Chapter 179 - Chapter 179 The Ice God's First Trial, Success

"This is the Extreme Pool?"The Snow Empress frowned slightly as she looked over the entire cavern, a hint of wonder appearing in her eyes. "What a treasure land! I didn't expect the Extreme North Land to have such a mysterious place."As she spoke, the Snow Empress couldn't help but feel a bit of regret.If she had discovered this place earlier, she might not have needed to consider how to survive her seven-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation. By now, she might have already been approaching a cultivation of eight hundred thousand years.The Ice Empress was equally astonished.Because she realized that this place indeed looked very familiar—right next to this cavern was the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave that that loathsome Big Worm had accidentally entered back then.After that loathsome Big Worm came out of the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Cave, she hadn't believed in fate and had come to the cave herself, attempting to find any remaining ten thousand year profound ice marrow.She never expected that back then, she was only a hair's breadth away from this place."It looks like Huo Yuhao has already begun exploring here."The Ice Empress's gaze swept around, but she didn't see Huo Yuhao's figure."Maybe... they've already dived to the bottom of the Extreme Pool."Ao Yao pointed at the calm surface of the pool and voiced his guess. This guess caused both the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress to nod simultaneously."That is indeed a possibility... Let's head down and see what mysteries lie beneath this water."As she spoke, the Snow Empress took the initiative to reach out and place her hand on Ao Yao. A dense white glow suddenly lit up on the surface of Ao Yao's body.Immediately after, the Snow Empress led Ao Yao into the pool, and her voice quietly rang out:"Although this pool water is bone-chillingly cold, with me here, you can rest easy."Just as the Snow Empress said, under her protection, Ao Yao didn't feel any discomfort. The piercingly cold water didn't affect him; instead, it gave him a very cool and refreshing sensation.An unknown amount of time passed. In this deep pool, the passage of time seemed to become meaningless. Ao Yao only felt the surrounding pressure suddenly lighten, and the surrounding deep blue gradually became brighter.A beam of light suddenly flickered in Ao Yao's eyes.The scene before them caused the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress, and Ao Yao to all freeze for a moment.It was a palace.An ancient palace slumbering at the bottom of the Extreme Pool.The pool water here was blocked by an invisible force. The palace was enveloped in a transparent barrier as thin as a cicada's wing, gently pushing aside the ten-thousand-ton cold currents and carving out a quiet, almost breathtaking world.On the door, there was actually a scepter embedded within it.That was... the eternal frost scepter!The eternal frost scepter really was here!This thought rose in the minds of the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress almost simultaneously, and a look of wild joy appeared in the Ice Empress's eyes.However, a hint of confusion appeared in Ao Yao's eyes.Huo Yuhao actually wasn't here?Was it because he hadn't discovered this palace at the bottom of the pool yet... or had he gone to explore other places?But when they arrived just now, they hadn't seen any other figures in the cavern. If Huo Yuhao was here, he could only have explored toward the bottom of the pool.The Ice Empress could no longer suppress the joy in her heart. With a flash of her body, she swept to the front of the door.The eternal frost scepter embedded in the center of the door was pure white. The patterns on the shaft were as deep as glacial rifts, and the ice-blue gemstone set in the head seemed to seal an entire ancient starry sky within it. Its faint light flowed, making one dizzy.She reached out toward it. When her fingertips were still a foot away from the scepter, she felt a coldness as vast as an abyss rush toward her face.It wasn't an attack, nor could it even be called resistance. It was more like a form of scrutiny—like a king who had stood for endless years, looking down to size up a visitor who had rashly approached.The Ice Empress's hand suddenly froze in mid-air.In the next instant, the scepter pattern that had condensed on the Ice Empress's forehead after she accepted the Ice God's Trial suddenly flickered.A wave of ice-blue light ripples spread from her forehead, quickly enveloping the Ice Empress's entire body within it.The moment the pattern lit up, the entire palace seemed to come alive.The patterns on the door lit up one by one. Starting from the tail of the scepter, they spread along the door to both sides. Dense runes woke up like a frozen river thawing; even on the pillars deep within the palace, ice-blue pulses of light began to throb.Sensing something, the Ice Empress calmly raised her hand and grasped the scepter.The moment her palm touched the shaft, the entire cavern, the entire Extreme Pool, and even the entire Extreme North Land seemed to stand still for a moment.Then, a hum as distant as the tolling of an ancient bell vibrated from the scepter, penetrating the pool water, the ice layers, and the sky full of wind and snow, spreading to every inch of the Extreme North Land.The scepter was pulled out of the door bit by bit.With every inch pulled out, the palace's light grew stronger, the ice layer above the Extreme Pool trembled, and the wind and snow of the Extreme North Land became more violent.When the scepter finally completely left the door—A pillar of ice-blue light shot up from the palace, piercing through the Extreme Pool, through the ten thousand years of ice, and straight into the firmament.In the night sky of the Extreme North Land, the aurora borealis suddenly changed color, turning from its original emerald green to a deep blue. It was like a giant screen being redyed, coloring the entire sky in a brilliant hue.The eternal frost scepter lay quietly in the Ice Empress's palm. Within the ice-blue gemstone at its head, that ancient starry sky seemed to come alive, with galaxies flowing and light contained within.Seeing this, the Snow Empress immediately breathed a long sigh of relief.The Ice God's First Trial... was a success!In an instant, a dense and powerful force surged out from the eternal frost scepter, frantically pouring into the Ice Empress's body as she held it.And the Ice Empress's cultivation also soared at this moment.Her original four-hundred-thousand-year cultivation after breaking through her Heavenly Tribulation suddenly climbed. In an instant, it equaled tens of thousands of years of bitter cultivation for other Spirit Beasts, rising to four hundred and fifty thousand years!The aura on the Ice Empress's body also rose sharply.But it wasn't over yet.After a brief pause at four hundred and fifty thousand years, an even more pure and powerful energy poured into the Ice Empress's body once more, and her cultivation surged from four hundred and fifty thousand years straight to five hundred thousand years!It even... completely ignored the Heavenly Tribulation!The Ice Empress looked down at the scepter in her hand, feeling the power surging from her palm into her limbs and bones. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.This feeling... is more wonderful than ever before!The Ice Empress couldn't help but let out a long breath."Bing'er, congratulations."The Snow Empress took a step forward and spoke softly, her face showing sincere joy and relief. "The first trial has been successfully completed. Next should be the second trial, right? What is the content of the second trial?""It is... Frost Body Refining?"The Ice Empress paused slightly, then raised her eyes. "The second trial seems to require entering this palace to complete."