Lightning Tribulation, Heart Tribulation

The Ice God Thunder Tribulation is the most severe judgment of the laws of heaven and earth against Snow Empress, who attempts to break the shackles that prevent soul beasts from becoming gods.

Ice Empress's expression changed. A plan is a plan, but now that she truly saw this terrifying thundercloud, how could she not feel a chill in her heart?

That fearless, indomitable spirit of hers vanished in the face of this thundercloud.

Snow Empress had only just molded her new body, and her origin was not yet stable; how could she possibly withstand this world-destroying lightning?

"Ice Empress, we must go. This tribulation can only be faced by Snow Empress alone. If we intervene, not only might unforeseen variables arise, but Snow Empress's physical body will also fail to be effectively tempered."

Xue Yuheng said.

The Demi-God Level Life Tribulation triggered by soul beasts after five hundred thousand years consists of these three trials, and Snow Empress had experience with them.

However, Ice Empress did not.

Fortunately, Ice Empress still understood the big picture. She took Xue Yuheng and traveled a thousand miles away before finally speaking:

"Xue Yuheng, you have no idea what Snow Empress means to me, and to the Far North."

Damn it, of course I know. Aren't you just gay for her?

Xue Yuheng remained silent.

Snow Empress, in the form of a little girl, looked up at the churning tribulation clouds above the firmament, her ice-blue eyes devoid of the slightest trace of fear.

Lord Ice God, is this the barrier you have set for your subjects?

Snow Empress's Three Ultimates, Emperor's Palm, Great Cold Without Snow!

The first bolt of Ice God Thunder, as thick as a bowl, had already descended with a chill that could freeze the void, crashing down with a roar!

The lightning struck Snow Empress's palm, and her newly molded right hand was instantly covered in blinding blue light, the entire hand shattered by the strike.

Snow Empress did not retreat. Using a terrifying speed of absorption and conversion of heaven and earth energy, she gathered the icy soul power within a hundred-mile radius into herself to reshape her right hand.

"Ice God Thunder Tribulation, is that all you have?"

Snow Empress sneered. In this exchange, although it appeared she had lost, her extreme combat experience allowed her to gauge the attack intensity of the thundercloud.

How boring it is to just endure a thunder tribulation.

Today, Snow Empress would destroy this tribulation!

Recalling Xue Yuheng's promise in her heart, she felt a warmth spread through her.

"As for the thunder tribulation, with me here, go ahead and wreak havoc."

Ever since Xue Yuheng converted Xiao Xiao's Three-Colored Lightning Tribulation into over a thousand Creation Points last time, in his eyes, the thunder tribulations that others found terrifying were nothing more than pure, white Creation Points!

Snow Empress gathered ice mist in her hand into a long sword.

Emperor's Sword, Ice Extreme Unparalleled!

The second bolt, the third, the fourth...

While shattering the lightning, Snow Empress also channeled the lingering effects of the heavenly treasures within her body, forcibly drawing the power of this destructive tribulation into her flesh bit by bit.

She tempered her newborn flesh and meridians, fusing the soul beast origin into this physical body, pinning it firmly together.

The thunder tribulation grew more violent with each strike. By the end, the entire snowfield was trembling under the lightning, and even the distant ice mountains were shaken until they collapsed with a roar.

Ice Empress stood a thousand miles away, her emerald eyes brimming with tears, yet she bit her lip hard, not daring to step forward and interfere.

Xue Yuheng stood by her side. He knew very well that while this tribulation looked dangerous, it was the most critical step in the transformation.

Only through the extreme tempering of the Ice God Thunder could the mark of the soul beast be completely erased from Snow Empress, allowing her to solidify a true foundation for human cultivation and completely cast off the shackles of being a soul beast.

If Snow Empress used the trump card I gave her...

Could she still become a god?

After enduring countless strikes, when the final world-destroying Ice God Thunder, a full ten feet thick, crashed down upon Snow Empress, the sky-filling lightning suddenly ended, and the thunderclouds dispersed.

On the snowfield, Snow Empress, in the form of a little girl, landed steadily.

A faint layer of ice-blue halo lingered around her. Her previously somewhat illusory body was now incredibly solid, and every inch of her skin radiated newborn vitality.

The terrifying pressure belonging to a seven-hundred-thousand-year soul beast had completely vanished, leaving only an aura no different from that of an ordinary human child.

The second trial, the Ice God Thunder Tribulation, was over.

Ice Empress brought Xue Yuheng forward, but at that moment, Snow Empress's eyes suddenly turned hollow.

She stood motionless, like a puppet that had lost its soul. The ice-blue halo around her began to flicker, and even her breathing grew weak.

"Snow Empress? Snow Empress, what's wrong with you?! Is this... the Heart Tribulation?"

Ice Empress panicked instantly and rushed forward, but just as she was about to touch Snow Empress, she was violently repelled by an invisible barrier.

All her emotions, at this moment when her spirit was at its weakest, had transformed into the most dangerous Heart Tribulation.

Once she fell into it and her Dao heart shattered, even if her physical body remained intact, she would become a living corpse without consciousness, and all previous efforts would fall short of success.

"Then what should we do?! Think of something, quickly!" Ice Empress said anxiously.

"Everything is going according to plan; there is no need to rush."

What is this...

Xue Yuheng could clearly feel a thread of connection between himself and the Snow Empress's sea of consciousness.

This invisible line was being pulled frantically, as if it were about to snap at any moment.

It seems... I can go in?

The Wordless Heavenly Book that had been in Xue Yuheng's mind was gone; it was now inside the Snow Empress's sea of consciousness.

This was originally the trump card Xue Yuheng had given the Snow Empress to survive her lightning tribulation.

Now, it seemed to be having an unexpected effect.

Xue Yuheng closed his eyes, guiding the Wordless Heavenly Book within the Snow Empress's sea of consciousness.

Then, he projected his own divine soul toward the Snow Empress's sea of consciousness.

The next instant, the world spun around him.

Xue Yuheng found himself standing on a boundless snowfield, with wind and snow howling across the sky, and countless fragmented illusions appearing before his eyes.

The Snow Empress's seven hundred thousand years of memories surfaced in Xue Yuheng's mind.

He saw the Snow Empress failing her transformation and her soul scattering, the Ice Empress going mad and launching a beast tide in the Far North, only to be besieged by the combined forces of the continent's soul masters, leading to the total annihilation of the Ice Jade Scorpion clan.

He saw the Snow Empress succeeding in her transformation, only to be treated as a mobile hundred-thousand-year soul ring by human soul masters; countless powerhouses swarmed in, turning the Far North into scorched earth, with her kin slaughtered to the last.

He even saw himself acting in bad faith, controlling the Snow Empress, plundering all the resources of the Far North, and the iron hooves of the Heaven Spirit Empire trampling this world of Ice and Snow.

At the very center of the illusion, the Snow Empress, in the form of a little girl, was curled up in the wind and snow.

In her ice-blue eyes, there was nothing but a sense of bewilderment and helplessness never seen before.

For seven hundred thousand years, from the moment she was born, the Snow Empress had been the ruler of the Far North and the faith of all ice-attribute soul beasts.

The Snow Empress had an identity that no one knew about, except for Bing'er.

She was a descendant of the ancient Ice God.

The Snow Empress had to be strong, had to be calm, and had to shoulder all the responsibilities.

But the Snow Empress could also feel fear.

"None of this is real."

Xue Yuheng's steady voice pierced through the howling wind and snow, falling clearly into the little girl's ears.

Xue Yuheng walked step by step to the little girl, crouched down, and looked her in the eye.

"I signed a contract of life and death with you; if you die, I cannot live either. I would not joke with my own life, and I certainly wouldn't joke with the lives of the billions of souls in the Heaven Spirit Empire."

"After you transform, you are simply living in a different way. The Far North is your home, and I promise you, as long as I am here, I will not let anyone destroy your home."

"And there is the Ice Empress; she is still waiting for you outside. You have never been the one to shoulder all of this alone—not in the past, and not in the future."

"You are already human, and you will be an excellent soul master in the future. My martial soul, the Wordless Heavenly Book, will trigger your Martial Soul Evolution."

"With my help, you will become a god, an existence even more powerful than the Ice God."

Xue Yuheng reached out his hand, his gaze sincere.

The art of persuasion is invincible.

On the snowfield, the Snow Empress's hollow eyes finally regained a glimmer of light.

Inside the illusion, the little girl looked up at Xue Yuheng before her.

"Why are you helping me?"

Xue Yuheng pretended to ponder for a moment, then chuckled, "Because you are beautiful, and I have never had much resistance to beautiful women."

"..."

The little girl stood up and pointed toward a snow-capped peak towering into the clouds in the distance. "That is Ice God Peak. It has been missing from the Far North for over five hundred thousand years. I want to... go see it."

A beauty's invitation—Xue Yuheng would naturally not refuse.

What he did not know was that this visit would last a hundred years.

"It's quite boring to keep calling you Snow Empress. Since you plan to study at Shrek in the future anyway, how about this? I'll give you a name. How about... Xue Qingwu?"

"Then can I call you Xiao Xue?"

"I suppose you can, just don't call me that in front of Xiao Xiao when we go out."

"Pfft, you really do have a talent for being a scumbag."

"You actually know what a scumbag is?"

"Nonsense, it's not like I haven't lived in your human world before. Forget about Douluo Continent, let me tell you a secret.

The world we are in is actually a sphere.

There are other continents as well..."

"Wow... oh!"

"Hey, can you not make such an exaggerated expression... it's ugly..."

"This is the Ice God Temple from my memories. As for outside the illusion, it must have sunk underground due to continental plate movement."

"You grew up here since you were little?"

"You didn't know? Didn't you secretly look through my memories?"

"..."

"Why have you grown so much in twenty years, while I haven't changed at all?"

"Xiao Xue, what are you muttering about over there? I'm going to the Ice God Valley to soak in the hot springs, are you coming?"

"Coming! I must go. Qingwu, have you and those little sisters of yours been gossiping about me behind my back again lately?"

"Have we? No, right? Stop tickling me... Hahaha... I'll say it, stop... I'll say it!

Actually, being small... is also quite cute!"

"..."

In the blink of an eye, a hundred years passed within the illusion, while only an instant passed in the outside world.

The sky full of illusion fragments melted away bit by bit, like ice and snow in the spring.

The certain existence who created the rule of the Heart Tribulation for soul beasts probably never imagined that someone would use this illusion to relive memories.

This had the same effect as the time Xue Yuheng used Power of Creation to help digest his food.

Because of the existence of the Wordless Heavenly Book, the concept of inner demons did not exist for its holder.

Go tell that to my Power of Creation.

On the snowy plains of reality, the ice-blue halo around Snow Empress surged violently, then instantly retracted into her body.

The next moment, both of their spirits returned to their bodies simultaneously, and in that very instant, the entirety of Snow Empress's seven hundred thousand years of cultivation dissipated.

Xue Qingwu looked at Ice Empress, who was waiting anxiously to the side, then glanced at Xue Yuheng before her, the corners of her mouth lifting to reveal a gentle smile.

From this day forward, the continent would have one less legendary Snow Empress.

And one more dazzling genius girl.