Fox Fairy Saint

In the thick, freezing mist, over a dozen sharp poisonous needles emitting foul black smoke shot toward the bridge like a torrent of rain, venomous and treacherous!

Southern Frontier Demon Cultivators!

They had been lurking and tracking all the way here, choosing the moment when Lan Caidie was at her most vulnerable—midair above the ice with no leverage—to launch a sudden assault!

"You're asking for death!"

A flash of brutal killing intent flickered deep in Lan Caidie's eyes.

Her supple waist arched backward in an almost impossible twist midair, narrowly dodging the lethal poison needles. The intricate silver ornaments around her neck and wrists exploded in an instant, transforming into an impenetrable silver cloud of Gu insects that clashed with the demonic cultivators.

But the environment was deadly to her.

The extreme cold of the Submerging Water Freezing Pool greatly diminished the activity of the Gu insects she was born with. And on the lake's surface, with nowhere to gain a foothold, the encirclement by the Southern border-demon cultivators clung to her like an unrelenting curse.

"Rip!"

A loyal follower had half his skull sliced off by a demonic cultivator's poisoned blade. Boiling blood mixed with brain matter splattered directly onto the bridge formed by the Ice Soul Gu.

That bridge, once as hard as refined steel, began to melt violently and convulse the moment it was tainted by the dead blood carrying cursed energy.

But this wasn't the worst part.

The thick, bloody smell of cultivators dueling seeped through the broken ice with terrifying precision, sinking into the deepest darkness of the freezing pool below.

"Glug... glug..."

The previously still surface of the freezing pool suddenly boiled, spewing large blue bubbles.

An intense, nauseating stench of a savage beast erupted from under the water!

Lan Caidie’s seductive, soul-stealing eyes contracted sharply. Every hair on her body stood on end.

"Retreat! Get back to the shore!"

She shrieked in desperation, abandoning even her most loyal followers as she furiously channeled the last remnants of her Gu power to escape.

Too late.

"Crack—Boom!!!"

With a deafening roar, the entire pale Gu bridge was violently broken in half from below by a terrifying, irresistible force!

Dozens of mutated beasts—Iron-Scale Sword Crocodiles, each over fifty feet long, covered in scales as hard as cold iron—burst through the ice, their maws full of fangs capable of shattering magical artifacts!

Water splashed everywhere.

"Ah—! Saintess, save me!"

A follower was caught midair by a Sword Crocodile that leaped from the water. Its jaws snapped shut around his waist.

The sickening crunch of bones filled the air as the follower was bitten in half and dragged into the icy depths of the pool.

Blood instantly stained the lake’s surface.

The rich, coppery smell drove these dormant mutated monsters beneath the water into a frenzy.

Lan Caidie’s purple dress, soaked by the splashes, clung tightly to her long legs.

Her face was deathly pale. She stared in terror as reeking, blood-filled maws closed in on her from every direction.

"No—!"

A desperate scream echoed over the Submerging Water Freezing Pool.

A massive column of water erupted into the air, dragging that flash of enchanting purple—along with countless Gu insects and severed limbs—violently into the bottomless, deadly abyss.

On the shore.

Gu Yang stood, hands behind his back, in absolute shadow.

He watched coldly as Lan Caidie plunged into the pool, listening to the spine-chilling sounds of chewing.

He felt no emotion.

His gaze, following the trajectory of her fall, pierced through the blood-stained ice with subtle precision, looking further down into the darker, deeper underground.

That was where the true fortune lay.

The freezing mist was brutally torn apart by the stinging smell of blood.

Beneath the ice rocks of the Submerging Water Freezing Pool, crimson formation patterns—like countless blood-sucking leeches—burst forth from the frozen earth without warning.

"Hehehe... What pure, untouchable righteous saintess? Now that you’re trapped in my Blood River Formation, I’ll peel away that virtuous skin of yours, layer by layer!"

Mo Bufan’s cold, slimy laughter echoed from the blood fog all around, clinging like a curse.

Su Lingyan’s steps abruptly halted.

Her pale, amber-like eyes reflected the torrent of filthy blood chains descending to entangle her.

She did not cry out for help. Her cold, stunningly beautiful face showed only the extreme ice of a heart long sealed away.

"Zheng!"

Her sword—clear as autumn water—burst from its sheath.

"Heavenly River True Method, Frost Radiance!"

With a decisive flick of her wrist, she traced a pure sword flower. Three snow-and-ice sword energies, untainted and pure as shooting stars across the night sky, slashed fiercely toward the incoming blood chains.

But...

"Hiss—hiss—hiss—"

A bone-chilling sound of corrosion exploded around her.

The Heavenly River True Method—renowned for cutting through all evil and admired by countless young sword cultivators in the Eastern Domain—dissolved like snow under boiling oil the moment it touched this ultimate filth and evil blood energy.

It didn’t even last half a breath before being corroded and absorbed by the viscous blood fog.

"Naive."

Mo Bufan snorted coldly from the shadows, tightening his magic seal.

"Bind!"

Dozens of thick blood chains, like furious venomous pythons, instantly sealed off all of Su Lingyan’s escape routes.

Su Lingyan’s straight back trembled slightly.

She bit her tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of her pure lifeblood essence onto her sword blade.

"Heavenly River Falling Stars, Shield!"

A giant silver sword-bell phantom descended, protecting her delicate, slender body at its center.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The blood chains lashed furiously against the sword-bell, each strike shattering the surrounding ice into fragments.

Su Lingyan gripped her sword hilt tightly.

Her fingers, once flawless like creamy jade, turned a sickly pale from the extreme strain.

The light on the sword-bell grew dimmer and dimmer.

A strand of filthy blood mist, carrying a vile stench, seeped through the widening cracks.

"Rip."

The spotless white Snow-Immortal Dress rotted away on contact, exposing a large patch of fabric.

A rush of freezing wind mixed with the bloody air flooded in.

Su Lingyan’s usually concealed, vulnerable neck and half of her delicate, elegant collarbone were now completely exposed to the crimson air.

Terror and restraint made her chest rise and fall rapidly.

With every breath, the torn edges of her dress pressed against her heaving body, rubbing together with a faint rustling sound.

Cold sweat, mixed with the freezing mist, dripped from her nose along its glistening path to her numbed sword hand, where her thumb and forefinger met.

"Can’t hold out anymore, can you? This lofty body of yours will soon become a pile of rotten flesh."

Mo Bufan licked his lips, his eyes filled with bloodlust as he pushed his formation to its limit.

"Crack—!"

Su Lingyan’s proud silver sword-bell let out one last desperate wail, then shattered completely.

A thin blood chain grazed her cheek with savage precision.

Leaving a stinging red mark.

Pain shot through her.

Su Lingyan’s knees gave way. Her long, straight right leg uncontrollably dropped into a single kneel on the cold, muddy ground.