Grandmaster? What a Joke! Before Absolute Power, Your Theories Are Meaningless!

It was as if an invisible Poison Serpent had fixed its gaze on her, making every muscle in her body tense instinctively.

This was definitely not a feeling brought on by the exhaustion of a long journey.

"I feel... something's wrong!"

Liu Erlong suddenly yanked the reins tight, her fiery red hair whipping wildly in the gale.

Her sharp gaze swept toward the cliff jutting out ahead like the fang of some colossal beast.

The slope was narrow and steep, with bare rock walls on both sides.

Above them, an Eagle Beak Rock slanted forward, casting a vast and ominous shadow.

This was the most dangerous stretch of the entire Ancient Path.

The sudden stop threw Yu Xiaogang forward, and he broke into a violent coughing fit before asking between gasps,

"Erlong... what is it?"

"Too quiet..."

Liu Erlong kept her voice extremely low, a trace of tension in it.

"The wind sounds wrong. No birds, no beasts... there's killing intent!"

Her martial soul, the Crimson Dragon, was already roaring within her body, ready to burst forth at any moment.

It was an instinctive perception of mortal danger.

However, her warning had come too late.

The instant Liu Erlong's words fell, an ultimate chill descended without warning!

"Crack! Crack-crack—!"

Centered on Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong, the ground and rock walls for hundreds of meters around them—

Even the howling gale—were instantly coated in a layer of rapidly spreading dark blue ice.

The two fine horses did not even have time to cry out before turning into lifelike ice sculptures, frozen in place in mid-gallop.

Yu Xiaogang only felt an irresistible, bone-piercing cold invade every limb and bone in an instant.

His blood seemed to freeze, and his thoughts went blank from the cold.

His body was too stiff to move, leaving only his eyes to reflect that nightmare-like figure.

A massive throne formed entirely from translucent Dark Blue Mystic Ice appeared out of thin air at the edge of Eagle Beak Rock.

Ye Xian sat high upon it, his Dark Papal Robe utterly still in the freezing wind.

The Ice Crystal Crown refracted the last glimmer of the setting sun. His icy gaze descended indifferently, like that of a god looking down upon dust.

To his left, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan wore a sinister, cruel smile.

The phantom of a Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum bloomed soundlessly behind him, its golden petals radiating a deadly sharpness.

To his right, Saintess Qian Renxue was bathed in the gentle yet steadfast Holy Light of the Six Winged Archangel.

Her breathtaking face remained tranquil, yet an almost imperceptible complexity flickered deep within her golden eyes.

"Yu Xiaogang."

Ye Xian's cold voice was like Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice grinding against itself, piercing clearly through the howling wind.

Every word hammered against Yu Xiaogang's fraying nerves.

"I have been waiting for you for quite some time. You really have some nerve. Instead of staying obediently in Heaven Dou City, where were you planning to go?"

"Spirit Hall—!!"

A world-shaking roar erupted like a volcano as dazzling crimson light burst from Liu Erlong's body.

Seven soul rings rose abruptly, and violent fiery Soul Power exploded outward.

It dispersed the chill around her.

Her entire body twisted and expanded within the flames.

"Roar—!!"

A deafening dragon roar tore through the sky.

A scarlet fire dragon phantom over fifteen meters long burst from the flames and appeared majestically.

Its scales resembled burning brands, while its dragon eyes spewed fury capable of incinerating everything.

Liu Erlong had directly activated her strongest seventh soul skill—Crimson Dragon True Body.

Violent dragon might mixed with scorching heat, barely resisting a trace of Ye Xian's cold aura.

The air warped from the heat, and vast clouds of white mist rose.

But it was of no use whatsoever to the already frozen Yu Xiaogang beside her.

"Let Xiaogang go!!"

Liu Erlong's voice in her dragon form rolled like thunder.

Her massive dragon claw, carrying terrifying force capable of tearing space apart and trailing heaven-burning flames, savagely slammed down at Ye Xian atop the Frost King Throne.

Wherever the flames passed, even space hissed.

This was her all-out, life-risking strike, condensed from every ounce of her fury.

Facing the berserk dragon claw powerful enough to burn mountains and boil seas, not even the faintest ripple appeared in Ye Xian's ice-blue eyes.

He merely raised his right hand casually and lightly pointed his index finger at the enormous flaming dragon claw that blotted out the sky.

"Know your place!"

The movement appeared slow, yet it seemed to transcend the shackles of time.

"Whoosh—!"

An Ice-blue beam condensed to an indescribable degree shot from Ye Xian's fingertip in an instant.

It was as thin as a strand of hair, yet shone as brilliantly as a star in the polar night.

Wherever it passed, space was silently frozen and torn apart, leaving behind a dark blue trail that lingered for a long time.

The heaven-burning flames, the violent dragon might, the terrifying power enough to shatter mountains...

Before that ice-blue beam, they were as fragile as bubbles beneath the sun.

"Pfft!"

A faint piercing sound, nearly too soft to hear, rang out.

The Ice-blue beam struck with flawless precision at the center of the enormous flaming dragon claw's palm.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

The scarlet phantom behind Liu Erlong, with its momentum capable of burning the eight wastelands, instantly stiffened.

The overwhelming fury in its dragon eyes was completely replaced by extreme shock and disbelief.

"Crack—!"

Fine fractures in the ice spread outward from the point where the beam struck.

Like a spiderweb, they crazily spread at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye.

In an instant, they covered the entire enormous flaming dragon claw.

Then came the dragon arm, dragon body, dragon wings, dragon head...

The scorching flames were mercilessly covered and devoured by dark blue ice.

The incomparably mighty Crimson Dragon phantom, beneath Yu Xiaogang's despair-ridden gaze,

Was instantly covered in crisscrossing ice fractures like an exquisite glasswork masterpiece.

The next moment—

"Boom—!!"

A deafening explosion echoed through Blackwind Canyon.

Liu Erlong's enormous Crimson Dragon phantom exploded with a thunderous crash!

Countless crystalline shards of Ice Crystal, glinting with dark blue frost light, burst outward like billions of stars.

Illuminated by the blood-red afterglow of the setting sun, they drifted down in a swirling shower.

Liu Erlong spat out a mouthful of blood and was hurled backward.

"No—! Erlong—!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes split with rage, his heart seeming to be crushed viciously by an invisible icy hand.

His overwhelming grief briefly broke through the chill's restraints.

He struggled to throw himself toward the ice crystals filling the sky, but the immense blow and the cold sent his body crumpling to the ground.

He could only watch helplessly as Liu Erlong, the woman he loved, crashed to the ground, her life and death unknown.

Ye Xian slowly withdrew his finger, and the cold mist curling around its tip drifted away.

His icy gaze fell upon Yu Xiaogang, sprawled on the ground like a madman.

As if he were looking at an ant struggling futilely in despair.

"Did you see that, Yu Xiaogang?"

Ye Xian's voice was like the freezing wind from Nine Nether, devoid of even a trace of emotion, yet carrying a cruelty that could freeze one's soul.

"Grandmaster?"

"What a joke!"

"Before absolute power, your theories are meaningless."

"They cannot save the sect you cherish, cannot save the lover who depends on you, and cannot save... yourself!"