Would He Still Call You Mom?

The huge hole atop the Ice Crystal Palace was ultimately repaired by the Snow Emperor herself.

Though the ice layer was not as thick and sturdy as before, at least it no longer let in drafts.

After repairing the dome, the Snow Emperor stood in the center of the Ice Crystal Palace and looked up at the roof she had fixed 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 Emperor let out a deep sigh.

Ever since Ling Xiao had successfully drawn down heavenly lightning, everything in their lives had changed.

The most obvious change was that Ling Xiao no longer needed the Ice and Snow Empresses to feed him soul power.

Heavenly lightning was his true food.

The pure energy contained within heavenly lightning suited him far better than ice-attributed soul power.

After Ling Xiao successfully devoured the heavenly lightning, his cultivation soared at an astonishing speed.

In merely a few days,

he had gained tens of thousands of years of cultivation.

Such a terrifying growth rate shocked even the Ice and Snow Empresses.

But problems came with it.

Whenever Ling Xiao drew down heavenly lightning, several, or even dozens, of bolts would descend.

Wrapped in an aura of annihilation, the lightning fell with immense force, enough to shake everything within dozens of miles.

It would have been fine if it happened outside.

But the problem was,

Ling Xiao's recent attempts to draw down heavenly lightning had all taken place inside the Ice Crystal Palace.

This led to the following result:

The roof the Snow Emperor had just repaired would immediately be blasted apart by Ling Xiao again.

"Ling Xiao!"

"Mom, I didn't do it on purpose!"

"You said the same thing last time!"

"..."

And so, his butt was smacked three more times.

The Snow Emperor's tone brooked no argument.

"Little thing, you are not allowed to draw lightning inside anymore. Sooner or later, you'll tear the whole place apart."

Ling Xiao nodded seriously 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 drawing lightning, they brought him to an open area.

There were no soul beast nests there.

No matter how imposing the heavenly lightning was, it would not cause too much disruption.

However, Ling Xiao was simply too outrageous.

Even in the open regions of the ice plains, the heavenly lightning could still spread throughout the entire Extreme North.

Every time he cultivated by drawing lightning, enormous thunderclouds formed overhead.

Bolt after bolt of heavenly lightning fell like silver serpents, blasting countless deep pits into the ice plains.

Shattered ice flew everywhere, cold mist surged into the sky, and the spectacle was so immense that it seemed like heavenly punishment descending.

The soul beasts within dozens of miles would be terrified into scattering in every direction each time.

Things had once descended into complete chaos.

None of them knew what was happening. They only knew that countless bolts of heavenly lightning were striking down.

To soul beasts, any single bolt of heavenly lightning could mean utter destruction.

They knew very well that if they ran even a little too slowly, they might lose their lives.

By all rights...

Ling Xiao's enormous commotion should have made the soul beasts of the Extreme North resentful.

After all, who wanted to be frightened by heavenly lightning every other day?

But who could blame him when he had a mother behind him and a little aunt at his side?

The Snow Emperor and Ice Empress merely had to stand there to serve as the best declaration of immunity. Only someone tired of living would go looking for trouble.

Besides, even without the Ice and Snow Empresses protecting him, those soul beasts would never dare make a move.

Heavenly lightning was deadly! They only wished they could run farther away!

And they chose remote places, doing their best to minimize the impact on other soul beasts.

As time passed, the soul beasts of the Extreme North gradually got used to it.

Nearly every soul beast knew that the Snow Emperor had adopted another child.

The news spread rapidly through the Extreme North and caused quite a stir.

After all, the last time the Snow Emperor 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 wind and snow, gazing toward the Ice Crystal Palace as it murmured:

"Mom..."

After gazing for a while, the Ice Bear King slowly headed back toward its territory.

Under the personal witness of the Ice Empress and Snow Emperor, Ling Xiao's cultivation began rising frantically.

Every time he drew down and devoured heavenly lightning, his cultivation would surge dramatically.

In just a few days, Ling Xiao's cultivation had soared to eighty thousand years.

Eighty thousand years.

This terrifying rate of improvement once again made the Ice and Snow Empresses suck in a breath of cold air.

"Comparing people to people... no, comparing beasts to beasts is enough to drive a beast mad."

Atop a snow hill.

The Ice Empress stood with her arms crossed, her emerald-green twin ponytails blown high by the freezing wind.

She looked at the churning thunderclouds in the distance, her voice carrying complex emotions.

"It's only been a few days, and the little thing's cultivation has already reached eighty thousand years."

There was a hint of grievance in the Ice Empress's voice.

"I cultivated for so many years, and my cultivation only barely passed four hundred thousand years."

"But that little freeloader 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 the Ice Empress spoke, the angrier she became, and a trace of unwillingness flashed through her emerald eyes.

"If his cultivation surpasses mine, how will I have the face to be his little aunt?"

The Ice Empress murmured softly, "Will that little freeloader still be willing to call me Little Aunt?"

After saying that, the Ice Empress looked toward the Snow Emperor beside her.

Atop the snow hill.

Ice-blue hair drifted in the wind, while snowflakes swirled around her, adding a touch of sharpness to her already cold and aloof aura.

The Snow Emperor's gaze rested on the distant lightning field, her face showing no ripples of emotion.

Seeing that the Snow Emperor did not respond, the Ice Empress asked her directly:

"Xue'er, tell me..."

"If that little freeloader's cultivation surpasses yours, will he still be willing to call you Mom?"

When the Ice Empress asked that question, the Snow Emperor finally withdrew her gaze from the distance.

She could not help falling silent for a moment.

"I don't know either..."

"After all, we are not related by blood. Whether he calls me Mom or not doesn't really matter."

The Ice Empress was slightly stunned upon hearing this.

"Doesn't matter?"

"Mhm."

The Snow Emperor answered faintly.

However, just as the Ice Empress was about to say something, the Snow Emperor 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 Emperor's expression, then gave a cold snort.

"Humph!"

The Ice Empress said fiercely.

"Little freeloader. If you call me Little Aunt for one day, you'll call me Little Aunt for the rest of your life."

"No matter how high his cultivation gets, our seniority is still here! He wants to deny it? No chance!"

Though the Ice Empress sounded fierce, a trace of softness flashed in her eyes.

As the two chatted, the thunder and lightning in the distance gradually subsided.

When the thunderclouds in the sky began to disperse, sunlight once again spilled across the ice plains.

Within that fading glow, a small figure ran toward them.

Ling Xiao.

He had grown quite a bit larger than he had been a few days ago, now looking about four or five years old.