Ao Li had never expected that the Spider Jade Sculpture she regarded as spoils of war could actually manifest the power of a formidable God and Ghost Appearance—and even be controlled by her enemy!
At this moment, the spider had received the blessing of the Soul Manipulating Spider Mother's God and Ghost Appearance, and its combat power was already approaching that of a perfected Dragon-Elephant cultivator!
But even so, she remained utterly fearless.
In the waters of Hunzhou, upon this vast ocean, no one of the same level was her match!
Ao Li no longer held anything back. Her surging power of the God and Ghost Appearance erupted, whipping up a tremendous snowstorm across the sea.
Countless icicles transformed into steel knives for flaying flesh, slicing toward the spider's God and Ghost Appearance!
This endless ocean was both the source of her Magic Power and her finest weapon!
Azure Pearl naturally knew that it could never defeat the Snow Woman before it.
But when had it ever thought of winning?
It had long since cast life and death to the back of its mind, seeking only to vent the fury in its heart upon its opponent.
The spider unleashed all its Magic Power, looking like a mad demon. It paid no heed to the ice and snow shredding its body, throwing itself onto its opponent and biting down savagely.
The Soul Manipulating Spider Mother's advantage in size, combined with the Insects and Vermin Appearance, made it far better at close-quarters combat than a God and Ghost Appearance like the Snow Woman!
For a time, Azure Pearl truly managed to suppress Ao Li!
However, both sides knew full well that this state could not last long!
The power of the God and Ghost Appearance that Azure Pearl had borrowed from the Spider Jade Sculpture was being rapidly depleted.
The scales of victory were tilting irreversibly toward Ao Li.
Slowly, Azure Pearl's God and Ghost Appearance began to crumble, and its enormous physical body became riddled with wounds as well.
Its consciousness had grown hazy, and even the sights before its eyes had begun to blur.
The memories of its life began to flash back one after another. Eight-tenths of those scenes were connected to Jing Su Shi.
Everyone in the world knew that the Old Madam of the Jing family had spent her life killing countless foes.
But in its memories, she was only a gentle, kindly elder sister.
The Soul Manipulating Spider Mother in everyone else's eyes was, in its eyes, simply the Su Xiaoxiao it could never forget.
Azure Pearl's aura gradually weakened. In its daze, it seemed to see the raft carrying Jing Qian appear once more at the edge of its vision.
It could not help mocking itself. It truly still could not let go of the little darling its elder sister had loved.
But there was little left that it could do!
With only its final reserve of Magic Power remaining, apart from maintaining that unique spell, it only hoped to make this great enemy before it suffer even the slightest injury.
Azure Pearl had indeed seen correctly!
Beyond this battlefield shrouded in ice and snow, Jing Qian had somehow broken free of the spider silk binding him. Driving away a school of fish, he had come riding on a raft!
The tiny figure held an Iron Skewer as long as he was tall, leveled it straight ahead, and struck a perfect horizontal line.
The Iron Skewer was just like a thrusting sword, and its tip pointed directly at the Snow Woman wrapped in ice and snow!
Holding the sharp blade, Jing Qian's heart was exceptionally calm.
Although the enemy before him was countless times stronger than he was,
he had practiced the sword since childhood and, over twenty years, had experienced no fewer than three thousand high-level swordsmanship bouts.
His talent had been limited, and his record was poor, with more losses than victories.
But that Sword Heart, which had endured defeat after defeat and risen to fight again, was something he believed inferior to no one's!
To strike the strong while weak, pursuing that fleeting thread of victory, was even more the swordsmanship carved into his bones!
What was more, after fixing his destiny and entering the Dao, he possessed extraordinary blessings. He was no longer an ordinary man.
As Azure Pearl wagered its final shred of Magic Power and launched its last, savage attack at the Snow Woman,
the sword in Jing Qian's hand thrust forward without hesitation!
Azure Pearl bit madly at the head of the Snow Woman's God and Ghost Appearance, fighting with a tragic desperation that disregarded everything else.
And its all-out struggle finally bore fruit!
The sturdy Snow Woman's God and Ghost Appearance was actually bitten open by it!
A conspicuous gap appeared in the Snow Woman's head, revealing the Ao Li hidden within.
The next second, endless ice and snow began gathering toward that damaged spot.
The Snow Woman's God and Ghost Appearance began repairing itself at incredible speed.
All of Azure Pearl's efforts would ultimately be in vain!
Yet just as the sliver of victory it had fought for with its life was about to vanish completely,
a frail figure appeared soundlessly at the damaged spot in the Snow Woman's God and Ghost Appearance.
Appearing with him was a streak of cold sword light, light as rippling water.
The sword light slipped gently through the sky of ice and snow and, in a feat that should have been impossible, pierced Ao Li between the brows!
This incomparably powerful Dragon-Elephant Divine Maiden was truly cut down by that sword light, all her Sheng Ji extinguished as she perished!
Azure Pearl's certain-death predicament was reversed in an instant!
It witnessed the appearance of that sword light with its own eyes, and a glimmer of disbelief flashed through them.
Then it hurriedly extended a ring of silk, catching in one sweep the child falling toward the ice after the God and Ghost Appearance disintegrated.
The child's face was pale, and he looked as though he were on the verge of collapse.
Yet he seemed completely unaware of it, merely grinning at Azure Pearl.
"Azure Pearl, Grandma Azure, we've met again!"
The demonic spider had also reached its limit. It lay feebly upon the ice, almost unable to move.
But the grandparent and grandchild had joined forces to slay the Snow Woman and avenge their family. That filled its heart with immense relief!
Azure Pearl involuntarily extended a strand of spider silk and gently brushed it across Jing Qian's cheek as a gesture of affection.
But in the next second, it flung Jing Qian toward the edge of the battlefield.
Under its precise control, Jing Qian landed safely on the raft he had arrived on.
Azure Pearl used its spider silk to tap the line tied to one end of the raft, the line connected to the school of fish.
The fish immediately swam away at top speed.
Just as Jing Qian was utterly baffled, another voice reached his ears.
"Little Qian, the Island Whale is about to arrive. Leave at once—don't let yourself be caught in it!"
"My injuries can no longer heal. Being able to see you personally kill Su Sis's enemy, I have no regrets left!"
"She must be overjoyed to have such an outstanding child as you!"
On the raft, Jing Qian, who was already almost completely drained of strength, stared fixedly at that vast expanse of man-made floating ice on the sea as it gradually receded from him.
He had not gone far when a gigantic shadow suddenly appeared beneath the floating ice!
The shadow covered an area a thousand kilometers across, completely enveloping the sheet of ice.
Then, an immense surge of Magic Power erupted from within that shadow.
Eyes wide with astonishment, Jing Qian watched an enormous deep-blue whale leap out of the water.
That colossal thousand-kilometer-long shadow was none other than the giant whale's wide-open maw!
And the floating ice, the Snow Woman, and Azure Pearl were all swallowed by the giant whale in a single gulp, right before Jing Qian's eyes!
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