Soon.
Word spread that two third-tier beasts seemed to be fighting in the First-Level Abyss. The small guilds and novice hunters still inside hurried to evacuate, afraid they'd get caught in the crossfire if they waited any longer.
Little did they know that the so-called third-tier beasts were just two high schoolers entering the Abyss for the first time...
In the central area, everything within a thousand-meter radius was frozen solid. Icebergs and pillars of ice dotted the landscape, and even the gray sky had taken on a faint icy-blue hue.
Lin Qingyan stood atop an ice pillar, her three thousand strands of dark hair fluttering in the wind. Pale, freezing mist swirled around her. Cool and dignified, she seemed like a goddess of ice.
But at that moment, her expression was grim as she stared at the person opposite her.
"Bang!"
A prison of ice formed from more than a dozen pillars shuddered violently, then shattered, leaving a hole. A handsome young man wreathed in crimson flames stepped out.
"First, a healer. Then a profession resembling a Spellcaster. And now, an ice-type natural talent powerful enough to alter the weather... I'm guessing you awakened a second talent."
With each step Jiang Yuan took, his foot, wrapped in blazing vitality, hissed against the ice, sending steam billowing into the air.
"You broke out of an ice prison with your bare hands... I've never seen a body like yours. What kind of talent did you awaken?!"
Lin Qingyan's expression turned grave.
She had thought the fight would be over quickly once she used her talent. She hadn't expected him to be this difficult to deal with.
The freezing aura that could freeze all things was kept at bay by the flames formed from his vitality ripples. At her current level, she couldn't even extinguish them!
And the control skills of her Divine Speaker profession were completely ineffective against him, too!
Unbelievable!
She could swear that no monster like him had existed in her previous life. Could her rebirth have caused some kind of butterfly effect?
"Thud!"
Jiang Yuan didn't answer. He simply took another step forward.
"Boom!"
The aura around him suddenly surged several times over. A violent blast of wind scattered the ice shards across the ground!
Lin Qingyan stared in astonishment.
"Crackle!"
Flames roared around Jiang Yuan, blazing and scorching. Crimson arcs of electricity crackled around him. His black hair fluttered, and his eyes glowed golden. Terrifying waves of heat and pressure radiated from his body, keeping the surrounding cold at bay.
[Star Explosion State]: Unleashes all of the user's vitality to enter Star Explosion State. While in this state, consumes 1% of stamina per second, removes all negative effects, ignores all control effects, increases defense by 1000%, attack speed by 500%, and critical hit rate by 300%. No cooldown.
"To be honest, before we fought, I didn't think anyone our age could be this strong."
Jiang Yuan raised his head and looked at Lin Qingyan with golden eyes, like a candle flame in the dark.
"To make me use Star Explosion... I have to admit, you're pretty impressive."
Looking at Jiang Yuan in this state and hearing his calm words, Lin Qingyan felt her sense of danger surge. A trace of panic even crept into her heart.
But...
How could this be?!
She was a reborn person, a martial artist with two legendary talents, the Empress Qingyan who had once reached the King Realm!
How could she be afraid of someone her own age?!
"I don't believe it! I can't lose!"
Lin Qingyan gritted her teeth.
She couldn't admit it. She couldn't accept it!
No longer thinking clearly, she ignored the backlash from overusing her talent and spoke four words in succession.
"Gravity!"
"Slow!"
"Shatter!"
"Thunder Strike!"
The four commands took effect.
Blood flowed from her eyes and nostrils.
Four unavoidable forces of law, each guaranteed to hit, landed on Jiang Yuan. But both Gravity and Slow were nullified, while Shatter and Thunder Strike barely affected him. With Star Explosion boosting his defense by 1000% and the rippling flames protecting him, neither could break through.
Ignoring the cost, Lin Qingyan unleashed her ultimate move once more.
"Ice God Domain!"
Centered on Jiang Yuan, a hundred-meter radius instantly became a world of ice and snow. Countless sharp, solid ice spikes thrust up from the ground, while snowflakes in the air condensed into ice spears and shot toward him all at once!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Jiang Yuan punched the ground.
"Boom!"
"Bang—!"
The terrifying force of his punch pulverized everything, blasting a massive hole ten meters in diameter into the ground!
Crimson ripples spread and surged outward from the surface, tearing the entire domain apart!
In the face of absolute strength, every other trick was just flash and no substance!
"My Ice God Domain was broken so easily..."
Lin Qingyan couldn't believe it.
The next instant—
"Whoosh!"
Jiang Yuan blurred again, using God Speed to appear in front of Lin Qingyan. He swung a punch at her!
"Still..."
Lin Qingyan tried to use a skill to defend herself, but her body had already reached its limit. She couldn't activate one.
"Whoom!"
Jiang Yuan's fist stopped in front of her. The violent gust from his punch swept up her hair and completely pulverized the ice pillar behind her.
"You lost."
Those words completely shattered the reborn empress's pride, echoing again and again in her mind.
I lost?
Did I lose?
How could I possibly lose?
The glory of her past, the superiority of being reborn, her duty to become humanity's savior... It all shattered with that punch!
Unable to bear the blow, Lin Qingyan's vision went black. She spat out a mouthful of blood, swayed twice, and fell forward.
Like a light, fluttering willow catkin, she tumbled against Jiang Yuan's chest.
Jiang Yuan froze.
One moment he was alone, and the next he was holding the school's most beautiful girl.
"Hey, hey, hey. You're not trying to fake a fall, are you?"
"You only lost once, and you passed out? Was it really that big a blow?"
"Wake up. You're going to get in the way of me killing monsters and leveling up."
Jiang Yuan pinched her cheek. As expected of the school beauty, her skin was so smooth and pale it looked like he could squeeze water from it. It felt wonderful.
Unable to resist, Jiang Yuan played with her face a little longer, treating the stunning face everyone at school thought was celestial like a toy. He squeezed her cheeks toward the middle, then stretched them to either side, making silly faces out of her before snapping a photo of the two of them together.
If Lin Qingyan ever saw that the mighty empress had been reduced to such a humiliating state, she'd probably faint from anger all over again.
"She still isn't reacting. Looks like she really is unconscious."
"Her willpower's way too weak."
Jiang Yuan was at a loss.
There was no helping it.
He couldn't just leave her there...
"I'll have to take her with me."
Jiang Yuan carried the unconscious Lin Qingyan on his back. Her pleasant fragrance wafted toward him, and the soft warmth pressed against his back made his blood surge despite himself.
"Mmm..." A soft moan escaped Lin Qingyan's lips, enough to make anyone lose control.
Oh.
She looked so slender that he hadn't expected her to be so curvy.
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