Time seemed to stand still.
The howling wind and snow also froze in midair, forming a windless domain as far as the eye could see.
"Boom-"
Thunder resounded throughout the universe.
At the sound, the snow flying through the distant sky lost all momentum and fluttered to the ground.
The plain plaque at Yu Tianqing's chest rose into the air, turned into a streak of golden light, and entered the space between his brows, where a vertical golden eye appeared.
A burst of golden energy erupted from his left hand, while a profound blackness as thick as ink appeared at his right hand.
The two energies from his hands gathered between his brows and blended together.
The vertical eye burst with dazzling light, and a stream of pure Qi shot straight into the ninth heaven, manifesting as clouds in the sky.
Auspicious clouds of nine colors rose, and an ink-black qilin roared at the human and beast below.
A middle-aged man sat upright on its back. He wore armor, his hair hung loose, and what seemed to be a golden sun shone behind his head, lending him an overwhelming majesty.
A vast, mighty presence swept over Yu Tianqing, instantly dispelling the chill within his body.
The Ice Empress, however, seemed to be resisting the pressure. She changed from human form into her true form, an Ice Jade Scorpion. Her eyes remained fixed on the sky, her whole body trembling as the crisp sound of icicles striking one another rang out from time to time.
Yu Tianqing fell into a sitting position in the snow. He looked up at the heavens, somewhat dazed, and murmured to himself:
"Thunder... Thunder Ancestor..."
The mighty man looked down at Yu Tianqing and nodded with a faint smile.
"That is right. I am the Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of Thunderous Sound Responding to Primordial Origin in the Nine Heavens. Were you the one who kept calling upon my revered name?"
"Mm..."
Yu Tianqing swallowed dryly and nodded.
The Thunder Ancestor Token was actually real. Though he had known that anything capable of accompanying him across worlds must be extraordinary, what virtue or ability did he have to summon this Thunder Ancestor as a deity?
My previous life... I never saw anything like this in my previous life!
"Your faithful believer, ah, no, your disciple..."
Yu Tianqing stammered a little. He felt as though he had forgotten how to speak.
Seemingly seeing his difficulty, the Thunder Ancestor raised a hand.
"Should any living being hear my name and turn their heart inward in silent thought, saying: Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of Thunderous Sound Responding to Primordial Origin in the Nine Heavens,
"Whether once, five or seven times, or hundreds or thousands of times,
"I shall manifest in the ten directions and extend my heart through the three realms, so that all who call my name may have their wishes fulfilled."
"Since you sincerely recited my revered name, even if the road to this realm was long, it took no more than ten days. Though I have descended as an incarnation, I shall surely redress injustice and judge evil on your behalf."
"Is this fiend below trying to harm someone?"
The Thunder Ancestor raised two fingers and pointed from afar at the Ice Empress, who was prostrate on the ground.
Ten days generally meant ten days...
One day in heaven was one year on earth.
So it wasn't that silently reciting the Heavenly Venerable's name since childhood had brought no response. It was because the Thunder Ancestor had been on his way, riding his qilin.
The Douluo Continent really was a little too far away.
He had a long-held complaint he wanted to spit out but couldn't, when he saw the Ice Empress, who had been prostrate on the ground, suddenly raise her head and stare straight at the deity in the sky.
"Which deity are you? What right do you have to judge me!"
"He hunted and killed one of my Far North's people right in front of me. Even if he died, he would have deserved it! What did I do wrong!"
"I told him to hand over the ten-thousand-year Profound Ice Marrow. I wanted to use it to save Xue'er! What did I do wrong!"
"Xue'er is such a good person. Why must she suffer a heavenly tribulation every hundred thousand years? What did she do wrong!"
"Why does this thieving heaven have to tear us apart? What did we do wrong!"
The Ice Empress roared at the deity in the sky, her eyes turning blood-red. Every word was full of tears, like a cuckoo crying blood.
Facing the deity who looked down upon all living beings, the Ice Empress's presence, backed by 390,000 years of cultivation, surged. She seemed intent on burning up all her Soul Power to fight the deity in the sky to the death, to see whether she could punch a hole through heaven itself.
High above, black clouds of Qi gathered, and the faint rumble of thunder sounded like beating drums.
The Ice Empress had thrown all caution aside, and there were even signs that she was drawing down her 400,000-year heavenly tribulation.
"Bing'er, don't!"
A graceful figure in white entered their view. Paying no heed to the Thunder Ancestor in the sky, she went straight to the Ice Empress, bent down, and reached out a fair hand to gently stroke her head.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here. Don't be impulsive. As you are now, there's no chance you can survive the 400,000-year heavenly tribulation. Quickly, stop circulating your Soul Power. I'm here with you. Everything will be all right."
"Bing'er, be good. Listen to me."
With the Snow Empress's arrival, clarity gradually returned to the Ice Empress's reddened eyes. The might of the Ferocious Beast receded, and even her voice softened.
"Xue'er, you shouldn't have come. I..."
"It's all right, Bing'er. Leave this to me."
"Mm."
Seeing that she had calmed the Ice Empress, the Snow Empress glanced at Yu Tianqing before her, then turned her gaze to the Thunder Ancestor in the sky and bowed respectfully to him.
"I am the Lord of the Far North, the Heavenly Snow Woman. I apologize to you on behalf of this younger sister of mine. Please forgive her rudeness."
"An innate snow spirit. Interesting."
The Thunder Ancestor nodded, seemingly unconcerned. He gave a casual wave of his hand, and the lightning tribulation that had been gathering in the sky vanished without a trace. He looked down with interest.
"Fate is ordained by heaven, and both your tribulations are drawing near. Since you have already lived for hundreds of thousands of years, what is there that you cannot let go of?"
Seeing the Thunder Ancestor disperse the heavenly tribulation with a casual wave, a flash of astonishment passed through the Snow Empress's eyes, and her manner involuntarily grew even more respectful.
"It is not my own life that I cannot let go of. It is simply that I was born on this land, so naturally I must shoulder the responsibility of protecting it.
"If Bing'er and I both die, there will be no strength left to deter others. I fear the Far North will become a hunting ground for humans, and the living beings of this land will never know peace."
"Cultivation is defiance of heaven to begin with. Fate is already set, so why cling to it? Only by entrusting what comes after to the younger generation can things endure and flow on like a long river."
The Thunder Ancestor stroked his beard, then looked at Yu Tianqing, who had risen and was standing respectfully.
"Since you are a disciple of my Divine Firmament, I shall naturally keep you safe."
"Thank you, Heavenly Venerable."
Yu Tianqing hurried to bow respectfully. The Thunder Ancestor was still partial to him. After hearing the Ice Empress's accusations, he too felt that they made a great deal of sense. Even he couldn't refute them.
Humans could hunt and kill Soul Beasts, and Soul Beasts could kill humans too.
Having run into the Ice Empress, Yu Tianqing could only count himself unlucky.
He had been a little worried that the Thunder Ancestor would deal with the matter impartially. It was wonderful to have someone backing him. When he got back, he would definitely set up a memorial tablet and make daily incense offerings to the Heavenly Venerable.
But before the Heavenly Venerable, he couldn't act like a young wife who had done something wrong.
If the Ice Empress wasn't wrong, was he?
Certainly not!
Even if there was a wrong, it was this world that was wrong.
"Your disciple is not one to kill indiscriminately. Your disciple has a friend who needs to hunt and kill a Soul Beast and absorb its Soul Ring to advance to the next realm."
Hearing this, the Thunder Ancestor studied Yu Tianqing closely for quite a while. His brows furrowed slightly, and he sighed.
"So that is how it is. The Heavenly Dao of this realm is incomplete. Cultivation actually requires absorbing the laws of demonic beasts to make up for one's own deficiencies..."