Chapter 191: I

The back mountain plain.

The sky had completely darkened.

It was a despairing gloom.

It felt as if light had been frozen solid by extreme cold.

"Thud!"

Fang Lei's knees buckled, and he crashed to the ground.

He pressed his palms hard against the earth, gasping for breath.

Not just him.

Li Xue'er and several other top senior students beside him had also bent over.

Their faces were pale, their legs trembling, as if burdened by an invisible glacier.

They couldn't stand upright!

They simply couldn't stand upright!

They were all high-level mages specializing in ice.

Precisely because of this, before this terrifying pressure—like the arrival of an Ice Sovereign—

The elements within them trembled and screamed in frenzy!

It was the instinctive submission of the inferior to the absolute superior!

It was reverence etched into the elemental genome!

"Old Zhang!"

Guhe felt the terrifying aura in the heavens and earth, his face changed instantly, and he spun around, roaring.

Guhe didn't need to say more.

Zhang Daoyuan slammed his shield into the ground.

Boom—!!!

A massive, semi-transparent, dark-gold barrier erupted instantly from the earth!

The same high-tier shield skill.

Like an inverted bowl, it sealed and protected everyone within.

At the same moment.

In Lin Mo's skill bar.

【【Earth Shield】shrunk into the corner: "Big bro… why does it feel creepy? That woman outside… so strong! So terrifying!"】

【Fireball】had also, unusually, abandoned its arrogant demeanor.

【【Fireball''s voice carried a hint of gravity: "This aura… even I feel a flicker of unease. What realm of power is this?"】

【【Lightning Strike'' remained silent, its lightning flickering wildly.】

【【Ice Spike'' shed its haughty princess act, radiating solemnity, saying nothing.】

Lin Mo stood inside the barrier.

Within him, a storm of shock raged.

Is this… a high-tier skill?

Even the self-important elemental spirits had revealed such rare gravity before this power!

Outside the barrier,

Han Xue's snow-white hair whipped wildly through the windless void.

The next instant,

Han Xue floated effortlessly into the air!

Under the high-tier domain, she had completely replaced the laws of this realm.

Every ice element in the air frantically lifted her, proclaiming her the sole sovereign!

Han Xue hovered midair, her eyes transformed into pure ice-blue.

She spread her arms.

"All arts—frozen!"

Hum—!!!

An ice-blue ripple exploded outward from Han Xue in all directions!

In an instant,

Across the entire back mountain, save for Zhang Daoyuan's struggling barrier,

Every other space was swallowed by a lifeless white radiance!

Lin Mo stared through the barrier at the scene outside.

Wherever his gaze fell,

Flowers, trees, soil, even dust floating in the air—

In that moment, all their original properties and vitality were stripped away.

At a glance,

The entire back mountain had become a lifeless, frozen wasteland.

…

In midair,

Han Xue's eyes flickered, and she swept her hand sharply.

The ice-blue glow in her eyes vanished instantly.

The terrifying pressure around them vanished in the same instant.

Han Xue floated gently back to the ground.

Inside the barrier,

Zhang Daoyuan exhaled deeply, dismissing the dark-gold barrier now crusted with ice cracks.

"Phew—!!!"

The moment the barrier vanished,

Fang Lei, Li Xue'er, and the others gasped like dying men finally breathing oxygen.

They sucked in air in frantic, heaving breaths.

"I'm… alive again…"

Fang Lei was drenched in sweat, his voice trembling.

Li Xue'er patted her chest, staring at Han Xue in distant awe.

"Is this… a high-tier skill?"

"So terrifying!"

"I just felt that if Han Laoshi so much as thought it, my own ice elements would instantly freeze me into an ice statue!"

This was the first time in their lives they had witnessed the divine might of a high-tier skill so closely.

That sense of despair could shatter any warrior's will to fight!

Lin Mo also gazed at Han Xue's back, his expression grave.

In his skill bar,

【【Earth Shield】wiped sweat from his brow: "Oh my god! Finally caught my breath! Scared the hell out of me!"】

【【Fireball''s eyes burned with unprecedented fervor: "Just a high-tier skill… and it's already this powerful!"】

【【Fireball'' clenched his fists tightly: "This strength—I must possess it! No, I refuse to stop here! High-tier isn't enough—I must become a Forbidden Spell!!!"】

Watching the fiercely motivated 【Fireball】in his skill bar,

Lin Mo's lips curled slightly.

He nodded inwardly.

"Good."

"Keep going, Little Fire. Keep this momentum—you'll become a Forbidden Spell."

Having calmed 【Fireball】,

Lin Mo turned his gaze to the other side of his skill bar.

【【Ice Spike'' wore an extremely complex expression.】

【It stared at the lifeless ice wasteland outside the barrier and sneered.】

"Ice Spike" lifted its chin haughtily: "Hmph... I never expected this old woman to be this strong..."

"I'll admit, she's got some real power—she's barely worthy of becoming my subordinate."

"…"

Hearing this,

Lin Mo was utterly speechless.

His eyebrow twitched slightly.

Again with the little brothers?

So you're determined to be the boss no matter what, huh?

…

Han Xue stepped forward until she stood before Lin Mo.

She looked at Lin Mo and explained:

"Lin Mo, I didn't fully release that high-tier skill just now—I only showed the first small segment."

"If I continued releasing it, not just Peking University, but the entire capital might suffer."

Hearing this,

Fang Lei and the others all drew in a sharp breath.

Not finished?!

This, and it's not even finished?!

If she'd completed it, the whole capital would have been destroyed!

Is this the power of a high-tier skill…

Han Xue ignored everyone's shock.

She fixed her gaze on Lin Mo and asked: "How about it, Lin Mo? Do you… have any insights?"

All eyes instantly turned to Lin Mo.

Lin Mo's expression turned grave.

He did not answer immediately, but silently asked inside:

"Xiao Bing, how's it going?"

In the skill bar,

【"Ice Spike Spell," with eyes closed, spoke with rare seriousness: "Master, I… I'll try."】

Hearing this reply,

Lin Mo felt a flicker of surprise.

Huh?

Didn't you usually say something like "Leave it to me, missy"?

What kind of answer is this?

It seems even the current Elemental Spirit finds this high-tier skill daunting.

Lin Mo took a deep breath.

He lifted his head and met Han Xue's gaze.

"Master Han."

"I'll… give it a try."