Feeling the heart-stopping violence of the explosion behind him, Li Mu's eyes flickered slightly.
But his footsteps never faltered, without even a moment's hesitation.
He shot forward at tremendous speed, charging out of Shrek City like an arrow loosed from a bow.
By now, Shrek City had descended into utter chaos.
High in the sky, the immense Heaven-Reaching Snow Spirit stood in silence, like a deity gazing down upon the world.
The Snow Empress hovered high above, as majestic and inviolable as an empress overlooking the world.
With a light flick of her finger, ice swords filling the sky whistled down toward the Sea God Pavilion.
Thunderous explosions rang out one after another, making the earth tremble faintly.
The Golden Ancient Tree shuddered slightly, flecks of golden light scattering from its branches and leaves.
An enormous Radiant Sacred Dragon soared into the sky in an instant, its roar resounding through the clouds.
Powerful light enveloped heaven and earth, making the whole world pale in that instant.
Such was the strength and magnitude of this power that even Mu Jin struggled to withstand it for a time.
Elsewhere, a Bright Phoenix, a terrifying Heaven-Reaching Azure Dragon, and several human figures leaped into the air almost simultaneously.
Together, they turned into streaks of light and charged toward the Snow Empress, their momentum like a rainbow spanning the sky.
The vast majority of them were Super Douluos and Titled Douluos, with Xuan Zi, a Level 98 Super Douluo, anchoring their ranks.
With these people joining forces to stop her, the Snow Empress could not possibly win.
But judging by her appearance, she had clearly already seized quite a few things.
Li Mu never slowed his steps. As he strode outward, he left Shrek City's boundaries entirely behind.
The power of water circulated around his body, making him much faster than before.
Elsewhere, many students were fleeing frantically.
This battle had erupted far too suddenly, bypassing all of Shrek Academy's outer defenses.
Caught in the battle's wake, quite a few inner courtyard and outer courtyard disciples had already died on the spot.
Even if the Snow Empress was certain to lose this battle in the end, this was still Shrek Academy.
A battle erupting inside Shrek Academy would deal an immense blow to the academy.
The power of ice and snow around her crashed down without restraint. The Snow Empress had come to muddy the waters in the first place.
Naturally, she did not care in the slightest, letting the ice and snow smash into everything around her.
As students let out piercing screams, the outer courtyard students began fleeing frantically.
The inner courtyard students also rode streaks of light swiftly away from Shrek Academy.
These people fled extremely quickly, scattering in every direction in the blink of an eye.
Li Qingyue slipped into their midst, utterly inconspicuous.
No one would notice his disappearance alone.
Besides, in this era, surveillance Soul Tools simply did not exist.
So even if Shrek Academy conducted a careful investigation afterward, it would be difficult to discover Li Qingyue's presence.
Let alone capture him.
Shrek Station.
Sensing the violent changes on the horizon, the carriage business owner was visibly nervous.
But after Li Qingyue produced a hundred Gold Soul Coins, the station owner calmly handed him the last horse.
Then the owner thumped his chest at him. "Young brother, go without worry. For a hundred Gold Soul Coins, it'd be worth it even if I died here."
"Brother, go. The city gates are still open. Run now!" The owner was a middle-aged man, and at that moment, he looked as though he had cast his life aside.
Seeing him like this, the corner of Li Qingyue's mouth twitched.
He then nodded to the owner, mounted the horse, and swiftly rode away.
Up in the sky, the Snow Empress formed hand seals, countless crystalline ice swords of snow condensing across the heavens.
An utterly terrifying ice formation took shape, then thundered downward.
Immense power crashed wantonly between heaven and earth, and frost completely took over the ground.
The entire Sea God Pavilion was shrouded in frost.
But then the enormous Godly Taotie Bull raised its forelegs and slammed them down, while the Radiant Sacred Dragon beat its wings furiously.
Countless Super Douluos and Titled Douluos attacked together.
The Snow Empress's Ice and Snow Domain began to be forcibly broken apart, and she was driven steadily backward.
Yet in her hand, a shrunken ice sphere already held countless treasures.
The quantity of these treasures might not have been so staggering, but it was already quite impressive.
Still, feeling the grievous injuries inflicted on her body in an instant, the Snow Empress gritted her teeth.
She had suffered a tremendous loss this time.
If she could not return to Li Mu's space, she was all but certain to die.
She could not survive her heavenly tribulation even at her peak, let alone now that she had suffered such grievous injuries in an instant.
Watching the Radiant Sacred Dragon soar into the sky, the Snow Empress fell silent for only a moment.
Then she stepped forward, shooting into the distance like a streak of light.
Seeing the Snow Empress attempt to flee, Xuan Zi snorted coldly and lunged forward.
Amid a series of dull booms, he swiftly gave chase.
But before he could pursue her for long, a powerful force spread out, bringing things to a standstill.
Mu En's voice followed. "Do not pursue her. Return to Shrek's Sea God Pavilion immediately, tally the casualties, and then convene a Sea God Pavilion Meeting."
A rare note of gravity marked Mu En's tone. His voice carried throughout Shrek Academy, clearly audible even in the inner courtyard.
Hearing Mu En's words, Xuan Zi, who had been about to pursue her, paused briefly.
His figure returned to that of an old man with the bearing of an immortal, a trace of hesitation flashing through his eyes.
But at Mu En's words, he still swiftly turned back.
Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin'er, Qian Duoduo, and the others standing there also hurried back.
The elders among them returned directly to the Sea God Pavilion without the slightest pause.
As the group returned, the Snow Empress staggered onward through the air.
The injury to her chest was extremely severe, and blood kept seeping out.
As she descended, masses of pitch-black clouds quietly began gathering in the sky, one after another.
Far away, atop his warhorse, Li Mu slowly pulled the reins, bringing the horse to a halt.
He watched the Snow Empress flying toward him and the dark clouds around her, his expression exceptionally calm.
He raised his hand, opening the space, and the Snow Empress rushed into the Silver Dragon Space.
Then he continued riding from Shrek Academy toward the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
The White Tiger Duke's Mansion was, at most, about a day's journey from Shrek Academy.
With this reasonably fine warhorse as well, he would not be traveling particularly slowly.
Meanwhile, inside the Silver Dragon Space, as Huo Yutong looked at the Snow Empress covered in wounds, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's startled cry rang out in her mind.
"Holy crap, the Snow Empress, leader of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North! Why is he here? This is the leader of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, a pinnacle existence ranked third on the Ferocious Beast rankings!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's tone was filled with shock, but even more with disbelief.
Seemingly sensing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's words, the Snow Empress tossed the ice sphere aside and looked coldly at Huo Yutong.
Sensing the presence of this pinnacle Soul Beast, Huo Yutong took two steps back, then fell onto her backside.
The girl clutched the hem of her clothes tightly, her expression full of tension.
The next second, a golden figure appeared in her mind.
It was a slender girl who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old.
At her appearance, the Snow Empress's brow furrowed again and again.
"You're the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm? The one who said before that you wanted to be the Ice Empress's wife." As she spoke, the Snow Empress regarded the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm solemnly.
Her expression was several times more serious than usual.
Faced with the Snow Empress's demeanor, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm merely rubbed his head, a trace of fear in his eyes.
Even so, he still gave an awkward smile.