Li Qingshan caught her within his arms. He opened his mouth but no word would come out.

The dragon twister roared in rage and bombarded Soaring Dragon Elder’s body, pounding him down to earth and tightly pressing him down. It spun at high speed and bore down like a drill, wrecking the firmly frozen grounds to pieces. Dust splattered everywhere.

The dragon twister transformed from a white snow dragon to a black earth dragon.

Great boulders rolled inside the mountain ravine and gravel scattered to all sides.

Gu Yanying’s face sank down like water. She’d rushed up as soon as she’d obtained the news from Black Mouse Mountain’s Great Mouse King, but she hadn’t thought she’d still be one step too late. Her gaze fixated tightly on the ground the dragon twister had broken. “Take her away!”

A golden core master would definitely not be so easily killed. She had enough self-confidence she could display her skills with ease and not fall downwind in a one versus one duel, but it would be almost impossible if she had to protect two people.

Rays of light shot out from the deep hole dug by the dragon twister. Several dozen beams of sword light shattered the dragon hurricane in an instant. Soaring Dragon Elder rose, his body enveloped in a globe-shaped aegis made of spiritual light.

“Gu Yanying, you can’t stop me!” A trail of fresh blood oozed from the corner of his mouth. It seemed that forcibly withstanding that attack hadn’t been pleasant for him either, but the resolve exuding from his eyes was invulnerable like a G.o.dly weapon smelted a hundred times.

“Cut the boasting!” Gu Yanying had also been stirred into true anger. “Heavenly Dance of a Hundred Dragons!” With a flourish of the jade-ribbed folding fan, a hundred dragon twisters charged sideways and knocked straight-on, twisting murderously toward Soaring Dragon Elder from different directions and different angles.

Everything standing in the paths of the dragon hurricanes were torn into shreds. Deep gullies were left one after another on the ground and the walls of the precipices. Great trees that would require many men to wrap around were one and all pulled out down to the roots, sucked into the dragon tornadoes, then wrung into pieces.

Death and chaos had descended in the s.p.a.ce of an instant, causing cracked earth and landslides; it seemed like the end of days.

Soaring Dragon Elder’s expression became increasingly determined. He bit open the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood on the Soaring Dragon Sword.

The Black Wind camp master Xiong Xiangwu had been able to use his fresh blood to trigger a spiritual talisman even with a mortal’s body, then display a power far exceeding his real strength. Just what kind of fearsome technique would be launched when a golden core master used this move?

The longsword immediately twisted like a living creature as soon as it was tainted with fresh blood. It transformed into a golden dragon more than a hundred feet long amidst dazzling rays of light. It wasn’t that it resembled a dragon, it was a genuine complete dragon possessing scales and claws, shaking its head and swaying its tail. It didn’t fall downwind in the slightest as it tangled together with these dragon hurricanes, even if it fought a hundred by itself.

“You’re crazy!” Gu Yanying’s face exposed shock. It wasn’t as simple as spitting some blood like mortals when it came to golden core masters. Rather, it would damage his cultivation; no one would casually use it for ordinary reasons.

The golden dragon defeated the dragon twisters one by one. Its own spiritual light also gradually dimmed down.

Soaring Dragon Elder took out a daoist talisman from inside his Sumeru finger ring1. “Heavenly Fate Elder had long ago calculated there would be some hindrances on this journey.”

“Purple talisman!” Gu Yanying’s face became even graver. Among the dao of talismans, yellow talismans were bottom, crimson talisman were medium, and purple talisman were upper. The differences between their respective might were as far as the distance between heaven and earth. Purple talismans could only be manufactured by nascent soul cultivators, and furthermore they were one-off things. They were extremely rare even for golden core cultivators and were treated as life-saving talismans. He was actually willing to take it out.

“Shackles of Heaven and Earth, seal!”

Li Qingshan had picked up Halfmoon and leaped up the ravine, rushing toward that stretch of ice precipice to the north.

Little An followed tightly behind. Li Qingshan told him with a roar, “Go away, don’t follow me!” If Gu Yanying couldn’t stop Soaring Dragon Elder and they were to be pursued, then following him was a road straight to death.

Little An still followed, unwilling to leave. Li Qingshan said, “Are you deaf?” He waved his hand and slapped him away, sending him flying out several dozen feet.

Little An stared blankly at him. Li Qingshan turned his head. “Find a place to hide, don’t come out no matter what!” He left without any hesitation.

Li Qingshan carried Halfmoon and traveled forward toward the Ice Sword Cliff. He could still sense the spiritual light soaring to the sky behind him even after leaving ten miles away. The squall surged. There was a patch of wetness on his hands, a thick and strong color of blood.

Halfmoon’s face was pale white as she said wanly, “You’re a good owner!”

Li Qingshan said, “Shut your mouth, don’t talk!”

Halfmoon said, “Good or bad I’m still your mistress hey, can’t you be a bit more polite. You get angry and start arguing at the slightest thing, you’re simply even unrulier than me.”

He didn’t know how long he’d been sprinting inside the snowstorm, an instant or maybe a year. He suddenly lifted his head. An ice cliff barred his way. They finally arrived.

The sight from far away was already stunning. He was nearly terrified by this creation of heaven and earth crafted by the G.o.ds when he stood at the foot of the Ice Sword Cliff. He couldn’t see the top of the cliff when he raised his head. It went on for who knew how many dozen thousand feet, and seemed about to topple over.

Li Qingshan gritted his teeth. He stretched his hand and touched the ice cliff. A gloomy chilliness penetrated directly inside down to his marrow. His claws that could cut metal and break jade only left slight faint traces on the ice. It was definitely not an ordinary block of ice.

Halfmoon opened her eyes. “Finally here. The legends have it this Ice Sword Cliff is a divine sword a G.o.d dropped down. Not a single bit or piece of it ever melted since the day it appeared, and on the contrary it keeps freezing and growing. It’s very hard to climb, we can’t go up relying on you.”

Li Qingshan said, “You just shut your trap. Hug me tight!” He carried Halfmoon on his back and let her hug his neck, then he stretched out his sharp claws and fastened them on the ice rampart. But he remembered as soon as he was about to lift his feet that his feet weren’t human feet anymore, but a pair of iron hooves.

The wall of ice was hard as steel, perfectly straight and smooth. It was harder to climb than any other precipice, and it was absolutely impossible to climb without the leverage from a pair of feet.

“Meowhahaha!” Halfmoon laughed up heartlessly just like when she used to bully Li Qingshan in days gone by. It was only that her laughter became increasingly weak and powerless, easily covered by the wind and the snow.

Boom!

Li Qingshan punched a heavy fist on the ice cliff, then knelt on the ground.

They’d come here after thousand trials and hardships, but they couldn’t go one step further. The Ice Sword Cliff was truly like a giant sword that severed all of his hopes.

I’m not resigned!

The [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets] revolved crazily inside him. Almost like a miracle, his pair of feet actually recovered. They were much bigger than ordinary feet, and the nails were also sharp claws, but it was still a true genuine pair of feet and not hooves.

One could only restore human shape after cultivating to the first layer, but he’d forcibly restored his pair of feet by relying on his mind and spirit.

Halfmoon said in astonishment, “Really powerful!”

Li Qingshan had no time to focus on his surprise and delight. He leaped on the ice cliff. “We’re setting off!”

Li Qingshan carried Halfmoon on his back and climbed up step by step inside the blizzard, his sharp claws deeply spiking into the chilly ice.

The chilliness continuously permeated inside his skin and froze the marrow of his bones. He couldn’t see the sky and couldn’t see the ground; it seemed there were only the two of them left in the world as they advanced through extraordinarily arduous efforts.

“What good stuff does the Dragon province have? Is that nine-tailed fox empress beautiful? More beautiful than concubine Serenity?” Li Qingshan prattled on endlessly. He who kept telling Halfmoon to shut her mouth actually chattered and jabbered on and on at this moment, because he could only maintain his consciousness through his utmost efforts, not letting the frigid cold capture his mind, not letting despair wear him down.

Because Halfmoon’s body became gradually cold as ice, gradually silent. Her eyes were closed as she leaned against Li Qingshan’s back, answering perfunctorily, “Of course… beautiful…”

There was no telling whether it was because her voice was too feeble, but it was engulfed by the noise of the wind.

Li Qingshan kept saying, “Persevere on, I’ll definitely take you, take you to the Dragon province.”

“I still haven’t heard you call me mistress?”

1. A Sumeru ring is presumably a ring shaped to be symbol of Sumeru, also known as Mt. Meru, a mountain supposed to be the center of all the universes physical or metaphysical in Buddhist cosmology (among others).