Life Hanging by a Thread

The pursuit battle in the Black Dragon Mountain Range had reached a white-hot stage. The once lush forest had been completely cleared into an open space by the aftershocks of the three fighters' battle.

Sword Qi, whip shadows, and a rain of frost arrows collided endlessly, bringing an unprecedented sight to this forest that had stood tranquil and peaceful for countless years. Trees fell one after another, patches of grass froze over, and the battle was so fierce it could even be called brutal.

Li Mu kept trying to close in on Beast Armor, no longer attacking with Sword Qi. Instead, he directly wielded the Shadowless Sword, unleashing technique after technique as he engaged the enemy, completely shielded by Frost Armor, in close combat. The black blade clashed continuously against the icy-blue armor.

The sharpness of the Shadowless Sword caused sword marks to appear on the armor that had previously remained utterly unscathed. Every sword mark required even more frost energy to repair, but as the marks steadily increased, the armor's repair speed clearly began to slow. After all, this was a mountain forest, not frost energy's home ground. Even if the Ice Serpent itself were here, it could not continuously draw such enormous quantities of frost energy from this stretch of heaven and earth—let alone Beast Armor, which had merely obtained a soul-bound form through sacrifice.

Realizing that something was wrong, Beast Armor continuously released freezing control, trying to replicate his earlier attack on Li Mu. However, Nie Xiaoyu, who had been helping Li Mu fend off the frost arrows from afar, did not let him have his way. Whenever frost energy tried to freeze Li Mu's feet, a golden whip shadow would lash out and sever the winding trail of frost flowing across the ground. This made the Beast Soul inside the Beast Tamer let out furious hisses again and again.

"Sure enough, the Frost Armor's recovery speed is getting slower and slower. It shouldn't be long before I can break it in one blow. One of the great secrets of a melee fighter facing a mage—drain all his mana!"

Everything was developing in the direction Li Mu had anticipated. The more impatient his opponent became, the faster he would expend his energy. And the frost energy available in this forest was clearly limited. Once a mage ran out of mana, he would be nothing but meat on the chopping block.

With a kite flip, he dodged a devious frost arrow. His longsword thrust straight out, points of cold starlight gleaming at the tip of the Shadowless Sword. Though it was still blocked by the Frost Armor, its tremendous force made Beast Armor grunt. Without giving him any chance to catch his breath, Li Mu leaped up and passed over Beast Armor's head. Sword light flashed sharply—it was Turn Back Split, one of the Li Family Sword Style's Three Sword Techniques.

The blade collided with the armor covering Beast Armor's back, and a fine crack abruptly appeared. Since the battle began, this was the first time the armor had failed to completely withstand Li Mu's attack.

Overjoyed, Li Mu continuously drew upon the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi within him. The Golden Vortex in his dantian spun madly, sending power endlessly throughout his body. Thrusts, slashes, chops—the Three Sword Techniques were pushed to their utmost limit by Li Mu. In order to maintain the Frost Armor's defense, Beast Armor, hard-pressed to cope, could no longer even sustain the frost arrows filling the sky and instead turned to fighting Li Mu with his physical body.

With the frost arrows gone, Nie Xiaoyu was freed up. Her golden-thread whip repeatedly struck at Beast Armor's joints, restricting his movements. The scales of victory gradually began to tip toward Li Mu and the two of them.

"Roar... roar..."

When it came to wielding frost energy, the Ice Serpent was indeed among the finest of low-level demon beasts. But in close combat, it was far inferior. As a serpent demon beast, it had gained a human body through its soul-bound form, but it had never had any experience with this kind of fighting that involved hands and feet. Now, driven into a corner, the Ice Serpent's Beast Soul let out waves of unwilling roars.

As Li Mu and Xiaoyu's attacks mounted, the cracks in the Frost Armor grew, and Beast Armor was forced back again and again. But how could Li Mu let this chance to pursue slip away? With a sword strike as swift as a startled swan casting its reflection, the seemingly indestructible Frost Armor finally shattered completely, revealing the naked body beneath.

"Xiaoyu! Now!"

At Li Mu's furious shout, the girl lightly tapped the ground with her jade-like feet. In several flashes, she had closed in beside Beast Armor. Her long whip swung out and wrapped directly around his ankles, then she exerted force in an instant, causing Beast Armor to lose his balance.

Black light flashed, and Li Mu's sword thrust out at that moment, aimed at his enemy's heart. Accompanied by Li Mu's roar, the Shadowless Sword surged forth with an unstoppable momentum. This strike would decide victory or defeat.

Li Mu could practically see the longsword piercing through his opponent's chest. Killing such a powerful Beast Tamer was undoubtedly an achievement any cultivator could take pride in.

But...

Reality was always exceptionally cruel. After all, he did not have a protagonist's plot armor like those in novels...

A deep-blue hand suddenly appeared and perfectly caught the Shadowless Sword's attack. The dense frost energy radiating from that hand was even stronger than before. Beast Armor's eyes now blazed with dazzling blue light, all his previous wretchedness and panic gone without a trace, replaced by a crafty smile.

"Not good, we've fallen for it!"

A huge blue fist appeared again and smashed fiercely into Li Mu's abdomen. This time, with his Martial Artifact caught, Li Mu could no longer dodge. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Before he could recover his senses, Beast Armor's fist came again. Wrapped in biting frost energy, it slammed directly into Li Mu's face, sending him flying once more. This time, no one could catch him. The immense force sent him crashing through seven or eight trees before he finally hit the ground and came to a stop.

Nie Xiaoyu, who had bound Beast Armor with her whip, fared no better. The Beast Tamer, now covered once again in Frost Armor, grabbed the golden-thread whip. With a pull, he lifted the girl bodily into the air and viciously swung her into a massive boulder. As the hard stone shattered, the girl suffered grave injuries in an instant. She collapsed to the ground, unable to move, blood pouring uncontrollably from her mouth.

Li Mu felt as though every bone in his body had shattered. Beast Armor's punch had absolutely not been the final gasp of a spent force, but a savage strike delivered at full strength.

Every one of his assumptions had been wrong—ridiculously wrong. What warrior fighting an ice mage? He had selfishly imagined this battle as one of his old game duels, assuming that Beast Armor, who wielded frost power, would have skill cooldowns, insufficient endurance, a frail body, and all sorts of such weaknesses. But those were only Li Mu's own illusions. Reality was nothing like that.

Ever since crossing over, everything had gone smoothly for him. Relying on a bit of cleverness, he had won battle after battle. Those victories had made Li Mu lose his calm judgment. He always dragged the cruel struggles of the Immortal Realm into the framework of his old online games, believing he could still control everything. His blind confidence had led to this crushing defeat, and the price might be his life.

Lying on the ground, Li Mu was filled with regret. If he had been more cautious and fled with all his strength from the start, perhaps there might have been a thread of survival. But now, both he and Xiaoyu had lost the ability to fight. They had truly reached the end of the road.

Watching Beast Armor walk step by step toward Xiaoyu in the distance, Li Mu wanted to crawl up and stop him, but his body refused to obey. He wanted to roar, but all that continuously spilled from his mouth was mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Xiaoyu, lying in the distance, was looking at him as well. Her face covered in blood, the girl was saying something to him. From the movement of her lips, it was clearly, "Run, run!"

Yet Li Mu could only watch helplessly as Beast Armor reached the girl, grabbed her by the hair, and lifted her straight up. Then he punched her in the abdomen. A great quantity of blood sprayed from the girl's mouth, and then her head drooped to one side.

Afterward, Beast Armor flung Nie Xiaoyu's body away as though throwing out garbage. The girl rolled several times across the ground before stopping, utterly motionless, her life or death unknown.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"