Clad in plain white immortal robes, Xiao Ningxue stood proudly atop the mountain, her sleeves fluttering in the fierce wind like the Mystic Maiden of the Nine Heavens descending into the mortal world. Her posture was erect, a faint pearly halo lingering around her as she raised her eyes to the roiling sky. Her gaze was clear and resolute, without the slightest trace of fear.
Suddenly, an earth-shaking thunderclap rang out overhead, making all of Golden Ring Island tremble. A thick bolt of silver divine lightning tore through the heavy dark clouds, roaring across the heavens like a frenzied dragon. Bearing the might to destroy heaven and earth, it struck straight down at Xiao Ningxue.
The dazzling lightning instantly illuminated her unadorned face. Savage thunderous power filled the air, as though it would tear this entire stretch of heaven and earth apart.
As the tribulation lightning descended, Xiao Ningxue willed a crystalline, snow-white pearl out of her body. Light flowed across it as it expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye. Within mere breaths, it had become an immense sphere of ice spanning dozens of miles, hovering steadily above her head.
"BOOOOM!"
An earth-shaking explosion erupted as the tribulation lightning slammed into the ice sphere. In an instant, the silver tribulation lightning shattered, turning into a churning silver sea of lightning that completely engulfed both the sphere and Xiao Ningxue beneath it.
At the foot of the mountain, her daughter Liu Futian clutched her father's sleeve, staring unblinkingly at that sea of lightning, forgetting even to breathe. Still, she could sense that her mother should be safe under the ice sphere's protection.
The sea of lightning churned for a full incense stick's worth of time before gradually subsiding. When its final glimmer faded, the enormous ice sphere remained