His swordsmanship was only just on display when everyone realized they had encountered an expert. One after another, they dropped to their knees with a series of thuds. Yan Chihuo shook his head and asked, "Who are you people? Why are you so determined to gather this Snow Soul Essence? What is it for? And what was that monster you mentioned just now?"
Xuan Ming steadied himself and said, "Senior, please put your sword away. I really can't take this."
Yan Chihuo shook his head, slipped the sword back into its sheath, and said, "Speak. Quickly."
Xuan Ming said, "We're from Black Wind Stronghold, at the foot of the Qiong Mountain Range. Our stronghold master is called Tie Wushuang..." At this point, he stole a glance at Yan Chihuo, but saw that the other man seemed utterly unconcerned. The stronghold master is already at the Body Tempering Middle Stage. This man doesn't seem to care at all. I'd better not offend him. Little did he know that Yan Chihuo had only just arrived here and knew nothing about Black Wind Stronghold. Even if Tie Wushuang had been at the Qi Gathering Stage, he wouldn't have cared.
He continued, "We're all disciples of the stronghold master. We were living just fine at Black Wind Stronghold until a woman called Ru Shuang showed up a few days ago. She subdued all of us cultivators, including the stronghold master, and made us come here to dig up Snow Soul Essence."
Yan Chihuo asked, "What does she want the Snow Soul Essence for?"
Xuan Ming said, "At first, we didn't know either. Later, we learned that she was Lady Red Glow's maidservant, and was skilled in dual cultivation through the art of harvesting. Though Snow Soul Essence grows in bitterly cold places, taking it makes the whole body burn with heat. They say it can stimulate the vital energy within the body, and it's a primary ingredient in aphrodisiac pills and the like. The stronghold master led us here to gather it, but there was an Ice Poison Scorpion here. Its cultivation had reached the peak of the Body Tempering Middle Stage. The stronghold master led us in a hard-fought battle against it. In the end, it killed six of our strongest fighters, including the stronghold master, though we managed to badly wound it too."
Yan Chihuo showed no emotion, but inwardly he was startled. Even an injured monster at the peak of the Body Tempering Middle Stage could not be underestimated.
He asked, "Do you know a person called the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon?"
"I've heard of the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon," Xuan Ming said. "He's somewhere in the Qiong Mountain Range, but he's elusive. I don't know where he is."
Just then, a burly man in black said, "I don't know where the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon is, but I did see him once, the day before yesterday."
Xuan Ming stared at him in alarm. "Are you crazy? How dare you say such a thing?" He had traveled with the man in black all this way, and didn't believe he had ever seen the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon.
The man in black said, "I really did see him."
Yan Chihuo could tell he wasn't making it up, so he asked, "Where did you see him?"
"Outside Ice Snow Valley, there's a small town. We passed through there the day before yesterday and saw him."
Yan Chihuo's expression darkened. "How do you know he was the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon? Had you seen him before?"
"Though my cultivation is poor, I have one natural talent: my nose is exceptionally keen. He once made a deal with the stronghold master, and I saw him then and remembered his scent. When I saw him the day before yesterday, he looked different, but his scent hadn't changed. I didn't remember at the time, but when I heard you ask about him just now, it all came back to me."
Yan Chihuo went over the man's words twice and found no apparent flaw. Just as he was pondering, a strange cry rang out from outside. Xuan Ming and the others all changed color at the sound.
Yan Chihuo paused, then quickly understood. "Was that the Ice Poison Scorpion?"
Though Xuan Ming and the others had said they would kill the scorpion, they had been uneasy the whole time. Now that Yan Chihuo had asked, they remembered that an expert was here with them and hurriedly said, "That's right. It's that monster."
As they spoke, the temple gate burst into pieces with a bang. A snow-white scorpion, over a zhang long, appeared before them. Its two front pincers were nearly three feet long, and its long poisonous tail stretched seven or eight feet. Two men standing nearby turned and ran as soon as they saw it.
The scorpion opened its mouth and spat out a stream of white mist. It engulfed one man, freezing him into a pillar of ice in an instant. Through the ice, they could still see the fear on his face. At the same time, it swung one poisonous pincer at another man. He held a massive axe and raised it to block. With a clang, the pincer pierced the axe blade and struck him in the chest. A layer of white mist rose from his body and turned to ice.
Seeing the Ice Poison Scorpion kill two men with one attack, Yan Chihuo felt a chill in his heart. He drew his sword with one hand and secretly gripped the Snake Scale with the other. The rest of the group quickly huddled behind him. Seeing this, the scorpion took Yan Chihuo for their leader and its chief enemy. It sprang forward, bared its fangs, and spat out another stream of freezing air, while its two front pincers swept in from either side.
The scorpion was as fast as lightning. If its pincers closed, Yan Chihuo would have nowhere to dodge. But in that split second, he turned his body and slipped through the gap between the scorpion's pincers like a slick fish, before they could snap shut. Two men behind him were too slow to dodge and were caught in the freezing air, becoming ice pillars.
Yan Chihuo had no time to worry about anyone else. He brought his sword down in a single slash. White light flashed over the scorpion, and an ice wall appeared in front of it—the low-tier ice-attribute defensive spell Water-to-Ice Transformation. With a bang, Yan Chihuo's slash shattered the wall. The Ice Poison Scorpion knew it was outmatched and sprang back several zhang.
Yan Chihuo did not let up. He leaped into the air, gripped his sword with both hands, and brought it down in another vicious slash. The strike was fast and fierce, but the scorpion was even faster. It shifted aside, and the sword struck the ground. With a crack, a fissure split the earth.
The scorpion spat out another stream of freezing air from the side. Yan Chihuo couldn't dodge in time, but he had already prepared for this and immediately used Stone Armor Art. Black light flashed, and a layer of black armor appeared over his body. The freezing air engulfed him, instantly turning him into an ice pillar.
Everyone was horrified, certain that he was doomed. Then came a series of cracking sounds, followed by a bang. The ice covering Yan Chihuo shattered and flew in all directions.
The scorpion's Mystic Ice Technique was powerful, but its injuries had not yet healed. The freezing air had not penetrated Yan Chihuo's body, allowing him to break free. But the scorpion reacted just as quickly. As the ice fragments flew, it lunged forward, thrusting the poisonous hook at the end of its tail toward Yan Chihuo.
Though Yan Chihuo was protected by Stone Armor Art, the Ice Poison Scorpion's cultivation was at the peak of the Body Tempering Middle Stage. Even injured, he had not the slightest confidence that Stone Armor Art could withstand this strike.
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