At this moment, Su Xuan stood suspended in mid-air. Azure-blue water rippled behind her in waves, her robes fluttering like a goddess of water answering the prayers of her faithful.
Splash—
Amidst the faint sounds, Liu Bai seemed to hear the sound of ocean waves.
The next moment, he saw a mermaid with dragon horns atop her head break through the azure water behind Su Xuan!
"This is…" Liu Bai quickly searched his memory for information regarding the strange spirit beast species of the Great Thousand World. Very soon, he found what he was looking for.
"It's actually a Sea Spirit Siren? That's ranked twenty-fifth on the Earth Ranking. These semi-humanoid spiritual beasts are extremely rare. Though it doesn't outrank the Nine Netherbird on the Earth Ranking, in terms of rarity, it rivals even divine beasts. I didn't expect Su Xuan's fused spiritual essence to be from such a beast."
Sea Spirit Sirens were born as children of water, possessing powerful water-controlling abilities, even surpassing some water-element divine beasts. Su Xuan, who had fused with the spiritual essence of a Sea Spirit Siren, naturally inherited this formidable ability.
What a pity. If he had obtained that Sea Spirit Siren spiritual essence himself, he wouldn't have to worry about future water-element spiritual essence. After all, this kind of spiritual beast carried a faint trace of dragon bloodline. With his system's capabilities, it might even evolve into something even more powerful.
He shook his head with slight regret.
Compared to the shock brought by the Sea Spirit Siren, Su Xuan displaying the strength of the early phase of the Heavenly Fusion Realm was much less surprising.
After all, even someone like Zhou Fan had broken through to the Heavenly Fusion Realm. Then prodigies like Li Xuantong and Su Xuan would naturally be no weaker than him in cultivation.
Once the Sea Spirit Siren emerged, Su Xuan's spiritual energy surged once more, even faintly suppressing the Snow Demon Beast.
The latter, sensing this oppressive force, instantly felt an overwhelming sense of danger. It began to struggle violently. The demonic vines that had originally wrapped around its neck were bitten off with a downward snap of its massive head. The vines around its limbs also began to tear apart, showing visible cracks.
"Not good. This beast is about to break free!" Guo Xiong, who was at the front, immediately issued a warning. Then, leaping forward, he used his technique to slam his black-gold hammer down onto the Snow Demon Beast's forehead.
Boom!
A deep, muffled sound rang out. Guo Xiong almost couldn't hold on to the hammer in his hands.
The Snow Demon Beast was struck into dizziness by the blow, but at the last moment, it suddenly flung its head, violently smashing Guo Xiong away.
Pffft!
Overwhelming force struck him. Guo Xiong felt like he had been hit by lightning. A mouthful of blood sprayed out.
His body was flung backward like a cannonball and slammed hard against an ice wall a thousand meters away. The violent impact made it feel as if all the bones in his body were about to shatter.
Seeing this, Liu Bai frowned slightly. Su Xuan's ultimate move was undoubtedly terrifying, but if they couldn't restrain the Snow Demon Beast before that, all their efforts would be in vain.
He didn't hesitate any longer. In the next instant, Liu Bai resolved to go all out.
Dozens of spiritual seals once again flew from his hands. Unlike the thirty or so used earlier, this time there were fifty every single one activated.
"Demonic Vine Strangulation Spiritual Array, activate!"
A much larger array instantly spread across half the ice valley. Massive demonic vines, three to four times thicker than before, burst forth from the ice. In the blink of an eye, they slammed the Snow Demon Beast back down to the ground. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn't even lift its head for the time being.
This time, it wasn't just its limbs and neck. Even its massive body was pinned to the ground by two thick vines. The beast's entire form was pressed firmly into the earth.
Seeing this sudden turn, Li Qing was overjoyed. She didn't know how these demonic vines had suddenly grown so much stronger, but with them, the Snow Demon Beast had no chance of escape!
"Tidal Sea Spirit!"
Su Xuan's once-gentle voice now carried a chilling intent to kill.
As she spoke, a massive azure wave surged forth. Within the wave, a vague image of a Sea Spirit wielding a trident charged forward fiercely toward the Snow Demon Beast.
Boom!
The surging tide smashed into the Snow Demon Beast.
In an instant, Liu Bai felt his array's demonic vines disintegrate under the pressure of the overwhelming tide.
As for the Snow Demon Beast, which bore the full force of the water's fury, it was directly slammed into the ice. The trident, formed entirely of Sea Spirit True Water, pierced clean through its body, grievously wounding the giant beast.
As the tide faded into the depths of the ice valley, what remained before Liu Bai and the others was a snow-colored giant beast, on the brink of death.
Li Qing raised her hand, intending to finish it off…
But Liu Bai raised his hand to stop her.
"Be careful of a final retaliation. Let me handle it."
Seeing Liu Bai's serious expression, Li Qing didn't object. After all, she couldn't be sure whether the massive beast before them was truly powerless or merely feigning death.
Since Liu Bai had spoken, she wouldn't act rashly. Liu Bai then quickly unleashed more spiritual seals, forming the Second-rank spiritual array Five-Wheel Heaven-Splittting Spiritual Array. Five golden wheels screamed through the air and decapitated the Snow Demon Beast.
Immediately afterward came the crisp system notification in Liu Bai's ear.
"Ding! Congratulations, player, on defeating a Heavenly Rank Spiritual Beast: Snow Demon Beast. You have received 10,500 experience points and 15 Beast Soul Points!"
Ah, what a beautiful sound!
With this much experience and Beast Soul Points, this hunting operation was already worth it.
As for the Snow Demon Beast's spiritual essence, spiritual energy, and corpse, they were distributed to Su Xuan and the others—just as had been agreed upon beforehand.
After fusing the Snow Demon Beast's spiritual essence, Li Qing would likely reach the peak of the Divine Soul Realm. Whether she could break through to the Heavenly Fusion Realm before the Northern Heavens Hall opened remained to be seen…
"Pack up. We should get moving…" Liu Bai spoke up once Guo Xiong and the others had taken their share of the Snow Demon Beast's corpse and Su Xuan had absorbed its spirit energy, raising her imprint to the eighth level.
He now intended to go hunting high-level spiritual beasts to accumulate more experience before the assessment ended.
But before he could finish speaking, Su Xuan paused mid-step. Her expression grew serious as she said to the group, "Ling'er just sent word. Someone has entered the Ice Valley. The one leading them appears to be that King Zhou, Zhou Fan."
"Zhou Fan? It's those guys from the Zhou Faction?" Guo Xiong, his face still pale, clutched his chest and couldn't help but speak.
Li Qing, however, remained calm and said, "It doesn't matter. We've already slain the Snow Demon Beast. Even if they came, it was all for nothing."
Though the Zhou Faction had numbers, facing a group with Su Xuan in it, they wouldn't dare act unreasonably.
Among everyone present, only Liu Bai appeared slightly uneasy. After all, he wasn't thick-skinned enough to be completely shameless. Facing someone he had previously tricked, it was hard not to feel a tiny pang of guilt.
Of course, only a tiny one.
When the boisterous members of the Zhou Faction arrived and saw the cleaned-up battlefield with Li Qing's group standing composed, their expressions immediately changed.
"Su Xuan?!" Standing at the front, Zhou Fan wore a black robe, his aura sharp and fierce, bearing no trace of the frenzy and rage from when the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk was taken from him.
"I didn't expect the Heavenly Beast in this Ice Valley to catch Su King's attention. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have wasted my time coming here."
Zhou Fan smiled calmly. Even when facing a girl like Su Xuan both beautiful and talented he maintained his composure.
"King Zhou jests. I simply arrived a little earlier. With the Zhou Faction's influence, tracking a Heavenly Beast shouldn't be difficult. Missing this one won't matter," Su Xuan responded gently. But despite her soft tone, not a single member of the several hundred from the Zhou Faction dared show even the slightest disrespect.
Zhou Fan's gaze swept across Li Qing's group and found that, aside from Su Xuan, the others were of only average strength. For Su Xuan to slay a Heavenly Beast with just this handful of people, her true power must be extraordinary.
However, the moment Zhou Fan's gaze swept across Liu Bai, it froze instantly.
Back atop that snowy mountain, Liu Bai had used the Five-Wheel Heaven-Splittting Spiritual Array to block the Zhou Faction. His appearance had long since been remembered by them. Now, seeing him again—it was indeed a case of enemies meeting on a narrow path.
Seeing the expressions of Zhou Fan and the other Zhou Faction members suddenly shift, Su Xuan, Li Qing, and the rest were confused. They didn't understand why Zhou Fan, who had just been smiling, would suddenly change his demeanor.
"King Su, regarding the matter of this Heavenly Beast, I, Zhou Fan, arrived late, so let's consider it settled. However, as for what comes next, I hope you'll give me some face and stay out of it."
"What do you intend to do?" Su Xuan's elegant brows furrowed slightly, clearly puzzled.
Zhou Fan's gaze passed over the group and locked onto Liu Bai. With a sneer, he said, "What, has the man who once singlehandedly blocked my Zhou Faction's hundreds of members now become a coward who only dares hide behind women?"
Upon hearing this, Su Xuan and the others were visibly shocked, and their eyes all turned toward the figure standing behind them.
Liu Bai smiled faintly upon seeing this and stepped forward calmly.
"Hide? Perhaps there truly are people in the Northern Heavens Realm I would avoid, but you are certainly not one of them."
"Hahaha, good, how arrogant!" Zhou Fan didn't become angry but instead burst out laughing.
"I'm quite curious what you're relying on. Is it your cultivation? With merely the late-phase of the Divine Soul Realm, you have nothing to be proud of before me. Or are you relying on your status as a Spiritual Array Master?"
"A Rank Two Spiritual Array Master may be enough to dominate the Divine Soul Realm, but before a Heavenly Fusion Realm expert, you're nothing more than a joke."
Liu Bai actually agreed with that assessmeny. A Rank Two Spiritual Array Master truly couldn't match a Heavenly Fusion Realm expert in direct battle. After all, even Liu Bai himself didn't have the time to set up arrays while under pressure from such a powerful opponent. One's own strength must be enough to directly contend with them.
"Whether I'm a joke or not, you're welcome to find out for yourself."
Liu Bai remained composed. After all, he was not a mere Rank Two Spiritual Array Master.
"Then let me see exactly what you're relying on."
Zhou Fan's eyes surged with killing intent. He stepped forward, and his majestic spiritual power erupted in full, blasting the surrounding stone into dust from the pressure alone.
A trace of worry flashed across Li Qing's face. She lifted her foot, ready to intervene.
However, Su Xuan quickly moved to stop her and shook her head.
"This is a battle between Zhou Fan and Liu Bai. If you interfere, Liu Bai will be in an even worse position when facing the hundreds of Zhou Faction members."
Su Xuan transmitted her voice with spiritual energy to Li Qing.
"Besides, don't assume that Liu Bai has only shown all he's got."
Seeing Li Qing's stunned expression, Su Xuan smiled faintly and said, "Just watch. The outcome of this battle is not so easy to predict…"
At the same time, Zhou Fan had already stepped forward. The ground beneath him trembled as he threw a punch. The impact of the fist tore open a massive crack in the ground, surging toward Liu Bai like a bolt of lightning.
Liu Bai's expression turned solemn. Black spiritual power surged from his palm as he struck back against the fierce fist wind.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave of spiritual energy exploded outward, causing the surrounding ground to split open with cracks. The Zhou Faction members nearby were blown away.
Upon direct contact, Liu Bai immediately felt a terrifying force crash down upon his right arm, sending him flying backward.
The difference between the late Divine Soul Realm and early-phase Heavenly Fusion Realm was simply too great. If not for Liu Bai's Qilin Arm and the ferocity of his Death Seal, he would've suffered far more than just being thrown back.
"That's all you've got? And you dare act arrogant?"
Zhou Fan's eyes were cold. "Show me everything you've got. Otherwise, you won't even get a chance to strike again."
Clearly, from beginning to end, Zhou Fan had never taken Liu Bai seriously. If there was any concern at all, it was only about his array-forming abilities. But in a face-to-face battle like this, how could he possibly be given the time to set up a Array?
Great Sun Burning Sea Palm!
Naturally, Liu Bai didn't hold back. With a single lift of his hand, he unleashed one of his strongest offensive spirit arts.
A blazing sun rose into the sky. Even in this frozen Ice Valley, everyone could feel the searing heat radiating from that sun. The surrounding ice even began to show signs of melting.
"Now this is getting interesting…"
Faced with the terrifying sun in the sky, Zhou Fan didn't panic. Instead, he nodded in satisfaction, as if finally finding a worthy reason to fight.
At this moment, Li Qing, Guo Xiong, and the others all wore looks of surprise.
"I didn't expect Brother Liu Bai's personal combat strength to be so powerful. I thought he was just a Spitrit Array Master focused only on Arrays…" Guo Xiong voiced what everyone else was thinking.
Only Su Xuan had seen through a trace of the truth… Back when they battled the Snow Demon Beast, those terrifying demonic vines that even fully restrained the beast couldn't possibly have come from a Rank Two spiritual array.
Clearly, Liu Bai had been holding back. And judging by his current display of power, it was obvious he was still hiding a great deal more…
....
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