Already Taller Than Mom

After Xiaobai successfully passed his tribulation, Ling Xiao took a brief rest as well.

"Xue'er."

Ice Empress turned and glanced at Snow Emperor.

"I'm going."

Snow Emperor nodded slightly.

"Be careful."

Ice Empress stood in the middle of the ice field, her jade-green hair fluttering in the frigid wind.

Ice Empress's expression was more solemn than ever. The heavenly tribulation that had plagued her for countless millennia was finally here.

Ice Empress fully activated her cultivation and directly broke through the four-hundred-thousand-year threshold.

"Boom~!"

The tribulation clouds in the sky instantly changed.

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

Seven-colored lightning spun and intertwined within the tribulation clouds, like an enormous rainbow lotus slowly blooming.

The four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.

The moment 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 tribulation.

Ling Xiao sensed it clearly.

The spatial laws contained within the heavenly lightning, as well as its space-rending effect.

The instant 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, she found it extremely difficult to withstand those cuts.

Besides that.

The base colors of the four-hundred-thousand-year seven-colored tribulation lightning leaned toward crimson and inky black.

The crimson heavenly lightning frenziedly scorched the soul, directly striking into the depths of the tribulation crosser's spirit.

The inky-black heavenly lightning relentlessly battered the soul core, attempting to destroy the foundation of one's cultivation at its root.

Inner demons would arise at the same time.

While the body endured the baptism of the heavenly tribulation, the tribulation crosser's inner demons would also be triggered by it.

A double torment of body and soul.

The brutality of the four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation far exceeded Ling Xiao's expectations.

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

Her forehead was covered in sweat.

But the pride of an Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion would not allow her to reveal even the slightest weakness.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Bolts of heavenly lightning descended one after another, each stronger than the last.

Yet Ice Empress forcibly endured them all.

Ice Empress threw her head back and roared. Her body began expanding rapidly.

The true form of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.

Her enormous body emerged, her jade-green carapace glimmering faintly. Her tail hook rose high, radiating a chilling light that made one's heart tremble.

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

After spotting the right moment, Ling Xiao once again turned into a bolt of lightning and charged in.

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

Every bolt of tribulation lightning that entered his body caused intense tremors.

The laws of the four elements, spatial tearing, the polar clash of light and darkness, along with the new effects of scorching the soul and battering the soul core.

Even as an innate lightning spirit, Ling Xiao felt considerable pressure.

Ling Xiao still endured it.

Not only did he endure it, he also devoured and absorbed a vast amount of the heavenly tribulation, causing his cultivation to soar once more.

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 passed the heavenly tribulation and officially entered the four-hundred-thousand-year cultivation level.

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

To Ling Xiao.

Cultivation was merely an outward manifestation. Comprehension of the laws of lightning was what mattered most.

He had gained a sufficiently deep understanding of the laws. He had truly touched the edge of the laws of lightning.

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

In this heavenly tribulation.

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

The Soul-Annihilation Law.

It directly destroyed the soul and could erase a soul imprint at its root.

Ling Xiao firmly engraved the rudimentary form of this law into his mind.

Everything was developing in a positive direction.

However, before Snow Emperor was about to undergo her tribulation, she specifically came to see Ling Xiao.

After devouring two heavenly tribulations, Ling Xiao's appearance had changed enormously.

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, and there was a trace of steadiness and sharpness between his brows.

Seeing Ling Xiao's tremendous changes, a soft gleam flashed through Snow Emperor's eyes.

"Little thing."

Snow Emperor called softly.

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

The corners of Snow Emperor's lips lifted slightly, a faint smile appearing on her face.

Ling Xiao lowered his head slightly to look at Snow Emperor.

Snow Emperor was still as beautiful as ever.

Snow-white hair, ice-blue eyes, an aloof face of peerless beauty—exactly as she had been when Ling Xiao first saw her.

Only this time, the angle was different.

"Mom."

Ling Xiao spoke seriously.

"I'm ready."

Snow Emperor looked at Ling Xiao and fell silent for a while.

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

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

Snow Emperor was worried about him.

With Ling Xiao's current cultivation, facing a seven-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation would place far too much pressure on him.

Snow Emperor did not want her own heavenly tribulation to cause Ling Xiao to be hurt again.

Last time, she had worried for a full three months. She did not want to experience that agony again.

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

"Mom, I'll protect you."

Seeing the earnest look in Ling Xiao's eyes, Snow Emperor remained silent for a long time before smiling faintly.

"Alright."

The reason Snow Emperor said this.

Was mainly because:

Heavenly tribulations above five hundred thousand years would trigger a mysterious law of karma.

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

When her origin had been damaged, Snow Emperor had already sensed that she did not have much time left.

She knew full well that her fate was already set.

That was why she had planned 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 slim, as though the karma had long since been predetermined.

But most importantly, Snow Emperor could not sense any karmic thread on Ling Xiao.

In other words.

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

So she worried that because of her, Ling Xiao would suffer even more harm.

But Snow Emperor did not know.

The karma from 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 tribulation Snow Emperor was about to undergo was the most terrifying of the three heavenly tribulations that day.

Heaven and earth themselves changed color.

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

The tribulation clouds were black-gold.

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