Battle Against the Seven Hundred Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation Once More

"Yao Shi, when do you think Snow Empress will wake up?"

Inside the Glazed Abundance Pure Land, Ice Empress poked the sleeping Snow Empress's cheek with her index finger as she asked Yao Shi.

Yao Shi glanced at Snow Empress, stroking his chin as he replied, "She should wake up soon. Before I brought her in, I'd already healed the injuries to her body and soul. Now, the laws within the Pure Land are healing the depletion of her origin."

"Thank you, Yao Shi."

At that moment, Ice Empress politely thanked Yao Shi.

"Hmm?"

Ice Empress continued, "Without your help, Snow Empress might not have survived this time."

Yao Shi smiled courteously. "Come on, since we're all on the same side now, your business is my business."

Pfft!

Ice Empress could not hold back her laughter. Her formerly cold-looking face bloomed with a faint smile. "Hahaha, what do you mean, 'on the same side'? You make us sound like some criminal gang."

As the two spoke, neither noticed that Snow Empress, who had been gravely injured during her tribulation and had then burned her origin, was slowly opening her eyes.

Where is this? This doesn't seem to be the Far North.

Am I dead?

Having just awakened, Snow Empress found the surroundings especially unfamiliar.

Right, I saw Bing'er before I fainted. She should be all right, shouldn't she?!

"Bing'er!"

As if recalling fragments from before she had lost consciousness, Snow Empress cried out anxiously.

Hearing the sound, Yao Shi and Ice Empress turned around and saw that Snow Empress had awakened.

Ice Empress excitedly rushed over and wrapped her arms around her, unable to conceal her delight. "That's wonderful, Xue'er. Thank goodness you're all right."

Feeling the warmth in her embrace, Snow Empress was still somewhat dazed. "Bing'er, where are we? And shouldn't I be dead by now?"

Only after calming herself did Ice Empress explain everything to Snow Empress, starting from Yao Shi's proposal to watch her undergo the tribulation, to the human ambush when she had prepared to take human form and cultivate anew, to Yao Shi losing half his body to the explosions while saving her, and finally how the two of them had worked together to deal with those humans and successfully rescue Snow Empress...

Snow Empress silently listened to Ice Empress's account, which took nearly half an hour.

Once Snow Empress understood the entire sequence of events, her gaze turned toward Yao Shi, who was seated not far away.

She first gently stroked Ice Empress's back and said, "Bing'er, you've worked hard."

Then she slowly rose to her feet and walked toward Yao Shi.

Standing before him, Snow Empress gave him a slight bow and softly said, "Thank you for saving me. If it weren't for you, I might already have perished, body and soul."

Yao Shi hurriedly waved his hands. "You're too polite. It was only a small thing. Besides, Ice Empress and I are partners now. Since you're her friend, that makes you my friend too."

Hearing his answer, Snow Empress raised a hand to cover her mouth and chuckled softly. "Hahaha, Yao Shi, you're quite interesting. I used to think humans were all terrible, but I never expected you to risk your life just to help soul beasts. It seems I really will have to change my opinion of humans in the future."

Then Snow Empress looked seriously at Yao Shi, her tone solemn. "Oh, although you may already know about me from Bing'er, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Snow Empress, the Ice Snow Maiden born of heaven and earth in the Far North."

Yao Shi quickly replied, "Hello, Snow Empress. My name is Yao Shi."

At that moment, Ice Empress stepped forward and asked, "Xue'er, since you failed to pass the great tribulation this time, what are you planning to do next? Will you recuperate for a while before facing the tribulation again, or..." Here, Ice Empress visibly paused before continuing, "...prepare to take human form and cultivate anew?"

Ice Empress had not asked this on a whim. Earlier, she and Yao Shi had personally witnessed Snow Empress's tribulation. In the end, Snow Empress had only endured six bolts of heavenly tribulation before choosing to cultivate anew. If that soul tool squad had not interfered, Snow Empress would already have begun her path of rebuilding her cultivation.

After hearing this, Snow Empress fell silent. Then she shook her head and smiled bitterly. "I don't know either. Perhaps I'll choose the path of taking human form and cultivating anew."

At this point, she sighed. "You saw it during my tribulation. My limit is only six bolts of heavenly tribulation. Even if I were at my peak and attempted it again, it would still be very difficult to succeed."

"Perhaps taking human form is the only way for me to go further."

For a moment, Ice Empress did not know what to say. There was no helping it—soul beasts were bound by the laws of Douluo Continent and were destined to be unable to become gods. Whenever they reached their lifespan limit, they had to endure the test of heavenly tribulation. If they survived, they continued living. If they failed, they could only die. The only other path was to take human form and cultivate anew, gambling on becoming one of the legendary gods.

"Um, well..."

Seeing the atmosphere become so heavy and oppressive, Yao Shi, who had been standing to the side, finally cut in.

"Ice Empress, did you forget what my space can—"

"That's right!"

Before Yao Shi could finish, Ice Empress slapped her forehead and exclaimed excitedly.

"How could I forget? Your space can isolate all attacks from the outside! Ah, I was so excited to see Snow Empress safe and sound that I actually forgot the ability of your strange space."

Snow Empress was immediately confused by their words. Blinking her beautiful eyes, she asked, "Bing'er, Yao Shi, what are you two talking about? What space that isolates attacks?"

"Xue'er, it's like this. The space we're in is actually one of Yao Shi's soul skills, and one of that soul skill's abilities is—it can isolate any attack from outside. Yao Shi said that not even attacks from gods can enter this place." Ice Empress immediately came to Snow Empress's side, linking arms with her as she explained.

All her earlier worry had vanished, replaced by a face full of smiles.

Upon hearing Ice Empress's explanation, Snow Empress wore the same disbelieving expression Ice Empress had when Yao Shi had first told her about this place. "You're saying that this space, filled with countless laws of life, is merely a soul skill?"

"Yes."

Snow Empress looked around in astonishment at this flourishing Pure Land, so utterly different from the bitter cold of the Far North.

"How could such a heaven-defying soul skill possibly exist? Bing'er, don't lie to me just because I haven't read much. And Yao Shi is only a three-ring soul master right now, isn't he? Even gods would find it difficult to create a place like this!"

"Xue'er, we've been together for tens of thousands of years. Do I look like the kind of scorpion who would lie to you?" Ice Empress puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

It had been a long time since she had seen Ice Empress act so childishly. Snow Empress's tone turned gentler. "All right, Bing'er. I believe you now. This space does seem to possess some law that evades spatial detection. Perhaps we really can rely on it to safely avoid the heavenly tribulation."

The moment Ice Empress had mentioned this space's ability, Snow Empress had begun probing it with her spiritual power. Though the space did not appear large, it concealed many different laws everywhere. When her spiritual power touched its boundary, it was directly confined, making it impossible for her spiritual power to pass through the space and see the outside world.

"Snow Empress, do you want to try facing your seven hundred thousand year great tribulation again now?"

Yao Shi suddenly suggested.