The skies over Douluo Continent changed color.
Above the Far North, thick purple-black clouds churned violently.
Massive bolts of lightning, like countless raging dragons, darted wildly through the sea of clouds.
Deafening thunder echoed through the heavens. Centered on the Far North, a world-destroying pressure enveloped the entire continent.
A suffocating sense of danger hung in the air.
Ordinary Soul Beasts had long since prostrated themselves on the ground, not even daring to breathe.
Deep in the Star Dou Forest.
In a dim underground chamber, a pair of breathtaking eyes that had been closed for countless years suddenly opened.
Gu Yuena had awakened.
She slowly sat up. Her long silver hair cascaded like a waterfall down her fair back.
The pair of crystal-clear dragon horns atop her head shimmered faintly in the darkness.
Her close-fitting silver outfit accentuated her stunning figure to perfection.
Her long, slender legs were crossed, her skin fair as snow and utterly flawless.
Yet her breathtaking face now bore an expression of deep shock.
Gu Yuena raised her slender swanlike neck, her beautiful eyes gazing through countless layers of earth at the lightning in the sky.
Di Tian, who had been standing guard nearby for a long time, immediately dropped to one knee.
"Milord!"
"You've finally awakened!"
Di Tian's face lit up with joy, his voice brimming with excitement.
But Gu Yuena paid him no heed, staring fixedly toward the Far North.
"A tribulation?"
"Could it be that million-year Soul Beast hidden in the Far North?"
"That Ice Phoenix?"
She murmured to herself, her clear voice tinged with deep concern.
The Far North had always been shrouded in mystery, but she had once sensed the Ice Phoenix's aura from afar.
Its foundation was truly peerless.
But the scale of this Heavenly Tribulation was too immense—beyond what any Soul Beast could endure.
Gu Yuena didn't know whether this Ice Phoenix could survive the trial.
Di Tian followed Gu Yuena's gaze and carefully studied the lightning in the sky.
"Milord."
"That lightning is purple shot through with black—the strongest World-Extinguishing Purple Lightning in all creation."
"It descends specifically to erase those who defy fate and change their destinies."
"I'm afraid the Ice Phoenix is doomed. There's a nine-in-ten chance it'll be reduced to ashes."
Di Tian spoke with certainty. As far as he was concerned, no Soul Beast could survive such heavenly might.
At his words, the concern in Gu Yuena's beautiful eyes deepened, and her brows drew together slightly.
"The Ice Phoenix is powerful."
"His bloodline is no weaker than that of a pure-blooded dragon."
"If he falls here, it will be a tremendous loss for the Soul Beast Clan."
She gently clasped her hands before her chest, silently praying for the Ice Phoenix she had never met.
The Core Circle of the Far North.
The Heavenly Tribulation's might had stilled the howling blizzards.
Snow Empress and Ice Empress stood side by side atop the highest snow-capped peak.
Snow Empress wore a pure white dress, her long, snowy hair flying in the wind.
Her peerlessly beautiful face radiated an innate nobility and otherworldly grace.
Beneath her hem, a pair of long, straight legs showed faintly. Her figure was full and willowy.
Beside her, Ice Empress was petite, her twin jade-green ponytails lending her a playful air.
Her fair skin was flecked with jade-green crystals, giving her a vibrant, wild beauty.
Now, both of them gazed upward, fixed on the thunderstorm that had reached its peak.
Feeling that pressure strike straight at their souls, both women were gripped by a deep fear of the heavenly lightning.
"Big sister."
"This tribulation is terrifyingly powerful."
"Who could have brought it down?"
Ice Empress swallowed, her small hand gripping Snow Empress's sleeve.
Snow Empress drew a deep breath, her ample chest rising and falling slightly.
"Who else in the Far North could bring down a spectacle like this, besides that one?"
"It must be the million-year Soul Beast, Senior Ice Phoenix, undergoing his tribulation."
At the mention of that name, a complicated look flashed through Snow Empress's beautiful eyes.
Ice Empress's emerald-green eyes immediately lit up.
"So it's that old lecher... No, that legendary being!"
"He'll definitely make it!"
"After all, he's the overlord of the Far North!"
As she spoke, Ice Empress pouted.
As the central rulers of the Far North, she and Snow Empress had often been bossed around by the Ice Phoenix.
Sometimes he made Snow Empress preen his feathers; other times he sent Ice Empress into the deep sea to catch Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow fish for him.
If they so much as refused, he would suppress them with his bloodline.
They both respected and feared him, and felt an intimacy toward him that was hard to put into words.
While the two women were talking—
Rumble!
The world abruptly dimmed.
The heavenly lightning descended.
A purple-black pillar of lightning as thick as a mountain crashed straight toward the deepest part of the Far North, trailing an aura that threatened to destroy everything.
Snow Empress and Ice Empress were instantly on edge, their breathing stopping.
"Caw—!"
A clear, immensely proud cry of a phoenix soared into the sky, tearing through the thunder.
A colossal, sky-shrouding phantom of an Ice Phoenix surged up from the abyss.
It spread its wings, and the power to freeze a thousand miles in an instant swept forth.
Its icy blue feathers gleamed beneath the lightning, radiating an overbearing, invincible might.
Even faced with the world-destroying lightning, the Ice Phoenix phantom held its head high and charged straight at it.
Two forces of ultimate power collided midair with a thunderous crash.
The violent shockwaves spread in every direction, leveling countless snowy peaks on the spot.
Then, before the horrified eyes of Snow Empress and Ice Empress—
The colossal Ice Phoenix phantom began to crack under the lightning's ceaseless assault. The cracks spread wider and wider.
Bang!
The phantom shattered completely, turning into a shower of ice crystals that drifted down from the sky.
At the center of the lightning's impact.
The ice field had been blasted into a bottomless crater.
At the bottom, scorched earth and the fading remnants of lightning surrounded the crater.
A naked baby lay quietly at its base.
Xue Tianyu blinked and flexed his chubby little arms and legs.
As a million-year Soul Beast, the Ice Phoenix, he had just used that world-ending tribulation to seal all his mighty cultivation within his body.
He had tempered his body with heavenly might and transformed into human form.
According to his flawless calculations, after successfully transforming, he should have looked like a six-year-old child.
He would have been able to begin the path to Martial Soul Awakening right away.
Unfortunately—
Those sanctimonious fools in the Divine Realm had targeted him after all.
At the last moment before the tribulation struck, they had forcibly amplified its destructive power.
He had been gravely injured, and the excessive loss of energy had caused him to regress into a baby.
Still—
Xue Tianyu's chubby little face was full of delight, and his lips spread into an unrestrained grin.
"I'm still alive."
"Out of destruction comes rebirth. That's all there is to it."
"This time, as I cultivate anew in human form, not even the entire Divine Realm will stop me from taking a single step!"
Just then, there was a stir above the crater.
From Snow Empress and Ice Empress's vantage point, the Ice Phoenix's phantom had just vanished without leaving behind even the slightest trace of its aura.
Naturally, they assumed that Senior Ice Phoenix had failed to transform, his life snuffed out.
An immense sense of loss welled up inside them.
Ice Empress's eyes reddened, and her small hands clenched into fists.
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