Communing with Heaven and Earth

The Ice Empress said she did not want to feed him anymore, but that was all she said.

If they wanted to find the Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow sooner, they had to help Ling Xiao grow up faster.

After all, Snow Empress's seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation would not wait for Ling Xiao to grow at his own pace.

Whenever Snow Empress felt tired, Ice Empress would still silently take Ling Xiao from her.

And continue feeding him in Snow Empress's place.

Watching the scene before her, a faint smile appeared at the corners of Snow Empress's lips.

No one knew why.

Even though Ice Empress had been feeding him for several days, her movements were still not as practiced as Snow Empress's.

Perhaps it was because—

She truly regarded Ling Xiao as a child and had been caring for him with all her heart.

Every movement, every detail, carried an instinct close to motherhood.

As for Ice Empress...

Ice Empress's feelings toward Ling Xiao were complicated.

Though she called him a little burden, she was more proactive than anyone else when it came to caring for him.

Ling Xiao truly lived up to being an Innate Elf.

Under the constant feeding of the Ice and Snow Emperors, he grew far faster than anyone had expected.

In barely a week, Ling Xiao's body had already developed to the size of a one- or two-year-old child.

This rate of growth—

Even the well-traveled Ice and Snow Emperors found it somewhat unbelievable.

"This little thing is growing so fast."

At this rate, it would not be long before they could search for the Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow.

However...

As Ling Xiao grew, he suddenly became especially mischievous. Ling Xiao himself did not see it that way, because he was merely trying to control this body.

Snow Empress and Ice Empress were the ones who considered him mischievous.

"Ling Xiao! What are you doing?!"

Snow Empress's voice suddenly rose several pitches.

She immediately stood up from the ice bed.

A trace of panic flashed through her eyes, because Ling Xiao was doing something dangerous.

He stood at the edge of the ice bed, his body leaning slightly forward as though gathering strength.

Then...

The tiny Ling Xiao suddenly jumped.

The ice bed was half a meter high.

And he was only a one- or two-year-old child.

Yet he had actually jumped without hesitation.

Bang!

Ling Xiao ultimately stumbled as he landed on the ground, then turned back and smiled at Snow Empress.

Once she confirmed that Ling Xiao was unharmed, Snow Empress's face instantly turned cold.

"Ling Xiao." Her voice was frighteningly calm. "Do you know how dangerous that was just now?"

"Uh..."

Ling Xiao's smile froze on his face.

"M-Mom... I was exercising. I was trying to control this body..."

"Exercising? Controlling your body?"

Snow Empress's voice became even colder.

"How old are you? You jumped down from half a meter high, and you call that exercising?"

"You're so practiced at it that this clearly isn't your first time. Just watch how I teach you a lesson!"

Snow Empress's expression was icy.

Ice Empress covered her mouth at the side, secretly laughing.

"Come here."

Snow Empress's tone allowed no refusal. Ling Xiao shrank his neck and obediently walked over.

Then...

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Snow Empress did not hold back in the slightest, fiercely striking his backside three times.

The pain made Ling Xiao bare his teeth.

"Mom... It hurts..."

"It's good that it hurts! If you dare jump off the bed again, it won't just be three hits next time."

Snow Empress said coldly.

Ling Xiao could only feel bitter inside!

If not for changing Snow Empress and Ice Empress's fates as soon as possible, he would not have been so eager to control this body.

But Ling Xiao did not compromise because of this.

Because only by controlling this body sooner could he communicate with Heavenly Thunder and bring it down sooner.

Ling Xiao thought to himself:

To change Mom and Auntie's fates, anything my butt suffers is worth it.

Over the following days,

Ling Xiao kept looking for chances to train, and naturally, he could not avoid getting spanked by the two of them.

Later on,

Perhaps because Snow Empress felt that Ling Xiao made sense, the force of her spanking decreased considerably.

It no longer hurt as much as it had in the beginning, and Ling Xiao was briefly somewhat unaccustomed to it.

After Ling Xiao's persistent training, he finally gained complete control over this body.

He gradually quieted down as well.

Ling Xiao's soul had long since reached adulthood, so naturally, he would not run around everywhere like a child.

The reason he had been so "mischievous" before was entirely to control his body.

However, though Ling Xiao stopped being mischievous, he began doing something else.

Other than eating and sleeping, he spent all his remaining time sitting quietly off to the side.

At first,

They thought Ling Xiao was simply spacing out, but they soon noticed something was wrong.

Every now and then, an extremely faint purple arc of lightning flashed over Ling Xiao's body.

"What is that little burden doing now?"

Ice Empress's brows furrowed slightly.

"I don't know. But I can sense the aura of lightning fluctuating around him."

The Ice and Snow Emperors exchanged glances, each seeing a trace of vigilance in the other's eyes.

They had to be careful.

Who knew what kind of commotion an Innate Thunder Spirit might cause while tinkering with something?

The Ice and Snow Emperors truly deserved to be the rulers of the Far North.

Their intuition was correct. Ling Xiao was indeed working on something major.

After gaining complete control over his body,

Ling Xiao had been studying his inherited memories, especially the memories of "Communing with Heaven and Earth."

Within those inherited memories,

He could resonate with Heaven and Earth through the Thunder Spirit, thereby drawing down Heavenly Thunder from above the Ninth Heavens.

Heavenly Thunder was the food of an Innate Thunder Spirit, as well as the key to an Innate Thunder Spirit's cultivation.

His appetite was growing larger and larger.

The Ice and Snow Emperors had been feeding him constantly, but it was already becoming insufficient for Ling Xiao.

His Thunder Spirit Origin was rapidly growing, and his demand for energy was multiplying.

So he needed Heavenly Thunder.

He needed food that truly belonged to him.

Ling Xiao did not want to trouble the Ice and Snow Emperors anymore, either.

If he could successfully draw down Heavenly Thunder, he could feed himself.

Not only would he no longer consume the Ice and Snow Emperors' Soul Power, he could also obtain energy better suited to himself.

It was simply killing two birds with one stone.

Thus, Ling Xiao began studying day after day, which was why he seemed so quiet.

On this day,

The two of them fed Ling Xiao as usual.

After outputting Soul Power for so many consecutive days, both the Ice and Snow Emperors felt somewhat exhausted.

Ling Xiao's appetite was truly enormous. Even taking turns was becoming difficult for them.

"Whew..."

Ice Empress lay sprawled over the ice bed, her emerald-green twin ponytails drooping limply behind her.

"I'm exhausted..."

Snow Empress also slowly let out a breath, leaning against the headboard of the ice bed with her eyes closed to rest.

"Let's rest for a while."

"Mm."

At this moment, the Ice and Snow Emperors were preparing to properly recover their depleted Soul Power.

However...

Ling Xiao was in a corner, quietly tinkering with something.

He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, sensing Heaven and Earth as layers of electrical arcs coiled around him.

He could already sense it!

The lightning above the Ninth Heavens was still slumbering, waiting for Ling Xiao's will to awaken it.

Ling Xiao slowly focused his mind.

His consciousness passed through the dome of the Ice Crystal Palace, through the hundred-meter-thick ice layer, through the biting winds of the Extreme North, and reached the Ninth Heavens.

"Buzz..."

A soundless resonance.

It spread from Ling Xiao's origin, instantly sweeping across the entire Far North.

Above the Extreme North, thunderclouds suddenly gathered in the clear skies stretching for thousands of miles.