The sounds of slaughter on the ice plains suddenly ceased, leaving only the whimpering of cold wind rolling over ice shards. The eight Mysterious Ice Pavilion disciples had all been killed. Han Li, his dantian destroyed, lay limp on the ice like mud, his eyes unfocused and filled with despair and disbelief. Zhao Tiezhu held up his injuries, vigilantly scanning everywhere. The rabbit spirit also perked up its ears, sensing any wind or movement.
In mid-air, the Ice Crystal Phoenix circled elegantly, confirming no further threats before slowly landing on a nearby ice mound. Its ice-blue eyes looked toward Xiaoqi, transmitting a spiritual message: "This matter is concluded. I take my leave. Human, take care of yourself." Though it had lent aid, it was more to vent anger and clear out the Mysterious Ice Pavilion disciples who had long harassed it. It didn't plan to entangle further with humans. This departure would likely be to find an even more secluded place for secluded cultivation.
Xiaoqi clasped his hands, solemnly sending a thought: "Thank you, Venerable One, for your assistance. This kindness is engraved in my memory."
The Ice Phoenix slightly nodded, its wings spreading, about to soar into the sky again.
However, just as it was about to lift off—
"Hmph! Killing my Mysterious Ice Pavilion disciples and thinking to leave? All of you stay here!"
An ancient voice containing overwhelming fury and terrifying pressure, like rolling thunder, suddenly exploded from the extreme distance! Before the voice finished, an ice-cold aura ten times, a hundred times stronger than Han Li and his group, surged like a tsunami from afar, instantly enveloping the entire ice platform area!
This pressure was so powerful that Xiaoqi and Zhao Tiezhu, who had just relaxed, instantly felt like falling into an ice cave. Their blood seemed about to freeze, and their spiritual power circulation became incredibly sluggish! Even the Ice Phoenix, about to take flight, suddenly sank, letting out a cry of shock and anger. For the first time, its ice-blue eyes showed an extremely grave expression.
Golden Core stage! And a mid-Golden Core or above cultivator!
A white stream of light appeared at the horizon, so fast it tore through the air with ear-piercing explosions. Almost the moment the voice arrived, it appeared above the ice platform. The light scattered, revealing an elderly man wearing Mysterious Ice Pavilion elder robes, with white hair and beard and a withered face. He hovered in mid-air, emanating a frigid aura like ten-thousand-year black ice. His gaze, like two ice blades, first swept over the disciples' bodies on the ground, lingering especially on Han Li whose dantian was destroyed. The fury in his eyes almost burst forth before he locked onto the only two humans still standing—Xiaoqi and Zhao Tiezhu, and that Ice Crystal Phoenix that made him feel a trace of threat.
"E-Elder Ge..." Han Li, paralyzed on the ground, saw the newcomer as if grasping a life-saving straw. He croaked out a call, then lapsed into unconsciousness.
"Useless thing!" Elder Ge snorted coldly, his gaze becoming even colder. "So it was you, and this beast, who killed my Mysterious Ice Pavilion's elite disciples?" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the spiritual oppression unique to Golden Core cultivators, hammering against Xiaoqi and Zhao Tiezhu's minds like heavy hammers.
Zhao Tiezhu groaned, blood again seeping from his mouth as his injuries were triggered. Xiaoqi also paled, but his eyes remained determined. His Purification Origin circulated on its own, dispersing that spiritual oppression. He took a deep breath, speaking steadily: "Senior, please observe clearly. It was your sect's disciples who ambushed us first, wanting to seize our opportunity and kill us. We were forced to defend ourselves."
"Defend ourselves?" Elder Ge seemed to hear the greatest joke, his withered face twisting into a hideous expression. "In these Northern Wastes, whatever my Mysterious Ice Pavilion sets eyes upon belongs to the Mysterious Ice Pavilion! Daring to resist is a capital offense! Moreover, you dared to slaughter my pavilion's disciples—an unpardonable crime! Today, I'll use your blood and this beast's inner core to sacrifice to my disciples' spirits!"
He gave no chance for any explanation—or rather, before absolute power, reasoning had no meaning. Before his voice finished, Elder Ge's withered hands were already raised, his ten fingers dancing like butterflies threading flowers, forming an incredibly complex seal.
As his seal took shape, the temperature of the entire ice platform area dropped madly at a terrifying speed! The water vapor in the air was instantly frozen into visible blue ice crystals, even the light seemed to become twisted and dim. The ground began shaking violently. Countless thick cracks spread from Elder Ge as the center, bottomless and emitting extreme cold energy.
"Mysterious—Ice—Burial!"
Elder Ge's hair and beard flew, shouting the last word! As the final syllable fell, his oceanic ice-attribute spiritual power erupted, triggering the power of heaven and earth!
"Rumble!!!"
Centered on the positions of Xiaoqi, Zhao Tiezhu, and the Ice Phoenix, the ice plains hundreds of zhang around suddenly bulged upward, then like a lotus closing, countless massive Mysterious Ice walls flashing with dark blue runes, several zhang thick, rose轰然 from the ground and surroundings. The speed was incredible—instantly about to completely seal one man, one phoenix, one rabbit, burying them in this massive Mysterious Ice tomb!
This wasn't just a physical imprisonment. The runes flowing on the Mysterious Ice walls emitted terrifying law energy that froze souls and annihilated life force! This was one of the Mysterious Ice Pavilion's supreme techniques. Once completely sealed inside, even early Golden Core cultivators couldn't escape being frozen and refined!
The Ice Phoenix let out an angry and urgent cry, its wings frantically flapping. Countless ice crystal storms and extreme cold wind beams bombarded the closing Mysterious Ice walls, but only made them tremble, crumbling a little ice dust—completely unable to stop their closing trend! For the first time, fear showed in its eyes. The power of this Mysterious Ice Burial far exceeded its expectations.
Zhao Tiezhu roared in despair, his golden fist qi pounding against the ice walls like an ant shaking a tree. The recoil made his injuries worse, blood spraying wildly.
The shadow of death, like this closing Mysterious Ice giant coffin, instantly loomed down!
Xiaoqi, positioned within, felt it most clearly. That omnipresent terrifying cold energy madly eroded his protective spiritual light. The Purification Origin circulated to its limit but could only barely resist. The tremendous pressure from the Mysterious Ice walls closing made his bones creak. He knew that ordinary means, even with the Crimson Flame sword intent fully unleashed, absolutely couldn't break through this Mysterious Ice Burial that contained a mid-Golden Core cultivator's full power and the might of heaven and earth!
He couldn't hold back anything more!
Just as that massive Mysterious Ice wall was about to completely close, leaving only the last gap—
A decisive glint flashed through Xiaoqi's eyes! He bit his tongue tip hard, spraying a mouthful of essence blood onto his joined sword-fingers. At the same time, from deep within his dantian, that wisp of ultimate trump card obtained from the Vermillion Bird remnant soul's gift in Southern Border, always nurtured but never used—the Southern Ming Departing Fire seed—was completely triggered!
"Buzz—"
A flame aura not blazing but carrying a certain quality of burning all things, purifying everything, as if originating from the ancient times when heaven and earth first opened, suddenly erupted from Xiaoqi's body! This aura was so lofty, so pure, forming an extremely intense contrast and conflict with the surrounding extreme ice-cold environment!
Elder Ge's face drastically changed. He felt a threat that made even his Golden Core tremble! "What fire is that?!"
Above Xiaoqi's sword-finger, a seemingly weak flame, condensed to the extreme and presenting a pure glazed color, quietly appeared. This flame wasn't showy, even emitting little heat, but the moment it appeared, the surrounding cold energy sufficient to freeze souls made "sizzling" sounds as if meeting its nemesis, rapidly melting and retreating!
"Southern Ming... Departing Fire! Burn!"
Xiaoqi poured all his spiritual power, along with that mouthful of essence blood's power, completely into this seemingly weak flame, pointing fiercely at the center of the Mysterious Ice wall about to completely close above!
"Sizzle—!!!!!"
No deafening explosion, only a faint sound of burning that seemed to pierce the soul.
That glazed-colored Southern Ming Departing Fire, like a red-hot iron meeting ice and snow, effortlessly penetrated the several-zhang-thick, rune-flowing Mysterious Ice wall!
In the next moment, centered on that penetration point, a ring of pure, blazing-white flame halo suddenly expanded! Where it passed, that indestructible Mysterious Ice containing law power melted and vaporized at a visible speed like snow in sunlight! The dark blue runes wailed and shattered in the flames! The thick Mysterious Ice wall was burned through with a massive, smooth-edged hole!
The Mysterious Ice Burial's flawless sealing, before this innate Vermillion Bird's origin divine fire, revealed a fatal gap!
"Impossible!!" Elder Ge's eyes nearly split open, screaming in horrified disbelief. His signature technique was actually burned through by a Foundation Establishment kid using some terrifying flame he'd never seen?!
Once the gap appeared, the terrifying sealing power instantly diminished greatly.
"Screech!" The Ice Phoenix reacted fastest, seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, transforming into an ice-blue stream of light, instantly rushing out through that hole!
Xiaoqi grabbed the heavily injured Zhao Tiezhu, his feet treading like a swimming dragon, body and sword becoming one, following close behind! The rabbit spirit was even smarter, long ago clinging to Xiaoqi's leg, escaping together.
Three people and one phoenix, narrowly escaped from this death prison before the Mysterious Ice Burial completely closed!
Standing on the shattered ice plains, looking back, that massive Mysterious Ice tomb had already completely formed, emitting a deathly aura. Only that huge hole burned through by the Southern Ming Departing Fire in the center appeared particularly striking.
Elder Ge hovered in mid-air, his face iron-dark, his body trembling slightly from extreme anger. He stared dead at the pale-faced, weak-auraed green-robed youth below who still stood straight, and that slowly-contracting glazed flame on his fingertip that still made him palpitate.
The situation, because of this inconceivable divine fire, had instantly reversed!