Master of Nine Stars

The immense Celestial Burial Snow Meteor was caught effortlessly in that palm…

For a moment, everyone—the Tree Castle’s ranks, the Snow Burning Army, the Soul Beast Army, and even the core Soul Beast team that had been escaping and retaliating—fell silent.

A battlefield filled with cries of agony had, at this moment, fallen utterly still.

One must understand, the grievously wounded Soul Beast Army was enduring excruciating pain. How could they possibly stop their cries and wails?

It simply defied all logic!

And the hand that had reached down from the night sky, holding the massive Snow Meteor, slowly closed its fist…

The terrifyingly powerful Celestial Burial Snow Meteor didn’t even make an explosive sound. All that remained was a sprinkle of frost, trickling like fine sand from between the hand’s fingers.

Then… a pair of colossal feet made of frost and snow descended from the heavens, slowly landing in front of Rong Taotao.

The giant feet crushed a swath of Soul Beasts, yet upon landing, they didn’t cause the slightest tremor.

The entire world fell completely silent.

GULP. Fu Tiance’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He strained to look up but could only see the hem of a snow-white greatcoat. From his vantage point, that was all he could make out.

When a creature was so large it defied all comprehension, so immense it was more than the mind could bear…

…all that remained in people’s hearts was awe.

Profound awe.

Gao Lingwei, however, was different. With the help of her Snowball Cat, her eyes could pierce the blizzard, see through the darkness, and peer far into the distant night sky.

But even so, Gao Lingwei still couldn’t see the figure’s full form. She was too close; her proximity prevented a complete view.

‘But… just how large is this person’s body? Hundreds of meters? Maybe even a thousand?’

“Retreat… Retreat!!!” The Ice Soul Guide’s eyes widened in terror, his face a mask of horror as he roared with a trembling voice.

The silent world was finally shattered. In an instant, every last member of the vast Soul Beast Army turned and fled madly to the north.

The figure that had suddenly appeared remained unmoved, facing the routing Soul Beast Army.

The hem of the snow-white greatcoat descended, curling around the tiny figure of Rong Taotao and lifting him upward…

“Taotao!” Terror seized Gao Lingwei’s heart. In that moment, she conquered her fear and awe. Stomping her foot, she shot toward Rong Taotao like a javelin.

WHOOSH…

The hem of the greatcoat wrapped around Gao Lingwei as well.

Afterwards, enveloped within, Gao Lingwei felt the world spin as her body tumbled and rolled inside the greatcoat.

After an unknown amount of time, dizzy and disoriented, Gao Lingwei was slammed heavily into a patch of snow.

“Mew… mew…” The Snowball Cat’s voice grew fainter and fainter until it was just shivering, too scared to make a sound.

It didn’t even have the courage to flee, pressing tightly against Gao Lingwei’s arm in a desperate search for comfort.

Thrown into a dizzying stupor, Gao Lingwei took a good ten seconds to recover. Her mind slowly cleared, and her vision refocused.

The Snowball Cat scrambled into her arms and buried its little head, not daring to look up. The Pupil Sharing Soul Skill had vanished, but specks of light began to glow around Gao Lingwei.

‘What is this? A Luminous Lantern Paper Cage?’

Puzzled, Gao Lingwei used the bright glow to look around, only to find she was lying in a shallow, intricate line.

‘This line… is it the line of a palm?’

‘This… this…’

Gao Lingwei’s eyes widened. She stared blankly upward and finally saw a face made of frost and snow.

The face was so vast it blotted out the sky, encompassing Gao Lingwei’s entire world.

This giant had no facial features, only a silhouette, but it was clear from the form that it was female…

RUMBLE…

The ground began to tremble—no, it was the giant’s palm tilting slightly. For Gao Lingwei, however, it was an earthquake.

With quick eyes and swift hands, Gao Lingwei saw Rong Taotao, long since unconscious, tumbling toward her. She dropped to one knee, an explosion of ice flowers anchoring her feet as she hastily caught his rolling body.

The moment she embraced Rong Taotao, the giant’s palm leveled out once more.

“You… I…” Gao Lingwei clutched the unconscious Rong Taotao tightly with one arm, struggling to look up at the giant face above. A suspicion had already formed in her heart; she knew who this person was.

‘In the northern Snow Realm, there’s only one person with this kind of power, one person who commands such reverence and awe, isn’t there!?’

But the Frost Giant gave no response. She didn’t even have eyes, yet her posture gave the impression that she was staring right at Gao Lingwei and Rong Taotao.

“General… General Xu?” Gao Lingwei asked, her voice strained and trembling.

The figure still didn’t respond, merely “gazing” silently at the two small figures in her palm, motionless and silent.

“Hello, Miss Xu. Thank you for sav—”

Before Gao Lingwei could finish, a tremendous roar suddenly echoed from the distant northern night sky.

That sound… was nothing an ordinary Soul Beast could produce. It was a truly soul-shaking roar—violent, furious, as if it wanted to tear the world to pieces.

Finally, the Frost Giant moved. She extended a finger, carefully and with extreme gentleness, reaching toward Gao Lingwei.

Gao Lingwei, knowing the finger wasn’t for her, leaned back to present Rong Taotao, but it was clear her small movement was futile.

The enormous finger of frost and snow gently touched Rong Taotao’s head. Despite the careful and intimate gesture, its sheer scale knocked both Gao Lingwei and Rong Taotao over…

POOF…

With a soft pop, the Frost Giant abruptly vanished, shattering into a sky full of frost and snow, as if she were a dream that had never existed at all.

But as Gao Lingwei plummeted from a thousand meters in the air, the intense feeling of weightlessness told her that what had just happened was no dream…

She held Rong Taotao tightly, her body trembling faintly.

Here, near the Dragon River, she had met someone.

Someone who could be said to represent the entire northern Snow Realm.

Someone revered as a deity by countless Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists.

It was a shame he hadn’t seen it…