The large hole atop the Ice Crystal Palace was ultimately repaired by the Snow Empress herself.
Though the ice layer was not as thick and sturdy as before, at least the wind no longer leaked in.
After patching the dome, the Snow Empress stood in the center of the Ice Crystal Palace and looked up at the roof she had repaired with her own hands. She remained silent for a long time.
She had lived for who knew how many tens of thousands of years.
Never had she imagined that one day, she would have to repair a roof herself.
"Ah..."
The Snow Empress let out a deep sigh.
Ever since Ling Xiao had successfully drawn down Heavenly Thunder, everything in their lives had changed.
The most noticeable change was that Ling Xiao no longer needed the Ice and Snow Emperors to feed him Soul Power.
Heavenly Thunder was his true food.
Heavenly Thunder contained pure energy, making it far more compatible with him than ice-attributed Soul Power.
After Ling Xiao successfully devoured Heavenly Thunder, his cultivation soared at an astonishing speed.
In only a few short days,
he had gained tens of thousands of years of cultivation.
Such terrifying growth shocked even the Ice and Snow Emperors.
But problems came with it.
Whenever Ling Xiao drew down Heavenly Thunder, several or even dozens of lightning bolts would descend.
Wrapped in an aura of annihilation, Heavenly Thunder fell with tremendous force, enough to shake dozens of miles around.
That would have been one thing if it had happened outside.
But the problem was,
Ling Xiao had drawn down Heavenly Thunder inside the Ice Crystal Palace several times recently.
And so, the following happened:
The roof the Snow Empress had just repaired would immediately be blasted apart by Ling Xiao again.
"Ling Xiao!"
"Mom, I didn't do it on purpose!"
"That's what you said last time too!"
"..."
And so his butt received three more smacks.
The Snow Empress's tone allowed no argument.
"Little thing, you're not allowed to summon lightning indoors anymore. Sooner or later, you'll tear the whole place apart."
Ling Xiao nodded earnestly as well.
From then on, the two great rulers of the Extreme North often took Ling Xiao outside.
Whenever Ling Xiao needed to cultivate by summoning lightning, they would bring him to open ground.
There were no Soul Beast nests there.
No matter how tremendous Heavenly Thunder's force was, it would not have much impact.
However, Ling Xiao was simply too outrageous.
Even out in the open stretches of the ice plains, Heavenly Thunder could still spread across the entire Extreme North.
Every time he cultivated by summoning lightning, enormous thunderclouds formed overhead.
Bolts of Heavenly Thunder fell like silver serpents, blasting countless deep craters into the ice plains.
Broken ice flew everywhere, freezing mist surged into the sky, and the spectacle was so immense it seemed as though divine punishment had descended.
Every Soul Beast within dozens of miles fled in terror each time.
The scene had once descended into chaos.
They had no idea what was happening. They only knew that countless bolts of Heavenly Thunder were striking down.
To Soul Beasts, any bolt of Heavenly Thunder could mean utter destruction.
They knew perfectly well that if they ran even a little too slowly, they might lose their lives.
Logically speaking...
Ling Xiao's enormous commotion should have provoked the Soul Beasts of the Extreme North.
After all, who would want to be frightened by Heavenly Thunder every few days?
But who told them he had a mother behind him and a little aunt at his side?
With the Snow Empress and Ice Empress standing there, they were the best possible declaration of immunity. Only someone tired of living would go looking for trouble.
Besides, even without the Ice and Snow Emperors protecting him, those Soul Beasts would never dare make a move.
Heavenly Thunder was deadly! They only wished they could flee farther away!
And they chose remote places, doing their best to reduce the impact on other Soul Beasts.
As time passed, the Soul Beasts of the Extreme North gradually got used to it.
Almost every Soul Beast knew that the Snow Empress had adopted another child.
The news spread rapidly through the Extreme North and caused quite a stir.
After all, the last time the Snow Empress adopted a child had been more than ten thousand years ago.
Among all the Soul Beasts, the calmest was the Ice Bear King, Xiaobai.
On the ice plains,
the massive figure stood amid the snowstorm, gazing toward the Ice Crystal Palace as it muttered:
"Mom..."
After gazing for a while, the Ice Bear King slowly headed back toward its territory.
With the Ice Empress and Snow Empress witnessing it firsthand, Ling Xiao's cultivation began to rise madly.
Every time he drew down and devoured Heavenly Thunder, his cultivation surged by another great leap.
In only a few short days, Ling Xiao's cultivation had soared to eighty thousand years.
Eighty thousand years.
That terrifying rate of improvement once again made the Ice and Snow Emperors draw a sharp breath.
"Comparing people to people... no, comparing beasts to beasts is enough to drive a beast mad."
Atop a snowy hill,
the Ice Empress stood with her arms crossed, her emerald-green twin ponytails blown high by the freezing wind.
She looked at the roiling thunderclouds in the distance, her voice carrying complicated emotions.
"How many days has it even been? His cultivation has already reached eighty thousand years."
There was a trace of grievance in the Ice Empress's voice.
"I cultivated for so many years, yet my cultivation has only just passed four hundred thousand years."
"That little burden, on the other hand, has already reached eighty thousand years in just a few days."
"At this rate, it won't be long before his cultivation surpasses mine."
The more she spoke, the angrier the Ice Empress became, and a flicker of unwillingness flashed through her emerald-green eyes.
"If his cultivation surpasses mine, how will I have any face left to be his little aunt?"
The Ice Empress murmured softly, "Will that little burden still be willing to call me Little Aunt?"
After saying that, the Ice Empress looked toward the Snow Empress beside her.
Atop the snowy hill,
ice-blue hair drifted in the wind, while snowflakes swirled around her, adding a hint of sharpness to her already cold and aloof aura.
(16:9, suitable as a desktop wallpaper)
The Snow Empress's gaze rested on the distant lightning zone, her face revealing no emotion.
Seeing that the Snow Empress did not respond, the Ice Empress asked her directly:
"Xue'er, tell me..."
"If that little burden's cultivation surpasses yours, will he still be willing to call you Mom?"
After the Ice Empress asked that question, the Snow Empress finally withdrew her gaze from the distance.
She could not help falling silent for a moment.
"I don't know either..."
"We aren't related by blood, after all. Whether he calls me Mom or not doesn't really matter."
The Ice Empress was slightly stunned when she heard that.
"Doesn't matter?"
"Mhm."
The Snow Empress answered faintly.
However, just as the Ice Empress was about to say something, the Snow Empress spoke again.
"But... I believe that little thing will still be willing to call me that."
Her tone suddenly became firm.
A trace of barely perceptible tenderness flashed through those ice-blue eyes.
The Ice Empress paused slightly when she saw the Snow Empress's expression, then snorted coldly.
"Humph!"
The Ice Empress said fiercely,
"Little burden. If he calls me Little Aunt for one day, then he'll have to call me Little Aunt for the rest of his life."
"No matter how high his cultivation gets, our seniority is still what it is! Think he can go back on it? No chance!"
Though the Ice Empress sounded fierce, a hint of softness flashed in her eyes.
As the two chatted, the distant flashes of lightning and thunder gradually subsided.
As the thunderclouds in the sky slowly dispersed, sunlight once again spilled over the ice plains.
Within that lingering glow, a small figure ran in their direction.
Ling Xiao.
He had grown quite a bit more than he had a few days ago and now looked around four or five years old.
(The last chapter for today. The trial recommendation officially begins at midnight. During the trial period, I'm desperately asking for follows and urging clicks orz.)
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