By the time Liu Changxu arrived, his wife Murong Yuyao was already standing atop the peak. Her plain white Daoist robe fluttered gently in the mountain wind, and a faint spiritual glow wreathed her body. The instant their eyes met across the distance, no words were needed; their gazes already brimmed with a love and concern that had endured through the years.
"Yu Yao, when you face the tribulation, no matter how fierce the lightning becomes, you must keep your mind steady."
Liu Changxu transmitted his voice through spirit energy, his steady tone carrying a concern he could scarcely conceal.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I understand."
Murong Yuyao replied with a gentle voice transmission. Though her tone was soft, it held an unshakable resolve.
As her words faded, ink-black clouds swallowed the sky completely, plunging heaven and earth into darkness. Lightning flickered deep within the clouds, and muffled thunder rolled across the horizon, as though some enormous beast lay hidden within, gathering the power to destroy heaven and earth.
"BOOM!"
A deafening crash tore through the heavens. A bolt of silver divine lightning as thick as a bucket burst through the clouds like a raging dragon, wrapped in the irresistible might of heaven and earth. Blazing with dazzling light, it plunged straight toward Murong Yuyao atop the peak!
At that moment, time itself seemed to freeze. Murong Yuyao's expression sharpened, and the spiritual light around her suddenly blazed like the sun. Magic power surged within her, and a silver flying sword, lustrous white from end to end with the phantom image of a snow lotus swirling over it, shot out of her body. Trailing a biting cold gleam, it flew straight toward the descending silver tribulation lightning.
This was her Life-Bound Innate Spirit Treasure, the Snow Lotus