Heavenly Tribulation, Give Me a Good One!

As the two hesitated, the sixth heavenly tribulation was already rapidly gathering and was about to descend.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

"Teacher, that soul beast is about to face its sixth lightning tribulation. Aren't we making our move?"

A Soul Sage cautiously asked the stern-looking middle-aged man beside him.

"Idiot, are you trying to get yourself killed?! I told you to study things other than soul tools, but you never listened." The man berated him. "Do you know who that soul beast undergoing tribulation is? She's Snow Empress, the Ice and Snow Maiden, ranked third among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation. Forget taking the heavenly tribulation head-on—even its residual force would kill you on the spot if it touched you, believe it or not."

"Forget a mere Soul Sage like you. Even I, a ninth-rank soul engineer, wouldn't dare approach those tribulation bolts carelessly."

"I-I understand, Teacher. When we get back, I'll make sure to catch up on my other studies."

"Hmph."

"Snow Empress should be undergoing her seven-hundred-thousand-year great tribulation now, which means there are only two bolts left." The middle-aged man snorted and continued, "She's already utterly weakened after enduring five. The sixth and seventh will surely leave her severely injured. Once all the lightning tribulations have descended, immediately fire the signal. We'll seize the chance to put her into the Sealing God Platform. Understood?"

"Understood!"

Upon hearing the man's words, the Soul Sage and the other two Soul Douluo immediately answered.

"Ice Empress, are you confident you can send me to Snow Empress before those people react?"

Yao Shi asked Ice Empress with a grave expression.

Ice Empress shook her head. The arrogance unique to an emperor that she had displayed when they first met was gone from her voice, replaced by exhaustion. "Among those twenty-some people, six are Titled Douluo or stronger. The rest are Soul Douluo and Soul Sages, with none below Soul Emperor rank. If it were only them, I wouldn't fear them at all. With a few methods, I could deal with them."

"But..."

Her voice trailed off as she looked toward the north with a bitter smile. "Over there, there are only four people, but one of them is no weaker than I am. Especially that strange machine he wears—it makes even me feel fear."

Then she turned to Yao Shi. "Has human technology truly developed to such a degree?"

Yao Shi was clearly stunned upon hearing that.

Someone strong enough to frighten even Ice Empress, wearing machinery... that could only be a ninth-rank soul engineer.

A ninety-third-rank ninth-rank soul engineer, six Titled Douluo, and more than a dozen Soul Douluo and Soul Sage-level experts, all part of a soul engineer corps—it was no surprise that such a force could threaten Ice Empress.

Just then, the sixth heavenly tribulation descended, twice as powerful as the previous five.

Boom—

With a deafening crash, the sixth heavenly tribulation struck Snow Empress viciously.

"Aahh—"

Snow Empress cried out in pain and fell to her knees. A mouthful of blood gushed from her mouth. Though she had successfully endured the sixth heavenly tribulation, her current condition and energy clearly would not be enough to withstand the final one.

Her physical body was already on the verge of shattering, while the smooth, even snowfield around her had been carved by the heavenly tribulation into gullies and deep craters. Looking closely, faint arcs of electricity still flickered within those pits, showing just how terrifying the tribulation lightning had been.

"So in the end... I still failed?"

Snow Empress knelt on the ground with vacant eyes, her voice full of unwillingness.

"Heh. It seems... I can only take that path."

Watching the final heavenly tribulation gathering overhead, Snow Empress suddenly let out a relieved laugh. Then she took a hundred-thousand-year snow lotus from her robes and began drawing upon the power of heaven and earth.

The moment the power of heaven and earth touched Snow Empress, her physical body began to slowly disintegrate. The tribulation clouds above unexpectedly stopped gathering lightning, rapidly dispersing at a visible rate.

"Snow Empress is going to rebuild herself as a human!"

Ice Empress cried out in shock at the sight.

"Not good. They've started moving!"

Yao Shi noticed that the dozens of people lying in ambush had begun to act.

At the same time.

"The heavenly tribulation actually dispersed early. A perfect opportunity—move!"

The leading middle-aged man shouted as he watched the tribulation clouds dissipate. At the same time, the Soul Sage from earlier immediately fired a signal flare.

Whoosh—boom—

A piercing firework exploded in the sky, and the group of more than twenty people sprang into action at the sound. "Brothers, move! The captain has given the signal!"

With that, the group swarmed toward Snow Empress.

This sudden development caught Snow Empress completely off guard. She had never imagined that, despite deliberately coming to the deepest reaches of the Far North to undergo her tribulation, such a powerful group of human soul masters would be lying in ambush here.

"Damnable humans, you're courting death!"

Seeing the dozens of high-level soul masters rushing toward her, Snow Empress flew into a rage. But her origin power was currently sealed within her, and her soul beast body was slowly collapsing, soon to transform into an embryo. She no longer had the strength to resist them.

Right now, even an ordinary human child with a dagger could kill her outright.

"Is Heaven truly determined to destroy me?"

As she watched the group charge at her menacingly, Snow Empress could not help but feel sorrow. How unfair Heaven was. She, the Ice and Snow Maiden, had been born naturally from heaven and earth, a one-of-a-kind humanoid soul beast who had reached the pinnacle with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation.

Now, she could not overcome her great tribulation, and even when she sought to become human, others came to stop her. If that was the case, she might as well perish together with them.

With that thought, Snow Empress's eyes became resolute. She stopped her body from collapsing and directly ignited the origin of ultimate snow within herself.

"Even if I die, I'll take you down with me. Don't even think of obtaining my soul ring or soul bone!"

"Not good, Captain! She wants to self-destruct!"

A Titled Douluo shouted anxiously to the leading middle-aged man.

"Hehe, don't worry." The leading middle-aged man sounded unconcerned as he took out a palm-sized square metal jade platform from his storage soul tool ring. It was covered in intricate, interwoven golden runes.

"Kehehe. As long as we put Snow Empress into this Sealing God Platform, the barrier inside will continuously draw out her soul power and spiritual soul, sealing her away."

The middle-aged man was in an excellent mood, as though capturing Snow Empress was already certain.

Eternal Frozen Domain—

Just as the soul engineer squad was about to reach Snow Empress, a wide-area soul skill suddenly struck toward them.

"There's trouble! Retreat!"

The middle-aged man reacted swiftly, flying back dozens of meters before the attack landed. The Titled Douluo and Soul Douluo also narrowly evaded the attack after hearing his warning. But the Soul Emperors and several Soul Sages were not so fortunate. After being frozen into blocks of ice in midair, their bodies plummeted straight down from the sky and shattered into chunks of ice.

"Who is it? Get out here!"

The sudden attack enraged the ninth-rank soul engineer, and he roared in every direction.

"Hmph! Just seven Titled Douluo and a bunch of small fry—who gave you the nerve to hunt soul beasts on my territory?"

These two chapters have relatively little screen time for the protagonists. There's no helping it—the enemies are far too high-level...