Chapter 84

Wu Tie stepped on smoke and clouds, shouting strangely as he streaked across the sky.

On Poxi's face, cold as a glacier and relentlessly pursuing from behind, subtle changes began to appear.

In her azure eyes, cold light flickered; the hue of her pupils began to waver, the emitted cold light waxing and waning like a candle in the wind, ready to gutter at any moment.

"Must... cleanse..." Poxi raised her right hand; the pale, delicate flesh of her left arm instantly withered, and then even her bones shattered completely.

The Xuanbing Ice Armor on her left arm vanished silently, and countless tiny ice crystals slipped down from her left shoulder.

A mass of azure cold light the size of a human head gathered in her right palm, the cold light boiling fiercely; threads of ice flame rose up, the surrounding air began to violently undulate, and waves of cold surge spread outward in concentric rings.

Inside the mountain, Shi Fei and Shi Meng each swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

They watched helplessly as that girl slew Shixi with a single sword strike—Shixi, one of the Shi Family's numbered Elders, whose strength had nearly peaked at the Chonglou Realm and had already caught a glimpse of a higher realm, was killed by one blow.

"Like killing a mouse pup..." Shi Meng muttered.

"What background do they have? These guys are all handsome men and beautiful women—could they all be disciples of the Changsheng Sect?" Shi Fei muttered to himself, puzzled.

On these men and women wearing Xuanbing Ice Armor, he felt a strong sense of discord.

These people simply should not appear in the Cangyan Realm.

With a booming roar, Poxi's azure cold light from her right hand erupted, forming a blue pillar as thick as a water tank that shot straight at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie's figure flickered, dodging the direct impact of the blue cold light.

The blue pillar exploded with a boom, rings of blue-white cold light sweeping across several kilometers, the cold surge engulfing Wu Tie outright.

Amid the dazzling cold light came a sharp howl; ninety-nine ice dragons, each as thick as a water bucket, materialized midair, their scales vibrating, baring fangs and claws as they lunged to tear at Wu Tie.

The ice dragons raged, spewing terrifying Cold Qi from their mouths. The cold light surged like a tide, crashing wildly in all directions; dozens of bolts of cold light struck the dome above the mine pit, emitting a piercing 'crack' without cease, as vast sections of the dome were coated in thick Xuanbing ice.

The terrifying Cold Qi froze and cracked the rock layers; through the thick ice, one could see fissures several kilometers long splitting the dome.

Poxi's this wide-range attack directly damaged the dome; large sections of the dome shattered, threatening to collapse at any moment.

Shi Fei, Shi Meng, and the iron giant all widened their eyes.

"Damn, damn it... she actually dares to use a wide-range, high-damage divine ability." The iron giant roared hoarsely: "Let me out, let me give them a good beating... damn it, they'll destroy this Xuanlan Crystal Mine."

In this world wrapped in countless thick rock layers, refraining from using large-scale, high-damage divine arts has almost become everyone's consensus; unless driven to desperation, no one would unleash a wide-range killing move.

Otherwise, the dome would collapse, and heaven only knows what lies above the rock layers hundreds of meters or several kilometers thick.

Is it a Yin River?

Is it molten lava?

Or does it lead to some terrifying beast's den?

Poxi's this move completely crossed the line of Shi Fei and Shi Meng.

On the rock walls surrounding the mine pit, strange patterns rapidly extended toward the dome, faint yellow light spreading quickly within the strata, continually reinforcing the rock and continually repairing the cracks that had split the dome.

Fortunately, Shi Fei and Shi Meng summoned an expert from the Giant Tribe, who used the May Seal to seal off the entire mine pit.

Otherwise, the dome would already have collapsed.

Even so, the ninety-nine ice dragons roared and raged, wildly striking and surging; the cold surge flew like flowing light, incessantly blasting outward. The dome trembled violently, the ice covering it expanding ever larger, growing thicker and sturdier.

Wu Tie was like a tiny leaf in a hurricane, tossed left and right by wave after wave of cold surge.

Terrifying pressure swept in from all directions, quickly coating him in a thick layer of ice. Piercing Cold Qi penetrated straight to his viscera; he felt only that his whole body was icy, with not a trace of warmth even in his belly.

Only his bones throughout his body quivered slightly, as faint heat continually seeped out from them, barely holding back the surrounding Cold Qi.

An ice dragon over ten meters long roared as it charged at Wu Tie, bringing down a claw with vicious force.

Wu Tie had no time to dodge; the three-inch-thick ice layer on his body was shattered by the claw, and the ice dragon's sharp talons tore through the flesh on his shoulder, creating three deep, bone-reaching gashes from his left shoulder to near the root of his right thigh, almost ripping his body apart.

Excruciating pain struck, and the terrifying Cold Qi instantly froze the wound; the pain vanished, and not a trace of blood seeped from the injury.

Ever more fierce Cold Qi surged from the wound into his body, ice crystals forming in his five viscera and six bowels; his whole body stiffened, on the verge of turning into an ice sculpture.

On a rock wall of the mine pit, a hole fifteen or sixteen meters high suddenly split open, and a pitch-black, bald-headed giant roared as it burst forth, leaping up several hundred meters in a single bound.

Poxi happened to fly past the giant's head; the giant stretched out its massive palm and swung down a huge slap.

The giant came too fast, and no one expected such a huge figure to suddenly surge from the mountain rock. With a tremendous boom, the Xuanbing Ice Armor on Poxi's body sprayed out countless shattered ice crystals, and the giant's slap sent her plummeting straight to the ground.

With a booming crash, Poxi slammed heavily onto the ground.

The extraordinarily hard mine pit collapsed in a large section nearly a hundred meters across; boulders tumbled, dust shot skyward, Poxi's ice armor all over her body shattered, and she lay spread-eagled in a large pit, blood continually spraying from her mouth.

To unleash that previous wide-range attack, Poxi didn't just burn her left arm; she burned more than half of her essence and blood throughout her body.

Already weakened to the extreme, then struck a heavy blow to the head by the giant... she still clung to a breath, only able to marvel at how astonishingly defensive the ice armor on her body truly was.

However, the ice armor had also reached its limit.

A speck of crystalline blue light drifted up from Poxi's body surface, the blue light quickly condensing into an extremely fine thread of cold light that shot straight up to the dome and vanished instantly.

Poxi's body quickly withered and shrank as the blue light drifted away.

After the blue light faded, Poxi's fair, tender body had become like a ten-thousand-year-old mummy—not only was all her essence and blood completely drained, but even her soul vanished without a trace along with that faint wisp of blue light.

With a boom, the giant fell from high altitude and stomped down with brutal force upon Poxi's remains.

The mine pit collapsed again in a large chunk; Poxi was utterly dissipated, leaving not a trace of residue.

"Come!"

The giant beckoned toward the fire pillar at the center of the mine pit.

With a tremendous roar, flames shot skyward; a three-legged, double-eared cauldron tumbled upward, flying like a cloud of fire toward the giant.

The giant seized the cauldron with both hands, gave a strange laugh, and fiercely swung it toward the sky.

Vast flames surged straight at the dome; the ninety-nine ice dragons howled in the fire, spewing great sheets of cold light that collided with the flames.

Wu Tie could not steady his form, plummeting straight down from high altitude directly into the flames.

The ice on his body rapidly melted; the terrifying heat violently drove out the Cold Qi within him, and his skin quickly erupted with burn blisters.

"Well, little guy..." the giant chuckled, easing back a bit on the fire and reaching out to catch Wu Tie as he fell from the sky.

The giant rummaged in the large pouch at his waist, pulled out a water-tank-sized 'medicine bottle,' and casually dipped Wu Tie into it.

The "medicine bottle" held a light‑red ointment, sticky and fragrant; applied to the skin, it sent a gentle warmth seeping into the body.

Wu Tie's skin blisters burst quickly, dried, and then a thin blood‑colored membrane formed over the wound, which began to heal rapidly.

Wu Tie gasped, clumsily crawled out of the "medicine bottle", stood on the giant's palm, and bowed with clasped hands: "Thank you… uncle!"

"Uncle? Hahaha, well, that's a fine way to put it." The giant grinned widely, turned his head, and gave a crooked‑toothed grin toward the opening in the rock wall.

The expressions of Shifei and Shimeng, standing at the cave mouth, were quite remarkable.

The giant is their great‑granduncle; Wu Tie calling him "uncle"… isn't that taking advantage of them?

"Xiao Tie, Xiao Tie, Xiao Tie steward, come over here, come over here…" Shifei resentfully took a big bite of roasted meat, then waved his greasy palm at Wu Tie, beckoning: "Come here, come here… tsk, I thought you were dead for sure, but you're still alive."

Wu Tie's face twitched; he swung his banner, stepped on the smoke‑cloud, and flew toward the cave where Shifei and Shimeng were.

The giant let out a loud roar, breathed into the cauldron in his hand, which instantly swelled rapidly, reaching about ten meters high in a snap. He grabbed the cauldron's feet with both hands, leapt high, and swung the cauldron down hard onto the bottom of the mine pit.

Shifei and Shimeng screamed at the top of their lungs: "Don't!"

At the bottom of the mine pit, Jia Zhengfeng and the Chief Steward likewise bellowed hoarsely: "Damn it!"

Without regard for anything else, Jia Zhengfeng and the Chief Steward shot up into the air, giving their all to meet the giant, and Jia Zhengfeng shouted angrily: "Do you want to perish together?"

Besides Boxi, another two men and three women—five youths clad in Xuanbing Ice Armor—let out a long whistle, ignoring the Changsheng Sect followers and Mist Blade assassins, turning into Mist Blade cold light and shooting straight up into the sky.

The two young men relentlessly attacked Jia Zhengfeng and the Chief Steward, while the three women went to meet the giant who was swinging the cauldron down hard.

"How satisfying!" the giant's eyes blood‑shot, turning completely red.

He bellowed hoarsely, his arms suddenly swelling to the thickness of his waist, the cauldron emitting a tremendous explosive roar as it smashed down like a meteor falling from the sky.

The ninety‑nine white ice dragons shrank to half their size, broke through the barrage of heavenly fire, wailed as they plummeted straight from the sky, striking the giant's back one after another.

A sheet of dark, murky light flickered across the giant's back, faintly revealing a black mountain looming up within the gloom.

The white ice dragons slammed into the black mountain and exploded in bursts.

Vast sheets of cold light burst outward, continually booming; the cold surge swept like a tsunami in all directions, only to be swallowed by the heavenly fire and vanish without a trace.

Three maidens wielding long swords fiercely hacked at the huge cauldron.

With a tremendous crash, the armor on the three maidens shattered completely, and their long swords forged of condensed Xuanbing ice snapped apart piece by piece.

Wave after wave of flame like molten lava rolled down, enveloping the three maidens; they merely let out a single wail before turning to ash in the fire.

Faint traces of azure cold light rose from the flames, quickly condensing into three extremely thin shafts of cold light that shot straight up into the heavens and vanished into the vault in an instant.

"Come die!"

The giant lifted the cauldron as if raising a cup to drink, opening his mouth to gulp down the flames pouring out of it in great mouthfuls.

His pitch‑black skin instantly turned fully crimson, with painful cracks appearing all over, spewing scorching firelight. In a single breath, the giant became a flaming colossus as if forged from molten rock.

Originally twenty meters tall, he had now swollen to about thirty meters, his whole body radiating intense heat; beneath his feet great clouds of fire roiled, within which faint beast roars could be heard.

The giant threw a punch.

The Chief Steward bore the brunt, taking the giant's punch squarely.

The Chief Steward let out a strange cry; his black cloak exploded, sheets of black smoke billowing out, his form shattering into dozens of fleeing afterimages that whistled shrilly as they scrambled away in disarray.

The giant clenched his left hand around the cauldron and slammed it hard upward.

The void shuddered violently, sheets of flame sweeping outward; dozens of afterimages were caught up in the fire, the Chief Steward merely letting out a wail as each afterimage burst into flame, burning to wisps of green smoke that drifted away in a single breath.

The old fogey who had defected to the Changsheng Sect and risen from Mist Blade First Steward to Chief Steward vanished in a puff of smoke in an instant.

Jia Zhengfeng's well‑preserved old face twitched violently as he let out a hoarse, shrill laugh: "Good, good, good, Shi Family… this is your trap… you foolish Shixi, you've dragged me into this!"

Jia Zhengfeng gave a strange laugh; his left arm exploded, blood mist roiling, and he instantly turned into a Blood Light that plunged straight to the ground, flashing into the teleportation array, a gleam of light passing—Jia Zhengfeng vanished without a trace.

With a few "crack‑crack" sounds, the flags and disks laying out the teleportation array suddenly burst apart—clearly Jia Zhengfeng had already destroyed the array completely on the other side.

The two male youths who had been chasing Jia Zhengfeng and the Chief Steward let out a unified long whistle, their left arms and the lower parts of their torsos vanishing at once.

They had burned away more than half of their bodies; the Xuanbing Ice Armor on them rolled and grew heavier and more exquisitely intricate. Their heavy swords lengthened considerably, countless azure ice‑crystal runes flickering along the blades.

"Die."

The giant let out a low growl, dropped the cauldron, and brought down his two massive fists heavily.

Two heavy impacts rang out; the two youths, together with their armor, shattered apart, and two more thin blue shafts of light shot up into the sky.

The giant crashed heavily into the center of the mine pit; amid the deafening boom, the ground within a several‑li radius of the pit's bottom shook violently and split open, the surrounding spiral mine tunnels collapsed in succession, and the entire hundred‑li‑wide mine pit instantly became a chaotic mess.

The enormous stone cavern housing the mine pit shuddered violently, with boulders continually raining down from the ceiling above.

Shifei, Shimeng, and Wu Tie all screamed at the same time.