The Way to Break the Deadlock

The ice arrows carried immense frost power. Though they had not struck Li Mu directly, a horrifying patch of frostbite appeared on his cheek in an instant. The piercing pain made him grimace and bare his teeth.

There was no chance to catch his breath. Dozens of ice arrows flew relentlessly toward the two of them, almost sealing off the entire area. Vast stretches of grass began to freeze over, and even the air seemed affected by the low temperature, turning bitterly cold.

"Brother Mu, we can't keep dodging like this. He seems to have gained the Ice Serpent's abilities and can manipulate frost elements. We have to get close. I'll cover you."

Though Nie Xiaoyu was not especially strong, her extensive knowledge and ability to analyze a battle were her greatest strengths. After their brief exchange, she had already realized how to break this barrage of ice arrows.

The golden whip rose into the air, transforming into streaks of dazzling golden light as it collided with the incoming ice arrows. For a moment, it blocked every attack. At the same time, Li Mu moved, stepping out of their defensive perimeter and into the even fiercer rain of ice-blue arrows.

His footwork shifted fluidly as he dodged the ice arrows trying to intercept him. Xiaoyu's attacks coordinated with him at full force, shattering every arrow-shadow Li Mu could not evade in time as though they were his own shadow.

The distance of twenty paces vanished in an instant. After another dodge and roll, Li Mu had arrived within five paces of Beast Armor. World Origin Energy surged within him, and with a furious roar, he took another step forward.

Watching Li Mu close in, Beast Armor—whose body was now completely covered in frost—did not retreat as expected, nor did he show even the slightest panic. Instead, the instant he crouched, he slapped a palm against the ground before him.

A tyrannical force of frost rushed toward Li Mu along the grass, directly forming a frozen path across the ground. This icy trail spread at astonishing speed—so fast that before Li Mu could react, it had already reached his feet.

Crack! Li Mu's feet were frozen directly to the ground. His body came to an abrupt halt, and the attack he had been building up stopped short as well.

The sudden turn of events caught Li Mu off guard. He hastily exerted strength through his legs, trying to break free from the frost's restraints, but how could Beast Armor let such a perfect opportunity slip away? In an instant, he appeared before Li Mu and threw a punch at his face.

The fist covered in ice armor was as hard as steel, while the body bearing the Ice Serpent's Beast Soul possessed boundless strength. If this punch landed squarely, Li Mu would lose his ability to fight in moments. The only fate awaiting the two of them tonight would be slaughter.

In that split second, Li Mu's right hand, which had originally been about to draw back his sword to block, instead thrust forward. His target was Beast Armor's vital point—the chest. Seeing that they were about to wound each other, Beast Armor had no choice but to twist aside and evade the black sword edge, causing his punch to miss by half an inch.

The force of the fist still grazed past Li Mu's face, leaving a wound from which blood slowly seeped. Yet Li Mu was immensely relieved. His desperate, death-defying move had worked, neutralizing that lethal strike.

"Damn it, you're not even a mage! What's with throwing out an ice ring and locking me down?"

A flashy counterkill after crowd control—wasn't that supposed to be his script? Yet their roles had clearly been reversed. A thousand grass-mud horses stampeded through Li Mu's heart. So much for justice always prevailing; ever since entering the Black Dragon Mountain Range, he had done nothing but get beaten up.

When Nie Xiaoyu saw Li Mu suddenly controlled, followed by that earthshaking punch, her heart leaped into her throat. It was already too late for her whip to rescue him, and she could only watch helplessly. Fortunately, Li Mu's strike, born from facing death, resolved the crisis. She hurried forward to receive the rapidly retreating Li Mu, and the sight of blood streaming down his face made the girl's heart ache.

"This guy is completely a humanoid monster now. It's hard to get close under his ranged attacks, and even if we do get close, he can still use area control. And with that ice armor... I seriously doubt we could break his defense even after escaping his control. Damn it, if this were a game, he'd absolutely be a top-tier boss. He has no weaknesses."

The power Beast Armor had gained after sacrificing the Ice Serpent left Li Mu at a loss. It was as though every path had been blocked, and anxiety filled his heart. If he could not break this deadlock, he and Xiaoyu would truly be buried here today.

"Brother Mu, don't panic. Calm down. I believe you'll definitely find a way."

Just as Li Mu's thoughts were in complete turmoil, a soft, boneless hand gently grasped his arm. The girl's resolute gaze and her absolute faith in him instantly ignited his fighting spirit. In that moment, he felt the same hot-blooded urge he had once felt carrying girls to higher ranks in online games.

Li Mu, calm down. There has to be a way to break this. Imagine it—this guy is an ice mage now. How did warriors fight ice mages back on Azeroth Continent? Remember... quickly...

Beast Armor did not press his advantage, but the frost energy around his body grew denser and denser. At some point, his eyes had turned blue, giving him an eerie air.

"Xiaoyu, help me block the ice arrows. I'm still going in close to look for an opening. First, let's test how strong that Frost Armor's defense is."

Li Mu carefully recalled the countless times he had killed ice mage players in the arena of Stranglethorn Vale. In the end, it came down to four words: get close, then burst. In games, the strengths and weaknesses of every class were balanced. When you possessed extreme range and terrifying control, frailty inevitably became your weakness.

The same principle applied to the monster system of this Immortal Realm. Take the Ice Serpent, for instance. It possessed unparalleled control over frost elements, but its physical body was relatively fragile. Thus, Li Mu had reason to believe that Beast Armor, who had gained soul symbiosis by sacrificing the Ice Serpent, would not possess the same indestructible body he had after sacrificing the Bloodthirsty Rat.

Moreover, two other details supported Li Mu's judgment. Since the battle began, Beast Armor had remained rooted in place without moving at all, relying only on continuously forming ice arrows from thin air to attack Li Mu and Xiaoyu. And the Frost Armor covering his body had constantly been absorbing frost energy from the surroundings, a process that had never ceased.

Thus, Li Mu made a bold guess: just like an ice mage in a game, Beast Armor could not move while casting Ice Arrows. Put simply, he needed to channel.

The Frost Armor was also his only means of defense. The flesh beneath the armor had to be the weakness of this form, which was why he continued reinforcing the armor despite the enormous consumption of frost energy.

Having figured it all out, Li Mu revealed his first smile of the night. He gave the Shadowless Sword a carefree sweep, already knowing how to claim victory.

The ice arrows filling the sky continued without end as Li Mu and Xiaoyu kept flashing about, dodging attack after attack. The process remained fraught with danger. The barrage controlled by Beast Armor grew increasingly tricky, and wounds gradually began to appear on both of them.

But Li Mu was by no means merely taking a beating. He repeatedly gathered Sword Qi and unleashed the sweeping and slashing moves of his family's swordsmanship. White crescent-shaped sword blades frequently pierced through the rain of ice arrows and struck Beast Armor, yet none of them broke through the Frost Armor's defense.

As another blast of Sword Qi was blocked by the armor, Li Mu retreated and landed beside Nie Xiaoyu. Each swallowed several Qi Replenishing Pills, then circulated their cultivation techniques to restore the World Origin Energy within their bodies.

"Xiaoyu, I've more or less worked it out. Let's end this battle next. In a moment... do this... and that'll do."

Looking at the Beast Tamer before him, whose eyes flickered with icy-blue light, Li Mu could not help marveling at the wonder of the Sacrificial Symbiosis Art. Yet the fact that the body could only be used by one soul at a time was the fatal flaw of this mysterious technique. Just imagine—if one could borrow a monster's abilities while retaining one's own consciousness, what an overpowered cultivation art that would be.

"Xiaoyu, it's time. Let's go!"

Wondering aside, tonight's struggle between life and death had to have a victor. Li Mu's sword rang with clear cries in the darkness. His body moved like a roaming dragon, skimming close to the ground, utterly unconcerned with the ice arrows around him, for golden whip-shadows continuously shattered every ice arrow in his path.

The youth in white, agile as a soaring dragon, weaved through the sky full of ice-blue arrows; the girl in violet, graceful as a startled swan, wielded her golden-threaded whip like thunder to clear a path for the youth's breakthrough.

This was the final strike—and a desperate gamble of life and death.