Luo Yun moved.
The Destruction Wings spread wide behind him, and he shot toward Snow Empress like a meteor.
The Moon Eclipse Sword led the way, its tip gathering a sphere of Destruction Power compressed to the extreme. Purple-black light condensed along the blade, tearing through the air and heaving up the ice wherever it passed.
Snow Empress raised her right hand and spread her fingers.
Ice-blue Soul Power gathered in her palm, forming a fist-sized orb. It burst open, transforming into an all-encompassing Ice and Snow Storm that swept toward Luo Yun.
Countless tiny ice blades spun and sliced through the storm. Each one was sharp enough to cut steel, and they reflected a cold glint beneath the vast daylight of the Far North.
Luo Yun didn't slow down.
The Moon Eclipse Sword thrust straight into the heart of the storm.
The moment Destruction Sword Qi collided with the Ice and Snow Storm, a muffled boom rang out.
Purple-black lightning and an ice-blue storm intertwined, tearing at, devouring, and annihilating each other.
The ice blades were ground to powder by Destruction Thunder before they could come within three feet of Luo Yun. Snowflakes evaporated into white mist the instant they touched the purple-black sword qi.
Luo Yun burst through the storm. His robe had been slashed in several places, but not a drop of blood had been drawn.
Snow Empress's brow furrowed slightly.
Even Ferocious Beasts of her own rank wouldn't dare charge headlong into her Ice and Snow Storm. How had this six-year-old child just charged right through it?
She reacted in a flash. Her right hand curled, and an Ice Crystal Sword took shape in her palm, its blade clear as a mirror.
With a turn of her wrist, the Ice Crystal Sword traced a perfect arc through the air, a stream of ice-blue light flowing along its path.
"Imperial Sword: Ice Extreme Unrivaled!"
Snow Empress's voice rang across the Ice Plains, clear and cold.
The enormous Ice Crystal Sword slashed down at Luo Yun.
This was one of the Snow Empress's Three Absolutes: Imperial Sword: Ice Extreme Unrivaled.
It carried the will to freeze all things—unreasonable and giving no quarter.
On Ice Hill, Ice Empress's pincers sprang wide. Her turquoise vertical pupils were filled with shock.
Luo Yun closed his eyes, then opened them again.
Purple-gold light burst from deep within his scarlet eyes.
In that instant, he drove the Origin of Destruction to its limit. The purple-black lightning on the Moon Eclipse Sword swelled several times over. No longer mere flickering arcs, it became thick as an arm, a lightning dragon surging wildly along the blade.
He gripped the sword with both hands and swung it upward from below, the blade tracing an arc through the air.
"Nirvana Void."
Luo Yun's voice was quiet, but above the roar of Destruction Thunder, every word rang out perfectly clear.
The mass of purple-black Destruction Power on the Moon Eclipse Sword exploded.
Purple-black light spread outward from the Moon Eclipse Sword. It tore through the air, fine cracks appeared in space, light was swallowed, sound was annihilated, and all things fell into nothingness.
Imperial Sword: Ice Extreme Unrivaled collided with Nirvana Void.
An ice-blue beam and purple-black light crashed together in midair. There was no deafening boom, no explosion—only a teeth-grinding sound, like metal being wrenched apart.
The two forces tore at each other with wild ferocity at the point of impact. The ice-blue light tried to freeze everything, while the purple-black light tried to destroy it all.
Standing on Ice Hill, Ice Empress raised her pincers in front of herself and narrowed her eyes at the clashing forces. Her heart pounded as if it were about to leap out of her throat.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
Boom!
Both forces exploded at the same time.
The shock wave spread outward from the point of impact, lifting a vast sheet of ice several feet thick from the Ice Plains. Shattered ice and snow were swept skyward by the blast, forming a giant mushroom cloud.
The shock wave drove Ice Empress back several steps. She plunged her pincers deep into the ice before she could steady herself.
The dust settled.
Luo Yun and Snow Empress both retreated several steps.
Luo Yun staggered back seven paces. He plunged the Moon Eclipse Sword into the ice, driving the blade deep into the frozen layer before he managed to steady himself.
A trace of blood marked the corner of his mouth, but the emerald-green light surging from his left hand quickly healed him.
Snow Empress retreated three paces. She planted the Ice Crystal Sword on the ground, its blade covered in fine cracks, with several sections already shattered and fallen away.
Her chest rose and fell slightly. Her ice-blue eyes fixed on Luo Yun, their gaze even more grave than before.
If her Imperial Sword had been even a little weaker, that last strike from the child might have made her the loser.
Luo Yun stood in place, the golden-green light in his left palm growing brighter and brighter.
The Source of Life churned wildly within him. An emerald-green glow spread from his left hand over his whole body. His injured meridians healed wherever it passed, his depleted Soul Power recovered, and even the holes in his robe mended before their eyes.
In the blink of an eye, he was back at his peak.
Snow Empress's pupils contracted slightly. She stared at the golden-green glow in Luo Yun's left hand, her brow furrowing into a knot.
Destruction Power was already unreasonable enough. Now he also had the power of life, which could instantly heal injuries and restore Soul Power.
He couldn't be killed, he couldn't be worn down, and the more they fought, the more...
What kind of monster was this child?
"I did underestimate you." Snow Empress straightened, her voice calm. All traces of disdain had vanished from her tone.
Luo Yun said nothing. He held the Moon Eclipse Sword across his body, his scarlet eyes fixed on Snow Empress as he waited for her next move.
Snow Empress took a deep breath. Her ice-blue eyes closed for an instant, then opened again.
Ice-blue light surged deep within her pupils.
The temperature around her plummeted—not by a few dozen degrees at a time as before, but by nearly a hundred degrees all at once.
The moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless ice crystals that hovered around her like tiny diamonds, reflecting a cold glimmer.
"Domain of Ice and Snow."
Snow Empress's voice was soft, but it echoed across the entire Ice Plains.
Ice-blue light spread outward from her. Wherever it passed, the air froze and light solidified.
The ice-blue field of light covered a radius of several thousand meters, enveloping Luo Yun, Ice Empress atop Ice Hill, and the entire Ice Plains.
The temperature within the domain dropped to an unimaginable level. Even his Destruction Thunder was slowed by the cold, its crackling leaps noticeably less frequent.
Luo Yun held his sword crosswise, killing intent filling his eyes.
Dark-purple mist poured from his body, icy cold and heavy with the stench of blood and the breath of death.
The mist seemed less like something released from within a domain and more like something rising from the depths of hell, every wisp steeped in the wails of countless departed souls.
Wherever the mist passed, dark-red patterns appeared across the ice, sharply contrasting with Snow Empress's ice-blue light.
Divine Slaughter's Domain.
The black-red mist slammed into the ice-blue field of light.
The two domains clashed fiercely at their boundary, sending out ripples visible to the naked eye. Wherever the ripples passed, the ice shattered and the air warped.
The black-red mist gnawed at the ice-blue field of light, while the ice-blue field froze the black-red mist. Neither force could overcome the other, and a stark black-and-white boundary formed where they met.
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