Old Dai looked at Xue Qing from atop the tree. In a flash, the latter floated up towards him and swiftly passed through a hole to stand at the peak of the tree besides the sage. She didn't know what urged her, but she felt this old man was someone she had to greet. Besides, she felt a warm energy from the mysterious sage, a warmth she only felt when held by her precious father. Someone who radiates such an aura couldn't possibly be bad; anyway, if he wanted to hurt them, they all would've disappeared with but a thought from him.
Though Xue Qing couldn't see the old man's cultivation, she knew that he was outrageously powerful. Although body aura can be masked, the aura and light released from the eyes are much more difficult to conceal, especially for old monsters who have seen true terror. Old Dai had such eyes; though gentle, they were the most terrifying pair of violet eyes she had ever seen. She felt like she was getting lost in supermassive purple nebulae. In fact, there were not many people in the true martial world who could receive an honest glance from Old Dai without being overwhelmed; How come could someone who can travel the stars exchange normally with mortals. He was constantly releasing a calming energy that made everyone he interacted with feel at ease in his presence. Otherwise, it wouldn't be unlikely for some to lose their soul and get lost in his gaze. One may ask oneself, 'if you were to stare at something you're brain couldn't comprehend for two long, what would happen?'.
Xue Qing was naturally no exception. Unbeknownst to her, a silver-white aura emanated from Old Dai's finger. The aura floated to the top of her head and formed a silver halo. If a top powerhouse of the world were here, he would be in total shock at the sight, since the halo was also known as godhead, or divine ring, an apparatus formed at the peak of cultivation known to the inhabitants of the world. Godheads were the culmination of one's cultivation all the way to that realm… but even at the peak, no powerhouse would be able to lend a godhead in such a way to protect someone else, much less to protect someone from his own aura.
"Senior, the two you're talking about… are they Raizel and Kaelen?" she asked curiously. Protected by the silver halo, she felt at peace.
Seeing the curious little girl, Old Dai only smiled.
"Yes, they are my grandchildren. And who might you be, child?" he asked in return.
"Yes. Pardon my rudeness. My name is Xue Qing. I'm Raizel's… friend." She responded with a slight blush.
Seeing the blush on her face, Old Dai's eyebrow raised in surprise. "Ohoho, that nonchalant whiner actually grabbed the attention of such a talented and pretty young girl? Not bad": Tell me, little girl, do you like my grandson?" he asked curiously.
"Huh!? I… I don't—do." Caught off guard by the question, Xue Qing's gorgeous face blushed even more, so much so that fumes could be seen coming out of her ears. Finally, she answered in the softest manner possible. "Yes." The moment the word left her mouth, Xue Qing was actually shocked at herself. It must be said, though she knew how she felt about Raizel, she had never explicitly stated it, so she could always act accordingly. But now that she had admitted it to someone and to herself, it was as if something inside her blossomed wildly.
It is known that girls who are the most difficult to get usually fall the hardest. Though she has been surrounded by the most talented teen of the entire empire, Xue Qing had always been cold and distant, partially because she didn't like people that much, but also because it's her natural temperament. However, ever since she met Raizel, she couldn't figure out why she felt a powerful attraction towards him. Initially, she thought it was just respect for a peer who was stronger than her, which is a very impressive feat given her talents. Others may not know, but she knew how talented she was; it isn't common knowledge that she only began cultivating at the age of ten, while other children began at six, for reasons that had to do with her physique. If she had, then her cultivation would be on par with Su Yao's, perhaps even better. Yet Raizel defeats her with relative ease, and that with a lower cultivation level. Over the last few months, the two have sparred many times and have become close. At times, she'd ask him if he was human, to which Raizel would awkwardly laugh and respond,
"Eh!? Of course, I'm human. Ahah...aha."
All this to say, she thought her feelings were mostly respect, but now she realized that they were more than just that, even if just a little bit. Before, she would keep her cool, but now she was afraid she wouldn't know how to act around him anymore.
Old Dai smiled gently when he heard her answer. He could naturally tell she hadn't realized this herself, which is why he asked her. He could read the mind of the girl if he wanted, but he wouldn't invade on her privacy. In any case, anyone with a little bit of understanging could tell she was confused.
"Consider this your loving grandpa giving you a hand, little brat. You better treat her well, or else..." A ferocious but funny expression took over Old Dai's face as he immediately glared at the sleeping Raizel. The latter was sleeping so deeply, his mouth was wide open, causing him to snore loudly.
"Ah- Ahchoo!!" Maybe he felt someone speaking of him; he let out a moderate sneeze.
Seeing his grandson sleeping with such an unsightly amount of peace, Old Dai felt the urge to kick him, but he exhaled and turned back towards Xue Qing. His long bluish purple hair swung with the wind, his hands behinds his back. An absolute aura of a master was slowly reappearing ever since he left the back mountain, ever since he stopped looking after those two.
"Little girl, I'm leaving now. Since I'll be counting on you to take care of my grandson, I give you this gift." He smiled with love as he looked at her like she was his own granddaughter. He lifted his finger, and the silver godhead atop her head descended on her scalp and disintegrated into motes of light that merged with her body.
"That is the inheritance of a powerful woman you remind me of. Since you share a similar bloodline and physique, you're naturally suited to continue her legacy. Perhaps one day you will encounter her in the myriad sea of stars and become her disciple. Well then, goodbye, sweet child, until next time. If my grandson takes advantage of you, tell me next time, and I'll take care of him. Understood?" His body floated away before slowly dissipating into small motes of purple light towards the distant stars as Old Dai left his final sentence.
"Take care of him?" Hearing this, Xue Qing's heart accelerated further, but she regained her countenance and bowed in the direction he left. "Yes, senior. Take care."
She then turned around, about to rejoin her friends, when Old Dai's aged voice rang from behind. "Call me Grandpa Dai." Xue Qing looked up and nodded with a smile, then jumped down into the tree head.
...
A few months later, the othe side of space.
An untold number of billions of miles away, in an unknown area of deep space, a sage-like old man sat at a table inside a floating ice temple that hovered for eternity. Next to him was a middle-aged woman of soul-stirring beauty. She was sitting but extremely tall. She had long pure-white hair that flowed like an everlasting waterfall of snow, and a pair turquoise eyes that shook the core. Her tall frame was covered in a long white robe that did not hide her feminine figure. Calling her a goddess actually seemed reductive of the presence she released. She sat there perfectly fitting with the eternal ice temple. Though she had passed her golden years, she hadn't lost much of her beauty. Whatever small loss she had from losing her youth was replaced by the natural grace of a more aged woman. She grasped a silver glass cup with her slender and pale fingers and took a sip. Though endowed with unparalleled grace that emanated from her being, her expression actually contrasted her otherworldly figure and stature. If people who knew of the Ice Goddess were here to see such a human expression from her, they would've rather believed themselves to be in a false dimension of deceit. The scene was simply unreal.
The sage-like figure looked at the woman with slight admiration and awkwardness.
"Ahem, age truly looks good on you, Eira Borealis. The title of the Frost Monarch Of Eternity well suits you. It has truly been too long." The sage also took a sip of his tea and didn't forget to compliment the goddess to soothe the tense atmosphere, beads of sweat dripping down his face.
To his compliment, the Frost Monarch gave a look of pure contempt: "Do not mock me with your half-compliments Daiwyn; you chose her, after all. Humph." She ended her sentence with attitude, as a wounded ex would have. It must be said her voice was as ethereal as her figure; it resounded in a way that mortals wouldn't understand. It had the terrifying depth of sound waves originating from the deepest of seas and the melodious tone that would come only from an angel. It was truly an odd mixture. Perhaps trying to understand it as humans is but hubris; what makes gods divine cannot, despite our best efforts, be accurately described by the mundane.
Thump-thump. Sensing the hostility in her voice, the old sage's heart thumped furiously. He let out an even more awkward laugh.
"Eira..." He softly said, about to continue but was brutally interrupted.
"Don't you dare call me by that name!" The icy goddess shouted, not in a loud tone, but with the gravity of an unquestionable imperial order. Yet also, one could hear a slight amount of plea, accompanied by endless pain. The sage man paused at her outburst.
"Alas… It seems the wound I inflicted on you still hasn't healed," he said apologetically.
"Humph. Wound? You think I, the Frost Monarch of Eternity, would be heartbroken by the likes of you, Daiwyn Thunderblaze!?" This time, the Frost Monarch was truly angry. She stood in a brusque yet graceful manner.
Crack! The silver cup in her hands froze until it couldn't maintain its molecular structure and broke apart into a billion ice particles. Time seemed to come to a deathly stillness as the already low temperature of deep space began to drop even more.
What travesty! Such coldness, Old Dai thought to himself as he felt the space around him actually freeze. Tremble Space began to shake violently, wisps of cracks appearing where it began to give out under the might of the Frost Monarch. Streams of icy coldness dissipated from the space cracks.
"You dare to come to my abode after all these years, and for what!!?" The icy goddess began to float in the air, her hair rising along her body, now upright, she was extremly tall, with a demonic curvature. Poor Old Dai had no time to gasp at the beauty. With each word, the anger in her expression escalated faster than a woman jumping to conclusions, along with it her monarchic, yet otherworldy aura surged.
Old Dai stood up from his seat, placed his hands behind his back, and looked at the Frost Monarch with a plea.
It hadn't been said but, old dai was very tall himself, not shorter than the eternal monarch, but the floating goddess looked down upon him from above.
"Eira... please—" Right before he finished his sentence, a stream of frozen energy cut through space an inch beside his head. The poor couldn't only use his qi to protect himself from the spacial tearing.
"Eternal Flower!" An icy voice interrupted his speech, and a glacial beam shot out from a finger of the Frost Monarch. The glacial beam tore through cosmic space like plastic, causing an extremely grating colossal noise that would make a strong cultivator bleed from his seven orifices, and a weak one explode instantly. It traversed millions of miles away, only to crash into a distant white dwarf. The poor star exploded in a flash. Even more terrifying, the explosion didn't expand much before even the energy of it began to freeze. In the end, a multicolored white dwarf spike of energy frozen in silver ice formed—like an eternal flower, one that would endure through time. The signature of the Frost Monarch of Eternity.