Ice Crystal Brake Bow! (Seeking reads, don't hoard books!)

"Enough, I won't waste any more breath on you," Lu Nian sneered. "You're all going to die anyway. Hand them over now, and I might grant you a quick end!"

"If the new element is perfected, your names will be carved onto the Merit Monument, and the world will remember your contribution!"

Lu Nian had completely run out of patience.

Lan Yu slowly lowered his dagger. Seeing this, Lu Nian continued, "Previous test subjects lost their sanity because their tolerance wasn't high enough. Of course, once the drug wore off, they died immediately. To this day, not a single one has survived!"

Lu Zhenghe walked toward Lu Nian, trembling with fear. He was terrified that at this distance, Lan Yu might suddenly lash out and kill him, and that his older brother, Lu Nian, wouldn't be able to save him.

"You are treating human lives like dirt!" Mu Nujiao said, filled with immense fury.

"Heh, think what you want. The inspiration for this new element first came from a mutated parasitic organism..."

Lu Nian continued speaking; at this point, he didn't care whether such things were humane.

Even though the Five Continents Magic Association had strictly forbidden research into this new element, they would not give up.

Now they were getting closer and closer to success. As long as the demon was successfully born, this world would be under his, Lu Nian's, control!

"A parasitic organism? Are you trying to have living people be parasitized?" Mo Fan felt a tremor in his heart. Lu Nian's words couldn't help but remind him of the Scale-Skin Mother Demon.

"You don't need to know the specifics of how it's implemented. Go in peace!"

Lu Zhenghe had already reached the range where Lu Nian could protect him, so he naturally stopped wasting words.

After the order to kill was given, the mages behind Lu Nian began to draw their star patterns.

"Ice Crystal Brake Bow!"

Just then, a surge of incomparably frigid icy energy erupted from behind Lan Yu and the others.

Mu Ning Xue instantly transformed into an Ice Queen. In her left hand, a magic bow appeared that seemed capable of turning this entire world into a frozen wasteland!

Snow danced and ice permeated the air; the earth was being frantically frozen, and the low-hanging thunderclouds transformed into sheets of ice clouds.

With icy eyes filled with a hint of anger, Mu Ning Xue felt the magic energy in her body being drained, as if even her life force was being siphoned away by the Ice Crystal Brake Bow.

Even knowing it was harmful to her health, she used it anyway, because she had to gamble!

"A domain... a soul-grade ice seed! Impossible, absolutely impossible!!"

Lu Nian's eyes nearly split from his sockets. He never imagined that an ordinary Intermediate Mage could unleash an attack not inferior to a High-level spell.

The ice crystal arrow had finished condensing, its momentum overwhelming. As it stood ready to be fired, it had already whipped up a soul-shaking ice crystal storm!

At the very center of this ice crystal storm, Mu Ning Xue pulled the bowstring to its limit.

Whoosh—

As her fingertips released, the ice crystal arrow whistled out, sounding like the chilling melody of a zither amidst a frozen world.

The ice crystal arrow flew parallel to the ground, and everything in its path was frozen solid!

Lu Nian reacted extremely quickly, dodging to the side at the first possible moment.

The ice crystal arrow struck Lu Zhenghe's back fiercely and exploded instantly.

Thousands of gorgeous ice flowers bloomed, displaying a visually stunning display of ice-crystal freezing that turned everything in that area into ice!

The military mages at the very front were all frozen into lifelike ice sculptures, while those further back managed to avoid the fate of becoming statues thanks to their defensive magic equipment.

However, the extreme cold that invaded their bodies made them shiver uncontrollably, and their ability to think and mobilize magic energy was severely impaired.

No matter what, they never expected that an Intermediate Mage could summon an ice bow magic tool of such immense power.

Mu Ning Xue's silver hair, which had been flying wildly, went still and messy. Her face was deathly pale, and she was incredibly weak.

The Ice Crystal Brake Bow in her hand shattered into ice powder with a faint sound and slipped from her grasp.

Mu Ning Xue's figure staggered, and Mo Fan hurriedly supported her.

"Run!"

Shen Mingxiao and Luo Song ran the fastest, either riding the wind or using earth waves, and in the blink of an eye, they had bolted over a hundred meters away.

Mu Nujiao and the others had been stunned by that arrow, only snapping out of it the moment Shen Mingxiao, Luo Song, and the others ran off.

They looked at the deathly pale Mu Ning Xue, momentarily at a loss for how to express their gratitude.

"Wait, take Mu Ning Xue and go. Their target is me." Mo Fan glanced at the pale Mu Ning Xue, his thousands of words turning into a single request. "Old Lan, no matter what, don't let her die."

Lan Yu nodded, then quickly retreated with the others.

Mo Fan did not hesitate in the slightest, turning and running toward the perilous Jinlin Desolate City.

Mu Ning Xue's arrow just now could not kill them; it could only buy everyone a little time to escape.

Not long after everyone scattered and fled, Lu Nian and the military mages who hadn't been turned into ice sculptures had fully recovered.

Looking at Lu Zhenghe's terrified and desperate expression, Lu Nian's face turned icy cold.

"You lot, go and capture those people!" Lu Nian ordered several of the mages.

"Yes!" These individuals were not weak; after a brief rest, they chased after the direction in which Lan Yu and the others had fled.

"The rest of you, come with me. We absolutely cannot let that prime test subject get away!"

"Commander, what about them..."

"Since you cannot break free, then never break free again!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A total of eight ice sculptures were shattered, which meant that Mu Ningxue's previous arrow had instantly killed eight Intermediate Mages.

The urgent priority now was no longer a matter of silencing witnesses, but of capturing that kid with the innate dual elements first.

Once the new element was completed, it would become Lu Nian's trump card to rule over everything!

On the other side, Lan Yu, who was leading the group in their escape, suddenly stopped.

"Damn it, Old Lan, why did you suddenly stop? They're about to catch up!" Zhao Manyan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

"Why run? Let's take them out!"

Lan Yu summoned the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger; it would be a waste not to accept this meal delivered to his doorstep.

"Take them out? Just us?" Zhao Manyan felt like Lan Yu was joking. "Big brother, now is not the time for jokes."

"Do I look like I'm joking with you?" Lan Yu glanced at Zhao Manyan, then added, "They're already here."

Looking up, they saw ten snow-white Sky Eagles gradually closing in on them, with Intermediate magic auras brewing in the air.

"Attack!"

Aooo-roar—

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger let out an excited roar, the tiger's cry instantly intimidating the ten Sky Eagles.

It flapped its wings and took flight, its blood-red eyes filled with excitement.

It had eaten plenty of soul beasts and human soul masters before, and recently consumed the demon gallbladders and demon hearts of various monsters; it wondered what these human mages would taste like.

In the blink of an eye, one Sky Eagle Mage died in the jaws of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, and the Sky Eagle beneath him had its head sliced off by a single swipe of the tiger's claw.

"Great War General!"