Somewhere, where no one knows, a conversation takes place—
"So, girl… you've died, huh?"
The Being's voice was calm, almost amused.
"Mm-hmm," the girl murmured, nodding slightly.
"How does it feel? Anything different?" it asked again, more curious now.
"Everything is different. And yet, somehow, nothing is."
"Haha… Wise words, baby. Truly wise words indeed."
The Being leaned closer, its form ever-shifting, impossible to pin down.
"After your death, did you wonder what happens next?"
"Of course. I thought of reincarnation. The legendary kind," she said, smiling faintly.
"Oh, reincarnation, is it?" the Being mused, almost to itself. "If that's what your heart desires, we can make it happen."
The girl's eyes narrowed. "What's the price? What do you gain from it?"
"The price… is everything, baby. Everything," the Being said with a smile that felt like the echo of a collapsing star.
"You will cease to exist—you, the identity, the self. In your place will live a dream... or perhaps a nightmare. You'll become someone else. They will be you, and yet… not. Neither of you will ever be whole."
A pause.
"So ask yourself," the Being continued, voice almost tender now, "can you live like that? Would you truly want to?"
It gave a little shrug. "And maybe we gain nothing. Or maybe we gain something greater than you could ever imagine."
After a long silence, the girl finally spoke.
"…I'll go with it."
The Being beamed, as though a cosmic equation had resolved in its favor.
"Good choice, baby. Now then—tell us: what kind of help do you want? Where shall we send you?"
The girl closed her eyes and fell into thought. Hours passed like petals falling in the wind. Then, as if struck by lightning, she opened her eyes.
"I want to go to the Chaotic Sword God Universe," she declared. "And I want the Almighty System."
The Being laughed. A thunderclap. A ripple through the void.
"All shall be done, baby."
Its voice turned solemn now. "But remember: you'll become someone else. So tell me… who?"
The girl did not hesitate.
"I shall be… the Snow Goddess."
The moment the words left her lips, the universe stirred.
Chaos erupted in the void. She was too young a soul to perceive what was truly happening. The Being moved like a sculptor of existence itself, weaving laws, folding realities, merging fragments of forgotten myth with shards of future fate.
Countless Great Ways shimmered into being and began to intertwine.
The Being—ancient, unfathomable—restructured the girl's destiny with surgical precision and chaotic grace. None could comprehend its craft.
After what seemed no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Being whispered:
"Goodbye, girl."
And she was gone.
==== SAINT'S WORLD, WITHIN THE CHAOTIC SWORD GOD UNIVERSE ====
Saint's World—where mortals groan under the weight of survival, and cultivators duel the heavens for supremacy.
Here, power is law. The strong take all. The weak are erased.
Life is fragile. So fragile that even the dust drifting on the wind might outlast a man.
But above all that, there are beings whose power stretches across time itself. Beings who breathe in harmony with the Great Ways. Their every gesture, a movement of the cosmos. Their eyes, twin stars.
They are the Grand Exalts.
To become one, a cultivator must grasp one of the 3000 Great Ways—cosmic laws that form the very framework of existence. From a mere 1% to absolute 100% comprehension, the path is perilous. Only by perfect mastery of a single law can one transcend into a Grand Exalt, becoming one with the very world.
In Saint's World, there are 49 Great Planes and 7 Sacred Planes—each one influenced by the lingering will of a Grand Exalt.
And on one such plane, cloaked in eternal snow...
Ice Pole Plane – Domain of the Snow Goddess
"Third Senior Brother, do you feel it?"
A woman clad in immaculate white robes lifted her gaze to the pale sky, her breath misting in the air.
Across from her sat a young man, handsome and still as a mountain. His eyes glinted with concentration.
"I feel it," he said. "The laws… they're shifting. A powerful will is seeping through the Ways. I'd wager the Snow Goddess is returning."
The woman narrowed her eyes.
"Then time is short. If the Flame Reverend plans to stop her, he must act now. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise," the man murmured, "this world will kneel beneath snow and silence once more."
Suddenly, the blizzard thickened. Time itself faltered.
And far above the plane, beyond the veil of clouds and dimensions, something ancient and cold began to stir.