The cold wind howled, and the blade housing the soul of the demon god Fenrir fully resonated with the young king it had acknowledged.
Armor of deep blue ice encased her, silver-gray hair cascaded freely, and a wild wolf-shaped helmet covered her fierce face, leaving only crimson killing intent visible.
An ice-frost storm swept across heaven and earth, standing like an impassable chasm before the tide of sea monsters.
The evacuating masses, the main forces struggling to hold on, the monitoring station aboard the Canglong, and even the surveillance departments of neighboring countries—all were drawn to this anomaly.
The cold wind tempered her flesh, and the frost condensed her soul.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, the phantom of a giant wolf howled toward the sky. But this time, what appeared was no longer Fenrir—it was Shaya herself.
【The reborn Lord of Winter descends here】
The thunderstorm covering all of Quanzhou was obliterated by the wolf king’s divine pressure.
The people evacuating in the rear gazed up at the sky in amazement, feeling warmth from the slowly falling snow.
And the warriors who witnessed this moment were taken under the wolf king Shaya’s command, becoming warriors of winter.
They donned ice armor, their bodies growing like giants—like the frost giants of Norse mythology.
Divided into two groups, nearly a thousand frost giants, at Shaya’s signal, rushed to reinforce the rear, while the rest began forming ranks along the coastline.
Aboard the Canglong, the sudden arrival of such powerful reinforcements made the command staff jump up and cheer.
Commander Ye saw a massive ice wall, as majestic as the Great Wall, rising along the coastal region at a visible speed.
The sea monsters’ advance was blocked.
When the frontline warriors saw such a miracle, though they remained vigilant, the oppressive atmosphere was swept away completely.
Shaya sat alone on a throne forged of ice and snow, her gaze piercing through the barriers of space, locked in a standoff with the watcher in the sea.
…
Within the Spirit Race’s secret realm, the anomaly that had just occurred drew everyone’s attention.
“Master, did you feel that? A being like a god has appeared!”
“Though this one’s aura is sharp, there is no malice. Rest easy,” explained Venerable Cangyan, his spirit form floating in the air.
Young Master Yu chuckled and sighed, “Friend Xue, you truly have hidden dragons and crouching tigers around you.”
“No, this is her own destiny. I am merely a witness.”
With that said, the group arrived beneath the divine tree of the King Deer.
The King Deer had been waiting for some time, having anticipated their arrival.
“Long time no see, Brother Deer.” Young Master Yu acted as though he and the King Deer were old friends.
The King Deer simply nodded in response, then turned its gaze to Xue Ji.
The silver ouroboros mark on Xue Ji’s right hand was now glowing brightly, drawing the attention of her companions.
“Chosen one of fate, we all await your command.”
With that, the King Deer lowered its head.
The Spirit Race was, in truth, servants of the Goddess of Fate, and Xue Ji was the agent she had chosen.
After explaining matters, Xue Ji began to act.
Shaya alone was not enough for the situation at the sea. She could sense the great terror that existed within the ocean, and she could not let Shaya fall into danger.
“Then, what should I do?” Young Master Yu asked, puzzled, as everyone gathered around him.
“You need not do anything. You only need to stay here.”
After giving her instructions, Xue Ji began chanting a spell. Meanwhile, Xiao Huohuo, with Venerable Cangyan’s help, inscribed a formation around the divine tree.
Using Young Master Yu as a medium and the formation as support, she was able to communicate with the secret realm itself.
Then, she returned to the shores of fate.
“Oh? You’ve come to see me again?” The goddess looked utterly bored, picking at the scales on her snake tail.
“…”
After a brief silence, Xue Ji explained her purpose.
“Hehe, you really are a greedy little thing. Even for me, handing over the authority of the secret realm to you is quite troublesome.”
Hearing this, Xue Ji grew anxious and quickly pressed, “Then what should I do?”
Fate pretended to think it over and said, “How about you form a contract with me and take me out of here? I’ll be your familiar, and then the secret realm will all be yours.”
“Huh? That doesn’t seem quite right…”
A proxy contracting with a chief god? That’s completely upside down!
“What’s the problem? You’ve already used my authority anyway, and besides, I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
Her gaze drifted toward the pitch-black waves. Unlike the last time she had been here, there was nothing left in the sea now—only pure void.
The sea monsters appearing in reality and the existence submerged in the dark sea must have some kind of connection.
If that were true, then that terrifying whale could very well appear in reality!
“I can’t worry about that now. Let’s do it.”
With that, the Goddess of Fate used her snake tail to draw a spell around Xue Ji on the ground.
Xue Ji was captivated by these incantations, unable to look away.
The spells of age-of-gods magic were continuously imprinted into her mind.
Her consciousness expanded endlessly, until the planet seemed as tiny as a speck of dust.
Xue Ji’s consciousness drifted far away through the mysterious incantations, arriving at a plane that existed above both matter and spirit.
Vantheshir—the origin of the arcane, the home of imagination, the plane where the creator of stories exists.
Knowledge naturally emerged in her mind. Xue Ji’s vision beheld a figure composed of lightning, writing something with arcane runes.
He—or it—seemed to sense something and turned around. Xue Ji locked eyes with the Creator for a single moment.
Boom. Xue Ji woke from her daze. She felt as though she had forgotten something.
“Um, Sage, could you get up for a moment? You’re pressing on my tail~”
The elegant serpent-tailed goddess snapped Xue Ji back to awareness. The ouroboros mark on Xue Ji’s hand had transformed into the shape of a Möbius strip.
“Disciple, did you succeed?” Venerable Cangyan asked.
Only Young Master Yu was staring wide-eyed in disbelief, because he could see the Goddess of Fate standing beside Xue Ji.
The goddess was even waving at him cheerfully.
“It worked. Let’s go.”
…
The turmoil in the ocean affected the entire world. Half a month had passed since Ling Xiaoxiao single-handedly suppressed the human forbidden zone.
Under the strict defense of the Spirit Race, Shaya, and the ability-user forces, China’s coastline successfully withstood this wave of disaster.
But across the world, some island nations had already been submerged.
In times of crisis, only cooperation remained. Major nations took in refugees in batches. In past eras, the refugee issue alone would have been enough to spark conflict.
Fortunately, since the spiritual energy revival, advances in productivity and social development had allowed this problem to be resolved smoothly.
On social media, the topic “If not for the crisis, what a wonderful era this would be” remained trending.
At the frost wall’s Quanzhou frontline, Zhao Cheng’s unit had still sent no word.
Shen Dai had been participating in high-intensity combat here for half a month. Her best friend Xia Jin couldn’t stand it anymore and, after obtaining permission, forcibly pulled her away from her post.
She was not the only one—many people had voluntarily applied to garrison the frost wall, clinging to that faint hope in their hearts.
Beyond the ice wall was the battlefield of the frost giants. Half a month of fierce fighting had left them covered in wounds.
And Shaya, unable to hold back after the super tsunami appeared, had entered the fray. According to intelligence gathered by satellite, her battlefield with the enemy spanned the entire Pacific Ocean, and it still had not ended.
Led by the King Deer, the Spirit Race covered the frost giants in battle.
At first, the sea monsters had somewhat normal biological structures, mostly twisted and enlarged marine life.
Now, the ones appearing had become completely unreasonable—hundred-meter-class colossal sea monsters almost like Godzilla, bizarre humanoid forms composed entirely of water, undead creatures with only skeletal remains on half their bodies.
Humanity was still holding on, but the dawn of victory remained distant.
Under such a stalemate, some troublesome individuals began to make their move.
