Ice Bird Helping Lin Xiuran

Lin Xiuran was deeply puzzled. Naturally, he could not understand the Gray-Headed Ice Hawk's words, nor could he grasp its meaning.

"It wants you to release your bloodline aura."

Gu Yuena's voice reached him, and only then did Lin Xiuran understand.

Still, he hesitated. But when he sensed the Gray-Headed Ice Hawk's thousand-year cultivation, as well as the even more majestic aura of the Ice Bird before him...

When under another's roof, one had no choice but to bow one's head.

Helpless, Lin Xiuran could only tentatively release his bloodline aura.

The instant he did, shock completely replaced the look in the Ice Bird's eyes.

Her head slowly moved closer to Lin Xiuran, and she carefully sniffed the aura on him again. Then she raised her head in disbelief, her eyes filled with dependence.

At the same time, another voice entered Lin Xiuran's mind. But this time, it was not a voice from Gu Yuena's Sea of Consciousness. It was a message transmitted through spiritual power across the distance.

Among those present, only the Ice Bird before him possessed such an ability. The Gray-Headed Ice Hawk's cultivation clearly had not reached that level.

"I am very familiar with your bloodline."

Lin Xiuran was somewhat at a loss for how to respond, but then he heard the Ice Bird transmit again, "Don't be afraid. Though you are human, I will not harm you."

The Ice Bird looked at Lin Xiuran with respect. She spread her wings, gently stroked the Gray-Headed Ice Hawk's forehead beside her, then slowly flew toward the heavens.

"Though I do not know what happened, my bloodline tells me that I should do this."

Hearing that faint spiritual transmission, Lin Xiuran froze slightly, his eyes full of confusion.

"She is about to undergo the Ten Thousand Year Tribulation."

Gu Yuena's words brought Lin Xiuran back to himself, and he asked, "Sister Na, what exactly is going on?"

He was completely bewildered. Strange words, strange actions—none of it made any sense.

What exactly was going on?

"After that Gray-Headed Ice Hawk discovered your bloodline, it brought you here. Its purpose was to offer you to this Ice Bird."

"Offer me to her because of my bloodline?" Lin Xiuran immediately pieced together the situation and asked.

"That Ice Bird has a trace of Ice Phoenix bloodline, but it is far too sparse. Her cultivation has nearly reached the hundred-thousand-year level, and the great tribulation is about to arrive. She basically has no chance of surviving it."

Lin Xiuran said, "Then why did this Gray-Headed Ice Hawk offer me to the Ice Bird? These two Soul Beasts do not seem to be related."

"For Gray-Headed Ice Hawks, the males generally only mate with female Gray-Headed Ice Hawks and bear no responsibility afterward. The female Gray-Headed Ice Hawks are basically the ones who raise the young to maturity. But once a female Gray-Headed Ice Hawk gives birth a second time, she will die within a few days."

"This Gray-Headed Ice Hawk may have lost its family because of that, then been found and raised by this gentle Ice Bird."

Gu Yuena's words were calm, yet they truly revealed the contradictions and complexity of Gray-Headed Ice Hawks.

Even at the cost of their lives, the females would nurture the next generation. Eighty percent of female Gray-Headed Ice Hawks would choose to bear offspring, even knowing it would kill them.

Yet nearly every male Gray-Headed Ice Hawk would abandon its mate and young, cold and heartless by nature.

Even so, Lin Xiuran's brows remained tightly furrowed. "But I still do not understand the current situation."

By all rights, the Ice Bird should have devoured his bloodline and used it to survive this great tribulation. Yet what she was doing was completely different. Not only had she not harmed him, she seemed to be trying to help him with something.

"She is clearing the path for you."

As soon as Gu Yuena finished speaking, the Ice Bird suddenly spread her sky-blue wings, more than three meters long, and let out a cry.

Soul Power continuously gathered within her body, as though she were attempting an upward breakthrough. Cold air radiated from her in all directions.

In an instant, the skies above the entire Far North were engulfed in wind and snow. Dark clouds gradually blanketed the heavens, and a pressure descending from heaven and earth nearly crushed everything.

Watching the Ice Bird soar, the Gray-Headed Ice Hawk let out a pained, mournful cry.

Lin Xiuran also felt the pressure descending from heaven and earth. The sensation emanating from that darkened sky made him feel terrible.

He lightly covered his chest. It felt as if a mountain were pressing down on his heart, making it difficult even to breathe.

It was as though heaven and earth were about to deliver a true judgment, and their target was this Ice Bird that had nearly reached a hundred thousand years of cultivation.

The dark clouds grew denser. At this moment, not a trace of light remained in the sky. The oppressive sight of black clouds bearing down felt as though they would crush the world.

Yet even in the face of that darkened sky, the Ice Bird felt no fear. She let out a high cry, as though declaring her fearlessness, and perhaps accusing heaven and earth of their unfairness.

Why can Soul Beasts not become gods?

That single sentence suddenly appeared in Lin Xiuran's heart and echoed without end.

His heartbeat immediately accelerated, and an inexplicable fury spread through his entire body. It felt as though his blood had begun to boil.

At that moment, a blinding bolt of lightning tore across the sky, accompanied by deafening thunder, as though heaven and earth themselves were trembling.

Amid the crashing lightning and roaring thunder, the Ice Bird spread her wings and soared high into the sky.

A lightning bolt as thick as a bowl suddenly fell, smashing straight toward the Ice Bird. She nearly exhausted all her Soul Power to block it, yet the lightning still shattered her Soul Power barrier and struck her once-smooth feathers.

The Thunder Tribulation's might was terrifying. Even with cultivation nearing a hundred thousand years, she still found it impossible to withstand.

As the Thunder Tribulation gradually intensified, the once-gentle Ice Bird began to let out earth-shaking roars, her cries filled with unwillingness and fury. She struggled desperately, trying to withstand the Thunder Tribulation's punishment, but the power of the lightning only grew stronger, continually bombarding her body.

During this process, cracks began to appear across her body. Blood seeped from her wounds, staining the surrounding ice and snow red. Yet she still did not give up, continuing to fight against the Thunder Tribulation.

Blood fell into the snow, and red snow stained the earth. How tragic.

Finally, when the last bolt of lightning struck, the Ice Bird Soul Beast let out a miserable cry. She could not hold on any longer!

Yet even though the Ice Bird no longer had the strength to contend against the lightning, she still spread her wings one last time and flew voluntarily toward the next bolt descending upon her.

This time, she did not choose to resist the lightning. Instead, she took it head-on. Lightning coursed through her body, and her entire form began to tremble.

The Gray-Headed Ice Hawk let out a mournful cry, then spread its wings as it tried to fly into the heavens to help the Ice Bird.

But before it could rise, a crushing pressure forced it back down. It could only helplessly watch the Ice Bird alone endure the baptism of lightning in the sky.