The scream escaped my throat before I could contain it, a sound somewhere between euphoria and release. Hot tears, in stark contrast to the frozen air, rolled down my cheeks.
"At last…!" I gasped, my voice breaking. "Ten… damned years."
Ten years to be able to feel —truly feel— my soul power. Not through instinct, not as an automatic reflex, but as something I could touch, mold, and direct.
I remembered the pain. I remembered the endless hours of failure. In Soul Land (Douluo Dalu) fanfictions, they always made it look so easy… The protagonists mastered it in weeks, or suddenly pulled out knowledge about all the meridians, Taoist mantras, or ancient cultivation techniques. Sure, any average Chinese protagonist seems to be born with a master's degree in cultivation, alchemy, and meridian theory. It's like those Japanese isekai heroes who arrive in a medieval world and somehow know gourmet cooking, blacksmithing, farming, and military strategy.
But let's be realistic: if you take an average person from my world and throw them into the Middle Ages… they wouldn't know how to do practically anything. Your only real advantage would be that you can read, write, and do basic math. And even that won't save you from starvation.
The question that haunted me was simple: would I be a trash cultivator? And to make it worse… trash despite being a being born of heaven and earth? The irony.
But at least, now I could begin training inspired by Naruto to improve my control.
---------
Twenty years later
Time had passed like a freezing breath. At some point, the waiting stopped hurting. The seasons here were all winter; I learned to measure the years by the thickness of the frost over my cave's entrance and by the way the northern lights changed in intensity.
In a far corner of the world, the Snow Empress —the very one who, according to legend, ruled the eternal ice— felt something different. A spark, a connection she had been waiting for decades. A restrained joy.
Finally, she had found what she was looking for. She followed the trail, crossing frozen plains and mountain ranges rising like crystal walls. Until, in the distance, she saw a solitary island. From there emanated the connection.
Meanwhile, I… was focused. Not so much on cultivation itself, but on improving my physical skills. Rokushiki —those six martial arts from the One Piece universe— had become central to my training.
After years, I had mastered three of the six techniques: Geppo (walking in the air), Soru (extreme speed movement), and Rankyaku (cutting kicks). My pride, however, was that I had managed to combine Geppo with soul power control inspired by Naruto to walk on water. Yes, just like they did with chakra… except I was using my own soul power.
The control wasn't perfect. Sometimes the water still gave way under my feet, and I sank like an idiot. I could barely keep stable for more than a few minutes.
As for haki, I had made small progress in imitating armament haki —creating an invisible layer of soul power to reinforce my body—, but observation haki was a disaster. Zero progress. Not even a little bit.
That day, the sky was clear —a luxury in these lands. I was practicing Soru on the frozen shore of the island, my steps leaving craters of shattered ice. I didn't notice someone approaching until a voice rang out, sharp like shattering crystal:
"…Interesting."
The sound broke my concentration instantly, and my control over my energy collapsed. The ice beneath my feet cracked. I felt my own power surging dangerously… until a wave of cold, purer and stronger than anything I had felt before, stabilized the environment and kept me from injuring myself.
I turned my head.
And there she was.
The Snow Empress.
Tall, majestic, with an ethereal beauty that did not belong to any human. Her white hair flowed like a curtain of living frost, and her blue eyes seemed to see through my skin, my soul… and my lies.
I froze. Not just from the cold.
If she was here, that meant I was in Soul Land 2… or much earlier.
She opened her mouth to speak, and what I heard hit me like a punch to the gut:
—[Incomprehensible Chinese].
"…Seriously?" I muttered to myself, feeling a mix of frustration and resignation. "Don't tell me we're starting with this nonsense… Aren't protagonists supposed to have an automatic translator? Or people magically speak your language?"
I swallowed hard. Now I'd have to learn Chinese. And pray it was simplified characters, not that hellish calligraphy that looks like a squid committed suicide on the paper.
I made a hand gesture, trying to convey that I didn't understand. She observed me for a second, and her face —serene until then— softened into an apologetic expression.
"Do you understand me now?" she asked, in a gentler tone.
"Yes, now I do," I nodded. "You're speaking in English."
She frowned.
"English? No… I'm speaking in the soul beast language."
…Of course. Another language to add to the list.
I sighed and introduced myself with the name from my previous life, extending my hand as I would to anyone back in my world.
The Empress tilted her head, examining my gesture with a mix of puzzlement and… slight suspicion.
"That name…" she said slowly, "is strange. Very strange. And why are you raising your arm like that?"
Heat crept up my cheeks.
"It's… a way of greeting where I come from."
She arched an eyebrow.
"If you want a name so badly, I'll give you one," she said, her tone not aggressive but carrying an authority that left no room for argument. "From now on, you are Li Xue."
I noticed a change in her gaze, a flicker of severity. She wasn't exactly angry… but the ice around us felt denser, heavier. The message was clear.
So I smiled, faking excitement.
"Li Xue… sounds perfect," I said, as if I loved the idea.
She didn't seem convinced, but she didn't insist.
The Empress gestured for me to follow her into the cave. The same cave where I had spent my early years here. The same where, still embedded in the ice, rested the ice essence that had been with me from the start.
She stopped before it, looking at me with an almost… evaluating expression.
"That's why you've made great progress in your cultivation," she remarked. "You've been absorbing the energy of a young ice essence. Girl, I advise you to keep it for the future."
I opened my mouth to reply, but she had already turned away. There was no room for negotiation.
And just like that, she took my arm —with a strength that contrasted with her delicate appearance— and pulled me along.