"Su Lan, I miss you so much~~~"
Mu Ningxue's eyes were filled with Su Lan, and her face was flushed.
No one could have imagined that Mu Ningxue, the icy beauty who outshone all the girls at the Imperial Capital Academy, was now nestled in a man's arms.
The Mu Ningxue of today is nowhere to be seen as aloof and distant as before.
Like a wanderer returning home, they let down all their guard and indifference, leaving only a tender heart.
"Hmph, you haven't come to see me in a long time."
Mu Ningxue felt Su Lan's burning body temperature and stared straight at Su Lan.
Su Lan met Mu Ningxue's resentful gaze and laughed twice to ease the awkwardness.
"We last month..."
Before Su Lan could finish speaking, Mu Ningxue spoke up.
"I'd like you to come more often."
The words were simple and plain, yet they carried Mu Ningxue's earnest expectations.
Looking at the girl in his arms, who was so different from the delicate girl he saw in the outside world, Su Lan nodded.
"Okay, I'll come visit you more often in the future."
Upon receiving a definite reply, Mu Ningxue's smile blossomed like a snow lotus blooming in a glacier, bright and uniquely beautiful.
Su Lan and Mu Ningxue did not meet recently.
They met more than a decade ago, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were childhood sweethearts.
Every time Mu Ningxue finished her homework, she would secretly run away from home to play in the park with Su Lan.
Of course, Ye Xinxia, who had difficulty walking, also went along.
This warm and fun-filled childhood continued until Mu Ningxue's innate spiritual seed awakened autonomously.
In a very short time, Mu Ningxue's temperament and hair underwent a dramatic transformation.
Her once black hair and eyes had turned snow silver and ice blue.
Originally cheerful and lively, she became aloof and taciturn due to the awakening of her innate spiritual seed.
If Su Lan hadn't intervened in time, this childhood friendship might have faded away.
It was precisely because Su Lan intervened in time that Mu Ningxue's personality remained unchanged when facing Su Lan and Ye Xinxia.
Before Su Lan enrolled in Mingzhu Academy, Mu Ningxue invited Su Lan to study at the Imperial Capital Academy.
However, in comparison, Su Lan chose to refuse.
Mu Ningxue, who was hoping to continue living together in college, was heartbroken for a long time.
Fortunately, Su Lan stayed with him for more than a week, and the matter was finally resolved.
Perhaps it was because of the long-awaited reunion, Mu Ningxue exclaimed in surprise as Su Lan carried her back to her room.
Two hours later, next to Mu Ningxue, who was sleeping peacefully, Su Lan was drinking the beverage that Serafina had handed her.
"Serafina, how is the Ice Crystal Bow inside Ning Xue now?"
Upon hearing this, Serafina glanced at Mu Ningxue's body, and a flash of purple light instantly revealed Mu Ningxue's physical condition.
"The soul connection circuit is constructed without any problems, and Xiaoxue can use the Ice Crystal Bow at will."
Hearing Serafina's answer, Su Lan nodded in satisfaction.
Although Mu Ningxue is the female protagonist of the original novel and has extremely high talent in ice magic, her background and experiences are quite tragic.
Despite Mu Ningxue's current high ranking in talent within the Mu clan, the Mu clan has never considered her a true member of the clan.
As long as the Mu clan feels the time is right, they will not hesitate to reclaim the Ice Crystal Bow from Mu Ningxue's body, causing Mu Ningxue to perish.
The Mu clan is a super clan in the capital and even the Great Xia Dynasty, and there are two forbidden spell masters in the family.
Although neither of the two forbidden spellcasters can cast spells independently, they can still easily kill a semi-forbidden spellcaster.
As an ice-based family, the Mu clan is almost devoid of human warmth.
The entire family operates like a large corporation, with a strict hierarchy and a focus solely on interests and gains, devoid of any genuine affection.
Every year, the Mu clan produces many talented young people, but these talented young people who are not from the main lineage generally do not live past the age of thirty.
These talented young people had a fragment of a top-tier magical artifact implanted within them from a young age—
Ice Crystal Bow Fragment!
This is a top-tier ice-type magical artifact with a soul-binding structure, passed down through the Mu clan.
The Mu clan sought to develop the Ice Crystal Bow into a higher-level magical artifact and unleash its greater power.
Every member of the Mu clan who was cast into the Ice Crystal Bow became a "bow keeper" for the Ice Crystal Bow.
They can unleash greater combat power with the Ice Crystal Bow, but they will suffer the pain of having their souls torn apart and their magic energy depleted.
Each time an Ice Crystal Bow Fragment is used, it will replenish the Ice Crystal Bow Fragment at the cost of one's own talent and soul.
Finally, when the talent drops or the ability to nurture fragments is no longer available.
Then the Mu clan will directly reclaim the Ice Crystal Bow fragments.
The method of retrieving the Ice Crystal Bow fragments is utterly inhumane.
Anyone who has their Ice Crystal Bow fragments collected cannot survive.
Because the Ice Crystal Bow fragments are linked to the soul of the "bow keeper," taking the fragments is equivalent to tearing a large hole in the soul.
Ultimately, this led to the "bow keeper's" soul shattering, resulting in incurable death.
Mu Ningxue's Ice Crystal Bow fragments were inherited from her mother, who was also a "bow maker".
After Mu Ningxue was bound to the Ice Crystal Bow fragments, her mother passed away.
However, the process of fusing the Ice Crystal Bow was not going well.
It needs to be gradually integrated through the melting of the soul and the torment of the ice nightmare.
If it weren't for the encouragement from Su Lan and Ye Xinxia, Mu Ningxue's personality would have changed drastically.
Before knowing these things, there was nothing Su Lan could do.
After awakening her past life memories and receiving help from Serafina, Su Lan began to work on solving Mu Ningxue's problems.
Actually, Su Lan had initially considered taking out the fragments of the Ice Crystal Bow.
However, given the intricate nature of the soul-related engineering process, Serafina, who had not yet fully recovered, was not confident that she could remove it without injury.
Let's leave it at that for now.
After Serafina recovered to the level of a sub-emperor, Su Lan felt that there was no need to take out the Ice Crystal Bow; it could be used as one of Mu Ningxue's trump cards.
If only the problem of excessive consumption of soul power and magic energy during the use of the Ice Crystal Bow could be solved.
Serafina is perfectly capable of solving this problem.
There is a saying: "Treat others as they treat you."
Since the Mu clan's higher-ups want Mu Ningxue's soul to nourish the Ice Crystal Bow fragments...
Then let the higher-ups of the Mu clan pay for this soul power.
This includes the daily nurturing and consumption.
There's nothing difficult about doing this.
At least for Serafina, restoring her to the level of a sub-emperor is not difficult.
Seraphina learned some abilities from the Void race, who were skilled in using souls.
One of these methods was to imprint a mark on the souls of most of the high-ranking members of the Mu clan.
Then, a void connection was established to continuously provide purified soul power to nourish Mu Ningxue's Ice Crystal Bow fragments.
Why do I say "most of the senior executives"?
Because the two forbidden spell masters of the Mu clan were not branded.
For the two members of the Mu clan, whose strength had reached the level of forbidden spells, it would be quite difficult to silently imprint a soul mark.
Fortunately, it wouldn't make a difference if there were two more, and the rest of the people were the same.
Moreover, because the constructed soul imprints have many connections, they all draw soul power evenly, so even if there is discomfort, it will not be too obvious.