Extreme North
The Extreme North was frigid and merciless.
An endless world of white stretched to the horizon. Snow blanketed mountains, plains, and frozen seas alike. The sky was pale and distant, as if even the sun hesitated to shine too brightly here. The wind howled like an ancient beast, carving sharp lines across the ice dunes.
Suddenly—
A blonde girl stepped out of nothingness, as if emerging from a forgotten dream.
Her golden hair did not flutter despite the storming wind. Snowflakes that approached her melted into faint motes of light before touching her skin.
She gazed toward the distant horizon.
"Even after so many years… the North is still the same."
Her eyes softened faintly.
"Cold."
A faint smirk curved her lips.
The last time she had come here, it had been to ignite chaos—to set into motion the Soul Beast Riots that shook the entire continent. That single scheme had overturned balances that had stood for ten thousand years.
The Spirit Hall, the empires, the Shrek lineage—none had escaped the aftershocks.
This time—She had come as something else.
"—Tianmeng," she called lightly. "We're back at your home."
Inside her Spirit Sea, a certain silkworm trembled.
The next instant, a plump white worm drilled out, hovering in the freezing air.He stared at the vast icy canyon ahead—the same canyon buried under heavy snowfall, concealing its terrifying depth.
His voice lowered.
"…It's nostalgic indeed."
Tianmeng turned toward her, his tiny eyes shining.
"Are we going to meet Bingbing?"
Bingbing was the name of Ice Jade Scorpion Empress, who has nearly four hundred thousand years of cultivation and is one of the true rulers of the Extreme North.
Qian Renxue rolled her eyes.
"You're jumping around just because you've found a backer… me."
Tianmeng puffed up indignantly.
"I am not that kind of worm!"
She gave him a look.
He coughed.
"…Alright, maybe a little."
Qian Renxue's gaze drifted toward the canyon.She remembered clearly the second time she had come to the extreme north..
She had stirred ambition, fear, and pride—subtly guiding the fierce beasts toward a continental riot that would destabilize the balance between humans and soul beasts.
That day, when Tianmeng sensed Bingbing's aura, like a dumb worm he had burst out of her Spirit Sea without warning.
And what she witnessed…even now, the memory was amusing.
That day Qian Renxue understood that Bingbing indeed loved Tianmeng very much, it was clear by the amount of drool that fell on the ground after she saw her.
Qian Renxue did not want to argue with this love-brained worm any further, so she simply shifted the topic.
"Tianmeng… do you remember when I first met you?"
The silkworm, who had been staring dazedly at the Ice Jade Scorpion Empress in the distance, was abruptly pulled back to reality.
"Huh? What? Remember what?"
She looked at him quietly.
"I promised you something."
Tianmeng blinked.
"Promise? …Of course I remember!" His voice suddenly rose, as if afraid she would take it back. "You promised to make me a God Beast and then help me marry ....!"
The words echoed faintly over the snowy plains.
Qian Renxue while ignoring the last part of the sentence lowered her gaze to Tianmeng's spiritual form which showed his soft, plump form.
"Yes," she whispered. "That promise."
Before Tianmeng could react—She stepped forward.
Her forehead touched his.
In that instant, dazzling, prismatic radiance burst forth like the blooming of a thousand dreams.
The air trembled as large amount of faith energy gathered. The snowstorm that had calmed moments ago roared back to life.
Heaven and earth seemed to resist and the Extreme North howled.
As Qian Renxue's forehead had touched his, her consciousness had entered his mind and forced him to sleep.
She saw distortion, madness and corruption
Softly, almost inaudibly, she whispered:
"I will fulfill that promise… but I'm not sure when."
This time she had used her Fifth Soul Skill—Dream Heal.
After cutting off the distorted parts and corrupted fragments severed like diseased tissue removed from a body, she healed the rest of his soul by her fifth soul skill.
As a God, healing the soul of a mortal—even one that had lived for a million years—was not difficult.
The difficulty lay in preserving his identity while removing what would destroy him.
Then using her 5th soul skill she started restructuring his body as if she was healing.
Endless life energy gathered because Qian Renxue was reconstructing and healing Tianmeng's existence as a Goddess.
Gradually—
The violent storm began to subside. When the radiance faded—
A figure of Tianmeng Silkworm hovered before her, But with flesh and a physical body of a million year soul beast.
His body, once only a soul-form drifting in her Spirit Sea, was now real—white chitin gleaming..
Qian Renxue exhaled slowly. Even for her, forcibly creating a compatible body and stabilizing a million-year soul required precise control.
-----
In the depths of the ice cave where Qian Renxue had once discovered Tianmeng, the world had returned to its original stillness.
Layers of ancient ice sealed the cavern once more. Frost hung like crystal veils from the ceiling, and pale blue light refracted endlessly within the glacier walls. Time itself seemed frozen here—buried beneath centuries of snow and silence.
That silence was broken only by the soft echo of footsteps.
Qian Renxue walked slowly across the cavern floor, her golden hair shimmering faintly against the cold blue glow. In her arms rested Tianmeng Silkworm—now once more reduced to a fragile, sleeping form.
She knelt down at the exact spot where she had first found him nearly eighteen years ago.
Carefully—she placed him back.