Chapter 157: Qian Xunji, Let's Have a Fair Fight
Snow Empress transformed into an ice-blue sphere of energy, colliding with the Angelic Annihilation Light.
"Ah—!"
She let out a furious roar. Below her, the icy landscape of the Extreme North turned ice-blue, supplying her with power. Her aura grew incredibly formidable.
Moreover, at a distance of ten thousand meters or more, thousands of soul beasts from all over the Extreme North—those with developed intelligence—were rapidly converging. Their numbers continued to swell. They looked up at the massive pillar of light descending from the sky, the ice-blue sphere opposing it, and the icy-blue realm beneath, all shouting for Snow Empress, their ruler, their monarch, their leader.
"Snow Empress Sister!"
A scorpion about a meter and a half long, with a pair of hexagonal golden eyes glittering like embedded yellow diamonds, its tail combining both icy and jade-green hues with seven segments, cried out in a crisp voice, "Snow Empress Sister, defeat that despicable human, defeat those shameless angels! Let humanity see the might of our Extreme North!"
"Go, Snow Empress!"
"Snow Empress is invincible!"
"Mom!!"
Countless ten-thousand-year soul beasts howled in support of the Snow Empress. Their eyes were filled with hatred, rage, and longing. The soul beasts under a hundred thousand years, those with some intelligence but incapable of speech, also roared in unison.
They had all been involved or victimized in that war long ago, suffering at the hands of humans who oppressed them, occasionally intruding into their domain, disrupting their peace. Some of their kin were killed by lowly, unscrupulous humans who stole their soul rings.
Humans—this vile, shameless race—had once again disturbed the peace of the Extreme North, scheming to murder the Titan Snow Demon King and weaken their realm.
"Everyone… Bing Bing, Little White, Ah Tai… I hear your voices!"
The Snow Empress let out another piercing cry. It seemed as though infinite power kept surging from her body. The temperature, which had briefly risen due to Qian Xunji's ninth spirit ring, now abruptly dropped by a hundred degrees. Pure ice-blue light gathered in her right hand; deep blue radiance fanned out through the air.
As that blue glow contracted, it shifted from deep to pale, finally turning white and forming a longsword. Everywhere its terrifying sword aura passed, cracks rippled through the air as if all the air had been frozen into ice and then sliced open. Even Qian Xunji's Angelic Annihilation Light was cut apart.
This was the Imperial Sword, the pinnacle among Snow Empress's three ultimate skills, and her most powerful trump card. It was the blade she had wielded ever since becoming master of the Extreme North. With it, she had slain countless soul beasts in this frigid domain, bringing them to submission—and used it to kill untold numbers of human soul masters as well, defending the peace of the Extreme North and protecting its inhabitants.
"Aaaah!"
With a shout, the Snow Empress gripped the Imperial Sword and forcibly split the Angelic Annihilation Light in two, pushing forward through it to attack Qian Xunji.
"We're about to win! We're about to win! The humiliation the angels brought on our Extreme North—Snow Empress Sister is about to slay that member of the Angel Clan and make them repay all debts, with interest!"
All the soul beasts watched with eyes wide and jaws agape. The Ice Emperor flicked her tail non-stop, and the Titan Snow Demon King pounded its chest. Their blood was boiling with excitement. Helping to kill Qian Xunji felt to them like their own small contribution to the cause.
"Seems my decision to fight in the sky was right. That Imperial Sword… truly terrifying."
Observing the Snow Empress's unstoppable advance, Qian Xunji felt a lingering fear. His combat strength was undeniably weaker than hers. In the Extreme North, where she was strengthened even further, her full power could indeed split his ninth spirit skill. He really might have been chopped to pieces if he had stayed on the ground.
Activating his "Two Apertures, One Mind," the blood-red light on Qian Xunji's left arm glowed again, summoning the phantom of a colossal octopus. Its tentacles each stretched tens of meters, incredibly flexible and resilient. All the tentacles struck at the Snow Empress at once, accompanied by Qian Xunji's Holy Sword, while the glow of his ninth spirit ring dimmed somewhat from overuse.
Having just cut apart the Angelic Annihilation Light, the Snow Empress found herself facing the Holy Sword and dozens of octopus tentacles in quick succession. Both attacks nearly overlapped, the tentacles targeting her limbs while the Holy Sword aimed for her chest.
A pale-blue sword aura slashed out. The Holy Sword was split in two before it could burst into flames, freezing instantly. Most of the octopus tentacles were cut off by that slash. However, several remaining ones still managed to wrap around the Snow Empress's body.
Tentacles gripped her legs, waist, and shoulders tightly. Her figure, perfectly slender and hidden by a pristine white gown, was now fully outlined by the pressure. One part of that figure, originally only subtly visible, was squeezed into a mound.
What had been a shapely but modest region was now accentuated, appearing quite large and imposing. The white gown's fabric there seemed on the verge of tearing, about to give way at any moment.
Enraged that her body was entangled, the Snow Empress raised her sword to slash the tentacles—and then Qian Xunji himself. Clearly, though, he had no intention of allowing her the opportunity. The moment the tentacles and their suckers latched on, he spun rapidly, dragging the Snow Empress's body along at high speed, then flung her aside.
"Sssss, sssss, sssss, sssss!"
As she was hurled away, ripping sounds echoed—those tentacle suckers had teeth. While being thrown clear, her white gown was sliced open in multiple places, leaving her clothing in disarray, her fair-as-snow, smooth-as-jade skin exposed.
Stopping herself midair, the Snow Empress grew even more furious. At the very moment she looked up, a size-46 foot slammed into view—Qian Xunji, rushing in at top speed, aimed a kick downward.
"Ah!"
Her shriek rang out hundreds of meters above ground. She fell like a cannonball, slamming into the earth several hundred meters from the soul beasts. An eruption of snow and ice billowed tens of meters into the air.
All cheering and shouting ceased abruptly.
The looks of delight and excitement on the soul beasts' faces froze in place. They couldn't even change their expressions in time. Aside from the howling wind, silence reigned over the Extreme North. Their boiling blood instantly felt frozen.
"Apologies, soul beasts. Seems I've disappointed you."
Floating several hundred meters above the crater where the Snow Empress had landed, Qian Xunji spoke calmly.
The soul beasts below glared murderously, lights flaring around them as though about to stake their lives. Qian Xunji, however, had no intention of clashing with them head-on. He had already expended a significant amount of soul power in that last offensive, so with a flap of his wings he crossed a hundred meters and hovered above the Snow Empress.
Buried dozens of meters under the snow, the Snow Empress glowed ice-blue once more. Suddenly, it surged outward like an explosion, sending great waves of snow bursting skyward in a waterfall-like spray. A blue sphere of light shot free, filled with murderous fury as it streaked toward Qian Xunji.
It was, of course, the Snow Empress, drawing in the Extreme North's power again and returning to peak form. Her white gown had been restored, but a footprint remained on her once-immaculate face, courtesy of Qian Xunji's boot, not so easily erased.
She nearly ground her silver teeth to dust, blood-red killing intent blazing from her eyes. For countless years, she had never suffered such humiliation. Even if she had to perish with him, she would kill Qian Xunji.
He, meanwhile, had no plan to battle the rampaging Snow Empress in a direct slugfest. Leveraging his superior speed, he circled her in the air above the watching soul beasts, occasionally launching golden fist strikes like a kite teasing its pursuer.
The Snow Empress roared, "What, the grand successor of the Angel God is just a cowardly turtle, only brave enough to flee through the sky and not daring to face me head-on?"
"You're one to talk. If you're so capable, then don't rely on the Extreme North's power either."
She said nothing more, lacking any retort to humiliate him in return.
Seeing everything unfold as planned, Qian Xunji called out, "Snow Empress, how about we make a bet?"
"What kind of bet?"
"We leave the Extreme North. I won't rely on my aerial advantage, and you don't rely on the power of your domain. Then we fight fairly, one on one."
Qian Xunji wore a calm expression, but inside he was thinking, Qian Daoliu, please arrive slowly—I've gone to great lengths to maneuver things to this point.
As long as he lured the Snow Empress out of the Extreme North, where there would be no assistance from other soul beasts, he and Qian Daoliu together could easily make her their prey.
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