Chapter 266: Huo Yuhao's Fortune – The Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus
A few days later.
Across the endless blizzard-swept plains, a thin figure trudged through the storm.
The icy winds of the Extreme North sliced across Huo Yuhao's cheeks like knives. Even with Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's shed husk wrapped around him, the bone-deep cold made him tremble uncontrollably.
His frail frame looked even smaller amid towering glaciers.
"Tianmeng… where exactly is the Snow Empress? I… I can't keep going…" Huo Yuhao's weak voice cracked through the howling wind.
His food supply was nearly gone, and exhaustion was slowly freezing the will out of him.
"That's impossible… absolutely impossible… Where did the Snow Empress go? Why can't I find her…" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's tone carried a rare hint of panic.
It had already released its aura to the fullest.
By right, its spiritual signature should have blanketed hundreds of miles around them!
If the Snow Empress truly resided within the core region, she would have sensed it instantly—and likely appeared in fury to confront them.
After all, to her, Tianmeng was the richest energy source imaginable.
Yet, after several days, nothing. No response.
Either she wasn't here… or she simply didn't care.
The first possibility left hope alive.
The second was utter despair.
If she wouldn't even show herself, there was no plan left to salvage.
"Tianmeng…"
Huo Yuhao's voice broke, nearly swallowed by the blizzard. "Can we… can we just find a place to hide from the wind? I'm so cold… and tired…"
After days of futile searching, disappointment had drained both his strength and spirit.
"…Sigh."
Within their shared consciousness, Tianmeng let out a weary sigh.
He too was exhausted. The Snow Empress's presence was completely gone—as if she had vanished from the icy world entirely.
"This is absurd… Fine. You win, Yuhao. Let's find shelter, recover, and rethink our plan…"
Its pride—ever immense—had melted into dejection. All that remained was resigned defeat.
Scanning the white horizon, Huo Yuhao spotted a narrow fissure in a nearby cliff, partially buried under snow. Struggling forward, he cleared the entrance with stiff fingers until a narrow cave appeared—barely wide enough for two or three people to squeeze through.
"Tianmeng, there's a cave here!" he shouted weakly.
Dragging his frozen legs, he stumbled inside.
To him, even the smallest refuge from the storm felt like salvation.
Inside, the biting wind faded slightly.
Curious, Huo Yuhao lifted a flap of the shed husk and peered deeper.
The hollow space wasn't large, but it was distinctly warmer than outside.
More remarkably, faint light shimmered further in.
The cave was positioned at a perfect angle, sheltered at a crag's bend with a narrow fissure above—just wide enough to let in filtered daylight but not the killing wind.
A perfect hidden haven amid the frost.
Panting, Huo Yuhao pressed deeper, shuffling step by step toward the light.
Meanwhile, several dozen miles away.
Inside a vast ice cavern, Ye Chen sat cross-legged, spiritual energy rippling like invisible waves as he scanned the region with his immense perception.
Whenever he rested, he never left his senses idle. Through the Heaven-and-Earth Sight, he persistently monitored the area.
Days of searching yielded no trace of the Snow Lotus, and impatience began to creep in.
Such immortal herbs were masters of concealment. Even the faint aura they emitted rarely reached beyond a few meters.
It was the only way they could survive a hundred thousand years without being devoured by beasts or discovered by humans.
If it had survived this long, it was cunning indeed—almost sentient, hiding where no one would dare guess.
Only the so-called "fated person" could find it.
And since the Snow Empress was still sulking in silence, Ye Chen couldn't rely on her insight.
"…A child of great fortune, then," he mused softly.
With a thought, the lens of his Heaven-and-Earth Sight shifted—and instantly locked onto Huo Yuhao.
Ye Chen had been checking up on him every few hours, keeping a distant watch.
At this very moment, Huo Yuhao and the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm were walking into a mountain cave.
"Still not giving up? Just don't die out there…" Ye Chen muttered, a touch of amusement coloring his tone.
He had long since figured out that Huo Yuhao and Tianmeng were trying to find the Snow Empress.
After Ye Chen robbed him of the Ice Empress, that was all the boy had left.
But even if they did find her, it wouldn't matter.
With Ice Empress's help, Ye Chen himself had barely succeeded in claiming the Snow Empress; Tianmeng and a level-twenty novice had no chance.
Since the Snow Empress was already his, their trip would end in futility.
Still… as the universe's chosen protagonist, Huo Yuhao's luck was formidable.
Almost on instinct, Ye Chen directed his vision to sweep the cave and froze.
Through layers of glacial ice, deep in the shadows, he caught sight of a faint glow.
A lotus.
A blooming snow-white lotus.
"The Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus—it exists!"
Ye Chen's eyes snapped open, gleaming with excitement.
In an instant, his body blurred and vanished from his cavern—
Reappearing silently within the heart of the mountain Huo Yuhao had entered.
The cave widened into a small crystalline chamber. From far above, a slit in the icy rock let pale light fall like a divine spotlight.
At its center grew a single plant.
Its leaves were sculpted from the purest frozen jade, translucent and delicate, with veins of gentle green faintly glowing within.
From those layered ice leaves blossomed a bowl-sized lotus of flawless crystal blue.
Each petal seemed to contain the essence of eternal frost, radiant and clear, releasing a soft, cold glow.
The air itself shimmered, filled with a density of ice energy so pure it stirred Ye Chen's very bloodline. The Ice Dragon King's power roared within him, hungry to devour that energy whole.
"A real Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus… Huo Yuhao's luck truly is remarkable," Ye Chen murmured in awe.
He'd been watching Huo Yuhao out of idle curiosity—but fate, as always, sided with its chosen.
Even after Ye Chen's interference had stripped the boy of his destined allies, the world still bent to feed him fortune.
It was exactly what he expected.
After all, in the original timeline, Huo Yuhao had gathered nearly every miracle the Douluo Continent had accumulated for tens of thousands of years—Tianmeng, the Ice and Snow Empresses, the twin spirits of the Yin-Yang Pool, Electrolux, the Mermaid Princess, the Emperor Beast…
Any one of them was enough to create a legend.
With so much fortune piled on him, even a dog could have ascended to greatness.
And Huo Yuhao… had taken it all—and still acted like one.
(END CHAPTER)
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