Just as Xue Chen's mind reeled, lost in the turmoil of discovering the shocking secret within his body, Ice Empress and Xiao Bai outside also keenly sensed something was amiss.
"Hm? This boy's aura... It seemed to have faltered just now?"
Ice Empress furrowed her brow, staring intently at Xue Chen inside the cocoon of light.
Xiao Bai let out a low growl. "Xiao Chen's expression seems a little off. Is he having too much trouble absorbing it?"
The instant the seal inside Xue Chen was touched by his own spiritual power and stirred faintly, Snow Empress, floating in midair, gave a slight twitch of her ice-blue eyes.
Her senses were far keener and deeper than Ice Empress's and Xiao Bai's. She had vaguely sensed a fluctuation in the source of Xue Chen's life.
That fluctuation was obscure yet powerful, carrying a vast, unfamiliar aura that even she did not recognize. It was nothing like any power system of the Far North, or of anything else she knew.
A faint trace of surprise crossed her exquisite face. Her spiritual power flowed like invisible water, trying to probe more deeply.
But it seemed to be tightly intertwined with Xue Chen's Life Core, and she could not glimpse anything at all—only chaos.
"This... Where did it come from?"
Waves stirred in Snow Empress's heart. She faintly sensed that Xue Chen's origins were far more complicated and astonishing than she had imagined.
It hadn't been something she had set up, so it could only be... connected to Xue Chen's birth, or to the time before he was abandoned in the Far North.
Just as Snow Empress's thoughts raced, Xue Chen below seemed to have quickly steadied himself.
He shook his head, temporarily suppressing his various suspicions about the seal's origins and the chill that had crept over him.
Whatever the truth, the thunderous power before him was a genuine opportunity—something he could absorb to strengthen himself!
Since the first seal had already loosened under the impact of the lightning tribulation's power, he might as well seize this chance and use the coming strikes to break through it in one go!
He simply stopped dwelling on the vexing mystery of the seal and devoted himself entirely to absorbing and refining the surging thunderous power around him.
He guided that violent, pure energy to strike again and again at the first seal, now crisscrossed with cracks.
The Ice and Snow Empresses kept a close eye on Xue Chen. Seeing that he had returned to normal after only a brief spell of strangeness, and that he was absorbing the thunderous power faster and faster, his blood and qi roaring like a dragon as his aura climbed steadily, they finally felt a little reassured.
Though they didn't understand what was happening, Xue Chen was at least in no danger for now. In fact, he was benefiting from it.
Before long, Xue Chen had completely absorbed the cocoon of thunderous light formed from the first two lightning strikes.
The immense energy surged endlessly through his meridians, strengthening his body and nourishing his Martial Soul. But although cracks spread across the first seal and its dim glow faded, it stubbornly remained intact, still unbroken.
Xue Chen looked up, his eyes shining as he gazed at the lightning tribulation still spinning and gathering furiously above Ice Crystal Palace.
The third lightning strike was condensing within it. Its terrifying aura warped the very space around it.
"I'll take a gamble! This lightning strike really does seem harmless to me. If anything, it's a huge boon!"
Xue Chen thought to himself, his gaze resolute.
"Xiao Chen, how are you?"
As soon as she saw that he had finished absorbing the energy, Ice Empress immediately stepped forward and asked, her voice full of concern and curiosity.
"Aunt Ice, I'm fine. I feel better than ever!"
Xue Chen pumped his fist, feeling the surging power inside him, and said excitedly:
"This lightning tribulation seems to have been caused by me. I can absorb the power of its strikes.
"And since the lightning tribulation isn't over yet, I might as well keep absorbing it!"
As he spoke, he lifted his head toward the peerless figure in white above and called out in a clear voice, "Mom! Help me!"
Hearing him, Snow Empress looked down at her son, whose eyes burned with excitement and anticipation.
She saw the excitement and trust in his eyes, and sensed the anomaly within him.
Although placing Xue Chen directly at the center of the lightning tribulation seemed risky, the strange behavior of the first two strikes and Xue Chen's excellent condition after absorbing them both indicated that, for him, this lightning tribulation really was more like a blessing.
A flicker of struggle crossed her exquisite face, but soon it gave way to resolve.
She chose to trust Xue Chen's judgment, and to trust the secrets within him that even she couldn't fully understand.
"Very well!"
Snow Empress's clear, ethereal voice rang out without the slightest hesitation.
She raised her delicate hand. A stream of pure, gentle, ultimate ice Soul Power instantly enveloped Xue Chen like the warmest swaddling cloth.
This power wasn't meant to isolate him from the lightning. Instead, it formed a steady shield, protecting him from the turbulent energy outside as he moved, while also lifting his body and slowly carrying him into the air.
Under the tense gazes of the Ice and Snow Empresses and Xiao Bai, Xue Chen was steadily borne aloft by Snow Empress's Soul Power. He passed through the hole in the top of Ice Crystal Palace, rose higher and higher, and finally stopped beneath the churning black hole of purple-gold lightning, only a few dozen zhang from Snow Empress.
Only now, standing here, could Xue Chen truly feel how terrifying the third lightning strike about to descend was.
Its terrifying pressure felt almost tangible, making it difficult to breathe. The air all around him crackled with wild electricity.
The two Thunder Martial Souls within his body revealed themselves of their own accord. The phantom of the Thunder Dragon Emperor circled behind him, roaring, while the Radiant Thunder Dragon Spear took shape in his hand, its tip pointing skyward as it let out an eager hum.
"Come on!"
Xue Chen gripped the dragon spear tightly and roared toward the sky. There wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes, only surging excitement and a hunger for power!
As if answering his challenge, a dazzling radiance beyond description suddenly blazed at the center of the black hole of lightning.
A lightning pillar thicker than the previous two, and a deeper shade in color, tore through every barrier between heaven and earth and hurtled toward Xue Chen, suspended in midair!
This time, Snow Empress didn't move to intercept it.
She merely hovered quietly to one side, keeping the chill around her contained as her ice-blue eyes stayed fixed on Xue Chen without blinking. She was ready to help at once if anything went wrong.
The lightning pillar hadn't even arrived, yet its terrifying pressure already made Xue Chen feel as if his body were about to shatter.
But he gritted his teeth and frantically circulated all the Soul Power within him, driving the power of the Thunder Dragon Emperor Martial Soul to its limit. At the same time, he raised the Radiant Thunder Dragon Spear and charged straight at the destructive pillar of light!
"Boom!!!"
A deafening roar swallowed every other sound.
The lightning pillar instantly engulfed Xue Chen's figure.
Suspended beneath the lightning tribulation, Xue Chen was completely engulfed the instant the third lightning pillar came crashing down. Yet the agony and tearing he had expected never came.
This time, no one interfered. The moment the lightning touched his body, its violent nature vanished completely, leaving behind only the purest, most primordial thunderous power, gentle beyond belief.
This power resonated fiercely with the Thunder Dragon Emperor and Radiant Thunder Dragon Spear Martial Souls within him, as though they had come from the same source and been born together.
It became a vast torrent of energy, surging wildly into every part of his body!
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