Mom, I Was Wrong

That thundercloud appeared without warning.

There was no buildup, no gathering of force. It seemed to have materialized out of thin air.

Purple lightning churned within the clouds, occasionally releasing low, rumbling thunder.

"Rumble—!"

In an instant, a Heavenly Thunderbolt descended from the nine heavens without any warning!

Carrying an aura capable of destroying everything, it tore straight through the hundred-meter-thick ice layer above the Ice Crystal Palace with unstoppable force!

The ice layer was like soft tofu, easily ripped apart by the Heavenly Thunderbolt.

Shattered ice flew everywhere, and frigid mist surged into the sky.

The ten-thousand-year ice layer, a full hundred meters thick, was blasted clean through.

The Heavenly Thunderbolt passed through the ice without obstruction and struck Ling Xiao with pinpoint accuracy.

"Boom—!"

Thunder exploded within his body.

The sheer force was immense.

Carrying a trace of annihilating power, the Heavenly Thunderbolt pierced straight down from the crown of his head.

The Ice Empress instantly woke from her rest.

"Watch out!"

The Ice Empress's pupils shrank sharply, and she instinctively wanted to rush over and shield him.

However... a pale, jade-like hand instantly grabbed her wrist.

"Xue'er, you..."

The Ice Empress turned to look at the Snow Empress and found her staring intently at Ling Xiao. There was no panic in her eyes, only calm observation.

"Don't move."

The Snow Empress's voice was exceptionally calm.

Not only did she not release the Ice Empress's hand, she simply watched as the Heavenly Thunderbolt struck Ling Xiao.

The Ice Empress stared in disbelief.

The next second, she froze.

Because after the enormous Heavenly Thunderbolt struck Ling Xiao, it not only failed to harm him in the slightest, but was completely absorbed by him instead.

Ling Xiao instantly straightened his back.

His body trembled slightly, not from pain, but from comfort.

The Heavenly Thunderbolt circulated through his body, tempering his meridians, shaping his bones, and strengthening his muscles.

"Mmm~"

Ling Xiao let out a soft murmur.

"This is the feeling."

Ling Xiao's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of the Ice and Snow Emperors.

The Ice Empress looked at Ling Xiao in shock.

Such a terrifying Heavenly Thunderbolt had pierced through a hundred meters of ice and carried the aura of annihilating everything, yet it had not harmed Ling Xiao at all?

Even knowing that he was an Innate Thunder Spirit and having mentally prepared herself somewhat, the Ice Empress was still stunned.

She noticed the Snow Empress beside her.

At this moment, the Snow Empress's brows were faintly furrowed, and a trace of confusion lingered between them.

"Xue'er? What is it?"

The Ice Empress asked in confusion.

Logically, seeing Ling Xiao unharmed should have made the Snow Empress breathe a sigh of relief.

But the Snow Empress's expression clearly did not look like that of someone who had been reassured.

After pondering for a moment, the Snow Empress said, "Bing'er, if I did not sense it wrongly..."

"This Heavenly Thunderbolt seems to have been somewhat weaker than the one that appeared when Ling Xiao was born?"

The Snow Empress recalled the scene from that day.

That Heavenly Thunderbolt had not been especially powerful, but the aura it contained had been extraordinarily pure. It had even given the Snow Empress a sense of pressure.

But what about the Heavenly Thunderbolt just now?

Its display had indeed been tremendous. Visually, it had been far more spectacular than the one from that day.

Yet the pressure it gave the Snow Empress was clearly not as strong as that strange thunderbolt from before.

The Ice Empress was slightly taken aback.

If the Snow Empress was right, then could the little freeloader become even stronger?

The Ice Empress guessed, "Could it be because... the little freeloader is still too weak right now?"

"His ability to summon Heavenly Thunderbolts is not mature enough yet, so he can only summon ordinary thunderbolts?"

After a moment of silence, the Snow Empress nodded slightly.

"That should be it."

"As the little one grows, the Heavenly Thunderbolts he summons should become stronger and stronger."

The Ice Empress nodded thoughtfully.

If that was truly the case, then Ling Xiao's potential for growth... was simply immeasurable.

But for now... they had a more immediate problem to face.

The Snow Empress slowly raised her head.

The Ice Crystal Palace no longer had a roof.

The ten-thousand-year ice layer, a hundred meters thick, had been blasted through by the Heavenly Thunderbolt.

Broken ice littered the ground, while the frigid winds of the Far North howled endlessly through the hole.

Through that enormous opening, they could clearly see the azure sky.

The sky stretched clear for thousands of miles.

The Ice Crystal Palace had existed for countless years, so many that even the Snow Empress herself had likely lost track.

But no matter how long it had existed, the Ice Crystal Palace had never been damaged like this before.

The Snow Empress took a deep breath, then walked toward Ling Xiao with a grave expression.

"Ling Xiao."

Her voice was calm in a terrifying way.

Ling Xiao, still savoring the sensation of the Heavenly Thunderbolt, instinctively turned at the sound of the Snow Empress's voice.

The Snow Empress was marching toward him aggressively, her eyes as cold as ten-thousand-year ice.

Ling Xiao's little heart skipped a beat.

"M-Mom."

The Snow Empress said to Ling Xiao, "Ling Xiao, look at what you have done."

"Humans have a saying that is quite right: if you do not discipline a child for three days, he will tear the roof tiles off the house!"

"You did not just tear off the roof tiles. You ripped the entire roof off."

Ling Xiao followed the Snow Empress's pointing finger and looked up.

There was a massive hole there. A hundred-meter-thick ice layer had simply vanished.

Ling Xiao cried out inwardly:

It's over!

My butt is getting spanked again!

He instinctively wanted to run.

But the moment he took a step, the Snow Empress grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Mom, I was wrong!"

"Wrong? Do you know what you did wrong?"

Ling Xiao stammered, "I... I should not have summoned a Heavenly Thunderbolt inside the Ice Crystal Palace..."

"Not just that."

The Snow Empress's tone grew colder. "You have been practicing in secret for several days too, haven't you?"

"..."

Ling Xiao fell silent.

He really had been practicing in secret for several days.

Ling Xiao had hidden it from the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress because he was afraid they would worry about him.

After all, summoning Heavenly Thunderbolts sounded dangerous just by hearing about it.

But he had never expected his first attempt to create such a huge commotion.

It had blasted straight through a hundred meters of ice. He admitted that he had severely underestimated the power of the Heavenly Thunderbolt.

"Ling Xiao."

Seeing Ling Xiao suddenly fall silent, the Snow Empress's heart softened, and she crouched down.

"Whatever you want to do in the future, tell Mom beforehand. Do not secretly do things by yourself. If something happened to you..."

The Snow Empress's voice suddenly caught, and she did not continue.

Ling Xiao's nose suddenly stung.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"I won't do it again."

The Snow Empress looked at his lowered little head and gently rubbed it twice.

"Mhm."

"That's Mom's good child."

The Ice Empress watched from the side with her arms folded across her chest, her emerald-green twin ponytails swaying slightly.

"Hm? You're just letting him off like that?"

The Ice Empress muttered, "If it were me, I would definitely give him a beating first."

As she spoke, the Ice Empress even made a motion as if she were spanking Ling Xiao's butt.

But the Ice Empress was only saying it. She knew why Ling Xiao had done this.

Those words he had said back then:

"I want to become especially strong, strong enough to protect Mom and Auntie."

Now, it seemed that the little freeloader had truly been serious. He had not been joking.

Ling Xiao really was growing.

He was growing rapidly in a way they had never seen before.