Evening arrived.
Huo Yuhao eventually agreed to Ice Emperor's request and arrived at her room at the pre-arranged time.
He composed his emotions, raised his hand, and prepared to knock.
However, the next moment, the door swung open, and a slender hand reached out, pulling Huo Yuhao into the room with extreme speed.
"Ice Emperor?"
Huo Yuhao, caught off guard, was momentarily dazed.
"It's nothing. I just didn't want certain meddlesome fools getting in," Ice Emperor said calmly.
Currently, Ice Emperor was dressed in a loose white nightgown that completely enveloped her graceful figure.
If Skydream's transformed body still looked slightly juvenile, then Ice Emperor's body was exactly that of a maiden in her prime—though due to her personality, she kept a cold face all day, adding a touch of natural arrogance to her appearance.
Releasing Huo Yuhao's hand, Ice Emperor sat on the bed and patted the spot next to her.
"Come up."
Her tone remained calm, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
"Huh?"
Huo Yuhao felt something was strange, but he couldn't put his finger on what. However, Ice Emperor spoke up immediately: "Unless you want to be on the floor? That's not impossible either..."
Huo Yuhao: "...Huh?"
Why does this feel even stranger now!
Rubbing his temples to prevent Ice Emperor from saying anything more bizarre, Huo Yuhao hurriedly spoke: "I understand. The bed is fine."
Ice Emperor's expression showed a hint of confusion, but she didn't dwell on it.
A moment later, Ice Emperor lay flat on the bed while Huo Yuhao sat beside her, gently placing his hand over her lower abdomen.
A layer of frost covered his azure eyes. Under the possession of the "Ultimate Ice" martial soul, Huo Yuhao's features shifted slightly. The surrounding ice elements naturally converged toward him, giving him the aura of one favored by heaven and earth.
The "exciting" scenes one might expect didn't happen; it was simply the act of nourishing her body.
Ice Emperor just lay there, her golden eyes fixed on Huo Yuhao's face—a face that had been refined by both the Ultimate Ice and the power of emotions.
He really looked like Snow Emperor.
It wasn't just the appearance, but the temperament he exuded after his martial soul possessed him. This similarity in aura made Ice Emperor unconsciously want to draw closer.
But it was more than that. Compared to Snow Emperor, Huo Yuhao seemed to understand her even better. Whether it was her personality, her likes, or certain habits, Huo Yuhao knew them all perfectly—as if he had lived with her for a very, very long time and had already figured out everything about her.
This feeling was truly strange.
Watching Huo Yuhao, Ice Emperor suddenly spoke:
"Yuhao, why... are you so familiar with me?"
Her tone carried a note of certainty.
Perhaps bolstered by being alone together, Ice Emperor finally asked the question that had been weighing on her heart for a long time.
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao, who was focused on nourishing Ice Emperor's body, paused his thoughts. Even his movements stagnated for a split second, but he quickly returned to normal.
"When did you notice?" Huo Yuhao asked softly.
Some things cannot be hidden no matter how hard one tries.
Especially with people who were close to him in his past life, a few seemingly ordinary habits could reveal a great deal.
"I had some guesses, but not many. You've actually known me for a long time, haven't you? Not just me, but Skydream, and even Snow Emperor... We had some kind of relationship, didn't we?"
Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, offering no rebuttal.
Ice Emperor wasn't the first person to notice something was off about him.
The first to see Huo Yuhao's abnormality was Huo Yun'er—his mother.
Very early on—or rather, during the journey when the reincarnated Huo Yuhao brought his mother to Shrek City—she had already sensed his strangeness. However, Huo Yun'er never asked him anything.
Because she knew her son was still her son, she continued to trust him one hundred percent.
Skydream had noticed the oddity after a long time of being together, but like Huo Yun'er, she chose not to ask. After all, who doesn't have their own secrets?
Snow Emperor was even more extraordinary. Relying on her own intuition, she sensed that familiarity after meeting Huo Yuhao just once, and because of it, she chose to trust him unconditionally.
As for Old Electrolux, he assumed it was another fragment of his Divine Consciousness that had once taught Huo Yuhao, so he felt no doubt or strangeness regarding Huo Yuhao's familiarity with him.
And now, Ice Emperor had put the question to him directly.
"Ice Emperor, you might not believe it, but... I have experienced all of this once before."
Huo Yuhao spoke softly, his azure eyes slightly downcast. His hand remained on Ice Emperor's abdomen, appearing entirely focused on nourishing her body.
However, Ice Emperor saw a flash of genuine sorrow emerge in Huo Yuhao's eyes...
"In that time, I awakened my martial soul at six years old. But because of a martial soul mutation, I only had level one innate soul power.
"Back then, I had no divine artifacts to protect me. Lacking power, I couldn't protect my mother.
"Under the target of that Duchess, my mother's wages were withheld, she was picked on intentionally, and she was beaten and scolded from time to time.
"And whenever that happened, my mother would always pull me into her arms to shield me, bearing it all alone.
"In those moments, I truly hated myself. I hated that I had no strength, that I couldn't even manage the simplest form of resistance.
"I could only watch as my mother suffered through misery, eventually falling ill from exhaustion and dying in the Duke's Mansion. And I... I fled that place like a dog."
Huo Yuhao gave a self-deprecating smile, then continued:
"And after that... I met all of you.
"When I was eleven, I entered the Star Constellation Great Forest alone, attempting to hunt for a soul ring. By a twist of fate, I met Skydream. From that moment on, the gears of my life seemed to start turning.
"I cultivated bit by bit, grew stronger, met you, met my teacher, and met Snow Emperor.
"I also met the person I loved, the person I should have protected for a lifetime...
"At the time, I even thought things were fine as they were. I thought once I got stronger, once I got my revenge, once it was all over, I could finally grasp the happiness I wanted.
"However, she died. They all died."
Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly turned cold, his azure eyes desperately suppressing a sliver of bone-chilling killing intent.
"I became completely numb. I cast aside my hatred and lived with a puppet who possessed the appearance and memories of the one I loved most.
"I gained great power, but I had abandoned my revenge! I became a high and mighty god, yet I couldn't even protect the woman I loved!
"Ice Emperor... do you know what the most pathetic part is?"
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao looked at Ice Emperor.
"What..." Ice Emperor replied subconsciously.
"The most pathetic thing is that when I ascended to the God Realm, I saw the restrictions buried deep within my mother's soul. Her every word, her every action... they were all being deeply controlled.
"If it were all the choice of fate, perhaps I wouldn't be angry; I would only hate myself for being too useless to resist it.
"But every bit of suffering I experienced was nothing more than a deliberate arrangement by that high-and-mighty god for his so-called 'Ten-Thousand-Year Plan'...
"By what right?"