The Qiaqia Ice was a monster unique to the Frozen Plain. What made this beast strange was its ability to absorb the power of Cold Gang. When faced with enemies, it could also spit out balls of air resembling Cold Gang, drawing the Cold Gang currents in the sky crashing down. It was terrifying.
The rumbling torrent drew closer and closer, and loose stones and chunks of ice bounced on the ground around them.
Hua Meiniang hesitated slightly. "We'd have a hard time beating them head-on... we..."
Li Qiang cut in. "If we can't beat them, run! What are we waiting for?" To Li Qiang, running when he couldn't win was perfectly normal. Only a lunatic would refuse to run.
Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Li Qiang shouted, "Run!" Taking the lead, he hurtled along just above the ground, and the other three followed in unspoken accord.
Looking back at the three close behind him, Li Qiang suddenly found it great fun. He laughed loudly. "Let's race! See who's fastest! Hahaha, hahaha!"
Hua Meiniang found it funny too. Being with these people made her feel younger at heart. She giggled. "Whoever comes last has to hold off the monsters." Grabbing Qin Xiaohuan, she overtook Li Qiang in an instant. Of the four, she was the strongest.
Qin Bantong yelled, "That's not fair! I was the last to start running!"
Everyone laughed. Hua Meiniang teased him with a laugh. "Who told you to play the hero, brat?"
And so a strange sight appeared on the white expanse of the Frozen Plain.
Four little black dots shot along like arrows, trailing long plumes of white mist. Close behind came a great herd of monsters, their bodies hidden in swirling icy fog that filled the space between heaven and earth as it bore down on the four.
After they had run a long way, Hua Meiniang said in puzzlement, "What's going on? These monsters shouldn't be chasing us so relentlessly. Did someone already provoke them?"
Li Qiang and Qin Bantong ran flat out with their heads down, paying no attention to her words. Qin Xiaohuan had it easiest: Hua Meiniang was pulling her along, so she needed no effort of her own. Hearing this, she said, "This is the first time I've even heard of monsters like these. I don't know why they won't stop chasing us." She looked around as she spoke.
As he ran, Li Qiang thought, We don't seem able to shake them off like this. Damn it, I'll try firing a few golden eagles. He shouted, "Everyone, listen! Let's attack behind us together, then keep running. On my count of three!"
Qin Bantong had long since lost patience. Delighted, he said, "Good! I'm ready, brother!"
"One, two, three-fire!"
Qin Bantong shot five strips of white light behind him. They expanded the instant they flew out and hurtled toward the monsters.
Qin Xiaohuan took a long, black, stringless bow from her storage belt. Qin Bantong exclaimed in surprise, "The Black Burning Bow?"
Drawing an invisible bowstring, Qin Xiaohuan smiled. "Forgive my poor showing." Though no string could be seen, its twang shook the heavens. With each twang, a black shadow shot out. After firing sixteen arrows in succession, she said, slightly breathless, "I can only fire sixteen at a time. Any more is beyond me."
Li Qiang sent out ten golden eagles. Thanks to his improved cultivation, purple fire coiled around each one as they spread their wings and flew toward the monsters.
Seventeen fresh flowers danced gracefully, flying between the four and the monsters. The flowers scattered, their petals fluttering, and rose like a wall of blossoms, especially beautiful in this colorless world.
"Hahaha, keep running!"
"Which way do we..." Before Qin Bantong could finish, a chain of deafening explosions interrupted him. Looking back, he cried, "Whoa, what a spectacle!"
Huge clouds of dust and debris shot into the sky. Strange cries of "qiaqia, qiaqia" rang through the clouds, while the petals exploded with the crackle of beans popping. For a moment, the monsters fell into chaos.
The four slowed their steps. Li Qiang laughed. "Those monsters got a taste of suffering! We can't stop. We'll only be safe once we've put some distance between us. Hurry!"
Sure enough, the monsters remained in confusion only briefly before charging again in a fury. This time, their momentum was even more alarming. Some began firing Cold Gang balls. First came a few small white spheres, which Qin Bantong shot down with his Law Treasure. Then countless Cold Gang balls, large and small, came chasing after them, blotting out the sky.
"Retribution!" Li Qiang wailed.
"There are mountains ahead! Run that way!" Qin Xiaohuan spotted them first. Looking back, she too cried out, "This is terrible! What are those things shooting toward us?"
Hua Meiniang cast out two flower walls in succession and shouted, "Find a crack in the ice and take cover!"
Sharp-eyed Qin Bantong cried, "There's a big fissure on the left! Over here!" He rushed toward it first.
The four sped to the edge of the fissure. Behind them, the two flower walls meant to slow the attack had already been destroyed. The remaining Cold Gang balls kept coming, a sight that sent chills through them.
More precisely, the fissure was a deep ice trench. The instant they descended into it, Li Qiang flew forward along the trench, calling, "Follow me!" All of them were quick-witted and immediately followed close behind.
The Cold Gang balls plunged into the trench after them, lost control, and exploded. A huge collapse immediately formed where the four had entered. The force of the explosions spread along the trench. Worse still, it had already stirred the Cold Gang overhead.
"No, we have to find somewhere to hide! The Cold Gang is coming again." As she spoke, Hua Meiniang struck the edges of the trench with her palms, bringing down great sheets of ice to weaken the force surging along it.
Li Qiang cheered. "There's a bend ahead! Hurry, everyone!" He knew they would be safe once they could round the bend and take shelter.
The sky began to darken again. Inside the trench, the gloom was even deeper, with a suffocating feeling. All four sensed the pressure descending from the sky, and their flying speed dropped noticeably.
They had just rushed around the bend when the enormous shock wave swept past behind them, rumbling like rolling thunder.
The force spilling around the bend no longer posed a threat. They all landed and quietly waited for the Cold Gang above to descend.
"Look, everyone!" Qin Bantong pointed above the trench.
"That red light comes from a large defensive formation. Up ahead, there's also..." An earth-shaking explosion cut Hua Meiniang short.
The earth shook and swayed. All four rose into the air at once and activated their battle armor to avoid being thrown off balance by the tremors. Qin Xiaohuan released the White Cloud Barrier, and Li Qiang cast a protective jade talisman on each person.
The ice trench trembled. Countless chunks and shards of ice rained down, and heaven and earth sounded as though countless war drums were beating. The sky grew darker still.
Li Qiang felt a terror like the coming of the world's end. Qin Xiaohuan quietly nestled into Hua Meiniang's arms, while Qin Bantong cursed under his breath.
Through the falling debris, the red light overhead flickered in and out. None of them knew who else was resisting the Cold Gang. Fortunately, taking shelter in the trench had allowed them to escape it.
Li Qiang thought, These Qiaqia Ice monsters have chased us so miserably, and I still don't even know what the beasts look like. Sigh, if Zhao Hao and Mei Jingjing entered somewhere this dangerous, heaven knows how they'd cope. No wonder Zhao Hao grew so nervous at the mention of the Frozen Plain.
Suddenly, a harsh creaking came from one side of the trench. Qin Bantong, who had been looking all around, shouted, "Oh no! Run! It's collapsing!"
Under the crushing pressure, it was already too late to fly away. Li Qiang cursed, "Damn!" Swiftly circulating his True Essence Power, he struck upward with the Cold Spirit Giant Palm. The others immediately understood his method and attacked upward as well, hoping to shatter the enormous falling ice.
The Cold Spirit Giant Palm struck the huge block, but infuriatingly, it only punched a large hole through it. Hua Meiniang's flowers proved more effective. A fist-sized blossom exploded inside that hole, finally shattering the giant block before it landed on their heads. Even so, they were buried.
Cultivators' defensive Law Treasures were formidable indeed. Not a single shard of ice lay where the four stood. They merely seemed to be standing inside a small domed hut built of ice blocks. Still, their expressions were grim. They had expended too much strength.
After quite a while, Qin Bantong said impatiently, "Let's go out and look. The Cold Gang should have passed. I'm suffocating in here."
Crack! Crash! Four figures burst skyward from the heap of ice.
Qin Xiaohuan said happily, "Wonderful! Everyone's safe!"
The land lay silent. If not for the broken ice and huge pits everywhere, it would have seemed as though nothing had happened. Looking at the hazy white sky, they all felt relieved.
Li Qiang suddenly remembered the red light. "Brother Qin, which direction did that red light come from?"
"Look!" Qin Bantong pointed into the distance.
Far away, clouds of mist rose into the sky at the foot of a mountain, with occasional flashes inside. They immediately recognized the flashes of exploding Law Treasures. Faint cries of "qiaqia" also drifted over on the wind.
"Who could it be? They can actually withstand attacks from so many monsters," Hua Meiniang murmured in puzzlement.
"Sister Hua, should we go take a look?"
Qin Bantong puffed out his chest and said eagerly, "Of course! Let those monsters taste my power!"
Li Qiang had no desire to charge straight over. "We'd better be careful. Let's approach from the side without alerting the monsters first."
Hua Meiniang nodded. "Yes, caution is best. You little brat, stop thinking about showing off all day. Can't you use your head?"
Qin Bantong was truly afraid of her now. With a wry smile, he said, "This junior understands." He thought, I swear, whenever I see your venerable self from now on, I'll run as far away as I can. You've scolded me half to death.
The group circled around onto the snowy mountain, then hurried along the ridge toward the fighting.
"Heavens! How could it be them?"
Looking down from the ridge, they saw a defensive formation blazing with dazzling red light, blocking the Qiaqia Ice monsters' charges.
Outside the formation, a figure dashed and leaped, darting among the monsters like a hare springing up and a falcon swooping down.
Qin Bantong said in astonishment, "That man is terrifying! Look, he isn't even wearing battle armor, yet he moves freely among the monsters. Who is he? How can he be so powerful?"
"He's my big brother, Hou Pijing! Hahaha, I'm so happy!" Li Qiang danced with delight, thinking, Wonderful! My old brother is still on Heavenly Court Star. He hasn't left!
Hua Meiniang exclaimed in shock, "What? You know Senior Hou? I truly can't figure you out. Where did you meet him?"
"Sister Hua, who is Senior Hou? Why do even you call him senior?"
"He's a famous elder in the cultivation world, with an extraordinarily eccentric temper and unfathomable cultivation." Hua Meiniang looked at Li Qiang as though he were a monster.
With no time to explain, Li Qiang gave a long cry and spiraled down along the precipitous mountain face.
Hua Meiniang said, "Let's go down too. With Senior Hou here, everything will be fine."
Halfway down the mountain, Li Qiang could already see the people inside the formation. The joy in his heart was beyond words.
His long cry alerted those inside. Looking up, one shouted excitedly, "Master! Hahaha, my master's here!"
A sweet voice called, "Big brother, big brother! I'm here! Hurry over!" The voice was slightly choked with excitement.
It was Zhao Hao and Mei Jingjing. Three others stood beside them. Although Li Qiang did not recognize them, he knew they must be friends. He called, "Zhao Hao, little sister, I've finally found you!" His voice brimmed with relief and joy.
"Old brother, I'll help you!"
"Hahaha, little brother, go into the formation and see your sister and disciple first. Huh? Is that you, Little Demoness? Am I seeing ghosts today? Why are you with my brother?"
Hua Meiniang giggled. "Old man, if an eccentric like you can become his brother, why can't I?" She truly was a Little Demoness, unafraid of anyone she met.
More than twenty monsters surrounded the defensive formation. This time, Li Qiang clearly saw what the Qiaqia Ice looked like.
The Qiaqia Ice monsters hovered above the ground, moving by expelling jets of air from their bellies and making "qiaqia" sounds. They looked peculiar, with flat heads and a single eye gleaming silver. Their mouthparts were nowhere to be seen. Their bodies were flat as well, wrapped in a layer of mist.
With Hou Pijing present, Li Qiang's courage soared, and he plunged headfirst into the monsters.
Several monsters immediately attacked. He punched out, and with a thud, one monster slammed into the ground. After two strange "qiaqia" cries, it floated up again. The icy mist around its body peeled away and enveloped Li Qiang.
The icy mist held an incomparable chill. The instant it touched him, it slowed his movements. The pale golden light of the Billowing Essence Battle Armor flashed dazzlingly, and Li Qiang's entire body became like burning flames, instantly giving off tremendous heat. The bitter cold had forced out his purple flames.
The Qiaqia Ice that had just rushed up to him retreated in terror. Only the monster he had punched blundered toward him in a daze. Caught off guard, Li Qiang took the Qiaqia Ice squarely in his arms.
"Careful, brother!" Hou Pijing kicked a Qiaqia Ice away and soared up like a great bird. Just as he was about to grab Li Qiang, something unexpected happened.
It was like a naked ordinary man suddenly embracing an enormous block of ice. The intense stimulation made the Purple Flame Heart release Heavenly Fire. The Billowing Essence Battle Armor blazed with golden light, and Li Qiang looked like a heavenly god burning with wrath. The spilling Heavenly Fire roared, while the Qiaqia Ice cried "qiaqia" madly and struggled desperately to escape his embrace. It was simply a terrifying furnace.
"Aha, too late! I'll roast you to death!"
With a hiss, great clouds of steam rose. Like a snowman meeting fire, the Qiaqia Ice monster immediately melted.
In a mere instant, the pitiful Qiaqia Ice melted without a trace. The other monsters seemed extremely afraid of Heavenly Fire and had also been frightened by Hou Pijing's beating. After a brief hesitation, they actually turned and fled.
"Little brother, it's only been a few days, but your cultivation has improved so quickly! What battle armor is this? I've never seen it before. It's excellent." Hou Pijing clapped his hands, walked over, and draped an arm around Li Qiang's shoulders, speaking affectionately.
"Brother!" Mei Jingjing rushed out of the defensive formation and clung to one of Li Qiang's arms, tears already glistening in her eyes.
"Hehe, hehe." Li Qiang could only stand there grinning foolishly, so happy he did not know what to do.
Zhao Hao stood to one side, watching silently and rubbing his hands in relief.
Qin Bantong kowtowed respectfully. "Greetings, venerable senior. This junior is of the Qin People."
Qin Xiaohuan also stepped forward and bowed. "Greetings, senior martial uncle. This junior's master is Hong Jingyu."
Hou Pijing was in an excellent mood. "All right, all right, get up. I don't like people dropping to their knees whenever we meet. Hey, Little Demoness, why aren't you bowing to me?"
"No way! At most, I'll call you old man. Nothing else!" Hua Meiniang refused with a grin.
Hou Pijing burst out laughing. "Forget it, forget it. I rather admire the Little Demoness for doing whatever she pleases. Hahaha!"
Everyone introduced themselves and exchanged pleasantries.
Only then did Li Qiang learn that the three people inside the formation were guardians of Rejuvenation Valley, with some modest fame in the cultivation world.
All three wore dark green battle armor. Their leader was Guan Qi, a powerfully built man with a baby face who looked very approachable. The two beside him were Zong Ming and Wang Yongnian.
Zong Ming had a shrewd, tough face and a short stature. A strange little creature stood on his shoulder, somewhat like a frog, except that it was fiery red. Wisps of fiery mist rose from its body from time to time, and its two red eyes constantly rolled about. Seeing Li Qiang and the others studying it closely, he explained with a smile, "This is a fire essence. It's very useful on the Frozen Plain."
"What's a fire essence?" Li Qiang leaned closer to look. The fire essence leaped onto his shoulder, settled down, and closed its red eyes, looking thoroughly content.
Wang Yongnian exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, how strange! Brother Zong, your treasure actually left your shoulder. What's going on?"
Zong Ming was astonished and somewhat bewildered himself. "Strange. Ever since I subdued this fire essence, I've never seen it take a liking to anyone. Yet this time, it jumped onto Young Master Li of its own accord. I can't understand it." He thought, The fire essence's temperature is extraordinarily high. Ordinary cultivators can't withstand it at all. This Li Qiang is so strange. He looks completely untroubled. I truly can't tell how high his cultivation is.
In fact, Zong Ming had overestimated Li Qiang. It was simply because Li Qiang's foundation, the Purple Flame Heart, was fire-attributed, and he had later absorbed Heavenly Fire at Star Palace. To the fire essence, itself an essence of fire, he held an immense attraction.
Li Qiang gently cupped the fire essence in his hands and returned it to Zong Ming, but it kept jumping back onto his shoulder. After this happened three times, Zong Ming was deeply embarrassed.
Mei Jingjing smiled. "Uncle Zong, forget it. Just give the fire essence to my brother."
Zong Ming looked at his most beloved niece and said with a wry smile, "Sigh, this little thing has chosen its own master. Very well, since Young Master Li shares a destined bond with it, you can have it. This fire essence understands people very well. Please treat it well, young master. Consider it a gift for our first meeting." He handed Li Qiang a small jade eye slip. "This is for you. It records how to use the fire essence. Take a look."
Li Qiang was deeply embarrassed too. Unable to return it, he could only accept it with thanks. Reaching into his bracelet, he took out something shining with white light: four white triangles linked together. He smiled. "Brother Zong, I'm truly sorry. I also have a gift for you. A good friend gave me this. I'm borrowing flowers to offer to the Buddha by passing it on to you. Please accept it, no matter what."
Seeing it from beside them, Hou Pijing snatched it up and examined it carefully. He said in surprise, "Huh? How is it this Law Treasure? You've struck it rich, boy Zong." He handed the Law Treasure over.
"What Law Treasure is this?" With Hou Pijing's words, Zong Ming knew it must be a treasure and accepted it without hesitation.
Qin Bantong lived up to his upbringing in a distinguished clan. He was well-informed and experienced, after all. He too said in surprise, "Isn't this the Evening-Shrouding Horn? It's a concealment Law Treasure."
Li Qiang nodded approvingly. "You're truly impressive, Brother Qin. It is indeed the Evening-Shrouding Horn, but Brother Zong will have to refine it again before using it." Li Qiang's praise gilded Qin Bantong's face with pride, and he puffed his chest out so far he nearly tipped backward.
"Brother, where's mine?" Mei Jingjing tugged at Li Qiang with a cheeky grin. Though Qin Xiaohuan said nothing, she too looked at him. Zhao Hao and several others also watched him. Everyone fell silent at once.
Hou Pijing chuckled. "Hehe, as the saying goes, never... flaunt... your... wealth! Hahaha! Hahaha!" The old man was having a marvelous time.
"There's one for everyone-a Law Treasure each, except for Brother Hou." Li Qiang was very generous. Mo Huaiyuan had given him many Law Treasures, and he now cared little for worldly possessions.
Mei Jingjing received a five-colored suit of battle armor and a gold dangling hairpin. Zhao Hao received black battle armor, while Qin Xiaohuan received a Petal Feather Bracelet. Qin Bantong was happiest of all. He received a pair of Fish Mouth Clasps, knowing they were legendary refined artifacts of tremendous value.
By the end, even Hou Pijing grew envious and cried, "Hey, I've lost out! I've lost out! How was I supposed to know this brat was handing out nothing but supreme-grade Law Treasures? I want one too! I want one too!" He showed not a shred of an elder's dignity.
Li Qiang smiled. "There's a treasure for you. I prepared it long ago. How would I dare leave you out, old brother?" He handed Hou Pijing a little black ball. In truth, Hou Pijing had only been joking. Whether he had Law Treasures made no difference to him.
"Hehe, brother, I was only having some fun. You don't need to give..." The instant he saw what Li Qiang held, he shouted in astonishment, "A Nirvana Pill! Whoa! It's a Nirvana Pill!" The old man nearly went mad with joy.
Mei Jingjing asked curiously, "What's a Nirvana Pill?"