Already Taller Than Mom

After Xiao Bai successfully overcame her tribulation, Ling Xiao took a brief rest as well.

"Xue'er."

Ice Empress turned back to glance at Snow Empress.

"I'm going."

Snow Empress nodded slightly.

"Be careful."

Ice Empress stood at the center of the ice plains, her emerald-green hair streaming in the freezing wind.

Ice Empress's expression was more solemn than ever. The Heavenly Tribulation that had plagued her for countless years was finally coming.

Ice Empress fully unleashed her cultivation and directly broke through the threshold of four hundred thousand years.

"Boom!"

The tribulation clouds in the sky changed instantly.

White, red, yellow, cyan, blue, black, and purple—seven colors churned wildly.

Seven-colored lightning swirled and intertwined within the tribulation clouds, like a massive rainbow lotus slowly blooming.

The Four Hundred Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation.

The instant the seven-colored tribulation lightning struck Ice Empress, Ling Xiao immediately sensed the difference.

There were more laws within this Heavenly Tribulation, far more than in the two-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation.

Ling Xiao sensed it clearly.

The Spatial Law contained within the Heavenly Thunder, along with its space-rending effect.

The moment the tribulation lightning descended, the surrounding space was torn into countless fragments.

Those spatial fragments were like blades, continuously slicing Ice Empress's fair skin.

Even with Ice Empress's four-hundred-thousand-year cultivation, enduring those cuts was incredibly difficult.

Besides that.

The seven-colored tribulation lightning of the four-hundred-thousand-year tribulation had an underlying crimson and jet-black hue.

The crimson Heavenly Thunder madly scorched the soul, directly striking the deepest part of the tribulation-crossing cultivator's spirit.

The jet-black Heavenly Thunder continuously assaulted the Soul Core, attempting to destroy the foundation of cultivation at its root.

Inner demons would arise at the same time.

While the body endured the baptism of the Heavenly Tribulation, the tribulation would also trigger the cultivator's inner demons.

A double torment of body and soul.

The cruelty of the Four Hundred Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation far exceeded Ling Xiao's expectations.

Ice Empress endured unimaginable pain, her emerald-green hair whipping wildly amid the lightning.

Her forehead was covered in sweat.

Yet the pride of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion would not allow her to show even the slightest weakness.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Bolt after bolt of Heavenly Thunder descended, each one stronger than the last.

But Ice Empress forcibly withstood them all.

Ice Empress threw back her head and let out an angry roar as her body began to rapidly expand.

The true form of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.

Her enormous body began to emerge. Her jade-green shell glimmered faintly, while her tail hook rose high into the air, radiating a chilling gleam.

Under the baptism of the Heavenly Thunder, Ice Empress's Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion form successfully underwent a transformation.

After seizing the right moment, Ling Xiao transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged in once more.

This time, due to the substantial gap in cultivation, Ling Xiao finally felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Every bolt of tribulation lightning entering his body triggered intense tremors.

The Four-Element Law, spatial tearing, the polar clash of light and darkness, along with the newly added soul-scorching effect and the Soul Core-assaulting property.

Even as an Innate Thunder Spirit, Ling Xiao felt considerable pressure.

Ling Xiao still endured it.

Not only did he endure it, but he also devoured and absorbed vast amounts of Heavenly Tribulation energy, causing his cultivation to soar once again.

Two hundred and thirty thousand years.

Two hundred and fifty thousand years.

Two hundred and ninety thousand years.

Three hundred and thirty thousand years!

In the end, Ice Empress successfully overcame the Heavenly Tribulation and officially entered the four-hundred-thousand-year level of cultivation.

Meanwhile, Ling Xiao's cultivation soared from two hundred and thirty thousand years to three hundred and thirty thousand years.

For Ling Xiao.

Cultivation was merely an outward display. His comprehension of the Thunder Law was what mattered most.

He had gained a sufficiently deep understanding of the law and truly touched upon the edge of the Thunder Law.

At the same time, he had come into contact with a new law: the Soul-Annihilation Law.

During this Heavenly Tribulation.

That power which scorched the soul gave Ling Xiao an initial understanding of laws on the spiritual level.

The Soul-Annihilation Law.

It was destruction that acted directly upon the soul, capable of erasing a soul imprint at its very root.

Ling Xiao firmly engraved the rudiment of this law in his mind.

Everything was moving in a better direction.

However, before Snow Empress was about to undergo her tribulation, she specifically sought out Ling Xiao.

After devouring two Heavenly Tribulations, Ling Xiao's appearance had changed tremendously.

He was no longer that little thing from before. He was now a boy of eleven or twelve.

Ling Xiao's features were sharply defined, with a hint of steadiness and sharpness between his brows.

As Snow Empress looked at Ling Xiao's tremendous changes, a soft glimmer passed through her eyes.

"Little thing."

Snow Empress called softly.

"I never expected you to grow so tall. You're already taller than Mom."

The corners of Snow Empress's lips lifted slightly, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

Ling Xiao lowered his head slightly and looked at Snow Empress.

Snow Empress was still as beautiful as ever.

Her snow-white hair, ice-blue eyes, and peerlessly cold features were exactly the same as when Ling Xiao had first seen her.

Only this time, the angle was different.

"Mom."

Ling Xiao spoke seriously.

"I'm ready."

Snow Empress looked at Ling Xiao and fell silent for a moment.

"Little thing, if you aren't confident, then let Mom face it alone."

Snow Empress's tone remained calm, but Ling Xiao heard the meaning behind her words.

Snow Empress was worried about him.

With Ling Xiao's current cultivation, facing the Seven Hundred Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation would place far too much pressure on him.

Snow Empress did not want her own Heavenly Tribulation to cause Ling Xiao, her child, to suffer harm again.

Last time, she had worried for a full three months. She did not want to endure that torment once more.

Ling Xiao looked into Snow Empress's eyes and shook his head seriously.

"Mom, I'll protect you."

Seeing the seriousness in Ling Xiao's gaze, Snow Empress remained silent for a long while before smiling faintly.

"Alright."

The reason Snow Empress said this.

Was mainly because:

Heavenly Tribulations above five hundred thousand years would trigger a mysterious karmic law.

If Ling Xiao helped her overcome this tribulation, the karma between them would become even more deeply entangled.

When her origin had been damaged, Snow Empress had already sensed that her time was running out.

She knew full well that her outcome had already been decided.

That was why she had wanted to take human form and cultivate anew, walking the path to godhood from ten thousand years ago once more.

After her origin recovered, she sensed a trace of karma again.

She discovered that her chances in this Heavenly Tribulation were still exceedingly slim, as though her karma had long been destined.

But most importantly, Snow Empress could not sense any karmic thread around Ling Xiao.

In other words.

By bringing Ling Xiao back and feeding him the Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow, she had already repaid that karmic debt.

Thus, she feared that her own circumstances would cause Ling Xiao to suffer even greater harm.

But Snow Empress did not know.

The karma of the original story had long since changed. The two of them had already been tightly bound together.

The Seven Hundred Thousand Year Heavenly Tribulation.

The Heavenly Tribulation Snow Empress was undergoing now was the most terrifying of the three tribulations today.

Heaven and earth themselves changed color.

The sky instantly plunged into darkness, a darkness so profound that it made one's heart tremble.

The tribulation clouds were black and gold.

Golden and black light intertwined within the clouds as terrifying pressure poured down from the tribulation clouds.