"Your Grandpa Bear Lord!"
Bear Lord looked toward the massive soul beast towering like a mountain. He circulated his Soul Power, and a bear roar like crashing mountains and raging seas swept across the Extreme North.
Several peaks instantly collapsed. The enormous figure was forced back again and again, while a snowstorm surged forth like a great tide.
"Everyone, raise your defensive barriers!"
The shopkeeper had not looked this panicked even when facing the wolf pack. All the soul masters in the caravan lined up and released their Soul Power without reservation, forming a defensive barrier.
Rumble...
In the blink of an eye, the snowstorm swallowed the entire caravan, as though erecting a natural tombstone for them.
Jiang Mian's vision went dark. With his current strength, trying to withstand such a natural disaster was laughable. He could only cling tightly to Bear Lord while holding Zhu Zhuqing firmly in his arms.
Zhu Zhuqing pressed against Jiang Mian's chest, as if doing so gave her a great sense of security.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Bear Lord had no intention of saving the caravan. Grabbing Jiang Mian and Zhu Zhuqing, he transformed into a streak of golden light and shot out of the snow.
Looking down from above, the world had returned to normal. Only the corpses of a few King Camels from the caravan remained exposed, declaring that a terrible tragedy had once occurred here.
"Bear Lord, why would you do such a thing?" Jiang Mian demanded angrily.
"Humans are allowed to hunt soul beasts, but soul beasts aren't allowed to harm humans?" Bear Lord said disdainfully. "What kind of logic is that?"
"They weren't guilty of anything." Jiang Mian stared at him in surprise. "Destroying lives like this—Bear Lord, do you still want to survive your tribulation?"
"You only know one side of it." Bear Lord frowned slightly and said coldly, "Your Soul Power has reached rank forty, yet you couldn't even sense what was inside those caravan wagons?"
"What?" Jiang Mian was briefly stunned. Bear Lord brought them to a mountaintop before slowly explaining, "The wagons in that caravan were filled with living people."
"There were men and women alike, all locked inside the wagons like livestock." Bear Lord had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and possessed such basic knowledge. "It was probably a caravan trafficking people or slaves."
"If those people had been successfully transported to their destination, they would have suffered worse than death." Bear Lord said, "And we couldn't possibly bring them out of the Extreme North, so I could only kindly dig graves for them."
"You should've said so earlier. We should've killed those soul masters aiding the evil as well." A sharp light flashed in Jiang Mian's eyes.
"Enough. If they can survive a snowstorm of that scale, then they're lucky. Why bother going back to finish them off?" Bear Lord said indifferently.
"Scum." Jiang Mian spat, then looked at Zhu Zhuqing. "Zhuqing, that caravan might be connected to the Star Luo Empire's royal family. I noticed something off about the way that shopkeeper looked at you, but I didn't think much of it at the time."
"He did look somewhat familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen him before." Zhu Zhuqing pursed her lips and spoke with a grave expression.
"Interesting." Jiang Mian narrowed his eyes. There were still nearly two years before Tang San went to Shrek, so taking Zhu Zhuqing on a trip around the Star Luo Empire would not be a problem.
A thunderclap suddenly flashed across the sky.
Bear Lord's expression changed drastically. Why had the Heavenly Tribulation come early?!
"This is bad. Maybe dealing with those soul masters just now increased your cultivation a little more, causing the Heavenly Tribulation to arrive ahead of time!" Jiang Mian involuntarily took two steps back as he watched thunderclouds gradually gather overhead.
"Come on!" Bear Lord's eyes turned bloodshot. He abruptly revealed his true form, and a giant bear the size of a small mountain appeared beside Jiang Mian and Zhu Zhuqing.
"You two stay farther away. Don't let the Heavenly Tribulation catch you in it." Bear Lord warned, "A five-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation is no joke."
Jiang Mian held Zhu Zhuqing and wisely moved away from Bear Lord.
This kind of Heavenly Tribulation could only be endured by Bear Lord himself. However, Di Tian had also sent Bi Ji and King of Ten Thousand Demons to find Bear Lord quite a few innate spiritual treasures, so the chances of success should still be high.
Moreover, after Jiang Mian captured the auspicious beast, he had inherited even its ability to increase the odds of soul beasts surviving their Heavenly Tribulations. With him beside Bear Lord now, he was no different from the auspicious beast in that regard.
Unfortunately, he had once experimented with the auspicious beast and discovered that the probability-boosting ability could not stack. Otherwise, Bear Lord would not have needed to go through so much trouble to overcome the Heavenly Tribulation.
Thunder rumbled through the nine heavens. Bear Lord, covered in dark-gold fur, bared his fangs and brandished his claws, seemingly ready to shatter the heavens themselves.
It would be a lie to say he was not afraid. Bear Lord had seen a five-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation before. When Di Tian underwent his tribulation, Bear Lord had only been a young soul beast that had barely reached one hundred thousand years. In the blink of an eye, it was now his turn.
A rain of lightning descended. A dark-gold defensive ripple rose around Bear Lord, and the lightning vanished into it like mud oxen entering the sea, utterly ineffective.
"Senior Bear Lord looks very relaxed." Zhu Zhuqing carefully observed Bear Lord's condition and said in surprise, "The Heavenly Tribulation doesn't seem as terrifying as I imagined."
"This is only the first stage." Jiang Mian smiled faintly and explained, "The heavenly lightning at this point is roughly equivalent to the level faced by a soul beast that has just entered the hundred-thousand-year rank."
"For every additional hundred thousand years, there will be another layer of heavenly lightning, and its power increases geometrically."
"Then isn't Senior Bear Lord in great danger?"
Zhu Zhuqing spoke with some concern. Though she usually appeared as cold as an icy beauty, her heart had always been warm. She clearly remembered who treated her well.
Jiang Mian laughed on the surface, but inwardly he could not help sweating for Bear Lord. Before he came here, Di Tian had secretly told him that he had already made arrangements. But now that the Heavenly Tribulation had arrived early, would those arrangements fall through?
If they did, wouldn't Bear Lord be in danger?!
There were three reasons Jiang Mian had brought Bear Lord to the Extreme North for his tribulation. First, the Extreme North was sparsely populated and relatively safer. Second, Jiang Mian wanted to obtain Snow Empress, this soul beast. Third, Di Tian had said he had arrangements in the Extreme North.
That old bastard had better not screw him over!
The first stage of heavenly lightning ended quickly. Bear Lord hurriedly pulled out spiritual herbs and stuffed them into his mouth to recover, while the second stage of heavenly lightning arrived in an instant.
The second stage was anything but ordinary. The heavenly lightning changed from red to blue, and its destructive power was likely even greater.
Deep within the Extreme North, inside an ice-and-snow palace glowing with shifting radiance, a white-haired beauty wearing an ice crystal crown slowly looked toward the sky.
Her white hair was purer than snow, and her eyes were the ultimate icy blue. Her beauty was so breathtaking that no matter how beautiful another girl might be, standing beside her would leave her feeling inferior. Sitting there, she resembled an ice crystal snow lotus, sacred and untouchable.
"Di Tian, is this the youth you spoke of? Can he truly lead our soul beast race back to the heights we once reached?"
Snow Empress's long, delicate lashes trembled slightly. She raised an arm as pale as white jade, then instantly transformed into snowflakes and vanished from where she stood.
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