Ice Empress's Breakthrough, Affairs in the Far North Concluded

Outside the Frozen Abyss, the biting cold wind still howled. Yet compared to the soul-freezing chill within the abyss, the temperature here could already be called "mild" to the Ice Empress.

She paced anxiously at the cave entrance, her emerald eyes repeatedly turning toward the bottomless darkness. Her heart was filled with concern for the Snow Empress and endless curiosity about that mysterious "senior."

Just as she could no longer restrain herself and was about to risk venturing inside to investigate, two figures suddenly emerged from the pitch-black entrance. They were Lei Chen and the Snow Empress.

"Snow Empress!" The Ice Empress immediately rushed over and examined her with concern. Seeing that her aura was stable, even deeper and more restrained than before she had entered the Frozen Abyss, she finally let out a sigh of relief. Then, her gaze involuntarily fell upon the exquisite teardrop-shaped gem glowing faintly blue on the Snow Empress's chest.

The chill and majesty naturally emanating from the gem made her heart tremble, yet she also felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

"You... didn't encounter any danger inside, did you? And what is that?" the Ice Empress could not help asking.

The Snow Empress gently brushed the Ice God's Heart on her chest. A trace of complexity and reverence flashed through her ethereal eyes as she slightly shook her head. "It is a long story. I will tell you the details later. In any case, all is well, and... under the guidance of the Plane Lord, I found the path that belongs to me."

"The Plane Lord?" The Ice Empress froze, looking in astonishment at the calm-faced Lei Chen beside her. Though she had guessed that Lei Chen's origins were extraordinary, she had never expected him to possess such a lofty status.

Lei Chen gave the Ice Empress a slight nod in acknowledgment. Then, with a flip of his hand, the remaining fourteen stalks of Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow appeared out of thin air, floating before him and radiating alluring, ultimate frost light.

"Ice Empress, these are for you." Lei Chen's tone was calm, as if he were merely giving her something ordinary.

The Ice Empress's gaze was instantly drawn to the pure, vast ice-element energy. As one of the Three Great Kings of the Far North, how could she fail to recognize such a supreme treasure?

Her breathing immediately quickened, and longing flared in her eyes. But then, she forcibly suppressed the excitement in her heart, shook her head, and looked at the Snow Empress. "Such precious Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow should be saved for the Snow Empress! Her cultivation is higher, and she can make better use of it."

At those words, a faint smile appeared on the Snow Empress's frost-like face. "Ice Empress, accept it. The Plane Lord has already granted me thirty-one stalks, more than enough for my needs. These were specifically left for you."

Lei Chen added, "That is right. Though Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow is excellent, absorbing too much is not beneficial for cultivation. The Snow Empress already has enough. Giving these to you is precisely the right use for them."

Seeing the Snow Empress nod in confirmation as well, the Ice Empress no longer refused. She drew a deep breath of icy air and solemnly nodded. "Then the Ice Empress thanks the Plane Lord for this generous gift!"

She extended her slightly trembling hands and carefully accepted the fourteen stalks of Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow. Feeling the vast energy contained within them, she was too excited for words.

With these, her cultivation would surely undergo an enormous leap!

"No need for formalities," Lei Chen said faintly. "You may refine one now."

The Ice Empress had long been unable to wait. At his words, she immediately found a flat stretch of ice and sat down cross-legged. Taking out a stalk of Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow, she clasped it between both hands and began circulating her soul power to absorb it.

Extremely pure ice-element energy surged into her body like a flood. The Ice Empress greedily absorbed the power, and the bottleneck that had confined her cultivation for nearly four hundred thousand years was violently struck by that external force. It burst open with almost no resistance!

Boom!

A powerful aura erupted from the Ice Empress's petite body. An emerald pillar of light shot into the sky. Though it was far less spectacular than when the Snow Empress had broken through, it still sent the surrounding snowstorm spiraling backward and shook the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Four hundred thousand years of cultivation, achieved!

Yet the joy of her breakthrough had not lasted long before tribulation clouds gathered overhead once more. Although they were far smaller in scale than the Snow Empress's Seven-Hundred-Thousand-Year Heavenly Tribulation, their destructive pressure still turned the recently ascended Ice Empress pale. Her aura had yet to fully stabilize.

Lei Chen looked up at the forming tribulation clouds and said to the somewhat nervous Ice Empress, "Focus your mind, calm your breath, and stabilize your realm. Leave the Heavenly Tribulation to me."

Before his words had even faded, Lei Chen had already appeared above the Ice Empress. Facing the deep-blue Tribulation Lightning that crashed down with a thunderous roar, only as thick as an arm, he merely raised his hand casually and beckoned.

As though drawn by an invisible force, the Tribulation Lightning obediently veered from its original path and plunged directly into Lei Chen's palm. He briefly closed his eyes to sense it, then opened them again, already having reached a conclusion.

"The energy concentration is passable... roughly equivalent to the full-force strike of a human Level 99 Limit Douluo. For ordinary ferocious beasts, it remains a life-or-death hurdle. But to a plane, it is merely a trickle."

The rest proceeded without suspense. The Ice Empress's Four-Hundred-Thousand-Year Heavenly Tribulation consisted of six bolts of Tribulation Lightning, each stronger than the last. Yet before Lei Chen, they became nourishment for the Thunder God Origin, swallowed and refined one after another.

Lei Chen could feel the Violet-Gold Thunder Mark between his brows become slightly more solid, though the effect was far less pronounced than when he had devoured the Snow Empress's Tribulation Lightning.

After the final bolt of Tribulation Lightning dissipated and the tribulation clouds scattered, the Ice Empress finally let out a long breath. Feeling the surging power of four hundred thousand years of cultivation within her, along with the relief of safely passing the tribulation, she looked at Lei Chen with eyes full of gratitude and awe.

"Thank you, Plane Lord, for your aid!" The Ice Empress bowed respectfully.

Lei Chen waved his hand and descended, then said to the Snow Empress, "Matters here are concluded. Snow Empress, the road ahead is already clear to you. You need only refine the Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow step by step to raise your cultivation, while nurturing the Ice God's Heart with your own origin. When you break through to a million years, it will be time to reforge the Ice God's Divine Position."

"This process will naturally fall into place. With your foundation and talent, there should be no setbacks."

The Snow Empress solemnly nodded. "Snow Empress understands. I will certainly not disappoint the Plane Lord's expectations."

Lei Chen nodded, his gaze sweeping across the vast ice plains.

Of the several "seeds" whose plans he had set in motion, the Snow Empress's plan to reforge the Ice God's Divine Position could be said to be the smoothest.

The reason was that the Snow Empress herself possessed exceptionally favorable conditions.

Her cultivation was close to seven hundred thousand years. She was the ruler of the Far North and naturally suited to the Ice God's position. With a supreme treasure like the Myriad-Year Profound Ice Marrow to assist her, all Lei Chen, the Plane Lord, had done was connect the threads and offer a little guidance, successfully setting her upon this great path to the heavens.

"Then I shall take my leave first. I still have other matters to handle. The two of you should cultivate diligently. When you next break through the hundred-thousand-year threshold, I will naturally appear and help you pass the Heavenly Tribulation."

After saying this, Lei Chen's figure gradually faded. At last, he transformed into motes of seven-colored light that merged into heaven and earth, vanishing without a trace.