Chapter 70: Ice Emperor — "I’m Super Gentle!"
Her curled-up body suddenly unfurled!
"Buzz—!!"
Invisible ripples of energy erupted outward from her center; wherever they passed, the icy surface thickened further, and the snowflakes drifting in the air were shattered into finer ice crystals.
Four Hundred thousand years—the breakthrough was a success!
The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion threw its head back and let out a clear, resonant cry—a sound wave brimming with exhilaration and joy. Then, as the emerald glow subsided, she transformed back into her human form.
She appeared once again as a young girl clad in that long, emerald-green dress.
"Xue’er! I did it! I really did it!"
The Ice Emperor’s small face flushed crimson with excitement. Like a gust of wind, she rushed toward the Snow Emperor, throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace. Her voice trembled with irrepressible emotion: "No Heavenly Tribulation! Not a single bit! We don’t have to face that wretched tribulation after all! It’s wonderful! It’s truly wonderful!"
The Snow Emperor staggered back slightly from the impact of the embrace. Sensing the aura radiating from the Ice Emperor—an aura far more potent than before—a gentle smile blossomed in her eyes.
She gently patted the Ice Emperor’s back and spoke in a soft, soothing voice: "I know. I felt it all. Congratulations, Bing’er."
The Ice Emperor nuzzled against the Snow Emperor’s chest, taking quite some time to calm her racing heart. Finally, she released her hold and stepped aside, her emerald eyes sparkling brightly: "Now it’s your turn, Xue’er! I’ll stand guard for you!"
The Snow Emperor nodded with a smile, walked over to the spot where the Ice Emperor had just been, and likewise sat down cross-legged.
The quantity of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow she retrieved was significantly greater; given her cultivation base of nearly seven hundred thousand years, the energy required for her breakthrough was on a scale far beyond anything the Ice Emperor had needed.
The Snow Empress closed her eyes, her hands forming a profound and mysterious hand seal.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow hovered around her, its pure, ice-elemental energy flowing into her body in a ceaseless stream, like a winding blue brook.
Her rate of absorption was both faster and steadier than that of the Ice Empress.
She seemed to transform into a bottomless black hole, greedily yet methodically devouring the energy of the Profound Ice Marrow.
The temperature in her immediate vicinity began to plummet precipitously.
Time passed, minute by minute.
An incense stick’s worth of time later, several stalks of the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow had completely faded, their luster extinguished.
The Snow Empress’s aura, too, had surged to its absolute zenith.
Her body began to turn semi-transparent, appearing as if it had been sculpted from the purest ice crystals; within her form, countless tiny snowflakes seemed to swirl and dance.
An indescribable chill—one so terrifying it seemed capable of freezing both time and space—began to emanate from her being.
The Ice Empress stood a short distance away; even with her cultivation base having just broken through the 400,000-year mark, she felt a distinct sense of trepidation in the face of this chilling aura.
She hurriedly retreated a few more steps, her beautiful eyes fixed unblinkingly upon the Snow Empress.
There were no earth-shattering celestial phenomena, nor were there any violent bursts of energy.
All these transformations unfolded in utter silence.
The Snow Empress slowly opened her eyes, and a flash of ice-blue light flickered within their beautiful depths.
Seven hundred thousand years—the breakthrough was complete!
Her aura slowly subsided.
The Snow Empress returned to her normal appearance, yet her entire demeanor seemed even more ethereal and transcendent—like a Goddess of Snow dwelling high above the clouds.
She rose to her feet, gazing at the visibly anxious Ice Empress, and offered a faint smile: "I succeeded, too."
The Ice Empress let out a long, deep sigh of relief, then immediately burst into jubilation: "That’s wonderful! We’ve both broken through! And neither of us had to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation! That kid, Jiang Bai... his tower truly is miraculous!"
The two women exchanged smiles, their eyes reflecting both the relief of having shed a crushing burden and an infinite sense of anticipation for the future.
...
Outside.
Jiang Bai sat cross-legged, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda hovering before him; the body of the pagoda glowed with a nine-colored radiance that shone even more brilliantly than usual. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he looked up at the sky.
The previously clear heavens had, at some unknown moment, gathered a mass of heavy, dark clouds.
The clouds hung low, with faint flashes of lightning flickering deep within them; a stifling pressure—as if the very heavens and earth were seething with rage—descended upon the land.
"..."
The corner of Jiang Bai’s mouth twitched. "Surely this isn’t... coming to strike me?"
The target locked onto by these dark clouds appeared to be him... or rather, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda he held in his hand.
The breakthroughs achieved by the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress had, it seemed, finally drawn the attention of the Heavenly Tribulation.
However, because the breakthrough process had taken place within the small world housed inside the pagoda, the Heavenly Dao could not directly unleash its lightning tribulation there; instead, it could only focus its wrath upon Jiang Bai, the vessel serving as the conduit.
Jiang Bai felt his scalp go numb.
This was no laughing matter. Judging by the sheer scale of these clouds, this was a Heavenly Tribulation of at least the 100,000-year tier! How was he—a mere Soul Sect—supposed to withstand that with his bare body?
High above the tribulation clouds, within the void itself, a blurred figure—shrouded in a faint golden aura of World Force—quietly materialized.
The figure appeared to be sketched out by countless lines of cosmic law; its face was indistinct, save for a pair of eyes that pierced through the layers of dark clouds to gaze down upon Jiang Bai—who stood below, poised for battle—and the pagoda in his hands, which radiated a nine-colored brilliance.
A moment of silence passed.
Then, in a surprisingly human-like gesture... the figure seemed to take a deep breath.
And then, It shook Its head.
Forget it... That’s not my jurisdiction...
I don’t see anything; I see absolutely nothing...
Having found a suitable excuse, the figure—still wreathed in World Force—seemed to heave a sigh of relief as It waved a hand.
The tribulation clouds, gathered across the entire sky, vanished instantly without a trace—as if wiped away by an invisible, colossal hand. Warm sunlight once again spilled down across the mountain peaks.
The figure, too, began to fade, dissolving back into the void as if It had never appeared at all.
Down on the ground, Jiang Bai stared up at the sky—which had cleared so abruptly—and remained frozen in stunned silence for a good while before finally letting out a breath of relief.
His back was drenched in cold sweat.
"Phew... That scared the life out of me." He wiped away the beads of sweat that weren’t actually there, his heart still pounding with lingering dread.
"It seems breaking through inside the tower wasn’t entirely without incident after all... Next time, I’ll have to find a much more secluded spot."
Just then, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda flashed with light, and two figures shot out, landing right in front of him.
It was none other than the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress.
Jiang Bai hurriedly asked, "Snow Empress, how did it go? Was the breakthrough smooth?"
The Snow Empress wore a gentle smile on her lips, her entire aura now even more ethereal and transcendent.
"Thanks to you, both Bing’er and I have successfully broken through. And indeed, we did not have to endure the Heavenly Tribulation."
Hearing this, Jiang Bai felt his mind completely put at ease. He smiled and said, "That’s wonderful! Congratulations to you both!"
"Hey!"
The Ice Empress, standing nearby, suddenly looked displeased. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at Jiang Bai with her beautiful eyes.
"Why do you always ask Xue’er first? Why don’t you ask me? I broke through, too, you know!"
Jiang Bai was momentarily stunned by this sudden "interrogation." He subconsciously took a good look at the pouting Ice Empress, then tentatively offered, "Uh... well... maybe... you look a little fierce?"
"I’m fierce?!"
The Ice Empress widened her eyes in disbelief, pointing a small finger at the tip of her own nose.
Then, she abruptly whipped her head around to look at the Snow Empress, wearing an expression that practically screamed, "Come on, back me up here!"
"Xue’er, do I really look fierce?"
Watching the Ice Empress—looking all "I’m deeply wronged, but I’m still totally fierce"—the Snow Empress seemed to recall some amusing memory from the past. She couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
"Perhaps."
"How am I fierce?!"
The Ice Empress grew even more indignant. She stamped her foot and grumbled, "I’m clearly very gentle! Super gentle! Jiang Bai, you have absolutely no taste!"
Watching the Ice Empress puff up in indignation like a ruffled cat, Jiang Bai suddenly felt she was... kind of cute?
He reached out his "sinful" hand and gently placed it upon the Ice Empress’s soft, emerald-green hair.
He gave it a light ruffle, speaking in the soothing tone one might use to coax a small child: "Yes, yes—the Ice Empress is the gentlest of all! The absolute gentlest!"
The texture... actually felt quite nice.
The Ice Empress clearly hadn’t expected Jiang Bai to suddenly pull a stunt like that.
At first, she narrowed her eyes, appearing to thoroughly enjoy rubbing against Jiang Bai’s palm—looking exactly like a cat being stroked.
"That is..."
But two and a half seconds later, she suddenly snapped back to reality!
"Yikes—!"
The Ice Empress recoiled instantly, springing away like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She slapped Jiang Bai’s hand away, her beautiful eyes wide with indignation, and her small face flushing a deep crimson.
"Who! Who gave you permission to touch my head?! You have no sense of propriety! I’m hundreds of thousands of years older than you! Hundreds of thousands!"
She flailed her arms and bared her teeth, attempting to project a fierce and intimidating aura; however, paired with her beet-red face and slightly disheveled hair, she possessed absolutely no actual deterrent power.
Suppressing a laugh, Jiang Bai waved his hands repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes. Senior Ice Empress, please calm your anger; this junior realizes his mistake."
"You’d better watch yourself next time! Or else I’ll use my pincers to crush you to death!!"
"Alright, alright, I get it!"