Pursuit and Escape!

The echoes of the Ice Empress's furious roar had yet to fade when the Snow Empress's lockdown order swept across every inch of the Far North with the wind and snow.

Under the influence of this Heavenly Snow Woman, born of the Far North itself, the blizzard between heaven and earth grew ever more violent.

Zhang Lexuan nodded quickly and instructed, "Junior Brother, I'll take Jiang Nannan."

"We can only fly close to the ground now. We absolutely cannot take to the skies, or we'll become live targets for all the soul beasts around us!"

Lin Yan naturally understood that. Thunder Fire Wings spread from his back as he said in a deep voice, "As long as we break through this central region and reach the outskirts, the soul beasts there won't be able to stop us!"

The soul beasts on the outskirts of the Far North generally had lower cultivation and limited intelligence. As long as the three of them successfully broke through to that area, they would have an excellent chance of escaping alive!

Though she said nothing, Zhang Lexuan, who understood the horrors of the Far North, still wore a grave expression.

After quickly determining their bearings, Lin Yan and the others sped south.

Their first priority now was to escape the heart of the Far North as quickly as possible!

As the three raced against time, the formerly silent and desolate snowfields of the Far North seemed to suddenly awaken. Ferocious roars of soul beasts rang out everywhere, and countless beast hordes surged in response. Their heavy footsteps made the entire earth tremble faintly.

After Lin Yan and the others had raced nearly two hundred li, the unexpected finally happened!

Roar—!

A deafening beastial roar suddenly erupted from behind an ice hill to their front left. A colossal black figure nearly twenty meters tall leaped out, charging across the snowfield and instantly blocking their path.

It was a terrifying ape-like soul beast, its entire body covered in thick black ice armor. Its arms were as thick as ancient thousand-year-old trees, and chilling ice spikes condensed around its fists. Its scarlet beast eyes locked onto the three of them as dense, bone-piercing black frost mist swirled around it.

"A fifty-thousand-year Titan Snow Demon!"

Zhang Lexuan's expression darkened. Shielding Lin Yan and Jiang Nannan behind her, she said, "Fall back. I'll deal with it!"

Before she finished speaking, the Titan Snow Demon had already swung its massive fist down at the ground with world-shattering force.

Boom!

The solid ice instantly cracked apart, and countless sharp, enormous ice pillars stabbed madly toward the three of them.

"Fourth Soul Skill—Moon Lock!"

The fourth purple Spirit Ring around Zhang Lexuan lit up. A bright full moon appeared in the sky, and endless moonlight poured down, transforming into an indestructible silver net of light.

The ice pillars crashing down from all directions slammed fiercely into the moonlight net, erupting with deafening booms. Yet they were firmly stopped and could not advance another inch.

"Fifth Soul Skill—Moon Fall!"

Without giving the Titan Snow Demon even a moment to react, Zhang Lexuan launched another attack.

High above, countless golden moon blades poured down like a rainstorm, every single one carrying the sharp might to slice apart heaven and earth.

At this moment, Zhang Lexuan held nothing back!

The Titan Snow Demon's earlier roar had clearly been a call for reinforcements. If they delayed even briefly and drew other soul beasts over—or worse, alerted the Ice and Snow Emperors—they would be doomed!

The Titan Snow Demon roared in fury, crossing its arms before its chest. A thick, solid ice shield instantly formed over its black ice armor.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

Countless moon blades struck the ice shield in succession, sending fine shards of ice flying everywhere.

After a brief stalemate, the blade light broke through the defense, carving several deep, bloody wounds into the Titan Snow Demon's thick arms. But injuries like those were clearly not enough to rob it of its fighting ability.

However, Zhang Lexuan was highly experienced in battle and had anticipated this from the beginning. The moon blades had merely been buying her time!

A sharp glint flashed through her eyes. The first three enhancement-type Spirit Rings around her lit up simultaneously, their radiance blazing.

In an instant, brilliant silver light engulfed her body. Her Soul Power surged severalfold, and the power she had accumulated erupted all at once!

"Sixth Soul Skill—Moon Punishment!"

Her sixth black Spirit Ring shone brilliantly as a thick silver beam shot out with a boom, smashing heavily into the chest of the Titan Snow Demon, which had just withstood Moon Fall.

Crack—

Its tough black ice armor shattered at once. The silver beam pierced straight through its body, blasting a savage, horrifying bloody hole through its back.

The Titan Snow Demon let out a miserable wail as its mountain-like body crashed to the ground, having completely lost the ability to fight.

Yet from the start of the fight to the crippling of this Titan Snow Demon, less than a minute had passed!

Unfortunately, the Titan Snow Demon's earlier roar had completely exposed the trio's location.

"Move!"

Lin Yan warned urgently in a deep voice, "Sister Lexuan, a terrifying presence is rapidly closing in on us!"

Zhang Lexuan had naturally sensed it as well. Not daring to waste a moment or conserve Soul Power, she grabbed Lin Yan and Jiang Nannan and took off at full speed.

But in the end, they were still one step too late.

A jade-green streak of light tore through the air from behind them. It was as fast as thunder and lightning, rapidly closing the distance to the three of them.

It was a scorpion-type soul beast over two meters long, its body covered in crystalline jade-green armor. Its eight sharp scuttling legs glinted with cold light and radiated deadly killing intent.

"A hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion!"

Sensing the overwhelming terrifying pressure from behind, Zhang Lexuan's heart sank abruptly. She did not dare look back and could only flee with all her strength.

A hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion that possessed Ultimate Ice, especially in the icy environment of the Far North, was not something Zhang Lexuan, who was only a Soul Douluo, could contend with!

Misfortunes never came alone; as if the leaking roof had not suffered enough rain, another crisis emerged atop their desperate situation!

Several ten-thousand-year soul beasts suddenly sprang out directly ahead of them—Ice Plains Wolves, Snow Demon Bears, Ice Spirit Foxes...

These soul beasts were not particularly powerful, but the brief moment needed to deal with them would be enough for the Ice Jade Scorpion behind them to catch up!

Left with no choice, Zhang Lexuan could only abruptly change direction and flee toward the southeast!

At that moment, the blizzard in the sky intensified. Lead-gray clouds hung oppressively low, as though they would collapse at any moment and bury the entire snowfield.

Even though Zhang Lexuan had pushed her speed to its limit, the jade-green streak behind them continued closing in rapidly, approaching at a pace visible to the naked eye!

Bone-piercing cold seeped through their skin and into their marrow, and even every breath seemed filled with icy shards.

"We can't shake it off. It's too fast!"

Zhang Lexuan's voice carried a faint, barely noticeable tremor. She could clearly sense that the freezing killing intent clung tightly to them like maggots on a bone, impossible to cast off!

Lin Yan abruptly turned to look back. The Ice Jade Scorpion's eight legs lightly tapped against the ice, each step leaving only a nearly imperceptible shallow mark, yet its body could dart dozens of meters in an instant.

Wherever the jade-green frost aura surrounding it passed, even the howling wind and snow froze into fine ice grains, hanging motionless in the air for a moment before slowly falling.

Seeing that the Ice Jade Scorpion was about to catch them, Zhang Lexuan's eyes held nothing but unwavering resolve!

"Lin Yan, take Jiang Nannan and keep running. I'll stay behind and hold it off!"

As soon as she spoke, ignoring Lin Yan's expression as he tried to protest, Zhang Lexuan suddenly exerted her strength and hurled the two of them forward!

The next instant, all her Spirit Rings lit up at once—two yellow, two purple, three black, and one red. The eight Spirit Rings layered over one another, endlessly circulating!

Especially that final scarlet, eye-catching hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring, which surged with a vast pressure that made one's heart tremble!