Spirit Realm

Qin Lie stepped out of the ice and walked forward, shattering it to pieces.

Cold white mist wrapped around him like thick smoke, moving with him and spreading its icy energy into the surroundings.

The extreme cold felt like icicles slowly sinking into everyone’s bodies, threatening to freeze their blood.

The martial practitioners of the three forces wore fearful expressions.

All of them originally thought that Qin Lie had frozen to death… that his nightmarish oppression wouldn’t happen again. They hadn’t expected him to spring back to life before they could even finish making threats.

Focusing their soul perceptions, the remaining martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Sect, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were shocked to discover that the frost concept emanating from Qin Lie’s body felt extremely similar to the cold of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

Looking amongst each other, they could see the shock in the eyes of those beside them.

Qin Lie didn’t cultivate a frost spirit art for fun—he was just as skilled with it as he was with his thunder spirit art!

His frost spirit art even resonated with the cold of the Forbidden Land of Ice!

Just how absurd was this situation?

All of this stunned Huang Zhuli and the others.

“Qin Lie?” Song Tingyu called out.

She and the rest of Qin Lie’s companions wore strange expressions, gazing at him with eyes full of questions.

At this moment, Qin Lie exuded an extraordinarily intimidating presence. Continuously pulling in all of the surrounding icy energy, he seemed to be the source of all cold.

Bizarre cracking sounds emanated from Qin Lie, echoing through the air. The sounds made it seem as if the whole world were going to freeze over.

Qin Lie’s eyes were a strange silvery white. They resembled clear, solid ice and gave off a cold, serene feeling.

“I have all six Pure Soul Springs. What are you going to do about it?”

Qin Lie marched through the thick snow, walking from Song Tingyu’s side until he stood directly in front of Ye Yihao and the others.

Wherever he moved, whatever snow he passed through, quickly grew colder, leaving a trail of ice.

Wisps of white frost energy hovered above his head like silver clouds, gently swirling around him.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh...”

Gusts of frigid wind converged on this location from far in the distance, a harbinger for the flood of frost energy that seemed to be approaching.

“I...” Ye Yihao was at a loss for words.

He looked at Qin Lie, at how Qin Lie was controlling the entire situation yet again, and he felt as if he were back in the Forbidden Land of Thunder.

And he wasn’t the only one. Huang Zhuli, Feng Yiyou, Yu Men, and the others gritted their teeth, their faces pale.

Qin Lie’s challenge made them secretly regret choosing to come here and cause trouble.

“The Pure Soul Springs are in my possession. You want them?” Qin Lie took another step forward. “Come and get them!”

With this step, he was only ten meters away from Ye Yihao and the others.

The white mist swirling around his body slowly spread toward them, carrying a bone-chilling cold.

“Crack! Crack!”

Terrifying sounds came from the shields of light of martial practitioners from the three great families. They sounded like glass under an enormous pressure that threatened to crush them into powder.

This was a sign that their shields of light could no longer endure the frost energy, threatening to collapse as the freezing energy spread.

“Retreat!” Su Yan yelled.

Her face was dark and hostile, but she moved backward, forcing herself to give the order.

Upon hearing her say this, the Su Family martial practitioners behind her secretly sighed in relief and hurriedly retreated.

The Lin Family and Xiahou Family martial practitioners looked to Xiahou Yuan and Lin Dongxing at the same time, their eyes filled with desperation.

With the frost energy approaching, the shields of light protecting them were on the verge of failing.

They wouldn’t be able to last much longer.

“Retreat!” Xiahou Yuan and Lin Dongxing ordered in unison, each gritting their teeth.

At that moment, the martial practitioners of the three great families retreated, the crunch of their feet against the snow ringing sharply in everyone’s ears.

The other martial practitioners on their side felt uneasy, anxious expressions surfacing on their faces.

Then Qin Lie moved farther forward, reducing the distance between him and Ye Yihao to five paces.

He would soon reach Ye Yihao.

“If you want the Pure Soul Springs… why don’t you try taking them from me?”

Qin Lie’s icy expression suddenly disappeared. His gaze became warm, his tone uncharacteristically peaceful.

—Yet the icy energy emanating from his body began to spread even faster.

“Kra-kra-kra-krak—!”

The shields of light of other martial practitioners of the three forces began to fracture. They seemed like they would shatter at any moment.

“If you can’t endure any more of this...” Feng Yiyou yelled, “...then get back!”

Although he was unwilling to back down from Qin Lie, Feng Yiyou was intelligent enough to know that he had to give the order.

The Celestial Artifact Sect martial practitioners retreated.

Then everyone looked at Ye Yihao.

Each of Qin Lie’s companions gazed at him with bright, energetic expressions, beaming smiles on their faces.

“Big Brother Qin… really is a good man!” Pan Qianqian exclaimed, covering her mouth.

Xue Moyan’s lips had long since curved into a beautiful smile. Her elation was obvious.

“The terrifying winds that wreak havoc across the Forbidden Land of Ice are converging here. They’re probably heading… for Qin Lie!” Huang Zhuli exclaimed, realization spread across her face.

The moment she said this, terror filled the hearts of everyone within earshot, especially Ye Yihao and the others.

“Move! Get farther away from Qin Lie!” Yu Men shouted.

All of the martial practitioners from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, including Yu Men himself, rushed backward, trying to distance themselves from Qin Lie.

The martial practitioners from Black Voodoo Cult pulled back, not bothering to wait for Huang Zhuli or Ye Yihao to issue orders.

All of a sudden, only Huang Zhuli and Ye Yihao stood before Qin Lie. They had yet to move even a millimeter.

Their eyes, however, were filled with terror and hesitation.

“Fine,” Huang Zhuli eventually said. “We’ll leave.”

She came to the conclusion that, even if they did fight Qin Lie, they probably wouldn’t benefit from it. It was possible that they would just suffer heavy losses again.

—And they couldn’t afford any more deaths.

She finally decided to back down.

“I’m going to kill you!” Ye Yihao exclaimed, slowly emphasizing each word. “I, Ye Yihao, swear… that you will die by my hands!”

Ye Yihao moved backward as he spoke, glaring at Qin Lie the entire time.

—It was clear that he understood his current situation.

However, Qin Lie disagreed.

“You think you can come and go as you please?” Qin Lie asked in a low tone. “Life isn’t that simple!”

The instant he finished speaking, an earsplitting shriek pierced the surroundings. Streams of frost energy converged on their location, but upon arrival, they went eerily still.

“Huang Zhuli!” Qin Lie barked, his eyes dark and cold. “Hand over the Spring of Life that you stole from Xue Moyan! If you don’t, none of you will leave this place alive!”

With that declaration, the white mists of frost energy began to move once more, each resembling an icy dragon.

Ye Yihao and the others started to panic.

As they watched these strange changes occur in the wisps of frost energy, seeing how bizarre their movements were, it dawned on them that Qin Lie could control the frost energy of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

All of them knew how terrifying the frost energy was. They also knew that the corpses they had come across on the way here belonged to scarlet and white barbarians that fell prey to the frost energy and died as a result.

A portion of their group had also been swallowed up by the frost energy. They hadn’t been able to keep their shields of light up long enough and collapsed shortly after being exposed to it.

Upon seeing Qin Lie display a miraculous amount of control over the situation in the Forbidden Land of Ice, the people of Black Voodoo Cult felt extremely regretful. They cursed their bad eyesight and how they essentially came here in search of death.

Yet Huang Zhuli was the one who felt the most bitter. She watched as the streams of misty frost energy writhed through the air, her face the epitome of regret.

“I’ll count to three!” Qin Lie said, immediately starting the count. “One! Two! Thr—!”

“I’ll give you the Spring of Life!” Huang Zhuli screamed. “All of it! Every last drop!”

She trembled as she took a dark green bottle out of her spatial ring and threw it at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie had nearly driven her mad, helplessness and defeat covering her face.

Never before had she been reduced to such a sorry state.

“Th-the Spring of Life!” Pan Qianqian exclaimed with joy.

Xue Moyan stared at Qin Lie in disbelief. Emotions welled in her heart, her face positively glowing.

Under her gaze, Qin Lie leisurely caught the green bottle then threw it to her without hesitation, saying, “Inspect it.”

She hurriedly received the green bottle, twisted the cork from its mouth, and took a whiff of the clear fragrance that emerged.

“Yes!” Xue Moyan said excitedly. “It is the Spring of Life!”

Qin Lie nodded slightly, then waved the three forces off with contempt.

“Leave.”

This angered Huang Zhuli and Ye Yihao so much, they gritted their teeth hard enough to nearly chip them.

Yet they didn’t dare to act at this moment. They could only shoot poisonous glares at Qin Lie as they slowly retreated.

“We’re leaving!”

And just like that, the three forces turned tail and left.