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A streak of emerald green light descended from the sky and landed not far away, revealing a massive scorpion with a body that looked like it was carved from pure green jade. As soon as she touched the frozen ground, a bright flash of light covered her form. From within that radiance, a petite and nimble young girl stepped out.
The girl was stunning, with long emerald green hair and eyes that sparkled like gold. She wore a beautiful green and white dress decorated with golden trim and emerald gemstones that looked like clear glass, giving her a noble and grand appearance.
Around her waist was a white lace bow, and she wore dark stockings with delicate lace patterns that made her look very elegant. Despite her human appearance, a long golden-green scorpion tail with a sharp, dangerous tip flicked behind her, showing everyone who she really was.
She was the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, known as the Ice Empress. She held the rank of the second Great Heavenly King of the Extreme North Land and was the seventh of the Ten Great Vicious Beasts.
"Snow Empress, you finally agreed to see me!" Ice Empress cried out. Her voice was full of excitement and a deep longing. Without waiting for an answer, she ran forward and threw her arms around the Snow Empress in a tight hug.
"I've missed you so much," she said quickly, her words tripping over each other. "Where have you been for all these hundreds or thousands of years? Why didn't you come to see me? And what have you been doing?" She continued to chatter, asking one question after another without stopping for a breath.
The cold expression on the Snow Empress's face softened just a little. She gently returned the hug and tried to calm her friend down. "I'm back now, aren't I, Bing'er?" she said in a quiet, comforting voice.
"That's true," Ice Empress nodded, finally letting go. However, she suddenly wrinkled her small nose and took a sniff of the air around the Snow Empress. A look of confusion flashed in her golden eyes. "Snow Empress, why do you smell like a human? The scent is so strong..."
The Snow Empress's eyes flickered for a brief second, but she quickly pushed the Ice Empress away and kept her face calm and unreadable. Before her friend could ask anything else, she flipped her hand over. Five pieces of ten thousand year profound ice marrow, which looked like pure, translucent crystals, appeared in her palm.
Immediately, the Ice Empress forgot all her questions. Her eyes widened with shock as she stared at the rare treasure. "Ten thousand year profound ice marrow!" she gasped in disbelief. "Snow Empress, where did you ever find these?"
The Snow Empress simply shook her head, refusing to answer the question. Her voice became more serious as she spoke. "The old injury to your Origin has never fully healed," she said. "Use this ice marrow to recover. I will stay here and act as your Protector while you face your 400,000-year Heavenly Tribulation."
Ice Empress hesitated for a moment. She felt that something was wrong and that the Snow Empress was hiding something big from her. She frowned, wanting to push for answers, but the worry and urgency in her friend's eyes made her stop. She nodded slowly, took the ice marrow, and began to absorb the energy while the Snow Empress watched over her.
A few days passed in the quiet core of the Extreme North Land. Finally, the Ice Empress opened her eyes. The ice marrow worked perfectly for an ice-type Spirit Beast like her. She only needed three and a half pieces to completely fix the damage the Heavenly Tribulation had done to her Origin. The last half piece of marrow gave her enough power to break through her limits. She felt her new strength and realized that the next Heavenly Tribulation, which should have been decades away, was coming right now.
Snow Empress saw the change in her. "How do you feel?" she asked. "Are you confident about facing the tribulation?"
The Ice Empress smiled proudly and lifted her chin. Her golden eyes shone with power. "I'm ten out of ten confident!" she declared.
"Good," the Snow Empress replied with a small nod. "Then there is no time to waste. You should start the tribulation now."
"Wait, right now?" Ice Empress asked, surprised by the suddenness.
"Yes, right now," the Snow Empress insisted, her voice sounding strangely urgent.
Ice Empress frowned again. She was sure now that her friend was acting very weird. She felt a sudden knot of tension in her chest, as if something very important was about to change. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but when she saw the serious look on the Snow Empress's face, she stayed silent. After a long pause, she flew out to an open patch of ice.
She let go of her human form and stopped suppressing her power. Instantly, the sky turned black. Heavy clouds rolled in, and the sound of terrifying Lightning Tribulation rumbled above, filled with the energy of pure destruction. Ice Empress took a deep breath to steady herself and looked up with firm, determined eyes. Without waiting, she called the lightning down upon herself.
A massive bolt of lightning crashed down, lighting up the entire sky. Other Spirit Beasts nearby hid in their dens, terrified by the raw power of the heavens. But then, a burst of emerald green cold spirit power shot up from the ground. It was so cold and powerful that it actually tore a hole through the lightning. The ice energy grew stronger and stronger until the lightning began to fade away into nothing.
When the storm finally cleared, the Ice Empress stood on the ice, her jade-like scorpion body shimmering with a translucent green light. She had transformed and grown even stronger through the lightning. She changed back into her human form and ran over to the Snow Empress, her face full of joy. "Snow Empress! I did it! I succeeded!"
Snow Empress gave her a small smile, but it didn't last long. She took a deep breath and looked at her friend with a very serious expression. "Bing'er, now that you have passed your 400,000-year tribulation and your strength is back, you must guard the Extreme North Land well from now on," she said.
The smile disappeared from the Ice Empress's face. She grabbed the Snow Empress's arm tightly. "What are you talking about? You've been acting so strange since you came back," she demanded. "Tell me what happened! We can fix it together!"
Snow Empress went quiet for a moment, her eyes showing many different emotions. Finally, she told the story of what had happened to her. She explained how she tried to transform using a snow lotus, how she was sealed, the deal she made when she woke up, and how her Origin was healed. She kept the story brief and left out the small details about her time with Kong Mingan.
When she finished, the Ice Empress looked completely stunned. Then, her golden eyes turned sharp with worry and anger. "That's a human! Snow Empress, have you lost your mind?" she shouted. "No human can be trusted! He's just tricking you into helping him. Once he gets strong enough, he'll kill you just to take your spirit ring and Spirit Bone!"
Snow Empress shook her head, her voice filled with a stubborn certainty. "He is different from other humans," she said.
Ice Empress stared at her, feeling a deep sense of dread. Something was definitely wrong with her friend.