.
Yes, her true identity was none other than the ruler of the endless Extreme North Ice Field, the leader of the Three Great Kings of the North, and the third-ranked among the Ten Ferocious Beasts, the spirit born from the ice and snow: the Snow Empress!
Originally, she was meant to guard the Extreme North Ice Field, protecting that untouched land rarely visited by humans.
But as time went on, the Snow Empress's seventy-thousand-year limit was approaching. She had initially tried to break through like Di Tian, attempting the method of balancing Yin and Yang through a soul core, but ultimately failed, which also severely damaged her origin, making it impossible for her to surpass the seventy-thousand-year bottleneck and the ensuing heavenly tribulation.
However, luck was on her side.
Not long ago, she came across a hundred-thousand-year-old snow lotus in the Extreme North Ice Field.
Snow lotus, a type of heavenly treasure, rarely gains sentience without fortuitous encounters, and precisely because of this, it contains pure essence of heaven and earth. If the Snow Empress used the essence from the snow lotus as a guide, she could seal her own origin and gain an opportunity to start over as a human, thus avoiding the seventy-thousand-year limit.
The snow lotus presented the Snow Empress, a supreme soul beast, with a choice: transform and start anew, gambling on a chance to become a god, or quietly wait for the heavenly tribulation to descend.
For a moment, the Snow Empress hesitated.
Ultimately, she decided to explore the human world first before making her decision.
So she entrusted the entire Extreme North Ice Field to the Ice Empress and Ah Tai, while she disguised herself as an ordinary human, blending into the human world.
For the past six months, she had wandered through the human world, experiencing many things. Her extraordinary beauty brought her a lot of trouble. As a spirit born from ice and snow, she could clearly perceive the intentions of the humans around her—their filthy and disgusting thoughts.
The dirty and vile nature of the human world almost made the Snow Empress give up on the idea of transforming into a human.
Until three days ago, when she met Su Luoheng.
This young man was different from everyone else. When he looked at her, his heart was exceptionally pure; besides admiration and praise, there were no other repulsive thoughts.
The Snow Empress's curiosity and interest in the human world were rekindled, which was why she accompanied Su Luoheng.
Now, she had a new perspective on the human world.
Indeed, the human world had its filth and ugliness, but it was also full of diverse human nature, filled with liveliness and noise, a hundred times more vibrant than the cold and lonely Extreme North Ice Field.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the impressions she gathered during her half-year journey in the human world were far more colorful than her monotonous and dull life in the Extreme North Ice Field.
Moreover, human wisdom had created many unique things.
For instance, the delicious candied hawthorns.
For instance, the exquisite and beautiful dresses.
For instance, the towering cities that reached the sky.
All these things were beyond her experience in the Extreme North Ice Field.
This human, or rather, this unfamiliar human world, is full of things worth looking forward to and exploring.
Such a colorful life... The Snow Empress's lips curved into a faint smile.
She had already developed a longing for the human world and had made up her mind.
Even if she ultimately couldn't achieve her goal of becoming a god, and even if, after becoming human, she could only enjoy a fleeting hundred years, she still wanted to experience a different life and take a journey through this world.
However, before that, she still had to fulfill her duty as the ruler of the Extreme North Ice Field.
Before transforming, she needed to arrange everything in the Extreme North properly. She couldn't allow chaos to break out in the Ice Field because of her departure; otherwise, she would have no face to face the beings of the Extreme North who revered her.
Thinking of this, the Snow Empress took out a stolen stick of candied hawthorns.
The taste of this thing... was quite good~
With that, the Snow Empress's figure drifted away like a fleeting snowflake.
...
...
On the other side, after the painful loss of his candied hawthorns, Su Luoheng finally made it back to Maple Leaf City.
Although he had been away for nearly a year, the city hadn't changed much. The streets were still bustling with traffic and crowded with people.
After buying a stick of candied hawthorns from a street vendor, he walked familiarly to the front of his home.
The familiar gate of the courtyard felt especially welcoming. No matter where one travels, home is always a warm harbor.
At this moment, Su Luoheng felt incredibly at ease.
Clang—
As he pushed open the courtyard gate, a familiar voice came from inside the house shortly after.
"Who is it?"
"Dad, Mom, I'm back!"
"..."
After a brief silence, hurried footsteps sounded, and before long, the familiar and upright figure of his father appeared before him.
"You're back?"
"Yeah, the academy is on break, so I came home."
Su Luoheng stepped forward, a bright smile on his face.
"You brat. You didn't tell us in advance that you were coming back; your mother and I thought you weren't returning this time!"
Su Junran's tone carried a hint of complaint, but his words were full of concern, and the smile on his face hadn't faded since he saw his son.
"I wanted to surprise you both~"
"You little rascal~"
Su Junran playfully scolded, then called into the house, "Our son is back!"
"Luoheng is back?"
Soon, Ye Lan came out after hearing the commotion. When she saw her son, she immediately walked up to him, holding his hand, her face filled with joy.
Su Luoheng felt a lump in his throat, and his eyes turned slightly red.
"Mom~"
"It's good that you're back. Come in and rest. The food is just ready."
"Alright."
Ye Lan pulled her son into the house, not forgetting to give Su Junran a side glance. "The child is back, and you're still standing there? Why aren't you getting the vegetables ready?"
"I'm going, I'm going~"
"Now that our son is back, I have no say at all…"
His father, Su Junran, rubbed his nose and sighed helplessly before obediently heading to the kitchen to prepare the vegetables.