"Ice Pillar!"
The River Clam Clan Chief gave a low cry that rang like a great bronze bell, deafening everyone nearby.
The Staff in the chief's hand pointed forward like a key opening a mysterious door, and four enormous pillars of water appeared out of thin air.
Like four ferocious dragons baring their fangs and claws, they swept Dou Se and two other Corpse Puppet Sect disciples into their midst.
Once they reached several dozen meters high, the four water pillars suddenly froze into ice, as though time itself had stopped.
Dou Se and the other two wore terrified expressions, unable to move, like frozen statues.
The Snail Clan chief seized that fleeting opportunity and flashed behind one of the Corpse Puppet Sect's Heavenly Prodigies like a ghost. The Sectioned Staff in the chief's hand swung like a battle-axe, gathering power before smashing down.
The ice pillar shattered instantly, and the Heavenly Prodigy inside bent double and flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
The Heavenly Prodigy tried to struggle upright and keep resisting, but he swayed precariously like a guttering candle in the wind.
"Earth Spikes!" The River Clam Clan Chief waved the Staff and gave a low cry like a trumpet of judgment. Several sharp earth spikes shot up between the Heavenly Prodigy's thighs like arrows,
piercing straight through him to the crown of his head. The gruesome sight made onlookers' hair stand on end and their legs go weak.
Just then, Dou Se and the other Heavenly Prodigy broke free of the ice, only to be greeted by a blow from the Snail Clan chief's Sectioned Staff, fierce as a raging storm.
Dou Se had no time to mount a proper defense. He could only hurriedly raise his saber, resisting briefly like a mantis