After safely placing Yu Xiaogang, the fuse to that bomb, Qian Xunji didn't even drink another cup of tea in Seven Treasure City. He left town at once.
Seated in the carriage on his way back, he drew the curtains and sank his consciousness straight into the system.
"System, redeem that [Peerless Douluo Experience Card] for me."
[3000 Subversion Points deducted. Redemption successful. Current balance: 9000 points.]
Looking at the card glowing with a flowing dark-gold light in the system space, Qian Xunji let out a cold laugh.
Those Ferocious Beasts that had lived for hundreds of thousands of years had survival of the fittest carved into their bones. Try reasoning with her, and she'd hack you with an ice sword. You had to beat her into submission, pin her to the ground, and only then would she perk up her ears and listen.
"You go on ahead. I have something to take care of."
Qian Xunji kicked open the carriage door. Twelve Wings of Light burst open behind him, and he tore through the clouds like a dazzling golden meteor, once more charging toward that forbidden zone of life.
Far North,
Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Abyss.
The wind and snow still slashed through the air like knives.
This time, Qian Xunji couldn't even be bothered to hide his aura. He landed brazenly above the Ice Abyss, his twelve enormous wings shining brilliantly, making him look like a giant light source.
"Snow Empress, are you home? Do you like the dress?" Qian Xunji shouted at the top of his lungs.
The moment the words left his mouth,
a deafening boom erupted!
The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Platform below exploded, sending waves of ice more than ten meters high into the air. A surge of Ultimate Ice, even more violent than last time, shot skyward,
and Snow Empress's breathtaking figure burst out of the storm. She didn't even bother with an opening line; her face was so cold it could have scraped frost from the air.
[Emperor Sword: Ice Extreme Peerless]
A hundred-meter-long, ice-blue greatsword formed in an instant. With a piercing sonic boom, it came crashing down at Qian Xunji's head. The meaning was clear: today, one of them would die.
"Good! Come at me!"
Qian Xunji didn't dodge. His Level 95 peak Soul Power erupted without restraint.
"Seventh Soul Skill, [Pride: Original Sin Demon Sword]!"
He reached back and grabbed the air. A massive inverted-cross sword, dark gold from tip to hilt, was wrenched into existence, and he swung it straight at the Emperor Sword!
"Clang—!!!"
The golden and blue greatswords slammed into each other in midair. Terrifying waves of energy swept out, shearing the peaks off several nearby snow-covered mountains.
Qian Xunji felt a jolt through his tiger's mouth. Both arms went numb, and a stabbing chill crept along the sword hilt and into his meridians. Snow Empress, too, let out a muffled groan as the demon sword's true damage struck her, forcing her back more than ten meters.
"Not bad." Qian Xunji shook out his aching, numb arms.
As expected of the Ruler of the Far North. Fighting her here was like letting her constantly drain health and restore mana, while every bit of Soul Power he spent meant resisting the environment's suppression.
The two of them became streaks of light in midair, clashing furiously dozens of times. Overall, the fight stood at a four-to-six split: Qian Xunji had four, Snow Empress six.
"Human, you've indeed grown stronger, but you're not leaving today!"
Snow Empress had worked herself into a real fury. A trace of resolve flashed in her eyes as she abruptly pulled back and brought her hands together before her chest.
In an instant, the sky went dark.
The already-raging blizzard seemed to answer some ultimate summons, transforming into countless ice-and-snow tornadoes that stretched from heaven to earth. The temperature across the entire Extreme North Core Circle plummeted to absolute zero, cold enough to freeze even the soul!
The ultimate fusion of [Emperor Cold Heaven: Snow Dance Shining Sun] and [Great Cold Without Snow].
She was going to wipe the whole battlefield clean.
Looking at that devastating display, powerful enough to nearly crush space itself, Qian Xunji didn't get cocky. He flipped his wrist and crushed the golden Experience Card in his palm.
"I was only playing around with you. You really thought I couldn't handle you?"
Hum—
Just as Snow Empress's ultimate move was about to slam into his face, an utterly unreasonable pressure, one that surpassed the ordinary laws of Douluo Continent, erupted from within Qian Xunji!
Level 96... Level 97... Level 98... Level 99.
In less than half a second, Qian Xunji's cultivation shot up like a rocket, reaching the pinnacle of a Level 99 Limit Douluo!
Not only that, the Twelve-Winged Original Sin Fallen Angel's unreasonable rank and pressure were fully awakened, driven by his Limit Douluo cultivation!
"What?"
Snow Empress's eyes widened in shock. She felt the Far North's winds and snow, which she had summoned, actually grow sluggish beneath that pressure!
But this seventy-thousand-year-old Ferocious Beast was ruthless to the core. She didn't back down; instead, she bit the tip of her tongue and spat a mouthful of vital blood into the air, determined to force her ultimate strike down even if it meant grievous injury.
"Stubborn, aren't you?"
The hundred-thousand-year blood-red Spirit Ring beneath Qian Xunji's feet blazed with light.
"Fourth Soul Skill, [Wrath: World-Extinguishing Demon Light]!"
He didn't use any fancy techniques. Gripping the Original Sin Demon Sword in one hand, he turned his Level 99 Limit Soul Power into an immense beam of dark-gold light and blasted it straight into the blizzard filling the sky!
Rumble—!!!
This time, the collision wasn't evenly matched.
The dark-gold World-Destroying Demon Light tore through Snow Empress's domain like a storm through dry leaves. Snow Dance Shining Sun, said to freeze everything, crumbled inch by inch before that absolute force.
Still, Snow Empress's desperate resistance was nothing to sneeze at. Riding the shockwave from the beam, the remaining Ultimate Ice forced its way into Qian Xunji's Papal Robe and formed a thick layer of ice armor.
"Break!"
Qian Xunji snorted coldly and shattered the ice armor. His First Soul Ring flashed.
[Envy: Void Leap]
Ignoring the still-raging snow and ice around him, Qian Xunji vanished in an instant. The next second, he appeared directly behind Snow Empress.
Before she could turn around, the Original Sin Demon Sword in his hand was already resting against her pale, slender neck. His other hand clamped around her wrist like an iron vice, holding her firmly in midair.
The invisible shackles of his Level 99 Limit Soul Power crushed the Ultimate Ice within Snow Empress, pinning it down completely.
She couldn't break free.
It was an absolute crushing defeat.
Snow Empress clenched her teeth. She didn't beg for mercy, nor did her breathing grow unsteady. She only glared at him from the corner of her icy eyes, a hard-headed expression that said he could kill or dismember her as he pleased.
"Finished?"
Looking at her, Qian Xunji didn't laugh maniacally like a villain. Instead, he turned his wrist and put away the Original Sin Demon Sword, then released her as well.
He took two steps back, putting a relatively safe distance between them.
"Now, have you cooled your head? Can you listen to me for a couple of minutes?" Qian Xunji brushed the ice fragments off himself.
Snow Empress steadied herself, looking somewhat disheveled. She watched him warily without speaking, but she didn't attack again either. She knew perfectly well that if this man had wanted to kill her and take her Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone, she would already have been dead.
"I didn't come here today to flirt with you."
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