In the eastern reaches of the Far North.
In a desolate ice valley, over a dozen Snowfolk cultivators were cautiously surrounding and attacking an insect-like demon beast several dozen feet long.
Among these Snowfolk, four were elderly late Qi Refining stage cultivators who appeared to be elders of their tribe.
The rest were young people in their twenties, all at the mid Qi Refining stage.
The four late Qi Refining stage cultivators did not attack, merely keeping the demon beast from escaping.
The ones wielding various magic artifacts in the thick of the battle were all the youngsters. They seemed to be low-level cultivators from some Snowfolk tribe, sent out specifically to hunt demon beasts as part of a trial.
The four older cultivators were elders responsible for protecting them.
As they watched the first-tier demon beast bleed all over the ground under their juniors' combined assault, its death drawing near,
the four elderly Snowfolk cultivators all breathed sighs of relief.
They exchanged voice transmissions with keen interest.
"Little Seven handles his flying sword well. It looks like he's not far from breaking through to the late Qi Refining stage."
"That first-tier upper-grade magic artifact of his-"
While they were discussing this, a rumbling suddenly reached their ears. They all looked up, but when they saw what was happening in the sky, terror filled their faces.
"This is bad! Run!"
But before they could do anything else-bang!
A black phantom slammed straight into their valley. In an instant, heaven collapsed and earth split apart. Under that single blow, the snowy ground for dozens of miles around the valley cracked open, revealing bottomless fissures.
As for the Snowfolk Qi Refining cultivators, they had been reduced to dust at the very first instant.
Humm-
Amid a rapid humming, the black phantom rose