The black-robed figure's bone whip whistled through the air toward the Icefield Wolf's back, and a layer of black frost instantly formed on its fur. This was the Bone-Eroding Cult's specially made "Bone-Corroding Whip," its tip soaked in a sinister poison that could freeze bloodlines. The Icefield Wolf let out a piercing howl and struggled to stand, but the bone needles in its legs kept releasing poison, gradually draining the strength from its limbs. Its pale blue eyes were filled with despair.
"Stop!"
Loran's furious shout pierced the woods. Third-tier Dou Qi flowed over his dark iron armor, gleaming with a cold golden light. He leaped up, his knight's sword leaving an afterimage as the two-colored arc of Ice and Fire Slash swept straight toward the whip-wielding figure. Lei Lin followed close behind, his crimson fire wings beating out three fireballs that struck precisely at the knees of the other two black-robed figures, forcing them to retreat again and again.
The black-robed figures clearly hadn't expected a sudden attack. Their tall, thin leader reacted fastest, pulling a black paper talisman from his robes and crushing it. It turned into black mist that enveloped his companions. "It's that brat from the Kane Household! Don't let him ruin our lord's business!"
When the black mist dispersed, five black-robed figures had surrounded Loran and Lei Lin in a fan formation. They simultaneously unfastened bone staves from their waists. The cloudy eyeballs atop the staves rolled, and gray-black sinister energy coiled around the shafts, forming twisted serpent phantoms. "Bone-Eroding Serpent Shadow!" the tall, thin figure growled. All five staves pointed at Loran at once, and serpent phantoms flew from their tips, hissing as they lunged.
"Lei Lin, Flame Barrier!" Loran held his knight's sword across his chest and poured Dou Qi into the blade. Golden light swiftly intertwined with Lei Lin's crimson flames. Lei Lin leaped in front of Loran and spread his fire wings into a semicircle. Flames gathered across their surfaces into a thick wall of fire, its surface also gleaming with the golden light of Dou Qi reinforcement.
Bang! The serpent phantoms struck the wall of fire with a muffled crash. Sinister energy and flames collided violently, sending up clouds of black smoke. Though several small pits were corroded into the golden light on the wall, it never broke. Seizing the opportunity, Loran circled behind one black-robed figure and swept his blade across the man's neck. Third-tier Dou Qi instantly severed his carotid artery, and black blood splashed onto the fallen leaves with a corrosive sizzle.
Lei Lin wasn't idle either. Flames coiled around his long tail as he swept it toward the black-robed figure on the left. The man tried to block with his bone staff, only to be engulfed by flames in an instant. The staff turned to ash in the intense heat, while he screamed and fell into the bushes, his entire body ablaze.
"Useless!" A vicious glint flashed in the tall, thin leader's eyes. He suddenly bit his fingertip and dripped blood onto the eyeball atop his bone staff. The eye instantly turned blood-red, radiating suffocating sinister energy. "Evil Spirit Possession!"
At his roar, the surrounding sinister energy surged wildly into his body. He swelled at a visible rate, black fissures splitting his skin, and his fingers turned into sharp claws. His entire body transformed into a half-human, half-beast monster. "You'll be buried here today!" His voice had become hoarse and harsh. He charged at Loran, his claws gleaming with a venomous green light.
Loran could sense that his opponent's aura had reached the early fourth tier, far surpassing his own third-tier cultivation. Not daring to meet the attack head-on, he sidestepped the claws while thrusting his knight's sword backhanded into his opponent's waist. But after Evil Spirit Possession, the black-robed man's skin was as hard as iron. The blade left only a shallow mark, unable to inflict any serious injury.
"Loran, use the ice crystal fragment!" Lei Lin's voice rang in Loran's mind. "The Frostfire Ice Crystal can suppress sinister energy. It might break his dark art!"
Realization dawned on Loran, and he hurriedly pulled the Frostfire Ice Crystal from his robes. The moment it touched the air, it emitted dazzling blue light. That light intertwined with Lei Lin's crimson flames, forming a two-colored pillar of light. At the sight of the crystal, fear flashed in the tall, thin figure's eyes. "The Frostfire Ice Crystal?! How do you have that?!"
Loran didn't answer. He guided the crystal's blue light toward his knight's sword. In an instant, the two-colored radiance on the blade surged. Golden Dou Qi, crimson flames, and the crystal's blue light fused into a three-colored sword radiance. He leaped up, aiming it straight at the tall, thin figure's chest. "Tricolor Slash!"
"No!" The tall, thin figure tried to dodge, but Lei Lin's fire wings tangled around his ankles. The three-colored sword radiance instantly pierced his chest. Under the crystal's light, the sinister energy rapidly dissipated. His body returned to its original form, and he fell to the ground, lifeless.
Seeing their leader killed, the remaining two black-robed figures were scared out of their wits and turned to flee. Loran gave them no chance. He flung out two Flame Shield scrolls, which exploded in midair. The flames not only formed a barrier across their escape route but also turned into two ropes of fire that bound them tightly.
"Talk! Who is this lord of yours? Why are you looking for the Snow Spirit Qilin?" Loran pointed his sword at one black-robed figure's throat, his voice icy.
The man trembled all over but clenched his teeth and refused to speak. Lei Lin walked up to him, crimson flames burning beside his cheek. "If you don't talk, I'll burn you to ashes."
Perhaps the threat of the flames worked, for the other figure, a short, stout man, hurriedly cried, "I'll talk! Our lord is the Bone-Eroding Cult's 'Bone Serpent Priest.' He said the Snow Spirit Qilin's blood essence could be used to refine an Evil Bone Pill and let him break through to Saint-level! We were only ordered to find the secret realm's location. We don't know anything else!"
Loran wanted to question him further, but black blood trickled from the short, stout man's mouth. The light instantly left his eyes, and he fell to the ground, dead. Before dying, the tall, thin leader had actually placed a poisonous curse inside his companions to silence them! Seeing this, the last black-robed figure bit through the poison sac hidden in his teeth and died instantly.
"Damn it!" Loran tightened his grip on his knight's sword, frustrated that he hadn't managed to get more clues.
"Loran, let's check on the Icefield Wolf first." Lei Lin walked over to the wolf. Crimson flames flowed around the bone needles in its legs, carefully forcing them out. Loran hurriedly took out a bottle of high-grade healing potion and poured it over the wolf's wounds. The potion's pale green glow intertwined with Lei Lin's flames, soon stopping the bleeding, while the black poison slowly receded.
The Icefield Wolf slowly stood and rubbed its head against Loran's hand, its pale blue eyes filled with gratitude. It walked over to the Frostfire Ice Crystal and gently touched it with its nose. The crystal instantly shone with stronger blue light, projecting an image into the air. It showed a valley covered in ice, snow, and flames, with an ice crystal palace at its center. Atop the palace stood a snow-white Qilin-the Snow Spirit Qilin itself!
"Is this... an image of the Frostfire Secret Realm?" Loran said in delighted surprise. "Are you showing us the way?"
The Icefield Wolf nodded and turned toward the depths of the Blackthorn Mountains. Though its steps were still somewhat unsteady, they were exceptionally resolute. Every so often, it looked back at Loran and Lei Lin, as though checking whether they were following.
Loran and Lei Lin exchanged a glance and hurried after it. The Frostfire Ice Crystal kept emitting blue light inside Loran's robes, growing brighter as they advanced. Clearly, the secret realm wasn't far away. The sinister energy in the woods also grew fainter, replaced by dense ice and fire elements. These elements seeped into Loran's body through his pores, invigorating both his Dou Qi and his magic.
"Loran, do you feel like the ice and fire elements here could help you break through to the fourth tier?" Lei Lin's voice held a trace of excitement. "My strength is recovering too. Perhaps once we reach the secret realm, I'll be able to return completely to my peak."
Loran nodded. He could feel that the Dou Qi and magic within him had already reached the peak of the third tier. All he needed was an opportunity to break through. Perhaps, nourished by the secret realm's ice and fire elements, he really could reach the fourth tier. Then he would be able to withstand the spatial-temporal turbulence.
After about an hour of walking, the Icefield Wolf suddenly stopped and gave a low howl toward the valley ahead. Loran looked up and saw two enormous rocks standing at the entrance, carved with ancient runes. Half the runes glowed blue and half red, echoing the Frostfire Ice Crystal's light from afar. Mist swirled within the valley, offering faint glimpses of intertwined ice and fire. It was the Frostfire Secret Realm from the image!
"We're finally here!" Joy stirred in Loran's heart. He was just about to step into the valley when Lei Lin stopped him.
"Loran, be careful!" Lei Lin's golden slit pupils stared fixedly at the mist at the valley entrance. "There's a powerful magical beast inside-at least at the peak of the fourth tier!"
Loran immediately grew alert. Gripping his knight's sword, he studied the mist closely. Suddenly, a low roar came from within, and two beams shot out-one blazing red, the other icy blue. Where the red light struck, vegetation instantly burned to ash; where the blue light landed, a thick layer of ice formed over the ground.
An enormous magical beast emerged from the mist. Its body resembled a python's, but it had two heads. The left head glowed red and breathed flames, while the right glowed blue and spewed freezing air. Half its scales were crimson and half blue. Four powerful clawed limbs grew from its underside, their claws gleaming with a metallic luster.
"It's an Ice and Fire Two-Headed Python!" Loran's heart clenched. The secret realm's guardian beast recorded in ancient texts actually existed! And its aura was stronger than he had expected, infinitely close to the fifth tier. With his current strength, he was no match for it.
Both of the Ice and Fire Two-Headed Python's heads turned toward Loran and Lei Lin, their eyes filled with hostility. The fire head on the left spat a fireball, while the ice head on the right shot an ice arrow. Both attacks came at once, bearing the might to destroy heaven and earth.
Loran hurriedly pulled Lei Lin back. The fireball and ice arrow collided where they had just been standing, triggering a violent explosion. A shock wave of mingled ice and fire blasted the surrounding trees away and split a huge fissure in the ground.
"What do we do? We can't beat it!" Loran frowned. Third-tier strength was simply too weak against a magical beast at the peak of the fourth tier.
The Icefield Wolf suddenly walked to Loran's side, nudged his hand with its nose, then gave a low growl toward the Ice and Fire Two-Headed Python. Strangely, when the python saw the wolf, some of the hostility faded from its eyes, and both heads stopped attacking.
"Could the Icefield Wolf know it?" Lei Lin asked in puzzlement.
The Icefield Wolf continued growling softly, as though communicating with the Ice and Fire Two-Headed Python. After a while, both of the python's heads nodded, and it slowly retreated to one side of the valley entrance, opening a path. But its gaze remained fixed on Loran and Lei Lin. Clearly, it was only letting them pass for the moment; at any suspicious movement, it would attack.
Loran breathed a sigh of relief and smiled gratefully at the Icefield Wolf. "Thank you."
The Icefield Wolf wagged its tail and entered the valley first. Loran and Lei Lin followed close behind. The moment they stepped inside, they felt ice and fire elements of extraordinary density. The slope on the left burned with everlasting flames, while the slope on the right was covered in ice that hadn't melted for a thousand years. On the path between them, ice and fire elements intertwined into faint ribbons of light. As they walked along it, the power within their bodies actually grew rapidly.
"The elements here are more than ten times as dense as in Fallen Maple Territory!" Loran said in delighted surprise. He could feel the barrier at the peak of the third tier loosening. The opportunity to break through to the fourth tier was right before him.
Lei Lin's crimson flames also grew more dazzling. He took a deep breath, his strength rapidly recovering, and excitement flashed in his golden slit pupils. "My strength is almost back to its peak! Once we find the Snow Spirit Qilin, we can join forces against the Bone-Eroding Cult!"
Just then, the crystal inside Loran's robes suddenly flashed urgent blue light, pointing toward the ice crystal palace deep within the valley. The Icefield Wolf quickened its pace and ran toward the palace, as though something urgent had happened.
Loran and Lei Lin exchanged a glance and hurried after it. They could sense a faint aura coming from the ice crystal palace. It resembled Lei Lin's, but carried a trace of weakness. Clearly, the Snow Spirit Qilin was in trouble.
The ice crystal palace deep within the valley drew closer. Its great doors stood open, and waves of sinister energy emanated from within. Loran's expression instantly grew grave-the Bone-Eroding Cult had actually found the Snow Spirit Qilin before them!
A new crisis awaited them inside the ice crystal palace. And amid this crisis, Loran's opportunity to break through to the fourth tier would quietly arrive.