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Soon, the forty-first heavenly tribulation struck down with ferocity!

The color of this lightning was deeper than before, carrying a faint, dark-red halo, and its power had clearly ascended to a new level.

Snow Empress did not dare to be the least bit negligent; she formed seals with her hands, condensing several massive ice shields.

"BOOM! CRACK—!"

The tribulation shattered the ice shields like dry twigs, one after another, only exhausting its energy before the eighth shield.

Ice shards scattered everywhere, and Snow Empress's figure swayed slightly.

But immediately following, the forty-second, forty-third, forty-fourth... the heavenly tribulation seemed truly endless.

By the end, even Snow Empress had to unleash her three great ultimate arts without reservation.

However, the vast, sea-like aura surrounding her was visibly weakening.

The consumption required to withstand the heavenly tribulation was immense, especially with the terrifying power of the tribulation increasing with every strike.

Her soul power was being depleted rapidly, and her spirit was under tremendous pressure.

As the lightning faded, a trace of blood seeped from the corner of Snow Empress's mouth.

Her aura had grown faint, and her body trembled slightly; she had paid a heavy price to endure that strike.

But the fifty-first heavenly tribulation did not pause for even a second, following closely on the heels of the fiftieth's remaining momentum.

Snow Empress had only just struggled to neutralize the residual tribulation lightning within her body; her aura had yet to stabilize, and her soul power was nearly bottomed out.

She raised her head, watching the lightning expand rapidly in her pupils, and a deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart.

The surrounding scene seemed to slow down in an instant, and countless fragments of memory flashed through her consciousness.

Is this where it ends for me...

Her ice-blue eyes dimmed; she no longer had the strength to organize an effective defense.

However, in this moment of despair—

"Sister Snow!"

A purple figure appeared above Snow Empress without a hint of fear, facing the world-destroying tribulation lightning head-on!

It was Qian Qizhou!

At this moment, his martial soul was manifested, his four soul rings flashing wildly, and the Engulfing Lightning in his hand erupted with brilliant purple lightning.

"BREAK!!!"

As the word fell, he slashed upward against the heavens toward the terrifying tribulation!

"BOOM—!!!!!"

A deafening explosion rang out as the blade light collided fiercely with the heavenly tribulation, shielding the Snow Empress below from the fatal blow.

Snow Empress stared blankly at the figure in the sky.

He... he actually managed to block it...

But before she could recover from the shock, Qian Qizhou above took a sharp breath, and the purple lightning that had merely been swirling around him suddenly surged and boiled!

Countless bolts of violent purple electricity centered on him, spinning and converging frantically, instantly forming a massive vortex that seemed to connect heaven and earth.

At that very moment, the heavenly tribulation seemed thoroughly enraged by Qian Qizhou's actions, becoming even more violent.

The fifty-second, fifty-third, fifty-fourth... several bolts of astonishingly powerful lightning tore through the clouds one after another, striking down.

But this time, these destructive bolts did not strike their target directly.

As if drawn by a tether, they plunged straight into the massive purple vortex.

"RUMBLE—!"

Deafening thunder exploded inside the vortex; as soon as the terrifying power of the tribulation entered, it was neutralized into energy by Qian Qizhou.

Even more incredibly, the pure lightning power flowed into Qian Qizhou's body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Qian Qizhou's body trembled violently, and his aura climbed frantically at an unbelievable speed.

Yet he forgot that he was only a Soul Ancestor; the energy contained in each bolt of this tribulation, which even Snow Empress could not resist, was immense.

In the end, relying on the authority of lightning and the powerful vitality granted by his Blue Silver Emperor soul bone, Qian Qizhou used his sheer willpower to endure seventy bolts of tribulation.

"PUH—!"

Qian Qizhou spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura instantly withering to the extreme.

Cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, and he fell from the sky like a piece of porcelain about to shatter.

With unimaginable willpower and at a terrible cost, he had forcibly withstood the final tribulation.

Though his body was on the verge of collapse, he had firmly grasped that sliver of survival for Sister Snow.

The promise he had made... would never be broken...

As the heavenly tribulation slowly dissipated, the thick clouds in the sky also began to vanish and disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Moments later, the dark clouds dispersed, and a pure golden pillar of light, imbued with boundless vitality and the laws of heaven and earth, precisely enveloped the Snow Empress below, whose aura was weak and body covered in wounds.

This was the gift of heaven and earth to those who successfully passed their tribulation.

As the golden light entered her body, the scorched marks left by the heavenly tribulation and her nearly depleted origin began to repair, heal, and replenish at an astonishing speed.

Her aura surged, stabilizing completely at seven hundred thousand years.

In terms of human cultivation realms, she had stepped into level 99.

The Snow Empress slowly opened her eyes and, for the first time, looked at Qian Qizhou, who lay on the ground not far away, covered in blood.

Her expression faltered, and she instantly appeared beside him, carefully helping him up.

Looking at Qian Qizhou's tragic state, her peerlessly beautiful face was filled with worry: "Xiao Zhou! Are you alright?"

Just as the Snow Empress was about to use her soul power to examine his injuries—

"BOOM!!!"

A violent surge of lightning power erupted from Qian Qizhou's body!

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, the Snow Empress, caught off guard, was sent flying by this sudden, terrifying force, crashing heavily into a scorched mountain wall in the distance, causing the hard rock face to instantly crack.

She grunted, a look of shock flashing across her face as she looked incredulously at the young man radiating terrifying lightning in the distance.

In truth, with Qian Qizhou's strength, he was incapable of absorbing so much power.

He had only managed to endure it with sheer willpower, sealing all the energy within his body to pass the heavenly tribulation.

But now that he was unconscious, the sealed power within him had no one to suppress it and naturally erupted.

Watching Qian Qizhou writhe in pain, his aura growing weaker, the Snow Empress was consumed by anxiety. She suppressed the surging soul power within her that had been shaken and attempted to approach him again.

She gently raised her hand, and her vast, pure soul power cautiously reached out towards Qian Qizhou, attempting to suppress his violent soul power.

But in the next second, a strong backlash surged along the soul power connection.

The Snow Empress was forced to sever the soul power output, and her body was once again pushed back.

At the same time, a burning, numb sensation spread through her fingertips.

With her seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, she couldn't even get close?

"Xiao Zhou..."

Qian Qizhou had become like this while helping her. Was she truly going to watch his life fade away, helpless to do anything...