“Your Grandfather Bear Lord!”
Xiong Jun looked at the mountain-like gigantic Spirit Beast. He channeled his spirit power, and a bear roar, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami raging, swept across the Extreme North.
Boom!
Several peaks instantly collapsed, and the huge figure was so shaken that it retreated repeatedly, with a snowstorm surging like a great tide.
“Everyone, raise your defensive shields!”
The shopkeeper had not shown such panic even when facing the wolf pack. All the Spirit Masters in the caravan stood in a line, releasing their spirit power without reservation to form a defensive shield.
Rumble...
The snowstorm swallowed the entire caravan in the blink of an eye, as if erecting a natural tombstone for them.
Jiang Mian’s vision went black. With his current strength, dealing with such a natural disaster was ridiculous. He could only tightly grasp Xiong Jun and hold Zhu Zhuqing tightly in his arms.
Zhu Zhuqing pressed against Jiang Mian’s chest, as if this gave her a great sense of security.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Xiong Jun had no intention of saving the caravan. He grabbed Jiang Mian and Zhu Zhuqing, directly transforming into a golden light and rushing out of the snow layer.
Looking down from above, the world had returned to its original state. Only a few corpses of the caravan’s sturdy camels were exposed, proclaiming that a tragic calamity had once occurred there.
“Xiong Jun, why did you act like that?” Jiang Mian asked, surprised.
“Humans are allowed to hunt Spirit Beasts, but Spirit Beasts are not allowed to harm humans?” Xiong Jun said disdainfully, “What kind of logic is that?”
“They are innocent.” Jiang Mian said, “To harm lives like this, Xiong Jun, do you still want to undergo tribulation?”
“You only know one side of the story.” Xiong Jun frowned slightly and said coldly, “It’s a shame your spirit power has reached forty ranks; can’t you even sense what’s inside their caravan carts?”
“What?” Jiang Mian was momentarily stunned. Xiong Jun led them to a mountaintop, and then slowly explained, “Those caravan carts are filled with living people.”
“There are men and women, all locked inside the caravan carts like livestock.” Xiong Jun had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, so he had this much insight: “This should be a caravan engaged in human trafficking or selling slaves.”
“If those people were successfully transported to their destination by the caravan, they would surely suffer a fate worse than death.” Xiong Jun said, “And we can’t possibly take them out of this Extreme North, so I could only kindly dig graves for them.”
“You should have said so earlier; let’s go kill those Spirit Masters who were helping the villains.” Jiang Mian’s eyes gleamed.
“Alright, with a snowstorm of this magnitude, if they can survive, consider them lucky. Why bother finishing them off?” Xiong Jun said indifferently.
“Scum.” Jiang Mian spat, then looked at Zhu Zhuqing and said, “Zhuqing, perhaps this caravan is related to the Star Luo Empire’s royal Family. I just saw the shopkeeper looking at you strangely, but I didn’t think much of it then.”
“He looked a bit familiar to me too, but I just can’t remember where I’ve seen him.” Zhu Zhuqing pursed her lips, her expression serious as she spoke.
“Interesting.” Jiang Mian narrowed his eyes. At this time, there were still nearly two years until Tang San went to Shrek, so it was fine for him to take Zhu Zhuqing to the Star Luo Empire for a trip.
Suddenly, a clap of thunder flashed across the sky.
Xiong Jun’s expression changed drastically. How could the heavenly tribulation be early?
“This is bad. It might be that your actions just now, dealing with those Spirit Masters, caused your cultivation years to increase somewhat, which made the heavenly tribulation arrive early!” Jiang Mian looked at the gradually gathering thunderclouds in the sky. He couldn't help but take two steps back.
“Come on!” Xiong Jun’s eyes were blood-red. It suddenly revealed its true form, a giant bear like a small mountain appearing beside Jiang Mian and Zhu Zhuqing.
“You two, stay far away. Don’t let the heavenly tribulation affect you.” Xiong Jun reminded, “A five-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation is no joke.”
Jiang Mian held Zhu Zhuqing and wisely moved away from Xiong Jun.
This kind of heavenly tribulation could only be withstood by Xiong Jun alone, but Di Tian had also arranged for Bi Ji and the Ten Thousand Demon King to find many innate spiritual treasures for Xiong Jun, so the probability of success should be very high.
Moreover, after Jiang Mian captured the Auspicious Beast, he inherited the Auspicious Beast’s ability to increase the probability of a Spirit Beast surviving heavenly tribulation. At this moment, his presence by Xiong Jun’s side was no different from that of the Auspicious Beast.
It was a pity that he had experimented with the Auspicious Beast before, and the ability to increase probability could not be stacked. Otherwise, Xiong Jun would not have to go through so much trouble to break through the heavenly tribulation.
Thunder rumbled in the nine heavens. Xiong Jun, with its dark golden fur all over its body, bared its fangs and brandished its claws, seemingly wanting to break through the firmament.
It was false to say he wasn't afraid. Xiong Jun was also a Spirit Beast who had witnessed a five-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation. When Di Tian underwent his tribulation back then, he was just a small Spirit Beast barely reaching one hundred thousand years. In a blink of an eye, it was his turn to undergo tribulation.
Roar!
As the lightning rain fell, a dark golden defensive ripple rose around Xiong Jun. The lightning struck it, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea, having no effect at all.
“Senior Xiong Jun looks very relaxed.” Zhu Zhuqing carefully observed Xiong Jun’s state. She said, surprised, “The heavenly tribulation isn’t as terrifying as I imagined.”
“This is only the first stage.” Jiang Mian smiled slightly and explained, “At this time, the heavenly lightning’s intensity corresponds to a Spirit Beast that has just entered the one-hundred-thousand-year level.”
“For every hundred thousand years added, there will be an additional layer of heavenly lightning, and the intensity of the heavenly lightning increases geometrically.”
“Then isn’t Senior Xiong Jun in great danger?”
Zhu Zhuqing said with some worry. Although she usually appeared like an ice beauty, Zhu Zhuqing’s heart was always warm. She clearly understood who was good to her.
Jiang Mian was laughing on the outside, but inwardly, he couldn't help but worry for Xiong Jun. Before he came, Di Tian had secretly told him that he had already made arrangements, but now that the heavenly tribulation was early, would his arrangements fall through?
If they fell through, wouldn’t Xiong Jun be in danger?
The reason Jiang Mian brought Xiong Jun to the Extreme North to undergo tribulation was, firstly, that the Extreme North was sparsely populated and relatively safer; secondly, Jiang Mian wanted to obtain the Snow Empress, a Spirit Beast; and thirdly, Di Tian said he had arrangements in the Extreme North.
That old guy, don’t you dare trick me!
The first stage of heavenly lightning quickly ended. Xiong Jun quickly took out spiritual herbs and stuffed them into its mouth to recover its state, and the second stage of heavenly lightning arrived in an instant.
The second stage was unusual. The color of the heavenly lightning changed from red to blue, and its destructive power was estimated to be even higher.
Deep within the Extreme North, in a dazzling ice and snow palace, a tall, exquisitely beautiful white-haired woman, wearing an ice crystal crown, slowly looked up at the sky.
Her white hair was whiter than snow, and her pupils were an ultimate ice-blue. Her beauty was breathtakingly stunning; no matter how beautiful a girl stood beside her, she would feel inferior. Sitting there, she resembled an ice crystal snow lotus, sacred and inviolable.
“Di Tian, is this the young man you spoke of? Can he truly lead our Spirit Beast Family back to its former glory?”
The Snow Empress’s fine, slender eyelashes trembled slightly. She raised her arm, white as lotus root, and instantly transformed into snowflakes, disappearing from her original spot.